Freeze

I've decided that if I could have a super power, I would totally pick freezing time. I would be called Freeze Girl, and I would freeze my life right now. I realize how fast time is going by, and I don't like it...not one little bit. I love this season of my life and I love the stages that my kids are in.

Maya

I love that she is a deep thinker. When we read scriptures she has lots of questions, and she amazes me by how much she understands.

I love that she is old enough to have some fun, and interesting conversations with.

I love that her favorite shows are So You Think You Can Dance, edited first by me of course, and Wipeout.

I love that she tells me everything...and I mean everything. There are no secrets between us and I hope that never changes.

I love how she loves to take care of Camden. She understands that most of the time, his needs come first, and not only does she accept it, she insists on it.

Best of all, I love that she loves me so much, and that she thinks I am the coolest person on the planet.

Eden

I love her spunky personality.

I love the way she thinks. She always has the most interesting things to say...for example, the other day she was at my mom's house talking to me on the phone. She interrupts me and says:

e- "Hey mom, is the house moving?"

me- "What?"

e- "Is the house moving?"

me- "Uh...what do you mean?"

e- "You know, like is it shaking?"

me- "No. Why are you asking?"

e- "Because I am swinging on the swings while I am talking to you."

Last night after scriptures, I was explaining something to Maya when Eden kept interrupting me. I just ignored her so she got upset and then said...

"You know how sometimes you get mad at me because I don't pay attention, well it's because I am thinking about what you are saying and I am seeing pictures in my head and it is very interesting."

Oh and the other day while we were at my sister's house, Eden made this observation...

"It's like Max (my pastey white little nephew) is McCain and Camden is Obama" I know...she is ridiculous! I am not making any of this up!

My poor girl is still a germaphobe and I don't think that will change anytime soon. She gives me a report every Sunday after church about who put what in their mouths and who didn't wash their hands... Even though it can get totally annoying it is endearing and I love her for it.

Camden

What is there not to love?....I mean really.

I love his morning squeals that are finally turning into cries.

I love how he is just now realizing that he can make his voice loud.

I love how he smells.

I love how he clings onto me for dear life and eats my shoulder.

Camo loves to be held and it requires great discipline for all of us to let him be...after all, the kid has to learn how to crawl someday. He is such a slimy little guy because he puts everything in his mouth. He especially loves to try and put his whole fist in his mouth. The thing is, the smell of spit grosses me out, but because it's his spit it's okay. I know that all that drooling only means one thing....teeth. I don't want them. I'm not ready to see his gummy little smile turn into a big baby with teeth smile.

Me and Aric

(This picture is lame but I'm too tired to find a different one)

I love that we still like each other. We aren't just stuck with each other...well technically we are, but we actually enjoy it so that makes me happy.

I love that we are young enough to remember how things were when we were dirt poor, and how we were still happy even though we had nothing but hand-me down furniture and a purple van. And yet, we are still old enough to have had some serious life experience. That life experience has given us wisdom and perspective, and made us better partners, parents, and people.

I mostly love that we still have the energy to play whiffle ball in the backyard with our kids. The best part is that our kids think we are amazing ball players because we can hit the ball over the fence.

So just for fun I am going to try and freeze time right now...

FREEZE!

Okay, so I didn't stop time, but I will always have these moments frozen by technology.

I know that someday, I will look back and remember this time in my life. I don't want to remember the the stress of a crappy economy, the frustration of the adoption, the days that never seem to have enough hours, or the messes that seem to rule my life.

What I do want to remember are the little tiny moments that flutter by, the ones that don't seem like anything special when you are living them. You know, the ones that are impossible to remember because there are so many of them every single day...

...Like the moments when I hear the garage door open...that means Aric is home. That means the reinforcements have come.

...Like the moments when I have to hide Camden's bottle while feeding him his solids or else he will freak out.

...Like the moments when I have to kiss Eden's owies because my kisses make them feel better.

...Like the moments when I have to snuggle Maya in her bed because she had a rough day with a friend.

...Like the moment every night that I tuck my kiddos into bed with a hug and a kiss. Somehow those nights have turned into years, and I can't remember what Maya and Eden looked like sleeping in their cribs. I can barely remember their little voices that always asked for one more hug, or just one more drink. Those moments used to annoy me, but now I miss them.

So since I haven't got any super powers....unless you count juggling a million things at once...I will just have to settle for enjoying every darn moment with my peeps. Even though I won't remember every single moment, I will remember how good it felt to be a mom during those moments. To make sure I make the most of my moments, (can I say moment just one more time...) my blog time will have to take a hit, so I will be slower to read and comment, but I will still be here...oh yes...I will still be here.

Things worth blogging about...

Earlier this week my friend Randi, who is an amazing photographer, called me and asked if she could do a photo shoot with Camden so she could try out some new equipment. I, of course, was thrilled and I rushed to her house with Camo. Well he decided to freak out and cried inconsolably for 10 minutes then he fell asleep. I felt horrible and thought it was a total waste of time until Randi posted three pictures that actually turned out. This is my favorite...

go here to see more of her work...she's got the skillz and equipment that I wished I had.

~

Eden has had a loose tooth for weeks. If I had a penny for every time she had me wiggle it to see if it would come out, I could pay off Camden's adoption! She woke up last Sunday morning just positive it was ready to come out, she said..."I think it's going to be another bloody Sunday..." because it was a Sunday when I pulled her last tooth out.

Well that darn thing wouldn't come out. By this Sunday it was seriously gray because it was barely attached to her gum. Her old primary teacher sat behind us in sacrament meeting and saw how Eden kept wanting me to touch her tooth, so she offered to pull it out for Eden after sacrament meeting. I never thought Eden would let her do it, but I was wrong. We went into the bathroom right before primary and it took all of two seconds and that darn thing was out....thanks Melissa!

~

Friday I was a hair model at a presentation my hair dresser was speaking at. It was my first time as a hair model and it went pretty well, all I did was sit there and have a bunch of strangers look at me while my stylist talked about my hair issues and face shape. A little awkward but she needed my hair so I was there for her.

~

Saturday we rocked the garage sale like nobody's business!

We made over four hundred dollars selling the kids clothes that they have grown out of, a bunch of toys (mostly baby dolls and baby doll accessories...I'm still so sad that my girls are out of that stage **sniff, sniff**) and A's discontinued carpet samples. So even though we didn't get to celebrate our anniversary we were able to make enough money to almost cover last months attorney's fees...so clearly worth the effort and sacrifice.

~

Saturday night we were invited to an Asian themed dinner. We were assigned a dessert. Since there are no Asian desserts that sound appealing to me I made this cake...it's all frosting, thank you very much.

~

Oh and I saved the best for last...A and I made a deal right after we were married that we wouldn't get each other gifts for special occasions, instead we would save that money and use it for vacations. Well A never, EVER, remembers the deal. He always surprises me with something and I never get him anything. This year I was actually expecting him to stick to the deal because Camden is our present to each other for the next...oh...ten years!!!! But nope, he was sneaky and cashed in some points from his company's incentive program and got me a new ipod!!!

I was so shocked and so happy! And now my gift to him is my old ipod since he doesn't have one. Too bad he has to share it with the girls so he has lots of Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers and High School Musical to rock out to.

~

So that about does it for this post. There is so much more to blog but I have to take the next two days to get my house together, it has been neglected for almost two weeks!!!! YIKES! And come Wednesday, summer vacation is on so I will officially have no free time. I am actually excited about it. I am looking forward to having my girls around. Even though they drive me mostly crazy, I realize how fast time is flying by and I want to enjoy them as much as possible. After all, I only have nine more summers with Maya until she goes to college...okay that thought is making me depressed, plus it's twenty two minutes passed my bedtime....I'm out.

1o years ago today...

Here's to Aric, for bravely taking me on as his wife ten years ago on a very hot, humid Chicago day...

You have made me laugh, you have laughed at me, you have laughed with me.

You have made me cry, let me cry on you and cried with me.

You have made me mad, you've been mad at me, we've been mad at other people together.

But most of all you have made me happy and I have shared my happiest moments with you.

You will always be the best thing that ever happened to me. Happy Anniversary! I heart you!

(This is the song I couldn't find for last years post...)

Too Busy to Blog...

I've been...

~keeping my kids alive.

~helping my sister do some serious home improvements that involve painting, organizing, curtain making, curtain rod hanging, couch building, chair reupholstering and wall art making.

(clearly I don't care what my hair looks when I am working...)

~helping Maya study for a test on electricity...seriously, series circuits, the parts of an atom...really in third grade!? Well she got a 92% so the studying paid off.

~trying to publish a book...more on that soon...

~getting ready for the biggest garage sale on the planet.

~taking my sister's family pictures.

~trying my best to keep my house from smelling gross. Of course there are no pictures of this, no one needs to see pictures of my dirty house.

~making time for the temple.

~going to a kindergarten celebration.

~trying to figure out how we are going to celebrate our 10 year anniversary tomorrow. During the day I have to be a hair model at some meeting and unfortunately it's the eve before the garage sale, which means lots of work, and the next morning I am going to the temple with our youth group at 5am!!!!! Sorry honey, next weekend we will celebrate for real.

~ watching So You Think You Can Dance. The only show I watch now. But honestly I LOVE that show! I watched every dance at least twice last night. I have so many favorites this season. But Brandon and Jason have my heart right now. Jeanette and Kayla I really like too...we'll see if I change my mind as the season progresses. Oh and that Mia Michael's makes me soooo mad! Okay if I had more time I would do a post just on that show...

Uh-oh...I just heard Camden, he is awake, and Eden needs to study for her spelling test, and the bathrooms are disgusting and I still have a million things to do for the garage sale. So I will see you when I see you.

New Bikes

Aric's parents came for a visit last month. They hadn't seen Camden since he was a week old.

The girls were thrilled to see them. They were especially interested in the shark teeth and fossils that Aric's dad brought up from Florida.

They made these boards to show their classes at school.

The weather was nice enough for the girls to ride their bikes. That was when Grandma Kathy noticed how big the girls had grown and how they had outgrown their 16 inch bikes. Maya has been complaining for a while now about how she doesn't like her "little" bike and that some kids at school said it was "babyish". It doesn't take much for Eden to jump on the bandwagon so of course her bike was too little too.

Well, since I'm not one to break the budget because some little jerks don't know the "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all rule", I told Maya that we would get her a bike for her birthday....in August.

(Here's a picture of Maya on her "babyish" bike.)

and

(Here's Eden on her "little" bike.)

Well, guess what.....Grandma and Grandpa to the rescue. A few days after they left we got a little letter in the mail with a check in it to get both girls an early birthday present.

We shopped around at four different stores when we finally found this perfect bike for Maya. She was so picky! (Surprise, Surprise) First she wanted a green bike. Which does not exist in her size in our area. And of course, she couldn't have one that had hearts, butterflies, or Hannah Montana on it. (which is fine by me because I can't STAND that Miley Cyrus girl) When we found this one she was so happy. The graphic are yellow/white circles. Not too little girlish.

Then there was Eden who wanted to test drive every single bike we saw. The one she really liked didn't come in her size. But honestly I don't think she really cared what it looked like as long as it was sparkly, pink and had a basket/backpack thing on it. When we saw this one, I knew it was the one for her. It had the most personality of any bike we had seen.

Look at the shocks on Eden's seat...

Seriously...there couldn't be a more perfect bike for that girl.

So thank heaven for Grandparents! My girls are still on cloud nine with their new bikes. Apparently they ride sooooooo much faster now. Eden loves to slam on her brakes and squeal her tires.

Oh and here is Camden practicing his driving skills....

Do you notice those sleeves, or lack of them I should say?....Yes ladies and gentlemen, we skipped spring and went straight to summer! Which is fine by me.