An hour in the life of me

Seriously, you cannot believe all the drama I have had in the past hour at my house. Told the kids they had to clean the van out, many tears of protest ensued. TOO BAD! But in the midst of that Emily Vanessa left the side door to the house open and our siamese cat, aptly named Sassy, ventured outside. Wails of misery and accusation floated through the outside air as the kids tried unsuccessfully to get her back into the house. After the van was shoveled out, I sent Nataly and Rylee out with slop buckets to feed the pigs. They chose the most muddy of paths to take and both got stuck and one child even lost their sock...then they left my containers outside and I made them walk back out there barefoot to get them(you can call me a meanie, it won't hurt my feelings). Those two girls were covered in mud, and so was Ethan because he tried to help them out of the mud before I arrived on scene and showed them that the DRY ground was literally less than 10 feet away from them. WHY couldn't they walk that way?! So I sent three kids off to the tub after they stripped down outside. And I'm in my bathroom using my neti pot(I woke up a few days ago with some horrid sinus congestion) and Emily Vanessa comes in with the dog in her arms...apparently the dog got stuck in the mud too and had to be rescued. So I bathed the dog. Then I wandered outside to take this picture of the muddy boots and I see the cat on top of the chicken coop.


So I go and 'rescue' her and receive a scratch on the neck as thanks. I come back in the house and the freshly washed puppy dog has knocked the trashcan over! My patience is completely worn and I'm not even going to attempt to cook a meal lest the whole house burn to the ground. I will just put a movie on and confine myself to my bedroom to fold laundry. Keep in mind that this is just one little hour of my day. ILOVEMYFAMILYILOVEMYFAMILYILOVEMYFAMILYILOVEMYFAMILY...

She humbles me

Let me tell you a little bit about my daughter Nataly. Nataly is a very delicate soul. She can't stand any sort of movie that has suspense. Not even a disney movie that has a suspensful scene, I am not kidding. She cannot even stand to watch someone else play Mario Galaxy on the wii...she freaks out thinking that the player might not make the jump, or might be over powered by opponents.
Nataly also cannot handle guilt of any sort. Just yesterday as I was driving the kids home from school, she blurted out "I can't take it anymore!" And proceded to tell me about a rule she and the other kids had broken the week before when they had friends playing here at the house...the other kids tried really hard to shush her up, but Nataly said she had to get it off her chest. She has had a rough first part of second grade this year and has had detention twice in the prinicpals office :( the secretary told me that its almost not worth punishing her because by the time she makes the walk down to the office she has already thoroughly beat herself up, she would show up in tears, exclaiming that she had done something so bad and so wrong and she would curl up in the secretary's lap and cry her little heart out and sobbing 'please forgive me!'
Nataly is also very sensitive to the needs of others, especially others that have limitations. Her teacher this year sustained a very serious knee injury while coaching wrestling and had been in a wheel chair for the past month or so. He will be having surgery soon and this man has occupied her every though. She has even gone so far as to ask me if I could go be his nurse for awhile since he needs so much help. Her class also noticed right after thanksgiving that they did not hold the annual food drive at school, so they decided on their own to hold a food drive as a class and picked the place they would donate the food to.
I say all this so that maybe you will understand when I tell you what this special little girl asked Santa Claus for tonight as she climbed on his lap. It was quite unexpected, but I have learned that Nataly is a very unpredictable child.
She asked Santa for happiness in her heart and for forgiveness for what she had done wrong.

Spell this...

Tonight we had a school thing and we got home kinda late, so the whole homework, bath, and bed routine was a little rushed. Ethan absolutely hates doing his homework. Before he even glances at it he is whining about how hard it is and that he doesn't know it. Its an amazing chore to get this work done. Tonight I kept him up after the girls were on their beds for reading/quiet time and we got the 'easy' stuff done...then the dreaded spelling words. There were three that he struggled with, so I had him write them out three times and told him to be prepared to spell them the right way by the time I got done tucking the girls in...ok, I have to admit that I bribed him with a piece of chocolate for each correct word. It worked, he got them all right. And he even told me that I make learning easier for him and he loved me. I wonder if he would still love me without the chocolate?

Have I forgotten so quickly?

I think I have completely forgotten how to 'housewife' it...I'm bored here at home. My kids are all in school and even though this house has some big messes to clean up, there is nothing fun to do...what the heck did I used to do to fill my days up?? OH, yeah, I had all sorts of little diaper clad children is various states of movement(walking, crawling, scooting, climbing) that I ran after all day long...alas, that is no more...and I'm still bored!!

The Sunday-school clothes

I sincerely pray that I do not have to go kick some little kids butt today. You see, Ethan is all dudded up for school today. Ironed button front shirt, slacks, and even a tie. On Tuesday he and the little girls had their Christmas concert for school...so I had him wear his nicest Sunday clothes. I guess his teacher told him that he looked so handsome in them. He decided that since he looked so handsome in them that he would wear them today as well...I think my boy's got a crush on his teacher!

I made it!!

My semester(the first semester of nursing school) is officially over! There were many high points, and many low points. They all equaled themselves out and I just have to say that this semester was a smashing success! I finished what is termed to be the absolute hardest part of nursing school with straight A's.
Much credit has to be given to my family for this accomplishment as well. They have survived 16 weeks of having to search for clean laundry, wade through dirty dishes, tip toed around me as I slaved away on the computer and had my nose stuck in books. They quizzed me with notecards...and some incredibly off the wall questions. Cory has cooked countless meals and worked so hard to be working Dad and home Dad. I've relied on priesthood blessings and prayer. I've cried all over just about everyone I know. If I haven't cried on you then I'm sure I've at least whined or vented and you've heard about it. But through it all these guys stuck by me, they believe in me and they love me.
Now that I've got so much free time(har har)on my hands I have a list of pleasure reading books as long as my arm. I've got cleaning that I actually cannot wait to get to. I have a husband and children to snuggle and adore. I have so very much to be thankful for, I am incredibly blessed.