Remembering Alaska: Part One (In No Particular Order, Cause That's How I Roll)

Ella posing for Elizabeth to take her picture during our move. They took some really funny ones. She has the best facial expressions!

I know that this is not the best picture, sorry. I want to have it here, though because it's the only one I have of Beth (and Ella - isn't that sad - it's only half of her head that you can see!) on Will's baptism day.

This was in January of 2009. They were so little then! And I don't know why Will is hiding. He's weird.

The random order of these photos is making me laugh. Sorry about that. This one is Ben and Will getting into the car after Will was baptized.

This is Will and Ben before Will's baptism.

This is a close up of Elaina just a few days after she started combat crawling all over the place. Whe was so little! And so cute. She's still cute.

Will and Elaina on the way to Will's baptism.

This is Will (even before he was baptized) and Ben on Will's first day of Scouts. Ben had to show me how to get Will's neckerchief right.

This one makes me laugh because of how Ella and Beth are laying like they're comfy and at the beach or something. Not freezing to death in feet of snow.

Why is Will wearing a pink apron? That boy...

And I miss Elizabeth's super long hair and Ella's little bit of baby pudge. They're all so much bigger now!

This was the view out of our bedroom window. In November. That's a lot of snow considering it had only been snowing off and on for about a week at this point.

This is what I saw right before I left the room. Such cute girls.

This is what I saw when I came back in because they told me to come find them. Ella really didn't think that I would know where they were! Silly goose.

Elaina just learning to sit up by herself.

This is the funniest picture I've ever taken. This is Elizabeth on our trip home to Idaho when we moved back. I had promised them that I would set up the Wii in every hotel room. I told them that as long as they were quiet enough for Mommy and Daddy to sleep, they could play as much as they wanted. (It was in hopes that they could get some of their energy out and then be tired for part of the drive the next day and actually give me some quiet. Those girls can TALK.) Well, the first hotel room that we stayed in was lucky to have phone service. There were no t.v.'s in the rooms. Elizabeth was NOT. happy. at. all. The exact words she said right before I took this picture were: "I can't live like this!"

This is a picture I took at the Nature Preserve that was in our town. Isn't it beautiful? This was at the very end of October in 2008.

Some Random Funnies

Elaina loves to eat Chapstick. LOVES. Yuk.

Elizabeth was sad the other day, because her friend wasn't able to come over and play. She was crying on my shoulder. I said to her "I'm sorry that Kate can't come over". Ella ran into the room with a scared look and said "Beth got bit by a king cobra?!?"

Will is so full of personality. He is constantly making jokes and never wants to be serious. (Except in the morning - he wakes up like his mother. (not well)). He sings. ALL. the. time. In the bathroom. Doing the dishes. Playing outside. The other day he just wasn't listening to me at all. I turned to him and said "Why are you being so, so.... happy?!? Knock it off!" It sounded great for the 2 seconds that I was saying it. Ha.

I was putting Elaina's jacket on her the other day and as I pulled it over her head she screamed "Barbecue!!!" instead of peek-a-boo. It was hilarious. She also always comes to me when it's time to change her clothes and holds her arms up and says "Kin my wabbick!" (skin my rabbit). It's actually supposed to be "skin a rabbit" (which, is really gross when you think about it. It's just what my family has always said to little kids so it sounds normal to me!) Funny, funny, fun-ny.

Will keeps asking me if he needs to shave and if he can have deodorant. NO! You're 9. Nine.

Ben passed the CPA exam! (It's not funny, or random, but I just realized that I hadn't posted that yet so I'd better take the chance now before I forget again.) He's all official and stuff. Ben Clark, CPA. I'm so proud of him. It was really hard and took a bit. (That Audit section was a doozy.) All of our children and our primary class all understand taxes way too well for their ages so he's sharing his wealth of knowledge well, hee!

Ella got upset with me a couple of days ago when I told her to get dressed. She said "Mom! You don't hafta tell me! I'm a gwone up, not a little kid!"

Three posts in a week, I'm doing awesome! Now if I can add some pictures and change the layout I'll be quite proud of myself!

Does It Count That I Really Tried To Blog Yesterday?

And it's kinda funny why, after the day was through, I couldn't blog.

Ben changed my password into my email/blogger account. And didn't tell me. He saw me trying to log in. I tried for a long time. Then he asked if I had been hacked. He told me to log into his email and see if he'd been spammed by my address because that's what hackers do, you know. It wasn't until I finally asked him the flat out question "Did you change my password???" that he admitted to it.

Nerd.

I spent all of my blogging time trying to log into my account and by that point, Elaina was done with waiting for me.

It was time to start the Nightly Lainey Ritual without delay as far as she was concerned.

It's really funny and cute. And weird. Well, mostly weird, actually.

She has to lay on me like I'm her beach chair. Then, she has to hold each one of my hands. I can't do anything else with my hands. Hold a book, hold the remote, or surf the internet. At this point she always decides that I have to rub one of her ears. While holding her hand. That's trickier than it sounds and I get it wrong a lot. She squeals at me at a shockingly loud volume for such a little person until I get it right. Once all of that is on the right track, her face has to be covered up with the same blanket that must also cover every other part of her body. Then I have to hum a song that she likes. Twinkle Twinkle or Come Thou Fount are what she usually the favorites.

I can't help but think that if she wasn't my last baby (probably) she wouldn't get away with so much.

Maybe.

Do You Know How Much Stuff I Mostly Do?

A LOT. Like, pretty much everything. Like, for example, my blog. My posts are so sporadic it's just plain embarrassing. I have 4 more skirts left to sew for my girls and nieces. (one is done. yay me.)It's the day after Easter and we're dying Easter eggs for Family Home Evening. (I rock.) My daughter Elizabeth? Gave up on the Tooth Fairy. (that one I will never be able to laugh at.) I totally and completely stink at this parenting thing so much of the time.

The reason that I'm writing this post? It's quite simple, really.

To give myself a break. Because what happens to me is that I do positively great at being on top of everything that I need and want to do. For a day. Or a week. Or even sometimes a whole month. I know, I know. Try not to be jealous of my pure awesomeness. It's a sin, you know. Just sayin'.

So, instead of getting everything right for an entirely too short period of time and then beating myself up for not being Super Woman and getting depressed and entirely giving up on many of the important things, I'm going to try something new. And this is hard for me. I'm just going to take it a day at a time. (My inner Martha just died a little. Sorry inner Martha.) And, this part is even harder. I'm going to post it on my blog. The stories and pictures of the made beds and the organized linen closet. (Martha and I will really like those posts.) The confessions that my kids had cereal for dinner because I didn't want to cook or that (and I really hate admitting to this one) that Beth wore Will's (clean) socks to school because her drawer was empty and I didn't know. I really hate typing things like that. But you know what? It's my life. Like it or not. And you know what else? I like it. I really, really do. So I need to make sure that I remember it. And this is the only way it's happening.

And maybe it will be very helpful when I can have copies of my entire blog bound into book form for my children's therapists. Inner Martha will like that, a lot.

See you tomorrow!

Funny In A Weird Way

"Mom!" I heard from Ella's not ever quiet voice.

"Beth says that she sings better than I goo. That hurks my feelings."

"Oh Ella." I say. "I love you. And I love it when you sing. You make up such funny songs. They always make me smile."

"Oh Mama. I'll sure miss you when you're dead."

???

Little Boys and Little Girls

The tv is on and Will is in charge of the remote. Will, Spencer, Elizabeth, Ella, and Max are all glued to the show that is on. It's about how to survive a home invasion. (LOL and what the heck???)

The host is talking about how to use the Sleeper Hold to paralyze your captors. Will and Max are glued to the process and the diagrams of exactly how to do this the right way because as Will says - "You just want to put him to sleep, not put him into a coma." (good grief) Max looks at Will and says: "Will, this is good stuff, this is really good stuff!!

Then Ella looks at Will and says: "Gurn this OFF!!! Icks keachin (teaching) me bad stuff!"

5

That is the number of times that I have fallen down because I have slipped in something gross left on the floor of my home by someone else. Either puke or pee. I guess I'm loosing my sense of humor about it because this last time, nobody would fess up to who's puke was responsible for the shooting pain and swelling in my knee and my sudden need for a shower. When I told Ben about it, he replied "I don't blame them. I wouldn't tell you if it were me, either. You know I'm at work, right? That there's no way that it could have been me."