I'm a Slacker: Part Dos

Not really.  I'm actually busy pretty much sun up to sun down most days... I'm just majorly slacking in the whole "write it down for posterity and my dear blog readers" thing.  I hear it's important, and I assume 'they' (whoever 'they' are who say that) are right since I look at pictures just from the last year when the massive blog abyss started and I can't remember all the fun details already.  :(  Sad, SAD day people.

To that end, even though I REALLY want to catch up on here, I think I need to just take a few minutes before I crash into my wonderfully comfy bed and actually record what we've been up to lately.  I know, shocker right?


We had a ri-DONK-ulously busy summer this year!  Our travels took us out of town almost every weekend, out of state, out of our minds... it was fun and crazy all rolled up into one unforgettable summer.  The best in ways, the worst in others... sad to see it go and school to start again but glad for it to be behind us so we can move forward. (And gotta be honest here, I'm ready for it to cool the heck down!)

Clint and I had a wake-up call this summer and realized we need to put each other first - the whole doin' our own thing wasn't working so much so we took a step back, looked at the whole picture and have been busy having a LOT more fun together since!  Date night has become a top priority and I honestly think we've laughed off a few pounds a piece in the last few months LOL  We're trying to lighten up and keep it relaxed in our neck of the woods... Don't want to mess our kids up TOO much!!!!  Haha
 

 Madi started 2nd grade and LOVES her teacher!  He's been so fun and great with the kids, it's SO wonderful!  She was the first Student of the Month in her class, has straight A's and is doing amazing.  She cheered at a high school football game the other night and I must say was pretty stinkin' cute.  We got her a guitar for her birthday and Madi has been singin' and strummin' away like a popstar - LOVE IT!!

Miss Maelee is in PRE-SCHOOL this year!  CRAY-ZEE-NESS!  It's insane to watch her do all the things that Madi was (well, it SEEMS) just doing.  She's so big!  She and Madi both advanced in their gymnastics classes and Maelee can do the straddle splits.  Yeah.  It hurts to watch.  She is in soccer this year and has the hottest coach :)  That's right ladies - he's all mine LOL  So far she would rather sit in the straddle splits and pick grass flowers than kick the ball but we're working on it! 

Marcus is growing by the micro-second.  He has decided he wants to pee in the potty, but has no interest in potty training.  Loves to play Plants vs Zombies ("bombies" as he calls it) and freaks out when the zombies come near his plants :)  He can climb out of his crib but is terrified of sleeping the twin bed in his room so that's fun.  His naps are out the window lately and the terrible two's are upon us.  Although, sadly, his fits are so stinkin' cute I have a hard time re-acting the way he thinks he wants me to.  I usually smile and walk away until he's finished - hoping he didn't see me laughing!

That's us in a nutshell right now.  Our apples came off and I spent 2 weeks canning them.  Pomegranates are off too and all the nuts will soon follow.  What else?  Oh, we re-modeled our playroom into a bedroom for Maelee (it's aaaaalmost finished.  Just needs a HUGE area rug to cover the indoor/outdoor carpet in there.  Seriously, who invented that stuff?!?  If it's not squishy and soft I should be able to mop it!!).  Once that's in I'll take pictures... and think about posting them :)

So... I'm a total slacker.

I know, big surprise eh? :O)

I was shocked when I found out too. Sad day really... It actually was a pretty sad day, one of my friend's husbands died last night and it's been a reality rocker for me. I have cried a good chunk of today and I'm sure Marcus now thinks I'm some weird leaky faucet. It just doesn't make any sense to me and I'm really struggling with it. Clint took the girls on a "Daddy-Daughter" camp-out and it was hard to let him go, which triggered the emotional retard in me so that after I said goodbye I actually curled up on the couch with a huge bowl of ice cream and watched a few episodes of Psych just to have an hour or so of detachment.

Luckily for me, my friend Kachelle and her husband just adopted a sweet baby girl and I had the pleasure of taking her newborn photos and they needed to be finished today so that gave me a few more hours of keeping my mind occupied... somewhat. BUT, {getting to the point of this post now} working on those pictures got me thinking of something that's been nagging me a LOT lately and since Marcus was sleeping, the house was quiet and I needed something else to stay distracted with, I FINALLY finished editing Marcus' newborn photos!! Aren't you proud of this slacker Mama?? I am - you have NO idea!!

-SO- since I really feel like I need a pick-me-up I'm going to post my favorites for you :O)








 

Hard to imagine that he was ever seriously that small!!  Especially when THIS is that little boy now...

   
Dad GUM I love my kids!  They make life so much easier... when I'm not wanting to thump on them!  LOL  I'm off to bed, hope you enjoyed my slew of pictures.  Cheered me up :O)  'Night

I Blinked...

And BAM! It's 2013.

To top it off - January AND February are already over. Sheesh. When will the world stop turning so fast and let me catch up?? 2012 went SO FRIGGIN' FAST! I posted 12 times last year. TWELVE!! That's ridiculous. Granted, I now have 3 kiddos to chase and that means some things gotta go on the back burner. I'm ok with that. Plus we almost doubled our house and land size last summer with the move so that's been another adjustment to figure out and attempt to keep up with. Who-da-thunk that would make such a difference in the daily routine of things?? :O)  SO... since I DO want to share a few more bits of 2012 with you, this WAS going to be a nix-the-details-just-give-the-good/juicy-stuff-catch-you-up post but Photobucket is totally retarded and re-did their whole website and launched it before finishing it and so their slideshows don't work right now. Nice huh? Instead {since I can NEVER just post a few pics} I will post the first part of my months-in-the-making post {up to the point of my first necessary slideshow} and call it good for now.  LOL Ready? Set? Go!

I posted last year about finalizing our adoption of Marcus, but I never got back to post about the sealing and blessing weekend. Our little Marcus boy was sealed to our eternal family April 21st and Clint blessed him the 22nd. We had a wonderful weekend with family, friends and birth families. Our house was PACKED with people {remember we were living in our 1268 sq ft house at the time!} but we had a fun weekend! The sealing was amazing, a little hectic trying to get there {we got 1/2 way to the Temple and remembered we forgot some of the paperwork. Got TO the Temple after running back home and realized we forgot MORE paperwork and had to run home AGAIN! Thank goodness we only live 5 minutes away eh?!?}. Becca's mom, Laurie, helped me get dressed and was kind enough to hold Marcus up to the altar during the sealing. The Spirit was amazing. Our ward's youth were waiting in the lobby for Baptisms for the Dead and they said they could feel something special about the Spirit in the Temple that day. Becca and Kiki waited in the lobby with them so when we came out and the youth realized what was going on... it was a precious experience and I'm SO glad we got to share it with them {especially since I serve in the Young Women and so they all are infatuated with the little lad!}.

The blessing Clint gave was perfect. I thought I had lost it but some serious searching turned it up so I could post it here for you {and for me!!}.

"Our kind Heavenly Father, by the authority of the Melchezidek Priesthood, we bring this infant in our arms to give him a name and blessing. The name which he shall me known in his life and on the records of the church is Marcus Tyrel. At this time Marcus, we give you a blessing - a guideline you can strive to follow throughout your life. We bless you that you will grow up strong and healthy, that as you go through your younger years you can learn to make righteous decisions. You have been blessed with two wonderful sisters whose example can help you to grow. We bless you to do well in your schooling that you might retain things you learn which can help you to grow strong in the gospel. Marcus, when the time comes we bless you to be worthy and able to serve a full-time mission for your Heavenly Father. That you will return from serving and find a companion you can take to the Temple and be married for eternity. That you will be a worthy and righteous example for all who know you. Marcus, we bless you to always know what a blessing you are to your family. One of the greatest sacrifices we have seen was made to allow you to join our family. I bless you to always be grateful for the miracle that brought you into this family. Adoption is something that will always be a part of who you are. We bless you to honor that sacrifice and always know the reasons why that decision was made. You are loved, Marcus, by so many people. You will have many challenges in your life. Learn to rely on the Savior. As you learn to turn to Him you can have the strength you will need to turn trials into opportunities for growth. You are a perfect example of what could have been a trial, but because of your birth mom's faith, has turned into such a spiritual experience for so many. Follow that example and learn to listen and follow the promptings of the Spirit. We leave this blessing with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I LOVE reading my children's blessings. Scares me to death too though cuz it's up to Clint and I to teach them what they need to know for those blessings to come to pass. Pretty big responsibility!!!!!

Speaking of my children... January 6th of this year was a pretty big day for us. That was the day our Adoption Certification expired. It's officially official - we are finished adopting. We have 3 BEAUTIFUL kids and THIS is our FAMILY. There was some confusion and uncertainty on my part leading up to the expiration day, but thankfully I was able to turn to the Savior and realize that I already knew it was ok to let it lapse and not renew. We feel such peace with our decision and know that Madi, Maelee and Marcus are our gifts from God and that He will continue to bless us as we close the door on that part of our lives and move forward into the next phase: raising these little rascals! It's exciting to know that by the end of this year we will be finished with our crib, high chair and spoon feeding. :O) By the end of next year we'll be done with diapers YAY HOORAY WOOHOO!! I have total closure with the idea of being done with little babies. As I watch Marcus turn into a little boy, I get SO excited for all the fun we get to have with him now! Even though I never thought my family would be "so small", I know that Heavenly Father knows me better than I do and knows that I sometimes struggle to handle the 3 He gave me. I'm grateful for His foresight and that He has allowed us to know enough of His plan for us that we can be so happy to "be done". :O)

Moving on, now that I'm all weepy and blah!! Maelee decided that it would be a good idea to try her hand at changing Marcus' diaper... she did great until he rolled away and refused to lie still for her to put a new diaper on! That's when she hollered for me to come help and this is what I found...
HA!! Thank HEAVENS it wasn't a poopy diaper!

K, this brings us to where the first slideshow was going to make it's debut so I will sign off for now and hope Photobucket gets their act together and fixes something that wasn't broken to begin with! Sorry, don't mean to vent I've just been trying everything I can think of for 3 days now to make this work and nada. Sigh. At least I posted something though, eh?? :O)