Mommy's peace and quiet time......or NOT!

Tonight I wanted some peace and quiet time away from the kids so I decided to take a hot relaxing bath. Unfortunately, it wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped it would be. Here's how the story goes....

Since the girls were entranced in a TV show in the kitchen, I decided to sneak into the bathroom and start my bath. I locked the bathroom door because I knew my girls would be in and out of the bathroom for some reason or another and I wanted to be left alone. I also didn't want to take a bath with Brooke, who seems to have made it a habit to join my every shower - some of which is my fault based on convenience to get her bathed quickly or because there is no other adult home when I'm taking a shower and it's a way of keeping watch of her, but also because she LOVES baths and every time she hears water running, she wants to get in! Anyways, so I started my hot bath and had just sank into it when the girls must have realized what I was doing. Next I hear Brooke standing at the door trying to turn the knob and when she realizes that she can't open the door, she starts banging on the door and throwing a fit. I tried my hardest to ignore it, but it just got louder and louder. Then I was thinking, "why isn't Chris stopping her - he knows I wanted some peace and quiet" - but I soon realized that he was on a phone call and couldn't really deal with her at that moment. So, I turned the water back on to hopefully drown out the crying and eventually she settled down and moved onto something else. Yeah!! But no, it wasn't over yet. The next visitor at my door was Maddie, who wanted to tell me what Brooke was doing. She proceeds to say through the door, "Mommy, you know what Brooke was doing just a minute ago? She was throwing a fit - she wants to take a bath with you mommy, you need to let her in!!" So my calm response to that was "Maddie, mommy wants to take a bath all by myself and quietly, could you please leave the door and go play!" So, for the next few minutes, I was all alone with no noise, but again, it didn't last long. At that moment, Maddie was back at the door asking me when I would be done so that she could take a bath. I proceeded to tell her I would be done soon and she needed to be patient. But of course, patience isn't one of her virtues either and she was back again asking me when she would be able to take a bath and if I had used up all the hot water. So at that moment, I just decided it wasn't worth it...it obviously was a bad decision and I just needed to GET OUT! I guess I have learned my lesson that if I want a peaceful and relaxing bath with absolute quiet - I need to wait until the kids are in bed!!!

A visit from an old friend

Jenni, one of my best friends, came to visit us this last week. It was so good to see her as it has been over two years since we've last seen each other. Jenni and I grew up together in church and she and I have always been very close, but her mission work has moved her to other states and even out of the country several times! In fact, she is about to embark on a wonderful and exciting chapter in her life - moving to Cambodia for three years to work with the Rapha House, which is a safe home for young girls rescued out of sex trafficking in Cambodia. So, we were for sure excited that she made a quick trip over to visit us before she leaves. This was Jenni's first time to see Brooke, who just took to her like she was her favorite aunt or something! The other two girls had seen Jenni several times, but were too young to really remember her that much. However, it only took a few minutes before they were sitting on her lap giving her hugs and telling her stories. During Jenni's stay, she and I really got to reminisce on our childhood and the stupid and silly things that we did...how we used to have specific sayings that only her and I thought were cool - most specifically "You Go", which still makes us laugh. We remembered how we would watch certain movies and rewind specific parts that we thought were cute or more specifically the boy was cute in, like 8 Seconds and the Sandlot. We even revisited some of our childish ways when we learned the dance sequences to two of the songs from High School Musical 3. I love when my inner child comes out and having Jenni around sure did help in surface again. We will miss her while she is gone, but thank goodness for webcam, which will help us stay in touch with each other in a more personal way!

I Love Bubbles!!!

Baby Dylan loves bubbles....

Learning to Skate

On Saturday, we spent a couple hours at the skating rink for Ashlyn's birthday. Our girls have been skating maybe twice in their lives and it has always been quite an experience mainly because they have to wear regular roller skates and usually spend more time on the floor than standing up. However, this time, they were really starting to catch on. Maddie is very close to skating on her own...she just needs a little more confidence in herself. Ashlyn is confident, but the skill isn't quite there yet. But, she is coming along as well. And Brooke was so determined to get out there too, so I finally gave in and put her in skates to see how it would go. And, surprisingly, she did very well. She loved it and wouldn't leave the rink!!! Check out the video below...

I think Chris had as much fun skating as the girls. He even tried the stretch game. He did pretty good, but ended up stretching just a little too far!!!

February News

I can't believe it's been over three weeks since I last posted. I've kinda been in a writers block, but also have been busy, busy, busy... so here is a recap of what's been going on with us!

Brooke now has a new big bed. She has done so well transferring to a bed instead of her crib. In fact, I am so impressed because she doesn't even get out of bed when we lay her down - which was an adjustment for both the other girls when they moved into a big bed. However, it did take a few days for her to figure out how to sleep - as we were finding her each morning all twisted around and usually above the covers with her feet on the pillow. She was moving around like she did when she was in her crib and didn't understand that your supposed to stay under the covers with your head on the pillow. She's doing a lot better now, but I do have to say - it was very weird for Chris and I as he took down the crib. This is the first time in 7 years that we haven't had a crib in one of the bedrooms. Wow, we really are moving to the next stage in our lives...one without any babies or baby gear!

Valentines day came and went and seemed to almost feel like a mini Christmas. The girls got several valentines presents from mommy, daddy and their grandparents. They had a fun day spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Mahoney while Chris and I took a mini weekend trip to Topeka for a little time without kids.

I am still watching Baby Dylan and the girls really do like having him around. It's even more fun now since he's getting so much bigger and is able to "play" with them. It's very interesting having a fourth child in the house. I definitely think it has helped to solidify our decision to not have anymore babies of our own. However, I do feel kinda bad for Baby Dylan. The poor child is a first child at his house and when he comes here, he is the fourth child. It's quite a culture shock for him as he has to adjust to having other "kids" around that take my attention away from him sometimes. He doesn't quite understand that yet and gets kinda "ticked" at me sometimes when I have to pay attention to the girls at times. The newest thing has been his "squeal" that he has developed. It usually comes out when he is having fun; however, it does happen when he is mad and it honestly sounds like a girl screaming. The first time I heard it - I thought Brooke or Ashlyn was seriously hurt. But honestly, I have no idea how people have four kids!! Three is difficult, but four is almost unmanageable. It is so hard to do anything. Going to the grocery store is practically impossible as both Brooke and Dylan need to sit in the front of the cart and putting Brooke in the back of the cart doesn't work either - she either takes up too much space so there is no room for the groceries or she tears open any package that you put withing her reach. Why can't more stores have shopping carts like the one's that Sam's club has. Those are so convenient! The other thing I find difficult is keeping Brooke from giving anything and everything to Dylan when I'm looking the other way. The other day when I was dealing with some issue Ashlyn was having - Brooke proceeded to give Dylan an Oreo cookie. When I came back into the room, Dylan had gummed that thing until is was all over everywhere. Check him out... his first taste of chocolate!

Lastly, but most importantly, our Ashlyn is now FIVE years old - I just can't believe it. For her birthday this year, we decided to take a weekend trip to Omaha, Nebraska and spend some time away as a family. My parents went with us and we had fun going to the Omaha Children's Museum and the Omaha Zoo. The girls had so much fun - even in the 29 degree weather. Luckily our hotel had an indoor pool and water park, so we even got to go swimming. It was definitely a fun way to celebrate her birthday. However, we're not quite done celebrating yet - we still have this Saturday with our extended family at the skating rink. Here are some pics from the weekend trip.

Ready for a Big Bed!

A few days ago Brooke climbed out of her crib during her naptime; however, Chris and I didn't really think it was that big of a deal. We thought that since she was such a good sleeper and if she was tired, she would stay in her crib - no problem! WRONG were we! She has now climbed out of it three or four times and this morning when I went in to wake her up - my baby was no where to be found beneath all the pillows and blankets in her crib. Where was my Brooke? - ON THE FLOOR ASLEEP! I hope she didn't sleep there all night!?!? So, hopefully as of this week, we will be promoting her to a BIG bed. Wonder if she will be as easy to put to bed??