Dance Party

Every couple of week the kids start asking if we can dance after dinner. The answer depends on how much patience Justin and I have by the end of the day and how early dinner finishes up. This night was one of those nights. There is usually someone crying about something about every 5 minutes, but for the most part they all get a good energy release. We turned on the Children's Tunes channel on DISH and the party started.

 Tonight was more running and jumping and swinging each other around than it was dancing.

 Check out Adaira's flushed face, they were running hard!

I'm in love with Dale's dance moves. He just started dancing like this tonight.

After changing her into her pajamas, Daisy was all ready to join in the excitement.

 I love that cute little face

 Dale sweats profusely. He has ever since he was an infant. He can be running around with the rest of the kids and they are a little sweaty around the face, and Dale will be drenched and dripping. It's gross. I'm thinking he must have Justin's metabolism and it just burns fast and hot.

 This adorable face. I love it, yet I fear it... It causes my life such chaos every day.

 Sweaty sweaty schwetty...

The next day Brighton shows off his sock puppet we made for a book report presentation at school. 

 I love this kid. He is so smart, yet somehow has the attention span of puppy. I think his brain is just always thinking too much about other things.

Dale was on a role yesterday (Sunday). I had him ready for church and then went into my bathroom to finish getting ready myself. He followed me in there but went from one area to another getting into Justin's stuff, my stuff, etc., so I made him leave the bathroom. About 8 minutes later I come out to this. He gets in trouble, gets time outs and even spankings, yet he seems to be incapable of learning that he can't just get into whatever he wants (this was Nesquick powder that he got out of the cupboard in the kitchen).

 Later on he was laying so nicely on the couch with his blanket, just chilling. He wasn't watching TV or anything. We wondered why he was being so calm. I guess he knew his 2nd mess was about to be discovered. These are Justin's baseball cards from when he was a kid. We have gotten after Dale, I dunno, maybe 5 TIMES for getting into this stuff?!

 A few hours later our friend who is currently living in the apartment above our garage texted me this picture and asked if Dale had been playing in her car. Apparently her daughter left the car door open after church and Dale took his opportunity to strike. He emptied her DVD player of all the DVDs and threw them and the cases all around the car. I told her I was sorry that my chaos had spread to her property. Funniest thing was that the first person she accused was her estranged husband who had been over just before this and they had an argument and she abruptly went inside and quit talking to him despite him yelling at her to talk to him. She thought he wrecked her car and confronted him on it before asking us. It's sad but we couldn't stop laughing when she told us about it.

 Doesn't he look big for just turning 3?

 Adaira and Brighton having fun together

 Brighton's light eyes with his itty bitty freckles.

 Every kid in the family has taken a ride on Brighton's shoulders. In the background you might notice that we finally have curtains in the family room. I scored a great deal on these 108in panels on clearance at JC Penney. I couldn't be happier with them. We custom made our own rods by buying 8ft. long wooden dowels (for stair railing) painting them ourselves, and connecting them together since we needed 14ft lengths on both walls. I bought the regular brackets to support them and cute rod ends to screw on so they still look finished. From afar they look great ;) Up close is another story, but when they are hung 9.5ft high you can't get too close.

Saved us about $75.

 I love Daisy. Have I mentioned that before?

Justin and I are leaving tomorrow to spend a week in New York. We will spend some time with Duane & Angie, hit NYC down south as well as Niagara Falls and Palmyra to the West. We are super excited, though I'm pretty apprehensive about leaving Daisy. Initially we were going to take her since I'm nursing, but then we considered the logistics of carseats and strollers in NYC, as well as a pack and play for her to sleep in, and it just would have been so hard to do and not nearly as relaxing. So we are leaving Daisy for the first time ever, and I am going to miss her sweet face, and I already miss the fact that I'm weaning her so early. I'm secretly hoping she'll be able to nurse when I get back home and somehow my milk will return. Fingers cautiously crossed. This trip comes at a very needed time for me. I've really felt overwhelmed and stressed out as a mother, as well as guilty that I feel so much anxiety and wake up feeling so irritable before the day has even begun. Then more guilty because I feel like a bad mom and that my kids deserve better. I'm hoping this trip gives me a chance to reset, but more than likely Dale will make up for lost time when we get home :)
We love all our kids so much and whenever we leave them like this I always think of the worst and what should happen if we didn't make it home (plane crash or some other crazy event). I would want all my children to know more than anything that they are so loved. Even through the hardships, I couldn't imagine not having a single one of them. Death couldn't even keep me away from them, I'm just not that obedient.

Here's to what we hope is a fun and safe hiatus from parenthood!