Life is hard, but it is good!

These two crack me up.  They keep me so busy, but they are so funny!  They had a blast playing in Hallee's crib the other day. 

 It seems like this last month has been a rough one for me.  I have been struggling with depression, which will probably always be a bit of a struggle for me, but it has been really bad lately.  When I feel depressed I feel overwhelmed by everything!  When I feel this way I have to be careful not to overwhelm myself. 

Playing with the kids always lifts my spirits. 

 I think another part of the problem is everything seems to be going wrong right now.  We are spending a fortune on co-pays and medicine.  Caitlyn still has mollescum and we have spent a small fortune and the last few months trying to get rid of it.  I'm getting very discouraged.  We are trying a new, very expensive, medicine so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Wyatt has had some planters warts and an ear infection that added up to another three co pays and some medicine.  Our car and van have needed work over the last few months.  Our car was in for the 4th time on Friday for the same problem.  We have tried different mechanics and we always seem to have the problems that no one can diagnose and we have to take the car in over and over to get it fixed.  It is so frustrating.

Hallee's new favorite thing is our horse! 

 I'm still struggling with Jen being gone.  It is a tough thing because my emotions are all over the place.  Sometimes I miss her, sometimes I am mad and sometimes I'm just overwhelmed by the whole situation.  It is really hard because it has affected all of our lives so much.  It is tough to have my parents be parents again instead of full time grandparents.  It is tough to watch them struggle and be overwhelmed by this unfair curve ball they have been thrown.  Whenever I feel sorry for myself I quickly push those feelings aside because I know that my parents and Dante and Alexys are the ones that are struggling the most. 

Wyatt was so excited when we pulled Jonah's old bike out for him.  He is still struggling with the pedaling a little though. 

This blog is therapy for me.  I love to post pictures of my kids and the fun things we do and all of the positive things going on in our lives, but I also want to remember the hard things so I can remember that things always get better.  I want to be able to tell my kids that we struggled with things too, but we made it and they will too. 

Hallee had a blast playing in the Legos while we were getting them ready for Jonah's birthday party. 

Caitlyn is the sweetest big sister.  She took Hallee and Wyatt to play during Jonah's football game.  

Seeing sweet things like this recharge me so I am able to face the frustrating things in life.  Life will always have hard, frustrating things, but it will always have good things too.  Some days it is easier to focus on the good things and I am a believer that sometimes we need to take a minute to feel sorry for ourselves and then we can go back to trying to be positive.

The other night Jonah was pushing Wyatt on his wiggle car by riding behind him.  They were both laughing and having a great time.  I loved watching them. 

I could just eat Wyatt right up.  He is so cute!  He wanted a "hawk" today.  I couldn't believe how old he looked when I turned around and saw him singing along to the radio in the car. 

He got himself dressed today and picked Jonah's shorts that ended up being just the right size pants for him!

On Friday, Paul organized a little surprise party for Tiff.  We were all waiting at Red Robin to surprise her.  We almost didn't go because the car was in the shop again and I was stressed out.  It ended up working out and I'm so glad we went.  Keith and I don't go out much, but every time we do I know we need to do it more often.  It was so nice to have a little break together.

After dinner we went to Katie's for treats and visiting.  Keith ended up going home, but I stayed and visited with the girls and it was great.  I am so grateful for good friends!  Life may be hard, but it is good!  I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

Keep your clothes on!

Hallee does not like to be dressed.  Every time I put her to bed she tries to undress herself. 

This shirt is pretty tight so one arm out is the best she could do.

It used to be just a problem at bed time, but now she strips during the day too!  The other day she was so proud of herself for getting her shirt off!  She was totally naked the other day, got her diaper off and everything.

This one was interesting she got her sleeve off and then put it on her leg.  Funny girl. 

Another tricky one.  She was almost out of her nightgown, but couldn't quite finish the job. I love the peacock hair!

Hallee is 14 months today.  She is showing off more of her cute personality every day.  She says a few more words.  She loves to shake her head and say, "uh uh."  She loves to say "tickle, tickle" and tickle the other kids.  She has been a mama's girl lately and is always saying, "ma ma." 

She loves books and loves to lay on anything soft.  She loves this couch in her room.  She understands so much.  I can tell her to go get me a book or put something away and she can do it. 

Emilee took these cute pictures of her and Kenzee at the park the other day.  I love how Kenzee is leaning on her in this one.

Hallee likes to play outside.  She is a good sport about staying in the stroller while I go for a walk every morning.  She loves to walk from room to room throwing things on the floor.  She loves to laugh and wants to join right in when the older kids are laughing.  She loves music and starts leading the music every week in church.  She is pretty picky about eating lately.  She loves meat, she will always eat meat! She loves to be home and play with her toys and she loves all the attention that she gets from all of us. She loves to give kisses.  She kisses her toys and her books.  She always gives Wyatt a kiss after she hits him!  I guess that is progress.  She is still our feisty, little girl!

Flag Football

Today was Jonah's first flag football game.  I think I was almost as excited as he was.  I am excited that he is finally old enough to play.  I really think he will like football.  He had a practice Thursday night which helped him a lot.  His coach seems really nice and is really good with the kids.  I was even more grateful for him when we pulled up to the game and heard a parent and a coach screaming at each other.  I'm glad we didn't have any problems during our game.

Jonah played center for a lot of the game.  He did a great job.

At the beginning of the game he pulled a flag and I thought that would give him more confidence, but he seemed a little timid the rest of the game.  I'm always surprised that Jonah isn't more aggressive in sports.  He talks big, but he gets nervous easily!

He was the quarterback for one play and he ran it all the way down for a touch down.  At one point he thought he had already scored so he slowed down and looked behind him, but luckily he realized he hadn't gone far enough and kept running! He really is fast!

One of his coaches is really loud and playful with the kids.  He told them to put on their game faces.  I love Jonah's face!  It was a great first game.  I'm excited for Jonah to learn more about football and have fun!

Natural History Museum

This year the library gave you a pass for the Natural History Museum if you did the summer reading program.  The passes were only good for certain days and it didn't work out to take all of the kids so I just took Wyatt and Hallee today. 

Tiff, Rockwell and Tessa came along to make it more fun!  Tiff and I looked over and Rockwell and Wyatt were holding hands.  So cute!  I just love how much fun they have together. 

The fishing at the water table was definitely the highlight for everyone.  The boys loved it.  I think I will be buying a net and some animals for our water table.  Hours of entertainment! The boys also loved looking at the dinosaurs.

Hallee loved the water table too.  She had so much fun playing in the water, but I think her favorite part was standing on a stool.  That girl keeps me on my toes!

It is fun to do these things with two little ones again.  I love being the one to experience everything with them during their first five years.

Yesterday we tried to do a family activity and it didn't work out.  We can get in free to the Aviary on Tuesdays with our passes, but I didn't even think about checking what time they close.  We got there just as they were closing.  I felt bad because the kids were so excited for it.  They were really disappointed, but they were good sports about it.

We walked over to Liberty Park to play instead.  Wyatt loved the musical instruments.

Jonah and Caitlyn got bored pretty fast so after we walked around and played a little we went back home and played in our back yard instead.

Hallee loved pushing the stroller.  It is a nice way to keep track of her!

I hate it when things don't work out, but it is good practice for my kids to learn how to handle disappointment.  Heaven knows we all have a lot of it our lives!

Big Girl!

Hallee has been timid about walking outside.  The other night we were outside and she finally started walking around and enjoying it. 

She also figured out how to climb the stairs on the play set.

She is so proud of herself when she reaches the top.

It would take her a minute to get both legs in front of her, but she figured out how to go down the slide too.  The slide goes really fast so she would be scared if I didn't help her down. 

Hallee likes to undress herself.  This is how I found her sleeping last night.

Play Time

Wyatt is a very social kid.  He loves to play with other kids.  He gets so excited when we get to go play with Rockwell.  This week we went to Tiff's house.  Wyatt and Rockwell had a great time playing in the back yard.

Grandma had fun holding Hallee and Tessa.  Hallee was such a grouch that day.  She has been so whiny lately.  It is killing me.  I think she is getting 4 or 5 teeth and a couple of molars, no wonder she is grouchy!

She kept poking Tessa.  Luckily Tessa thought it was funny.

Drive up snack time!

Yesterday I spent the morning playing with the kids.  Usually I am trying to get things done while they play, but I'm trying to stop and just play more.  After Hallee went down for a nap Wyatt and I went outside to jump on the trampoline.  He wanted to go out naked, but I talked him into wearing underwear.  He will go on the potty sometimes, but not consistently.  After we played outside I told him we were going inside to do pre-school.  He got all excited and ran inside and asked if his friends were here.  I told him it was just the two of us and I was his teacher.  We worked on some workbooks for a while.  He loved it.  He kept saying, "teacher, I'm done."  I just love Wyatt's personality.  He is so much fun. 

This morning Hallee and Wyatt were playing under the table and eating all the cereal Hallee threw down during breakfast that I hadn't cleaned up yet.  Wyatt said it was their spy lab.

Last week I took Caitlyn and Jonah to Hollywood Connection to roller blade.  We get in free with our passes so we went again this week.  It is so fun to share a hobby with my kids.  They are both skating so well.  Jonah gets frustrated because Caitlyn is faster than him.  It is good for him, he needs a little slice of humble pie!

After we skate we ride a few rides.  Last week Caitlyn was so scared to go on the roller coaster and now she loves it.  We also have fun on the bumper cars.  It is fun to get out with them while Keith keeps the little ones at home.

A day at the beach

Yesterday we decided we all needed to get out after Keith came home from work.  Friday was one of those days where everything went wrong and we just needed to get out and have fun.  We decided to go to the beach in Herriman.  We went there a couple of years ago and for some reason we haven't been back. We should have been enjoying it all summer.

The kids were all exited to go.  Caitlyn couldn't wait to get in the water and swim.

Wyatt was more excited about playing in the sand.  He had a great time digging and making sand castles.

Jonah went back and forth between the water and the sand.

I didn't think Hallee would enjoy it as much as she did.  She loved the sand.  She loved to pick it up and play with it in her fingers.

I didn't even bring her swimming suit because I figured she wouldn't get in the water, but she loved the water.  She was trying to sit down in it.  I forgot that cold water doesn't bother her.

Caitlyn finally talked Jonah into getting all the way in and swimming with her.  Jonah gets cold really easy so he usually doesn't last very long swimming. 

Keith and Wyatt had fun walking along the water and throwing rocks.

Jonah liked making sand castles and then jumping on them.  I love this shot.

We took dinner out there and just spent the evening.  The only problem is there are a lot of bees.  Wyatt was so frustrated that they wouldn't leave him alone while he was eating.  Caitlyn told him to go eat in the water and then they would leave him alone.  It worked!

They have added a big playground since the last time we have been there.  It really is such a fun place.  Hallee and Caitlyn had fun on the playground, but the boys were having too much fun in the sand.  Wyatt threw a fit when it was time to leave because he said he hadn't played at the park yet.

I loved watching the kids play together. 

They were working on making a little pool to stick their feet in.  It was such a fun night.  I am hoping we can squeeze it in one more time this summer.