10.29.2014

Just a little note...

Just a little note for the 4 that made a mother:

I can't imagine that 20 years from now I will remember very many days like today. I feel like I will have filtered through my memories and subconsciously decided to recall only the best of the best. You're going to grow up and probably have babies of your very own. Babies that you will love bigger than you have ever loved anything in your life. You will understand the magnitude behind each and every single "I love you" that ever came out of my mouth, and I mean EVER. You will understand that I really DO NOT have a favorite child and I'm keeping it a secret. If you're anything like me at all then you will finally realize that you're parents were always right, even if you were sure that they were wrong. Your kids will break your heart in good ways and in sad ways (only sometimes). And that still won't matter because you couldn't stop loving them even if you tried.
  Jared and Wylee, you two make us so proud. I love that you both LOVE school, and you are both just so smart. We've been watching old home movies of the two of you when you were only 2 and 1. I was a brand new mom and I had no idea what I was doing but you guys taught me real quick! You won't remember those years but trust me, you enjoyed them, we have proof. As toddlers, you were both easy on me.....remind Russell and Wyatt to thank the both of you for that.
  Russell and Wyatt, you two boys have worn me out in so many different ways that I can't even keep track. The messes that you make somehow still surprise me even though they shouldn't, at all. You are both fearless and brave and confident which I guess is good because I worry enough for all of us. I've had people stop me at stores while y'all are being crazy and sweetly smile while they tell me that one day I will miss even these hectic moments at the grocery store that always end up in one of the 3 of us crying. I used to not believe those people, but I would politely nod and smile and agree with them. But the truth is, I already miss these days and they're right in front of me. Those days are NOW and I want to stop time. I want to keep all four of you just the way you are forever because these days turn into weeks before I even realize what hit me. I've been in survival mode for years. And now it feels like, without even missing a beat, that all I can see is the day that you will all leave our home and here I'll sit. Just me, my not yet filtered memories, and probably like 5 dogs...impatiently waiting for your daddy to get home from work. I used to ask for a day to myself for my birthday and I would long to just sit on the couch and watch something that didn't come on the Disney channel. Then the day would fly by and I would feel refreshed. Now all I think about is how Russell starts kindergarten next year and I'll only have Wyatt left at home with me. I can't even bring myself to do the math to figure out what year Wyatt starts school. I don't want to know. Days like today used to make me dream about the day that all 4 of you would be in school all day. The house would stay clean for a few hours in a row and there would be some peace and quiet around here. Now, days like today make me hope and pray that when your small children are giving back what you gave me that I'll have really good advice for you. All I can say is "just dance in the koolaid, too" (thanks Sister Downing) because parenting is HARD and it will always be hard, that will never change. We can change how we see the crazy moments, though. It doesn't mean that you won't break down and feel defeated every once in a while but at least it won't happen as often. Let your kids eat off the floor, 5 second rule. Buy a lot of Lysol. Don't buy a new car when you have small kids....it will no doubt turn into a rolling happy meal. Wait until they can get at least 95% of their food in their own mouths and then treat yourself. We still aren't at that point yet but I do look forward to the day that we don't find food in every crevice of our car. Then again I'm sure it'll make me cry to have a clean car and I'll just throw a box of fries over my shoulder in your honor. Then I'll take the lid off of a sprite and just dump it out. Splash some on the windows, maybe.
  All I know is this, you all have every piece of my heart and soul. I don't want you to ever grow up. I want our family to be the way it is forever because I can't imagine not having a toddler in my home anymore. These days are hard and stressful and so stinking exhausting, but they are every bit as great as the other days. When you all fall asleep and I have a minute to think about our day I just want to keep you all right in these moments. Thank you for choosing me to be your mom. I won't always measure up but I can promise you that I will give it my all. I look forward to later seasons in our lives and I know without a doubt that we are going to have so much fun together, whether you like it or not! Sweet dreams my little loves.

4.30.2014

#whatwewreckedwednesday

I have a few friends that have super cute blogs (I'm looking at you Ashley and Angie) and I always see the equally as cute "What we wore Wednesday" segments on Ashley's blog, The Vanilla Tulip. It's adorable, even when her kids are in mishmash ensemble, they still look fab. I'm so glad I never get called out on a WWW Wednesday cause it would look like this:

   Well friends, today we have an interesting combination of last nights pajamas AND yesterday's clothes! That's right, Wylee is still in her pjs at 3 pm and Wyatt peed through his so he was just in a diaper until I realized I had less than 30 minutes to go get Jared's Pizza Hut lunch and have it at the school in time. So he's now in the closest outfit I could find, which just so happened to belong to yesterday! Russell is in a hit of a combo outfit and I myself put on a new tank top but my long sleeve shirt is from around 5 pm yesterday and the jeans are the same. And little Jared? Oh he's in SWEATPANTS and a Tshirt because he feels that's acceptable to wear to school.

So instead, I'd like to introduce you to my very own WWW Wednesday, also known as, What We Wrecked Wednesday. It's a delightful rundown of the things that my kids, and sometimes myself, have wrecked or ruined over the past week or so. I will also be including a list of things that my children are no longer allowed to receive as gifts. Because apparently there is a level of maturity that one must reach before they can handle being given SILLY PUTTY.

What we wrecked Wednesday includes, but in no way is limited to, the following:
1) This entire bullet is devoted to what they wrecked with Silly Putty (I'm lookin at you Aunt Becky!).
* Russell's Easter shirt, he matted a giant wad of ORANGE silly putty in the pocket. That stains.
* Several parts of the living room rug
* Wylee's pj pants (she fell asleep with it in her hand?)
* Wylee's blankie (see above)
* The butt of MY pj pants
* I keep finding it all over the hard wood floors in different rooms
* The love seat cushions
2) Broken cupcake Scentsy lamp
3) This bullet is dedicated to what we ruined with Nail Polish
* Wylee's carpet
* 3 out of the 4 souvineer shirts from the Masters (the 4th got scribbled on with marker, but not a Sharpie)
* Carpet  in our bathroom closet
* Carpet outside our bedroom door
* Carpet outside our bathroom but IN our bedroom
* Our sheets and comforter and pillow cases and quilt
4) The office, the whole thing, it's wrecked
5) Apparently someone scratched "Love" into one of the dressers, I can narrow that one down to those that can actually spell
6) A few cardboard boxes were chewed up
7) Major chased the neighbor's chickens and had a mouth full of feathers
8) Russell peed in the middle of the garage
9) An ornament got chewed up, and another smashed
10) My will to get out of bed in the morning
11) The dogs pulled the bread, brown rice, tortillas, and pumpkin seeds out of the cabinet and ate them ALL
12) The dogs also pulled my teal frosting bag off the counter and ran through it and then through the kitchen, but they did eat most of it.
13) A pull-up was shredded by the dogs (not used thank goodness)

And that's about all that I can remember right now. So there you have it!
#whatwewreckedwednesday

Oh yeah, and we gave a sweet baby bunny a heart attack and killed it the night before Easter.

4.15.2014

Yoga Pants Joan

Right now I'm getting griped at for putting too many tortilla chips in Russell's bowl and at the same time Wyatt threw TWO handfuls of goldfish at my head. This won't be the last thing that is thrown at me today. And this surely won't be the last time that I have a child angry with me. This is happening as I rock Wyatt trying desperately to get him to nap. I. Am. Desperate. I want to fold laundry and clean the kitchen. I love rocking him though, he falls asleep to Paw Patrol and I get to play on Facebook and catch up on blogs.
 I read a blog this morning titled "10 Types of moms that suck". You can read it here if you want to. I get it. It's supposed to be funny. Parts of it were, but at the same time it made me cringe. Moms that suck? Ew. How rude. I'm sure I'm getting some eye rolls here and that's totally fine. My panties are in a wad because my gosh, can't we all just get along?! Can't we all just accept the fact that our creator made each one of us individually and we are unique and no two exactly alike?? My sweet friend Ashley has 4 kids as well, each one born not too long after each one of mine were born. We are VERY similar, yet so very different! She's homeschooling, I'm not. Big deal. Do we really HAVE to cut each other down for things like buying organic food and choosing not to breastfeeding, or driving through McDonalds and breastfeeding for too long??
Can we not just lift each other up instead? "Oh, hey Joan, I see you're wearing the same pair of yoga pants that you had on 2 days ago...kids must be givin ya hell, huh?  Drop 'em off at my house tomorrow and have a moment to yourself". Instead of calling up whatsherface and saying, "OMG, Joan is a hot mess. Yoga pants for 3 days in a row." Please. I've been Yoga Pants Joan before, defeated by my own family. I've also been the one calling Whatsherface and pretending like I haven't had a day where I can't even remember if my teeth got brushed and we ate lucky charms for dinner. And you know what, I always felt guilty afterwards. I'm ashamed. But hey, it was something to talk about so who cares, right? Joan cares! Joan doesn't need your judgments and back stabbing. Joan needs you to lift her up, recognize her needs and HELP HER. We are all moms and we are all different. Heavenly Father knew Joan before anyone else knew her and he gave her the same thing he gave you, and me, and every other mom. He gave us HIS children and has trusted us to bring them  back home to him. I'm sure I get judged all the time for having 4 kids, not to mention I had them in 5 years. That's a lot of kids! We must be insane. My sister in law has 7. I used to think she was nuts. Well, she is nuts, but not because she has 7 kids (lol, jk Ruth). Quit being pessimistic towards the mother that raises her family differently than you. She's doing her job the best she can, as I'm sure you are, too. So what if  she's fully dressed and looks great at drop-off and you're still in your pjs. Who cares? It makes you mad that she looks nice? That's not very fair, now is it? I could go on for hours, but that would make this a book and not a blog post. Now go watch this video, and thank your mother!

4.14.2014

Who needs nice carpet anyways?

Well, let's see here...
Jared went on a "business trip" (I use this term VERY loosely) to Georgia Friday morning. They stayed in a rented house and got to go to the Masters on Saturday! It was a business trip people, he had no choice. I honestly feel really bad for him  when he HAS to go on these types of "business trips". Working on a Saturday, no thanks. The nerve...but we did get to watch Frozen 3 times on Friday before returning it. Which leads me to my next question.
Do you want to build a SNNNOWMAN? I bet Jared laughed just now. I really loved the movie. So much that I downloaded the soundtrack on my way to my AdvoCare training on Saturday. I asked the kids nicely to just not tell daddy that mommy downloaded it. You know what? It wasn't even a full day before baby Jared ratted me out! AND he threw in how I said, "Don't tell daddy cause he'll be like 'you spent money on that!?' And be grumpy about it". He made that last part up himself. See if I trust him with anymore secrets! Every time Jared got frustrated last night I would sing that song, I even changed the words to "do to want to put your pants on" as I chased Wyatt down the hallway at bedtime. He did NOT want to put some pants on, and he did not enjoy my modified version.
  But back to my Friday. My sweet friend Lara has a dog that manages to escape the yard for a bit but always comes back. Honey escaped Thursday night and didn't make it back home. I kept feeling prompted to go look for the dog and we had to go return the movie anyways (plus I really wanted a bigmac) so I decided I would act on my feelings. We ate dinner in the car while we drove through a couple of neighborhoods in their area. Little Jared kept snapping at me that I wasn't going the right way and demanded to know why I was choosing certain streets to drive down, I suppose he has stellar directional skills for a 6 year old (eye roll). I told the kids how I had said a prayer that Heavenly Father would help us to know the right way to go so we could take Honey home to our friends.  Their job was to holler at me if they saw a dog that was Honey's color. I said another prayer and kept feeling like I should roll down my window and ask people that were outside if they had seen her. Friends, not a single ounce of me wanted to do this. But I did, and you know what!? After talking to 3 different complete strangers we turned the corner and there was HONEY!!! The couple that found her were taking her for a walk and they were so happy that I knew where she belonged. My kids are SO young and I don't always know that they understand us when we teach them about The Lord. They understood this one!! It was an amazing thing, Russell was grinning ear to ear telling me that Honey made his heart happy and that we made Heavenly Father happy. I'm grateful to have the Holy Spirit in my life and I'm grateful to recognize his promptings. I'm thankful that my kids got to help return a friend's sweet family pet and experience the joy of doing service for others.  It may have been a small victory but it was a victory none the less!
  Their Daddy made it home REALLY late Saturday night. I decided kn Sunday to put on my big girl panties and take all 4 kids to church instead of leaving Wyatt or Russell at home with Jared.  We made it through the opening song, sort of made it through prayer and about a verse into the next song before I had to take all 4 kids to the foyer. We sat on the couch for the rest of sacrament. I almost broke down and left but I didn't. Russell cried and threw fits for the next 45 minutes. I almost cried, but I didn't. I almost LOST MY MARBLES, but again, I didn't. I said a prayer for patience (I was teaching 6 3-4 year olds alone) and he FINALLY  quit making a scene. Then Wylee had an accident so I threw in the towel, lol. We went home a bit early. We got some awesome shirts and it only took 2 hours for Wyatt to find a green marker and scribble all over his  arms, hands, and new OFFICIAL Masters shirt that Jared brought him from the ACTUAL Masters. It took another hour and a half or so for Russell to ruin Jared and Wylee's Masters shirts with fingernail polish. He tried to paint his toe nails but ended up painting his toe nails, his toes, part of his shin, his hands, the carpet in Wylee's room and the kids shirts (which I still don't really understand). Somewere in that time a tube of Chapstick was apparently smashed into the carpet. In 5 different places.  I highly recommend cleaning with Goof Off. It gets the job done and by the time you're finished you've inhaled so many fumes that you couldn't care less about the mess in the first place :)  I'm only kidding.........

4.10.2014

I'm in a glass case of emotion!!

April 10th, 2014- I can't even process my feelings right now. So here's how this is gonna go, I'm just gonna type. Let my fat little fingers fly. My brain is jumbled with feelings of excitement and nerves and I'm scared and anxious and happy and sad and you're gonna get a glimpse of how my soul processes feelings. I'll give you a hint, it's unorganizedv in there. Just ask Jared.
  Wyatt Lee Ricker, our last born child, our baby, the book end of our family....as of 7:36 this morning, he is two. TWO. On Jared's second birthday, Wylee was almost 8 months old. On Wylee's second birthday, Russell was 4 months old. On Russell's second birthday, Wyatt was 3 months old. I haven't been pregnant for 2 whole years!! That's a record.

  Wyatt makes the best faces, he always makes me laugh. Unless it's 3:30 in the morning and he has me in the living room watching Paw Patrol which will cause me to sleep through my alarms which will make me wake up in a panic and feel disoriented which will cause me to frantically shove Jared out the door and send him to the neighbors house without checking his backpack or making his lunch.  No one was late, I'll let it slide.
  2 years old, I'm happy. I'm healthier than ever (I think). We're eating pretty clean and it has really sunk in! Eating clean has REALLY made me feel great inside. Not being pregnant means my body is mine. I'm not saying being pregnant isn't healthy, but for me it wasn't. I used pregnancy as an excuse to eat like a pig. I don't regret that though. Totally worth it :) but now I'll have to be healthy and get in shape because my kids deserve a mom and dad that can keep up with them!
  Time is going by quickly and not fast enough all at the same time. Today is also Wylee's  Kindergarten Roundup! What?!?! Kindergarten?? Down to two kids at home during the day? I have mixed feelings on this subject. (Time is passing too quickly) Happy sad happy sad...changes every 5 minutes. But wait, Russell starts right after Wylee. Then before I know it, it'll be Wyatt's turn. I'll have the house to myself all day and maybe it'll stay clean for longer than 5 minutes!! Tubs of toys won't be dumped out for no reason at all. I won't have to listen to "I didn't make that mess" Everytime I say clean up. (Not. Fast. Enough.)
  I recently read a blog post about how sometimes parenting is a big F you. It's true. It's not always like that, but it is lots of times. It's what I was made to do though, big F you's and all. Parenting isn't really even all that rewarding right now. It's so hard and it's always the same craziness and chaos but things DO somehow change every single day. And just like child birth, I forget most of the bad stuff by the time I fall asleep.  That's why I have 4 kids. You forget.  I didn't end up with 4 kids cause I love birthday cake and parties. It's why I was born. My official calling in life. I want to soak up every single small medium and large F YOU that motherhood throws my way and I'm gonna find a way to forget it by bedtime (it usually vanishes sometime between my bluebell and Blacklist). Someday when my nest is empty and there are 100 dogs hangin in my living room with me I'm gonna look back and think, "I did that. I was tough and weak, I worried all the time but still let them figure most things out for themselves. I held them, I taught them, I laughed with them AND at them  (hey, nobody is perfect). I cleaned up poop and pee and puke and spit up and lots of spilled milk which is, in fact, worth crying over. I did the best that I could. They know of Heavenly Father's love for them and they know how to get back home. We taught them how to pray and when and why, and that's important stuff! I hope I did it right." Then I'll spend a few hours talking to my 100 dogs until Jared gets home from work. I'll probably dress them up in people clothes too.
  So Wyatt is two, Wylee gets her first official taste of Kindergarten, and I'm gonna enjoy it even though if you were to be a fly on the wall of my van in the pick up line at school RIGHT now you would hear a crying 2 year old, a tattling 5 year old and you'd be watching Russell clean up all the fries that he threw and the to go box that he shredded.
  Happy birthday Wyatt. We all love you so much and you are the perfect ending to our reign of newborns. Your favorite show is Paw Patrol, you don't want to drink anything but chocolate milk and you LOVE sleeping in bed with mommy and daddy. You like doing our workout videos with us and you adore your big sister. Ryder still calls you Baby even though he's only 2 weeks older than you, and I like that :) You'll have to get used to it cause Baby, you're always gonna be OUR baby!!! I'll spoil you and let you get away with lots of stuff that the others didn't because that's how it works :) we love you Wyatt Lee!!
 

1.08.2014

The Festival of Lights

 My dad has a joke in our family about birthdays. He calls them "The Festival of Lights" because my mom is realllllly good at managing to get several celebrations out of one birthday, well everyone's except for my dad's. It's just a joke but it's kind of true, his birthday is July 2nd so the 4th of July (also his sister's birthday) always tends to overshadow Dad's festival of lights. Not to mention, 2 of my 4 babies were also born in July AND my brother's birthday is July 8th.
  He doesn't want much for his birthday, just a card (which he will open at your house and end up leaving there because it's JUST THAT SPECIAL TO HIM....same goes for Father's Day cards!) I know how important these cards are to him....because one year I forgot to buy him a card and it took YEARS to live it down (and counting).
  Dad, I want you to know that we may not celebrate your Festival of Lights like we do for mom, but I celebrate it several times a week.

  I celebrate your birthday every single time I lay on the floor and Wylee (see, her name is spelled LEE because that's YOUR middle name) runs over and lays on my back...all I'm missing is a coloring book or a newspaper.
  I celebrate YOU on the rare occasion that the kids and I pour ourselves some milk and have an Oreo Dunking Party.
  I celebrate you every time someone tells me that all my boys have that "Talley mark", especially Wyatt.
  And I celebrate you again when we make a batch of homemade popcorn, when I fold a load of laundry (because you taught me how to fold), and when I wrap a gift (because you taught me that, too). I also celebrate you when I pull a Snickers bar out of the freezer and think to myself how you call them Gigglers, and when I catch myself bouncing my leg while sitting at the dinner table.
  I celebrate you when Russell takes a giant breath right before he takes a big bite of food, because YOU DO THAT, TOO!
  Every time I'm coloring with one of the kids, I celebrate you, because you taught me how to color in the same direction so that it doesn't look so sloppy. They think I'm so very talented.
  You're celebrated in my memories anytime I see a Rockwall Baseball shirt, whether it's around town or when my kids wear them to bed. I still have a hard time accepting your retirement.
  I celebrate you when we make kool-aid because it makes me think of how you would pour kool-aid into water bottles and put them in the cooler to take to the Rangers game. And I still have the olive green shirt that you bought me at the game that just you and I went to.
  Your Festival of Lights continues every time I have an anxiety attack or get so nervous that I throw up.....because you passed that down to me whether you wanted to or not, lol. Every time I would sit in the alley way about to make my run I would puke a little, and that's ok, because I know you did the same  before your football games.
  When Russell asks me to lay down with him while he falls asleep I have a hard time saying no, because you used to do the same for me.
  When Wylee refuses to sleep under her comforter, I only SORT OF celebrate you.....because bed bugs just aren't funny.
  Wyatt and Wylee's bright blue eyes...constant reminders because they got them from YOU, their PaPa.
  Going to Sam Houston was my first pick, my only pick, I had no back up....because that's where my daddy went and that's where I wanted to go to.
  I even have a little Festival of Lights celebration in your honor when a Seinfeld rerun shows up on the guide. Sometimes I watch it, not cause I like the show, but because you like the show.

  I celebrate you a whole lot, everyday, you just don't know it. Now you do. I could name at least 50 more everyday things, but then I'd have nothing to write about in your coveted birthday cards. I love you and mom so much and I appreciate all of the memories that I have, I hope my kids think as highly of me someday as I think of you guys. Only 174.5 days until your birthday....but who's counting, right? ;)