Playing Ketchup...Catch up, whatever.

Hello Lauren's blog, this is Aaron. I decided to hack in and write up a guest post while Lauren naps because we have been up to a lot of fairly fun things, but not a lot has gotten to the good ole bliggity blog.  I would put a comment here about how I know everyone is dying to know what is up with our family, if anyone has said something funny or eaten anything they really shouldn't have, but I won't, because I have pictures, and I think people enjoy pictures over reading anytime. So why am I still writing, you ask?  Good question...

A few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to get some tickets to the Diamondbacks game from a friend who had some extras, and so we decided we would go with the whole gang.  I have grown up loving the Diamondbacks, and Olivia and Abigail have both been to games, but this was Nate's first.  He seemed somewhat excited by all the noise, but was a tad nervous that the home team would get a "W"

Will they win???

I told you I like the ORIGINAL team colors!

Lauren wanted to get Nate to show his Dback spirit, but the only thing he showed was how quickly he can go from being happy to full on screaming...

Aside from the need to torture our children with oversized head gear, it was a good night.  Kids acted well, lasted until the 6th inning, lots of treats, and the Dbacks won!  Also, the roof opened up, which was lots of fun to watch. I have a video of it, but can't get it to load. I guess you dodged a bullet there (maybe).

  

We then decided that it'd been over a month since we shoved our whole family in a car and driven for at least 4 hours to go on a whirlwind weekend trip, and that meant it was time to go to Rocky Point!  In all seriousness, we went over General Conference weekend with my family to their place in Mexico.   It is a fairly large house on a beach outside of the town.  My kids loved being so close to the beach!

Note the old school playpen to keep Nate from munching on too many shells

Although, during low tide, I think I had to take like, 100 steps to get to the water...talk about roughing it, sheesh.

See? See how far away it is now?!?

But in all honesty, low tide was the best.  The waves almost entirely disappear, and the sea floor is so flat, you can go out forever and not have it too deep.  It led to some mighty expeditions by my brave explorers, wh to get pics:

And I am about 20 steps into the water at this point

 

"Look Dad, a SHE SHELL!! I think a clam live in this him she shell"                                     

                      As well as some relaxing while surrounded by gentle waters

                           

                           

While I kept trying to take pictures of the schools of fish that would swim all around...can you see them?

                            

NO? What do you mean no!  Oh well, just know it left me itching for fishing.  Of course we had to go hit up the night life

My kids did so great! They were up wayy past bed time and they just were fantastic, whether walking by the store fronts

Or rocking out with their aunts and uncles, dancing to La Bamba and twirling so fast I couldn't get an not blurry picture

Bed Time? We don't need no stinkin Bed Time!

Rocking with aunt Rachel

Will you slow down so I can get a picture?!?

Notice the rest of her is still moving so much its blurry, but at least she held her head still!

Much thanks to all my family, especially my brothers and sisters and their willingness to be such a help with the kids at the beach/ocean so that Lauren and I could do a little relaxing as well!

Well that just about wraps up this...BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

I guess I better maximize my time here on the blog, and besides, I have some more pictures! Everyone knows more pictures=more blog post.  One day I came home to find my family had been replaced by characters from Peter Pan

From Left to Right: Peter, Lost Boy, Wendy

And Tinkerbell, don't forget her! Or the rope, that becomes important...

 Unfortunately, that really only left one character for me to become, and so I discovered I was Captain Hook!

See, told you the rope would get into this.

It was all fun and games, until Tinkerbell decided she needed to use her magic to make me disappear, which happened to involve a filthy slimy stuffed duck that had been sitting in a dog's water bowl all day, me, and my poor work clothes.

Hell hath no fury like a Tinkerbell with a soggy duck...or something like that

Sure, she looks all cute and innocent, but there's a faint gleam of malice in that baby face

Last but not least, 2 days ago a minor miracle happened.  All 3 children took long, late naps.  So we decided we would all go to the high school football game.  Liv and Abbi were very excited to go see their aunt in the band, as well as watch the "baseball" game.  We even told Olivia we would stay for "both" games since she napped (side note: Olivia thinks that at all sporting events 2 games happen, since she wants to stay until the end of the game but we usually have to duck out at half time or midway through, so we...uh, well...lie and tell her there are 2 games and the first one is over.  Don't judge).

Making faces at Nate so he will stay happy

Really?  Zone Read Triple Option?  That's so last week coach...

So happy to watch the "second game"

Well, if you read this far you deserve something for your time.  But I am out of pictures, so you are free to go.

Sorry!

Sorry I've been so grumpy on this here ol' blog lately. Looking at my last few posts and I look like quite a miserable person.

I'm really not.

That said....

Nathan has gotten 4 teeth in the past couple of days.

Abigail has had some weird tummy issues going on.

And I think Olivia is going through some kind of growth spurt because even though she's getting the same amount of sleep she has been so tired and grumpy by like 4 every day.

And apparently my practically brand new cell phone somehow got wet and they won't replace. The little battery strip thing isn't even red, but they opened it up and it's oxidized inside or something and so they said it must have gotten wet. I was SO upset. It's a long boring story really.

But in happy news...

It's October (I won't mention the fact that it's still 100 degrees here). October is the best month ever. My birthday, Halloween, and then the rest of the holidays quickly follow. Today we are going to put up some decorations and make homemade applesauce. That should lift my spirits.

Next blog post will have a funny story - I promise.

Imagine a job where you are on duty the moment you open your eyes.

You have no time to wake up and adjust to life outside of dreamland before you are asked to meet the demands of others.

A job where that wake up call can come any time of the night, and you are grateful if it at least waits until after the sun is up.

A job where, even if you wake up sick unable to breathe through your nose, there is no calling out sick option.

There are no holidays and no weekends.

Basically, it.never.ends.

I feel like I spend all day meeting the demands of three very demanding little people. Feeding, playing, reading, cleaning, changing, wiping, getting, opening, time-outing, lecturing, giving, never-stopping....

But I wouldn't have it any other way. I need to end this on a positive note so you all know how much I love being a mom. I really do. And I take time for myself every day. Really. This entire post basically exists because Nathan will not sleep past 6:00AM. And I just want to sleep until 7. That is all.

I like to complain

For some reason my blog seems to be my place to complain. Maybe because when I type it all out it seems funny. Or I like reading your comments and realize it's not so bad. Either way, this morning has been a doozy (doozey? duezee?).

Started at 4:30 with a banging on the door from the girls' room. Aaron took care of it, so I can't complain too much. But it did take me a while to fall back to sleep. Seemed like I barely got back to sleep when Nathan woke up. Again, Aaron got him (he's the best.) for me so nothing too terrible. Minus the fact that he was covered in poo. Great way to start a morning.

Took a shower, cleaned us both up and got us dressed. By the time we are dressed screaming is coming from the girls' room (it is not yet 7AM). Since Aaron is already gone for work this one is all me. I go in and Olivia is bleeding from her face and Abigail is screaming, "I SAID SORRY ALREADY!" Oh great. Apparently Abigail threw a book at Olivia's face. No worries, Abigail has since promised she will never do it again - unless a bad guy is chasing her. Her exact words.

Then we come downstairs to get breakfast and Nathan pulled himself up on a chair. He was standing for a minute, but then pulled too hard and fell and pulled the chair on top of himself. Much screaming ensued.

And now it's finally 8:00AM.. and I hope things only go up from here. I hate Mondays!

What a weekend!

We had a surprise party for our friend over the weekend. His wife was over-the-top crazy about every last detail being perfect... and I think we almost achieved it! Of course looking back there is always things that you would have done differently, but overall it was a great night. The best part was that he was actually surprised so that was way fun. The worst part is... well one the guests said it best, "That was a lot of work for a couple of hours." Yes, yes it was. But it was fun. And it's not over yet... we still have a lot of clean up to do!

Today has been a pretty fabulous day. This morning we yard saled, went out to breakfast, and then came home and had a "kid" party with some friends and the left over food and decorations. Then Aaron's cousin Brad graciously offered to watch all the kids so my friend (his sister) and I could go out for an hour. Well an hour turned into 2.5... Costco on a Saturday afternoon is CraZy! Anyway it was nice to just get out with a friend and chat.

Then, probably the best part of the whole night was cuddling my sweet little Nathan before putting him down for bed. He was just so cuddly and kept rubbing my arm with his sweet little hands. And then I couldn't help it, I just covered his little cheeks in kisses. And then a few moments later I hear him making these loud smacking noises with his lips and I realized he had done that earlier after I had kissed him and it dawned on me that he was "kissing" me back. I started laughing at this realization which totally excited him and made him start his happy little squeals. It was a good moment. A moment that made me realize I love this. All of this. Motherhood. I love it.

Tonight when I was giving Olivia a bath she started talking about college... yes she's 4... and asking me if I can be her teacher for college. She told me just loves me so much she never wants to leave. Figured I'd write this down so I can remind her in 14 years.

Also sometimes Abigail will be crying and when I ask her what's wrong she'll say, "Nuffin' I just love you SO much!"  Okay she's only done that once... and I'm sure she was crying about something else, but I thought it was so incredibly cute that she said that.

headaches

I have had a horrible headache almost all day. I hate headaches!

Anyway at one point today it was so bad I really couldn't see, couldn't stand, couldn't think. It just hurt so much. I put the kids all in their beds for naps, took some Advil and laid down with an ice pack. I literally did labor breathing to get through the pain. Nathan was crying in his crib, but I couldn't do anything about it.

The girls came out of their room and went downstairs and raided the pantry. They came into my room first and asked if they could have, xyz... honestly I did not care. They could have asked if they could go eat butter and handfuls of sugar and I would have said, "Fine just leave me alone."

Then they came into my bed and tried to make me feel better. Olivia brought me a HUGE glass of water and rested it on my back. "Isn't this relaxing?" She asked. I guess laying on my stomach with a glass of water balancing on my back seemed relaxing to her? Then she gave me a shoulder massage and told Abigail to rub my feet. It was really cute. And for a moment I could forget about the intense pain and appreciate the cuteness of the moment. But then the water spilled, and Olivia cried and Abigail screamed, and Nathan woke up and I contemplated violence.

But then by some miracle my headache went away. And I was able to cook dinner and enjoy it. And then have a little family night where we enjoyed a lesson about Sunday and ate... wait for it... ice cream Sundaes. And then as we were putting the kids to bed my headache is rearing it's ugly head again.

I really hope when I wake up it is GONE! I ran more than 4 miles this morning, probably closer to 5, and I want to run again in the morning... but if my head is hurting I am not sure I will be able to power through.

Best mommy moment ever

The other day Abigail was playing with Nathan, feeding him Cheerio's and then she stopped. And Nathan started yelling, "ABBA! ABBA!" I was across the room cleaning the kitchen, and heard and looked over. The look on Abigail's face was so priceless. "MOMMY! HE SAID ABBA! HE SAID MY NAME!" She was completely shocked and just so happy. It made my day, heck it made my whole week.

Other notable funny/moments from this week include Olivia refusing to eat lunch because she was "fasting".

Then she covered herself in a random tie she found on the couch and asked me how I liked her new "look". Then she proceeded to explain that this was "fashion" and "did she look famous"?

I wish I could remember everything because they just had me cracking up all day yesterday.

I need to get back into my blogging grove.