Is It Naptime Yet

My husband has his own blog and it deals primarily with his evolving thoughts on religion and other things. My blog is primarily about my day to day life and the things I do with my girls. Every once in a while I get things that peeve me but overall it’s my life not much more.
I’ve recently gotten e-mails from old friends who have discovered my blog and the post specifically dealing with Jon’s decision to become a nonbeliever in Mormonism, or as he would like to say a naturalist.
I haven’t posted much about life and how I’m dealing with it because, like I tell many, it doesn’t affect me each day and it is not a burden per say in my life. I have a difficult path ahead of me, but I feel that my marriage is secure.

Jon is open with Lilah who asks so many questions and with that she asks questions about Jon’s non belief in God. So I have to, and he has to, answer questions about why Daddy doesn’t believe in God and why Mommy does. We try to show each others side and not just persuade her to one.
The funniest thought Lilah had because of this was this question: “Why doesn’t Daddy believe in poop?” She ask this question a couple of times as I dealt with the aftermath of her bodily functions, but I tried to explain that Daddy does believe in poop because you can see poop, no I didn’t add feel, I went on to say that Daddy doesn’t believe in God because he can’t see God, but Mommy believes in God because of the good feelings she’s had. I know it sounds a little lame but I am trying to put it in Layman’s terms for my just 4 a week ago 4 year old.
So, my new dilemma is testifying my belief to my daughters. I don’t see it so much as a trial but as an opportunity for me to learn and gain a greater understanding of my faith so that I can tell them in Layman’s term now and as they age tell them in deeper terms so they can then decide for themselves.

I am well. I love my husband and my daughters. I am happy.
I just wanted to put this little update so those who might wonder how I’m doing know that I am well. All prayers are still welcomed though. I still think they are needed, but more in the light to help me find my way in faith rather than find my way in adversity.
Some might say that this is my trial, my flame to becoming purified through Christ. I don’t know if I see completely that way. After all how is Jon’s disbelief suppose to get me to the celestial kingdom if I can’t be with the person I love? I see it as a way to show a more pure love towards my husband and a pure love towards my children whom might follow my path or chose another.
I ache and long to know my destiny. I wish I could see the end, not to change it, well maybe to change it, but so I know the difficulties that lie ahead.

Our hike

We found a cactus- surprise surprise.

Notice Carolyn’s cris cross shirt back? Yeah, she got a cris cross sunburn.

So cute.

It’s a blurry picture but I think it’s still so cute.

Carolyn and Lilah at the top of the hill.

One of the views at the top.

Eden’s dusty legs.

Eden gets the royal treatment.

Around the house.

Everyone loves an Oreo mustache on a cute girl.

Eden couldn’t get enough of Jack. Too bad he got enough of her.

The Duck pond.

Brien and Andrea at the pond. It was the best picture I got of them.

(Sorry Andrea.)

Rosy cheeks from our hike and a little pizza sauce from dinner.

The big picture.

The close-up of the smiling Eden.

Saying good-bye to the ducks.

So we left Friday afternoon at 2:09 and got to Ely just before 6.
On the way there Lilah decided she wanted to do camping and hiking, but we didn’t bring anything to camp with and so she’d have to be happy with just hiking. Next time I think we’ll bring a tent if the weather is beautiful once again.
We had delicious shredded beef burritos which the girls just picked apart. After dinner Jon, Carolyn, the girls and I took a walk to to the top of Andrea and Brien’s street. (Lilah wanted to go hiking, so instead we just took Jack for a walk.)
It was a big hill after we had big dinner. Our walk gave Andrea and Brien time to do things that they weren’t able to before we got there.
We just hung out and got settled in the rest of the night.
Lilah slept horribly. She wandered into the living room where Carolyn was and then later she wandered into Andrea and Brien’s room. At this point she slept with me and Jon went and slept on the twin air mattress next to Eden’s playpen where we had Lilah. It was a very interrupted night and Lilah woke up very early since the window faced east. It was just rough.
We had a delicious breakfast though. Chocolate waffles, sausage and strawberries. Afterwards all Lilah wanted to do was hike. So we hiked up the street again and found some ATV trails in the wilderness that were close to the house.
None of us put on sun screen so the girls got a little rosy and so did Jon. Carolyn got the worst of it and I just got a little sunburned on the top of my shoulders, since I was trying to avoid getting an even darker farmers tan.
We had fun and Lilah loved hiking. She kept wanted to go farther on the trail, but we kept it kinda short for Eden and the bright sun, though it was still a long hike.
We ate lunch and Eden took a nap.
Lilah eventually took a nap .
We hung out and watched different things on TV for the afternoon. Teen Witch being the movie that was on ABC family.
Then we ate at Mr. G’s for dinner, a newer restaurant in town.
Service is slower in Ely all around, and this is from our experience and from Andrea and Brien’s confirmation.
After dinner we feed the ducks and geese at the park.
We took a short video of Eden saying bye to the ducks. It was too cute.
On the video we have her saying bye, bye, but right before we took it she was saying “bye, it’s nice to see you, bye ducks.”
Really it was soo cute. I wish I knew a way to put it up besides the youtube method.
Then after the duck pond we went to the house and watched Brien dig a hole for the tree they had bought that afternoon. Carolyn, Andrea, Brien and I talked while the girls ran around from the back door to the front and then around the side of the house. Jon sat on the front porch to make sure they didn’t veer off the beaten path and go towards the street. It was a little chilly for us Las Vegans but it was perfect for the Ely couple.
Saturday night went a little smoother until the morning. Brien gave Lilah one of the candles from their wedding decorations, it’s a light, and Lilah slept until 5:00 am, and then came to our room to announce that the candle hadn’t burned out. ( I had warned her that it was old and may not last the whole night.) She then eventually went back to sleep with us and Jon got up when Eden awoke crying at some point in the morning. It was a rough start to the day and predicted Eden’s mood. Eden was pretty sensitive and would start crying easily on Sunday. Luckily it was the last day otherwise Brien would be getting early training on how to deal with an ornery child, which he’s bound to have with any Harvey genes in the child.
But to tell the truth she was perfectly fine while Brien and Andrea were at church. Of course we did watch the Little Mermaid and paint the girl’s toe nails. Andrea suggested we paint the toe nails, I would never give my girls this idea.They went to church at 11, and we stayed at the house to shower and pack. We waited until they got home and we left about 2:45. Eden fell asleep quickly and the trip back home went smoothly.
It was fun to see and just be with family. I like just being with family, I don’t need a reason or activity to get together.

We went to Ely this weekend and visited Andrea and Brien. It was lots of fun just seeing them and relaxing.
We have some very cute pictures and I’ll post them as soon as I get the energy.
My favorite things about the weekend though:
1. Lilah wanting to go hiking all the time. Though I didn’t, I thought it was cute.
2. Eden gathering all of Jack’s toys for him and wanting to give them to him anytime he came around her but he was totally not interested in a almost two year old. I have some cute pictures of her lying next to him also.
Carolyn came with us, it was really her idea to go, so the girls also had fun having their aunt in the back seat with them.
They love Carolyn.

I really do wish I could bring her on every trip, she makes life easier.

I’m not sure what to do right now. Well I have plenty of things I should be doing, but I don’t wanna.

I recently read a short article on memory journals. Instead of just writing down and listing what you did that day make it a memory, or more of the experience. My example for the day would be:

I looked out the back door watching my two daughters exploring the insects. They stood on the concrete and jumped to keep the ants from getting them. Lilah was instructing Eden that “we should be nice to ants so they don’t bite us, and we don’t want to step on them because then they’ll bite you.” I pressed my face against the glass door and watched their youth. Then the duties of the laundry called and I left to fold clothes.
Later in the night Lilah trickled in. She needed new pants for hers had gotten dirty. Then even later Jon and Eden came in. Eden sat next to me and I could smell the outside scent of dirt and sweat on her head. I would like to say it was enjoyable, but little children don’t always smell nice. Cough, cough, and that’s literally what I did for a short period because of her smell of exploration and sweat.

Now this was not as nice of an example as the woman’s, but I don’t know if I can be as mushy as she was all the time.
Eden really did smell and for the sake of Carolyn I think I’ll give her a bath tomorrow morning.

Also just two months until Carolyn gets married. Which means I have two months to make two dresses and figure out what I’m going to wear. Ugh.

Dear Lilah,

I can’t believe you’re four. Or really when people ask how old you are you  just hold up four fingers.  I remember you being little and growing, but I still can’t believe you’re four!

You’re a wonderful daughter. You don’t always listen and you’re testing your strong will but you are almost always helpful towards your sister. At least when it comes to sharing food, getting dressed, and putting her down for naps. There are times that I remind you that you’re the sister and I’m the mother, because you often “mother” Eden.
You love to read. You’ll stop playing if I begin reading to Eden and hop onto the couch to be with us. You love to draw.  You love making up stories and talking on the phone.
Everyone loves saying hello to you, and you are often shy, but you’re coming out of your shell. You now say hi to complete strangers as long as I’m around. You love animals and can’t wait until we move to a bigger house so we can have one.
You ask a million questions about everything. Especially the movies we watch or the shows we see. You always ask questions when it’s time to eat. You love Mommy’s Oatmeal Squares, and I don’t mind sharing with you.

You’re a wonderful daughter. You remind me that I have to share you with Daddy and Eden when I ask you if I can have you forever. That’s true, but I’m sure I won’t mind sharing you as long as it’s for forever.
Happy Birthday.
Love,

Mommy

So Lilah day kinda started Friday night when we made her cake. But Saturday was the real adventure.
The moment she got up she started asking to go to Chuck E’ Cheese. We had to explain several times that it wasn’t open yet and we needed to wait so Lilah then started asking if we could go to “Carolyn’s house” and go swimming. (Carolyn wouldn’t it be sweet if the house really was yours and not your boss’s. 😉 ) Unfortunately she had to wait until we were all ready. Lilah dressed herself so instead of wearing the new shirt I bought her on sale at Target she wore a shirt that’s from Katy’s hand-me -downs. Oh well, at least I was able to dress Eden in her new shirt.
We left a little late and had to drop the cake off at the house and in the process we forgot our camera. We borrowed Carolyn’s camera and took pictures at the pool party, but there are none of Chuck E’ Cheese.
For Chuck E’ Cheese Kristi brought her three kids, Carolyn brought Dominick, a boy she nannied that’s just 6 months younger than my nephew Howie and my friend Anna came with her husband Kevin, whom she dragged a long.
Lilah got a crown and a balloon and had a good time. Lilah only wanted Mom or Dad with her though, so Anna took Eden and had fun.

Fun things about Chuck E’ Cheese.
Anna decided it would be fun for Eden to go up the big tube tunnel and go down the slide but Eden isn’t big enough to climb up into it, Lilah can barely do it on her own. So she would recruit kids to help Eden go up. Dominick and Howie helped her up one time and they then came straight down the slide. Then Howie wanted to go play but Dominick wanted to go back up. We asked if they’d be willing to take Eden back up and they said yes. Well Howie just went right in and started climbing up, Dominick was at the bottom yelling up, “You’ve got to help my Howie” referring to help him getting Eden up. (It was a team effort one would be on the higher step and the other would push her up.) So Howie came back down and helped. From below you could see the shadows of Howie going on ahead in the tunnel and Dominick guiding Eden to go places. It was really cute.
Lilah and Jon played air hockey and she was actually pretty good at hitting the puck. Lilah , Eden and me had a picture of us “drawn”. (Picture taken and then transferred to a drawing look by the computer.) Lilah spent most of her time with Jon so I’m not sure what all went on with her.
A few of us got hook on the wheel of fortune game. you get 1-4 ticket depending on where you stop the light, but the goal was to get a spin by stopping it at a blue light. I spent a lot of tokens on it to have a girl come up and get the spin on the first try! I think I was priming the machine. This game got Anna and Carolyn talking about how Chuck E’ Cheese encourages gambling.
Lilah wanted to go swimming but we stayed until 1:30 or so. Eden feel asleep on the way to the house for swimming, and was cranky the whole night. Well. not cranky but sensitive and any time you said no she got upset. We think she just woke up badly since she was in a strange house in a strange room.
Carolyn, Derek, Dominick and I went to Target while Eden slept and Lilah avoided a nap. Then we had Del Taco and people come for swimming. (The Kemple’s, Lee’s , Carolyn, Derek , Dominick and Grampa Harvey) The pool was very cool so I stayed in the spa with Eden and Lilah.
We then had cake and ice cream and Lilah got toys that her parents would never buy. That’s why we have Aunts right?
I think it’s more that we’d never think to buy them. One was moon sand, Dominick picked it out and wanted Lilah to share it with him.
Once we got home there was a gift from Katia and Isabell on our door step, two girls in our ward, and Lilah has had a ball playing with the doll and combing her hair.
It was a crazy day. Jon kept insisting that we would forget something, and we did forget the left over pizza, but that’s fine by me. Hopefully I’ll get the pictures from Carolyn eventually and I can post some.
It was lots of fun and Lilah day was a whole day event.
Eden day will be much lower key. One because we won’t have a pool to go too, two because she’s little.

Monday- We went to Sis. Jewitt’s house. She and I had to go shopping to buy baskets for enrichment night this week and then the girls and I went swimming. Lilah loved it there and the youngest daughter Hannah, about 11, had tons of fun playing with the girls.
Tuesday- Dropped the girls off at Sam’s. Went to the DMV and registered the car. UGH, it was soo much money, so we are way over our misc budget yet again. (Sorry honey I totally forgot about registering the car and how much it costs when factoring in misc.) Went to JoAnn’s picked up chocolates and baskets. Baskets for the house chocolates for the truffle making class I would be doing Wednesday night with the Miamaids in our ward. After JoAnn’s I went to Trader Joe’s and then back home to put the milk in the fridge. Picked up girls and we came home for lunch.
Wednesday- Went shopping at Target to get different items and return a floaty swimsuit that got holes in it after one wear. Forgot to get anything to replace it though. Came home had Eden take a nap and then I went to Sam’s to show her how to prepare the truffle center for mutual. I also went through her recipes and now I have to copy tons of recipes so I can have some variety in our very redundant dinner menu. Came home, took naps, made dinner, kissed husband hello, ate dinner, kissed husband goodbye. Taught Miamaids how to make truffles. ( I made them for a cub scout dinner and they were a big hit, so Sam asked me to teach her girls how to make them.)
Came home, made phone calls for enrichment.
Thursday- My first day to watch Naia! Julie dropped her off a little after 9am and then I had to learn what to do with a young baby. She’s pretty well behaved but she got hungry right before we had to leave.( Julie called while she was crying and I felt so bad.) I feed her a little to get her happy and then we got to Lilah’s class about 15 minutes late.
Naia didn’t want to sleep while at the church and only took about a half hour nap. Then she fussed a bit when I laid her down in Eden’s bed, and Eden cried to have a baby put in her bed. Ahh, children.
Tonight Enrichment.
Tomorrow- We have a birthday party for Spencer, a boy from church. We’ll see how that goes because it’s 10-12, the same time Naia’s nap begins.

So I’ve driven somewhere every day this week. I don’t plan on having this be routine since it does cost a lot in gas but man, I was busy.

I’m happy to begin watching Naia. It’s nice to be contributing to the income.
Also great news is Jon got a small raise besides his cost of living increase!
Go Jon! He doesn’t think it was well deserved since he was learning his job this past year, but I say he’s a very hard worker and is dedicated to being an honorable employee.
I think he deserves it and it helps to ease the burden of the budget just a tad more.

Today we did a field trip for Lilah’s class. We visited the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory.
Some of the mom’s didn’t clearly understand that we were meeting at the factory so while we waited for them those of us who were there took a tour through the cactus garden. It was fun. At one point Eden held my hand, Lilah held Eden’s and Britta held Lilah’s. It was cute. I felt like I was playing red rover. At one point Lilah mentioned her hand being sweaty so she stopped holding Eden’s but continued holding Britta’s. They make quite a pair. I watch Britta for the last time tomorrow, so I’ll need to start making play dates with Sam so they can still hang out. Britta loves both Lilah and Eden so it works out well.
We took the small tour through the factory and then once in the store the girls received a sample. I ate most of Eden’s and I told Lilah to take bites of the chocolate since it was a little big. Well she took one bite and then once she was ready for another bite she put the whole thing in her mouth. She didn’t drip any chocolaty saliva so I guess it was alright.
The store was extremely expensive so I didn’t buy anything. I’m also making truffles for a fundraising auction tomorrow for the ward cub scout troop, so I don’t need any chocolate.
Afterwards a few of us went to Mc Donald’s for lunch. The girls kinda ate their food and then they had fun in the play tunnel. It took a while for Eden to get the courage to go all the way in but she did go up. Once up in the maze I was soo worried she’d get scared and would be scarred for life of semi-dark colorful tunnels. When she made it back down the stairs she was smiling so I guess it went okay. Lilah didn’t want to leave until she went down the slide, which was a little tricky to find, so I went up with her and Eden to show her where to go. It wasn’t as gross as I thought it would be, but it still had dried ketchup in the tunnels. After they finally went down the slide we went to Trader Joe’s with Britta and Sam.

Last week was great. The girls were waking up around 7:30- 8:00 and I was getting afternoon naps. So far they’ve woken up at 6:45ish this week. I don’t mind except today they had already watched Toy Story and it was only 10:30. Of course this was even making them wait until I did dishes, just in case I decided to shower. When they wake up early my days are so long.

Eden was fun today though. She’s talking so much. We love to play a wake up game, the only problem is if I’m really trying to rest for a moment and she’s awake she yells “Wake up Mommy!” and pats me somewhere. So today I wasn’t able to rest because she kept doing this. It was fun though because she came and laid by me on the couch and she would pretend to snore and I would tickle her and say “wake up Eden!” and she would laugh and she would try to snore again but before she could even get a fake snore out she’d start smiling and laughing. It was darling. And I love the way she says “Wake up Mommy!” it use to be just “wake up, wake up!” but her phrases are getting longer and more descriptive. She’s getting too big.
After her nap I had her laying in bed with me. I wasn’t ready to get up yet. I had my eyes closed and I just opened them to look at her and the second after I opened my eyes she had a big smile on her face. It was so cute. I love hanging out with her and I can’t believe how big she’s getting. She’s also getting a little more stubborn but she’s still darling.

Lilah of course is getting big. She’s such a mom to Eden. She loves sharing her food with her, or treats, toys not so much, but food Lilah will share. If Eden is already asleep Lilah will set aside some candy just for Eden. She also likes to tell Eden what to do, but we’re trying to break that. It can be helpful, but I don’t want Lilah thinking she has to be a mom to Eden and I want Eden to know that she ultimately should be listening to her parents.

They’re quite a pair. I almost want another one just because They’re both so big.