Note To Self...In Case I Forget

Do you ever have things happen and you think, "I have to remember this", or "There is no way I could forget this..", only to find that your memory fades and before you know it you only have a little foggy shadow of whatever it was you were trying to remember. If this happens to you, join my club. If not, go away. (just kidding, be grateful you have such a stellar memory, you are the envy of many people, including me).

So, after that preface, here is my note to self of some things I don't want to forget.

Dear Me-

1. Don't try and sleep in on school days. Just don't. Get up early, exercise, get everyone breakfast, ready and out the door (for those that go somewhere). The whole morning goes better.

2. Remember the cute way Jace tells you about his school day. Recess is the favorite part of almost everyday, he also reports on who cried and /or was a whiner at school that day, who got to be the special helper and who his favorite friend was that day. You know all the important things...

3. Remember how hard you and Tim laughed at a family baby shower over the weekend when you took Jace to the bathroom, he spotted the shower and said "oh is that the baby's shower?"

4. Always put Braxton in the cart at Target. Don't let him out. He will be unable to resist running away to the toy area while you have your back turned for a millisecond and will be the object of a "Code Yellow". You will be paged to the front as Mommy Prusse and the employees will glare at you for losing your child. You won't be happy. This has happened more than once...learn your lesson. (Anyone who knows how fast Brax can run will not blame me for this.)

5. Remember the way Brax looks when he smiles. His whole face smiles. Take a second everyday to enjoy his big blue eyes. Remember the way he says "ohhhh" after every question you answer for him. It is dang cute.

6. Keep Ashlyn out of the kitchen. She knows where the messiest stuff is and you will end up cleaning up an entire box of baking soda off of the floor. Or two whole bottles of Mrs. Dash's seasoning. Or something else like that.

7. Remember the way Ashlyn's little voice sounds when she says "I love momma" or how she says "no" to everything even when she means yes. Or the way she tries to run with the boys, but it ends up being a speed walk. Or the way she climbs up on the couch, says "ready, set, go" and slides to the floor. Get lots of sloppy kisses everyday.

8. Never buy Doritos. You can't resist them and end up eating way to many. Even if they are on sale. Don't. Buy Cheetos instead, you hate those. They won't even tempt you.

9. Kindergarten is great. It is not to short, not too long and so far, lots of fun. Don't cry when Brax goes. There is no reason, they love it...

Especially when they have a class full of friends... (I don't know why Jace is smiling like that, I think he thinks it looks cool)

10. Tell Brax to never open the fridge for Ashlyn. This is what she likes to do. (She looks guilty doesn't she.)

11. This was your favorite dress of Ashlyn's the summer she was one. She looks good in bright colors. Buy her lots of clothes in these colors. Or any colors. Just buy her lots of clothes.

12. When you have an overabundance of zucchini from your garden and you don't know what to do with it, make this cake. It is delicious and it will make Tim love you even more than he already does and will inspire him to do the dishes multiple times in one week.

13. Always make Ashlyn wear a helmet when riding in the Jeep with Brax as a driver. Brax isn't the best driver and it is just safer this way. Also make him stick to the turtle gear. He can't handle the rabbit yet. (just remember the yellow flowers and tree he ran over. They are still trying to recover.)

14. Remember how cute Ashlyn was playing duck, duck, goose tonight in FHE. She would tap her own head and say duck, showing she wanted to be picked when she was sitting in the circle, and then when it was her turn she would walk around the circle all by herself touching everyone's heads and saying duck, just like a big girl. She loved it.

15. Remember college football season will come to an end even though around November you will start to forget what it was like to see Tim on Saturdays.

16. Tell your kids how much you love them everyday. Give them lots of kisses even if they don't always want them.

17. Give Tim lots of kisses every day. He always appreciates it.

18. Appreciate moments like this when they are each other's best buds.

19. Don't ever drink caffeine after 3 pm. You won't be able to fall asleep until like 2 am. ( I should probably say "never drink caffeine at all", but lets be real, I get up at 6:10 every day.)

20. Don't keep your hair the same color for over a year. You get tired of it and end up very anxious to change it. (Good-bye blonde hair soon...)

21. Love your life, find joy in the journey, count your blessings, don't forget to pray, and serve others.

Love- Me

P.S. Thanks for the pictures Jenn. : ) You can tell which ones she took for me...they are the good, not blurry ones.

Is It Okay to Throw Up?

More about throwing up in a minute. First, ummm where did July go?? We have been busy playing, so busy that I didn't take pictures of 99% of what we did. So you will just have to imagine these pictures.

Here we are having fun swimming a watching fireworks on the 4th of July.


Here is Jace taking swimming lessons. He loved his teacher. She was like 17 and named Ashley. He tried to convince me to let him give her multiple pieces of my jewelry. He got a "report card" on the last day. She said "Jace is a fish! Keep swimming. He was so fun to have in class!" He hung it up on our fridge.

Here we are at our favorite waterpark. The kids love swimming and we did a lot of it in July. The first time we went Braxton was so excited he ran and jumped in the pool before I could put his floaties on. Thankfully Brennan was right there to pull him out, but Brax was traumatized for a while and wouldn't move past the steps. He got braver though and by the end of the month was going down all the biggest slides with Jace.

Here is Ashlyn. She has expanded her vocabulary a lot this month. It now includes uh-oh, bye, ready, set, go!, water, ball, almost every animal noise and name, and almost all the family names. She thinks she is the boss.

(This one I am really sad we don't have pictures of.) Tim's extended family reunion. It was a fun camping trip with lots of fun people. Almost all of the immediate family was there (we missed you Leslie and baby M!) and the boys had fun playing with their cousins, making smores and sleeping in the trailer (thanks again Rebekah!!!). During the talent show Jace decided that he would like to share a talent without informing anyone beforehand or practicing, and led everyone in the "Bear Hunt" song. It was funny. Braxton really enjoyed using nature's big bathroom (anywhere there was a tree). Ashlyn enjoyed trying to eat as much dirt as possible.

This next one I have actual pictures of. My side of the family took a trip to my grandparents cabin in CO. It is beautiful there. I have proof.

This is from a lookout near their cabin. It was even prettier in person. Good thing too because it took us 10 hours in the car to get there. (I really shouldn't complain though, the kids were amazingly good and happy. I like to believe it was because of the 100 prayers I said beforehand pleading that they would be good travelers.)

Here are my favorite people standing a little too close to the edge of the lookout for my comfort.

Here are the owners of the cabin and our gracious hosts. (I didn't actually get a picture of the cabin...I am just happy I remembered the camera at all.) My Papa is probably the most genuinely good person I know. My Nana is one of my favorite people to talk to. I love them. They are watching the 24th of July parade in the little town down in the valley near their cabin.

Here are my patriotic boys as the flag passed opening the parade.

Ashlyn sharing some of the candy she got that was thrown from the floats.

She LOVED the horses in the parade. I am sure if she could have said it she would have asked her daddy to get her one to take home.

This is a waterfall we hiked to one morning. I have made this hike lots of times growing up. I think the first time I remember I was around 5. It was fun to take my own kids there. It is a beautiful spot.

Ashlyn being held securely by Tim. She wanted to dive right in.

Jace being silly (does anyone know of any 5 year old boys that aren't silly?) and throwing huge rocks into the water.

Ashlyn loved throwing little rocks in the water.

Braxton was amazed at how big it was. It seemed big to me, so I can imagine how much bigger it seemed to my little 3 year old Brax.

Silly boys in front of the run off pool.

This is how Ashlyn hiked the trail. She loved this little pack (thanks Shelli!) and fell asleep on the hike back to the cars.

The view at the beginning of the trail. So pretty. My camera and photography skills don't do it justice.

Back to the 24th. (sorry they are out of order) There was a carnival after the parade. Where do they find the people that work at carnivals seriously? Is it a requirement to look as scary as possible? I remember being scared of them when I was little, and I am still scared of them. The boys loved all the rides though.

Jace was excited to be tall enough to go this ride. Braxton was really sad he wasn't.

He was consoled by being able to ride the train which he loved. Jace is next to him.

Ashlyn loved the merry-go-round and rode it two times in a row.

One of their favorite rides. The big "Fun Slide" that you ride a big gunny sack down.

Here they are on the way down.

At the creek by the cabin. They both fell in trying to climb on rocks within the first 5 minutes we were there.

Even though she is smiling, Ashlyn was mad I wouldn't let her fall in too.

Our little diva in Elyse's sunglasses.

It was a fun trip, but it is always good to be home!

Now to the throw up. Jace's first day of Kindergarten is tomorrow. He is fine. I feel like throwing up just thinking about it.

He is so excited that 5 of his little friends are in his class. I get teary when we pass the school. He loves his new backpack. I am hoping that somehow this day gets postponed.

Why? I am not sure. I am not worried about him being ready. He can read pretty well already, can write and can count to 100 by ones, fives, tens. I think it is because this is just the end of all his time being my time. Sure he went to preschool, but any mom knows that is totally different than kindergarten. If we wanted to do something else it was easy to miss a day of preschool. Who cared? But now he has to be there because it is a big school and people care if he has a lot of unexcused absences. I think that is another thing that makes me nervous, it just seems so big. And to me, he is still just my little guy. What if he is sad and there is no one to make him feel better? What if he has a bad day? What if...? And Kindergarten just brings first grade closer which means he will be gone for 7 hours of the day...don't even get me started on that.

I have thought it through and have only come up with two options: 1) Suck it up and send him to Kindergarten or 2) homeschool him...and since #2 is definitely not an option for us tomorrow morning I will take him to Kindergarten. Excuse me while I go throw up.

(I realize that many millions of moms have survived sending their children to Kindergarten. Tim tells him it will all be okay. None of this helps. The rational part of my brain is not strong enough to stamp the knot out of my stomach. I realize I will probably laugh at this one day when I have sent all my kids to Kindergarten. But now...not laughing yet. : )