Time

Sophia has been sick this week. Monday it was all over the cereal aisle in Walmart. Tuesday no throw up but other issues. Wednesday I caught it in the throw up bowl. Thursday I wasn't so lucky and it ended up all over her and her car seat. It's Saturday night and we're getting pretty good at the bowl but poor little thing only wants her mommy. And mommy has a lot of other kids, a niece, a mother-in-law, a husband and an unfinished master bedroom redo to take care of! Tonight as she struggled to get to sleep I became impatient. I just wanted a minute to myself and I clearly wasn't going to get it. After putting her back in bed numerous times and laying by her for a while, I gave up trying to do my own thing and just sat on the floor by the side of her bed holding her hand. Thinking. It took a while to turn my thoughts from the "what I wish I were doing" to the more philosophical "where else would I rather be". As I held her tiny hand, I knew she was just happy to have me there to comfort her. Was what I wanted to do more important than her tonight? No. Do I know mothers who would give anything just to have their baby's hand to hold again? Yes. Did these thoughts change my attitude toward sitting there? Absolutely. So I sat there holding her hand until she fell asleep and enjoyed EVERY moment of it. I thought about how many things take up my time that aren't priorities. Projects and commitments that take my time away from my little ones and big ones. Do I need to do them? Sometimes. Do I want to do them? Sometimes? Can I do them? Sometimes. As long as I remember that my priority is my family*. There is a finite amount of time in this phase of my life where my family does need so much of my attention. This phase will be over before I know it and I will have time to do more of the things that I want to do. For now, I will fit in what I can, keeping in mind that if I say yes, it needs to be because it's what is best for my family. *My definition of family is broad including but not limited to my nieces and nephews, siblings, in-laws, and occasionally friends.

What We've Been Up To

We've been busy! In no particular order, here are some of the things we've been up to:

The 6th grade band played at the schools Fine Arts Night. Outside. It was a beautiful night and these are some of the best pictures I've ever gotten of a band concert. Kassie is dressed in black because also as part of Fine Arts Night, the 5th and 6th grade Ballroom Dancers performed! They have been practicing for a few months and it was very cute. If I was really high tech, I would include video, but today I'm all about getting this written down for posterity.

Kassie also tried out for the Honor Band a few weeks ago, she didn't make it:( It was a good experience and I hope what she learned was that she needs to practice more. Like I can talk. I could have been so much better if I had practiced. I played well enough to get by and didn't make an effort to be better. Maybe if I had gone to a better school, I would have had some competition for first chair. Oh well, maybe I can get my kids motivated. After school the weather has been so fantastic the kids have been playing outside everyday. One whole week they made boats and floated them in the pool. They were at it before school and after school. Isn't it fun to see what "floats their boat"? (I know, I'm so funny.)

The first grade had their musical, Caroline's class were turtles. Caroline tried out for the lead part and she was so good, I told her that if she didn't get the part, there must be something wrong with the teacher's ears! One day she came home and said, "Mom, there is something wrong with Mrs. Gossart's ears!" She was dissappointed but she got to be a firefly. They only picked girls to be fireflies because they had to do a twirl around dance and I'm pretty sure the boys wouldn't have been up for that. Caroline is a great singer and she would teach Sydney the songs at night when they were supposed to be going to sleep. Cute. We've also had a few fires for fun. We've made some yummy smores and are hooked on the coconut marshmellows thanks to the Stonelys! Wish we could have gone camping with you guys for spring break. Grand Canyon next year?

The Science Fair came and went. Sydney wanted to participate so we tried this experiment first. You put packing peanuts in a variety of household chemicals and see which chemical will dissolve the peanuts first. When I got the peanuts from the UPS store, the guy said these were biodegradable. I said good. Well guess what. Two days after starting this experiment, there was NO change. It was obviously not going to work so we had to switch to different one at the last minute.

We went with an electromagnet, which Energizer said could be made with two D batteries. Nope. I went for the 12volt at Radio Shack and the kids had a great time playing with it. Didn't win any awards or anything but it was fun.Caroline has been doing Daisies this year and we did our first Girl Scout Cookie sale this spring. I am really not a fund raiser person, telling my kids no for EVERY one in the past. This seemed different, maybe it's because I actually buy the cookies and I know everyone else does too. Dan took boxes to work with him and sold them all! People in the neighborhood were so cute because Caroline would show up at their door with her Daisy vest on and ask if they wanted to buy some cookies. Some people said they had already bought from another girl so no thank you. But some people said they had already bought some "But you're so cute, I'll buy another box." She really had that going for her.

Spring Break is going to have to be a separate post because, as usual, we did a whirlwind vacation. I mean, we moved from Texas so we wouldn't have to drive so far. But since we're used to driving 17 hours one way, we thought why not do Disneyland, the beach, then go skiing in Utah! So that's the next post, too much to cover.

Bragging on Sophia

My mother-in-law has always said my kids were genius, but what can you expect from a very biased source? Recently Kassie started keeping a list on her iPod titled "Things that 2 year olds don't normally say and do but Sophia does". Long title. Some of the things on the list include:

Asking how fast we're going in the car and what street we're on.
Asking if I'm frustrated when I blow out my breath very loudly.
Using lines from movies in appropriate situations and with accents or voices.
Telling her sisters to "knock it off" when they are annoying her.
Smelling smoke and asking who is having a BBQ.

We have to give her something to do when we are having family night so plays with game cards.
We potty trained her using treats whenever she went to the bathroom. That was a few months ago. On this day, she actually went all by herself and decided she was entitled to a treat. She opened the freezer and climbed up to the top shelf to get the chocolate chips, spilling them in the process. I thought it had been quiet for a while and this is what I found.

Also, she has been giving up naps lately which makes for a very cranky baby about dinner time. One day, I called everyone to dinner and she didn't come. I went looking for her and found her in her room like this. She had made a bed in her doll crib and climbed in, falling asleep sitting up! Too bad I didn't have video because her head lolling from side to side was really funny.

Most days she is just fun to be with. I know that all too soon, she will stop saying things like "hampshoo" for shampoo, and "paper toilet" for toilet paper. I am savoring these moments of cuteness and silliness, the joy of innocence and trust. They will be over too soon.