Pushover @&#*!!!!

So, tonite, I'm trying to get Mari down for bed... and the battle begins. She falls asleep watching a movie with me (at 7:30pm), so I take her up, get her into pajamas, and she wakes up! I let her come back down to finish her movie (I know, first mistake), Loren gives her sugar for a bedtime snack (mistake #2 I'm sure, but I don't tell her to get something else), and she then doesn't settle down. We finish the movie, I take her back upstairs and tell her it's time for bed. She starts to cry. I make her go get Pooh Bear (to which she crys even more - she says "because I told her she couldn't get off the bed") and try to get her to say goodnight to her dad. Still crying, I have her get into bed, which sets off even more crying.


**Side note, I created a very bad habit of laying down with her in the evening from before we moved. Mostly because I wouldn't get home until after 8:00pm, so my cuddle time was at time to go to bed - which was still closer to 10:00pm.... so most of this is my fault.


She wants to sleep in MY bed, which I tell her isn't going to happen and that she can sleep in her own bed. Of course, that leads to "I want you to lay down with me...." (in a slight wail) - see above - to which I say that I would (we're probably to #s 3, 4, 5 & 6 at this point). I get her to lay down, Pooh Bear in hand, and cuddle next to me. She looks at me, wraps her arm around my neck and plays with my hair, buries her nose in my neck & falls asleep.


Now, I know that I probably should have laid down the law, given her some kind of punishment for not going to bed & closed her door. But, my sweet little baby wanted me to love her & I couldn't say no. Besides, now she'll have the memory of me holding her & telling her how much I love her as she falls asleep instead. Does this make me the biggest kind of pushover around?

Family Pt 2

Here are a few more pictures of our adventures in Iowa and Illinois. We had a blast with everyone.

The well-worked out crew after canoeing on Monday. Just a little muddy, but a beautiful trip down the river. We were able to see a bunch of golden eagles and the bugs were non-existant.

Some of the Sistah's after our yummy lunch from Jimmy John's

The Bug with her cousins - Jessica, Brandon & Brittney

Some of the Oyler crew in front of the Nauvoo Temple

My little poser, for her future modeling career.... ;)
Loren, Jaden & Brandon - Seeing who can jump the farthest off the swings
Miss M with her Grandma & Grandpa OylerPorter, chillin' and swingin', swingin' and chillin' (about the only time we could get him to stay still....)

Hmmmm, is this thing loaded??

Checking out one of the guns inside the Browning House

Not quite all the cousins, but a few!

Weddings, family & the Midwest

Now that I've managed to get this thing up and running (I hope).... I wanted to give you an idea of some of the fun things we've been doing lately. First, my sister, Holly, got married to a wonderful man, Ed. The wedding was beautiful and, most importantly, a great party! The family got together (all 18 of us) for the first time in probably 10 years. We stayed at a beautiful B&B in Ames, IA that brought a little bit of Mexico to the middle of a cornfield. Since Loren has family living down St. Louis way, we took a day (and a bit) to meet them in Nauvoo for a quick visit also. A very busy and fulfilling trip!

The cousins chillin' before the big party.... (the moms call this "Downtime", much needed downtime)

Let's get this party started!! Doing a little hokey-pokey & Simon Says

They DO have frogs in Iowa!

Miss Mari & her aunt Holly

Joanna, getting some loving from Tamar

Dad & Holly

Dad & Holly, part 2

Our own field of dreams, with ball players and all!

Me and Ape, with Sierra (aka Naked Baby, Runaway Baby, Troublemaker Baby, etc. :-)

My first one...

I've been threatening for a while to join the blogging world, especially since everyone I know seems to be doing it. So, I'm going to jump off the cliff (with all my friends) & try this out.