Things I Want To Remember

To balance out how stressed out the last post made me feel, I just wanted to write down a few funny/quirky things my kids do that make me smile. ;)  This blog has always been about writing down things to remember for the future, and these are things that I definitely don't want to forget!

Asher was telling me about a dream he had last night, how Mia "clambered" on to his bed.  He is always using vocabulary a little above his age (and usually in the right context!) and it makes me smile every time!  I think he picked that particular word up from the book "Room on the Broom".

When Mia wants to take my seat or if I'm standing where she wants to play, she'll tap my leg and say " 'Scusey  Mama" and then when I move "Thank you Mama".  She can be so polite when she wants to! She'll also say it to Millie or Ava if she thinks they're in her way.

Usually when Ava leaves a room, she'll look back at me and wave and say "Bye!  Yuv you!"  I accidentally trained her to do that because that's what I always say to her when she starts walking away from me.  I'm not sorry about that.

One night when David was heading out to the gas station to get some pops, he asked Asher if he wanted a treat.  But if he did, he'd have to go with David to the store.  Asher said "No, I'm fine with my life the way it is!"  It gave me a chuckle.

Mia is my worst sleeper.  But she's usually really cute about it so it's hard to get mad.  I can always tell when she's not sleeping because she talks to herself very loudly in her crib.  And tries to talk to Ava.  "Sissy....where are you?"  That's one that makes me lol every time! 

Ava loves Millie and will always go up to her and say "Millie good girl".  I usually say that to Millie and it is funny when she says it too!  She has also figured out where Millie's dog cookies are and will give Millie as many as she can until I stop her.

Both girls have a trouble with volume control.  They love to yell out "Mom!" and "Daddy!" no matter where we are.  Everyone in church knows where we sit.  We went to David's high school concert last night and in between movements of one of the pieces he could hear "Mom!" from on stage.  He whispered to his students "That's my kid...."  But usually when they yell out like that it is out of excitement and happiness!

That's all I can think of right now.  I'm going to try to be better about documenting these things because I would be sad if I forgot them!  So expect more of these in the future!

Fall Busy-ness

I had a teacher in high school tell us that as a teenager, you feel like you are the most tired you could ever be.  Then you get to college and you think that THIS is the most tired you could be.  And then you get a full time job.  And then you have kids.  And then you get old.  And you just get more and more tired until you die.  I have thought about that a lot the past could of months!  David and I have been trying very hard to make it so that we can get out of debt and in a more financially secure place.  Every time we get close to that we have to move, or David breaks his back, or we have twins, or we have to buy a new engine for our car.  But we are really hoping nothing big will happen this time! (knock on wood...)  

David and I have a total of 6 jobs between the two of us. David works for the school district, teaches private cello lessons, and teaches lessons at BYU-Idaho.  I recently got a new job tutoring English to Chinese kids (Something I feel weird talking about for some reason, probably because it feels like the cliche' Mormon mom job.  But it lets me make a little money and stay home with the kids!)  We both play with the Idaho Falls Symphony.  

I'm going to give a sample of our daily schedule, which will actually change a little starting tomorrow.  Normally I teach every morning from 6-7am, but since we had Daylight Saving Time and China doesn't observe that it will now be from 5-6am. I will have to get up at 4:30, teach from 5-6, then go back to bed until I have to get up with the kids.

5:30- Abby gets up

6-7:00 - Abby tutors

7:30 - David gets up

8:00 - David goes to work

8:40 - Abby takes all kids to bus stop, Asher goes to school

8:40-1:30 - Abby, Mia, and Ava have girl time!  I actually really like this time of day.  They are usually in the best mood now and we play and clean and hang out.  Sometimes David comes home between schools (he teaches at 3 different schools) and the girls really like that.

1:30 - Mia and Ava nap.  Mom gets lunch (yay!) and does chores I can't do while the girls are awake.  Lately that has been trying to clean up our backyard.  We cut down 3 apples trees a month ago and are still cleaning it up.  It has been a TON of work.

3:15 - Asher gets off the bus.

3:45 - Abby wakes the girls up (so they'll actually sleep at night) 

*At this point one of two things happens. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday David immediately comes home and teaches 3 lessons for his private studio.  On Tuesday, Thursday he immediately drives to Rexburg to teach 2 lessons at BYU-Idaho*

4:15 - 6:30 David teaches lessons, Abby tries to keep the kids relatively quiet on the days David teaches at home.

*On weeks we have rehearsals with the Idaho Falls Symphony, David doesn't teach as many lessons, but we have rehearsal/concert Tues-Saturday nights.  The kids are ok having a babysitter every night, but by the end of the week they get much more emotional. Rehearsals go from 7-9:30, concerts from 7:30-9:30.*

7:30 - Ava and Mia go to bed.

8:00 - Asher goes to bed.

8:45 - Abby takes Millie on a walk to get out of the house and try to regain some of her sanity.

9:30 - Abby and David watch a movie.  David falls asleep after 20 minutes, after which Abby gets things ready for her lesson in the morning.

10:30-11:00 - Abby makes David go to sleep.

On Saturdays David teaches 5 more lessons and I spend the day cleaning.  Sunday we go to church.  After church I am the ward choir director and David is one of the financial clerks.  On days David has to help count tithing, I get to take the kids to choir with me.  It's super fun when it's nap time and Ava wants to be held the whole time I'm trying to direct the music.  

So our life is exhausting.  I average about 6 hours of sleep at night.  But hopefully this is a temporary thing.  We are both very tired all of the time, but still try to do family things and not have our kids feel like they're abandoned! We both aren't doing the concert in December with the Symphony and David has started canceling his lessons on weeks we have concerts with them.  So let's all pray that we make it through this and can still enjoy some time together!

Now some fun pictures that I like to look at!

Ava thought this was so fun!  She hopped on the back of the tricycle while Mia was on it.  Ava got very upset when Mia left and kept trying to lure her back over.

Randomly one morning, I did an art project with Asher.  I had just finished a lesson, Asher had just woken up, and everyone else was still sleeping.  We replicated an art project he had done in school.

A trip to the pumpkin patch!  We went with my brother and his family.  David had to teach lessons and couldn't make it.  It was very cold, but very fun!

Asher had so much fun riding the pony!

My and my girls.

The corn pit is always fun!

Asher really misses having Sorren come over every day (I used to watch him after Kindergarten) so they really enjoyed spending time together!

Asher really loves his sisters.  He takes great care of them and loves hanging out with them.  Most of the time. ;)

Trying on their Minnie Mouse ears!

This picture made me laugh!  She gets attached to the most random things.  She loves those earmuffs and every time she saw the pumpkins she would sit down on them and start giggling.

I like her.

Ava loves hats!  She is always stealing mine and Asher's hats.

Her hair is finally long enough for a super cute little ponytail!  (I always call them piggies.  My dad asked why I call them that when I only put one in instead of two pigtails, and I just think it's cuter to call it that!)

Ava also loves yogurt!  And it is always a huge mess when I feed the girls yogurt.

Ninja and two Minnie's!

While David was in Rexburg teaching lessons I took the kids to our ward trunk-or-treat and the school district thing.  Once David got home we bundled the kids up and braved the 20 degree weather and took the kids door-to-door!  We were only out there about 30 minutes, but they all had a lot of fun!