17 whole months - by delaney

We're going to the beach today! That is all.



Okay fine, I'll add a little more. (No pictures though cause my mommy Is getting her new phone today and there aren't any on her phone now!)

My vocabulary is exploding and I have finally decided its okay to repeat words mom or dad ask me to say. I also decided its okay to let them know that I know where my nose, eyes, ears, and all those fun body parts are. I've played hard to get for a long time, so I figured I'd cooperate a little.

New words I say:
Addie, uh-huh, uh-uh, I love you, moo, meow, juice, cat, wow, oh, thank you, and a lot more that I can't think of. (did I mention that we're going to the beach today?)

I'll let you know that a dog says woof, a cat says meow, and a cow says moo. Then I draw the line. You've got to know your limits, I say. I did see a frog last night and it was pretty awesome, so I might have to start saying ribbit. My daddy held the frog for me and I laughed and screamed but I did not want to touch it. Lets not get crazy here.

I do forward rolls, climb on tables, and anything else that is at all climbable really. I love the pool, LOVE being outside, love helping AND I follow simple commands. Just tonight I helped with the packing - they would say "laney, shut the door." And I would! I also helped mom unpack some stuff. Helper girl, that is me!

I've also developed quite the temper this month. My mom made dinner on Wednesday, put me in my high chair and then grabbed her keys. When I realized she was leaving, I threw my whole plate on the floor! I am not into people leaving me behind! I also scream and throw myself on the floor when I'm mad. Whatever works. But then the next minute I'll be happy and making this super cute huge goofy smile I've been doing. And then I raise by shoulders, all shy like. But then the next minute I'll give you the worst case of baby stink eye you've ever seen. Like to keep people on their toes, it's just the way I roll.

I'm still a petite lil thing. I still don't eat very well. I still love juice. I still sleep all night. I still love to read and my family and not really a lot of other people.

Okay, to the beach I go! North Carolina, here I come!

Love,

Delaney

Fever pitch

Hurricane Seagrove will be bearing down on North Carolina in T-2 days and preparations have reached a fever pitch. Can.not.wait!!!!!

these dog days

i read this the other day and it really resonated with me. yesterday was one of those dog days of motherhood. although, looking at the little cutie i'm wondering how i could ever feel that way! it is a proven fact that kids are cuter when they're asleep - whether they're asleep in the picture or asleep in real life - cuter.

anyhow, up late waiting for the biggest, and then up early with the littlest. which is weird and frustrating because delaney is never the first awake. it's one of those weird cosmic days that just start off off. we cuddled for an hour before addie joined us. another weird twist, because 9 1/2 times out of 10, frankie wakes up first.

 we ate breakfast, got dressed, and out the door for gymnastics. of course, we got going 5 minutes late because frankie ate slow, and there were some definite listening problems.

gymanstics started rocky but then she pulled it together! 

go, frankie! 

here she is, timidly getting going.

and fully engaged. 

she loves the bars!

cute little gymnast.

 forward rolling off her pad.

at least she's participating!

she passed off on 1 skill for this session. oh frankie-girl. :)

then it was addie's turn. she's been a little miss sassy pants lately.

she pushes her luck a lot and has been having some listening troubles.

forward rolling down, down, down.

after gymnastics i did something i hate to do at nap time and with los tres in tow. i went to the commissary. it was a quick trip to scout for gluten free options for my brother for the reunion. i was pleasantly surprised that they had a lot more than i thought they would.

the girls were... loud, and silly, and a handful.

it was lunchtime and nap time and everyone was ready.

so i let them open a bag of pretzel rods, grabbed some lunchables and we were on our way out. 

dun, dun, dun!

then as we are paying for our food, the girls, acting silly, spilled an *entire* bag of pretzel rods. all over and under the cart. so then i got to try to maneuver around the big cart and clean them up, all while 4 commissary employees watched. it was just the straw that broke this mama camels back.

ugh. shoot, i don't care about a bag of pretzels! i'd spill 5 entire bags to let my children feel loved and happy. but when i lose my temper over something so silly, i know i'm not helping them to feel that. and i feel that i am failing at this awesome stewardship that Heavenly Father has entrusted to me. i somehow thought that after 17 years of motherhood i'd be better at this.

on our way home delaney got her second car nap of the day, which ended as soon as we pulled into the garage. then i changed no less than 5 very poopy diapers. and woe is me, life is hard. it was a long, dog day.

and then, to top it off, when i got home  i realized that my yoga skirt was on inside out. 

all.day.

just typing this makes me feel silly and even more frustrated with myself. blah, hello complaining sally! 

i am so blessed.

 i want to do so much better and i have great room for improvement. 

what a day. 

tomorrow will be better.

********

I am overwhelmed, infatuated, love struck and completely unhinged. Especially on the nights they bring in wild flowers and all the ever-loving mud in the world. 

(or, as in my case, every messy flower and leaf they can find)

I am full and fulfilled.
I am older and comfortable in my skin.
I am about the work of raising tiny humans.

I am out of my mind and in my calling and desperate for five minutes alone and a lifetime together.

I want to stop time, tame my fears, bottle their dreams, live a hundred summers of dripping, sticky, chocolate swirl ice cream. And in between I hang onto my faith, my temper, and my sense of humor with my fingernails.

These are the good days, the glory days, the slow-as-molasses days. These are the fast years, the wonder years, the how-do-I-find-words years.

lisa-jo baker

summer weather?

this beluga is still into staying up late. she tells me she's about ready for bed when she lays her head down on pillows and/or cries about everything. i probably need to be better at getting her down before that. always room for improvement.

monday night, lexi worked and then her friends 'showed up,' a few minutes after she got home. i had ok'd her sleepover, but not her driving friends. that girl.

on tuesday, laura watched the little girls and lexi and i went and got summer pedi's and salsa's. 

yumm! 

we had a really nice date. :) and now we have cute summer toes! yay!

every once in awhile, she eats. but only a few bites. don't want to get over 20 lbs, right.

it has been so unseasonably cool and wet lately. so last night between thunderstorms we went for a family walk. daddy is a sucka because he'll pick girls up out of the stroller.

happy girl with crazy golden hair!

addie alternated between riding in the stroller, running, and riding on daddy's shoulders.

laney cakes stayed in the stroller the whole time. favorite! ;)

we had collected some furniture and things for a family that just moved here and as we were loading the car the girls wanted to help.

we start 'em young!

didn't last long, but they tried. training them up, little by little. they'll be doing all my bidding in no time. someone's gotta take over all the work when lexi and chris leave. ;)

today turned into a deep cleaning day. i've been searching for a library movie case for a few weeks and hadn't found it, so i went through every toy bin, behind and underneath every couch, and under cushions, and all over. i know it's weird, but i love doing that and i especially love how everything looks when it's all put back together. joseph came over to hang out and of course i had to put him to work. like i said, somebody's gotta do it. you should hear aloseph (alexis/joseph) complaining during our 15 minute basement cleaning time. it's like complaining in stereo, they take it to a whole new level. and then i made them help me put 2-100 piece puzzles together - we were missing 1 piece from each, darnnit! i am a serious slave driver.

after all the cleaning we hit the pool. addie and joseph played in the deep end, i was playing with laney by the steps, and frankie was all over the shallow end. at one point i looked up to see frankie had gone a little too far and was getting that panicked look on her face. she couldn't quite get back on track to get back to the shallow end and then she started to go deeper. i looked to see if joseph was nearby (he wasn't) and then grabbed laney up and bulldozed to frankie, who by that point was in past her mouth and seriously panicked. she cried and burped and i held and comforted. some of the moms came and asked if she was okay and commended me on my crazy mama bulldozing skills. one that was fully clothed said she would have jumped in if she had seen her. embarrassment and social graces go out the window when my kids need me. and tonight i am so thankful that the blond headed mess is safely asleep in her bed. or actually sleeping on the floor cause she's still on her sleeping on the floor kick.

tonight we had leftovers for dinner, a presidency meeting at our house, modern family, and bed. lexi's at work and i have recommitted to staying up until she gets home every night. i know it's important, even though it's hard.

bonus pic:

before addie's school got out, we had to send a baby pic and a recent pic. at her promotion we were able to see how they put them on the classroom door. addie's showing us her pics. :)

and a close-up. big cutie girl!

frankie goes to target (in hollywood)

just kidding, it's actually in california. i just wanted to make that frankie goes to hollywood reference, but now it's all lame.

anyways, we ran up to take tallie some stuff for her house and then off to target to fix some of my diaper couponing issues from last week. while we were there we (alexis and i) let frankie pick out her grandpa ray birthday gift (we saved it for awhile because she had so many fun gifts on her birthday). unlike frankie of yore, she calmly and patiently walked through each aisle and looked at all the fun toys. when we finally came to an end-cap full of barbies, she confidently declared "i want that one!" and picked out a barbie dolphin trainer.

 good choice!

she was pointing something out and yawning at the same time. 

"squirrel!"

she only got to go to target with us because she took a long nap, and addie didn't. see, napping is good!

she dressed herself too. can you tell?

that's one happy barbie dolphin trainer owning fool!

yup.

yup.

"so, almost done taking pictures, mom?"

"cause i'm pretty done posing."

why do i feel the need to caption everything? i'm sure i don't know.

i also found 2 of these deals left! can you see what i did there? 2 for $1.97 each and a $5 gc back! made $1 on that deal. :) sa-weet!

father's day 2013

fathers day happened to fall on stake conference day this year. yay for an extra hour to sleep in! or an extra hour to make breakfast for daddy to eat in bed! matt requested an omelet with sauteed veggies, so we added the bacon, avocado, bagel, and strawberries. it was yummy!

all day on saturday addie had been making fathers day cards and hiding them all around the family room so daddy could go on a treasure hunt. i finally managed to convince her that it would be a good idea to put at least one on daddy's breakfast tray. :)

after conference the young women passed out these cute m & m bow ties. :)

lookin' good!

we had a troop committee meeting after church to get the boys all ready for scout camp, and then it was home sweet home. we sent daddy up to nap and then i forced alexis and joseph into 3+ hours of slave labor chopping veggies for salad. except that i think i might have to relinquish my slave labor back to school because their time telling skills are severely lacking - we got home at 1:30 and left for laura's at 3 - and they didn't work the whole time. 

anywho, during our lighthouse adventures we had talked about how we really needed to do something big for the guys to make up for our awesome mothers day trip. and then we couldn't quite come up with anything... so 4 family dinner it was! we wanted to grill, but i have a firm policy that doesn't allow me to learn the grill, (i don't want grilling duties. ever.) but shelly does grill! and so does asa, so it was perfect. we all brought way too much food and had burgers, dogs, brats, chicken, salad, potato salad, broccoli salad, cauliflower and broccoli, and then cupcakes, elves cap cookies, texas sheet cake, and pretzel caramel yummies. matt had requested elves caps, which are traditionally a christmas treat, but whateva. so i went to make them sunday afternoon, but alas, i had no butter! (i had put butter on a list given to matt about a month ago and he forgot to pick some up, and then i've forgotten ever since to add it to my list - trying times in the kingdom!) so i called darlaina, who had some, but it was frozen. long story short (ha!) i think i defrosted the butter too much cause my elves caps were completely flat! they have never turned out so badly! then, to make matters worse, my frosting for my cupcakes separated! another first for me! (although my potluck sharing dishes have gone wrong several times, now that i think about it) so here are the ugliest desserts i've ever made.

 ugh!

 

cute kids! they have so much fun together! so much fun, that addie threw a huge fit when it was time to go and cried the whole way home. it was great!

i had wanted to get the kids together to do a skit, or song, or something, but that never happened. maybe next fathers day. :)

we got home, got girls to bed, got daddy to bed, and then had a huge mess to clean up. then this late nighter and i hung out, during which time she fell again and got a knot on her head again. then, after cuddles, she was being so cute and silly. and i wanted a picture of her head, but i had my flash on so we got the good ol' flash blink. i could just eat up this goofy girl!

 

happy fathers day to all the daddys!

great 2 days!

rest time brings daily negotiations with addie. she doesn't like to be in the basement alone, which i can sort of get, but it's the best place for her logistically. she can't be in her room cause frankie's there and she can't be in laney's room cause laney's there. and she's got some bad history in lexi's and our room - she's gotten into a few too many things. on friday i almost let her rest in my room, but as i was gathering my things to take downstairs, she licked an envelope i needed to use. not that big a deal, but it shows a little salty attitude and i wasn't feeling like tempting fate. so we decided that she would lay on the sofa for awhile, while i busied myself upstairs. i came down around 2:00 to find her like this.

came back at 2:15 and here she was. sweet girl fell off the couch and stayed asleep. :) oh, to be young.

anyhow, we made some cookies, dinner, and then we were off to meredith and randy's baptism. it was a fabulous evening and the spirit was so strong. meredith was an episcopalian priest and randy a lutheran pastor. they are amazing scriptorians and so humble. it's been really neat, and a long time coming (8 months) to see them progress towards baptism. one of the best things about the evening - my boys got to come back to baptize them! i've missed these sweet guys!

 

there was a ton of yummy food for after the baptism, and just the right amount of people to mix and mingle, so it was a great night.  i didn't get the memo that this was silly shot time. except the silly way i had my hands. just trying to follow all the rules, you know!

after the baptisms, matt and i got to take them back up to the ghetto part of dc to their apartment. it was kinda hard for me to leave them there in the ghetto! mama ray's a worrier!

i couldn't get the red eye/shadow from elder v's eyes here, so whateva. he's cute enough to pull off wonky eyes anyways. :) cute in a mothering way, of course. we had a good visit with our boys and got all caught up. and they've promised r & m that they'll be back in a year to go through the temple with them, so yay! slumber party at the rays!

 

on saturday i had to take some paperwork up to chancellors because my other boy made the all star baseball team. go bubba! i had some pretty decent coupons, so i spent a little while looking up deals and then headed out for some couponing. 

**coupon rant**

couponing is not for the timid or faint of heart. or for the rushed. it takes a lot of time, at least for me, a lot of searching and sometimes a lot of fighting for your deal. i spent too long at cvs before i had to get to chancellors, so then i had to leave my cart, go turn in the paperwork, then go back to cvs. then i headed to kohls where i had 2 $5 bonuses, so i got 2 shirts for addie and only paid $3. then i hit bath and body for some semi-annual clearance and used a $10/$30. then i hit up target for some diaper deals. before i headed out that morning i just happened to check the mail and found some target baby coupons there. one was $10/$50 purchase, and since i needed diapers, it was perfect! so i started searching for manufacturer and target coupons (cause you can combine) and i ended up with some great deals! i had gotten a $5/3 kids clothing items, so i picked up 3 cute baby onsies (to use for gifts), for $1.50 each, which means i made $.50. :) sweet! they messed up the price of my diapers, so i'll have to head back for them to fix it, but 'tis the life of a couponer. as i was gathering target coupons i started to get anxiety. it just takes a really long time to make sure you're getting the best deal, and i'd already been gone awhile. so i called matt and explained to him my anxiety, and he told me not to worry. i get anxious that he'll be upset that i'm out so long, things will go badly at home, who knows, because that's never really happened. with his encouragement, i took a deep breath and continued my couponing. i had to hit l-town cvs to pick up a prescription, and then on to riteaid (which i haven't been to in forever because they have a stinky new coupon policy). i haven't couponed like that in just ages and it was so fun!

home, dinner, games with girls, and then matt and i were off for the adult session of stake conference, which was also fabulous. lots of good speakers, including our own r & m. hannah babysat and all the girls were happily asleep when we got home. it was just a great 2 days!