Some Changes

{Just got home from PJ night at the church for a primary activity.}

The great thing about being the author of your own "book" is that you can make corrections, changes, revisions ANYTIME you please. So this is what I am going to do. Change isn't all that bad, right? A little while back, I made the decision to halt my "weekly pictures" because I returned to blogland and was staying caught up and didn't see the need of doing it anymore. I unfortunately didn't have my crystal ball with me at that time to predict the busy times ahead. With three active children and many different needs to be met, things can become hectic pretty quickly and I am now finding that more of my time is away from the computer on most days. I take so many cute pictures of the kids and never seem to find the time to display them so I feel that this change to go back to what I was doing before is needed. For me anyways. I treat our blog as our family journal so I'm trying very hard to stay on top of things and keep things current. I'm sure most of you won't have a problem seeing more pictures of our family adventures, right? :) Love to you all!

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!