Life of Mom

{Not gonna lie -- the above picture is kind of a metaphor for my life these days.}

When I brought Isaac to preschool a few days ago, we were running late, and his shoes were the last thing I grabbed as we were running out the door after a particularly haggard morning.  However, I didn't discover until we'd dropped off all the other kids and had pulled up to his school that I had accidentally grabbed one of his shoes and one of Alex's.  Doh!  As I convinced him to just put the big one on as we walked into the building, and that I'd bring the right one back after signing him in, I realized that the whole situation was downright analogous to my efforts on the mom front these days.  As in -- I'm almost, but NOT quite, killing it.  Hahahahaha. 

And since I haven't blogged in a while, there are TONS of things to catch up on.  Here are the highlights:

• Family Home Evening Fun

Bless Gianna's heart.  She orchestrated the most awesome family home evening activity for us a couple of weeks ago.  She's noticed that even though she thinks that my kids do love each other, they seem to scream at each other an awful lot.  #TRUTHBOMB. Hahahaha.  So, she created a family ninja warrior obstacle course for us at a nearby park for a fun FHE activity and then finished the lesson off by having everyone in the family go around and give a compliment to everyone else in the family.  It was awesome.  Especially since Words of Affirmation are my love language.  ;)

• Karma

As I mentioned before, we used the month of September to focus on Gratitude in our efforts to increase our joy and spread it to others.  Throughout the month, the majority of us have taken the time each week to send Thank You notes to those who have touched our lives.  It has been an AWESOME experience -- I highly recommend it.  Especially since karma is real.  That which we put out into the world is definitely returned to us.  I was surprised and delighted to receive a legit letter in the mail last week from one of my former Sunday school boys back in St. Louis.  It's been 5 or 6 years since I taught him, and he's serving a mission right now for our church, but it warmed the very cockles of my heart to hear how he's doing and to know that even if he doesn't remember any specific lesson I taught, he remembers that the Spirit was there in our class.  

• Sleeping Antics

This kid!  Isaac has officially won the title of worst sleeper in the family.  I was hopeful that being forced to take a nap at preschool would help him to catch up on all the sleep he needs and help him to be less cranky, but that was just wishful thinking.  BECAUSE he naps almost every day now, he can't fall asleep at night until 9 or 10 o'clock.  And in the last week, he's started waking up in the middle of the night again and coming into our bed and effectively kicking me OUT.  Literally.  And then when you throw in the fact that the Tweedles take FOREVER to get to bed, and Sophie doesn't fall asleep until extra late each night, I would have to say that everyone in this household is in desperate need of some sleep.  Needless to say, I'm super tired these days.  Especially since my day starts out so bright and early with making sure seminary kids get out the door.  Sleep is a luxury that I didn't know to appreciate until I had kids.   

{But look at what a sweet, little cherub he is when he's asleep.}

• Temple Trip

Last Friday, I was lucky enough to attend our ward's youth Temple Trip that was scheduled for a day when the kids had no school.  While the temple experience itself was lovely and a nice break from the everyday world, waking up at 4:30 that morning and then driving 4 hours up and 5 hours back (thanks to some construction and traffic) was a little rough.  I thought Ethan was going to absolutely lose his mind on the drive back when it ended up taking so long, but he sucked it up and survived.  Let's just say that when Ethan is ready to go home, he's ready to go home.  Hahaha.  Grace on the other hand was more than happy to be spending an entire day with some of her best friends.  ;)

Panera stop for lunch with our car crew on the way back home from the temple.

• Cross Country Redemption (Almost)

When last we left off, we were bemoaning the fact that Ethan had re-rolled his ankle and the future of his cross country season was looking bleak.  However, he made some kind of miraculous turn around over the course of the week and during last Saturday's race, he was on track to hit a PR if he hadn't been slowed down half way through by losing his shoe!  I don't understand how it happens, but in every single meet I've been to this year, I've seen multiple people running with one shoe off and one shoe on after it's slipped off during the race.  I don't get it, but it happens.  And this time, it happened to Ethan.  Apparently, it slipped off about a mile and a half into the race, and he was going to just keep running without it but then realized that it was the shoe with the timing chip on it, so he kind of needed to turn back and get it.  Even with all that hullabaloo, he still finished in about the same time as his previous week's race!  I know he was so bummed about not getting a PR, but I think he was simultaneously tickled to have such an interesting story to tell and excited that his season may turn out okay after all.  :)

It was his rolled ankle that lost the shoe.

Grace is a self-proclaimed "cross country mom" and Gianna is an actual cheerleader, so these cross country kids are SUPER lucky to have us there every week.  Hahahahahaha.

Alyson, David, Grace, Gianna, Ethan, and Danny

• More Doctor Visits

The bizarre saga of Grace's lymphangitis continued last week and culminated on Saturday afternoon with the discovery that she's allergic to the antibiotic they put her on.  {Bactrim.}  I don't know why it took until day 9 of the 10 day treatment for her to break out into hives, but I guess I should have been paying a little more attention when she was telling me things like the medicine gave her a headache every time she took it and that it made her feel like she was "high."  Not sure I know how she would know what that feels like, but I do know that she and Ethan had a lot of fun all week claiming that she was on meth since one of the drugs in the antibiotic was called sulfamethoxazole.  Those kids.  

(She's also allergic to penicillin.)

• School Productions

Monday night, we were treated to an absolute gem of a performance by Jane in her 4th grade State Musical Production.  She was SOOOOOOO excited and has been practicing the songs and her dance for WEEKS.  It was epic.  And awesome.  And I loved every second of it.  :)  Jane, meanwhile, was on cloud 9 all evening long and was easily one of the most animated kids up there.  (Along with one of her BFFs, Annie.)

And that is that, folks.  With General Conference this weekend, I'm really looking forward to a more relaxed pace and nothing to run around to.  There are no meets tomorrow, or practices or games, and I can't wait to hear the prophet and Apostles and other church leaders speak to us as I listen for answers to my burning questions!  (Number one of which is to figure out how to find/create more balance in my life and number two of which is to figure out how we can teach our children more obedience and respect.  I'll keep you posted on both of those.)