Monday, August 29, 2011

Stir Crazy!

Ok, so here's the thing: last October, we took the kids to Apple Hill, up near Placerville. We picked some apples, bought a couple of boxes (and made lots of apple chips, apple pies and apple sauce), enjoyed some home-baked goodies, and just generally had a fantastic weekend. That was nearly a year ago. Since then:

In January, we took a day trip over to Cal Poly to look into finishing Doug's Master's Degree. In June, we took the kids up to the park one last time before our passes expired and hiked Moro Rock and saw the General Sherman tree. That same week, we took a day trip to Pismo Beach, with a stop at Cal Poly on the way to drop off some papers for Doug's last class. For my birthday, we got to go to Visalia and have some burgers and do a little paint-your-own-pottery for a few hours with no children. Last month, Doug and I took a day trip to Inverness with just the baby. Oh, and this spring we went to a movie and went to the temple a couple of times. And that's it. In a year, that's all the time I've spent out of Lindsay or away from my children. And that wouldn't be so bad, except it was this year, and with McDermont right across the street, and having to pass City Hall every time I go to or from the kids' school and having a tense reaction to a couple members of the ward I see every week, I could've used a bit more relaxing.

But we don't have a plan yet, so I must change my attitude. For the most part, through all this nonsense, I've been quite calm and quite happy. A few things all came to a head this week, and I must admit I was a class A grump. That must change, because its not fair to my family--being grumpy doesn't get us anywhere, but it does make everyone more grumpy. So I'm saying all this to preface this statement: Don't be surprised if my blog posts start turning into merely lists of things I'm grateful for or funny things that happened during the week. Because there are a lot of good things happening in my life, and my husband and kids deserve a happy wife and momma to take care of them, so I need to focus more consciously on those good things.

On a side note, this morning as I was listening to Kylie sing to herself, I was remembering how at this age Keilana regularly sang I Am a Child of God and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. Kylie's regular repertoire? Bust a Move by Young MC and We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister. My parenting might be getting worse with each child.

1 comment:

Sam and Kurtis said...

na your parenting doesn't get worse its just its not the same. Not meaning it's bad but i think we kinda relax at this stage i could have told you how old kyler was down to the min. But with brooklyn i have no idea even what week this is. It just that you've already done it a few times and as we have more children its easier to let some of the small things slip by as your busy with not just one but all of them. With just keilanna you were able to focus all your attention on just one. Your not a bad mom infact just the fact that you realize your grumpy and are willing to work on it and dive into your family shows that your agreat mom. Know that i look up to you your my go to person when i am ready to have a melt down. Oh and if you don't find anything permenant for doug in the next few years i know of a woods cross public works director thats retiring in the next 2 years! If i can't have my in laws around it would be really nice to have my best friend around. lol of course thats just me being selfish. But you would have a driving partner up to montana when you needed it.