Everyday Memories

It's been over a week since my last post.  I'm due.  Surely there has been a moment, or three, that I want to remember. 

My little shortcake has had to learn how to entertain herself while the twins and I do "boring" things like fractions, alphabetize, or learn about the Incan empire.  I think she's finally accepted it as a way of life and she's gotten to be such a good sport about it.  My "baby" is so grown up.

I don't know how a house so full of princess, ponies, unicorns, fairies, and the color pink, got to be so into vikings and dragons.  But they love it.  Here is a prime example.  The typical childhood game of freeze tag turned dragon.  They are playing "Speedstinger."  Whoever is "it," is a Speedstinger dragon and must "sting" the "vikings" with their tail.  Which in turn leaves the "vikings" "paralyzed."  (Just so warm and fuzzy.)  If nothing else, I was impressed with their creativity. 

I feel beyond lucky and blessed, to get to raise children with this man.  As a mother I do things like fun science or art projects, take them on outings, plan "parties" for no "real" reason, and I love a good board game.  But playing "barbie" or any other variation of "dolls" is a skill that for some reason kind of alludes me.  I have a hard time getting into it and so I rarely try.  But the other night Shortcake asked her daddy to come play princesses with her.  I tried to explain to her that boys don't really like princesses very much but that daddy would probably play a board game with her.  But I was TOTALLY underestimating him.   He got down on the floor and played "princesses" with his little girls.  Actually, he played the role of the little plastic puppy, but that still totally counts.  He had lots of other things he could have done with his time, but he chose to put for the effort to get down on their level and give them his attention.  In a way that I myself never do.  I love him so much.  He is so wonderful in so many ways.  How he loves his kids is just the tip of the iceberg. 

What I Can Do

For Relief Society tonight they had a talent night.  Normally my go-to talent is signing.  But I knew everyone had seen that.  As I puzzled over what on earth to do, I almost didn't do anything at all.  The only ideas I could brainstorm at first were things I can't do.  But I do enjoy writing, so finally I decided on that.  I decided to write about what I CAN do.  I wanted to write something I can do for each letter of the alphabet.  I didn't start out intending on writing a poem, it just short of ended up that way.  It's "poetic form" is a little rough in some spots, but this was a last minute idea so I didn't have time to perfect it.  Overall I was happy with how it turned out.
***You don't "read" the letters, they are just there to tell you what letter I was aiming for. 

A: I love to ACT, though I just can't carry a tune,

But oh the things I can ACCOMPLISH in one afternoon.

B: I can BALANCE and BEND but I don't want to BORE,

C: I'm good for a CHAT, but I love to CELEBRATE more.

D: In High school I used to be good at DEBATE,

but instead now my joy is to DECORATE.

E: I can EAT . . . . .

F: Heck, who'm I kidding, I can FEAST.

G: I GARDEN a lot, H: I HELP where I can.

I: Some say I INSPIRE, J: Cause I JOG quite the span.

K: I can KNEEL down to pray,

L: And show LOVE each new day.

M: I also MAKE costumes that are awesome and wild.

N: And I NEGOTIATE quite well with my youngest sweet child.

O: I'll admit that I like to OUTLAST, OUTRUN and OUTDO

But more often I tend to feel OVERWHELMED just like you.

P: My aim is to PLEASE Q: And I even QUILT once in a while

R: But to RACE and to RUN is what widens my smile.

S: I'm able to SIGN, T: To TALK, and throw in a rhyme

U: And UPROOTING weeds is a favorite of mine.

V: I'm able to VERBALIZE whats deep in my thoughts.

W: And WRITING is something I like to do lots.

X: What can I possibly do that begins with an X?

I can XEROX a picture of tyrannosaurs rex.

Y: A YAWN can rise right out of my throat,

Z: And I've even learned how to ZIP up my coat.

I've been truly blessed and my abilities abound,

But I had to take time, to just look around.

Somebody had a birthday!

I feel like I just had a baby . . . wait, 3 years ago isn't "just had a baby." 
You can argue a toddler is just like a baby.  But 3 years old, that's pre-school, that's "kid," not "baby." 
So big, so grown up.  I've got 3 "kids."  Not "2 kids and a toddler."  Anyway, enough of me trying to cope with "my baby growing up."  Time for pictures.  Not too many, but I did get a few.

This darn cake.  I thought I could get away with just spreading the icing on instead of the usual star tip method I use on my kids birthday cakes.  Puh!  Spreading took forever!  It was a pink cake.  So I kept getting little pink crumbs in my white icing.  Seriously, star tipping it would have been faster.  Bother.  But I got 'er done.  Not my BEST cake job ever, but defiantly sufficient.  I mean, this thing is going to just be digested after all. 

My birthday girl!

The twins really felt that in order for it to be a birthday "party,"  there needed to be games.  So here we have our homemade "Pin the nose on the Hello Kitty."

 
Love this girl.  She's made sure I "earn" my title of Mom these past 3 years, by making sure my patience muscles were well toned.  But this little person gives the best hugs and I'm so grateful I get to be her mom.  

Life is like a game of Phase 10

I love a good analogy.  The other day I was contemplating life and areas where I struggle and I came up with this one.  

I decided that for me, life is like a game of Phase 10. 

Everyone is dealt their own hand of cards to work with.

These are not the cards you have to play with the entire game (or your entire life), just this round you are currently in. 

When you play Phase 10, sometimes you are dealt awesome cards.  It's easy to finish that round.  You can relax and enjoy the game and the people you play it with.  It's fun to be successful multiple rounds in a row. 

Phase 10 is a usually kind of a long game.  And I'd say with an average life expectancy of 70 years, life ain’t no game of Go Fish either.  You're gonna be playing for a while.  So inevitably, you are going to be dealt a round of NOT awesome cards.  Challenging cards.  Cards that are hard to work with.  Cards that make you really have to work and pay attention in order to meet your current goal.  Some rounds, your hand of cards is such a mess that you don't meet your goal that round.  You have to continue and try it again.

So here is where I apply it to ME:

I have been so blessed.  I feel as though I have been dealt hand after hand after hand, of AMAZING cards to play with.

BUT, I look around the table at others who are also playing.  Some players I know very well, some are only people I hear about in the news.  I see the cards they are dealt.  They are struggling.  Some, round, after round, after round, have hard cards dealt.  They must struggle, and fight, in order to play their rounds.  And here I sit with my awesome hand.

I feel badly.  And this is where I struggle.  I have a hard time enjoying my own awesome cards.  It's not fair that I am SO blessed.  How can I be happy, without feeling almost guilty about it, cause so many others are suffering through trials?  I don't have an answer for this question.  I know that the game of life is not meant to be played focusing on how everyone else must play.  But I have a hard time not being effected by watching.

Struggle number 2:

An area where I silently struggle a lot, is thinking about what cards I will be dealt in the future.  My thoughts often wander to really hard card possibilities.  (Cards I've seen others had to play with.)  I think about what it would be like to have to play with those cards.  I stress about how I would play, needlessly making plans for cards I have not yet been dealt.
 As I pondered this whole card game analogy, I realized that this particular struggle came down to this:  I have so much in my life right now that makes me happy.  I fear that I won't be strong enough to still feel happy with those hard cards in my hand. 

I need to have faith in my own ability to choose to be happy and enjoy life's card game, despite a bad hand.

As I said.  I love analogies.  Labeling things and putting my feelings into words is very therapeutic to me. 

Resolutions 2014

I think it's safe to say that I am a very goal oriented person.  I like goals.  I thrive on working towards them and feeling accomplished. So I like the idea of New Years resolutions.  I wanted to write down my goals for this year.  (Makes it more official.) 

1) Laundry
I manage to "stay on top of" my dishes.  And on any given day, you can usually see my carpet.  I even vacuum from time to time.  But folding laundry - my nemesis.
When we first moved to WA, I had a pretty good system going.  Once a week, I would wash and dry clothes all day long.  Then after the girls were in bed for the night, my love and I would watch a star trek episode and fold laundry.  Every week.  It was very efficient.
So that's one of my main goals for 2014.  I'm sick of always feeling "behind" on my housework cause there is ALWAYS unfolded laundry staring at me.  So Tuesdays are going to be my day.  I really think this is a goal I can achieve. 
However, it was quite the project first time around.  It took me 2 hours to just get "ready" to fold.  (NOT exaggerating.)  Ya gotta have a clean carpet to fold on.  Which means vacuuming.  Which means picking up toys, shoes, ext.  Once I got the area cleaned and preped, I went to get hangers and got caught up in completely reorganizing, sorting, and de-junking my closet.  And since I was on a roll, I gave my girls dresser drawers the same treatment.  But I think that these were key steps and significant contributors to the root of the problem.  I always put off folding laundry cause there was no where to put it cause the drawers were full of clothes that don't get worn. 
It was a lot of work but I'm actually looking forward to next Tuesday so I can feel proud of myself for getting it done 2 weeks in a row!  :)

2) 50 Push Ups
This a a goal I've taken a crack at before.  (And frankly will probably have to take a crack at again.)  But I'm okay with that. Cause this is the type of goal that even if un-atained, you still receive benefits from the attempt.  While working towards it I will be getting exercise, and that's good for everybody. 
Plan of action: Push ups every day.  Week 1: 1 push up every day.  Week 2: 2 push ups every day.  Week 3: 3 push ups every day and so on and so on.  In theory, by week 52, I should be able to do 50 push ups every day.  In theory.  But this is how I trained for my marathon.  Add on such a small amount every week that your body hardly notices the addition.  But if you keep at it for a long time, that little tiny addition adds up.

3) Study My Sign Language
I was a sign language studies major at ISU, but never graduated.  (Got married.)  But I continued to study on my own.  A LOT.  The year after Troy graduated, I chose not to go back to school myself so I could stay at home with my girls.  Instead, I spent money on new text books and videos, made myself a syllabus, and literally studied for hours every week.  But I was only able to keep that up for about a year.  Once I started homeschooling my girls, my own study time all but disappeared.
Over the past  3+ years I've studied a little here and there.  But nothing like I used to.  This saddens me greatly.  Learning a language is not like riding a bike.  Instead, if you don't use it, you loose it.  I start to cry when I think about "loosing" all the progress I made during those hours and hours and hours I put into it. 
On one I hand I think, "What's the point, why work so darn hard, you don't ever get to use it anyway?  WHY bother?  Why put HOURS into something you NEVER use?"  But then I imagine a day, be it years from now maybe, when I come across a person who needs someone who can sign.  I imagine the remorse I would feel knowing that I used to be able to talk to them, but no longer can.  Oh it would be awful. 
So once again I find myself reevaluating my schedules and routines, trying to figure out where I can squeeze it it.  Even if it's just a little.  So I don't forget EVERYTHING.  And I think I've come up with a plan:
I love facebook.  I love how it keeps me connected with my sisters and my aunts and my cousins.  I feel like I'm still a part of their lives even though we never get to see each other.  But I've decided to implement a new rule for myself.  Everyday before I can check facebook, I must first take a 25 question quiz on  www.aslpro.com 25 words a day, to jog my memory.  To keep those neurological pathways intact.  It's not much.  And it won't help my sentence structure, but it should help maintain my vocabulary. 

It's over a week into the new year at this point, and so far so good!  I don't plan on 100% success with my resolutions this year.  But hey, even if I am successful only 75%, or even 50% of the time, that's still GREAT!  Those successful days are still good days where positive things happened. 

Winter Break

Usually our winter and spring breaks are spent just trying to catch up where we have fallen behind.  But the girls worked hard and we were able to still have a few school-free days in January.  But we had no trouble filling them up with other things.

New Years Day I spent the day taking down Christmas lights.  I got a lot of new lights from garage sales last summer and I desperately needed to reorganize.  I was pretty proud of how condensed I got it.   

After working hard all day, we treated ourselves to a family movie night.  It was such a nice little treat.  :)  (Though tricky to document without an additional photographer.)

The next couple of days were set aside for potty training.  Shortcake was 80% trained last summer, but she decided to un-train herself and we were back at square one.  Or so I thought.  We geared up to execute Potty Boot Camp round TWO.  (Round 1 was last Aug.)  3 straight days spent in the kitchen where there is not carpet or upholstery.  Nothing harsh about it.  She gets to do plenty of fun things during her quarantine.  Like paint.  She LOVES to paint.

But she didn't have a single accident the first day!  Day 2 she had an accident on one of my couch pillows and got quarantined back in the kitchen for another couple of hours.  Hasn't had an accident since!  But that's just how she's always been.  I remember trying so hard to get her to go to sleep on her own as a baby.  Or when we took her off the binky.  I get to the point where I don't know what else to do so I give up, and then she just does it.  Stinker.
We finished up our Winter Break with a trip to the movie theatre on base to see FROZEN with a bunch of friends.  I should have snapped a quick picture but didn't think of that.