winter cabin fever

have we ever got a problem on our hands folks:

cabin fever. 

cabin fever like you've never seen. its building messes in my living room, its causing havoc at bedtime, its throwing wrenches in at mealtimes; its even affecting my children's naptime...of all the things i need in a day (air, water, food, rest, etc.) the most important is my children's naptime. i need that two hour block to clear my mind and gear back up for the demands of mommy-hood. need it!

but cabin fever is robbing me of these treasures. my kids need out more. they need to run more. they need to burn energy more. sounds easy enough, but tate and i, between attending classes, doing homework, and managing the household stuff, we tend to hole ourselves up inside tapping away on a computer working on assignments...not taking ourselves outside to play in the frost-bitten winter wonderland of rexburg.

summer needs to get here...like, now.

though there are days when  the kids take matters into their own hands...like, the other day. charging out onto the patio in just their skibbies. it took all tate had to convince them to at least wear their shoes and put on a blanket. 

  

  

le sigh! 

(these remind me of this post.)

anyway.

that's enough of that whine. thank goodness we've got a pan of lasagna in the fridge ready for the baking, and a get together planned for this evening in rigby with one of my besties, her hubby and kiddos. 

if that doesn't shake some of this cabin fever, i don't know what will!

herbarium curators in training

as you can only imagine, tate's beaming with pride at these pics:

  

(taken at the campus herbarium where tatton works. not sure what an herbarium is? read this.)

little plant scientists in the making?

his dream come true, i'm sure.

puppy love

can i just tell you, how hard it is to keep clothing on my children?

seriously.

we dress them in the morning, and within maybe an hour...tops...their clothes are in a heap along with their toys on the living room floor. i'm not going to lie, sometimes it drives me crazy!

if i let her, brookelyn would tromps through the house in just her undies...oh...and a leash; which is of course, any random necklace in her arsenal of necklaces. and when you ask her a question? she answers with a bark, and will not respond to her name. once she's decided she's a puppy for the day, there's no breaking character on her part. 

ethan has decided brookey has the right idea, and most times he's seen streaking through the house in just a diaper.

it's maddening i tell you!!!

but i digress.

i should relish their untainted imagination and just photograph the heck out of them instead.

which of course, we do. observe:

  

oh that? no, that's not brookelyn wearing a shirt, those are brookelyn's puppy ears..duh.

oi.

and you know, i have a sneeeeeeeeeaking suspicion that the only way we're going to abolish this puppy act for good, is to get one of our own.

we'll see what we can do by the time your birthday comes around in september, 'k brookey?

oh, right, i meant 'puppy'.

6am

now really...

  

...as though leaving at 5:45am for my military fitness class isn't hard enough already.

laid back

this semester is nothing like any other we've ever experienced before.

only one of us attending full-time?

but one little hour in the entire week that our schedules over-lap?

crazy, right?

definitely. but then again, what a perfect ending to our time at byu-idaho it is shaping up to be.

 

memories like these to fill the semester up?  

yes.  

yes, please.

(oh, and i'm just dying...literally, dying!...to tell you about grad school plans! i will soon...very soon.)

my kind of pick-me-ups

let's be honest for just a moment, m'kay?

who can't relate to madonna's 'material girl' just a bit?

okay...a lot?

(my hand may or may not be raised right now.)

that's besides the point.

so whether its new jeans, fun foods, shoes, body products, new hair (finally!), some sweet stamps, or other home decor goodies (like monogrammed sheets that feel like heaven), sometimes a little retail therapy does wonders to lift my spirits.

and trust me. after last semester (i know, i know), my spirits needed some serious lifting!

          

even the hubby enjoys getting a little material on me. but bless him, he never fails to spend his money on flowers...for me.

what makes your inner material girl smile?

casual sunday

i planned on posting about something else today...

...but i found a gem of a picture when looking through the camera that i simply have to share.

have to.

ethan. two feet from the church doors, just moments before the meeting is supposed to begin.

(yeah, i realize he's super casual for church, but whatevs. at least we were there)

he cocked his head to the side and was so confused when i told him his new-found 'toy' had to stay outside while we went to church.

and after a few looks at me, then at the snow chunk, then back to me, and back to the snow chunk again (did that sound like an old spice commercial or what!), he hesitantly ditched his icy pal on the concrete.

part of me wished he could have brought the snow inside with him. i mean, who am i to be a kill-joy to his fantastic childhood imagination?

maybe next time i'll let him.

to my favorite girl in the world

i've been dying to post about brookelyn ever since that tribute post to ethan i did last week. but time, school, and housework obviously got the better of me, and i have yet to get back into the swing of blogging regularly.

there is no one word that could fully describe this highly animated, super-charged girl i've got. she's half pit-bull, half mother-hen, another half sweetheart and lastly, half everything else. one minute she'll be helping me bake, the next minute she's a feisty firecracker of a girl, bossing me, tate and ethan around. 

most days brings something new; whether a word, a mannerism, a funny face, a joke...you never know with her. 

she's such a multi-faceted gal i don't even know what to brag up most!

her fart potential? (it is as glamorous as it sounds)

the fact that she inherited my five-head? (a step up from your run-of-the-mill forhead)

how she asks me to blow her hair dry after she takes her own shower? (which precedes her dressing herself, which precedes her asking me to paint her nails)

her curiosity about everything?

her sass? (as much as it drives me to pulling out my hair, i adore her sassy...and spunk...and attitude)

her absolute admiration for her daddy?

either way, most days i catch myself just watching her flit about the house, astonished at how quickly she grew from 'baby' to 'little girl' (i'm convinced it was overnight). as expected, here are a few photos of the brookey taken recently:

    

    

 

 

 

   

oh gosh brookelyn, does your mommy ever love you.

to my beautiful blondy,

mom

xxoxx