Well since you asked...

Today I realized I was sick of looking at my shaggy dirty dog. I have been saying I was going to give him a bath for a couple of weeks now. Always later when I had time. Well when later came and I did have time the last thing I wanted to do was bathe a dog. So... no time like the present! It didn't matter to me that all three of my children were awake, and wanting to help. Together we all squeezed in the bathroom and threw the dog in the tub. While giving him a bath I realized I should just shave him. It's getting hot here, and well why not. So out came the clippers.

Abigail had scissors which she used to cut the hair that fell from Binky while I shaved him.

Olivia gathered the hair and was making a mountain out of it.

Nathan sat on my lap assisting me with the clippers. His hand just under mine as we shaved and shaved.

Foruntately throughout all of this, the only blood shed was when I nicked Binky just under his tail. Poor dog. But considering everything that was going on I think we made out a-okay.

Now I just have to clean up all that dog hair and try to get the wet dog smell out of my room.

Oh that's right... didn't have half a mind to do this project outside! My bedroom of all places. I really don't think things through very well. But hey, the dog looks great... okay great's a stretch, but he looks better than he did before, and I didn't have to fork over $40!

Today Olivia's thinking cap ran out of batteries.

That girl is a laugh a minute. She was reading her book for school and having a really hard time focusing. She told me it was because her thinking cap must have run out of batteries. So she "took it off" and "charged it". But then of course when she put it back on she put on the wrong one and this one made her sing her ABC's, not help her read.

It took us about an hour but we got through the book.

She's also taken to using British slang. Like exclaiming, "Brilliant!" When she's about something. There was something else she said that made me feel like I was reading JK Rowling or something but now I can't remember what it was.

And in response to Lisa's comment... Abigail usually is my easy going one. But lately she has been a time bomb! And Olivia knows exactly how to set her off. Each morning this week I have woken up to "OLIVIA! STOP IT!" And the wails of a scorned Abigail. Aren't you jealous?

But she's been making me laugh too. She wrote her name the other day. It was most scribbles, with a few recognizable letters, and about 20 extra characters. She told me she wanted her name to have a smiley face in it. And a horn. So her name could be a unicorn name. Oh to be 3 years old!

Nathan will be the death of me.

I swear this little boy gives me a run for my money, all day long.

I can't turn my back for a second because he will be giving himself a haircut, sitting in a 25lb tub of sugar, literally climbing up the wall, or running into traffic. Oh my heavens does it get exhausting. It doesn't help that his main form of communication is a high pitched scream. Usually only when he sees food. I've been to feeding time at the zoo. I've heard the hungry crazy call of the lemurs... they've got nothing on Nate. Ear piercing, glass shattering screams. Because he wants a grape.

I try to cook dinner and he must be in my arms, or we are all suffering from The Screaming. Ever cooked an entire lasagna with a 14 month old on your hip? I highly recommend it. You will never appreciate the motility, and light weight of both arms more than after completing that.

He's also discovered the joy of tormenting his sisters. If they are playing together nicely (for once!) he will make sure that moment doesn't last more than 30 seconds. He will grab whatever toys they are playing with, or knock down whatever they are building, or if he really wants to go for the jugular he will steal Abigail's binkies.

But then it's bedtime. Every night he gets a bath and some lotion and some warm fuzzy feety pajamas, and I sit in the rocking chair in his room and cuddle him. And sing him a song. And for the first time all day he is still. He happily rests his head on my chest, cuddles his blanket and sucks his thumb. And then I feel like I can breathe for the first time all day.

I sing two songs. Rotated. Sometimes both. Depends on what's going on with the other two. The first is a hymn the children frequently sing at our church. I Am A Child Of God. And every time I sing the second verse I cry.

I am a child of God,

And so my needs are great;

Help me to understand his words

Before it grows too late.

 For some reason whenever I say those words I get choked up. I think it's because I realize he is a child of God. And heavens to Betsy - are his needs great! And then I sing the chorus.

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.

That's it. That's my job. Lead them, guide them, walk beside them. Not in front of them pulling them along, or behind them pushing them ahead, beside them. I like that. 

And the other song... I honestly think I was meant to hear this song. I have never heard a Mindy Gledhill song in my life. That I'm aware of anyway. But I was singing lullabies to my girls and Olivia wanted me to sing The Pretenders - I'll Stand By You. I decided to look it up on Youtube on my phone. And then it gave me suggested videos and this song came up. I thought it was odd, but did not listen to it. And then I wanted to listen and sing a Billy Joel song... again this song was in the suggested videos. Again I didn't listen to it... and then a third song (because "Mom! Please one more song!" gets me every time) by Raffi... and there was this song again. This time I had to listen to it. And I just cried. From the opening note! I just cried. And now it's become a regular on the rotation.

Only For Forever

Is about how long it has been since I updated this blog.

It's also how long Abigail asked me to hold her "egg" (an airsoft gun bullet, pellet, whatever those little fluorescent colored balls are called).

It's also how long I get to be with this wonderful little family of mine.

Only for forever.

Funny things that happen often around here that I know will forget once this time passes, but I want to remember so I will write them...

Whenever my girls take off their shirts at the end of the day and they have them up over their heads, behind their necks, and are completely naked besides this shirt covering their shoulders and back of their neck they ask me if they look like an old woman. It cracks me up every time. I think they think it looks like a shawl frequently worn by older women. Never mind the fact that they are completely naked otherwise.

Okay now I'm stumped. I can't think of any of the other things that have been cracking me up.

It's been a long month.

Olivia turned FIVE! We had a birthday party in the basement. It was supposed to be outside at a park, but it was the one day of the entire year that was rainy and 50 degrees! Thanks to a team effort and an awesome husband she had a great party.

I washed my iphone in the washing machine. I don't even want to talk about it.

We went on a cabin trip with some friends... THANK YOU again Hallsteads!

We went on a family trip to Cottonwood to check out a possible town we may end up living in.

We purchased a play house, water table and inflatable pool for the backyard.

We've had many trips to museums, parks and the library.

We went to Mesa Spark festival.

And we've watched lots of Netflix.

And we're anxiously waiting to find out if Aaron will match for residency. (Stay tuned - March 22nd)

That's about it. Hopefully this post will get the ball rolling and I'll start updating regularly again.