Everyday Wonderful

Life is insane right now, but also it's not. There are so many moving pieces and unknowns hovering over us in this brief season that I have found myself unable to deal with more than one day (or sometimes one hour) at a time. And I think that's okay, as survival mechanisms go. Definitely not my norm--I am a planner by nature!--but it's working.

And while we weather the first trimester sickness & worry with this sweet new little babe (blogging about it here), wonder where the military will be sending us in June, and scramble to get the house ready for market by March 1st (props to Steve here! He's a powerhouse of home-sale preparation!), there is still so much life getting lived.

And the everyday wonderful has always been what keeps me going. So here's what I want to remember right now, in this crazy season when I'm hardly mothering (or person-ing) and any meal when Dad isn't home is reheated pizza, macaroni, or the ever popular "cereal dinner."

The kids are thriving. They're happy. They're finding ways to pitch in, help out, and take responsibility. They're on top of their chores (when prompted) and sometimes even clean each other's rooms. ;) (More about their individual ways to help on the baby blog.)

Every afternoon when they clean their parts of the bathroom (one does toilet, the other does counter), they do it together. There is often much giggling and goofing off, but the work gets done, and their friendship keeps growing.

Gracie often does her school-required 15 minutes of reading by reading aloud to Charlie. Charlie often speaks soft words of comfort to Juliette when she gets sad (orrrrrr throws a tantrum) and is always available to fill up her ladybug water bottle. Jules wants to play whatever the big kids are playing, and will stand with her eyes covered spouting random numbers when a game of hide-and-seek breaks out.

Now more than ever, they gravitate toward each other. If one of them settles down to draw, one or both of the others are quick to follow suit.

When we found out the new babe was on the way, we moved Squish into a "big girl" toddler bed. She calls it her "new girl bed." :) Now when I'm feeling sick (which is still pretty often), the big kids put her to bed. They sing her extra songs and tuck her in with "pink blanket," and sometimes there are belly raspberries and gales of laughter. <3 p="">

And after bedtime they all lay in their beds and talk to each other across the hall, playing games of their own making. (One favorite is "Spotlight," in which they describe a stuffed animal and the others have to guess which one it is.)

Lots of games of Spot It are getting played. Sometime solo, sometimes with sibs, sometimes all of us circled up on the carpet, elbows propped on pillows.

Less baths being taken, less laundry folded, more improvising of their outfits, less strict rules about bedtimes, more movies watched. Less vegetables, more Papa John's.

Earlier bedtimes and more naps (some impromptu) for tired parents.

We might be in survival mode--well, actually we are definitely in survival mode!--but I sure love my people.

Tacos and My Love

When Steve and I were first married, he did all the cooking. He love being in the kitchen, and is totally comfortable making up his own recipes--usually measuring seasonings and ingredients by feel (a handful of this, "more than you would think" of that) rather than by standard teaspoons and tablespoons.

Back in the days of newlywedhood, he sometimes made me these really delicious tacos for dinner. I liked them so much that my co-workers even teased me about how much I talked about them. But what can I say? Great tacos = love.

Now that the kids are older and gaining appreciation for the finer things (i.e. they will actually try new foods) we've all become really attached to eating Steve's tacos on Taco Tuesday. As soon as Sunday is over they start asking if it's Taco Tuesday yet. :)

The typical spread includes fried corn tortilla taco shells, diced tomatoes, sour cream, queso fresco, and a super yummy lime doused mix of cilantro and onion, with chili-lime chicken as the shining star. Steve likes his with some salsa verde, and Charlie has been known to sample that as well. :)

Everybody loves Taco Tuesday. When the hubs is working and not home to chef for us on a Tuesday, there is much sadness and regret among the littles, and we always promise to reschedule to Taco Wednesday or Thursday.

Everybody eats tacos their own way. Juliette usually likes hers in pieces, and vegetarian. She likes queso fresco, tomatoes, and usually downs a couple of shells (sometimes with some sour cream on them). We put chicken on her plate, buuuut she doesn't eat it. She is a big proponent of tacos and always shouts, "TACOS! TACOS!" a la President Business in The Lego Movie.

Charlie is our biggest taco eater, often rivaling Steve in number consumed. I usually eat 2-3, Charlie typically downs 3-5. He likes his with sour cream, tomatoes, queso fresco, and chicken.

Gracie-girl is not a fan of taco shells, so she eats her tacos "deconstructed": all the fillings on her plate. She's also been keeping tabs on our taco consumption on a piece of paper she keeps stuck to the fridge. :)

Steve's sister Emily has a beautiful foodie blog, where she took Steve's little-of-this-lots-of-that recipe and quantified it into actual measurements, so if you're looking for a fab taco recipe, you can find the official Walton Taco Tuesday taco recipe there. ;)

Laundry

Sometimes I get so caught up in recording the EVENTS that I forget to record the everyday stuff. In the end, that is what is really important to me. Those are the things that fill my heart, recharge me on a daily basis so that I have the energy to keep going. Raising my babies is taking a very lot of energy. :) And I don't want to forget the simple things, the moments of our life that are, as Neal A. Maxwell puts it, "the molecules that make up eternity."

Laundry is a constant.

There is always, always, always laundry.

Big socks and little socks, and socks in between (those in-between ones are mine, and Steve claims he can't tell them apart from the kids' socks. Hmmph.). Everybody's underwear, and t-shirts long-sleeved and short (a high proportion of which are Star Wars specific). Jeans, skirts, leggings--both fleece-lined and regular--gym clothes and yoga pants. And pair upon pair of pajamas: zippered, footed, and 2-piece.

Whatever else may be swept, wiped, mopped, decluttered, tidied, or cleaned--there is always laundry.

It's not my nemesis, per say. Its definitely a battle. I do a load every weekday to keep on top of it:

Kids clothes Monday
Dark clothes Tuesday
Light clothes Wednesday
Catch up (sheets, bath towels, and clothes, rags, and dish towels from the downstairs hamper) on Thursday and Friday.

It's part of my morning routine. Wake up, scriptures, prayer, maybe a tiny bit of yoga (stretches for my neck and shoulders), get dressed, fix my hair and put on my face, make the bed, wipe down the master bath, and throw a load of laundry in the washer.

Later in the day I move it to the dryer.

By afternoon its ready to fold, but usually I don't fold it. I haven't figured out where that fits into my life yet. It's not a priority, you know? And the kids are accustomed to checking the dryer or the clean-baskets in the laundry room if they can't find something they need in their dressers.

But Tuesday afternoons I always fold, because that's the kids' folding day, too.

When I decided that I needed to drastically simplify in 2014, one of the changes I made was to be proactive about teaching the kids to help around the house, and enlisting them for regular household "contributions" like picking up their rooms, folding laundry, and sweeping the floors.

I have to give them a huge amount of credit for their [mostly] good attitudes about this. I think starting them young has helped with that a lot, but there are other things I do that help, too. I try to acknowledge that it's not fun, and that maybe I don't want to do it either--but that we do it to help our home stay clean and cozy. That resonates with them, and I am so grateful!

I've also learned to be patient.

They go at their own pace. It is slower than mine, but they are happy, and the work gets done.

They fold in their own way. It is different than mine (even though I taught them!) but they do good work.

Afternoons are a little rough on me. Not terrible or anything, but definitely the hardest, longest-feeling part of the day. My natural energy hits a valley around 2ish, and once we pick Gracie up from school the kids are on high-speed, high-volume. I'm an introvert, so that gets kind of overwhelming for me.

But Tuesdays, during laundry time, are nice.

We're all together, but we all have space. We talk and Charlie comes to give me lots of kisses as he tries (unsuccessfully) to avoid his folding.

I sit in the laundry room, on the floor, and fold into a plastic basket.

And look at the sunshine coming in through the window in the hall.

The sunshine through that window was my first indication that we needed to buy this house.

Oh I love it.

The kids take over the hall just outside the laundry room door, each with their own basket. They fold all their own clothes, and sometimes help with Juliette's.

And we fold and talk. And sometimes listen to music. And sit in the afternoon light.

And while I wouldn't say that I like laundry, it is kind of soothing to sit quietly(ish) and make order out of chaos, one fold, one crease, one stack at a time.

It is definitely one of our molecules.

Juliette's Commentary on Return of the Jedi

In Jabba's palace as the monster things make noises:

Juliette: He's crying. He's crying, Mom.

On the battle on Jabba the Hut's barge:

Juliette's: Wootie's come back in the bed.
Me: The Wookie's in a bed?
Juliette: Yeah. It's a Wootie, Mom. Wootie, Wootie, Wootie.

*starts humming along with the theme music*

When Darth Vader comes back on the scene:

J (pointing): MOM it's Dart Bayder. It's Dart Bayder, Mom. It's Dart Bayder.

When Luke returns to Degobah:

Charlie: There's Yoda, Juliette.
Juliette: Yeah, Yoda!
C: Yeah, Yoda is in Star Wars.
J: Star Wars? Star Wars!

J: Mommy, a get my Yoda? A get my Yoda, Mom!

(I got it, and then she returns to watching the movie.)

J: That's Yoda, Mom.

As Yoda turns to rest when Luke asks if Darth Vader is really his father:

J (whispering to herself): He's seeping (sleeping). He's seeping. He's try to seep.

*feeds her Yoda some of her cup of milk*

J: Driiiink! Driiiink!

(Gracie and Charlie converse about Yoda: Charlie wants to know, "Is he really dying? Why?" Gracie's answer: "That's just part of life." #deepthoughts)

Juliette: It's noisy, Mom. It's noisy.
Me: What's noisy?
J: Ahhh... a car. And that's See-P-Oh.
Gracie: That is NOT C3PO, Juliette, that's R2D2.
J: Yeah. See-P-Oh.

While Ghost-Obi-Wan and Luke are talking:

J: *starts singing the Weird Al Yankovic Yoda song*

As we transition between scenes with a fleet of starships:

J: No no no! Shoom shoom! (those are laser sounds)

Back with the Rebels and Mon Mothma, discussing the Endor moon:

J (who has priorities, and Han isn't one): Wootie Wootie Wootie, Mom! A Wootie! A Wootie, Mom.

*Gives toy-Yoda (haha) another drink of milk and makes some more laser sounds*

And then when Luke arrives at the meeting:

J (with a cup stuck to her face): Yute! (which means Luke) Yute! Yute! Yute!

"Luke! Luke! Luke!"

(Meanwhile Gracie is just SO annoyed that the smaller two are talking and "being noisy" and "being so lou-lou-lou-loud" while she's trying to watch.)

When she sees R2D2:

J: *makes R2D2 noises*

And some more fleets of starships:

J: Fly fly fly fly fly.

*Toy-Yoda spends some time being slid down her sloped pillow and blanket*

J: Down the slide.

And then when Darth discusses his new plans:

J: Look! A Dart Bayder, Mom. A Dart Bayder Mom.
Me: What's Darth Vader doing?
J: Uh, running back. Dart Bayder running back. (He's totally not.)

As Han, Chewie, and the troops hide in the bushes on the Endor moon:

J: Wootie. And See-P-Oh. Mlahhhhhhh mlahhhhh mlahhhhh. Wootie, Wootie, Mom!

*walks around breathing heavily dragging a large bubble wand as a walking stick*

J: I found a bubbles, Mom. I found a bubbles... A YIGHTSABER! A Yightsaber. Tsnnn! Tsnnn! (lightsaber sounds)

When everybody is partying on their speeders (or trucks, I guess) in the woods:

J : Mommy, I need a truck. I need a truck, Mom. Truck det mat deet doors. (not sure what that means) Yod-ee Yod-ee Yodaaaaaaaah.

When R2 and C3PO get back in touch with the troops after their speeder chase:

J: Yook its See-P-Oh. Holding my hand. There's See-P-Oh, Mom.

When Chewbacca gets stuck in the Ewok net-trap:

J: Wootie's need help. Wootie's need help, Mom. Wootie's need help. See-P-Oh needs help.

And then the Ewoks show up:

Juliette: A keety-cat. A keety cat, mom. Keety cat and Wootie.

*sings part of a Daniel Tiger song "I Love My Sister"*

*starts sucking her thumb really intensely*

Charlie stands stock still in the middle of the room, gazing up at the television:

Charlie: I have these feelings about Star Wars.
Me: What feelings do you have, bud?
C: Oh... Any kind of feelings.

When I turn it off for the evening (promising to finish later) and tell the kids its time for scriptures upstairs before bed:

Juliette (gathering her blanket and toy-Yoda): Time for scriptures. Time for scriptures and get my Yoda.

PGY3 Life

If med school felt fast, residency has been a blur.

Steve has been in post-school training for over two years now, and in less than 9 months he will be officially finished. He'll graduate from residency and we'll be off for entirely new adventures.

It has been fantastic watching him grow and change. His confidence and sense of purpose have solidified in such beautiful ways in these past few years, and his knowledge of medicine, his intention and focus in his job have become engrained. He probably can't see that (it's different when you look at yourself, isn't it?) but I can. I'm so proud of him and the man he chooses to be.

So now we're officially PGY3 (Post Grad Year 3), and in Emergency Medicine, that means this is the finale of residency, and though sometimes we still have challenging weeks or months, for the most part I'd say we're pretty well accustomed to resident life.

There are times when our bed is being slept in 16 or 18 hours a day--I'll get up with the kids in the morning, and just a few hours later Steve will be getting home from a night shift, finishing his notes at the computer by the kitchen table, and then crawling in to bed until dinnertime. So it never gets made:

Or it gets made for just a minute, because I want him to be able to snuggle right in like this:

We've finally gotten the hang of doing a regular family night (it only took us 6.5 years!), usually on Mondays--but we're flexible so Dad can join in a different night if need be. The trick for us was to keep it really simple. We do a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY short little lesson (this week it was an object lesson involving toothpaste, about how we can't undo the hurt of saying mean things). And then we do something fun together, like watch an episode of this clean and cheesy sketch comedy show, playing Dance Central on the Kinect, or just playing a short board game or card game that Juliette tries to step on.

When Steve isn't home for dinner, we talk about him and miss him, work on our Q&A a Day for Kids book, and sometimes send him text messages of us making weird faces.

If the ED isn't too busy, or when he's at conference or waiting somewhere, he sends us pictures back.

Every evening we read scriptures as a family on the floor of the hallway outside the kids' rooms. We lay on our bellies or sit "criss-cross-applesauce" and read part of a chapter from the Book of Mormon, and talk to the kids about the lessons in the scriptures. Gracie is a great reader and likes to pitch in on the reading, and Charlie asks me to whisper words of a verse to him so he can repeat them. It's a sweet little tradition and I'm so grateful that Steve took the initiative to get it started this summer. The great thing about starting good traditions with kiddos is that they hold you to it. So once we got started, it just became expected.

After that is prayer, all kneeling in a circle (someone always puts up a fight about kneeling, of course, and flops on the floor, or stays sitting, or wanders away, depending on who it is that night) followed by one of my favorite parts of the day: As soon as we say "Amen" Juliette stands up and shouts "Huuuugs and kissessssssss!!!!" and then we all take turns giving each other hugs and kisses before the kiddos go to bed.

It's so happy.

And Friday night is still pizza + movie night. I buy a ball of dough from Harris Teeter and make us a pineapple pizza. We push the big ottoman up agains the sectional to create "Megacouch" so everyone has room to flop on there together. Steve lays his head in my lap and I tickle his hair, or the kids pile on top of one or both of us and get cuddled, and we watch a movie. This summer was the summer of Star Wars--we watched the originals a bunch of times--and now we're watching the prequels. Tonight is Episode II, Attack of the Clones.

So far the kids are die-hard fans of episodes IV-VI, which we appreciate. Juliette can sing some of the themes, and we didn't teach them to her. She's just seen the movies that many times.


Jules Sings Star Wars from J Walton on Vimeo.

She also took a C3PO bath toy to all our errands this morning. :)

When Steve has a day shift, he usually gets home between 4 and 5--hungry but not yet ready for dinner. Juliette likes to join him for a bowl of cereal, and he calls her his "mooch," so now she calls herself that, too, and smiles really big.

She also likes to sit on his face for some reason. She does it a lot.

In the evenings when he's home, we snuggle up on the couch in our pajamas and binge watch something on Netflix. Over the summer we worked on Gran Hotel (Spanish subtitles but really fun and totally worth it) and watched the entirety of LOST. Now we're working our way through Person of Interest. It is simple and relaxing and perfect, and I look forward to it every single day.

He's my bestie, and we have a good life, and a lovely family, and yeah, a lot of times we are tired or overwhelmed, and sometimes my depression kicks up pretty badly or somebody is sick, or we're dealing with some new parenting thing or job or calling or something that makes us feel out of our depth. But for the most part, everything is awesome, and everything is cool 'cause we're part of a team.

I couldn't resist. We watched a lot of The Lego Movie this summer, too. ;)

Back to school.

Well.

Back to school kicked my tail.

I feel like I am just now resurfacing and clawing around gasping for air, and writing makes me feel like I'm breathing, so here I am. (Plus, Steve has been begging me to get back on our blog since I started blogging at Bright Light Forever... like... over 6 months ago. Hi love!)

I got zero pictures of first-day-of-school on the front porch, but the kids were obviously adorable and attractive, so go ahead and just imagine that. We were just a buzz of activity and I never remembered until we were all buckled in and ready to go.

There was, however, plenty of time to take poor-quality pictures in the pick-up line!

It is always a million miles long the first week of school. I can only assume this is because of the poor, bewildered parents-of-kindergarteners who are new to this routine. We just plan on it taking basically forever for the first five days, and then everything works itself out.

But before that happens, we spend a lot of time here.

Going zero miles per hour.

Sending text messages to Steve of how long the line behind us is. (And the line in front of me is way longer than this!)

And jamming to our favorite tunes (this summer the most-requested song was "Crossfire"--a throwback by Ben Kweller, Ben Lee, and Ben Folds) and enjoying the gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous (not sarcastic--actually beautiful) view of farmland by the school driveway.

While I know the first day of school is important and exciting, I don't really mind that I missed the photo-ops. We lived in them, and that was fun, but I know the things my kiddos will really remember will be things like this.

Our little daily routines all line up one after another and form the latticework of each week, month, and year. And looking back on the things I've documented so in the past 420 posts it has become really clear to me how precious these little things are. I love looking at photos of our morning routine when the kids were little, photos of them playing together on the floor, bath times and park times and dancing in the kitchen.

Knowing that our time here is ticking down (we'll be done with residency and on to the Air Force in July) has reminded me to photograph and slow down and enjoy. We love it here.

Even the pick up line.

(Well... mostly.)