Life

Wow. I have started about 12 blog posts since the last time I posted on here... but none of them have gotten finished. Maybe this one will, and maybe I'll go ahead and post some of the started/not finished ones. I have been writing in my personal journal though, so it's not like I've got no clue what has been going on...

Recently I was looking over my calendar and realized how over-committed I was. I realized I had turned into a "yes-man" where anytime someone would ask me to do something (watch their kids, take a meal, help with some project, etc) I would say yes. It got to the point where within a two week period I had 5 days where I had other peoples kids at my house. During those 2 weeks I only went to the gym twice, and I was just feeling super overwhelmed. I realized something had to change. This week I've had two people ask me to watch their kids and both times I said no. It was so hard to say no, but I needed to do other things for my family this week (and I had to go to Presidency Meeting and didn't want to add an extra kid to that). I'm getting more things done now that needed to be done, and it feels great! And I've had more time to do things for myself. It's kinda nice.

Our yard (especially the backyard) has turned into a jungle because I would get so overwhelmed looking at it and I would never go out and pull weeds. Or I would, but because of how bad it was you could never tell a difference. Well, last weekend our home teacher brought his wife and 5 kids and after one hour of us all out there weeding (not Chris, because his Meniere's disease doesn't allow him to do yard work) you could FINALLY tell a difference. It motivated me to get out there more and now our jungle is finally starting to get tamed. I'm hoping that this weekend I can make a ton more progress on it!

Other random things you've missed out on....

1. End of Jan/early Feb I potty trained Emma! It only took a few days and she was a pro! She hasn't had an accident in forever and isn't afraid of automatic-flushing toilets anymore.

2. Before I could potty train her I decided I needed to get Emma out of her crib. The weekend before I potty trained her we took the front of her crib so she now is sleeping in her big girl bed. Now she can get out when she wakes up and needs to go potty. It's great. And now I don't have to go up the stairs as often!

3. Chris and I both got new callings. Chris was released from teaching Gospel Doctrine and called as Asst. Ward Clerk and is over finances. He is loving this calling so far! It does mean we take 2 cars to church now and that he has to stay after church each week, but Emma and I have some good time together after church. I got released as a Relief Society Instructor and called as the Primary Secretary. It's been a little hectic of a change for me, since our Primary was short many teachers, cub scout leaders, etc. It's been a challenge keeping up with all of the changes we've made over the past few weeks and making sure all our lists are up to date, but things are starting to calm down more and I'm figuring everything out!

4. This past Sunday I was in charge of Singing Time in Primary. Our music leader was released a few weeks ago because she got a stake calling, but our new music leader had not been called yet, so the PP asked me to sub. I had a great time teaching the kids a new song, but my favorite moment came in Senior Primary. It didn't take the kids long to learn the March song so we had some extra time to kill. I asked a sweet 8 year old what her favorite primary song was and she chose A Child's Prayer. As we sang, the spirit was SO strong. Afterwards we paused and talked about what we were all able to feel. The whole mood in the room changed and it was amazing. These kids are fantastic and I have been loving getting to know them a little better.

5. Emma has broadened her horizons when it comes to movies/tv shows she'll watch. We're not as stuck on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (although he is still one of her favs) but it's been nice to watch some Doc McStuffins, Care Bears, Inside Out, Monsters Inc, Monsters University and Elf (even though it isn't Christmas anymore!).

6. We decided it's about time for us to go on a real family vacation. After a lot of thinking and researching and discussing the matter, we decided to try out a cruise. A Disney Cruise! We only live a few hours away from Galveston and there are plenty of cruises out of Galveston, but we decided Disney would be a perfect option for our family. We are so excited, even though our cruise is still MONTHS away! It's really fun to watch videos and read all about Disney Cruises.

7. Back in November Chris's little sister moved out. Did I ever even mention she lived with us? Oh well. It took us a while to get into a new "normal" routine, but we've figured things out. Emma gets really excited when she sees Steph on FaceTime, and is super protective of "Stephy's Seat" at our dinner table, freaking out if anyone tries to sit there.

8. I've read 9 books so far this year! Some of them were children's books (Mary Poppins, A Little Princess) and some were classics (Persuasion) while others were just hilarious (Mindy Kaling's new book-Mom, you wouldn't like it... you don't know who she is) and some were for Book Club (All the Light we Cannot See) and others were just my choice. It's been great to finally work through my "to-read" list on Goodreads.

9. Emma loves to paint. I'll print coloring pages off the internet and let her paint them. It's hilarious to watch her go to town on a piece of paper with just one color paint. At first it was teal she has obsessed with, now she's stuck on blue, but that's almost empty so she'll have to pick a different color to paint with next.

10. I don't feel like I can end this list with only 9 things, but I really can't think of a 10th thing for now, and Emma just woke up so I should finish this now and get it posted before it gets forgotten again!