Things I could blog about today.....

1. How to totally ignore a grumpy baby.

2. How to TRY to ignore a grumpy 3 year old.

3. Church....with 4 kids.....three hours of what "spirit prison" must be like.

4. Why bishopric members get fat.

5. My journey with a certain black widow.

6. Treasures I have found while cleaning my storage room.

7. Sunday dinner last week=gourmet cooking from grandma.

8. Sunday dinner this week= leftovers from mommy.

9. Does Quinn have a mute button? There is a big horse on the Ghost Falls trail that discovered he didn't.

10. My darling 7 year old/demon. What happened to my angel?

11. 2 weeks until I take class from tWitch, Lauren, and Comfort (woo hoo!)

12. Exercise is overrated. That's why we have Spanks.

13. How to make a killer "Mormon Mojito"

14. Unemployed husband=messier house.

15. Partying it up with my neighbors.

16. I do not consider Costco a getaway.

17. I really do love my children, though I have no reason to.

18. The list of stuff I will buy when Bill is back in a job.

19. BYU choked.

20. Social Kiva...what is it and when will it pay the bills.

21. I love me some Green Tea.

22. New ways to wipe my babies yucky nose.

23. Role reversal: Emi vs. Parker, Liz vs. Bill

24. My ghetto mailbox drama.

25. September 11 still makes me crazy sad. Almost like it happened yesterday.

26. Mourning the baby clothes.

27. How to turn your kitchen floor into an ice rink using vegetable oil....twice.

28. Where's the teeth?

29. Macy, the grass princess

30. Parker is the prime example of the pot calling the kettle black.

31. Bill does an amazing Dr. Doofenschmirz impression. You really must see it.

32. Why Liz is walking sideways today.

33. I envy my cat.

I guess that's it. Should I expand on any of these, or just let them be?

August 2010

Well, here is the last of my summer re-cap. I'm just a teeny bit impressed with all we did, but I'll try to not to get a big head about it.

More swim classes...after crying for mom the first day, he sucked it up and became a GREAT little swimmer.

Not even sure how to describe this one....I run a dance studio. Props and costumes are everywhere.

Macy is the world's cutest sleeper. She loves her piggy.

We were lucky enough to go to the opening night of "Lion King". So amazing. I saw it in NY before I was married, and it was so fun to take Parker and Emi to it.

Quinn started pre-school. I have a cuter shot than this, but it showed too many name tags with first and last names. Darned stalkers ruin it for everyone!

The ward campout. This is the bishopric performing "My Little Buttercup". There is oodles of talent seeping through these men.

Emi went to a wedding party. WOOOOW is all I can say. She's got great friends.

We ate lots and lots of fresh corn. Sucks with braces, but I'm making it work. Yummmmm.

Cowabunga Bay. Went on the world's most crowded day, but still great.

Grandma came to observe......

Macy is everywhere, into everything, and all-around crazy!

My friend's dad set this up at the library for a day. Parker was in Heaven!

And then school had to start and ruin it all.

Cubs started up again, with Parker getting his Bear. Here I am getting pinned. All I can say is ouch!

So...here we are in September. I'm ready for it. Bring it on school, work, lessons, homework, and schedules. I can take it!

On to July!

Another summer recap post....I hope you all continue to check in on me!

Other than just relaxing....

we spent 10 glorious (but chilly) days in Coronado...

Bill and I got to spend an evening at Heber Valley girl's camp.

Checked out our new local hot spot (love it!)

Parker did his first big kid puzzle!

Visited Kennicott Copper mine....as did the rest of Utah.

Partied it up with good friends....

Ventured to Lagoon...beat major rainstorm.

Held tea parties for little siblings.....

Emi taught music to her cousins.....

...and Parker and cousin Josh imitated Ron Burgandy ("stay classy, Salt Lake City")

Tubed and skiied with Aunt Joyce...check Quinn out... NO FEAR!

Be cool, Quinn....

A recap of June! (a few months late)

As I close the book on another summer, I realize I have been a bad blogger/journal keeper. So I will attempt to recap my summer, though it will take 3 separate posts:

JUNE

This is the Place

Aquarium

Swim lessons....I managed to have 3 kids in 3 separate swim classes....at 3 different pools. Not too bright on my part.

We shared germs with our friends....

We dressed up for Father's Day at church (guess which one is Bill)

We hung with old neighbors....totally miss the Hopkins! Please move back!

We set up "Princess Corner" in the dance studio

We rode a variety of horses.....

And loved hanging with the Homeless Hopper Family!

We attended amazing ladybug birthday parties....(and mom felt completely inadequate as a mom and party giver). This mom is incredible!

And Bill got to do his best Ty Pennington impression after working on our ward's Youth Conference Extreme Home Makeover (and he got a lot of new coverage....Big Buddah liked him)

...and basically, everything was a mess in the house.

Tune in later this week for JULY!!!!

I really love her, but..........

I am fully confident in the beauty of my daughter....she has stunning blue eyes, sweet little giggles, the most wonderfully chubby legs, and I practically melt when I put her in her crib and she grabs and squishes her little piggy stuffed animal.

However....

things aren't pretty with her right now at all!

My cousin, Brooke, blogged about her baby entering the ugly phase ( if you aren't reading her blog, you should....link is on the side bar. She is hilarious!). It made me realize that my little princess is in a real diva stage right now. She's like a little wild animal that I must tame somehow.

1. She has a cold and has the yuckiest nose on the planet.

2. She has claws....I can't get her still enough to cut her nails, and she pinches me all over my arms all day. My arms look like I'm shooting up. She has scratches all over her face because of it.

3. She pulls on one spot of her hair. I'm sure that is leading to a great bald spot. She won't keep on any headband or bow.

4. She army-crawls instead of normal crawling (see video below). Because of this, all her cute, light colored summer outfits are gray by the end of the day (I need to get my carpets cleaned!)

5. She shrieks like a howler monkey in a blender.

6. Big no to cuddling.

7. If she doesn't like the binkie you give her, she happily chucks it across the room. She actually has a "wicked 12-foot arc" (if you were in my immediate family, you would be laughing about that).

8. She drools all over while drinking a bottle, then immediately pushes it away the second she thinks she is done. Very diva-like.

9. She has not slept all that well lately......nor have we.

10. I'm constantly cleaning up a trail of puffies and cheerios, and she loves to throw those, too!

(I can't get this pic rotated, but you get the idea. She looks so happy)

We strapped her in the swing in desperation to get her to sleep. I guess this isn't our safest option anymore.

A friend at church took this of Macy at church on his iPhone.....I'm not sure if you can get it to play, but she does make everyone laugh with her army crawl. Please ignore him saying in the background that I have no idea where she is....I did too know.

Anyways.....I love her. She is everything to me, but these rough patches have got to go. She will be wonderful again soon. Love you, Macy!

≈

How can I feel this way?

I don't understand it. I had 4 very long, hot, tough pregnancies. About this time last year, I was in dire condition. Words can't even describe how hard the end of Macy's pregnancy was. I ripped muscles, I swelled way up, I felt sea-sick for 3 solid months.....basically, my body just told me DONE! I danced through the pain at the end, but it was so ugly. My blood pressure was a constant concern, and I spent a good 2 weeks strapping myself into the blood pressure machine at Harmon's, on alert to go into labor at any time. My dad had a stroke one month before my due date, and it was an ugly, ugly, painful, emotional, stressful, fat time. My mom couldn't be around if I went into labor (because of my dad), so I spent every night that month having everything totally ready for my kids to get to school with instructions to keep the routine (for Parker's sake) just in case a neighbor had to come in the middle of the night. That last month was awful in many ways.

Yet....I find myself longing for that month?#$@ I don't get it. I have a lot of prego friends and my cousin is actually going to have her baby any second.....I am sooooo jealous! That is not me. I love the hospital, the excitement of seeing your new baby for the first time, the preciousness of it all. Macy was born in the middle of the night, and it was the quietest (fastest...2 hours) and sweetest night of my life. I felt like it was just me and her in a quiet little world. I love the flutter of baby kicks. I love these moments, but I'm realistic enough to know what it takes to get there. I'm so happy with 4, and 5 would kill me! I know this, but we woman are wired to keep the maternal feelings forever. It sucks.

So, I'm 36. I know I will never go through the hell of pregnancy again. But tonight, for some reason, I am sad about that. Maybe because Macy let me snuggle her to sleep tonight, something she rarely does these days as she is always on the move. I need to savor every moment of this baby.

On a way different note, took Emi to see "Ramona and Beezus". Absolutely loved it. I loved all the books growing up and have loved watching Emi read them. I thought they did a great job of making it sweet and fun, just like the books. So cute!

Oh....August.

I seriously have nothing to say today, but here I am.

Last week was awesome! Lagoon, boating with my sister, children's museum with my sis-in-law's kids and a wonderful nap last Sunday that I'm still reliving. July has a bit of sparkle and flare to it.

And then there is August. I kind of hate August. Summer has lost it's flavor. I feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe (school and work and the general rat race) to drop. I really hate intense heat. My flower pots have almost always burned up at this point. I realized how much I haven't accomplished on my to do list. I have to spend a good hour in Wal-Mart searching out the extremely specific school supplies my kid's school requires. I'm in search of a pink camouflage backpack and have yet to find one. My cat sheds a lot in the summer. I have to go running early enough in the morning before it's crazy hot. At some point, I have to lug a summer's worth of toys out of the dance studio so I can teach again. Heavy sigh.

I don't like posts that are all Debbie Downers, so here are it's good points: fresh tomatoes and corn.

That's about it....

I would eat that every dinner in August, but my kids would start complaining. I'm having dinner brain blocks lately.....PLEASE SHARE GOOD EASY IDEAS for dinners. I'm tapped out.

Happy August to you all!