Tues April 28th

Lisey like to say "he's my boy" about Lincoln. Then Ella corrects him and says "he's our boy and remember that he's alive!" As Lisey whips him around and hugs him tight. These girls love their brother! 

It rained all day today; a slow steady drizzle. At least I still got out for my run this morning. I just had to sport the yellow rain coat. 

We made the trek out to target in search of Lisey shoes and bras. Lisey was like a very talented, shoe targeted sniper pilot. Every shoe she set her sights to came down with a thud. She particularly targeted high heeled stilettos. Oh Lisey and her love for fancy shoes!  

Then of course Lisey fell asleep on the car ride home, slept for 2 hours then couldn't fall asleep till 10. 

Link ate plain Greek yogurt and actually kind of liked it. At least as a facial cream. 

It was a very exciting day. 

Mon April 27th

I took the little kids for a run this mornin. The trail was still overflowed with water, but it wasn't too chilly which was nice. Then we played at the park. 

Later on I took Link to the doctor bc I thought he had an ear infection. He didn't. But at least I asked about circumcision recommendations and asked if I should be concerned about him throwing up his soild foods. She said no stress about it. 

Well I discovered one thing Link likes. Yogurt popsicles (as the girls call them...frozen gogurts). Here's a picture of Lincoln enjoying one :). Isn't he just so adorable! Ella likes to call him "the baby of life" and "the king of cute". He definitely fits both of those titles. He has been getting himself up on his hands and knees a lot lately. When I come into the room to get him up from his nap he is usually up on his hands and knees. He doesn't like to just sit still on my lap, he likes to lean and grab and chew. He's a gem and we all love him! 

Lisey especially loves him and wants to hold him and play with him all the time. Luckily she is learning to be much more gentle with him :) 

The kids took a bath tonight. While I was cleaning the kitchen, they decided it would be fun to make a pond outside of the tub. The bathroom was flooded. Luckily I got in there before it could overtake the carpet. The consequence was only one book then straight to bed. They definitely knew better. Oh parenting! It sure is tough stuff!

Sun April 26th

I had to teach primary on my own today. Well I guess not totally alone. Link was there to help me. All things considered I think it went pretty well. It was on Jesus' miracles. 

After church I talked with Nick for a bit and then later on we went for a walk to the park close by us. I called my mom and we chatted. They were on their way back from Jordans graduation. My little brother is all grown up! A college graduate. Nick gets home on Friday. I cannot wait. I miss him like crazy!

Sat April 25th

It was a great and very very full day. This morning I took the kids to a teddy bear picnic at the Haslet library park. They had a really fun time listening to stories out in the warm sunshine. Yes you heard me right... sunshine. It was a beautiful beautiful day. After listening to stories we had hotdogs and cookies in the sun as well. 

Then the kids played on the playground and in the water that had overflowed onto the pathway around the park. The water was running so fiercely I warned the kids not to step off the path. I told them that it was like the straight and narrow pathway to heaven. If you stay on the path, you'll be safe. But if you stray from the path you could fall abd get hurt in the treacherous waters. The kids had a lot of fun in it. Ella said it was one of the best days of her life ;). Little did she know that the day was only going to get better.

After the picnic we took Link home for a nap and then headed over to the Sager's house for some bug catching and some crawdad fishing. There's a pond near Sager's house that we went to to catch crawdads. We caught ladybugs and roly-poly's first, then we went over to the water to catch the crawdads.  We caught two big buckets full :) It was so much fun! 

Then the kids went swimming in the running water (that hopefully no one will get sick from!). I'm so glad that Ella and Lisey got a chance to go on an adventure. I have very fond memories of doing crazy outdoors activities when I was a kid and I want my kids to have a chance to do stuff like that too. 

Then we went back to the Sager's house to play.  

The kids made a great big mud pie. Caroline ordered pizza and her and I had a great time chatting. The more her and I hang out, the more we realize that we have a lot in common. She is definitely a kindred spirit. It was a great day 😄 . 

Fri April 24th

Another rainy day. Lisey made the best of it and ran around outside. That's the one nice thing about spring rain in Texas, it's not usually very cold. But rain is rain and rain is lame and we've had a ton of rain rain lame.  

We were going to go with our friends crawdad catching but we had to push it to tomo bc of the crazy rain. We had a movie night with stephanie and her boys instead. It was a nice night. Everyone seemed to get along, which is always a hit or miss with Ayden and Myles over. It was a hit tonight :). 

Thurs April 23rd

I went for a run this morning and my usual pathway was flooded! My shoes got soaked! Luckily it wasn't cold. All this rain is crazy!!!

I feel very grouchy and depressed today. I think ultimately it's the weather that's causing my glumness, even though it feels like other things are what's causing it. Everything feels annoying. Lisey's craziness feels more crazy.  Plus looking around the house and thinking of putting everything in boxes just makes me overwhelmed. It's just one of those days the forces seem to be fighting against you and everything seems terrible. I know it's the weather. It's super ultra gloomy today. I always get down when it's overcast and dark out, especially when it's been that way for awhile.

 Yes I know I get SAD (seasonal depression). It's just hard to remember that it's the weather that's making you feel bad, when the other things seem to be the culprit. I really do have a good life. I have a lot to be grateful for. Writing down my feelings is a good way to be reminded of that. In the wirlwind of life, it's easy to forget that there are so many good things when you seem to be surrounded by the bad. Thank you Heavenly Father for writing. I can see as I'm writing down my feelings that I've had a very bad attitude today. And, as I constantly remind Ella, happiness is a choice. Choose to be happy. You can't change your initial reaction but you can choose how your going to feel afterwards. Though you can't change your initial reaction, Heavenly Father can change it over time I think. For example the more I practice acting patience even when my initial thoughts are to yell, I think Heavenly Father will bless me over time to not even feel the urge to yell at all (at least I hope that's what happens). I just need to practice it a ton. 

I need to practice being more patience with Lisey. She has so many great and wonderful talents and a sweetness that's beyond compare but she also knows how to push the line. I need to say a consequence for not listening and then follow through on it. Too many times I either can't think of a consequence or I'm trying to juggle both Link and Lisey and it's too much work to put her in time out or what not. But both Lisey and I will be happier if Lisey learns to listen. I'll be happier because I won't feel like such a wretched mom and Lisey will be happier because she won't see me acting like a wretched mom.  

I was a wretched mom today. I've been painting the girls tea party table red with a black chalk top. Yesterday I let Lisey help me. She painted her whole naked body red and got some in her hair. The tub turned pink and it was a big mess to clean up. Today Lisey wanted to help me paint again. I had to move the project to the garage because it was raining. I did not want to have a huge mess in there to clean up. But Lisey was asking so cute "can I help you? Can I help you?" How can I say no to "can I help you?"? 

Well I should have...because the min she dripped paint on the floor I yelled and then felt guilty and terrible like I always do after I yell. I ended up giving her a box to paint with her washable paints. Wouldn't it have been better if I'd thought of that from the beginning and ditched the whole yelling scene? Oh well as Nick always says "hind sight's 20/20". 

Lisey, Link and I went for a walk while joan took Ella to gymnastics to try and fight off the depression. Even Lisey seems to be affected by the weather today. She road her trike for awhile then got frustrated and layed in the ground. Oh well tomo is another day. 

Wed April 22nd

Link's cuteness was hard to capture outside.  All he wanted to do was eat the flowers. I didn't get a good one on Tues when we went the first time, so I went back again today. This is the best I got. I couldn't do I full body shot of him because the moment I got to the picture spot he had a huge poop explosion....All up the back and all over his overalls. Being the good mom I am, I changed his diaper, baby wiped the poop off his clothes and put the gross poopy things back on. Oh what we moms will do for a picture! 

We went to the library after school to get some books. Well I should say way after school... about 6 o'clock. we just couldn't get ourselves out of the house. At least we had dinner and showers before we went. We had chicken noodle soup and green beans for dinner. 

Ella could have chicken noodle soup every single day of her life if I'd let her. At least we had green beans to add some healthiness and variety. But if Ella had her way, she would just eat plain old chicken noodle soup every single day. 

Tuesday April 21st

I woke up at five this morning to take Nick to the airport. Lincoln finally slept through the night but I had to wake him up to feed him so that he wouldn't be hungry on the road. It felt like such a shame to wake up a sleeping baby to the night. We made it to the airport alive and by the time Link and I got home, I was exhausted. We had Ella to school and then Joan gave me a wonderful gift. She let me take a nap. It was the most glorious nap of my life. Lincoln had gone  back to sleep, so I had nothing to worry about. I slept from 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock. Three hours of extra sleep. My plan had been to sleep for maybe an hour at the most, get up and go for a run, then get ready and go visiting teaching. What actually happened was I woke up for a moment around 9:30, heard the rain, then went back to sleep and woke up another time around 10:30 and said five more minutes then finally woke up at 11:04 and said ahh I need to go visiting teaching. I felt so refreshed when I woke up.  It was wonderful.

After school, I went with Stephanie and the kids to take pictures in a field of bluebonnets. Trying to get all three kids looking and smiling is nearly impossible, but I got fairly close. I got some cute pictures of all the kids except Lincoln. Poor little Lisey got stung by a bee. Still she managed to put on a happy smile with the reward of ice cream looming in front of her. The idea was: pretend to smile or no ice cream. It worked :) We took the kids to chick fil a after and had dinner and a fun time in the playplace and then of course the well deserved ice cream cone. Double perk: joyful the clown was there making balloons for free. The agony of picture talking melted away in the joy of turtle and flower balloons. 

Mon April 20th

I got a run in this morning and it was of course great. Then I started on the huge mound of dirty laundry. After school we went to get the cars from the shop that was fixing the hail damage on them. It was out in the boon docks! As we were driving, I started to worry that they weren't a real company at all and they had just stolen our cars and given us a fake address. Luckily that wasn't true. 

For FHE we got domino's pizza and I gave the kids my primary lesson from Sunday about the wise man building his house upon the rock. Then we jumped on the trampoline for our activity. Lisey had fallen asleep on the long car ride and was now boucing off the walls. 

We finally got the kids to bed, then Nick had to start packing. He leaves tomorrow for 10 days. It's going to stink.

Sunday April 19th

Link slept all night! I woke up at 5 am completely shocked and of course couldn't go back to sleep. I worked on my lesson and read my scriptures till 6am when Link woke up happy. 

The lesson for primary was on the wise man and the foolish man. I made a house out of paper and tape. Then I had the kids list all the ways they could build their lives on the rock of the Savior (read scriptures, say prayers, have FHE, be kind, etc). As they read off their lists the first time I pretended to mess around with my hair and look off in the distance and not pay attention (like the foolish man who wasn't a DOER of the word). Then the rains came down and the floods came up (I shook the table) and the house fell quickly to the floor. Then I had a class read there this again this time I played close attention to what they were saying and each time they said something I put a piece of tape on the house to secure it to the table (aka the rock). Then the floods and the rains came again and this time the house stood still. I thought it was a pretty cool analogy. 

So Nick asks me yesterday (in a text bc he is still out of town and our reception at the house is terrible) how'd I'd feel if we moved to Springfield, Illinois for the summer. I was in the middle of the garage sale but I said I'd be open to the idea. Well I guess he had to make the decision right then....And it was to go. So  we're going to Springfield. Yes. It is crazy.

We're going to Springfield Illinois in less than a month and a half. My life is crazy. But I feel surprisingly ok with it (at least today I do). We are moving anyways, I guess one more short move or summer adventure won't hurt anything. 

I was wondering to myself in the shower this morning, how in the world could I feel so ok with "hey we're picking up and moving to Illinois in a month and a half" surprise life attack karate chop move. I think it comes down to this: I'm not overwhelmed by traveling because my parents took us on tons of trips when I was young. Thank you mom and dad for being willing to take us crazy kids on all those car trips!

 

Sat April 18th

The yard sale went a lot better than I expected! We made $80. I sold everything for very very cheap. I just wanted it sold, so the fact that we made $80 is great news to me! 

Ella sold lemonade, cookies and candy. She is an excellent sales girl. As people passed, she'd call out "cookies, chocolate, lemonade, marshmallow mateys (her name for the rice crispy treats)." Many people probably bought from her only because she was so cute and so dedicated haha. Her daddy would be so proud of his little girl's sales skills :) Her skills paid off... she made $46.50! And that was after I took $5 out for materials. 

She, of course has already spent almost every cent haha. She took out tithing and paid Lisey for helping me make the lemonade and cookies and then bought two toys that she'd been wanting forever  (well about a week... which is forever to Ella). 

Then we went to the primary worker party. It started hailing and raining at one point and we all had to huddle under the canopy at stay dry. All the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. 

After the rain stopped Lisey walks over to one of the puddles and sits right down in the middle of it. It was very classic Lisey of her. Some of the other kids followed suit. I enjoyed talking to Caroline Sagers and some other friends. It was a very nice time. Nick gets back tonight. Hooray!

Friday April 17th

Link slept in this morning! He woke up at 11:30pm and then again at 5 but then went back to sleep around 6 and then slept in past 9am! I spent the time getting ready for the garage sale. I've been trying to get rid of stuff so we won't have so much to move. Too bad I was a slacker this week or I'm sure I could find more to sell. 

When Lincoln woke up I took him and Lisey on a run then we played at the park. Both kids loved it. I like doing that. I'd love it if it could be part of our daily routine. Run in the great outdoors and then play at the park. It's much better then what Lisey to often wants to do...watch TV. I like them to get outside first thing and they like it too. 

After school I took the kids to Walmart and we picked up some chocolate chips to make cookies for the yard sale. I thought it would be fun for Ella to sell lemonade and cookies at the sale tomo. Then Stephanie's gang came over for pizza and a movie and she brought cupcakes and cake. I made the cookies for the sale. Fun night. Hopefully the sale goes well tomo!

Thurs April 16th

I listened to some great women's conference on my run this morning. It reminded me of how important my job is as a mother (something I desperately needed to hear after the whole daycare thing from yesterday). It also helped me realize just how much I need to step it up. My kids need the strength that comes from family prayer and family scripture study. We do ok in family prayer but scripture study is a rarity. I usually try to justify that we've done it if we read a book about scripture stories or say an article of faith. Yes that is better than nothing...but still unacceptable. Come on brooke! Be better! Do better! You can do it!

Nick and I went on a date. Yes a real date! (Ok almost real...we did have Lincoln with us...but he's pretty easy so just about a real date).  We went to Top Golf. Nick had been dying to take me there forever. He does a bunch of recruiting events there and always has a fun time. It was a pretty cool place. I  have never been golfing before and I this was as close to real, without being real, as it gets. It took awhile to get the hang of it, but by the end (and when I stopped over thinking my swing) I was getting pretty good (ish). 

I just wish it wasn't over an hour away. But that's just TX. Everything is far away. I guess it's because everything is bigger in Texas...including the drive ;) 

Then we went to Chili's for "linner". Overall it was just great to spend time with my hubby. I can see why the church recommends going on a date once a week. Day to day you start to feel more like acquaintances instead of lovers. I'm running here....he's running there. A date gives us a chance to reconnect. And maybe it was good the place was an hour away. We got a chance to really talk. It was interesting that on the way there it was much more difficult to talk then on the way back. It was almost like we had to remember how to be best friends again. But it did come back and by the end of the date, we were laughing like old chums :).  I love Nick Stephenson. He is my one and only best beyond best friend.  

Wed April 15th

Nick let me sleep this morning and he took Ella to school then he watched the kids so I could go for a run. What a sweet hubby. 

Link's 6 month check up:

18lbs 8oz/ 67%

28.5 inches long/ 98%

Head 16.7 cm/ 22%

Long and lean and small head. Just like Ella was. He got two shots. The first one he didn't let out a peep. Then the nurse said all babies cry for this other shot. I braced myself. Not a tear. No better than that, I got several smiles out of him. Lincoln is one tough kid! I guess all that wrestling with Lisey has paid off. I suppose I should have known he wasn't going to cry. His ear drum burst and I had no idea he even had an ear infection because he was smiling and laughing still. Link Link Link...you have amazingly high pain tolerance. 

I took the girls for a nature walk after school. The weather was just too grand to stay inside. I had let Lisey paint the inside of an egg carton different colors, and we walked around filling the egg carton with things from nature of those various colors. Ironically I was way more into it than Lisey was, but we all had a good time and a good walk. 

We walked to the park near our house. The park borders a daycare center. Ella saw all the kids playing outside at the daycare and she starts asking me over and over if she can go there. I told her thar if she goes there she can't be at home with me and it was for kids who's parents work. I told her she probably wouldn't like it after awhile. She wasn't convinced. That daycare looked way more fun then our house. Definitely makes you start to rethink your lives choices. I dedicated my life to raise my kids, postponed dreams to stay at home with them and they wish they could go to daycare. Ouch. I know Ella didn't mean anything by it...she just loves the idea of playing with kids all day, but still. Oh well. Hopefully Heavenly Father thinks that I'm doing the right thing and if He does that's all that really matters... I suppose the right thing isn't always the most fun thing. Sorry Ella. 

Nick, my dear sweet sweet husband, took all the kids to Walmart after the walk. The house is so quiet it's beautiful.  I can actually hear myself think.

 I keep thinking of is that Simon and Garfunkel song that says "the sound of silence". I understand what the sound of silences really means now. It is this moment. And it's beautiful. I only think a mom can truly appreciate the sound of silence because she knows the opposite sound… The sound of craziness and crying and yelling aka kids. What a sweet gift from my husband. I don't know if he can ever know how much I appreciated it. I love that man. 

Link is such a momma's boy. When Nick is holding him and I come into view he leans in towards me. He stops crying the minute I pick him up. Lincoln loves me :)

Tues April 14th (the secret to potty training)

I put "the secret to potty training" in the title because in a few years when I'm potty training Lincoln I want to be able to locate this info easily. OK the secret to potty training is to let the child go pant less for a week or two. That's right. Naked bum. Lisey goes in the potty every time with no diaper on, both pee and poop. At first I thought it would work with no diaper and panties on, but I was wrong. She peed and pooped in the panties, but when I let her go commando she went on the potty every time (well except once today when she peed outside, Cameron style haha).

 The trickest part of this method is it's hard to go out. I've been putting a pull up on her when we do go out, but she usually forgets about the potty and pees in the diaper. I guess I just need to braven up and let her go out with no diaper. I think I'm going to try to potty train Lincoln earlier. The article that I read suggesting this bare bum method said it works best on 18 month olds, or even younger. Here's hoping it will work on him! 

It was another gloomy day. At least it wasn't raining this morning so I could go on a run. Lisey and I baked cookies and played with Link. Lisey really does love Lincoln. She loves to hold him and play with him and kiss him. She's still too rough for my liking but it's gotten a lot better. She's not quite so crazy with him at least. 

Link loves toys. I remember the girls liked toys, but Link LOVES them. He has become a chewing manic and if you take a toy (anything he can get his mouth on is considered a toy to Link) he gets really upset. He's so strong too! It's hard to get things out of his grasp. He has begun scooting along the floor like a champ. I'm confident, (that is if Lisey allows him time on the floor without her grabbing him up), he'll be able to crawl within a month. 

Nick came home at five tonight and let me take a little snooze. It was fabulous. I feel like a new woman. Hopefully I'll still be able to sleep tonight. I went visiting teaching at 7 and Nick read the girls books and put them to bed. It was a nice evening. 

Monday April 13th

Link slept terrible again. It rained and poured today. There were even flash flood warnings! Nick worked from home to avoid the crazy roads. Link has had blow out after blow out today. That darn medicine is really messing with his tiny tummy. I was almost late getting Ella from school bc when I got Lincoln out of bed from his nap he was soaked in diarrhea. 

 Yes most of my day was spent doing laundry and changing Link's bum and clothes. We did also go to Costco with nick for our FHE activity. But most of the day was filled with poop. 

Sunday April 12th

Nick is home! Thank goodness! He got in late late last night or I guess really early this morning. He taught the lesson in church today and did a fantastic job. The lesson was on prayer. 

Sat April 11th

Lincoln woke up twice then Ella came in with a bad dream and I couldn't go back to sleep,  then when I did finally go back to sleep link woke up for the day. I'm so tired! Lisey pooped in the toilet for the first time today! The potty training is finally coming along! There was no rushing Lisey but now that she's in the groove there's no stopping her (hopefully haha). 

We're at the pet store but I'm so tired I just have no energy to chase the kids. I feel like a bad mom :( I'm so tired I feel like crying :(. 

I let the kids watch a movie and I held Link while I took a half nap. It wasn't much but at least I'm not dead tired anymore. I'm going to take the kids to the greenbelt to explore nature and get some excercise. 

The kids had a blast on the walk. We found a toad. I caught it and the kids thought it was the coolest thing in the world. They took turns holding it :) 

Fri April 10th

Ella came home from school yesterday talking about her two BBFs Macy and Kinly and how she wanted to get them diaries and BFF necklaces. She was talking about it again at breakfast this morning then suddenly she says " I don't even know what BFF means!" I told her what it means and then she says "I don't just have two BBFs, I have 6... Lisey, Annie, Cam, and Giga. No I have 8...Papa, Alex and Will. No 10...sian and Steve." Ella is so cute. She loves the family so much! She's got a long list of Best Friends Forever! 

Caroline Sagers invited us to go to the Fort Worth art show with her downtown. It was very fun. Unfortunately Lincoln was not happy on the car ride there or back and was fussy even while we were walking around, which is very unlike him. Facey was okay she enjoyed most of her time but I think she was really tired so she had a meltdown or two but for the most part she enjoyed walking around. I only had to stop her a few times from picking up expensive pieces of art which would've been a nightmare. That's all I need... A $1500 bill for a broken piece of pottery. We paid to let the kids tie-dye a piece of cloth. They had a lot of fun doing it and it actually turned out very beautifully. 

One of my favorite art tents was the one where they punched out cans and pieced them altogether to make a mosaic design. They were hooked in such a way that when the wind blew the can pieces shimmered and shined. They collected the cans from all over... the side of the road, trash cans and parks. It was so cool to see the designs that they could make from different colored soda cans. 

I changed seven dirty diapers today. Six of them were Lincoln's and four of them were blowouts. I guess he's been storing up his poop from the last few days. Plus I know that your infection medicine can give you diarrhea. Poor little buddy.  Not the best day to be riding in the car and going to the art show. And he let me know that by screaming the whole time in the car. 

Thurs April 9th

Her hair is like a tube of lip gloss exploding (Ella used those words to describe the little mermaids red crazy hair). What a creative little girl!

Woke up very tired this morning. Poor Lincoln woke up at 11:30pm, 1:30am and 3:30am. Finally at 3:30 I gave him some Tylenol and he slept till 7:20am. Everyone was tired out from the bedtime battle last night. 

Lisey, Link and I had a lovely walk this morning though. Last night we had some rain and lightning and the morning air was brisk and cool, but not too cold. The sun even broke through the clouds for a bit. Lisey ran around the grass and rocks, just enjoying nature. We spotted some turtles and guppy fish in the stream. It was nice to be reminded that the world really is a wonderful place. I wasn't feeling that way yesterday in the least. 

Lisey was sitting on the couch and she tells me "I want pink feet" then goes on to say "I'm pink. What color are you?" I told her I'd be blue. She gave me a huge smile. Lisey is such an imaginative little girl! Both my girls are and I bet Link will be too. 

Wed April 8th

Link is 6 months old today! I guess I should have tried him on solids again bit I didn't. It didn't seem fair to do something he hates when he's had such a hard day.  I took Lincoln to the doctor today because yellow goo was flowing from his ear. Turns out his ear drum had burst. Poor buddy. I never guessed he had an ear ache. He's just so happy all the time! All this time he was in terrible pain and still flashing smiles at me. Little angel. 

I was anything but an angel today. I yelled at the girls abominably this evening. I was grouchy and tired and my patience snapped. The bed time battle had casualties on both sides. I felt terrible for losing control of myself. Poor Ella put her hands over her ears. Shame on me. Lisey may be crazy. She may climb on my head and accidentally pull my hair. She may tackle Link and make me worry for his safety. But this is no excuse. One should only yell in cases of fire (president Hinkley said that). The kids didn't get to bed till 9:30. Oh how I hate when Nick is gone! It is so hard to juggle the three kids on my own at bedtime. Oh well. I guess tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it (as says Anne Shirley). I'm sorry Heavenly Father. I will try to do better next time. 

I was upset bc earlier in the day I had tried to apply for a freelance writing job on line. You had to take a 20 question test about grammar and punctuation. I got a 75% and you needed an 85% to apply for the job. I felt like such an idiot. And I felt very very bummed because I really really wanted to get that job to practice my writing and get some experience so I could put it on my resume for when I went to publish my books. The only good part of that whole experience was when I had a huge frown on my face and I couldn't get it off, leasee looked over at me and gave me the biggest smile and then told me "smile! Smile!" Then she touched her cheeks and told me to smile again. It was difficult at the time, but I did smile just for Lisey.  And you know what? It helped- especially seeing Lisey's cute cute smiling face.

Tues April 7th

Went for a run to make up for my laziness yesterday. Did laundry. After school the girls had fun just playing at the house while I made Shepherd's pie. Lots of work to do. Folded load after load of laundry. Laundry and dishes...a mom's never ending story. 

Mon April 6th

Well... I think I got food poisoning from the steak I made last night. Way to go Brooke. My stomach felt like it was twisted in a turnakit. But I couldn't throw up. I certainly felt like I could. I sat behind the toilet and prayed that I could just throw up and feel better. Heavenly Father did answer my prayers...just not how I expected. I thought throwing up would cure me but Heavenly Father knew of a better way. I got the impression to take some pepmo bizmo (we only had the kid kind) and yogurt and digestive vitamins. I'm not sure which actually did it or all of them combined but after a little while longer I felt totally better. What an answer to prayer and a much better answer then throwing up! Thank you Heavenly Father!

My dear sweet husband stayed home to care for me and watch over the kids. While my stomach was in agony I watched North and South (a BBC original) and it was beautiful. 

Easter Sunday April 5th

Happy Easter! Another great day of conference. We dyed Easter eggs, made cinnamon rolls, and had steak. Last night Nick set up the tent again and the kids slept in it. Then today they played in it and watched some of conference in there. We turned the tent door toward the TV and told the kids the story of King Benjamin and how the people turned their tents towards the prophet to hear his words. Conference always makes me feel good :)

Sat April 4th

I posted that on Facebook this morning. My kids are so cute...if I do say so myself ;) Even if I can never get all three kids to look up and smile at the same time or even just look at the same time. 

This morning Nick and I made a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their Easter gifts. Holy smokes it was so fun! I think Nick and I may of had as much fun making it, as the kids had doing it. We hide clues in eggs around the house and backyard. Each egg had a hint to where the next clue was until finally they were told in the final clue to go to bed. Under the blankets were nerf guns (cool pink ones that Ella and lisey were dying for). 

We made a box tower for them to practice shooting in. 

Conference was awesome. In between sessions we went to the park for a egg hunt with some ward members. 

Fri April 3rd

I felt very grouchy today. It was a long day. Nick arranged to get our cars fixed from the hail storm damage and we had to drive them to the rental car place. It took forever. Plus I was having a bad attitude bc I don't care if my car has a few dents in it. We are getting it done free through our insurance which is nice but I was still annoyed about it. 

The missionaries were supposed to come to dinner but they bailed the last minute. I had gone to Costco to get pizza and a few other things. I wanted to run fast alone but Lisey really wanted to come. She fell asleep on the way there... And slept most the time at the store and part of the way home. Then we got home and she slept more. She woke up about 8pm. Then in a weak moment we let both girls stay up till 10:30pm. I guess we'll see tomorrow just how bad of an idea it really was. I guess we should have woke Lisey up sooner. She was just so tired! She's having a hard time getting rid of her cold. 

I did get a run this morning and nick played with Lisey. He said they played wheels on the bus and did a part for everyone. The Giga on the bus said let's play dolls. The Annie on bus said let's paint nails. Cameron on the bus said I can fix that. The Papa on the bus said I know that. I thought that that was a cute version of the song. 

Joan sent us some Easter cards. Lisey's had stickers haha. 

Thurs April 2nd

Texas has skipped spring and gone straight to summer. High of 90 today. Link looks so cute in his summer garb!

I took Lisey and link to the park this afternoon. Lisey is just so cute. We found an ant pile and my instinct is to say run away because they bite. But Lisey of course wanted to observe them. She left them with encouraging words like good luck, see you later, and thank you. Lisey and Ella sure are different from each other! Lisey likes bugs and wrestling and doing dangerous stuff. Ella is very obedient, social and artistic. They are so different but both amazing little girls! 

Wed April 1st

There was a huge hail storm this afternoon! I walked the kids to the park earlier and it was nice weather but after I got Ella from school it went crazy with rain and hail!

And those are melted a bit! 

Nick got home early and we had planned on going to Walmart. We were looking out the front door into the crazy trenchal down pour and Ella says "I'm going to go pray" it made my heart padder. How sweet and innocent and pure. Ella wanted something and she new what to do. I asked her what she was going to pray for and she said "to stop the storm of course". She went to the living room and dropped on her knees and had a prayer. Her faith stopped the storm and after the rain stopped Ella got back on her knees and thanked Heavenly Father and now we're on our way to Walmart. I can see why Heavenly Father wants us to be like little children. 

Nick read the girls stories. They sure do love their daddy. 

Mon/Tues Mar 30 and 31, 2015

Mon was pretty uneventful. Did laundry all day and went to Walmart. I made some pretty yummy curry for dinner. Then we had fhe. 

Tues we went to Stephanie's house and had an egg hunt in the field by herhouse. I guess I'm a bit of a Easter nut. I just love Eastery things :). The kids had fun. 

I've got to get Lisey potty trained. I changed a lot of poopy diapers yesterday. Lisey had a grapefruit and it helped her poop four times then Lincoln pooped twice. Thats 6 poopy bums I cleaned today. Thats a lot of poop. Two of them were blow outs where change of clothes was necessary (one Lincoln and one Lisey). Yuck. Oh the glamorous life of a mom. 

Sun Mar 29, 2015

The day went by very quick. I taught the Easter lesson at church. I think it went ok. I always feel a bit bad bc I'm always so tired from Link waking up in the night. My brain feels so muddled when I'm tired. Hopefully the spirit leads there hearts to the light.