Friday Letters

I love these girls so stinkin much! They are such good teenagers...so far.

Dear Children, wow, who knew the power of $2.00. All seven of you worked so hard around the house. All for a couple bucks. Without money it's a battle, and a fierce one. Dear Kade, you earned your Arrow of Light this week. You were pretty happy about that. I'm proud of you little man. Dear Hailey Lou, we attended your first choir concert. It was great, I really enjoy singing. Dear Avary, you are about to turn 9 yrs old. I don't know if I can handle any more of you getting older. Especially my little girls. Although if you can survive to the age of 10 without any major injury it will be a miracle. You  have had a rough week with first pulling a muscle in your neck at gymnastics, that was super rough. And believe me I know, I have done that twice. Once you sprain it you are more likely to do it again. Then today you were doing handsprings on the trampoline, over corrected and smacked your chin and face right on the pole. You haven't recovered from that yet. You can't open your mouth, eat or get off your bed. You just cried for 2 hrs and went to sleep. I really hate it when you get hurt, it makes me so sad. Dear Hazel, you have been a great little helper lately. I'm glad one of my children likes to clean...half the time. Dear Will, we stayed up way too late this week. But we still accomplished a lot. I'm glad we got to the Temple this week, it would have been better without the headache though. I Love You Lots. Dear Self, the overwhelming panic has completely taken over. I mean really bad. It's the first vacation I have ever taken without my kids for such a long time. I am not prepared at all and I'm freaking out about leaving my kids. Like in tears at the thought of it. I just can't be excited yet. It's rough on my Mamma heart.

Friday Letters

I love it when the girls match on purpose. They are so cute.

Dear Children, we've had half days and parent teacher meetings. You played in the mud, so it doesn't get much better than that. On the other hand a few of you have come home crying for one reason or another. Some days stink. Dear Parade, dropped off the 4 kids who participated and then found a nice spot to sit. But man that was one long parade. And it had the weirdest things in it. I just kept wondering what half of it has to do with a parade and when it was going to end! In case you are wondering, if you let your 13 yr old say hello to a friend, just over there, you won't find her when the parade ends. You will end up waiting forever then driving around looking for her. And you will be very annoyed. It's better to just let them wave. Dear Fair, I braved the county fair alone with the kids. I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. I had forgotten that every time I have ever taken them somewhere alone they always behave so well. I am probably a little more strict, but they always surprise me and we have fun together. We only had one child throw up, the zipper will do that to you. I can't even look at that ride. She recovered and we enjoyed the rest of the day. I made them ride as many rides as possible. I was pretty happy when they were all ready to head home around 5:00! Another fair out of the way and I have a nice sunburn on the back of my neck to prove it. Dear Halloween, I think all the kids have finally decided what they want to be. One thing done. Figuring out who is going to be with my kids on Halloween? That is the harder part. Dear Shots, It's amazing how well these steroid shots work. Once the soreness fades it frees up so much space in my mind not having to be in so much pain. I only wish I could get them more often. Dear Kirby People, 20 minutes you say? 4 hours later.... One of them commented on how happy our family seems after watching all the kids together. We are pretty lucky. Dear Awesome, knowing someone who does clothing alterations. Especially when I don't have a sewing machine. And you don't even feel bad cause you get to pay them for it. Dear To Do List, I can't even finish the list. It is already so long. I don't even want to think about it, it's overwhelming. I have been procrastinating and pushing it out of my mind. I don't even want to think about it. Dear Will, it was so nice getting to spend a little time together, even if it was just in the car. You've been working late and are working the weekend. I wish I could give you a break. Dear Self, it's so annoying sometimes how you can feel so hopeful and have a great feeling for the future, and be looking forward and feeling capable. And then the next day it just feels so overwhelming and it's a struggle to keep that feeling with you. Life certainly isn't meant to be easy, but I could go for some easiness.

I'd love a bigger house, but I certainly don't take this part of having a "little" house for granted.

Friday Letters

My baby is 7. I'm not ok with that.

Dear Children, you all came home from school soaking wet two days in a row. That's cool. I just can't justify driving you down the street. Dear Brain, I swear I have to look at the calendar 20 times a day or I forget about the never ending appointments and activities. It's been a busy week. Dear Hazel, you had a great Birthday. You had everyone all dressed up wearing crowns for your princess party. You were so excited to be turning 7. And I finally gave you the gifts that you ask for every year. You screamed with happiness and are in heaven playing with your special toys. You make giving gifts so fun because you are so excited and grateful. Dear Awkward, that time when I did pretty much nothing at PT and ended up passing out and they called Will at work. Yeah I'm going to  have to suck it up to make myself go back now. Life can never be boring. Dear Halloween, I finally put up some decorations. I thought I was going to get out of dressing up this year until the ward changed the trunk or treat to a Wednesday. Really? It finally falls on Friday and now we have to dress up twice? I'm working up slowly back into being festive. Dear Procrastination, we have a trip coming up. The kind were you have to plan ahead. Find babysitters, make arrangements for all the things that need to happen. I'm running out of time and pretty much have nothing in place. I need a nanny! Dear Bishop, I feel grateful that you think of our family and that you are supportive and encouraging. We can't get away with too much when you live across the street. Dear Fair, the kids have been talking about you for months now. You drain my bank account and my energy. There's been a lot of talk about pigs? I hope that I don't lose any of the kids as I brave it alone. Dear Will, I love the person that you are. I enjoy when we can just sit and talk and enjoy each others company. And how is it that you have to work and get out of going to the fair with all of the kids two years in a row. I hate fair rides. Dear Self, I don't think I could make it through this life without knowing the Lord loves me. So many times that is all I have to fall back on. I know He cares about my family and I know He wants us to be happy. When I think about how I gained my testimony I realize how we need each trial to push and pull at us to get us were the Lord wants us to be. And when it feels like you can't take anymore I am so glad that I know my Savior will always be there. To Him I will always be important and He will always listen. The blessings just as much as the trials remind me of what is important in this life. And I'm grateful. Life is hard. But we can always be grateful.

Friday Letters

Dear Children, oh what a week. We had sickies, toothaches, braces, traveling, birthdays and on and on. You go with the flow, so that's good. Dear Hailey, I enjoyed getting to spend the day with you and I love getting to see who you are becoming on the inside. I am proud of you. Dear Avary, you have had the worst toothache. After six hours in the car to visit the dentist the verdict is that two of your molars are coming in and smashing the nerve. No way to fix it. It hurts you bad enough you were wanting him to pull it out. You were sick on top of that too. Poor girl. It was actually so so enjoyable getting to spend that much time alone with you. I loved every minute. You are such a smart, sweet, funny, happy kid. I love you to pieces! Dear Kade, you've been feeling crummy too, which means you inflict your whiny voice on my nerves. You finally got to use your pocket knife at scouts, which made you pretty darn happy. I don't trust you with a pocket knife by the way. Dear Hazel, thanks to Auntie Ranell you had another tooth pulled. Goodness girl, you only have two little teeth in the front now. It's pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. Except when you are standing too close to my face and a drop of spit gets on me from you sweet little lisp. Dear Adventure, yeah, we can call it that. Coming home from Mesa on Sunday. I was going around a curve in the canyon and my tire blew on the suburban. Kaden's math teacher pulled up not long after. He had to get under the car to get the spare and got all dirty, changed the whole thing for me and then followed us all the way home. It was just the nicest thing. Dear Will, multiple times this week you have had to get the kids to bed while I have been gone. I appreciate that. I am glad that you were also able to spend some alone time with your kids. They all love you so much. Dear Self, I have been pushed to my limit so many times lately. In so many ways. I have been so hurt and disappointed by others actions. And I admit there are some people that I have just lost faith in. I hate when you put your line as far as you possibly can tolerate, yet others will still push you past it as if they don't care. I don't like having to hold up boundaries even though I know it's what is right. It's been a rough week. But at the same time there have been the best moments in the simple things. Moments when I know the Lord is the one caring for me. I really could not make it through this life with out him.