A week off!

It's been a really fun week for me! I had the week off from school this week. So I made it my personal goal to pay a LOT more attention to my kids. We've been playing and getting into whatever sounded like fun to the girls at the time. We also were able to put some good diligent effort into working with the girls on getting them to clean up after themselves a bit better. They haven't been bad at it but I have gotten really bad at having them do it so I decided that for my own sanity we needed to work on encouraging (or forcing) it. It's been wonderful to actually see some of the results and a relief to go to bed with a clean living room. Some of the fun things we've been able to do this week: Natalie and Jackson came over to play twice! I think I enjoyed that the most because I love the adult time! Eliza and I spent a day making an entire town out of wooden trains and Lincoln logs (I wish I would have taken pictures it was so cool!). We did painting and read book after book this week. We did the park one day. Well I should rephrase that, we attempted the park one day it was an utter fail thanks to the wonderful Colorado weather where it is beautiful and warm in the morning and then noon hits and it gets cloudy and cold. Odd. We spent hours coloring and painting too. I think one of the few things we didn't do this week was play with play dough. I think I might be saving that up for when classes start up again and I'm itching for some self entertainment for the girls while I work. We went and did some car shopping this weekend. With no success. But it was wonderful time with the hubby! and the girls had a great time playing outside with grandpa Waite and playing 'chase' with the chickens and Yogi. Eliza was lucky enough to help garden (aka get really really muddy) she earned herself a bath and clean cloths in the process. Alayna said her first ever real sentence one morning! I was shocked but it was unmistakeably "Mom, where's Eliza?" even with her pacifier in it sounded distinctly like that and when I answered she left and found her sister. Eliza has been full of one-liners this week too. I wish I would have documented more of them but We'll have to settle for some from today because it's all I can remember. While discussing wake boarding (and trying to convince her that this is the best thing ever) Grandpa tells Eliza "when you're back there with daddy you tell grandpa to Hit It! and hold on tight right?" Eliza's response a few minutes later was "I'll Hit Grandpa"! Haha. not quite the same thing.

On a similar note, we were discussing how, umm, "furry" they were getting and my excitement to go get that issue taken care of on Monday. We were laughing and talking about how Eliza always wants to do hers too when she comes with me and how she happens to be so blessed with my bushman eyebrows and one day she's really going to thank me for them (insert oozing sarcasm). She promptly turned around from her toys and said "Thanks Mom!"

For the record, someday when she is cursing those bushes I am going to remind her how excited she was and happy she was to thank me that night for her little eyebrows!

Pictures are in backward order. Family picture!

Hugs with cousins! Aren't they adorable!?

Dirt, a girls best friend!

Yes, she does in fact have food in her mouth, I do bathe her on a regular basis, and No it doesn't seem to make any difference in her appearance on a daily basis!

They sure love being outside, more than almost anything!

Eliza and her friend Harley painting

Alayna, after a very long day of being sick, and doctors visits literally could not stay awake any longer. She was sitting in Daddy's lap and suddenly flopped over asleep. She wasn't even sitting there for 5 min!

What a fantastic Dad!

Eliza painting her Fairy house that we built. She spent hours playing with her princesses in this little house! The joy of a cardboard box is truely endless!

Notice, Eliza is sitting in that baby stroller... Alayna is ALWAYS the one pushing Eliza around in that thing!

The girls happily playing playdough while mom ignors them, and their mess to do homework!

And yes I willingly take the mess of playdough for an hour or two of quiet homework time it is worth every minute!
POST:

I have really got to get back into a regular habit of posting. We have had some busy weeks in the Merritt household!

Ben has been very busy with work, scouts, and school. We have had a couple of really fun weeks with him coming home and just spending time with his three girls. I absolutely love those days that he comes home and is greeted by two squealing little girls who are so excited for someone new to play with! They sure love their Daddy. Alayna just itches for dad to come home every night so that someone will pick her up and toss her around like a little rag doll (she has a serious adrenaline addiction).

I have been busy with school trying to keep up with the housework and other mommy duties in addition to that has been an interesting balancing act that often time I feel like I am loosing at. I have continued to go to my 'Boot Camp' work out class at the church with some of the other ladies in my ward and I am coming to find just how much I really love that time! Even taking the girls is no big deal because I love getting in a good workout! Plus the social time with wonderful women is always a good perk to go with my sweat soaked hair and stinky cloths after an hour of hard work.

Eliza has been a busy little three year old. She has been learning all kind of new things recently and sometimes enjoys giving her mom a run for her money. I have to admit that I really feel like 'three' has been much more challenging than 'two' ever was because Eliza has officially learned that, yes in fact their are rules, and amazingly enough those rules are things that can be tested, and tried to the very breaking point of her mother's patience. Aside from those 'three' moments we have been having so much fun together. Eliza has one of the most incredible imaginations ever and always has something to say. Heather and Heidi ask last week after a car ride with Eliza if she EVER shuts-up!? Of course the honest response to this would be, Yes, when she sleeps. But that didn't really help them much as she continued to chatter up a storm!

Alayna is getting more and more personality these days. She is getting to that age where she is struggling a lot with language. Where she understands so much of what we are saying and cannot seem to communicate back to us what she wants. This problem for her is resulting in some pretty impressive temper tantrums. I mean we're talking the whole throw yourself on the floor, face in the carpet, kicking and screaming kind of tantrums. Sometime I should take a video of it because it is just so darn funny! Thankfully most of these episodes are Very short lived and we move on to the next fun thing. Alayna is still a little monkey. I now have to watch my table and chairs or I'll find her sitting on the kitchen table crying because she wants to get down. Getting up is no big deal it's going the other way that is apparently a problem for her.

It really has been a fun couple of weeks. I have been sad each day as I have sat down to do homework rather than play with the girls but I know it's a short term sacrifice that I will be glad for... eventually.

There is not a happier moment that touches my heart than watching my girls play together. I am thrilled each time I watch Eliza lovingly take her sister's hand and invites her to come play, even if it means playing with the big kids. Eliza will watch over her and convince her to come and do all kinds of things (aka pushing her in the doll stroller). The best part of the week was the weekend though when those roles changes a little;

Alayna is a mess. I swear I wipe her, clean her, wash her, at least 5x a day (not including meals) and by the end of the day she will still be covered head to toe in dirt, mud, grime, snot, and drool. But Alayna LOVES being outside. She will get up in the morning and stand at the back door and cry to be let out irregardless of the weather. She will then attempt to have Eliza open the door for her (funny, she can't do it either). So Saturday Ben was working in the garden starting to get it ready for an awesome planting season this year, and the girls went out to help, each with their own little shovel ready to be put to work. So I come out later and Alayna is of course filthy as can be. I think she honestly had dirt ground into her skull at that point. but as she walks over to me to show me her 'amazing rock' I notice that the child is COVERED in ants. they are crawling all over her to the point that they were even in her mouth (refrain from gagging as I did). I promptly started brushing her off because I did NOT want those ants in my house! Eliza is terrified, no petrified, of all moving bugs. Including ants. I don't know where this fear came from because I do not have this reaction to most bugs but she really freaks out about it. So here is Alayna watching me brush these little crawling things off of her, and she gets curious so she starts trying to pick them up... she pokes them, squashes a few and then gets Eliza (little miss scaredy cat) to play too. I don't think I've ever seen Eliza so close to a bug in her life (at least by choice)!! Don't laugh but I was ecstatic over this little feat for my two wonderful girls!

Sunday was super fun because Rachel, Bruce, and Hailey all stopped by on their way back to Utah on their way home from Texas. It was really fun to have everyone (all 8 Waite kids +families) home for a big hurrah of dinner at the Waite house. It was noisy and wonderful to see everyone and to let the cousins play. We did another round of family pictures this time Bruce was included in the pictures (that's why we did another one so close to the last time we did one!). Eliza loved getting to play with Hailey and Alayna was just a bit overwhelmed by all the commotion going on and all the people so she was a bit on edge all night. It's been so much fun and we have a good long summer of fun headed our way as well!

Days Go By...

This little Monkey almost never sleeps anywhere but a bed... she was apparently really really tired!

The Day's go by, I can feel em flying, like a hand out the window in the wind the cars go by It's all we've been given So you better start livin' right now 'cause day's go by...

That's what it feels like these days. I have some friends who are still in the 'first time mommy' phase of life and experiencing that all too temporary feeling of boredom with their newborn as a stay-at-home mom. It occurred to me that I no long fit in that category. I don't remember the last time I was bored. Or could even muster the energy to just sit still for more than 5 minutes without involuntarily collapsing into a blissful sleep before one of the girls jumps on my lap with a book to read, or food to eat, or another mess to clean up! But with all the crazy schedules we keep I am lucky enough to still get chocolaty kisses, sticky hugs, and high fives for things as simple as throwing a diaper away!

Our week has been fun. Lots of activities and things to cram into the week but they were all a lot of fun!

Monday had some beautiful weather so I talked Ben into pulling down the bikes for us and we loaded the girls into the bike cart and took a short ride over to Walgreens. The wind was really strong and we were feeling extra thankful that we had the wind at our backs for the uphill ride home!

Tuesday I had my new workout group/ boot camp at the church. It was fantastic! This time I was not nearly as sore or dead afterward and I felt like I am making good progress! I love that feeling of success after a good workout! After that we took a quick jaunt over to Loveland and I baked cookies for my mom while she played with the girls! That evening was another wonderful bike ride as a family but sadly enough it would be the last of the week as a family because we managed to put a hole in one of the trailer's tires so it's out of commission until we fix it!

Wednesday was a big day! We had a play date all morning with Megyn, (her 2 girls) and Natalie(her son) at the park all morning. It was suppose be be all beautiful and warm and instead it was cold and windy... oh well the kids still had a lot of fun. The other perk of Wednesday was that our new WalMart opened. We went the grand opening when Ben got home from work and enjoyed walking around such a nice new store!

Thursday was actually incredibly beautiful in the morning! I took my friend Carolyn out for breakfast and the girls spent the morning playing at Grandma Merritt's house. Ben got to drop by the house for lunch for a while which was wonderful to see him in the middle of the day! The rest of that day was spent cleaning the house so that I felt like I could live in it again! Sometimes I wonder why houses survive children at all!

Friday was playgroup for Eliza, some shopping for myself and Alayna and after playgroup we made a jaunt up to Albertsons (trip to Loveland again!) to cash in on a fantastic meat deal they had going on!

Eliza has officially hit the Terrifying 3's. Friday was the first indication of it... She apparently (according to my mother) has taken after me in her ability to throw a tantrum. Friday she did not want to go home... so she lost it. Full on screaming fit. Saturday while Ben was at work she did not want to get dressed... full on screaming fit (this one was impressive, it lasted over an hour) from then on every little thing put the poor girl to tears all day. To say the least by the time Ben got home that afternoon I had dealt with more than I wanted to and so I left and took a nice long bike ride. All. By. Myself. This was of course not to mention my irritation at the homework I have been struggling to understand so that evening I had a melt down of my own and informed Ben that I want to drop out of school and just be done... Being the sweet amazing man that he is he patiently allowed me to finish my rant before telling me it wasn't worth quiting and that I am smart enough to do this! So between him and my mom I somehow finished my homework around 11:30-12:00 PM last night.

Alayna greeted me around 1:00AM and hit me until 2:00 when I put her back in her bed... sometime around 3:00 we ended up on the couch and slept the last 3 hours of the night there. So Sunday after church we all had good long naps and early bedtimes! What a fun week, I am so very very lucky to be surrounded by an amazing family that loves and supports me even when I go a little crazy!