Church and a new calling

I was out of town this weekend so I wasn't able to write an entry. I sure did miss my family while I was gone. I eneded up calling Jim every couple of hours just to hear him and the girls. I loved talking to Violatte and Annalee on the phone. It's so hard to be gone. Even if it is just for 30 hours. I just love them all so much that I don't like to be away.

They had fun while I was gone. First of all, they did a lot of work on the house and getting things done that meant a lot to me. (Jim is so awesome!) They also went swimming. The girls (and Jim) love to swim! Jim said that Annalee liked being in the water toys ok, but she really loved to be on her belly in the water and swim by kicking her legs. I think we are going to have to take them swimming a lot this year.

My conference that I went to was good. It was for Mary Kay and it made me do a lot of thinking. I've been trying to decide what my goals are. It is really hard for me to figure out what is the best way to balance my family, my job, and my callings.

Speaking of callings, I got a new calling in church today. I was called and sustained as a ward missionary. I am so excited about this calling! I have been so anxious for them to call me so I can start working. I love missionary work and I love teaching. I think it is going to be wonderful! It is going to take quite a bit of time, though, and that is why I am not sure what to do with my business. I know that we need the money and I know that I need something to do that helps me in the ways Mary Kay helps me. I'm just not sure what level I should be working at.

Violatte is now officially three years old! Where did my baby go? It's so hard for me to see her grow up like this. It happens so fast. (When people would say that I would just roll my eyes, but now I see that it really is true!)

Annalee learned a new word today. She said "missionaries." Violatte and Annalee are always so happy to see the missionaries. In Sunday School class Annalee loves to share her toys and books with the missionaries. It's so cute! I love my girls!

Fun the Sun

Today was such a wonderful day. Violatte's friend, Meghan, and Mary (Meghan's mom) came over for a couple of hours. It was great to spend time with them and we had a lot of fun.

The girls and I also spent a lot of time outside enjoying the perfect weather. I love to be outside and I love working in the yard and in the garden and I love spending time with my girls. Doing both together is the best!

Today we also celebrated Violatte's birthday since I am leaving town tomorrow. We got her an ice cream cake and we got her a little push scooter. She really seemed to enjoy it. Her Grandma and Grandpa Sanders got her some socks and some darling dresses. She was so excited about it being her birthday. We practiced saying that she is 3 years old and it's so cute how she says it.

I'm dreading leaving tomorrow. I'm going to miss everybody soooo much! I love my family!

My commitment

In a talk by Henry B. Eyring in the October 2007 General Conference he talked about writing every night in a journal about the things that happened with him and his family. I have felt very strongly that it is important that I do that also but I have not done very well with writing. I also do better with typing so I decided to make a commitment to write on both my personal blog and our family blog every night -- even if it is just a few lines to say how our day went. I feel like keeping a personal record is important for me and my family. For those of you who read our blogs, you don't have to read everything -- I have a feeling it will end up being quite a bit.

These last two days have been extremely frustrating with Violatte's potty training. She was doing perfect but these last two days she has only gone in the toilet once or twice and the rest of the times she has had accidents. I have had to have a lot of patience and she has been good about helping me to clean is up and to take care of the dirty clothes but it is just discouraging for me. I can't figure out why she is now falling back so suddenly and so much.

Annalee's new words are "hot dog," and "chocolate." (And for those people out there who think I'm a bad mom . . . yes, I do feed those to my kids.) Annalee's attachment today was a whole bunch of plastic cups. She carried them with her everywhere. When she lost some to the wind she was dramatically upset. It was great, though, because restacking them over and over kept her busy for a long time while I worked out at the aerobics group.

I love going to aerobics. Most days it takes everything that I've got to get there but by the time I leave I feel energized and ready to take on my day. Exercise makes a day/night difference in the amount of energy I have throughout the day. I need to be more disciplined to go to aerobics every single time. I think the fact that I went to aerobics actually is the reason I dropped another 1.5 pounds today from yesterday. It makes such a big difference.

One thing that I really enjoy with my girls is reading. They love being read to and I enjoy reading with them. There are, of course, the arguments about what book to read first but we really do enjoy it. Annalee, especially, seems to enjoy books. She is entertained just reading through them for a long time. Violatte is a little more active and can only sit through a couple of books before she is up and moving. I love to see her enjoy physical activities so much. It's great, too, because she gets me involved in what she is doing and we have a great time together.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

We are getting so close to finishing the room that we have been remodeling. It has taken so much work but we have almost all the painting done. We just have to finish texturing one wall and then prime and paint it and it will be done. Then, we just have the little things like painting the door frames and putting up the trim. I can't wait to have it done!

Next, we are going to paint the girls' room and I am really excited for that. I have such a great picture in my mind of how I want it to look and I can't wait to get started. We are going to do the main walls a very light pink color. I want the room to be pinks and browns. I think it'll be great. It's nice to see our house become more of ours as we put in the work to make it our own.

I can't wait to do the master bedroom, either. It almost looks yellow with the light and paint on the walls and it drives me crazy! It'll be nice to have that changed!

Annalee is walking all over the place now. She crawls every now and then but she prefers walking. (It's nice for us becaue now the knees of her pants aren't wearing out as quickly.) Annalee loves Jo-Jo (our dog) and really looks forward to playing outside with her. We have all spent a lot of time outside. It has been so nice. We have gotten a lot of work done on our yard and our garage and it feels so good. Annalee is also talking a lot. Today I met a lady at our church that is a speech pathologist and she said that she is absolutely amazed by how well Annalee talks and that she is leaps and bounds past children her age. That was fun to hear. Annee also loves books and will look at books for quite a while without getting tired of it. I love to hear her talk to herself as she looks at all the books. This past week Annee has learned to say "Grandma and Grandpa." It is so fun to hear!

Violatte is slowly doing better with tantrums. It seems that once a day we have a major breakdown but other than that she does well. I think she is going through a growth spurt or something because she has really needed a nap every day these past two weeks. When she does nap, everything is a million times better.

Easter was fun today. The girls were so excited to see what the Easter Bunny left them. We had the missionaries over for dinner and Violatte showed them all the things that were in her basket. Holidays are so much fun with kids.

And. . . more runny noses. . .

These last couple of days have been pretty rough at our house. Annalee is teething, both girls have had runny noses (yuck!), and Violatte has been testing limits continuously. This week was also a week where Jim worked Friday so it seemed to go on forever. I really look forward to the time when Jim gets home. Everything seems better when he is around.

As for the runny noses, I'm just not sure why the girls have them. I'm worried that it's an allergy or that it has been from all the dust because of the remodling on the house. Thankfully, we are almost done with the dusty part. I think I got pretty much all of the sanding done, so I'm just going to look over it one more time and touch up if there are any spots I missed.

Violatte has really tested my limits a lot. I assume that it's just a stage that she is going through, but it sure has been rough. It seems that she has been purposely doing whatever she can to put me right at my breaking point and then pushing it one step further to see what I do. I've had to really put my temper in check and learn a lot more patience. I read an article in the Ensign on tempers that helped me strengthen my resolve to do better having patience. It was really good for me. I don't understand why she is doing this all the sudden but if I can stay persistent with our discipline and keep showing her love I hope that she will pull out of this stage.

The girls (Violatte, especially) have really enjoyed playing outside. Violatte really loves to play with Jo-Jo (the dog) and looks forward to playing with her every day. Right now our backyard is mostly dirt so the girls just dig and get really dirty and have the time of their life. It's so wonderful to have a house of our own!

Family Update

It's been a while since I have written at all and I thought I would update you on everything that has been happening with us.

We are all doing well. We are all moved into our new home and we absolutely love it! I know that most of you saw it and can have an idea of what it's like. I just have to say that it is better than I ever imagined. The girls have so much room to play and we just love everything about it! We had a little fun time with the room that has the fireplace in it. We had decided to take the wallpaper off before we moved in but it turned into a huge job (that is still in the works . . .) It turns out that the wallpaper was somehow on a pressed board and those boards were both glued and nailed to the wall. A really nice lady from our ward came to help me and we pulled down all those boards, scraped the glue off the walls, re-spackled the walls, and now we are in the process of sanding them all down so we can re-texture the walls before we paint. I have learned a whole lot from this project and as frustrating as it is, I really do love home repairs. It's been fun to see the change and know that I did it!

Another big news is that we got a dog. To be honest, I was not excited about it. I don't like all that comes with a dog, like the shedding, the work, the barking, the mess, etc. but Jim and the girls really wanted one and we heard of one that the lady wanted to give away and we went to see the dog. She is a chow/corgi mix, with red hair and she is super cute. She is a medium size dog so I am happy. (I could not do a big dog!) The thing that won me over to let the family have a dog is that she is very well behaved. She knows how to sit, she doesn't bark hardly at all, she is gentle with the kids, and a very calm dog. We got her the day after we moved and have thoroughly enjoyed her. We re-named her Jo-Jo (Violatte's choice) and the girls absolutely adore her. We love to take her for walks and the girls love to play with her and can't wait each morning until it is warm enough to go outside.

Right now the weather has been pretty nice. It still gets a little chilly at nights but by mid-afternoon it is too hot to play outside. It is perfect in the late mornings and in the evenings, though. We spend a lot of time outside. It feels so good and we are enjoying it as much as we can before it gets really hot.

Jim is still loving his job. He is in a new branch for the next couple of months and he really has enjoyed it there. He learns so much and gets to see some really cool things.

The girls are getting soooo big! Annee is walking really well know and she says so many words! She knows, "dog," "yes," "outside," "please," "eat," "bath," and so many more. She also knows the animal sounds for a dog, snake, monkey, and (my favorite) the horse. For the horse sound she buzzes her lips like horses do. It's so darling!

Violatte is getting so big, too. She has started dance lessons and loves to show us what she learned. She is taking a ballet/tap class and she is doing so good in it. She loves to dance at home and has learned names for some of her favorite steps. She loves to arabesque and knows her first position and she loves to shuffle/step from tap. I love watching her learn. Both girls also love to come with me to my ballet class and both of them like to dance with me. It's a fun thing that all of us like to do together.