Boys were gone for the weekend

I thought maybe I'd get to relax some but school just got out and Brynn was preparing for girls camp. This is what we did. 

Sidewalk chalk. Molly thought it would be fun to color on herself too. 

Crepes for breakfast. 

Tie-dying shirts. They did all the work while I cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed with Molly in her little backpack on my back. 

Playing in the rain. 

Setting up primary. 

We also watched a movie together, Laughed about silly things, enjoyed the quieter house, stayed up late, made some cookies. There was only a little bit of fighting. And although I was totally exhausted by the time it was over, I was grateful to see my girls have fun together, miss their brothers, work together, laugh together, and that I laughed a lot more than usual. 

Another demonstration of Macy's sense of humor

Happy Father's Day. 

Dangerously delicious berry cheesecake. 

Dreaming

I am not a dreamer, by nature, but I've always been a thinker. For the past 5 years or more, I've felt a need to prepare myself to earn an income, should the need arise. My BYU degree is not enough to get me a job that would pay enough or be interesting to me at this point in my life. So I've pondered, studied out a handful of options, never really holding onto one idea long enough to be excited about it and go after it. I love being a stay at home mom. I feel very blessed that I can be. It's hard and often not rewarding but it allows me some freedom and flexibility and I like being boss of the kitchen and the home, maybe more than I should. I'm happy that I don't have to juggle a paying job, along with my calling, my kids, housework, etc. But because I feel the need to be prepared, I want to work doing something I enjoy. This seems like a daunting task. 

To help in this journey of discovery, I went to Time out for women a few weeks ago and looked up a book from a speaker on the tour who didn't come to us. It's called "Dare, Dream, Do..." By Whitney Johnson. She speaks specifically to women about dreaming. It was a very inspiring book to me. Since I married, one thing I wanted to do was open a prenatal and infant massage practice. But massage is hard on my body and I didn't think I would be able to do it for very long. So I've considered piano teaching, not for me, nursing, not sure I could handle all the yuck. I guess my main goals have been to find something that is flexible, pays well, and is rewarding, not a 9-5 job. My friend suggested midwifery, which I had never even thought of. The idea has sparked something inside of me. In this region I live, there isn't much access to natural childbirth and in the big cities, midwives are in such high demand that many families get turned away, I was one of 

them when I was pregnant with Spencer. So I've looked into schooling, it's intense and expensive, I've been taken in by a midwife for this pregnancy(!), and I'm looking at possibilities of opening a birthing center in this area. Anyway, what I realized from reading that book ⬆️, is that dreaming and doing is so good for me as a person, and as a mom, and if I dream, it will encourage my children to dream as well. I've spent way too many years feeling like I've been sacrificing so much, which is necessary, but not spending nearly enough time dreaming for me, I gave over my mind to my kids, and for me that hasn't been healthy. So here's to a re focus for me. I'm still bearing children and I don't know when the end of this period will be for me but that doesn't mean I can't find me, and become who I'm supposed to become. I'm positive if I'm doing what I should be doing, I'll have the capacity to do all I need to, whatever that may be. 

An injury for Spencer

Spencer is quite coordinated and is confident, sometimes too confident in his abilities. He was balancing on a 1" dowel until he lost his balance and landed face first on the hard floor. No serious injuries, a cut on the inside of his lip, bleeding around a tooth and a fat lip. After snuggling for a few minutes with me, he decided it was still ok to go to pre school. So he did. 

An outing to 'Birds of Prey'

Whitney invited my two youngest and me for an adventure. And it was an adventure. One thing I struggle with in motherhood is getting cooped up and feeling bored, especially with little ones.  I'm kind of a home body but it might be because it feels easier to stay home then go out, but it's good to get out of the house regularly. My kids especially like being out. 

Feeding ducks, they were crazy and we were so happy to be on the other side of the fence. 

Holding an owl. It's full grown, just a small one. I had no idea there were so many kinds of owls. 

Bald eagle sitting there on the perch. 

We got to watch an eagle demonstration. I thought it was interesting. I also learned the big bird only weighs 8-9 pounds. 

Independence

Anyone who's had a child transform from baby to toddler knows all about this word independence. It's tricky. One of her favorites right now is sitting at the table. Or standing and crawling on it. 

I let her do it a lot but I know she will probably fall off and get hurt. But they have to learn, I guess. And who can resist a face like this?!

Farm animal fun

Friends of ours, the Wrights, breed dogs. Every six months or so they have a new litter of cute puppies. My kids enjoy holding them for a little bit. 

And they have access to baby chicks

So they say it's a girl

Joel was so bummed to learn he will have another sister. To be honest, Stan and I were both shocked. I had two early ultrasounds and both claimed it was too early to tell but guessed a boy. Plus, we've alternated genders each time, so of course this would be a boy. But I'm surprisingly more excited than I thought I would be. Heavenly Father will help me raise this girl too, even during the teenage years. If not, I'll trade Brynn for her babies in 13 years!

Molly-14 months

Molly has now decided that she likes to walk and is getting very good at it.  It's so fun! She wants to feed herself, very messy. She wants to be held by me lots of her awake time, tiring. If I can get her in a carrier, comfortably, then it's not such a bother to me because I can still get stuff done. She loves treats. She is very determined to do what she wants. She has the biggest grin and most beautiful giggle. And her hair is long, although thin. I can do some things with it. 

The BBQ mishap

Joel got a little singed as I was attempting to teach him how to light the BBQ. I've done this several times before but apparently we left the gas on too long before the match hit it and the flames shot up about 3 feet. Joel was standing the closest and had the worst of it. He was so scared. He burned his lips and just above his upper outer lip. He thought he looked like a vampire. To me it looked more like he had a big kool aid stain. Anyway, we treated it with doterra's lavender essential oil, every 30 minutes or so, and after about 5 applications, his lips had completely returned to normal. So awesome!

Molly turned 1

Most of us don't prefer the typical cake or cupcakes for a birthday treat. So I bagged it for Molly and did strawberry and blueberry lady bugs with chocolate! So yummy. I remember making such a big deal out of Brynn's first birthday or maybe I didn't. Her birthday was quiet, she obviously didn't really understand what was going on. She loved it when we sang to her, I did several times throughout the day. I think she enjoyed Macy's birthday better, 4 days later. She is a mama's girl. She is sweet, has the biggest grin, currently takes amazing afternoon naps-3-4 hours, which keeps my sanity, likes to make noise, loves to play with anything not a toy, especially wallets, earrings, and other things that should be off limits. She's little. 15th percentile for her weight-just over 17 pounds.  Loves to crawl and walk holding onto furniture. She can take steps but isn't really interested in walking. I can't help her see that playing outside would be way more fun and less dirty if she walked! The heart murmur they detected when she was new is not noticeable anymore. Yay!

Macy had a birthday

This sweet girl turned 9 in March. 

We love that she is kind, generous, confident, and genuine. For example today she was having this conversation with 4 year old Spencer. 

Spencer: mom is making me play with Molly in the basement while she makes dinner. (He sighs and rolls his eyes.) it's not fun to play with Molly. 

Macy: just pretend it's really fun and then she will have fun and be happy!

This girl understands better than me a couple of principles. 1.  Fake it til you make it. 2. Giving service is important and by doing it, you bless others. 

Brynn the photographer

I'm impressed with this girl's ability to capture cute moments, scenery, etc. 

Mountains are still my favorite but I've learned to love the prairie and its unique beauty, particularly the sunrises and sunsets and the ability to see for miles. 

Spring break

Spring break coincided with Easter, which is a long weekend in Canada! So we stayed home to spend Easter together. The kids and I were adventurous and drove to Washington to visit our Wright family there. It was a short but fun week. 

I got to attend the temple twice, once to watch Brynn and two cousins be baptized for relatives names we found, and once to do a session of sealings with my mom and dad, and my brother and his wife. It was awesome. I love the spirit I feel in the temple!

The next two days were spent shopping. It was time for wardrobe updates for the kids, spring and summer wear. First the boys, then the girls. It was fun bonding times and we love getting clothes outside of southern Alberta so we don't have the same items as many others in our town!

This wagon was dual purpose. Fun for Molly at first. Then the big kids discovered they could ride it down the driveway. Very adventurous of them since you can't steer it very well. 

Spencer sporting his new goggles and shirt. He ended up with a bunch of name brand stuff from Ross, which I'm not into for little kids, but it was the same price as Walmart but better quality.

And the last day we found a really fun park, the theme of the park was based on a children's story, Ferdinand, then we had to go to zips for criscuts. 

After Molly was down for a nap, the kids and me hiked to the pond near my parents house. I had never been there and the kids didn't know where they going so we took a very round about way. After 1 1/2 hours of walking we discovered we were above the pond on a different trail. 

This is where we went wrong. 

Our 2 hour hike would have been half that long, at least, if only I'd known. But it was a good time and good exercise and the day was beautiful.