So. Much. Naughtiness.

The girls have been on a roll, lately, with all the mischief they are getting into. It seems like they are doing something naughty at least once every day. Sometimes a few times a day. It's very fun... or, not so much. I'm sure they have a great time; but as for me, ... well, I try not to have a cow. Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes I am not. It just depends on the day and my mood. Here are some of the fun things they've been getting into lately:

• Brooke glued paper to the bookshelf one day. She got a spanking for that one.
• One day, as their second piece of mischief, Brooke, after going poop in the toilet, used about half a roll of toilet paper to attempt to clean herself up. The toilet was FULL of toilet paper. I had to pull a bunch of it out and put it in the trash, then flush the toilet and plunge it to get the rest of it down.
• They have found dry-erase markers on a number of occasions, and they proceed to draw all over each other. Luckily, dry-erase markers come off of skin very easily. Clothes ... not so much. One shirt is completely ruined. I'm also lucky that they usually don't take markers to anything else in the house.
• While getting ready one morning, the girls climbed up onto stools and chairs in the kitchen and got into the baking stuff -- flour, sugar, cashews, chia seeds all over the counters, chair, floor, ... little baby bodies. Brooke said she was, "making bug food" and when I went outside, I saw that she'd taken a mixture out there for the bugs. That little girl's imagination.
• They love jumping on the couch and messing with the cords of the shades, which is more annoying than anything.
• Camille and Brooke LOVE being helpful, each in her own way: Brooke likes to help me "make" (make food - breakfast, lunch and dinner, she loves helping); Camille likes to help with dishes and putting things away. It's cute that they love being with me and helping. I hope they always want to help. The problem with it at this point is, they aren't always the most helpful. I suspect that Brooke likes helping me "make" mainly so that she can sneak little tastes of whatever we're making. And Camille takes dishes OUT of the dishwasher and likes to take spices and towels OUT of the drawers. Silly littles!

They are fun little girls. And I'm glad that they are learning and growing. I know that they are just experiencing things, and I need to remember that messes aren't a huge deal. We can usually clean them up without issue. I also need to remember that it's a phase. With a 3 year old and a 1 year old, they're bound to make messes and get into trouble. But they won't always be this way. I need to enjoy their littleness and mischief while it's still in my house.

*SOOOOOOO helpful.*

Thank Heaven For Little Girls

I just need to write down some of the things the girls have been doing, so that I don't forget.

• After we went to the park one day when it was warm, I said to Brooke, "Brooke, you played hard today, so you need to drink lots of water, k?" and she said, "A lot? A ton?"
• Camille's been so funny. Brooke taught her to say "MINE" and she has been saying it for months. For a while, she just said it, and I don't think she really knew what it meant. But, I think she's starting to catch on. She uses it correctly now.
• I love how Camille is always walking around on her tippy toes. It just kills me and hurts my heart, it's so cute.
• Camille has taken to yelling my name all the time. No matter where I am, what we're all doing, I hear her: "Mommy! Mommy! MMMMOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYY!" It's hilarious! Well, most of the time; every once in a while, I just think, "STOP! Please, stop yelling at me." It is pretty cute, though, how she's always calling for me.
• One night this week, I was putting the girls to bed. Usually, I put Camille down first, and then get Brooke ready and put her down. But one day, Camille had taken an unusually long nap, so I got them both ready, and did Brooke's bedtime while Camille wandered around and played and waited. When it was time for prayer, Brooke and I knelt down to pray and invited Camille to come pray with us. She was too busy playing, of course. So we went ahead. While Brooke was saying the prayer, I heard Camille come up to us. I peaked a little and saw Camille sitting down with us, folding her arms and bowing her head. She had come to join us! It was the cutest.
• While Brooke was getting ready for bed and going potty, she came out of the bathroom and said, "Nobody come in here. I need my privacy." I told her to get back in there and do her business. When she was done, she came out and said, "Okay, you can come in. I'm done privacing."
• Once while we were at Costco, we stopped along the way, getting a bunch of the samples. I thought it was adorable how Brooke called all of the sample people "bakers". "Look, there's another baker! Can we get some from them?" I loved it!

*Dr. Brookie! She's the cutest little doc I've ever seen. One day she was really into playing doctor. We took turns being the doctor and checking each other up. And then it was Camille's turn to get a check up. It was a pretty fun afternoon.*

*All dressed up and nowhere to go!*

*Brooke drew a picture of our family during quiet time one day. When I found it in all the papers she'd colored and drew on, I almost started crying. I asked her to tell me about it, and she said, "It's a picture of our family." I asked her who each of the figures were and she told me; it was so sweet, and it brought such joy to my heart.*

*This little girl is always getting bruises on her head and face. That little one on her left cheek turned into quite a black eye after a day or two. Poor thing! She was playing with a mini loaf pan, and apparently fell on it in just the right way. I don't know how she does it. Even today, she fell off of a chair and has a huge bruise on her forehead.*

*She fell asleep 30 minutes away from home, when we were on our way back from our afternoon with Viktoria. Sweet, little, angelic girl. I love that little face so much.*

Sick. Sick. Sick.

Last week, I was sick. And that truly is the extent of what happened. Almost. We did have a couple of exciting things happen.

Monday, I was basically a zombie. I felt so awful that I spent most of the day laying on the couch or in my bed while the hooligans ran the coop. It was no fun, and I felt bad that I left the girls mainly to their own devices, but ... what can you do?

The next couple of days I felt better, but still had a nose problem and a coughing problem. But at least I wasn't feverish anymore. Heather Delhoyo brought me by some cookies, which was awfully nice and awfully mean, all at once. I mean, I ate most of those cookies over the next couple of days by myself! (I mean, I did share 1 or 2 cookies with each of the girls, but...) Fortunately, I don't think they stuck with me. Haha!

On Thursday, my friend, Viktoria Johnson, was flying into LAX and had a 5ish hour layover before continuing on to Japan (I KNOW! Jealous). She asked if we wanted to meet up and have lunch while she was here for a few hours. So the girls and I headed down just before noon. Traffic was bad (what else?), but we picked her up, drove around a little, looking for a place to stop, grabbed some lunch at Johnny Rocket's, and then went to a nearby park to have lunch and chat while the girls played. It was fun! And I always think it's nice to get out of the house for long adventures like that, every once in a while. Or at least that's what I tell myself when I feel guilty that the baby is missing her nap. It really was nice to see Viktoria. We hadn't seen each other for years, and she was one of my best friends growing up. I'm glad we got to catch up, even if it was only for a few hours.

When we headed home, the girls were actually pretty good. I let them snack most of the way home, because, let's be honest, sometimes that's the easiest way to go about things. And I got to listen to my book for most of the drive. Traffic was worse coming home, and it took us almost 2 hours to get home. Camille didn't fall asleep right away, like I thought she would. So I figured that she might just stay awake until we got home. No such luck. She fell asleep 30 minutes before we pulled up to the house! But regardless, I knew they were both really tired. It was quite an adventurous and different day, totally out of our routine. I got them another little snack, and then put them both to bed. And I relaxed the rest of the night. I guess the day had worn me out, too.

Daniel and I had a fun date on Saturday. It was the Thompson's turn to take the girls for our babysitting exchange, so we decided to have an early dinner, and Daniel took me out for Sushi. I had never had sushi before!! It was quite an adventure. Daniel did most of the ordering, because he's done sushi a bunch of times with work friends and church buddies. He knew what was up. Haha! It was really fun, and I really liked it. Even though I'd been wanting to try it out, I was skeptical that I would actually really like it. I mean, raw fish??? Just thinking about it too much makes me want to yack. But I liked it more than I thought. I had a couple of pieces of just fish, without all the rice and other stuff they put with it, and I couldn't do that very well. It was just ... too much. But the rest of it I really liked.

Daniel got sick towards the end of last week, but so far it hasn't developed into anything nearly as bad as what I got. Thank goodness! And the girls don't seem to have gotten sick at all. There have been sniffly days for them, but that's it. I'm glad that the rest of my family didn't get whatever I had. It was miserable. The thing about being sick is that it takes you out of your normal routine, which is kind of rough, actually. And I haven't been that sick in several months; so even though it probably wasn't as bad as I make it out to be, it seemed a lot worse because of that.

Impressions

Lately, I've been thinking about how little I go to the temple. I've made a goal in the past to attend the temple once a month, but it's hard to find the time to do it, even though it's really such an easy thing to do. It's been more difficult since Daniel took a new job, and also while I was running so much, etc.

For a few months, I've been needing to feel loved by Heavenly Father. I mean, in my head, I KNOW that He loves me and that the Savior loves me. But sometimes, it's hard to feel that. I'm such an imperfect individual. I have so many weaknesses, and I behave so badly sometimes. Often, when I think of Father in Heaven, I think of how He sees me, and I always put a touch of harsh judgment in that. As if Heavenly Father loves me, but is displeased with my behavior and my weaknesses. Kind of like how I sometimes feel when Brooke misbehaves or disobeys. But I realize that He understands my faults and weaknesses and still loves me fully and unconditionally. I guess it's been hard to reconcile these two thoughts.

Anyway, I finally went to the temple a few weeks ago, and it was SO nice being there! It made me wonder why I let little things get in the way of coming. It was peaceful, and I felt the Spirit, and I thought about new things. It was wonderful. I felt Heavenly Father's love!! So strongly! And I sought direction for my life, and I felt a distinct impression that I am far too focused on myself to be really effective and to really progress. It's like a talk from the Women's General Conference just a month ago. One of the speakers talked about a Young Women's leader teaching a lesson about service. She demonstrated with one of the young women that when she tries to speak with and communicate with the young woman when she is looking in a mirror, she's focusing more on herself and cannot effectively communicate with the young woman. But when she looks through a clear window, it changes everything. I need not to be so focused on myself, so that I can look about me and serve those around me. That was the main instruction I feel like I received.

Then one evening while saying my prayer, I was thanking Heavenly Father for so many of the wonderful things in my life and all the blessings He's given me, and I wondered, for about the millionth time, why it is that I am so blessed. As I had that thought, I had the distinct impression that basically said, "It's easy to bless you, because you've lived a fairly orderly life." It was a wonderful feeling, and again, I felt so much love. I don't write this to give myself a pat on the back: "Man, I've just been doin' such a great job! I totally deserve all these blessings!" I write it more to remind myself of Heavenly Father's love and His tender mercies, and all of the wonderful gifts He's given me; that He finds it in Himself to bless me as He has, despite my weaknesses and mistakes and rebelliousness. Is that not evidence enough of His love?

It's also a good reminder that if we live according to the Gospel, God will bless us abundantly. With more than we could take in! Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21 says, "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." I hope that's something my children will learn as they grow up: we are blessed if we are obedient; not that we deserve the blessings, but God loves us and is gracious and merciful and He wants to bless us.