In the midnight hour

I've been lamenting the fact that Hazel has regressed in her sleep-through-the-night habits. Since going on vacation, she has started waking 3 or 4 times a night. Needless to say, that kind of schedule leads to a severe sleep deficiency, on my part at least. Since Nate is out of town on business I had planned on helping Hazel regain her better sleep habits while he was gone. However, I have realized that I am too much of a softy. I only want to see my children happy and somehow this method of helping her learn to sleep through the night by letting her cry and fall asleep on her own is leaving me in tears as well.

I have come to the conclusion that instead of fighting the nightly interruptions, I will embrace the opportunity to spend some quiet alone time with my baby girl. I only wish that there was enough time during the day that I could spend hours and hours of undivided attention with each of my children. This has been my dilemma since choosing to have more than one child...I wish there were more of me to go around so that I could meet all the needs of my sweet children. I love them with all of my heart. There is no place I'd rather be than with them.

I need a vacation!!

Well, it was a whirl wind of a vacation with so many things to do. And although I am tired I am glad that we did it all. The kids loved Disneyland and Legoland and it was the perfect time of year to go, cool and less crowded. I think they will remember this for a while. And of course it was great to see everyone. And being part of Hester and Spencer's wedding was memorable. But now we're home and trying to get back to normal. It took all last week to get my laundry, dishes and house clean. But finally yesterday we got it done. And I've decided to do some more streamlining and dejunking so that it won't take that long ever again. The kids just have too many things. As do Nate and I. If I get rid of it all then I won't have to clean it!!!

Hester's wedding

I know there are a lot of pics out there already, so here's a few more.






I liked that Vickie pinned on Spencer's bouttonnier!

Road Trip Part 2

World's Largest Thermometer (on the way to Vegas).


The girls always love to play dress up!

Road Trip

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The hotel we stayed at in San Diego was just down the street from the Temple. The was a pleasant surprise




We stopped at a surf beach on the way to LA and played in the ocean a bit. It was a lot colder than the Gulf. But the kids had fun. The one rule was that since it was Sunday I didn't want anyone to get wet. (Futile.)






We also had a great time at Disneyland. Space Mountain was the favorite ride of the park. Hopefully we'll get to go back another time. I think it would take 4 or 5 days to see and ride it all.






What a cutie!!

The Day the Relatives Came...

Aspen loved having cousins to play with. And we loved visiting with the Bolanders and Donna and Great Grandma Mary.

And of course the kids wanted to make orange juice at Grandma's.

Legoland

We had so much fun at Legoland. The kids loved the rollercoasters, although we had to convince Toby to try them. He wasn't too sure at first. But after trying them, we couldn't stop him. It was a perfect day.
I'm the king of the world!



Toby wasn't too sure about this ride.
Miniland was amazing! This is NY.

Happy Halloween

Aspen came down with strep throat this morning so she didn't get to go trick or treating. Instead she stayed home to answer the door while she watched Ichabod and Mr Toad. I forgot to dress up Hazel and so faked it the next morning. Nate is King Arthur. (Aspen was supposed to be his servant, Patsy, with 2 coconuts.) Isaac is a ninja because he wanted 2 swords and Toby was the Grim Reaper, complete with flowing blood.

more hiking photos

Finally I'm getting around to fixing my blog.