Hello May!

May welcomed me this morning with the sun shining so bright through my bedroom window that I took that as a sign telling me that this is going to be a great month. There are three important events coming up this month. My 22nd year anniversary of being a member of the LDS church, my eldest daughter's 19th birthday, and of course Mother's Day. Notice I wrote that one last. I love Mother's day, but I always tend to forget myself, and honor other mothers instead! I know...shame on me. 

The rain yesterday brought quite a few ups and downs for the fact that we are down to one vehicle now which means we're having to share a car. That's okay because we've done that many times throughout our marriage. We have one car, now two. One car, now two, etc. We let the other car go because we just couldn't keep it. You know...life happens, and we're okay with that. I'm grateful for Jon having started yet another new job last week because UPS does not know what they're missing. Well...they actually know what they're missing because he's the only one they retained after the holidays, but unfortunately the position was peak season, and only during Christmas. Seasonal bites! That's okay-it was nice having Jon home again to spend the brutal winter with us day after day, and now that the sun is shining he's back to work. Boohoo, and hooray at the same time! 

Mormon prom is this weekend, and I am beginning to feel the busyness of my calling in the stake young women. I love serving with the young women, and getting to know other sisters from different Young Women Presidencies is something that I love. People! I love meeting new people! I can see that the leaders love and care about their youth, and I know I still have a lot to learn, but darn it I am going to do my best to serve my calling like a champ. I'm really excited for these kids to have their Mormon prom. It's a lot of planning and I can see that the youth committee are making huge efforts to get this prom down to perfection. I know they'll do a good job because all the proms in the past have always been spiritually fun, and carefully planned by a faithful youth committee.  

Like I said...it rained cats, dogs, and birds all day long yesterday. The rain doesn't bother me at all. I grew up with more rain and hurricanes than snowstorms so rain is seriously not an issue with me (unless you get caught in a major flood!) On our way home from Chelsea's piano lesson we decided to take a detour and see how much rain was on the roads. Probably not a smart idea, but our area didn't flood as much. She got down, and stood outside taking in all the precipitation she could muster while sucking on a dumdum. I snapped a few photos of her whilst in the car, and the sound of the rain beating on the hood of the car was a nice rhythm.

I'm glad to be living in this part of the world because the colors that the rain brings is absolutely breathtaking. I will always forgive winter and a wet, wet spring because at the end of the day into the next morning we wake up to days looking like this... 

^^^ picture taken by yours truly with no filter. ^^^

And that is beauty!

They don't call it the Garden State for nothing.  

a rainy day.

So I'm feeling a little sick at the moment, and I don't think going for a walk earlier this afternoon in the rain helped. It wasn't pouring as much, and I felt that on days like this I need to venture outdoors. Rain or shine...it's all the same to me. 

Well our walk didn't last very long. Noah got cold, and I felt chills coming on. I'm glad he decided to throw a slight tantrum grabbing my hand telling me, "let's go home, and go inside." Otherwise I would have been stubborn and said "splash and sing in the rain like Chelsea does!" 

Luckily he had some Oreos in hand to keep him sane until we got home. 

As I stood there in the slight pouring rain taking pictures of him I couldn't help but to look at this three year old boy turning into a handsome little man. It breaks my heart sometimes, because he's growing up way too fast! 

He was getting a little impatient with me because I wanted to take pictures of his Oreo face! 

After the rain subsided (somewhat) I had to improvise to get a cute smile out of him. I jumped onto the grass, and said, "uh oh", and had a lot of mud all over my boots. As soon as he began to laugh I clicked the camera real quick, and captured this sweet chocolaty smile. 

It is now eight something in the evening, and all we are getting is some light snow. It's not sticking yet, but I heard we are supposed to get quite a bit. Since I'm not feeling so hot right now I'm hoping that we don't get too much. 

Oh...who cares. I'll just keep popping those vitamin c chewables, drink lots of water, and overdose on some alka seltzer medicine! 

Thank goodness for Hunter. We are definitely going to need these this weekend with the blizzard and all...if we even have one! Quit teasing snow!!!

I love Hunter...the boot, not the boy.

Christmas came early for Chelsea this year when she came home to see a package on the table with a box that read "Hunter" on it. She immediately jumped for joy, took them out of the box, and I swear she wants to wear her Hunter boots every day!

I've always wanted to get a pair for each of our girls, but lets get real. We don't want to buy a pair of expensive shoes for the younger children especially since they'll outgrow them in six months! Still...I couldn't help it, and I have to give credit in being a part of The Mission List. I thank them for paying me $$$$ for writing this blog post about my thoughts on reading this book as well as chatting for an hour online discussing topics on underage drinking. Without their compensations I wouldn't have been able to buy our girls multiple pairs of TOMS and Hunter boots ( I did buy myself a pair too!)

The weather has been wet for the past few days, and these boots couldn't have arrived at a better time. She outgrew the rain boots I bought for her last year, and they were not as good quality as these. They are perfect, and she loves them. I wish she had these last year when she decided to go out and dance in the rain.

Since we woke up to rain yesterday she decided to wear them to church. As we were on our way home from church I asked the girls how their classes went. When it was Chelsea's turn she told me about this sweet boy in her primary class who asked her a bold, but sweet question, "Do you... like me?"

She wondered why he would ask her such a question, and as she saw him staring at her boots it was then when she realized that he must of thought she engraved his name "Hunter" on her boot. We all laughed and I asked her what her response was to his question, and she said that she told him, "Nooooo, you're my friend", and proceeded to explain to him that the reason she had the name Hunter on her boots was because it is the brand name of the boot...not the boy she likes. Too cute!

She is too young for boys, but old enough to wear Hunter boots. They are so worth the dollar amount, and I hope to get considered for more campaigns from the Mission list because these girls would love to have a pair in just about every color!

August Rain

This is the plant in which the Primary passed out as a tiny seed back in late April. Lexie has taken really good care of it, and I can't believe how nice the daisies are blooming. She never needs to be reminded in being responsible for watering her own plants. For the past week she didn't have to worry about watering it because of the constant rainstorms we've been having. The rain has been doing it for her.

 As I wrote in one of my previous blog posts...I grew up in Hurricane alley in South Texas so I don't mind the rain. I don't mind driving in it, I don't mind the girls playing in it, and I don't mind not watering our grass, plants, or washing our car. We are totally saving on our water bill which is a plus!

Chelsea has a field day when it rains. She seems to be the only one at the moment who doesn't mind being drenched with rain and getting herself all soaked. The sun is out now, and it's time to take advantage of today before the rain starts up again. We are expecting more rainstorms this weekend as well into next week! 

It'll be interesting to see how long Lexie's plant survives. They've never thrived this long. It goes to show that her little green thumb is improving!

Singing in the Rain

Yesterday we did something that we haven't done in quite sometime. Played in the rain. This is something I don't think I would have done when my eldest was six. I didn't think of things like this when I was a new mom. I never wanted to get her clothes dirty. I'm sure there are first time mom's who were the exact same way as I was. Now...it doesn't matter. Like I wrote in my last post, clothes can be washed, and it's the little things that matter most.

We haven't had non-stop rain since April, and with the days pushing 100 degrees lately...I can actually say I didn't mind the rain. 

Chelsea was the first one to run out of the house, and splash into the puddles. This is the first time she put jeans on since the month of March! She was excited to wear jeans again and her cherry rain boots. Her sisters were about to come out, but Noah began to fuss so they stayed inside with him. He loved watching the rain come down, but he didn't like getting wet. I was behind the camera the whole time, but enjoyed taking these pictures... 

Chelsea was not ready to get back into the house. She could have stayed outside forever. I took shelter underneath a big tree to prevent my camera from getting wet. It was worth all the mosquito bites I have on my ankles (I was wearing capris, and should have worn long jeans) just to hear the joy in her voice as she was singing, twirling, and splashing about in the rain. 

It's moments like this where I don't mind being interrupted. Whether I am reading a book, blogging, cleaning, or doing anything that is not as important to spend time with my kiddos. It's all worth it in the end when I see a smile like this...

Birthday Withdrawal on a Rainy Day

Surrounded by tapered balloons Noah is watching-
 The Lion King

There has been a little bit of birthday withdrawal in the home since Wednesday. The streamers are still hanging on the ceiling and I don't want to take them down just yet. The week isn't over! It just makes the room so much more colorful and happy! Especially on days when it rains.

Only a few of the balloons have survived. I normally don't let Noah watch television, but because of the rain I made an exception. It was raining all day yesterday and instead of having a lazy pajama day, I was caring for the birthday girl. She developed a fever on the night of her birthday and stayed in from school. I'm wondering if the stress from testing this past week, and lack of sleep made her sick. The change of weather certainly didn't help either. There are some days when it's warm and then days that are cool. The weather has been inconsistent lately, and I believe that's another reason how she got sick. She laid down all day, woke up and read for awhile, and then went back to bed. She responded to a few text messages, took a shower and at the end of the day...she felt a little bit better.

Today is a new day and she didn't want to miss another day of school, and so she went. Hopefully they won't send her home because of her cough. We shall wait and see.

I didn't mind the rain. I just felt bad having the girls being cooped up in the house. It's okay because I really don't let them go out on a school day unless it's to go to the library. They're pretty good at using their imagination and finding things to do. Of course they play piano and Lexie practices her violin. 

Today she decided to enhance her intelligence by playing some memory games by Lumosity on the computer for about an hour. Supposedly the games on this website make your brain work quicker.

 

Chelsea wanted to do some yoga. She LOVES yoga and wants to do it everyday. She is my little motivator and example when it comes to exercise. She was a little bit bummed because we couldn't go outside to take Noah on his daily stroll when she gets home from her half day of Kindergarten. "That darn rain", she says. Hopefully it won't rain as much today or this weekend!

It's days like this where I feel fortunate to be a stay at home mom and care for my kids when they are sick. Being a mom fills my heart with joy and gratitude. I hope to always be here when, and if the school ever calls me to pick them up due to illness...which is very rare. We have always been blessed to have pretty healthy children. 

The sun is shining at the moment, but we are expecting at least 60% of precipitation. Let's hope the forecast is mistaken.

**I am also thrilled to see and hopefully meet this wonderful sister from our church this weekend.  She's coming to Valley Forge to uplift us and strengthen us in being faithful sisters in serving others and the Lord.

 Click here to read a powerful message.