So Far Behind

I'm not quite sure what's been going on over here in this little corner of the world of mine. I just haven't been inspired or energized to blog lately. I partly blame Spring for this as we have been out and about a lot lately with various activities: library, play group, soccer, etc. Being behind in writing has been a little frustrating to say the least because I seriously have AT LEAST 20 blog posts sitting in the "pending" status. And that's even after I've deleted a few that I didn't remember why I even started the post to begin with. Sad. I know. But knowing that I'm that far behind doesn't help motivate me either. So here I sit. Tap, tap, tap. Not sure what to do. Catch up on each individual post? (which could seriously take me a month) OR make one long, and I do mean long, blog post? Hmm. Will my OCD even LET me delete each of those 20 posts I've started? Doubtful.

It doesn't help that my mind has been mush these past few months. Having a 4 month old, 2 1/2 year old, and 9 year old will do that to you. Thank goodness I'm not currently taking my college courses. That would be a nightmare. I forget things all the time, drive to the WRONG park for playgroup, mess up recipes I've made before with no problem and get overwhelmed too quickly. Please tell me I'm not the only one here that this happens to!!

Will August just GET here already?!? I'm in desperate need of a vacation. Road trip with three munchkins in the backseat...here we come. Hopefully I won't end up needing a vacation from the road trip itself. :) The count down MUST begin. 97 days until we get to go here and here. Wahoo!! I can not WAIT!

P.S. To defend myself for this said lack of blogging, I have been quite busy. Can't imagine why? Check here for a sneak peak:

{Of course he's a big part of what's been keeping me busy & not blogging. He definitely has me wrapped around his little finger!}

{A portion of the strawberry freezer jam I made this week. As it was my first time doing so, we shall see how it turns out! :) Hopefully it's as good as it smells!}

{I have the church nursery to blame for this. hahaha Totally kidding. But man oh man does she LOVE to paint now. Practically begs to paint almost everyday.}

{Aubrey at play group during Spring break. Between soccer, piano, school & church activities, she stays plenty busy. And these activities sure do keep the WHOLE family busy too! :)}

{And of course I must account for sleeping at some point, right? Don't you just love his recent pose? Sleeping with the hand on the head. How cute is that!}

{So as you can see now, these people (and the person behind the camera) are doing quite well and staying busy! Which equals "out of trouble" in my books! For now anyways. Andrew isn't crawling or walking yet. THEN we're in for trouble!!! :) To be continued... }

Now I need to go make myself some lunch before I end up forgetting something else. Oops. What's my name again? :/

Our Little Artist

i think she's found something she truly loves.

painting!

i let her paint her heart out while i did the dishes.

and of course getting clean water to rinse her brush.

if i got anywhere near her brush and paints though - WATCH OUT! :)

D.C. Temple Trip

We moved to Virginia 2 1/2 years ago and today was finally my first time going to the Washington D.C. Temple. Of course I make visits to the Portland Oregon Temple when we're back visiting family at least yearly but I really felt the need to do better and go more often. I love the feeling of being there! I was able to go with my friend Lily from church. In Relief Society, we were giving others a service (sewing, gardening, etc.) and hers happened to be taking someone up to the Temple. It worked out perfectly and we had a great day driving up to Maryland and back. It was really nice too to be kid free for part of a day so I have my wonderful husband to thank for giving me this time and opportunity! It sure was fun and I can't wait to go back. Here are some pictures from our trip:

{Washington D.C. Temple}
{Spring flowers}

{Dogwood. My FAVORITE flower!}

{Lily and I}

{Me out front of the D.C. Temple)

{More pretty Dogwood flowers}

Happy Smiles All Around

ONE

PLUS TWO

EQUALS THREE!

(I couldn't help but pass on their infectious smiles!)

Spring 2009 Piano Recital

Aubrey performed in the Spring piano recital - playing two songs. And since I'm blogging in a late attempt to get caught up, I unfortunately don't remember the names of those two songs. They were embedded into my brain as she practiced. That I can say proudly! I do know that one is from The Little Mermaid! :) She was really nervous going up to play but she did AMAZING! Her hard work paid off and she had fun shaking out the nerves afterwards with her friends and dessert. :)

I tried recording her performance but the battery died towards the end of her second song. Such a bummer! I was also holding a very wiggly baby so I'm apologizing now that it was a bit shaky. If you get motion sickness, just close your eyes and listen! On the positive side of things, this video is better than nothing! ;) We're so proud of Aubrey and how well she plays and all the time she spends practicing. She sure has talent!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Playoffs

Equal daddy/son bonding time. Train him young, right? :)

He honestly doesn't look like he minds ONE bit!

1st Playgroup Date

A playgroup was formed in our ward and today was the first get together at a local area park. Except that I accidentally stopped at the wrong one...

Oh well. At least it had some pretty scenery and was just down the road from the correct park. :)

We finally got there and the kids were bouncing around with the other kids! Looks like this playgroup is going to be a big hit! The perk of it is that I can now talk to my friends while our kids play. Win/win is definitely the way to go!

Thirty

The day has finally come: I turned THIRTY! An age I remember when I was a child that seemed, well, OLD! But now that I am at this age, I can honestly say I don't FEEL old. (And I certainly hope I don't look it either!)

The celebration started with a sweet card/poem from Aubrey. She made it for me in art class at school. I just love her!

Calls from family and friends wishing me a Happy Birthday.

The kids and I met up with a friend for lunch. Pizza and good company!

And then my family took me out to dinner! My hubby told me that I could pick any place. Let's be honest though. With young kids, any place just isn't the case!! (The Melting Pot will have to wait for another day!) I was actually just happy to spend the time with my cute kids and wonderful husband that I decided Red Robin would be perfect. The kids are happy there and when they're happy - I generally am too! :)

Andrew and I arrived separately so I could join them at the restaurant after I fed him. John must have found this window of opportunity to share with the employees at Red Robin that it was my birthday. They even knew who I was when I came in to be seated! So after dinner, I was embarrassed by a group of singers and ice cream on the house. It could have been worse I suppose. They could have asked me to stand on the chair! hahaha I would have graciously declined! :) But don't worry; I will be getting him back when it's his turn.

I usually have a salad or wrap but since it was MY day, I splurged and had their famous cheeseburger with a strawberry freckled lemonade. Boy did I forget how big their burgers were! Wow! I couldn't even finish half of it. The girls brought amazement to our table. Aubrey reading the jokes on the paper coasters and Jocelyn was on a balloon high bouncing in her seat. I even caught Aubrey throwing up her hand a time or two to prevent it from entering her "area." And Andrew just slept all cozy in his car seat.

The day couldn't have turned out more perfect!

Soccer Updates

Aubrey's soccer team has won their first two games so far of the season! The first game they won 7-0 and the second game they won 3-0. They're doing awesome out there on the field. She's been playing sweeper lately and really enjoys it. This season's coach is actually the same coach she had two seasons ago and we're so glad she's back on her team. Apparently last season there was a problem with the parks and recs system and took the coach out of the loop so we were stuck with a mediocre coach. I do have to say though that this coach last season, as much as we didn't care for him, he pushed them to get higher than their level so this season it really shows on the field!

After the last game was over, Jocelyn was in the truck with me and Andrew and Aubrey rode in the car with John and I have to note another funny saying from Jocelyn. A car in front of us stopped rather quickly because of another car ahead was waiting to turn so because of this we had to stop rather quickly as well. Not the "tires screeching" kind of stop but you know what I mean. The purse falling off the seat onto the floor kind of stop! :) Right after this happened, Jocelyn said to me: "Woah! Let's not do that again, okay?!?! That was SCARY!" I couldn't help but laugh. What a funny girl!

Here are some pictures from tonight's soccer game:

{She caught me snapping her picture here!}

{And again}

{Of course her attention span doesn't last long at this age. The crackers out won her desire to watch the game.}

{Now I see you, now I don't!}

I know this picture has nothing to do with soccer, but I had to post this adorable picture of Andrew somewhere! :)

{I layed Andrew on our bed while I was helping to get the girls off to bed and when I came back to where he was laying, this is how I found him. I just love how he's holding his hands together!}