happenings...

--Hubs has been working A LOT! But that is to be expected for tax season, so we are pushing through. He has been leaving by 5:30 am every morning and has been trying to get home by 6pm. But he has had alot of evening meetings for church and other things so we still aren't seeing him that much in the evening. Thankfully he is pretty good at quality time with us when he is home. The kids are really hating waking up and not getting to see their daddy before he goes. It is really sad to see their reaction in the morning when they ask if daddy has left already.

--I fell going down our front step the other morning. I just wasn't paying attention and missed the step as I was going down. I ended up catching myself with our square wooden post and then slid down that and landed on my left knee. I scraped and bruised my arm in three spots from the three corners of the post and my knee got skinned pretty good through my jeans and ended up bruising too. It hurt really bad, and then I felt really bad for all the times I tell my kids to "walk it off" or "your tough!" because I can tell you I wanted to cry and someone telling me that would have made me mad. Thankfully I didn't get hurt worse.

--I love Valentine's decorations but totally dropped the ball and didn't get anything out this year. It makes me kind of sad. Better luck next year. We did however make some cute Valentine's. And we did have a fun little fancy dinner with candles and glass goblets. This kids loved it!

--I finally ordered some essential oils from doTerra. I have wanted to do that for about a year. I have heard so many people talking about how much they love using them. And we have been wanting to find alternative methods for treating us and our kids when we are sick or hurt. I am really excited about it!! They should be here any day.

--I had a really bad bout with my acid reflux recently. It has been a few months since it has been this bad. I was even taking something to prevent it and it still came on full force. It is so painful and leaves me pretty useless because it hurts to even move or touch my stomach. I am hoping some of the essential oils will help with it better.

--The kids got to go to my in-laws house for their annual grandkid valentine party. They do this so the parents can all go on a date together. It ended up being us and just one of his sister's for our date. But it was really fun. We ate dinner at Chapala's, ate dessert at The Sweet Life and then went and watched The Hobbit at the movie theater. The kids loved every second playing at grandma's and getting to do their fishing party game where they get all their fun prizes and treats. Neither of the kids had naps and we didn't get back until 10:30pm. Mac was great and Oak had done great and was in melt down mode when we were about to leave because she was so tired.

--So I had been struggling with Mac staying in his room for quiet time. He would come out alot and ask if quiet time was over. Then all of a sudden I had the great idea to use a kitchen timer for his quiet time. It has worked wonders. The first week I would tell him if he came out for anything but going to the bathroom that I would add time to his timer. He did that a couple of times and he has now gone a couple of weeks without me having to add time. And sometimes he will even crawl up in his bed and take a nap. Love it!

--Along the same lines of what I just talked about with Mac...we were having problems with him coming and waking us up early every morning. So I had remembered an idea that I had heard before with an alarm clock. Mac knows his numbers so I had him pick out a new clock, at the store, for his room and we told him if he woke up before the first number said 7 then he needs to stay in his room and play until he sees the number 7. It took a little bit of training him. But he now just does it on his own without us having to remind him about it much. We aren't super strict about it and if we are already awake we will let him come and get in our bed and snuggle, but if we are needing just a bit more sleep then it works wonders to tell him to go and play until it says 7. And he happily does.

--Hubs and I have been working out most nights to the Insanity workout program. We love it, but it is HARD! The first of January I started working out three days a week to a Jillian Micheals workout DVD, then we decided to get Insanity and a couple of weeks ago we started working out together. I love having someone to work out with. I also love working out. I am excited to get in better shape and to lose a little weight (I have gained almost 10 lbs in the last year) and to hopefully get a boost for when I start running in a few months. I took a week off on accident since we had some late nights with other activities and then I was sick for two days then it was the weekend. But we are back to it.

--My brother Chris was in town a couple of weeks ago for business. It was so great to see him, since it had been two and half years since we saw him last. After he had left I realized that in the last year that I was able to see every single one of my siblings. That is crazy, since the six of us live in four different states. We are trying to put together a reunion in Utah this summer to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. I can't wait for us all to be together at once. It has been almost eight years since that has happened.

--It has been almost a year since I decided we needed to change how we ate. And just today I realized how far we have truly come, especially with our kids. Mac told me he was hungry and I asked him what he wanted and he asked for a sliced apple. It made me so happy that our hard work has paid off. He is the pickiest eater and it has been a struggle with him. He still doesn't like veggies much, especially cooked ones, but he has gotten to the point that he will at least try new foods and will also take at least one bite of everything on his plate without much of a fuss. HUGE improvement for him!

--Two weeks ago I deactivated my Facebook account. I have loved not being attached to it so much that I am seriously thinking about completely deleting my account all together. I have gone back and forth on doing this for a long time, because I didn't want to take away that opportunity that maybe we would find our next baby through FB. But, I just decided it was what I needed to do and I feel good about it knowing that Heavenly Father will make a way for us to find each other.

--For adoption news, it will officially be nine months, this Sunday, since we were approved. And we have not had one single contact. I have alot of thoughts and feelings about this, but I haven't been able to put it into words to post about it. As the year mark approaches we are trying to figure out exactly what we want, need and can do to add another little one to our family. It is hard and burdensome to navigate this part of our life and to not have complete control over it. Ugh! Leaving the pity party now, sorry...