Melting the frustration away

I love my girls, I really do. But they tend to wear my nerves raw at times. And I can get very frustrated with them. Today was really a good day, but by the time that nap time was over my girls had decided to not hear a single word I said, unless it could be turned into something that they wanted to hear. I was getting very frustrated and just a little angry. I knew that I just needed to calm down and that things weren't really as bad as I felt they were. So I split the girls up and had Ellie watch some tv while Audrey took a bath... And I calmed myself down with some me time... All after dinner before bedtime. While sitting at the computer I heard my Audrey singing a song... And after a little while it dawned on me what she was singing. It was a song all made up in her head. But to me it was one of the most beautiful songs I could hear... all about her life and love... I quickly grabbed the camera and sneakily (well as sneaky as my creaky floor will let me) I crept up to the door next to the bathroom to catch the song and keep it in my memory. So I caught a few moments of the song for you to hear. After, I took some pictures of my Audrey, you will see them at the end of the video...

When getting her ready for the pictures, and getting her jammies on I talked to her a little bit. She talked to me about how when she is older and gets married she will want to move into the house with me. So that we will never be apart. I tried to explain to her that she would probably want to live in a different house, so that she could start a new life with her husband. She burst into tears, and told me that she never wanted to do that. And I laughed and hugged her and told her to remember that, because when she is older there will be times when she doesn't want to live with me. She shook her head and cried a little more. So I hugged her and told her I loved her and that I would always be near her no matter what. And I really do love her no matter what. 

I really do.

I love my Audrey.

I love my Ellie. 

You are my pride and joy.

The two of you.

Forever and Always.

<3

Having fun with their Aunt And Uncle

We decided to go to the Children's Gardens at Thanksgiving Point today... And we invited our Aunt Whitney and Uncle Herschel to come along and join us. We played in water, explored and had just a good time... so here are some pics and a fun video :) Enjoy!

Yup that about sums up our trip!

Oh What a Day... or Night...

So I have been pretty busy... with stuff that I want to do, and things that need to be done, and things I get asked to do. Well basically, just really pretty busy. But I do like to be busy, doing things, and going. *Light bulb moment, Ahhhh I see where my Audrey gets that from....*

Anyhow, I feel I need to put into writing what happened to my little family today. I knew that today was going to be difficult but that things would be really good if I could get it to happen the right way. Audrey had preschool this morning at 8:45 instead of 12:30... So I had to get her there early, and they had a school picture to be taken. At 9:45 they would be having an assembly, where a guy from Scales and Tails would come and talk to them about reptilian creatures: snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles and such. He would also show them some snakes, lizards, turtles, and an alligator skull. I had been informed of this and wanted to go, but couldn't find a babysitter so I asked if I could bring Ellie along with me.

In the mean time I went home and cleaned up the backyard, because we were going to be having a previously scheduled playdate with some kiddos from the ward and my friend from work and her kiddos. Which I had previously scheduled for 10 to 12, and then realized my mistake and rescheduled it to 12 to 2ish... The kids like to go outside and play with Penny for part of the time.

I made it back to the school for the assembly with Ellie. And the presentation was awesome I have a few pics to show of that. However right before Audrey and Ellie got up in the line to touch the snake my camera died so the pics I got were from my phone, and yes they actually look better than the pics from the camera because I was closer to them and didn't have to zoom. And with out the flash my camera gets a little blurry if I move even the slightest bit while zoomed or otherwise...

Audrey and Ellie touched the snake! I am sooo proud of them!

He is the owner of Scales and Tails, and he does a fantastic presentation for the kids :)

Here Ellie is kind of a blur but you can see her better in this shot... 

 Anyway back to the story.

Got the pictures, and went back to the classroom with Ellie to help with snack time. Got that all set up and then realized, while all the kiddos were eating snacks, that we still had about an hour left before school was out. So they read some books and did some songs and so on and then watched a short video. Then we finally left the school and got home 10 mins before the playdate was scheduled to start. Lucky for me everyone showed up a little bit late. So I could do some finishing touches on the cleaning of my house. I got Audrey to eat a Gogurt, and Ellie wouldn't eat anything, but she had eaten several graham crackers at the school... So I wasn't to worried about them food wise. Though they were a bit worn out from all the excitement at school. So the playdate went well for about 10 mins. And then my girls had had enough. But us moms wanted them to play some more...

By about 1:45 we called the date done and my friends had all gone home. And I set to the task of trying to get an overly stimulated overly tired almost 3 yr old child to sleep. It took me a few mins but then she was out like a light. I turned on the tv and let Audrey color and that seemed to calm her down tremendously.

At about 3 my Mom and my Aunt showed up to help me make a few batches of Strawberry Jam. (We had purchased the strawberries the previous day because it was a pretty good deal.) And had them finished by 4:40 with only minimal injuries, I got a minor, minor burn from a splatter of jam...




And then Stu called and told me he was stopping at a store before he was coming home and he wanted to know where to go. So I sort of helped him to a Walmart and then waited for him to come home. I thought he was going to the store to pick up something for scouts. (He was called to be the Scout Master of our Ward.) Then I woke up Ellie.

While I was waiting for him I decided to make scones for dinner. The girls were all for it. I defrosted the dough, in a ziplock bag, in the hot bath water that hadn't completely cooled down from processing the jam. Stu came in and handed the girls 2 nerf guns and let them practice for a little bit and then disappeared.

Shortly after that my Mom came back into the house to pick up some items that she had left. And she got ambushed by 2 girls with nerf guns at the top of the stairs.

I went out with her to chat a little with my dad and then found Stu in the garage loading up 2 more nerf guns and getting all the extra ammo that he bought ready for a battle with the girls. He wouldn't let me have a gun just yet. So I proceeded to the kitchen to finish the dinner. So the whole time I am frying the scones, they are battling in my dinning room and down the hall...

We eat dinner and the girlies finish all their food. Stu heads out to scouts and after the table is all the way cleared, I get my chance at a nerf gun battle with Audrey. Ellie decided that since she couldn't figure out how to shoot the guns with Audrey, she would be an assistant to both of us. And just is sort of hanging out in the battlegrounds. After about 5 to 10 rounds of reloading, I decide that it is probably time to help the girls calm down a bit and get things cleaned up. So I get them to clean up with the promise of a movie. We get all the darts picked up and put into a ziplock baggie. And I turn on Despicable Me. And we wait until daddy gets home.

I am about to put the girls to bed when the doorbell rings. Our neighbor has come over to talk to us about our flowers in our gardens. She wants to know what kinds they are. We can't remember but tell her it is fine if she wants to take some flowers with her to the store she can come and pick a flower at anytime. The girls are running in and out of the house, the sun is setting, the night time bugs are coming out. So I tell Audrey to close the door. All four of us are outside, and 3 of us didn't have shoes on. Audrey had run inside to get her sandals on after she stepped on something and hurt her foot. We get done chatting with the neighbor and head back inside. Stu tries to open the door... Locked... He doesn't have a key, I don't have a key... I go around to the backdoor and try it... no luck, it's locked as well...

We are locked out of the house...

I call my parents, they say they will be right over. I come back to the front of the house and Stu is trying to open the side windows to our front room. He gets one open and as he is lifting Audrey into the room and I am trying to not worry about Audrey climbing through the window and possibly falling. I call my parents back and tell them not to worry, we got in. And Audrey opens the door for us.

We get inside and get the kids to bed finally... And I am just in awe that today went as wonderfully awesome as it did. Wow...