Quotable

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and trying to REprioritize and simplify my life:

“I used to think I could do everything, that my babies would be fine squeezed into the rest of my To Do list. Today I know that children must rise to the top of the list, and that list must dwindle considerably.” ~ Iris Krasnow

For more on this and an interesting read anytime, visit 71 Toes, written by a woman I've looked up to since I can remember.

1st Amusement Park Ride

This summer we (or I should say grandpa Freeman-thanks!) took the kids to Lagoon. I loved going here once a summer as a kid.

B loved the rides. S did not.

Here is B on her 1st ride:

Dad volunteered to go while I corralled S and took pictures.

"Who is this guy pushing down the bar on my lap?"--don't we all think that?!

Excited!

LOVED it!!

SIU

Here's something I wrote a few weeks ago that shows the reality of my life. I finally got the courage to post it:


" . . . But the truth of it is that this very busy time of year has me pooped.

It's Bella's birthday week. So, besides gearing up for that and the festivities it brings, Eric's been working a few 24+ hour shifts that have us all tired.

So, here's to being more patient tomorrow, since I can always work on that.

A story for you:
While cleaning up the kitchen, a mom (who shall remain nameless) was getting sick of her older daughter tattling on every little thing her YOUNGER sister was doing to her while they were on the couch together watching a show. As in tattling, I mean yelling up the stairs, "Mom . . . she's bugging me." "Mom, she's touching me." "Mom, she's pinching me." "Mom, She won't give me fish." Etc. etc.
The mother gave the usual replies, "S, don't do that." "S, give your sister fish." "S, we share." "S, do you want to go to time out?" etc. Finally, after an excessive amount of this, in the spirit of Monk (as in the TV show), the mother yelled down, "Suck it Up!"

I am in shock. I still have no idea what would possess a mother to say such horrid things to her daughter!?!"

~~don't worry, we are better now. :)

Redemption

And just to redeem myself so that you can see
the true Beauty of our only female Eating Contest contestant.
Here she is as her petite, cute, sparkly self surrounded by tall strapping Free - men:

Love ya Joyce!

Eating Contest

So, I've been debating posting these pictures for a while, but every time I see them I just laugh. And so I thought I should because I know EVERYONE just loves to see themselves in an eating contest. ;)

A little background: the Freeman Family Olympics were held this year at E's fam reunion. Us 20+ peeps were divided in 4 teams as fairly as possible. We tried to divide it up so everyone got to do 2 events. There were many events listed here such as Bocce ball, "roll the ball," card games, float the river, etc. etc. AND an EATING CONTEST. Props to Joyce who was nominated as her team's representative and was the only female Eating Contest contestant.

Pictures speak for themselves:

Pre-donut anticipation!!

The FIRST bite--(love how the little boys are so excited that their parents are doing this!)

Working at it!

I think I hear gagging and laughing going on here:

Father vs. Son: Josh--have you even taken one bite yet?! ;)

And to be honest I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure Uncle 'Teve was our winner!!!

And in case you were wondering how Joyce felt after eating a donut in less than a minute, here's a picture for you. Seriously, wow. I would want to gag too:


You go girl.

the Patch

Truth be told, I am not a fan of the patch.
The eye patch.
Bella's eye patch.
Those of you who have had to have this annoying bandaid thing cover your eye or convince your child to wear it on their eye for 4-6 hours a day know what I'm talking about. And those of you who don't can imagine, I'm sure.
Here she is wearing it on her birthday last year:


It seems like around this time every year we are told she needs to patch her eye again for a 6 week trial period to see if it will do anything to help her eyes. And it doesn't. But we do it anyways.

So here we are again, doing the patch to see if it will help her again.

Cross your fingers that this time it works so we won't have to do another surgery.

Family Pictures 2010

Bella's bday was great this week. When I get the chance I'll upload the pictures. But for now, here's some pics I've been promising some of my gentle readers.

As you can see, S did not thing fam pics were fun. She HAD to be held by ONLY mom. No grass poses. No dad. No anyone. And we were lucky to get B to look at the camera. We found out afterwards she had Otitis Externa (Swimmers Ear) and lots of stuff was draining from her ear. I hear it kills. No wonder she was not into it.

But don't worry, we had some cute ones in the end:

Here B was able to play with my bracelet: (but you can't tell right?)

These are courtesy of our friend, Monica, who drove all the way with her baby and husband to E's family reunion in Morgan, UT in July and took pictures.

Which one do you like best?

I love this one except I think I look bigger than the E in this pic:

Go here to see more pics of the shoot.

Happy Birthday Bella!

Our cutie is turning 4 this week!

We are so excited for her!

Just hoping I can survive it. The party I mean. :)

I Saw Things Going Differently in My Head . . .

So, for a long time I've been thinking of having some gals together for lunch. While visiting Ohio, I was invited to a "lunch bunch" which consisted of 5 gals who rotate homes for a gourmet lunch every week. It was fun, classy, delicious, and the kids just seemed to do really well too.

So, I thought, no big deal, I can do this.

Plus, one of my friends is due to have her 3rd child, so I thought it would be good to combine a lunch or "brunch"--which sounds more fancy--with a little shower for her. Turns out she didn't want the attention of a shower. So that idea was partly nixed, although I still thought I'd try to make it more for her with her friends, etc.

In my mind, I envisioned a nicely set table, people arriving to piping hot food. Interesting, fun conversation, with all our children playing together in a quiet, nice way. The food done at the exact hour that the brunch should start. We (as in the adults) eat, with kids in and out. And then the second half, the kitchen gets clean super quick (by itself) while we chat and make these cool bracelets from soda tops. So, I called some friends and we set it for 10 today.

This is how it went:
I wake up at 5, toss and turn for 1/2 hour and get up at 5:30 and work on the computer for about an hour. Then realize the kids aren't getting up anytime soon and fall asleep on the couch til 7:45 when I hear Sierra calling out from her crib saying that she pooped. Good thing: sleeping in. Bad thing: sleeping in and not ready.
Get that all cleaned up and try to read my scriptures while giving S her milk. S keeps wanting me to read her books instead. I try to clean up the kitchen and straighten the house while Bella still sleeps (she never sleeps this late!!!) which I figure is good since it's her first day of afternoon preschool with no nap today. Finally, I wake her up at 8:30 since Sierra waits to eat her breakfast til Bella's up and she just can't wait longer. Bella is in a grumpy mood and puts a pillow over her head for a half hour while S plays in her room and I try to throw myself together. No shower. No time to do hair. Just trying to make myself look presentable at this point.
By 9:15 B is at least up and getting dressed and has a meltdown because she wants her braid down and I tell her I need to redo it. She won't "come here" so I can do it. Crying continues until she looks in a mirror and decides she likes it. Well, at least I'm pretty much ready at this point although I still have a pj shirt with no bra.

I start clearing off the counters and mixing up the crepes which then have to refrigerate. Finally at 9:25 the kids are having breakfast and I'm starting the dishwasher and figuring out the Kisag for whipping cream. We say a prayer for breakfast since I've already lost my temper twice with the kids and am a little stressed at this point. The kids finish up breakfast surprisingly quickly (in 10 minutes) and I look out the window to see a friend pulled up in her car! It's only 9:35! I run downstairs and throw a shirt (and bra) on and joke with her at the door about telling her a half hour late next time. :)

Of course, the table is not set with nice plates or glasses, the crepes are not cooked, the fruit is not cut up. I haven't had a chance to run a hot iron through my hair, so it's a bit crazy. And there's still milk all over the table from breakfast. I come up to the kitchen to find that Bella has spilled a pint of cream all over herself and the floor. Ahhh!!

Needless to say, things did not go as planned. I think Sierra had a few fits during the time frame. In fact, at one point she was screaming so loudly over a string cheese in her hand that she didn't want me to open for her after I had already opened it, and I just decided to tune her out. Luckily, the other moms have multiple kids, so they seemed to understand. In my mind, I thanked them. Plus, I have never made crepes before. I don't think we even ate til 11.

Oh well. Welcome to reality.
I think people had fun. At least I hope they did, even if I was a bit self conscious about everything going smoothly. And I'm glad that this was not a shower for my friend or I would have been embarrassed.

But, I guess this is a learning experience for next time and how I should plan ahead and lower my expectations. . . :)

Jeni's Ice Cream, Columbus, OH

Mmmm . . . . now doesn't that look tasty?! A memory from June.

Except for the super tall person on the end who has a bad hair day and was wearing her husband's shorts. lol.

Tornado

This is B's interpretation of a tornado:

We have had several tornado warnings here and have found that our basement bathroom is the only satisfactorily safe tornado shelter in our home. Makes for a cramped few hours but we set up base their with our laptop and cell phone to connect us to the outside world.

But when you have had a tornado come within a mile of your home (!!!), it makes you grateful that you have a bathroom to shelter in.

I didn't know we were in Tornado Alley!?!

Love how the tornado warnings always say at the end "if all else fails, lie face down in a ditch."

Comforting words.

Father's Day

Silver Lake

I have to go up in the mountains at least once every time I visit Utah.

I just miss it.

So, we headed up to walk around Silver Lake with my mom and Livs.

Sierra decided to stop and put her feet in.

And cute feet they are.

Ahh . . . I'll remember this relaxing warm sunshine for those winter months which loom ahead.

Watching the World Cup

Can you tell we are related to a bunch of soccer bums?!?

On that note, props to my sis, AO who makes her debut as a college athlete later this week?!!

Obsessed

with all animals.

At a pet store, holding a kitty, B: "PLEASE, PLEEEEASE can we take the kitty home."
M: "No."
B: "Why?"
M: "Grandpa's allergic to them and Dad doesn't like them because they shed."
B, in tears: "PLEASE, PLEEEEEEEAAAAAAASE."
M, Worst mom in the world: "No, we already have a dog."


To dad later at dinner, B: "Dad, I want a kitty."
D: "No, babe, we aren't getting a kitty."
B: "Why?"
D: "Cause dogs and cats don't get along, so Norty probably wouldn't like that very much."
B: "But why?"
D had to explain this concept several times.

To dad later, B: "Dad, why can't we have a kitty?"
D, after explaining the same reasons over and over, he finally resorted to using some medical jargon on B: "Cause cats make babies sick" (referring to IF I was to become pregnant and the fact that pregnant women shouldn't deal with cat poop).
B, FINALLY willing to resolve in a compromise: "Well, maybe when Sisi grows up we can have a cat."

Whatever gets her to stop asking . . . :)

Love This Girl

Love that I could finally meet her in UT!

Love that she drove out from Herriman. Love that she introduced me to Geo-caching. Love that she paid the anal retentive horse lady money for the "petters." It makes me laugh even now.
Hope the trip back to Guam was better than your trip out. ;)

And love that this post reminds me of all the AMAZING people I have in my life, mostly far, but some near, that I love and CHERISH.

Can U Tell My Kids Like Dogs?

Bella's rocking hairstyle courtesy of Aunts Livy and Tressa. Fluffy dog courtesy of pet store.

Sister Sleepover

While in the big UT, B had a sleepover with two of my sisters.

I think this was one of the highlights of her trip.

She still talks about it: makeup, nails, hair, sleeping over. . . . ;)



Thanks aunties!

Newest member of our Family

Someone LOVes having a new friend to play with!

While someone feels a little left out . . .

Someone deserves all the credit for these photos.

While someone just wants to run with her newest friend . . .

And show off her impish cuteness!

If you are interested in adopting Norton, go here.

We're Back!

Hip, hop, hippity, hop. We're back from a great trip!

And as soon as I work up the energy to hook up the little cord to the camera and upload the pictures, we'll have some GREAT pictures to share.

But for now I want to share a Beautiful story with y'all if you have an hour or so to quietly listen and be INsPIRED. Thanks Leah.