"And mine Angels round about you, to bear you up..."

This scripture(D&C 84: 88) has been in my heart the last hour. I had the day off from babysitting and had a TON of housework to do. Of course, being me, I didn't want to do the housework. However, when I woke up I decided that I had better start cleaning. 10am rolls around and I have barely made a dent in what I needed to do when the phone rang. It was Bonnie from the Salvation Army telling me that they needed help setting up the toy distribution center for the Angel Tree. Of course I jumped at the chance to ignore my messy house for the day and we hurried out the door. 3:30 rolls around and we are finally getting home after a fulfilling day of volunteering. I walk in the door and my house is just as messy as before, ACK! After putting Rora to sleep I rolled up my sleeves and started back in on the mess. The next time I looked around my house was clean. Even the dishes(the nasty ones that sat on the counter since Saturday...) rinsed off easily. It was only 4:45 and I was ready to start dinner. The only explanation that I can offer is that Angels truly were helping me clean my house. They prerinsed my dishes and made every mess clean up just a little bit faster. I know that what I did today isn't going to change lives, but the Lord saw that, he saw the stress I felt when I walked back in the door to my messy house and he "bore me up." Something so simple as cleaning my house and the Lord is there to help me. I am such a blessed Daughter of God! Thank you Lord!

For once my Christmas newsletter is finished on time!...just click on it to read it...I couldn't make it any larger :)

M&M's and Cleanup time!

Lately Kira has had a hard time cleaning her room, ending with me so frustrated that she is throwing a fit that I say something like, "ok, if you are going to throw a fit then you can take a nap...and THEN clean your room. You'll have plenty of time since you can't eat dinner until it's clean." Which results in more tears and whining. I have tried helping her, which ends in me cleaning her entire room. Directing her, which makes me frustrated because she moves SOO SLOW, and I have a million things I could be doing instead of standing there. Anyways, we woke up this morning and I told her she had to clean her room before Covey(her friend) comes over to play and that she had to have her room cleaned before he came over. She wasn't thrilled about cleaning it, but at least she wasn't whining.
After she had been cleaning for about 5 minutes, every minute or so asking me to come see her progress, I was so happy that she was cleaning with a great attitude! It made me remember the incentive that my Mom occationally used to get me to clean my room: M&M's.
Thankfully I have M&M packs left over from halloween so I told Kira to go in the livingroom and play while I went to get the M&M's. I then proceeded to hide them around the mess in her room. One under her doll blanket, one next to the dirty clothes, etc. Now as I type this I keep hearing the happy sounds of her scurrying around her room and the occational squeal of, "I found one!"
Thank you Mom for your ingenious idea! I have a feeling that cleaning her room is now a game and not a chore!

I took this video tonight...Kira and Daddy went out on their weekly Friday night Daddy Daughter Date to the HARK meeting. I love my one on one time with my sweet girl! Rora has gotten so steady on her feet and is just adorable! Enjoy!

Since im online, ill share...

Kira just went out to play with the neighbor girl...Rora was standing by the door looking at me heartbroken and crying...she then came over to me, took my hand and led me to the door. When I told her that she can't go outside she sat down and started crying again. Now her face is glued to the window watching for a glimpse of Kira. She sure loves her big sister! I just had to share!!

Angel Tree

Angel tree opened last Friday. This year there are over 3700 children, disabled and seniors that need to be adopted. The numbers are staggering. The Angel tree is only one of the Christmas charities that helps locally. My heart breaks for all those in need, both locally and globally.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, I have been reflecting on the many things that I can be thankful for, starting with the ability to not only care for my children's needs, but that we can also help someone else's children. But then I feel guilty. The blessings that I receive when I adopt an angel, or work the booth are far greater than anything that I give. Isn't it amazing the way that our Heavenly Father gives us tenfold whatever we give. I just wish everyone would know about the blessings we receive when we give. Even if you have nothing, give of your time, you will be blessed for it. How can you afford not to?
Anyway, back to Angel Tree...please adopt. Use it as an opportunity to teach your children about the joy of giving. Last year Kira had a hard time understanding that we were giving away the gifts we collected. She even worked hard and was great about spending her money to buy a toy to donate. But she really didn't understand that it went to one person. This year, she told me that she wanted to give away a barbie that she received last Christmas. We haven't opened it yet because she got two of the same barbie and we were waiting until the first one needed to be replaced. We got first pick of the Angel's since we put the cards together and were able to find siblings that are near my girls ages. As soon as we got home and started collecting gifts that we had already, Kira went to her barbies, pulled out the unopened one and offered it for the Angel.
There is no greater joy for me as a Mom to see that she is understanding the joy that giving brings. With that said, as Thanksgiving approaches, please find some way that you can give. I promise that the more you give the more you receive. I know that it works in my life.

Since I have been asked a million trillion times...

Ok, so it seems like everytime I go out someone asks me if/when we are planning on having another child. Even at the grocery store I have been asked by complete strangers if we are going to have another child. I am not sure what everyones fascination with my children is, so I can only assume that it is because we create such beautiful babies. :) I have always answered that when the Lord is ready, we will have another child, and then as many as he will bless us with. Yet up until now my body has been recovering from Aurora.
It is official...we are trying to have another baby! Now before you get excited, just remember that it took us two years from when we started trying after Kira to get Rora so this most likely will take awhile, yet it is still exciting that any month could be the month!

Woman - Man = EXHAUSTION!!!

Last week, the week before Halloween, Josh was gone to Rochester NY for the week for work. I have to admit, when he left I was kind of excited that I would have a week where I didn't need to worry about making a nice dinner or being done with the housework before he got home so we could enjoy family time. I had high hopes of getting the floors cleaned, the office closet cleaned out and the garage swept up and decluttered...HAHAHA!!!
Josh left Sunday morning at 6am! So I was already sleep deprived just waking up to get him to the airport. We came home and since neither girl was ready to go back to bed I sent them off to play in Kira's room and started cleaning the kitchen. By the time lunch rolled around I was feeling so great! I had cleaned the house, made bread and had both girls ready for church.(Ours starts at 1:30.) Even church went fairly smoothly. I sat next to a family with older girls who could occupy Kira when I needed to nurse Aurora, I made it through primary with my sanity intact and we got home with that wonderfully cleansing Sunday Spirit in our hearts. Sunday night I made homemade macaroni and broccoli for dinner...note the absence of any meat product...anyways :) We spent the evening reading stories, playing and just enjoying being with each other. Kira even got to sleep in Mommy's bed!
Then Monday morning dawned. Life was great. I was going to start in on the office and get that done before the end of the day. Of course, life had other plans. I reached down and threw out my neck at 8:30am! So my morning was spent icing and heating my neck along with watching my girls plus Lizzy and Anna since it was Monday and I watch them all day on Mondays. By the end of the day I was so exhausted and ready for Josh to come home!
Thankfully Tuesday is preschool day. I sent Kira to preschool and immediately went to the chiropractor. I had been in need of a new one for awhile and thanks to Jenny Horrocks I found a great one. Since I needed to be seen that day and had to bring Aurora, I assumed that it would be a rushed visit to get the baby out of the office. Boy was I wrong! I was there for over 90 minutes! The nurses passed Rora around and kept her happy. I walked out the there feeling soo much better! I could finally turn my head again! The rest of Tuesday was spent trying to clean up the backlogged chores from Monday.
Wednesday was a flurry of preschool(I stay with Kira at Wed. school) and childcare. Finally by Wednesday evening I was able to tackly the office. Wow! What a project! It took til Friday morning before I was able to call it finished! Of course by then I was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. I knew that I relied on Josh a lot, but I didn't realise how much of that was emotional. On Wednesday Josh started throwing up so we didn't even talk on the phone. When I picked him up Friday night he was still sick. Saturday was spent alone as well since he had to work and then came home and crashed(still sick.) It was our wards trunk or treat so I took the girls by myself.
Needless to say, I am so greatful that I have a husband who takes care of me. He keeps me sane and helps me tackle everything. The hardest part of having him away was that Rora started really walking while he was gone and he missed it. He came home and kept saying how much she had changed in those 6 days. I am greatful that he works hard for us and makes sacrifices so that I can stay at home with my children. I love him and am so greatful that he is back home and well!! Life with my hubby is so much better than without him!!

Aurora is walking!...among other things...

Last week Aurora started walking! Here's the short story ;) She had been furniture bouncing for a couple weeks, something happened when Josh went to Rochester for a week. It was like she needed to show Daddy how big she was when he got home. All week she was following after Kira and practicing her walking. By the end of the week when Daddy came home, she was steadily walking everywhere! Now she gets frustrated if she falls and isn't near anything to help her stand up. It's really cute. At ten months old Rora is walking! That makes her only a month later than Kira to start walking, I was sure she would be older.
Unfortunately with her new independence she has also started throwing temper tantrums. These are full blown, throw yourself on the ground, back arched tantrums. She is way to young to be throwing tantrums! I have no idea how to stop them and I have just been letting them run their course. That means that for five minutes she screams and throws herself around on the floor waiting for my attention. Finally when the fiveish minutes are up she gets her binki and lays there looking pathetic until I pick her up and give her a love. Its pathetic and in some situations, it can be scary. At our trunk or treat last week I sat her down on the side walk so I could clean up our trunk. She screamed and threw herself backwards smacking her head into the sidewalk. I reached down and scooped her up and she was so mad at me that she arched herself back trying to get away from me since I was the reason she was set down in the first place. Really!?! She is 10 months old, acting like she has hit the terrible two's! It's insane! I really hope she gets over this pretty quickly and truth be told, she has already gotten better...of course, I want perfect children and this really hampers the perfect aspect ;)
Along with the bitter comes the sweet. She is forming more sounds and has started clapping. Kira worships the ground that she walks on and will share anything and everything with her. They share suckers, cookies, juice boxes, etc. Kira will even share her breakfast/lunch/dinner with Rora! They are such great sisters and Kira really looks out for Aurora. I love to see my girls playing together. There is nothing that makes my heart happier. I love my girls!