Happy Easter!

My boys were terrible in Sacrament meeting today.  But the moment the closing hymn, "I know that my Redeemer lives", started playing, I felt a rush of the spirit, and knew that those words were true.  I felt like that song was just for me today.  Especially the second verse. 

Our Easter wasn't anything spectacular today... baskets, egg hunt, a little talk about Jesus being resurrected... no fancy dinner, no family get together.  It was a little sad.  It was my fault... I just didn't get it together.  But I am grateful to know that our Savior lives, and I am grateful for everything that I have been blessed with.  Especially these guys...

Sayer is looking mighty pleased, wouldn't ya say?  They did love their new umbrellas.  Not to self... never, ever let kids bring them to church again.

Even though this is the only picture of Nate, and it happens to be of his back, he is included as one of the "guys" Love him! :)  Walking home from church.  This is our street.

Mmmmm... malted eggs!  The primary music teacher told us that Asher raised his hand during sharing time and said "I have a nice bow tie!"  Love it.

Yeah, he's a happy guy.

Sayer refused to sit with the other two...

Pretty sweet, handsome little guys, if I do say so myself ;)

Poor Sayer had a rough day today... lack of sleep will do that to a kid.  Such a sweetheart.

I survived!

Can I still count my week with Nate away as a success when the day after he gets home, I am completely losing it every 2 minutes??  Hmmmm....

On a positive note, for the record, Sunday at church was awesome.  The kids were on their best behavior.  We had a little talk that morning about being reverent and what I expected of them, and they delivered!!  Then, as a bonus... on the subway ride home, I had Bart on my back, Sayer in the MacLaren and Asher on the buggy board attached to the stroller.  We got on the subway, and I could feel all eyes on me, I guess I was quite the spectacle all by myself.  A few stops later, a man gets up to get off and says: 

"for the record, you're amazing!" followed by another lady saying "I second that".  I said "thank you!"

Yeah, I felt like a rockstar.  Sometimes I feel like Heavenly Father prompts people to say stuff like that to show his appreciation, and to show me that other people think what I am doing is hard and commendable.  Not that it should matter what other people think, but it helps me feel validated.  Either way, it made my day.

Fall pictures

 I was looking through out pictures and realized that I completely forgot to post the pictures that we had taken this fall by our neighbor.  This red door is the front of a catholic church on the west end of our street.

 Some of my favorite pictures were these candids where we are trying to get our kids to stand still.  Sayer was very un-cooperative at the beginning, and Asher at the end.  Gotta love that.

 Doors of Riverside Church.  It started getting really cold at this point.

 Inside Sakura park, which is just across the street from Riverside church on 122nd, and a block west of our building.  Notice Asher's pouty face.

 I miss these precious curls so much. :(

You can tell by their faces that this is the end of the session. ;)

Spring is here!!

 My friend snapped these pictures on my camera the other day, on our way to one of our favorite playgrounds inside Morningside Park.  I love this picture, because it just gives you a little taste of how beautiful it is all going to be in a couple more weeks.  We are getting plenty of rain this week, so there is really no excuse for the trees and flowers not come to life quickly.  I can't wait!

Friends and daffodils.  Or as Asher likes to call them, Daphnes, in honor of a little friend in our building named Daphne. :)

6 down, 2 to go!

Nate is in London this week presenting at a Music Ed conference {we are pretty proud!}, so it's just me and the kiddos.  It's actually been great, which I knew it would be if I had a good attitude about it.  The kids have been great for the most part, I have been extremely patient {except when Asher ran into the road after his scooter}, and I have had some nice time to myself in the evenings to reflect and figure some things out that have been on my mind.  We have kept busy, with schlepping the kids to and from Asher's preschool, running errands {including a trip to target with friends.  Going to costco and target here is like a special occasion because it's such a trek... all the way on the east side!!}, and enjoying the park when the weather has been nice.

My neighbor and dear friend Clare has been so sweet to do some swaps with me so we could each take time away from the kids, which I used to go running.  I haven't been overly stressed out or anything, but it has been a few days of being with all 3 boys non-stop, so this evening I went running... in the rain, and it was just what I needed.  I don't know why, but there was something about running in the pouring rain and getting soaking wet, that just added to my happiness and rejuvenation.  It was perfect.  Plus I felt great and fast, which is always a bonus! :)

I just put the last kid down for the night, and couldn't help doing a little celebratory dance as soon as the door was closed.  I even put my arms in the air in a show of victory, similar to what Brad Pitt does in The Mexican while saying "I'm the winner".  Then I realized that I only have 2 more nights until Nate comes home.  I've got this in the bag!  Well, I guess I still have to get through Sacrament meeting by myself tomorrow, so maybe I'll wait to celebrate.  And now for some down time, which will most likely include catching up on some conference talks, reading a bit more of Mansfield Park, and probably a Hulu show or two, all while listening to the rain and sipping a nice beverage. 

Cutest picture ever!

Problem solved

"What do you do with all your dirty diapers?",

was a topic of discussion at a recent girls night out.  I replied, un-apologetically, 

"I throw them down my hallway towards the front door, and leave them there until I get a chance to take them to the trash chute"

Gross, I know.  Sometimes I have a bag set out that I put them in over the course of the morning, and then take them all out together.  But honestly, I am not going to take out each diaper individually.  That's just inefficient.  I did find out, though, that I am not the only one who doesn't make it to the trash chute as often as I should.  That is really the purpose of mom's conversing with each other by the way... to realize that we are all totally normal, even if we forget to take the diapers out, or don't do the dishes as often as we should.

I digress.  Back to the diapers.  Thankfully, this is becoming less and less of a problem, all thanks to a small boy named Asher.  He is my hero.  Here is he in all his glory {and mis-matched pajamas}, taking out the diapers to the trash chute...

 What a star!  The best part about it?  He loves doing it!  Who'd have thought?!

Death by Heart Attack

This will be the headline of the article about how a mother of 3 {me} died of a heart attack while her children rode their scooters across the street.

Now that the weather is warming up {a bit}, the kids have been doing a lot more this

That's them.... all the way at the end of the sidewalk... waiting for me on their scooters.

Coming up to Broadway, one of the intersections you will read about below.

 instead of being in the stroller.  Which is good, because honestly, I am not a horse.  It is getting close to physically impossible for me to get up some of the hills pushing a 4 1/2 year old and a 3 year old, with an almost 1 year old strapped to my back {or front}.  And I'm a pretty tough chick.  Part of me is bummed though, because gone are the days where I get to walk at my own pace {fast} and not have to worry about one of my kids getting hit by a car.  For my sanity I have allowed Asher to stay in the stroller as long as he has.  I know people think I'm crazy, but I just haven't been ready.  It's like deciding when to potty train... it's really about when the parent is ready to deal with things.

Well, yesterday was one of those days where I wished I could just strap them into the stroller and go.  But no, I took them on their scooters to the post office and to register Asher for kindergarten.  Both things took a long time, and both times I was constantly telling them "stay there", "don't touch that", "settle down", "come here", "stay close to me",  "hold on to the stroller", etc.  They were actually pretty good, considering that I told them we were going to the park, and instead took an hour plus to run errands, then went to the park.   This is actually not normal for me... I pretty much NEVER run errands with my kids, at least not all 3 of them.  Sayer and Bart are easy, but add in Asher, and things get a little out of control.  Park days with all 3 of them are generally very enjoyable, except for the getting there and back part.

For example...

We're crossing the street to come home from the park.  It's a 4 lane street with 2-way traffic, but it's only a 3-way stop as we were on Riverside drive coming from the park.  There's a little median in the middle.  The light is red for us, so the boys are scootering around behind me.  I tell them to come close to me so that when the light turns green, we can go fast.  You have to go fast, or you might miss the light, because it takes a little longer to cross the street with a stroller and two crazy boys on scooters.  Well, they don't listen {of course} so the light turns and I yell for them to hurry.  Asher comes and I see there are no cars that would be turning into the cross walk, so I let him go on ahead while I am still telling Sayer to hurry up.  He seriously takes for-e-ver to get to me, and by the time he does, we have missed the light.  Asher is already on the other side and scootering away, so I have to YELL for him to stop and wait.  I'm sure at this point, people think I'm crazy and in way over my head with all these kids on scooters.  So Sayer and I wait for the light to change while Asher {thankfully} stays put.  Finally we go, and I'm practically dragging Sayer because he wants me to let go of his scooter so he can "do it by himself" and I refuse to let go.  When we reach the sidewalk, both kids take off at full speed to the next corner, with me YELLING, "STOP AT THE CORNER".  This is a normal thing.  I tell them {read: yell at them} at every corner.  To their credit, they always stop.  But they get a little too close to the edge for my comfort, so I continue yelling, "get back from the edge Sayer, SAYER get BACK from the edge!!!"  When I get up to them, I give them the talk {again} how they can't get too close to the edge, because their scooter might roll into the road {which happened yesterday, by the way. Yeah, I freaked out} or a car might drive by too close, etc etc.  Aaaaahhh.  So. much. anxiety.  I think I lose a year off my life at each intersection.  When we come up to a little one way street, it's no problem, but the big intersections are really scary.  One time last fall I made the mistake of letting Asher go all the way across a 4 lane crosswalk (picture above) with out me holding his scooter, and a car turning left {thus passing through the crosswalk} barely missed running him over.  I about died.  Drivers like that make me so mad.  It's not that they don't see him, because I know they do, it's that they see all the people in the crosswalk and are trying to make it through before we reach where he turns and he has to wait.  But he must not have accounted for the speed of a 4 year old on a scooter, because they pretty much hit the exact same spot at the exact same time.  I don't know how they missed each other, but I do know that Asher was completely oblivious to any problem, which is really scary.  

Anyway, so yeah.  That is a pretty normal trip home from the park for us.  I'm sure you can understand why I usually opt for strapping them down and pushing 80 plus lbs all around town.  To their credit though, they really are getting better, and are generally good at listening to me when I tell them to stop, and they ALWAYS stop at the corner.  So that's good.  It will just take a little more practice, a few more near death experiences, and a few more times with me asking them if they want to die by getting hit by a car.  Hopefully that image will sink in soon for them. :)

I am IN!!!

Thank you guaranteed entry!!

Picture from LongIslandPress

Join me, won't you?  Lottery closes April 18th.

My boys this morning...

Enjoying our new Roku. I just set it up yesterday, and am a huge fan already.

That air mattress is my new bed... we had to move Bart back into our room because he was waking up the boys with his nighttime chatting.  So now he is waking us up, and I am not a fan.  He puts himself right back to sleep, but it is enough that Nate and I are both not getting a solid nights sleep.  Most nights we full on carry our mattress out to the family room, and sleep quite well out there, I might add.  But Nate is in London this week, so it's the air mattress for me.  I guess this is us trying to make our little apartment work for us. :)  Hopefully we will get Barty back in the boys room soon.

Just look at that precious face though... how can you stay mad at that?

Big stander!  On his way to being a big walker.  It's actually making me a little sad.  I love having a baby, and he is not going to be one much longer.  :( 

Shark Navigator!

Nate and I (especially Nate) are huge Woot fans.  Nate checks both Woot.com and Kids.woot.com on a daily basis.  Our latest awesome score was this $200 vacuum, which we got for a fraction of the cost.  We got it today, and we were both practically giddy.  I know, who would have ever thought either of us would get that excited about a vacuum?!  But we have been without a real vacuum for 2 and a half years.  We have a shag rug in our living room, and we have been getting by with our hand held dust buster, and borrowing our neighbors full size vacuum every now and then.  Apparently, this vacuum compares to a Dyson, just at a much lower cost.  I don't know about that, as I have never used a Dyson, but I used the Navigator today, and was extremely pleased (and to be honest, a little disgusted) with it's sucking ability.  Thanks to the clear plastic, we get to see just how much dirt we collected from our carpets.  It was not a pretty sight.  But at the same time, it was!  You know what I mean... it was satisfying to see that our rug was actually getting clean

Here's to enjoying the chore of vacuuming, for a little while at least.  :)

He loves me!

This evening, Nate came home from school with a package for me.  He said it was a book he thought I'd like.  Yay!  How thoughtful, right?  So I tear into the package to see what he got me and open it to find, not a book, but a kindle! GASP!  No really, I honestly gasped out loud.  Needless to say, I was very excited, not to mention surprised.  I have been going back and forth as to whether or not I really wanted one, and decided that I did.  And then Nate goes and gets me one... just because.   I love him.  Not because he buys things for me, but because it means he was thinking about me.  Makes me happy.  And so does the kindle. :)

39 Steps

Way back in September or October, Nate and I went to see 39 Steps, an Alfred Hitchcock murder mystery play. It was very funny. It used to be on broadway, but has since moved to off-broadway, which basically just means that it was way cheaper. Sweet! The whole play moved very quickly and only had a cast of 4. They all played different characters, so there were a lot of costume changes and running around. The actors were literally dripping with sweat by the end of the play. The humor was perfect and the acting was great. A nice clean show. I definitely recommend it... especially to my dad. He would LOVE this show!

Sick days

You know there is something wrong when Asher falls asleep anywhere besides his bed.

I think this happened 3 or 4 times within a week. It was kind of sad, but so sweet.  We all had a horrible round of the flu for a couple weeks back in January.  It seemed to linger the longest with me and Asher.  It has just been in the last week or so that I have finally been feeling up to par again.  Thank goodness that bug is over and done with.  For this year at least.

Halloween {2010}

Isn't it awesome that I feel the need to specify that this is Halloween 2010.  Ha!

Asher said he wanted to be a baby chicky again this year, so that made things easy for me. I did add a hood to the costume to improve it a little though. Sayer was a chicken again and Barty was the monkey. I feel so bad because I didn't get any pictures of Sayer and Bart in their costumes as they only wore them at the Primary Halloween party, and I didn't take any pictures there. Sad. They looked super cute though.

Asher at the Ward Halloween party.  I don't think I took any pictures myself at the party, I think a friend emailed this to me.

Asher getting ready to go trick or treating in the building

Addi and Asher

Tali and Addi.  I LOVE that Tali was buzz lightyear.  Her dad was woody.  What a good dad!

Sayer didn't go trick or treating because the plan was for him to go to bed.  I think we had been out all day, although now I can't remember where we went.  Anyway, I got back from trick or treating with Asher to find this sight.  Two suckers at a time.  Nice job putting Sayer to bed Nate!!