Breathe

Mom was having a particularly hard week, so we took her to the cemetery and then on a little walk along the river. It's remarkable what a little fresh air can do for the soul.  We all left the river that day with a renewed sense of peace and rest.  I didn't take any pics of the invalids (mom and I) perched on boulders on the side of the river.  My balance is so terrible right now, I didn't dare take the hand of these little ones or walk on any slippery rocks.  Regardless, it was soothing and wonderful.  This is crystal park. We love it here. It's about 30 minutes from our house, but it is totally worth it.

Valentine!

I saw this idea on pinterest.  You take paper and write words that describe your children.  I didn't get out the mailboxes this year, so this was a great replacement. It was fun to see their faces and then to read all the words to them. Xiana got to have her first school Valentines exchange.  She painstakingly wrote every name of all 28 classmates in order to distribute them at school. Then, when she got home, she read and reread all of her many valentines.  I remember those days so well. I loved Valentine's.  I think it was a hard day for my mom. It's so ironic, when dad was alive, mom never cared much for Valentine's day.  She liked to go out a few days early and generally thought the flowers were somewhat silly.  It's remarkable the things we all take for granted.  We had mom, Garrett, and Kelli over for a fondu dinner.  It was delicious and wonderful to be able to have everyone together.  Brian and I went out alone on another night.  We had veggies, bread, and cheese first, then I brought out oil and broth for the pork, shrimp, steak, and chicken.  I had noodles for the broth, but we were so stuffed there was no way we were going to make it. Then, for dessert we did fruit and coconut wafers in chocolate fondu. It was so much fun. It took a long time to eat.  The kids were over it pretty quickly, so I put on a movie for them so that we could enjoy the rest of our dinner.  I made about 5 dipping sauces that were delicious.  All in all, it was a very nice Valentine's Day.

the norm...

Sometimes I get really down on my abilities as a mother.  I think we all do.  Right after my dad died, one of the things I most struggled with was feeling utterly and completely inadequate.  I kept feeling immense guilt that my dad was the greatest and my poor children would never have memories of him and that I should be their biggest advocate when, in fact, he was.  It was hard. Heart wrenching and paralyzing.  I'm way behind on this blog, but it's been a blessing to go back through pictures from January, and February, and March and see that my kids have a great life.  They are blessed.  I'm sure I will have many more opportunities to fail them, but I'm also sure that I'm not nearly as inadequate as I have, at times, felt. Even if I don't always get down on the floor and play with them, I offer them experiences, opportunities to enjoy themselves and learn about life. In church on Sunday we learned about how we always need to consult with the Lord when we are trying to teach and discipline our children. I'm certain that will help prevent some of my fly off the handle anger.  That's my new goal.... instead of responding to my kids in anger, say a quick prayer and try to follow promptings... we will see how that works out for me :)

This series of pics includes the norms: park and museum.  It also has these sweet kids playing just dance... they are so adorable as they try to mimic the dance moves on the screen.  They get their faces painted sometimes, this was a frozen party they went to.  On Sundays, Xiana and I google hairstyles and she picks one from the screen. These little rosettes were actually quite easy and looked adorable. The rainbow loom hasn't made quite so many appearances lately, but the ladder bracelet is by far my favorite.  Now I need to find something for Kolton to do besides scatter rubber bands throughout the house in an effort to annoy his sister.

And go