There and back again...

"Whew!" That's the word that comes to mind when I hit my pillow each night. "Made it yet another day"--are the words that follow. Today I gave a lesson on motherhood and keeping a clean and orderly home. The lesson inspired all kinds of emotion inside of me--since I try so hard to do both well, yet I feel like I fail to hit the mark almost daily!! Anyone feel like that?

I spoke with a woman a couple months back who said, "Later in life, no one says, 'Gee...I wish I hadn't had as many children!' Nope. More times than not, older folks are wishing they had had MORE kids to keep them company in their later years."

I think motherhood/fatherhood certainly teaches life-lessons that one could not learn in any other way. Selfishness has to excuse itself completely if one is to truly parent well. Yes, it's important to "fill your own cup", but even that comes at inconvenient times!

Mariah scheduled about ten too many activities this semester, and we have since scaled back. The lesson would have never been learned the easy way, however. She had to realize that committing to too many things stretched her beyond her limits, and the only way to do WELL in anything was to do only a few things at a time. She found out that her "eyes were bigger than her stomach". She was taking private violin lessons, after school drama (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), dance, gymnastics, piano, etc.--besides being the lead in her class production, being a Student Council Representative, going to church activities, and keeping up with homework and daily chores. She wasn't finding any time to play! We agreed that play-time is just as essential as the rest, and scaling back was absolutely necessary. WHEW!! She is now wasting time more :-). She really enjoys rollerblading in our backyard. She's quite good!!

Amber--cuddles her way into your heart. Sadly, she has really struggled to find good friends at her school. There are four sweet gals in our ward that I need to schedule playdates with--so that Amber can enjoy her time in CA more. She is doing well with her scholastic work, and she enjoys math the most. She spends as much time as she can on the bars on the school yard. She will do everything in her power to be the first on the bars and the last to leave. She has brusies up and down her legs from the bars, but she's quite proud of them because she feels they show off her persistance and excellence. She is still our family entrepenuer and the wealthiest of us all--as she saves all the money she's given for b-days, christmas, etc. She is getting more beautiful every day. She's a really fun kid.

Cody has been doing so much better with his anger management. He has so many friends at school. He misses his cousin, Blake Johnston, terribly, however. He fears CA earthquakes, and he begs us to move almost daily. He loves to play every kind of sport, and he loves to ride his scooter. He climbed the tree in our backyard for the first time this week. He was soooo proud of himself. He loves to hug and kiss on Sterling. Tonight I found Cody holding Sterling on his lap, and they were both mesmerized by the Olympic scenes on the t.v. It was very cute.

Sterling continues to keep us from sleeping. And so it goes. He is the happiest baby, however, and he keeps us all smiling (until 1 am, when we're not fully coherent--but fully sleep deprived). He is clapping, waving, and saying MOM and DAD. His hair is growing out--RED! With all of my irish blood, and Hunter's Italian (Northern Italian) blood, each of our kiddos have had red tints in their hair. Sterling now has a TON of teeth, and he's biting everything--including ME!! AGH! Breast feeding is soon to be a thing of the past :-).

Hunter is preparing for the bar---STILL. He will take the bar in a week and a half!! It's here! This is such a stressful time! Hunter has made time for us all, though. He has been such an amazing husband! Really! He goes out of his way to help each of us individually. He's such a great guy. He makes me laugh every day. He's determined to give this bar the best he's got. No matter the result, Hunter is the best of the best.

I took on a video editing project for my mom this past week. I love editing! Yes, it was bad timing for me to set back to work, but it all worked out. I continue to be at the cross-roads with every member of our family. I'm doing everything I can to keep on keepin' on.

We're so grateful for generosity of friends and family who have continually helped us out during the past few months. THANK YOU!! Hopefully, we'll get to see the fruits of our 5-year-law-adventure (including LSAT, Law School, and 3 internships). Only time will tell.