neighborhood fun

i love our neighborhood!! our house is constantly filled with kids from the neighborhood and i wouldn't have it any other way. our neighborhood has some school time traditions and we were so excited for our first year to join in.

it starts with trick or treating after school. (usually is it on the first day of school but this year we did it on tuesday.) the kids go around to the houses and get treats, goodies or school supplies. i decided to make back to school cupcakes. i got the idea from family fun and they were very easy to make.

then..this morning we met at the bus stop bright and early with doughnuts, bagels, cinnamon rolls, muffins and juice for all the kids before they got on the bus.

after that we had a potluck lunch for the mommies. i love living someplace where i am friends with my neighbors!

first day of 2nd grade

dallin was so excited for his first day of 2nd grade. his teacher is mrs. bowler and we have heard that she is really nice. he wasn't nervous at all. in fact...i think i had more butterflies than he did. he was really disappointed that i wouldn't let him ride the bus on the first day. i can't help that i wanted to take him on the first day of school. megan is starting preschool in a couple weeks but she was convinced she was going to school with dallin. she got her backpack on and was ready to go! i couldn't even get a picture of dallin by himself. she insisted on getting in on every picture.
dallin and his new spiderman backpack

imagine my surprise when megan picked out a diego backpack. i thought for sure she would go for a princess one!

dallin running to line up with his class.

my handsome 2nd grader!!

feeling frustrated

most days i love my job as a stay at home mommy but every once in awhile i find myself clinging with both hands to the end of my rope feeling like at any moment i may loose my grip on reality. unfortunately, these last couple of days have been like this and i have been filled with frustration. the constant needs of little kids, cleaning up a million messes a day, answering a bagillion questions a day, taking care of a little boy who just got his tonsils and adnoids out and the isolation of being in a small town without an easy escape to target can be exhausting. not to mention the fact that i have not had a solid night sleep in 3 years! i was feeling tired and i must confess a bit grumpy.

please tell me that i am not the only person who feels like this. please tell me i am not the only one who thinks the word "mommy" said for the 1,943rd time in one day by whiny children sounds like nails on a chalkboard! and on top of everything else i had to make dinner!!

i had just finished watching a biography on Giada De Laurentiis (chef on food network). her family said that from the time she was little she loved to help her family cook in the kitchen so when megan came running in wanting to help me cook i decided i should not worry about the extra messes she would make for me but that i should try to cultivate her love of cooking.

once we got dinner on the table i asked her "megan, do you want to be a chef when you grow up?"

she looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, "no mommy, i want to be just like you."

needless to say i felt shameful for the way i had been feeling and all my frustration melted away.

my heart swelled with the love i have for my family and i felt the weight of my responsibility to be their mother squarely on my shoulders.

i'm sure that i will have other days when i feel frustrated but i hope i can remember that i have 2 little ones who look to me as an example. i want megan to know that there is no greater job than that as a mother. it may not be the most glamorous and while i do believe that it is the hardest job in the world it is also the most important and the most rewarding.

i am thankful for the sweet reminders my children give me.

1 mom + 2 kids - 1 set of tonsils and adnoids = lots of cabin fever

for those of you who do not know... dallin got his tonsils and adnoids out last week and while he has been extremely brave it has been a long week of watching movies and laying on the couch. needless to say... we are all suffering from an extreme case of cabin fever!! i was racking my brain for something that we could do that wouldn't take too much effort on dallin's part. i came up with painting but could not find our paints. i decided to run down to our local hardware store and pray that they would have paints. although inthe back of my mind i was pretty sure they wouldn't. (yes...living in a small town is very adventurous!!) to my surprise they had paints. YIPEE!!! i guess in small towns hardware stores are required to carry a little more than just hardware. so we spent the afternoon painting. i loved watching the creativity stream from their little fingers.

dallin was very thoughtful with each of his paintings. carefully deciding what to paint and then meticulously carrying it out.

megan was more of a free spirit. her artwork is abstract. she loved to splatter the paint onto the paper. when she decided she was done (usually about 5 seconds) we would then try to decipher what it was.

it was a fun afternoon of painting and watching my little picasos!

dallin's american flag

megan's abstract artwork

belated birthday pics

i know megan's birthday was awhile ago but somehow her birthday party pictures didn't get posted. so here we go...

megan was very clear that she wanted a princess cake and she was so excited to make a wish and blow out the candles.

she loved all the princesses on the cake

we got her a baby alive. she was so excited to feed and change her babies diapers and i was so excited for her. although...once i had to start changing the dolls diapers the excitement left fairly quickly.

her cute cake.

my parents got her this table and chairs for her tea parties in her toy room. and we have indeed had many tea parties on it.

megan is a lucky girls to be surrounded by grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on her birthday. she had so much fun and got a lot of great presents! she is laready looking forward to her 4th!

where there is dirt...

they will find it!