Happy Birthday, Juliet!

Yesterday was Juliet's birthday party. After everyone left I took these pictures of her. She went into the kitchen, took a bowl of chips off the counter, and was really enjoying herself. Jeff and I were laughing so hard at her. Messy hair, party clothes long gone and face deep in Doritos. Oh, she must be my child!

My mother in law made her cake. I LOVE this cake. She did an amazing job!



These are some photos of Juliet from the last couple weeks.

Happy birthday to my precious little girl, Juliet today! I can't believe she is already two. I will be saying that every year because time flies by too quickly. Birthdays for the children are bittersweet. I am so blessed and daily give thanks to God for allowing me the privilege to watch them grow one more day. However, it is sometimes difficult to know they won't always be little. I love this age that Juliet is in right now. She gets so excited and giggles so darling. Even her little temper tantrums are cute. That is probably because she is my youngest.

Yesterday we had her birthday party at our home. That is truly a day I would love to relive. The party was great. I am appreciative to everyone who came early to help. My mom, mother in law and Tiffany all arrived early to help. My sister was so helpful in allowing the kids to stay over the night before. A party is only as good as the guests that arrive. Every time we have a birthday party for the kids I am still overwhelmed with how much people love us and care about us. It still amazes me that a whole house full of people would take time away from their weekend to help celebrate my child's special day. I love all the activities about the day, but I feel so overwhelming blessed and grateful for all our family and friends. Most of them may never realize how I cherish each of them in our life. I was discussing last night with my Aunt why I am so determined to have successful birthday parties. There are many reasons. My parents always threw over the top birthday parties for my sister and me. That is a 'legacy' that I want to continue. Another big reason is because of our family and friends. My kids adore each of them. Yesterday as everyone was leaving the boys would hug and kiss each of them. It was not because I was necessarily encouraging them. They simply love them. It makes my heart swell.

Rough start

This morning started off rough. I think we all have ugly moments, especially with our children. You know those ugly moments when your children are acting up to the point that you start acting like a child yourself? Sometimes I think, "geez, if someone really saw how crazy things can get I would be so embarrassed." This morning Jackson and I were going round and round horrible. Oh my goodness. I would tell him to do something, he would scream, "NO!" at me, I would drag him to his room, two seconds later he would return. Round and round. It was getting ugly and I was yelling. Then I look up and my mom and nephew are standing in my kitchen looking at me. Ugly moment. I was a hot mess. Besides the fact I was having a horrible parenting moment I looked like a disaster. No shower, outfit still on from yesterday, messy hair. Oh, stop picturing it! It is too painful. My mom gave me some relief and I took a shower. I am happy to report that my day has been much better, but man, that was a rough start.

Motivation?! Where are you?

We had a very unproductive weekend. It was really very nice. We laid around, took naps, and well, did much of nothing. For about two seconds I felt guilty. However, we are never lazy in this house. We are always moving, cleaning, disciplining and on and on. So, I decided I no longer felt guilty about our laziness. In fact, I was appreciating it and relishing in it. Monday morning rolled around and I felt recharged and refreshed. I have been organizing and cleaning this whole week. I actually did most of the same all last week. Today I am desperately searching for some motivation. The boys had school today. I watched April's kids for her while my boys were at school. After preschool I took the boys back to Aprils for lunch and to play. We stayed there playing much later than usual. April made homemade chocolate chip cookies and my mom came down to visit. I think all the sugar we consumed had an effect on all of us. All four kiddos slept the whole way home. I couldn't believe that after I carried each child in they remained asleep! They never stay asleep. Well, except Juliet. She was wide awake. With three out of the four kids asleep Jeff and I both fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up the kids were working on me with their welding torches and Juliet was covered with A&D ointment. Since then I am still wanting to lay around. Oh, laziness please go away. I have so much to do. Tonight I was supposed to go do all my shopping for Juliet's birthday party this weekend. That is definitely not happening.

Routine Update

How is it my kiddos can go with so little sleep? That is the million dollar question today. Last night we began bedtime activities at 8p. We had to do baths, brush teeth, pjs, bedtime stories and prayers. All four kids were asleep by 9p. Oh, wonderful success! Fast forward to 4:30a! Yes, 4:30a. That is the time Jacob got up for the day. Really. Ready to start his day, already asking for breakfast and something to drink, and running around. 5:30a. That is the time Jonah woke up. Why don't my children sleep like 'normal' kids?! Oh, I am so trying to control my bad case of the grouchies. Zero time to myself is not helpful.

A new routine

Bedtime around here has not been working for quite some time. I am trying to think back to when exactly our 'routine' started being so unorganized and random. I think when we moved a year ago we abandoned a set schedule. This morning I am feeling like a genius. Thanks so some serious inspiration from moneysavingmom.com I have decided to schedule my day. My day as a stay at home mom is very random. Many days I am very frustrated that I am unable to be productive, spend little quality time with the kids or have no clue what is for dinner. These things are my job. So I am tweeking and organizing like a crazy mama. And drum roll please....I am have a new bedtime routine that I am so excited about. It may sound so obvious to others. But now at 8p every night we begin our bedtime routine. The kiddos get their pajamas on, brush teeth, read bedtime stories and then prayers. Lights are out at 8:30p. Then, this is the tricky part, Jeff or I will sit in their room until they fall asleep. Last night Jeff was in there for only five minutes! We are completely skipping naps for all four kids. No more naps! And this is another biggie we have removed every single toy from the boys room. That may sound extreme and cruel. Let me tell you the second you walk into our home you know kids live here. We have a completely stocked playroom in our basement with toys. We recently added a toy organizer to our living room for toys (sounds classy) and toy boxes we removed from the boys room are currently residing in my dining room. By 8:36p last night all four kids were asleep.
Wow, that was amazing. New bedtime routine must lead to new morning routines too. Oh, yes! And I am pumped about that too. I am predicting all the kids will be up by 7a now. My day has to begin at 5a. My plan is to exercise from 5-6a. Be in the shower by 6:15 and breakfast on the table by 7a. So, this is officially morning number one. I am so the downfall of my plan. Ugh!!! I don't even remember my alarm going off at 5a. I set it for 5a and woke at 6a. How can my alarm go off for a complete hour and not hear it?? Well, you would think this would amaze me and I would jump out of bed to catchup on my new morning routine. However, it did not motivate me into action. Instead I did not hit the snooze I turned the whole alarm clock off. I finally woke at 7:45 when Jackson woke up. Night number one was a complete success. Morning number one still needs some......tweeking. I feel pretty confident knowing where I went wrong. My bedtime has to be no later than 10p. Last night Jeff got called into work around 9p. I stayed up watching stupid dvr'ed shows until almost midnight. Stupid dvr! Why do I love that thing sooo much. It has to be gone. Today is the day. I am calling AT&T next to cancel. It is too big of a distraction.