frustrated

There are days like today when all I can say is I'm frustrated.  Frustrated with kids, babies, taking care of kids, potty training kids, changing diapers, feeding them lunches and snacks, and so on.  Especially the potty training part is what gets to me.  It is hard enough with your own kids but when you are trying to potty train someone else's kids that only come here during the week is just hard.  Right now I have two kids that are 2 and a half years old so the best time to get potty trained.  They both go in the toilet very nicely, problem is neither one of them ever lets me know they have to go so if I ever miss it, I'm out of luck and their pants are wet.  Luckily they haven't done number 2 in the underwear yet. :) And no matter what I try, the little boy keeps going out of the toilet/potty chair more than in it.

On top of having 6 kids under 4 all day today, one of them is a pretty crabby 10 month old baby.  I mean crying and fussing the whole time she's up unless I hold her.  She's been doing a little better lately and at least she has been eating baby food and drinking bottles very nicely for me.  Well, today after her mom leaves I am looking in the bag for baby food but nothing's there.  I call her to see what I should give the baby for lunch to which she says"Oh, we've been trying to get her off of baby food and just feed her whatever we eat."  I thought ok, I'll give it a try but of course just as I thought she had 3 tiny bites and she was done eating real food.  So on top of everything else today it just added to my frustration.  After lunch she was very crabby and I know she was hungry but since she won't eat anything I have there's nothing I can do.

I am just realizing every day how I'm ready to be done taking care of little ones.  I don't know how people can do it year after year, even after their own kids are grown and move out of the house.  I am at my limit now so I know this has to be my last year.  In a way it makes it more bearable when I have an awful day to think it's only for a little while longer.  I know it has been great for our kids to have playmates when they were toddlers/preschoolers but as they get older it is so hard to still have to deal with diapers, feeding, potty training and even having to have all that baby/toddler gear and toys around the house.  I just can't wait for the day when I give it all away but for now, we need it for the kids that come.

I'm thinking though that this doesn't even have as much to do with the kids as it has to do with a cabin fever that is hitting all of us right now.  With the Siberian temperatures for so long and being stuck inside every day, I think we're all losing it a little bit. Well, I know I am for sure.  At least we have that unfinished basement where kids run around, play basketball and burn some energy off.  I don't know what we'd do without it in the winter.  I keep watching the weather and for a week now we could see that this coming Sunday we will finally be in the 20s!  So we can't wait to do some ice skating outside that day and we better because the following weekend will be below 0 F again.

So, now that I complained to someone in the cyber world, I can go back to work. :)  Cheers and hope you're not suffering of a cabin fever like I am.

shelf

Here is our newest furniture addition that Ehren built for me this weekend.  I gave him all the dimensions and how I want it to look and it took him about half an hour to finish it.  Seems like for such a quick job he could be making lots of pieces for the house. :) The longest part about it was the staining which I love doing so I worked on that this Saturday.  I really wanted it to look light to kind of match our kitchen cabinets but even just the pre-stain liquid made it turn darker.  The stain I started with was making the bottom 2 shelves really red and I didn't like that because our kitchen cabinets are more natural/yellowish tone.  So we got another stain, a really dark one and I went to town with that on the 2 shelves.  Now I like how it turned out because it's dark enough that the redness doesn't show much.  I left the top shelf with just a sealer on to keep it as light in color as possible and we really like the look of it.  It has some dents and stuff because it is very old wood but it makes it look cool.

I just love creating our own piece of furniture/art for the house.  It always means so much more to me than anything else we buy in a store.  So this is kind of an early birthday present for me. :) I still have to find some storage baskets/trays for the top shelf where kids can have their homework/Awana(church books)/and miscellaneous crap that I can just put there and at the end of the day or week they all put each item where it belongs.  Somehow a portion of our counter top in the kitchen becomes a collection of toys/things from all around the house in a matter of one day so now, they can collect in the "crap baskets" and not on my counter. :)  We'll see if it helps, but at least I like getting a bit more organized.

It is funny how doing one project almost always leads to another, or at least you start thinking about a new one.  So I have at least 3 other projects in my head right now which I'd love for Ehren and I to make but I know, one thing at a time. :)

my electric heating blanket

If you live in the Northern MN like we do, if you don't already have one it must have crossed your mind to get an electric heating blanket.  We try to keep our temperature in the house warm enough in the winter but we still need to wear 2 layers of clothes.  During the day I'm never cold because I'm running around so much but for some reason, as the evening comes and I slow down I am freezing, especially right before going to bed.  So owning an electric heating blanket sounds really nice as you get under the cold covers.

Well, this winter I have my very own electric blanket - Ehren.  I must have complained about it enough but almost every night as we're getting ready to go to bed he lovingly jumps on my side of bed and warms it up for me.  Then when I get in the bed I can't help but give him a huge smile as he rolls over to his freezing side.  It just makes my heart melt that he'd do that for me again and again.  It's so sweet but partly I wonder if Ehren just wants to see my big smile because he's waiting for it every time. :)  You have to understand too, we sleep Euro style in our bed, which means we don't share a big comforter but have 2 separate blankets.  We love, love love having our own blanket and not fight over one as we do when we go somewhere, but it also means we have to mostly warm up the blankets with our own body heat, not sharing them.  So when Ehren warms up my blanket, his blanket is still Freezing cold, not like one big blanket would be. Which is why it means that much more to me that he does it.

I love being married, having someone to share our ups and downs with, someone to laugh with or yell with, having a helper and an encourager, and someone to warm my bed for me. :)  Stay warm wherever you are!

 

glamping

So Ehren and I have been introduced to "glamping" this weekend.  About 7 of us girls get together for each of our birthdays and do something fun.  Most of the times we combine 2 of our birthdays together so it's easier to get together.  Anyway, one of our friends had this idea for her birthday this weekend and with the help of 2 other friends they surprised us with a Glamping party and it was the first time we got together with our better halves too. :)  I have never heard of it but I guess it is a common thing to do now and I'm sure there is a lot on pinterest about it.  It is pretty much camping, out in the nature, under a tent but everything about it is glamorous like lights, candles, decorations and the food is very gourmet as if you were at a restaurant.

It was a very nice surprise and I loved all the lights and beautiful settings.  I only wished it was a bit warmer because it was in a shed that gets pretty cold in the winter and even with a nice heater in the middle we were still cold.  Well, I really wasn't cold because I had the best seat - right next to the heater but Ehren was thawing out in bed for a while last night. :)  The food was all really good and fancy, just like it should be at a glamping party.

We also got a ride on a trailer behind a snowmobile, under a blanket with a hot cocoa in our hands. :)  It was  cute and we had some good laughs going thru some bumps and some of us spilling cocoa on ourselves.  Our friends really worked hard to make the night special and I'm so thankful for them.  They are the reason that my head is above the water some days and some months. :)  Especially since I'm home most of my days and only have little kids as my companions it means a world to me to have a time off and get together with my friends.  With some of them we try to get together almost every Friday for a play date and we have lunch with all our kids.  It has meant so much to me to stay connected this way to other moms and just being able to talk thru what we're dealing with, struggling with, sharing our ups and downs is so nice.

So I'm not sure if I would ever try glamping on my own, it makes more sense to me to do it for special occasions like birthdays, engagement and stuff like that when you can share it with a bunch of people.  But if it's just us as a family, I really enjoy the simple camping,  sitting outside by the fire, chatting away, or just being quiet.

One of the girls is a photographer and she had her nice camera with so I stole her pictures from facebook to put on here. :)

Ehren and Chris

yummy hens

all the girls - just one was missing