Not What They Appear

I'll admit it. I like blogs. I like reading them and stalking distant friends on them and getting great ideas from them. But...here's the other thing I'll admit, sometimes they make me feel terrible. I take horrible pictures of my cute kids, I hate cooking, I hate cooking even more with my kids, most of our family outings end in disaster, crafts? what are those?

Today I had two friends put up posts on their blogs that were real. Not that the other posts aren't real, but one nearly had me tears as I read about the heartache of a dear friend I haven't seen in about 8 years. The other was true confessions of a mom.

I guess my point, if there really is a point to this post, is we're all struggling. Some of us are struggling with big enormous things. And some, like Jer in the picture, are struggling to get the fire going so why not blow on it with a shop vac? (He'll hate that I put a picture of him on my blog, but he doesn't read it so he won't know.) I'm going to assume that all those women with perfect pictures of their kids with their perfect outfits and beautiful meals on their blogs are really fixing mac and cheese in holy sweats while screaming at their kids 75% of the time. Even if they aren't I bet its happened at least once.

List - Galaxy Quest

One of my favorite movies. It gets quoted often here in Nashville. Here's some of my favs - 

1. Never give up. Never surrender.
2. On Teb. On.
3. I have one job on this lousy ship. Its stupid but I'm going to do it. Ok!
4. Whoever wrote this script should die!
5. Its true. I knew it. (That's for you mom.)
6. Can you find a rudimentary lathe?
7. Quick before one of those things kills guy.
8. Does the rolling help? Where's your gun?
9. I'll tear through your ship like tissue paper.
10. Have you ever watched the show?

Ok so some, I know, are misquotes but I haven't been able to watch the show for a few years because I had it on VHS and our VCR broke a couple of years ago. So tragic. I really need to get it on DVD. Its one of the few movies both Jeremy and I like.

Classic.

List - What I Know Now That I Wish I'd Known Then

They grow up to be such cute 2 year olds.

New babies are amazing, wonderful, beautiful, and fun. I love my new little one.

But let's face it, new babies are stressful. I've made more than my fair share of mistakes but I'm on new babe number four and I've learned a few things along the way. If I could go back and talk to me when I had Madilyn I would look me in the eye and say...

• ask for help
• accept help
• its going to cry for no reason at all
• its not your fault
• no matter what anyone says, you know your baby better than they do
• never apologize for a crying baby
• its still not your fault
• do what you have to do to keep your sanity, even if its putting the baby in another room and walking away
• it may feel like forever, but this phase really doesn't last that long. In a few months you'll look back and think - I'm glad that's over.
• AND its not your fault the baby cries a lot

Science Fair

Ok, the science fair happened like in February or something like that. As a second grader, Madilyn wasn't required to do a project but she really wanted to. Little did I know how much time this little project would take. The experiment itself didn't take long but all the write up and making of the display took FOREVER. I'm not looking forward to next year when it is required.

The good - Madilyn was chosen as an alternate to go the district science fair. Thankfully they ended up taking only 3-6 graders (those chosen had to sit at the Spring Fair for 4 hours. No thanks.)

Madilyn tested how much electricity was created using various types of fruit. Get this the avocado beat out the lemon and grapefruit. Who knew? Not me.

Sand in My Shoe

Jeremy put in a horse shoe pit in the backyard. McClendon's gave him too much sand. Now we are the proud owner's of a sand box. Garrett is in heaven. I'm not going to tell you where I am, but I'll give you a hint it isn't heaven. Did you know sand gets into everything?

Baptism and Blessing

We had a very special weekend a couple of weeks ago. (I'm a little behind on the blog.) First, Madilyn was baptized. She reached the age of accountability and made the decision to be baptized to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a spiritual high for our family. We were blessed to share it with lots of family and friends. Madilyn was excited and nervous but all went as planned. We're pleased that she made the decision.

The next day Grant was blessed during sacrament meeting. We had two special kids dressed in white that Sunday (although Grant's came off right afterward).

It was a busy, crazy weekend. 
Here they all are right before the chaos of getting out the door for church begins.

On a side note, I really need to find a better place to take pictures. At least the living room was clean, right?