I'm in an incredibly good mood today!!!!!

a few reasons why:

*I dyed my hair yesterday, hate it......... its black. No there is not a picture... and there wont be one....so dont ask.
*I tried to have a good attitude about it because I knew that the people who loved me most would still think I am beautiful.
*Tay said,"Mommy its hideous."
*Halle said,"You look different Mommy, its kind of purple."
*Greg hates it and I quote, "needs more time to get use to it". :(
*****Grant hasn't skipped a beat and has still given me a hundred kisses this morning with his oatmeal/chocolate chip pancakes face. I have gladly taken them. :)

*I am in a rut, can't/wont get out of it.
* I miss the MOUNTAINS!!!!, the fresh smell of rain there, the sense of peace i get when I look at them and feel small compared to Gods power, spending time in them, feeling like they are the only sense of "home" I have after 17 years of moving to different places.
*I hate missing out on wonderful things happening in my family because we live so far away. My Bridget getting married, Megan getting home, Josh getting home, Matt and Janet's new baby, Danny's baptism, Mackenzie's b-day.....etc. etc. etc. etc.


*I'm having trouble focusing right now on what it is that I am supposed to do as a stay at home mommy.
*my dryer is broken, my purpose for being a stay at home mommy has died, staying up on laundry was my purpose I think.... hmm, didn't do that before it died.
* My baby and I were just eating jelly bellies for lunch (you can judge, I already am!) and i just fed him a "banana" flavored one and actually felt good about it for a second... then I cried.
*Said baby is still walking up and giving me kisses saying "thank you" for the "banana" and is dancing and wearing a bucket on his head!

*Motherhood requires sacrifice! Some sacrifices I dont want to make!!!!
*My running- seriously deprived of some good endorphines right now.
*My energy- really no matter what I say, fainting is not fun and then coming to, and cleaning up my own throw up on the carpet, is not "rewarding". (eeeww, sorry)
*My time- bachelors degree?, wanna finish, gonna finish, when am I going to do that?


Steph!! What else do you want to be doing though???????????

The answers are quite obvious:
Getting kisses from the cute and dirty baby, helping Tay with her Math, reading with my Halle, getting another little one who will probably love me just as unconditionally as they all do when Mommy monster comes out.

And being loved by a man who although may not like my hair, still overlooks the fact that the house is a mess, dinner is an emergency situation most of the time, my budgeting and organizing skills seriously need an overhaul and I hold him accountable for my emotions when....really!!? Was he supposed to know that he needed to like me with black hair yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!?????

Greg Ingram, I love you!!! Thank you for being the man you are!

I'm in a good mood. Because who wouldn't be? I am truly blessed.....black hair and all.

Some January fun.

How cute it this little boy! Such a Greg-mini-me. It was 100 day at school and he also wanted to get a snapshot of what he looked like on this 100th day of Halle's Kindergarten. :)

There they are.... the little people who are my world!

The princess of 100 day!!! So cute, and so smart! She loves, loves school!!! She has grown up so much this year! Oh, the places you'll go Halle!

He just finished (well in the sense that it is all in his mouth not in his hands) a brownie, and he is getting ready to make the sign for "more"!!

Happy bath time! He use to be petrified of bubbles, it was hilarious to watch! Is that mean? He is use to them now but he detests when they get on the toys he is playing with, especially his prized bouncy balls!!!

The Ice Storm...... :)

fun on the stairs with bean bags, what else do you do on day 4 of being locked inside. :)

Crazy, fun Daddy went outside with all of the little ones to give them a break, they had a lot of fun!

This picture does not do it justice. Our trampoline was so weighed down from all of the ice/snow/ice/snow combo from the last couple of weeks. So they went out and jumped on it to break up the ice and super strong Greg took the huge ice pieces and threw them over the net. Fun to watch! By the way, Grant was screaming in this picture!

Slippery, Icy slide. They had a blast!

Hahaha. Tay beginning to feel the effects of being out in the snow after not leaving the house for a while. Halle, totally loving it!!! Cute girls!

The ice storm started on Tuesday and the school systems had already canceled school for the day. Greg decided to close his office and went in and did paperwork during the day. Since Tay wasn't feeling so great anyway we just colored, watched a few movies, read books and relaxed. On Wednesday, the "officials" (whoever that is!) declared that we were on a level 3 wheather advisory and that only emergency vehicles were aloud on the roads. So since Greg was home we all just played, relaxed, and worked on some projects around the house. Greg went back to work on Thursday but school was canceled for the girls for the rest of the week. We did more of the same but we all genuinely enjoyed it. Church was even canceled on Sunday and we had our own little "church" in our family room. The girls loved it. :) We each gave a little talk and it was awesome!

Halle gave a talk on Temples and that she is glad that our family can be together forever, she even colored pictures to go with it. Cute!

Taylor read a story from the Friend magazine called "Beautiful", about a little girl who didn't like her freckles and wished that she looked like other girls who she thought were more beautiful. But then learned that Heavenly Father made her, and made her absolutly beautiful. And the girl decided to love herself because she is a daughter of God. Taylor said at the end that she loved reading the story and that she loves the freckles that Heavenly Father gave her because it makes her special. :) It was really, really sweet!

Greg just briefly explained "The Proclamation on the Family" given by our Church leaders and talked about how awesome it is to be in a family and what our different roles are. :)

I just read a couple of quotes I like about motherhood. I was talking with Halle the other day and she said that when she grows up that she is going to be a teacher! I said that she would be such a good teacher and that it would also help her to be a great mommy. She looked at me with such a confused look and said, "I cant be a mommy and a teacher, so I will just be a teacher!!" I thought I needed to do some clarifying on that issue. I told the girls that going to college and preparing themselves for a career is one of the most important things they can do, and that Heavenly Father wants them to do that! I also told them though that there will be nothing more important than being a mommy and that it will be the very best part of who they are and that it will help them to become who Heavenly Father inteded them to be. We talked about how I didn't finish my formal education before they came to me, but that when the time comes that I will finish it.

It was a great experience to have our little church at home. :)

wow, long post again. hahaha

Cant Sleep

Well, I am sure that this is just the way my other pregnancies were, but I really dont remember the whole, not being able to sleep at night kind of thing. Funny huh! I have been awake since 3am..... I should have just gotten up a long time ago. I need to go for a run and really wear myself out. Dont ya think!!? Ahhh, if only. A run would be so helpful right now. I can think so clearly during and after a run. Priorities, goals, perspective and reality come into clear view. Hmm, I need that. I wonder what would happen? Me, running, outside.... no scratch that... how about inside, on a treadmill. Would I just pass out in two seconds? That would definitly not bring clarity. Or, would I ..... amazingly feel better and run super fast (that never happend even when I wasn't pregnant, haha) and just run, and run and be healthy and......stuff. (See what I was talking about with all of the clarity and reality talk....) Anyway. Case in point. I need a run!

So, my little ones have been sick. Strep throat found its way into their little bodies and it is totally sabatoging the mood around here lately. Tay got sick on Jan 28th, it was pizza movie night and after school she had that look... and she didn't want any pizza. (!!!!!!!!??) So we waited it out through the weekend and then took her to the Dr. on that monday, the 31st. Yep, strep throat. Fun. Luckily for her, school was canceled for the rest of the week due to the ice storm. Then the little buddy got a super high fever on thursday of that week and I didnt even wait, i just took him in and had him tested so he could start the meds too. And then, Halle got sick on this monday after school, the 7th, and i just took her in yesterday and yep... strep throat. Halle never, ever gets sick. That is one nasty bug! Guess who else is running super high temps? My Greg, the birthday boy! Looks like I am going to have everyone home today. Oh, which brings me to my worry, the worry that is keeping me awake. Wow, I am long winded - eh?!

Taylor is still sick!!! When we were at the Dr. yesterday I had her check out Tay again. She got better last thursday and friday but then started running a low-grade fever again on Sun, started throwing up again, sick on Mon, Tues, Wed...... she is still having the same symptoms and has lost 3 lbs. So today she is having some blood work done to see if we can find anything. That little girl has missed two weeks of school between last week's ice storm/strep throat and this week's..... whatever it is. My mind has, of course, been coming up with it's own senarios of why she is still sick and they aren't pretty... so that is why I am here, on my blog... journaling. Not giving my mind the satisfaction of pumping scary stories into my head that just make me want to cry. hahaha. I am a funny pregnant lady, who really, really needs a run. (See what I said about reality!) Here are some pics.... FINALLY!