the joys of being a mom

The three things that can sometimes lead me to impatience, frustration, and who knows what else are also the three things that can bring me the most joy. In no particular order they are:

1.


2.


3.


So because I'd rather focus on the part of motherhood that I love and that makes me smile, this post is a small collection of pictures and videos that truly give me joy.


Drake fell asleep while laying next to Avery's crib to try to help her fall asleep.


This was the first time I realized that Graham really did know his letters and wasn't just making good guesses.


He just sat down and did this on his own one day.


Deep conversations in the bathroom, complete with cowboy hat.


Another night when Drake was being sweet and trying to help Avery fall asleep by laying on the floor next to her crib.


One of my favorite things is when my kids play well together, like they really are friends and not just siblings.


I don't know if rubbing dirty, sticky hands all over in her hair at the very end of dinner is really a joy, but in this case, all I could do was take a picture and carry on.


A joint effort now to help Avery sleep.


Reading together.


Cuddling on the couch.


Graham drew this picture and was attempting to write "I love you" by himself. I love it.


This basket was fun as a hat for a while.




My almost two-year-old still sucks her thumb religiously.


Graham falls asleep in the funniest places/positions.




Bath time is fun.


They still prefer to all take a bath together, which makes it quick for me and fun for them.


I'll enjoy it while it lasts.


One of my absolute favorite things in the world is the laughter of my own children. So this is a video of them laughing in the bathtub.


And this is a video of me chasing them and tickling them to get them to laugh.

And another chasing/tickling video.

These three kids make motherhood awesome, for real.

r.s. activity and my birthday

This is the first pheasant sighting of the year. Spring is getting closer.

The weekend of my birthday, our ward had a big Relief Society activity that was held on Friday night and Saturday morning.


Friday night, the focus was on Christ and the women in His life.


A lot of thought and time and effort went into the program and it turned out really well.


Before the program we had a nice dinner.




The program itself was a presentation given by seven women portraying women who were a part of Christ's life somehow (His mother, Mary Magdalene, etc.).


Each got up and took their turn reading their part. I really enjoyed it.


Here are the beautiful ladies.


Saturday morning, we served breakfast.


After breakfast, you could go to one or more of the stations and work on a project that would be given to someone in need.










Then we had a terrific keynote speaker who talked about nurturing the rising generation.




Soup and such was then served for lunch


It was a fun couple days and I'm glad it went well.


The next day, Sunday, was my birthday. This is the only decent picture I could find. The night before, Shad had taken me to a Solas concert (a group that plays celtic/irish music) as part of my birthday present. I loved it and actually bought a couple of their CDs so I could keep listening to them after the fact.


It was a fun birthday and was nice to be pampered a little. I love my family.

february in review

This is just a post full of pictures, pretty much.

Enjoying pudding.




Playing with Coulson.


I don't remember what she was eating...


Playing a treasure game from Aunt Amber.


Enjoying food.


Avery was "helping" me dry the floor.


Kind of.


Hot chocolate after playing out in the snow.


The next few pictures are of sleeping children:
This is in the middle of the night--Drake is on the floor, and Graham is on the verge of falling off.


Sharing a blanket while asleep.


I went to use the bathroom, and the door wouldn't open---notice the foot in the way.


I stuck my camera in the room and tried to capture the culprit. Graham must have gone into the bathroom with my exercise ball and a book, and been too tired to come back out.


Shad took a picture of me making lunch, so I'm including it because there are so few pictures of me.


I'm okay having a minimal amount of pictures of myself.


Fun with the stethoscope.


The result of my not scraping off enough ice from the windshield before taking Drake to the bus stop one frigid Idaho morning.


The sign I hit is just fine.


Too bad my van wasn't.


Fun with sticky, foam dots.


Playing piano with Dad.


Balancing Tinkertoys with Dad.


The end.

skiing at pebble creek

Our ward had a ski night so we took the opportunity to go skiing with our kids. We are very grateful for everyone who helped watch Avery while Shad and I took the boys down again and again, and also for those who let us do a few runs by ourselves. We had a great time and the kids enjoyed themselves too.



These next pictures have nothing to do with skiing, but I'm putting them here to shorten a future post. This is just the kids being random.



This Batman mask was bought on clearance one year, and the kids pull it out occasionally to play with it.


Avery decided to add her own sound effects to the mask.


This is Drake doing pushups.


This is Avery asking for root beer, but all she says is "beer."


And this video shows a difference of personalities when I tell my kids they're pretty or handsome.



Good times.