Not Going As Planned

Dear blog,
Yesterday was a hard day at my job. It was hard to be super mom and it was hard just to be mom.  I know that we are adjusting into summer.  Things are not going as I planed.  But it has only been 2 days things will get better, I know they will, things have to get better.
These are just a few things that made yesterday challenging.  Lilly is sick.  Her stomach is bothering her and she has a fever.  We are limited to what we can do. 
Second, We took everyone to swim.  Lilly sat out sick and Max cried, ran away from me, and cried.  I'm holding him like a baby at the top of his lane while I wait for his coach to grab him for a lap in the pool.  Thank goodness there is plenty of mom help at the pool so my friend takes Luke for me so I can deal with Max.  All the while I am contemplating why am I making him do this?  Do I give in?  Do I let him quit? 
I'm making him do this b/c this is my love. I love swimming. I'm good at.  I want my kids to be good at it.  It is fun!! Good swimmers lead into life guarding and life guarding is the best job ever.  But that was for me.  I think I know how my dad must of felt when we didn't love tennis as much as he did or that I never learned to play well enough were we could play in a serious match.  I'm glad that my brother learned to play in high school. I think when he and my dad played, it was a proud moment for both of them.
Do I give in?  Do I let him quit? He is six.  He has proven to be on the immature end.  Is he capable? Oh yes. There are many kids that are at his level on the team.  Kevin and I talked about it a lot last night.  And what he came up with is, it is up to me.  I will have to fight him every morning, and fight he will.  So am I ready for that fight? 
When I woke up this morning and asked Max if he wanted to go to swim team and he answered no, I was okay with that. We can try in another year or two. 
I found out later today that some kids were cut from the swim team because the coaches didn't think that they could do it.  Yes, I agree that your child must be able to swim across the pool without holding onto  the lane line but I feel bad for the moms and the kids that wanted to stick it out and didn't know that there was a possibility of them not making the team.
Third, Luke is SO TWO!! It is a total love hate relationship.  He has so much to say and can't say it. He doesn't understand that he can't have yogurt for every meal or that it is not OK get out a popsicle when he feels like one.  He wants to be included in everything.   As I was trying to help Max set up a fort to keep him occupied. Luke comes barreling down the hall and jumps on the thing every time Max gets it set up.  Other examples of how busy he is when I give him a snack to occupy him for a minute he has already dumped in on the floor or smeared it into the couch before I am done with my little job.  He loves to dump things out. Every bin or basket is dumped out at least 2 times a day.  Oh and we lost his binky the other day so it is no more binky.  He does fine until nap time or bed time.  OY!!  Not enough sleep for a two year old is a sad thing. 
Forth, with this no binky thing and Lilly being sick, we are all lacking in the sleep department. Kevin and I have colds and we are just not 100%.   I felt so bad when I went to YW on Wednesday night, because one of my friends asked me what was wrong.  I have no poker face when things are bothering me you can tell.  Sorry friends I am lame.
During my talk with Kevin he reminded me that it is OK for our kids to watch TV, eat more snacks than usual and stay in jammies longer. It's their summer too. 
So that is what they did this morning watched TV, and the boys were dressed and happy. 
I'm mostly writing this post so when I read this in a month or year I can laugh about what I whiner I am.  Or when my kids read it they will see that even their wise mom (I say wise because when you have kids of your own you always realize how wise your parents really were) struggled being a mom and prayed for guidance consistently to know how to mother them because I love them so and want to do the best for them.  I will always keep trying.

SWIM TEAM

Today was the first day of swim team.  Lets talk about the high points shall we.   We got there on time with minimal resistance.  Both Max and Lilly swam across the pool.  Both jumped in the pool.  Both kids were very responsible with their $15 goggles.  Lilly said she had a good time and that it was fun.  Both kids know several kids on the team in their age group. 

Now for some not so high points. Max would not sit with his age group. He would just look at me a cry "I don't want to swim" Oh brother.  He knew I was going to make him so he finally sat by one of his friends.  He did get into the pool, and he swam.  Max was done about lap 4.  But hey that is lap 4, that is the most he has ever done.  He cried and refused to get back in. I had to run after him at one point and bring him back.  The water was cold for Max. The kid has no fat on his body, poor guy.  We stayed the whole time so I call it a success.  This picture says it all.  Lilly is happy and smiling, Max is cold and really mad at me that I made him swim.

On a good note Max talked to Kevin about swim team tonight and told him that he liked it.  The second day is always harder. Wish me luck tomorrow morning.

Project Life

There is a scrapbook project that I want to start just because I think it looks AWESOME and it is a great way to record my life.  I did some pages using the same templates for our Disneyland trip. I loved the way they looked.  The catch is most people do this project life thing weekly.  It's a huge commitment.  Funny thing with me is I am reluctant to start things because there is a chance that I won't finish them. There is a huge list of things I have not finished.  I hate unfinished things, but not enough to complete them, and I didn't want to add another one to my list.  Silly, I know but that is how it is with me, I'm working on it.  When Mandy said she was starting this project I wanted to do it with her but how.  She suggested that we do project summer.  PERFECT!  Here it is project summer an account of our summer all the fun stuff, boring stuff and real stuff.

Here is week 1. I started on my first week of summer.

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school. It marks the last day of Kindergarten for Max and the last day of 2nd grade for Lilly EVER. We had to celebrate the start of our summer with a water fight with water balloons, water guns water squirters and friends.  Mission accomplished we are ready for summer. Who needs a pool when all three of the kids can fit into a big bucket and have so much fun? 

Getting Away

This weekend were were able to get away with family and friends and enjoy cooler weather, friendship and food.  I say food because there was an abundance of it but that was not the best part.  As always the best part of any trip is the people we share it with and the memories we make.  Here are some things that I caught with my lens to remember our trip.  A girls walk, green fields and pine trees, the pet lizard, kids pretending they were cattle in the corral, the swing, the temple, laughing, and wild flowers.

Sunday we took a drive to the Snowflake temple.  I love seeing my little family in front of the temple. I'm so grateful that we are sealed together.  For some reason the inscription really touched me.  It just gave me a little nudge to strive to be more holy in my thoughts, actions and in my home.  I love the temple and the peace that it brings.