The Sweet Chaos of Girls

It was a fairly typical frantic morning. I got up and ironed a shirt for Don at 5:30am and sent him off with numerous prayers to help him with the stressful day he had in store and then, thanks to the craziness of this pregnancy, couldn't go back to sleep...

So, I read for an hour and slept for another 45 minutes before jumping out of bed and began running through the house - grateful Autumn was already up and had taken off Liberty's morning diaper in prep for putting on a new one - so while a little naked bum streaked around giddily I found clean clothes for the older kids in baskets I still haven't folded and put away, brushed the hair of moving heads, repeatedly asked Bizzie to put on shoes and socks (please, not in that order!), finally caught the naked bum, diapered it, dressed it and patted it as it took off to run around the house again chattering some word over and over, dressed myself (can't underestimate how important it is to remember to do that - even if you don't plan on getting out of the van while dropping the kids off at school - bad things always happen if you don't...), Grandma Olsen was watching Liberty today so I could help in Bizzie's preschool which meant throwing together a diaper bag (she had to call and remind me to include wipes this time...), at the same time I am agreeing with Autumn who was speaking in a motherly voice, "Liberty is saying so many words now!" Pausing to direct an adoring look at her protege, she then sighs as she sadly continues, "She's growing so fast..." Bizzie chirps in excitedly that the word Liberty has been saying over and over as she ran through the house was her name "BZZ-e, BZZ-e, BZZ-e!"

Only seconds later they were all arguing over toys they should or should not take out into the car, obviously forgetting the fact that it was a moot point since there is a long-standing rule of no toys leaving the house. So as I am grabbing my purse, the diaper bag, my coat, Liberty's coat, and making sure everyone has shoes on I fall back on my favorite two sayings rather than mediate the argument: 1)"If you are not doing something that makes your sister feel loved you are doing the wrong thing." 2) "If you can't say something nice...zip your lips."

It was a mixture of bickering, sisterly love and supreme-o parenting. Yep, a typical morning for the Olsen girls and today... it made me smile.

Update on Mamaw and Papaw

They were doing really good when we made our last Tuesday visit. They had just finished their dinner and their visiting nurse was taking care of vitamins, blood pressure, feet care and checking out Papaw’s latest “owie,” (he couldn’t remember how he did it but he had a jammed finger). They chatted with Autumn and Bizzie during all of it and watched Liberty explore and snuggle with Papaw.  Once the nurse left (she was very kind and patient) we talked about everything and nothing. Mamaw wanted to hear about the latest things the girls were doing and Papaw was content just to listen. I told him I had found a cassette with the song “Richest Man in the World” and for the first time that night understanding really lit up his face and he began singing the song word-for-word. It was so sweet to hear. The girls love being with them and are looking forward to our visit tomorrow, we’ll fill you in more later.

Finding Fun Things To Do

School was out this last weekend for Teacher Conferences and Martin Luther King Day so I had the girls home with me for four days. Having all of them home is rare and for various reasons I wanted to have a plan for them (1. I didn’t want to waste precious time with them and 2. Given too little to do my “precious” children can quickly drive each other – and me – up the wall)!

So – Friday we were off to the Living Planet Aquarium and from the outside it doesn’t look like much but inside I was amazed at the variety of species they had and the girls loved it too! There is only one time that Liberty freaked out and it was sitting on this giant frog – I’m not sure what it was about it but she HATED it, the snakes, spiders, and frogs were no problem but that giant plastic frog was unnerving!

She perked up and had a great time seeing things through a magnifying glass…

And all three had a lot of fun petting the sting rays – some of those rays loved to be touched so much they would practically climb out of the water to reach your hands!

Later in the weekend Don took us on a trek out onto the frozen Utah Lake! We had done this last year and it freaked me out, but I was more prepared (mentally) this year and was able to relax a bit and enjoy how beautiful it is out there.

Little posts of ice had shot up in a straight line across the lake, it was a fascinating formation each one had popped up shaped like a star!

It was so white and isolated I kept half expecting an Imperial Snow Walker from Star Wars to stomp by!

The brave explorers!

We still drove each other a little crazy, but we had a lot of fun experiences to off-set it:)

Holiday Catch-up…

Have you ever gotten behind in your journal writing and kept telling yourself you would sit down and do a catch-up session before moving on because too many wonderful/tragic/memorable things have happened to NOT write them down? But life keeps happening and memories kept piling up and you fell more and more behind? Most of my journals start and re-start with the words – “That’s it! I’m starting the journal writing again! A lot of great things happened (here I enter in three explanatory words of 30+ events and then say…) but I don’t want to not write about today too so I’m starting over – NOW!” Point? I’ve reached that point with my pictures for the blog – so I’m going to spew it all on there so I can get to today…tomorrow – someone tell me I’m making sense, please?

My sweet Bizzie and I had a lot of fun and time to do Holiday traditions together – she was instrumental in helping me get the gingerbread cookie men cut and baked to be decorated for Family Home Evening…

And she pressed designs into 40 little red circles for our gifts to neighbors and friends with the Cuttlebug – no complaints just an excited, “Mom, I got these done are there more?”

NUTCRACKER!!!!

Autumn and I went on our 2nd Annual Nutcracker Girls-Night-Out! This year we came prepared with layers of tights and pants under our dresses and still froze, but had a lot of fun eating at The Roof which overlooked the SLC Temple (gorgeous! the temple and my daughter!). Then we walked through Temple Square to “Bart” the horse that would take us to Capitol Theatre…

And of course the Nutcracker was wonderful! Don who arranged the reservations at the restaurant, the horse carriage ride, the front row tickets at the ballet as a Christmas gift to his girls was also serving as babysitter to Bizzie and Liberty who were anxiously waiting to turn 6 so they could join us too…

Thank you DAD!!!!

We ended the evening with Autumn taking pictures of Temple Square’s lights…

And then popping into the Joseph Smith Building to defrost before trekking to our parking spot!

The Holidays meant school was out and with blizzards…

and below zero temperatures there were LOTS of opportunities to cozy up! These are my favorite pictures of the girls…

Christmas Eve is full of traditions for us. One of our favorites is taking candles to grandparents who have passed on, hearing Grandma and Poppa tell us stories of them and singing Christmas Carols to them…

And Finally New Year’s Eve!!! For several years we have gotten together with Melanie and Auri Burnham’s family for a kid’s New Year’s Eve party where we celebrate midnight at 9pm – much to the confusion of our neighbors but perfect for all those little kids! It’s great cuz if you need a little more time to get ready midnight can wait. This year Rhett, Heidi and Ashlynn Burnham joined us too! Here we are welcoming the New Year in…

And the countdown…

That catch’s us up so hopefully, the next post will be more current. I hope your days are as busy as mine and as full of joy and gratitude for the memories you’re making with your little ones.

Star Quilt started two years ago finished? Check!

I’ve talked to many of you about a quilt in progress for the last two years and I wanted to proudly announce that I was able to complete it in time to give it to Don Christmas Eve. This particular quilt had a lot of emotional build-up to it so it was very satisfying to have it turn out close to the way I had anticipated it. I began collecting Don’s shirts years ago when he finished Law School. I’ve come close to throwing them out MANY times and couldn’t. Inspiration struck as Don and I were talking about one of his favorite songs, “Impossible Dream” from the Man of La Mancha and I saw his shirts and this quilt! Here are the pictures of it in the making and the final product. On Christmas Eve the girls gave Don letters of why they appreciate him and then Autumn sang his song while I played the piano – being as pregnant like I was, I sounded horrible due to my inability to see clearly through the tears but Autumn did great, though greatly confused why everyone was crying!

It’s hard to read, but I stitched in the final words of the song on the back: “And the world will be better for this, that one man scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage, to reach the impossible stars.” No one knows how hard they struggle, how heavy their loads, and how often they continue when it would be so much easier to give up than we  do -  So here’s to acknowledging how amazing our spouses are!