5 Minutes of Today

Today we arrived home (from a lovely visit with my sis-in-law) feeling a little tired and cranky. Audrey fell asleep in the car. I transferred her to the couch and went back outside to gather the other two and all our stuff.

I walk back into the 80 degree house holding my baby, and balancing our overstuffed bag. I hear Audrey crying, no longer on the couch. I put the babe in his highchair as Hyrum is telling me he is hungry. Something stinks. I take out the garbage, but that doesn't take care of it. I locate the smell near the sink, and discover the pot I used to boil corn (...2 days ago?), apparently I should have at least rinsed it. I fill it with soapy water.

I find Audrey in the bathroom sitting on the potty but covered in peepee. Apparently she couldn't get her pants undone fast enough. I overlook the puddle on the floor for the moment and get the sweet girl in the bath. Luckily she submits willingly to the washing.

Hyrum walks into the bathroom eating a chocolate chip cookie. I get Audrey out and let her sit in her towel at the kitchen counter to enjoy a cookie as well. She stood up to adjust her towel and knocked her breakfast cereal bowl onto the floor. I walk around the counter to see the milk scattered across the chairs and floor when I notice Hebie with a red cup. A red cup of milk. From yesterday? He may have drank some...but most of the curdled milk is down his front and settling into the cracks of his highchair.

I relocate Audrey to the couch. I undress Heb and realize he's stinky. When I set him down he goes after Audrey's cookie. I give him a piece of cookie and get one for myself and we all sit down. Hyrum repeatedly asks me to play a game with him as Hebie smears chocolate puree (from the cookie, not the diaper) on my couch and my shirt.

I'm still waiting for the energy to get up and clean the peepee, the milk in it's different stages of fermentation, the bum-bum, and the chocolate smears....

I'm grateful we had a few Costco cookies, or these 5 minutes may have been much worse!

Alright, I'm getting up now. Go team go!

Happy 24th of July!

When I grow up...

I want to be like SouleMama.
I read her (Amanda Blake Soule's) book The Creative Family recently and I simply swooned.Swooned I tell you.
If you follow the link to her blog, you get the idea of her style.
Simple, wholesome, back-to-nature creativity.
She inspires so many delightful ways to celebrate your children's creative energy with natural day-to-day rhythm and ritual.

Rather than try to tell you what the book contains, I'll tell you the projects it has inspired for me:

• A Birthday Crown (just for Audrey so far) out of richly colored wool felt. It is only to be worn on the birthday and I intend to add a little something to it each year.
  

• Finger knitting (a great start to learning knitting)



• Embroidery- I took my all-time-favorite drawing of Hyrum's, transferred it to muslin, embroidered it, and framed it for my wall. I cherish this picture. (I 'll have to post a picture of it when I find my camera battery...)



• A super simple bunting that I love.



• Nature collections at different seasons...rocks, leaves, acorns, pinecones, seeds, flowers...the kids adore it, and so do I!



• Used a tin can covered in scrapbook paper for our colored pencils. (looks adorable sitting on Hyrum's desk.) We love to sit quietly together and all draw in our respective tablets.
  

I am purchasing this book in my next Amazon load.
I love her idea of creating an "inspiration board" without boundaries...a place for you to collect things that inspire you. Bulletin board, string and clothespins, one whole wall?

And the ideas keep comin!

Hmmmm...

What does it say about my mothering if I relate well to Mr. Mom and the dad in Multiplicity when he takes care of his kids. (Que clip of him feeding his kids a messy spaghetti dinner to the booming "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and cutting saran wrap with a saw. OR clip of him getting his daughter ready for ballet pictures)

It's funny that they are both Michael Keaton!

Seriously this homemaking gig is harder than it looks!

Each life

Today marks four years since we've seen our Grandpa Hatch.
1 Wedding
Graduations
Birthdays
4 Baptisms
Blessings
1 Ordination
13 grand babies (+2 coming)
By the end of the year, over half of his grandchildren will have never met him in this life.
Hard nights and days for his sweet wife
New talents
Stretched comfort zones
New goals

Mom: "Where is grandpa Hatch"
Hyrum: "Up in heaven"
Mom: "What is he doing all day?"
Hyrum: "Visiting with Heavenly Father."
Mom: "Does he know who you are?"
Hyrum: "Yep"
Audrey: "Yes, Heavenly Father tells him"

Mom: "When will you see Grandpa Again?"
Audrey: "When he comes on Earth again."
Hyrum: "When Jesus comes again. And when we resurrect than we never ever die again."
Mom: "What are you going to do when you see Grandpa?"
Audrey: "Say, I LOVE YOU!"
Hyrum: "Give him really big hugs and give him a lot of treats!"

I think Grandpa is working as hard as ever. I feel comfort thinking of him working for us and encouraging my family from heaven--with direction, clarity, and peace.

God lives. Families are Forever.

Grandpa hasn't missed any of it.