Happiness Day 9

Yesterday was a good day. After watching (most) of conference (the kids were going crazy. Ill finish watching it today... don't judge me!) We got out and went for a walk. Joseph was riding his little bike and AnDee her scooter. We had been out for some time and Pep was climbing up a little grass hill to ride his bike down when off in the distance we heard it... the clicking and clacking of a train on train tracks. Joseph stopped dead (and I really do mean dead. Like he was in the process of turning his bike to go down the hill and just froze) in his tracks. Spotting the train off in the distance he simply whispered "Wow" Like it was the most incredible thing he had ever seen. Im not sure why this makes me so happy but it does. I LOVE how fascinated he is with trains. I love how he lights up when he sees them and I love that he finds so much joy in things that most people barely even notice.

When we got home from our walk Pep still had too much energy and was causing a few problems. He had Buggy's little doll stroller and was running around like a mad man slamming it in to everything, including his baby brother. He was warned that if he ran in to Isaac one more time he was going to have to put his nose on the wall  (Our form of timeout) Of course he couldn't control himself and after slamming the stroller directly in to his baby brother head he was sent to put his nose on the wall. He was less than happy and was making quite a show of how sad he was. His little brother who was crying his own tears after being run over noticed how upset Pep was and couldn't stay upset with him. He walked right over and stuck his nose right up on the wall next to Pep. Which of course caused Pep to laugh and the crying stopped. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever and made me realize that there is a reason Christ has told us to be as little children. It didn't take any time for Ike to forgive Pep. It was as natural as breathing for him to forget what had happened and bare Peps "burden" (also known as time out) with him.

Don't mind to low riding pants. The boy has no bottom.

Happiness Day 8

Im playing catch up I guess. So here is yesterdays happy moment.
Do you ever sit down to watch conference and hear EXACTLY what you need to hear? I did. As distracting as it is to have sick and whining children doing anything they can to turn your attention to them, I somehow managed to hear the one message I needed to. Im sure there was a lot that I missed. Lucky for me we recorded it so for the next few days I will dig in to that while kids are (hopefully) napping.
The massage I received was essentially this "quite worrying about all the things you feel like you "need" or "have" to do because the only things that NEED to be accomplished in our home are daily family prayer, daily family scripture study and weekly family home evening."
For some reason I struggle with these things. I pray with my children every day and we usually have a family prayer at the dinner table but we don't always kneel down together as a family and pray and usually we do our scripture study while Andrew is at work so he misses out. And if Im being honest... FHE is a rare thing in our home. I get SO wrapped up in cleaning and exercising and getting everything I "need" to do done. I have been battling with this for a long time now because I don't want to miss anything with my kids. I hate my phone cause its distracting and consuming and makes me miss little moments with my kids that wouldn't be missed if I had more self control. It was good to hear church leadership just lay it out for me when it comes to what I need to be focusing on in my home. I don't NEED to clean the kitchen but I do NEED to make sure my family is completely grounded in the simple but profoundly important gospel principles. It is always a happy moment when you hear the exact message that you need to hear. It makes you truly realize that God knows you.

Happiness Day7

 So yesterday was kind of crazy. Not because we actually did anything but because the kids have been sick and Isaac hardly lets me put him down. That and I was trying for all I was worth to watch conference, at which I was somewhat successful. The day wasn't a bad day by any means. Andrew was super spoiled and went to a cubs game. Not that Im a baseball fan or anything but I always get slightly (and secretly) jealous when he gets to do those kinds of things. The weather was warm enough to go outside for a bit (even with being sick) and it was a nice escape from the house for a few minutes. However I didn't get the chance to write about my happy moment for the day so here it is...
The moment I want to write about though, was a very selfish moment. Im kind of embarrassed to be writing about it for some reason. Like if I do something that makes me happy its not ok. For some reason I feel like ALL of my happy moments have to come from my kids or my husband but I was selfish yesterday...
I was invited to go running with a group of women in our ward. I wasn't sure I wanted to go because I am not a runner and they wanted me to get up at 7 AM! I know 7 isn't that early but like I said, my kids have been sick and as most of you know... when your kids are sick you don't get to sleep much. However I did drag myself out of bed and went out into the freezing (but sunny!) weather.
IT FELT SO GOOD! We ran 6 miles on this awesome little trail that winds through a prairie. I was scared about the distance at first because... well because I hate running if we are being honest and it has literally been years since I just went for a 6 mile run. But I did it! I actually think I could have kept going for quite some time. It was probably just some weird adrenaline reaction or something but I was ready for more! I even got to have some adult conversation with some real life adult women! And as a bonus one of the ladies brought her dog. I know its dumb but I miss my dogs (and animals in general) like mad! I loved it! It was selfish but I loved it and I hope I get to do it again.

Happiness Day 6

So my kids fight. Its hard to believe I know but its true. This is not what my happy moment for the last 24 hours is. Although there was fighting. There was also playing and giggling and being best friends.
Joseph and Ike have developed an awesome friendship lately. They love to chase and growl at each other and then giggle and giggle like its the most hilarious thing that has ever happened. Ever.
My happy moment from the last 24 hours was just listening from another room to little boy giggles for hours. They have really started to love playing together now that Ike is getting a bit bigger. Ike especially loves to wait for Pep to lie on the ground and then he will promptly walk straight up to him, turn around and sit directly on his face. Which of course causes another round of hysterical laughter. It is the best sound ever and it makes me extremely happy.

Happiness Day 5

Yesterday was a good day. Andrew stayed home from work and we FINALLY went and got our Illinois drivers licenses. That in and of itself wasn't a real happy moment (dragging 3 children to the dmv while you take a written test is never real fun) but getting it done was such a relief and the fact that Andrew was gonna spend the rest of the day with us was definitely a happy thing. Most of the day was just plain good. We just chilled and hung out together.
I woke up in the middle of the night to a thunderstorm. I LOVE thunderstorms and this one did not disappoint. It was super fun to just relax and listen to the rain... even if it was at 2 A.M. it still made me happy.

Happiness day 4

AnDee wasn't the only one who was saving her money. Pep was working hard (sometimes) to earn a few bucks himself. Bet you can't guess what he was saving for?! A train! Weird I know. Its not like he doesn't have 100's of them or he doesn't obsess over them. In reality I actually love that he loves trains cause I love them too. When I was a kid I always wanted to either be a vet or a train conductor... I still want to be both of those things. Who am I kidding?
So I got to take the little man on a date last night which is always fun. Its so enjoyable to have one on one time with your kids where you can just listen to them and focus on all the cute and amazing things they do and say. He talked my ear off but since he was the only one I had to pay attention to I loved it instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. He is clever and smart and funny and a total tease.
It was a blast to just hang out with him and watch him explore all the toys/trains at the toy store. He seriously is the coolest kid ever!
He was a little confused by the whole money thing. He put his little bag of money up on the counter but on his way out he said "Oh mom! Wheres my money?!" so I explained that we had to give it to the store so that we could have the train. To which he replied "yeah.. but where is my money?" I don't think he quite gets it but he quickly forgot about the money and zeroed in on the train.
The train has already ran down one set of batteries. It is loved.

And yes... he has been wearing his engineer hat and pants all day. He makes me happy.

Happiness day 3

I know this is probably boring news but its pretty much the best thing in the world for our family. We got to go outside 2 days in a row!! Not only that but it was ABOVE 60 degrees! This is exponentially warmer than it has been at any any given point since we moved here. The wind was blowing like crazy but it didn't matter cause it was warm!! Being outside makes my kids so much more pleasant and it makes me a completely different person. Happy. Much much more happy. The best part is that there were a bunch of other people outside in the courtyard with us but it didn't stop AnDee from running around and singing at the top of her lungs. There was a car full of teenagers sitting across the street waiting for a friend and they had their windows down and they pretty much thought her singing was the best thing ever. Pretty sure she just started a fan base.

and yes... that is Buggy (fashionably dressed of course) running around picking up garbage and singing.

The other happy moment I had in the last 24 hours was this...

(Don't mind that his name is "Fart" Its a term of endearment  I assure you.) This is from my brother Caleb. He is talking about coming out here and visiting. This is a big deal. You see, Caleb and I used to be super close. Like I had to approve a girl before he was aloud to date her kind of close. But things changed quite a few years ago and although we haven't had issues with each other by any means our relationship just fizzled out and it got to the point where we only saw/talked to each other about 2 or 3 times a year and generally speaking our conversations didn't go much beyond soccer. Well about a month ago he kind of just showed up again and I have been hearing from him quite often so when he started talking about coming out I was super excited and then to have him just kind of acknowledge the fact that he misses the relationship we used to have... it made me tear up a little to be honest. I know thats super dorky and I hope he never reads this cause he will never let me live it down but I have missed him terribly and Im so excited to have him back in my life a little bit! Im REALLY hoping we get to play soccer together. We have never played soccer together other than in the back yard kicking the ball at the dog kennel until it had a permanent bend in it. I was waiting until I was old enough to play in  adult leagues with him but by the time I was old enough he had moved up to Logan and we were kind of going in different directions so Im REALLY hoping to find some games we can drop in on while he is here!