8 is great

Michael and I have been married 8 years today. 

We have been through 5 moves.

We have had 3 children.

We have had 2,154 disagreements :)

We have had several different hair styles (mostly me).

We have had 2 lawsuits.

We have had 6 different cars.

We have lost lots of weight and gained lots of weight.

We have had many different church callings.

We have been on 1,015 walks together.

We have slept in the same bed, but bought one new mattress.

We have celebrated 8 Christmas' together.

We have watched 976 movies together.

We have danced often.

We have made each other laugh at least once a day.

We have been through one bankruptcy.

We (I) have learned not to make chicken enchiladas.

We have met many new and wonderful friends and neighbors.

We have learned patience together.

We have had a variety of jobs.

We have had 1 associates and 1 bachelors degree earned.

we went to Mexico to get a root canal.

We have been to a variety of amusement parks.

We have had 1 major surgery.

We have trained and run many races (mostly Michael).

We have been apart during many business trips.

We have cried with and for each other.

We have had our lowest and highest moments together.

We have learned every little detail about each other...

and we still love each other more than ever.

Happy Anniversary to my favorite person in the whole world.  I couldn't be happier!!

And just for memories, her is the video of my nieces singing to us at our wedding:
http://michaelandbonnie.blogspot.com/2009/05/5-wonderful-years.html

carousel

We took the kids to the carousel on Saturday.  It was super windy, which made the ride all the more fun.



the graduate

Nora graduated 1st grade today.  The whole class sang a song about Dreaming and I couldn't help but get teary.  I never know when all the growing up Nora does is going to hit me.  I am always caught by surprise when I cry over my children getting older. 

I am so proud of Nora.  she had a rough start at George Washington.  Since I switched her 2 weeks in, she took a long time enjoying her school and really feeling like it was something she could do. 

 Putting her in George Washington was one of the best decisions I have made for her and although she cried a lot the first few days, I am so glad I stuck with it.

Nora recieved the "Super Star in Reading and Comprehension" award. 

Mrs. Poulton was so sweet.  You could tell how much she loves her students.  She kept tearing up when she talked about their improvment and how much she loved them.  Nora had a wonderful teacher!

After school, George Washington Academy paid for all their students to got the the Swimming pool for a party.  I took the whole fam.  It was a great farewell for Nora.  She saw most of her friends from school there and was able to have one last farewell.







boys will be boys

Do not be fooled by this adorable face.  This little boy is a demon through and through :)

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this kid and I LOVE having a boy. 

I knew boys were different from girls....I've heard it several times throughout my life. 

I just thought I was different.  "There is no way my little boy will be destructive.  There is no way my boy will want to use everything as a sword.  There is no way my cute little boy will hit and bite everything in his path. 

Alas, I was wrong.  Clark is a typical boy...even with his sisters wanting to play house or baby with him. 

This demon of a boy makes me laugh so many times a day.  He knows exactly how to manipulate Michael and me.  It is so hard to say no to him, or to make him go to bed, or to punish him or anything else that we do on a regular basis with the girls. As hard as it is, we do it...and hopefully he will turn into a suave stud someday.

(I asked him to say cheese, so he stuffed the cookie on his face and then said cheese)

Boys will be boys!!



Lily's Graduation

Lily graduated from preschool yesterday.  Who knew I would actually get sad about it? 

They had a cute little program for the parents.  After the program, they rode horses and ate ice cream.  Lily could have cared less about the program.....she just wanted to rush to the horses and ice cream.

Lily with her teacher.  She LOVES Miss Melissa!

Lily has been begging to get her nails done.  So, we decided to do it as a graduation gift.  She was beaming the whole time her nails were being painted. 

Congrats Lily.  We love you and we are so proud of you!



smart girl

I had this conversation with Nora yesterday on Mothers Day:

Nora:  Mom, you are the best mom in the world.

Me: What if you had another mom?

Nora: Then I would leave that mom and come back to you.

Me: What if that mom gave you everything you wanted.

Nora: Then I would get everything I wanted and then come back to you! :)



splash pad days

We have started our splash pad days.  Lily, Clark and I headed to the splash pad while Nora was at school.  It was quite a warm day, which made it very pleasant.  Clark is starting to enjoy getting really wet.  It took a few times of me splashing him and him getting mad at me....but he is slowly getting there :)



cinco de mayo

I was able to help out at Nora's
 Cinco De Mayo party at her school. 

They had a ton of fun stuff planned and
Nora was looking forward to it for a long time. 

Thanks to my neighbor who was able to watch
Clark and Lily for me,

 I was able to surprise Nora and help out at her stations.

They gave them each a sombrero
 and they made their own poncho. 

They learned a few songs and a few dances
and then they ate quesadillas and chips and salsa.

zippity line

For Mothers day Michael got me a ticket to do the zip line in town.  Down below it doesn't seem too bad.  Once at the top, I was about to throw up.  I did not know I would be so scared.  I LOVE roller coasters and I love doing daring things....so it surprised me how scared I was.

The guys at the top could tell how scared I was so they tried to scare me even more.  As they were setting up my harness they said, "Oh man, I forgot how this hooks on.  I hope I did it right."  Another guy said, "Don't worry, only a few have fallen this week and they didn't get hurt too bad."

Michael filmed me but no pictures were taken of me screaming!

After I was done, Nora was begging to go.  I honestly thought she would back out and be too scared once she got to the top.  I made sure I could get a refund if she decided not to go through with it. 

Michael and I were both surprised when Nora jumped off the edge with no fear and loved every second of it.  We were so proud of her for being so daring!!

craigslist finds

We finally transferred Clark to a big bed.  He was quite attatched to his crib.  It took a few nights of very little sleep, but he now sleeps even better than when he was in his crib.

We had a mattress for him but no actual bed.  So, I have been searching Craigslist to find something cheap but doable. 

I finally came upon a great, cheap bed.  The family had bought it from IKEA a few years back and needed to down size.  So, I lucked out. 

Clark loves his bed.  His room is going to be a baseball theme....but it is hard to find just Baseball stuff without adding other sports into the decor.  We will slowly get there.

After I got Clark a bed, Nora was pretty mad.  She once had a twin bed but after her and Lily jumped on it soooooo much, it cracked.  For a few months she has just been sleeping on mattresses on the floor.  I didn't want to reward her for breaking her own bed.  So, I have been having her sleep on mattresses until I found a decent bed for her.  I found one on Craigslist for 20 bucks.  It probably won't last too long, but I am proud of my find and Nora was exstatic.  I have never seen her so grateful. 

     



why?

It is days like today that I wonder why I ever wanted to be a mom.  It is days like today when my son smashes his banana into our fairly new area rug.  It is days when my girls cut each others hair.  It is days when my daughter uses a marker to write her name on her dresser and on the car seat.  It is days when my daughter uses the word "NO" more often than "Yes".  It is days when my daughter draws on our big screen TV with a pen and scratches it.  It is days when I have just mopped the floor and then my son pours chocolate powder all over it. It is days when there are far more finger prints on the walls than there are minutes in a week.  It is days when all of my kids erase stuff off my computer or my phone or my kindle.  It is days when nothing I make for dinner is good enough....even when it is something they have had and loved before.  All of these days make me wonder "WHY?".   

Sadly, I wonder why more often than I am grateful for the why.  I know why I had children.  I remember wanting children so badly and I remember being so darn excited with each child.  

I wonder a lot how my own mother did it.  She had 8 children, none of them were particularly well behaved :)  I have only 3 children and I feel so overwhelmed 95% of the day, each day.  

There are times when I call Michael (sometimes crying and sometimes not) and all I need to tell him is,  "I hate being a mother today!"  I really wish it were not the case.  I really wish I had the patience to love motherhood EVERYDAY!  I don't.  I love my children unconditionally.....but I do not love being a mother unconditionally.  

If there were not the days where my son runs to me and says, "Mommy, I love you!"  or the days when my daughter says, "Mommy, you are my favorite mommy ever."  or the days when my other daughter says, " Mom, you are the best cook!", I think I would ask "WHY?"  far more often. 

I LOVE my children.  I feel so honored that I am the one trusted to raise them.  I honestly believe there are thousands of others who would do a better job than me, but for now, I will do my best. 

Happy Mothers Day! 

marigold

Nora brought home a small cup with some soil in it from school.  There were seeds at the bottom of the cup and Nora was convinced that she was going to get her plant to grow.  I was very pessimistic about it.  I even voiced my doubts with her.  I mean, honestly, do those things ever work? 

 For me they have never worked.....mostly because I was not diligent enough to water them and take care of them.  However, Nora took great care of her plant.  I resisted throwing it away (I tend to secretly throw away things that I don't want cluttering my house :)

Even after Clark almost destroyed it, the plant has grown. 

 I am so impressed with Noras plant.....but mostly impressed with the love and care Nora has for her Marigold.