jumbled jots: what we've been up to and some rambling rambles.

i'm in the middle of writing the longest Disneyland Tips post there ever was. and also a post on beauty products. but the world around me keeps moving fast and things keep happening and i keep having random thoughts.so here's my jumbled jots post for the day.

when we got home from our trip, we dove right back into the swing of things. we had joy school at our house the very next day, and then the day after that we got to participate in a Relief Society activity (Women through the Ages) where Ellie and i (along with the YW and some of my friends) got to model clothing from different eras. Ellie was adorable in a Vintage 1890's Victorian dress. she was thrilled to be the featured little girl in the fashion show, complete with a vintage beaded purse and a big pink bow. i love having little girls. the outfits i got to wear were definitely memorable- an 1890's school gal, a 1970's flower child, and a 1980's prom diva. we had some good laughs.

then both girls and i got really sick. Ellie got croup, Alice got the stomach flu (both diagnosed by the dr.), and i got bronchitis (as diagnosed by my mother who's hardly ever wrong). ok so it may not have been bronchitis at all, but the earth definitely shook multiple times a day when i coughed my guts out, and my throat felt the size of a golf ball, so i'm saying it was bronchitis.what a horrible strand of luck we've had! (both girls had terrible ear infections leaving on our trip and were on antibiotics almost the whole time- i think we've been sick more often than not this winter. super discouraging! what am i doing wrong?? i've turned into super-freak-wash-your-hands-a-hundred-times-a-day-mom, have-anti-bacterial-soap-in-every-jacket-purse-pocket-and-sweater-mom, lysol-every-room-ten-times-a-day-mom, and wash-the-sheets-and-towels-multiple-times-a-week-mom. i don't know what else to do).

in order to cope with this terrible luck, we watched an insane amount of tv and movies. Ellie is recently hooked on Little Einsteins. Alice lovvves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. both girls love Sesame Street and Word World. and then there's the endless list of disney movies: the new Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins, Tangled, Princess and the Frog, Snow White, Dumbo, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, Toy Story, Cars....i mean seriously. it's nuts!

Sunday rolled around and we kept the girls home from church because Ellie was still coughing that scary croup-cough and Alice was still fevering/having crazy digestive problems. that afternoon, Ellie wanted to watch something. i told her i that i thought we had watched enough tv together the last few days and that maybe we could go color and read some books together. you would not believe the crazy reaction that ensued. you'd have thought i was trying to get her to eat cabbage! or that i had threatened to take her to the dentist! or that i was trying to convince her to wear a color other than red or pink! it was in that moment that i realized that i had created a tv-crazed-monster and i needed to figure out what to do to fix it.

initially i really didn't want to say "no TV" because i admit, i love the breaks that a tv show here and there gives me. and i'm pretty strict on what shows they can watch- aside from Mickey Mouse, i feel like all the shows they watch are pretty educational (and even Mickey can be educational), and so allowing them to watch some shows is easy to justify; "they're learning!", i tell myself. but the truth was, i had let the show-watching get out of control, and we needed a cleanse. so starting last Monday (3/19) i said "no TV."

you should have heard the water works! how could i be so cruel! it was like i was oppressing my people, not allowing them to have a fundamental survival tool like toilet paper or water. such a dictator, i am! multiple times on Monday, Ellie would cry and say, "Pleeeasssseee Mama, let me watch something!" and i would nicely say, "i'm so sorry, Ellie. i know it's hard to understand, but we can't watch any tv for a while. it's making us mean." because it was. she was a mean-zombie-headed-tv-addicted little girl. and she thought i was the grinch-mom who was keeping Christmas from coming every moment of the day.

the first thing we did to divert attention from a tv-less existence was to go to the Library. this meant that i had to cough up the $20 of overdue fines that had kept me from going to the library the past few months, but i knew it would be worth it. i gave the lady librarian my crisp $20, realizing i could have bought 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies with that cash. i hate being dumb and paying $20 for stupid things like late books., so after checking out new ones, i put a reminder in my phone the day before they were due. no more lost boxes of Girl Scout cookies for me, no siree. the girls had a blast at the library that morning- we picked out 16 books to take home with us. Alice ripped a page in one of the books within the first 5 minutes- what is it with these toddlers that makes them so destructive? she's a mess! regardless, i love having Library books, and always wonder why i don't make the effort to go more often. we even found some new super cute ones this time (like 'Who Hops?' the girls think it's hilarious). i love that. and it's provided lots and lots of moments of little girls tucked in corners and snuggled on laps lost in the pages of books. heaven, i tell you.

 back to the tv-less life. we ended up surviving without TV the whole week- Monday thru Friday (well, till Friday night, when we let them have a special movie night with a babysitter while we saw Hunger Games- booyah!). then on Saturday, we let the girls watch some of their favorite shows-- they were seriously thrilled- like birthday-holiday-presents-style thrilled... andddd, the best part was that they weren't even upset when i said it was time to turn it off. success! i think that's my main goal- for the girls to understand that TV is a special treat/privilege- not something that you're just entitled to, or that you do in any free moment. now, don't get me wrong. there were definitely moments that i almost broke; like when i would be trying to make dinner, M would still not be home, and both girls were whining or making a huge disaster somewhere. or when Alice would bring me a Mickey Mouse DVD and say ever-so-sweetly, "pllleeeeaassse?" but i stuck to my guns, and i feel like the girls have found other much-more-meaningful things to do than just sitting in front of the tube (helping me in the kitchen, spending un-rainy moments at the park and twirling on the grass, and finding interesting uses for toys and objects like lining toys up on the mini ironing board, just to name a few). and the very best part is that it's Monday afternoon, and the kids haven't asked to watch tv once today.

 what's your plan with your kids and tv-watching? how do you not let it spiral out of control? i don't think always want to be the mom that is a "no-tv" freak (i mean, i love watching tv, too!)- but i feel like my kids need serious structure and limits or else they go crazy and that's all they want to do. right now i'm thinking no tv during the week for a while. is that an idealistic, lofty goal? i'm obviously a rookie at it and could use tips.

other than TV-fasting, i, like the rest of the planet was aboard the "Hunger Games" craze and saw the movie this weekend. i feel like there are some total harsh critics out there! i mean, i'm not the hardest person to please when it comes to movies...and i know that they had to leave some stuff out- and let's be honest, books are ALWAYS better than movies, but i thought he movie was pretty amazing. and it was super fun to go with a big group of friends, too. who's Katniss, again?

also, did you know that i am baby hungry? well i am. it's weird because when Ellie grew out of baby-hood, i never really got baby-hungry. like at all. like even when i got pregnant with Alice, i was super skeptical and freaked out. i thought everyone who wanted another baby was crazy, even people with really cute ones. i think it was just my way of coping with Ellie being a hard one. conversely, i've been abnormally baby hungry since before Alice even turned 1. she was such a sweet baby- and i never wanted her to grow up, and when i realized she wasn't listening to me, i longed for another one. timing is an interesting thing, isn't it? because even though i have had this longing, i've known it wasn't right. hopefully someday soon. until then, i have now organized all my bins of girl clothes (even though we are crossing our fingers that there's a boy waiting up in heaven somewhere) and even organized all the baby toys and blankets and trinkets. strange way to cope with baby hunger- but whatever. i will also live vicariously through all my pregnant friends and friends with brand new babies. is there anything more miraculous than a newborn? i think not. even M was smitten with lil Viv.

 {our friends, Dale & Elyse's new baby girl Vivian}

oh! which reminds me! before Elyse had that precious little baby Vivian, a few friends and i threw her the cutest baby shower at my house. it was a "build-a-library" shower (since you know me and my love for Children's books), with the cutest little crepe bar and juice bar. it turned out so darling, thanks to the help of some awesome gals. (i snagged these pictures from Elyse's blog. you can check out more details on the shower here).

i'm so blessed to have such awesome women in my life.

and other than all of that, plus eating lots of treats and warm soup and bread to help keep warm + cozy with this crazy rain we've been having, i think that about sums it all up. only took me 1,789 words to get there.

 p.s. if you're in need of a laugh, check out this youtube video. the lady is a total weirdo, but she's sure to make you laugh. thanks Bec for the tip.

xoxo