Let Them Be Little

My poor Sweet Girl has really had to endure the brunt of my learning curve of being a mom to three kids. Because she's the oldest and she's really smart, I often treat her like she's older than she actually is and expect more from her. Which is not fair to her. I'm really trying to improve in this area. I've been pondering about it a lot. The other day the phrase "let them be little" popped into my head. I've heard it a million times, but it really struck me at that moment. I NEED to let her be little! She's only 3, she's still little! She's still learning, she's still growing, she still needs my help. She can do so many things, but (as I often have to remind even her) she still needs help with a lot of things. And I GET to be that person to help her! I prayed to be that person to help her and love her and teach her.

This has really been a learning year for me and I've really noticed that the cleanliness of my house REALLY affects my mood. If it's total choas I feel so out of control so I'm often so focused on trying to clean it which in turn frustrates me because it is immediately messy again. But after "let them be little" popped in my head I've really tried to let her play. I do still clean, but I try not to be crazy about it. I let the mess stay until it needs to be cleaned up. For example, she's really into making tents out of blankets. Usually we make them in her room so they can stay up for a long time, but today she wanted it by the kitchen table. So I let her put it up. It stayed up all day until just before dinner. We had the sister missionaries for dinner and we need the space and the chairs, so I explained this to her and she was totally fine with cleaning it up! I let her be little and it paid off! I was happy and she was happy!

Another way I've tried to really let her be little is to let her wear whatever (within reason, she needs to be modest and not be super cold) she wants to things that don't really matter, like running errands and play dates. She dresses appropriately to church. But I remember how my mom would let my little brother choose these hilarious outfits when we went places and those are some of my favorite memories. Sweet Girl has this same effinity to accesorized outfits. I love it!

Letting her be little has really made us both happier when I remember to let her be little!

Also, another plug for the Happier podcast, I applied the one minute rule today and it really kept my house much cleaner so I was happier overall throughout the day!

Happiness

Hello. ....is anyone still checking this? If not, oh well, if anyone is, welcome back! I've decided I miss the outlet to write more of my thoughts. I like to use Instagram, but you can't write as much.

This week I discovered the podcast "Happiness with Gretchen Rubin", oh my goodness, it's SO good! This week was pretty challenging around here, but this podcast has helped me really choose to be happy and recognize happiness in little ways and really understand what makes ME happy. One of those things is wiring on my blog. I kept wanting to write, but it's really hard to sit down at the computer and write these days. But I realized, I have tons of time while I'm breastfeeding two babies, so I re-downloaded the blogger app and hopefully I can start writing more regularly and hopefully I'll get caught up. ...a lot of things change in 10 months. ..lol!

So seriously, if you haven't listened to that podcast, go and start listening to it! And if you want more podcasts recommendations I'd love to share a few of my other favorites! What are some of your favorite podcasts?

Our Little Goose

Sweet Girl makes us laugh so much!

She has a lot of personality, it's adorable!

Don't you often eat your cereal in the bathroom?

 I loved that she brought her shoes in and lined them up with mine

 No words.. lol!

Feeding her Little People goldfish.

 Lol, I asked her to smile for a picture to send to her Dad... this is what I got!

 She smiled for me a few minutes later.

 We picked the last of our bell peppers and Sweet Girl just ate it like an apple!

 Being silly one morning! 

 She loves to build towers!

 Lately she has loved to have bows and "colors" (as she calls them) in her hair!

 We put her hair in sponge curlers one Saturday night for church the next day!

 Being silly in the doctor's office.

 I couldn't believe how big a single pony made her look!

 We had hot chocolate and enjoyed the Christmas lights on our Christmas tree!

 Lately Sweet Girl has been very motherly, she loves to feed and take care of her babies.

 Lol, sometimes her mothering skills need a little guidance.

 More "colors"

 She loves having lunch on her little desk

 She loves to play dress up these days!

 Little Goose stole my glasses!

She loves tinker toys,

she likes to make lollipops, mirrors, phones, and airplanes out of them

 More colors!

 Building a snowman with a beach ball and fabric.. lol!

 Sleeping so sweetly!

Girls Trip! Part 3

The original reason for the Girls' trip was to go to my sister's friend's wedding.

As it turned out, the wedding also happened to be my grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary!

It was perfect!

My cousin and my mom's siblings decided to have a little family party to celebrate!

It was SO much fun!

I got to visit with a lot of my cousins that I don't often get to see,

we had a great time eating, playing telephone, playing mafia, and catching up!

4 Generations! I figured we needed an updated one since the best of the last ones we took Sweet Girl's hand is covering her face!

 After church the next day we headed back to my parent's house.

Then we drove the rest of the way to our homes on Monday.

But first, we stopped at Grandpa's station to see him and his big trucks!

 The girls had SO much fun!

Sweet Girl loved driving the truck

and almost had a heart attack when Grandpa turned on the fire hose!

She sure loves water!

 Then Pa let her spray the hose! This picture makes it look like she was totally cool about the whole experience, but she was ecstatic! And kept asking for "more wader?!" Pa also helped her slide around in the water and she loved that too! She kept running back and forth from the "ducks" to the "wader"! If they had had birds, she would have been set for life, it was basically all her favorites in one place!

 I sat in the back with the girls for a little bit during the drive home because they were getting a little restless and we didn't want to stop again. At one point both girls were pulling my braids! Lol! Little Goof Balls!

It was a really fun week,

but it was also really nice to be home and be with my Sweet Husband again!

We LOVE warm weather!

We love warm weather because it means we can easily play outside!

 Around my birthday my visiting teacher brought me a gift with a balloon in it,

Sweet Girl immediately claimed the balloon and would carried it around for the rest of the day!

look closely at the next picture..

 Warmer weather also means POPSICLES!

 And sidewalk chalk!

Sweet Girl loves to get traced and to trace everything

 including her baby!

 Warmer weather means walks/runs without blankets!

And it means we can watch the trains because we aren't freezing!

 Warmer weather means we can help Daddy fix the truck!

Sweet Girl played in the truck for a solid two hours this day while my Sweet Husband worked on it.

She loves to drive her "duck".

 Warmer weather means kites!

 Warmer weather means picnics!

This particular day we were at a rocket launching contests the local elementary schools do!

It was SO cool! We decided to make it a picnic since it was right at lunch time.

 Warmer weather means fun at the park!

 And last but certainly not least,

warmer weather means bike rides

and what can be better than bike rides with popsicles!

Warmer weather also means yard work (the kind in the actual yard and the kind at the lake, but both of those will be their own post)!