Sunday Reflections 4/15/2012

The baptism is over.  Easter is over.  I feel like I can breathe again.  I don't know what I was thinking when I thought it would be okay to have Ben's baptism the day before Easter.  He was the only baptism in our ward so I'm sure I could have moved it to the weekend after, or a few weekends before, but I thought it would be nice to have them both together and to have family for Easter...and it did end up working out but I think I put myself under some unneccesary stress by planning the baptism so close to a holiday.  With all there was to do I was grateful to have the extra help from my mom and dad and my in-laws.  Grandparents read and told stories to the children, jumped with them on the tramp, went shopping with me and helped me cook and clean.  I couldn't have done it without them.  Thank you.

The baptism was beautiful and we were grateful to have both set of grandparents and Brad's cousin's family present.  It was completely a family affair because Ben was the only baptism for the day.  Brad performed the baptism, Grandma and Grandpa Belt gave talks, Kenzie sang, I played piano, Grandma Mergenthaler led the music and Grandpa Mergenthaler confirmed Ben and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I was so proud of Kenzie when she sang.  She was so nervous and at first you could barely hear her but as she kept going her voice became more strong and sure. I dream of having someone be a singer in my family.  Maybe she will be the one.  We came home socialized, ate and enjoyed one another's company.

As for Easter, well it took the back seat to the baptism and I ended up buying rolls, cooking a ham and having the leftover sweets from the day before for the meal.  Not my best meal ever, but overall a relaxing and enjoyable day.  I think the best part of it all was that Brad baked cinnamon rolls for Easter breakfast and they were YUMMY!  It's so nice to have a husband that cooks every now and then.

Career wise, Brad and I have some big decisions ahead of us that come with huge financial responsibilities.  Hopefully, we will have chosen a direction soon and be moving ahead in our lives.  For now, I feel as if we are in a never ending limbo...we don't know where we are moving or when we are moving, but we do know we will be moving.  If all goes as planned it could happen as soon as June, and if not, well, we've been there before too and it's not a fun road to go down.  If only I could be young again, like Jake, when a grape jolly rancher could make all my troubles dissappear.  Just look at that smile.

Or maybe I just need a superman costume and some roller blades and two great brothers and things would be all better too.

 I love that my children are such good friends...although as I'm typing this they are fighting with each other.  I guess there are always fights with the friendships.

Some snapshots from a typical Saturday afternoon for the Belt family.

Dad can usually be found in the garage working on one of our many dirt bikes and Jordan can be found right next to him.  He is getting so big.  I know it shouldn't, but seeing him grow up and mature scares me.  I'm not sure if I am scared because he is getting older and has some big decisions and real challenges just around the corner or I'm scared of getting old myself. 

Kenzie can be found reading some book for the umpteenth time.  She reads the same books over and over and over.  Sometimes I wonder if she has a better friendship with the characters from her books than she does with me:)

And Ben, Riley and usually Jake can be found building with Legos.  I have a love/hate relationship with legos.  They are a wonderful toy and I just can't stand the thought of sweeping one up accidentally but I hate that I find them EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING....in beds, bathtubs, floors, counter, drawers, etc....I even found one in the dishwasher the other day....not sure how it got there. 

I usually spend my day trying to get the kids to pick up this mess that you see in the picture above.  That is the staircase leading to the toy room downstairs.  I don't clean the toy room.  I rarely enter the toy room.  On Saturdays for some strange reason, I almost always find myself venturing into that unknown territory cringing at what I may see and as a result I spend my day nagging my children to please pick up over and over and over until I can walk down the stairs again without fear of injury.  It usually takes all day.

I love it when my children start writing and leaving me little notes.

The above note is from Riley.  It's all stapled up and folded because we just got a new stapler and my kids are really into using it.  He wrote to me, "Riley neebs a sud sanbwich."  (He is still mixing up his b's and d's and I love that he refers to himself in 3rd person).  I already had made him a sub sandwich that morning so I said the obvious that he just had one and doesn't need another.  He wrote below, "Yes he dus."  and then continued on another note:

"This is how big I wont it to be."  And he drew an ellipse the length of the paper.  Unfortunately, there are other doodles from Kenzie and me on that paper so the picture of how big he wanted it is hard to see in a photo so I didn't include it.

Here's another sample of his writing:

At the bottom, between the two valentines, in pencil, he has written "thanQ".  Again, he went to town with the stapler.  It's a thanQ card for me because I helped him learn how to make those bunnies.  It's time like these, when I get these silly, sweet homemade gifts from my children, that make me glad I have chosen to be a stay-at-home mom.