This family needs sunshine!

It's amazing how a little sunshine can change the mood around here. This last week has not been good. I think it has been one of the most difficult weeks since my deployment. Not sure what is going on with Juneau, but she has been in a totally weird "zone". She had a similar episode in the fall, and I literally almost lost my mind. I was reading all kinds of parenting books, and researching family counselors online, then as quick as it started, it stopped, and I had my "old juneau" back. Well, we are back in the trenches of strong will, and it has been a trial. I have a pretty classic case of "Working mom's guilt", and after I spend an ENTIRE day away from my kids (At least 5 days a week), the last thing i want to do when i get home is to get on Juneau's case about her behavior. i want to just love and snuggle and play, not fuss and discipline. anyway, this strong willed child of mine (with such a good heart....i wish it could beat out the will more often!) has been keeping me at my wit's end. On Wed we both went to bed in tears, and I honestly thought I wouldn't make it another 10 days for Cris to get back. We have had a GREAT and very refreshing weekend, however, and have spent a lot of time just playing, and enjoying being together, and of course enjoying the lovely sunshine!

At the park today...

This weekend has been totally jam packed. On Saturday we met up with Gina (from my small group), and went to an outdoor carnival. Before the carnival the girls stopped by the hospital to make weekend rounds. They have FINALLY made it to an age where they can make a quick trip to the hospital without being disruptive. I set them up with some books (and some candy, of course!) at the nurses station, and check in on my patients. Usually when I come back to get them, I find they have suckered some poor bystander into reading a book, or having some sort of ridiculous conversation.

Anyway, the carnival was great (although I have no pictures...you've seen plenty of pictures of J&N in bouncey houses and on inflatable slides, so just insert here).

(Juneau practicing her driving skills)

On Saturday afternoon, I offerred to take Gina's 3 kids to the movies with J & N to see Alvin and The Chipmunks "Chipwrecked". I was totally prepared to take on the challenge of 5 little kids (luckily Gina's kids are little angels), and had prepped my purse with oodles of candy and capri sun. We made it into the theater, and I let the kids pick their seats....Front Row, of course :) We settled in, I got all the booster seats ready, Handed out the candy, put straws in capri suns, and settled in for the show. I was FLOORED when the previews involved 2 rated R movies (one about a kidnapped teenager, and one Gladiator type movie with a big scary monster). I couldn't believe those were the previews for Alvin. I looked around the theater to see if any other parents were in shock, and i saw a sea of adults behind us. "Odd" I thought to myself....but i thought perhaps there was a secret adult following of Alvin. The movie FINALLY started, and when the title popped up and said "Act of Valor" suddenly it all made perfect sense. I had hauled 5 little kids into an R rated movie, and nobody had said a peep! So i rapidly (while trying not to block the screen since we were in the first row) gathered candy and juice, and booster seats, and ushered the crew from Theater 6 into Theater 7, and we were instantly hit with the sound of squeaky chipmunk singing pop songs. ahhhh....sweet sweet sound. It was all pretty smooth from there, haha! and we had a great time.

(Nova looking awfully grown up on the scooter)





This afternoon (after church, and the obligatory sunday afternoon costco shopping trip) I decided to see how far the girls were willing to walk, and if we could make it to the park without a stroller. The park is just under a mile, and they did GREAT! The pay-off was totally worth it - swings, slides, sand, and fun!!!

I mentioned previously that the girls got hooked on a Jousting show with Cris. Their favorite horse on the show is "Jefferson". Here you can see Nova riding Jefferson, and trying her jousting moves (got her daddy's concentration face!"

Juneau wanted a chance to ride Jefferson also!

Juneau's pre-bedtime routine definately involves a complete covering of lotion. Not sure what her deal is, exactly, but seh has the itchiest skin ever, and keeps herself awake at night scratching her tummy, legs and arms. I think it must just be extremely dry skin, because if i cover her in lotion head to toe, she seems to sleep fine through the night. It doesn't seem to bother her much during the day, but we have definately gotten into the habit of coating her in lotion before she puts on her jammies.

And finally, tomorrow is the big day, where we will find out if we can recycle the last 4 years of little girl clothes, or if we will have to start doing some shopping for a baby boy. I have my ultrasound around 9 a.m., and I am hoping to get a good report that everything looks great, and also confirm my suspicions from my own ultrasounds :)