more of the bike...

the kids and I went on our first bike and walk this morning...it was soo fun!

 doesn't she look so proud??  and happy??

 needless to say, Jack is not very happy that he doesn't have a bike to ride and has to ride in the stroller with the babies!

 the babies sure aren't unhappy about it, though!! :)

(of course we had to stop at a park...because there's like 500 of them in our town and you can't go anywhere without passing one) :)

AHHH! do you see these two daredevils at the top of the huge slide??

(at least Hailey's still wearing her bike helmet...that should protect her) :) 

 gotta love sisterly love

 too bad for Maysen there were only 3 swings...she didn't seem to mind, though, she enjoyed hanging out in the stroller chewing on the book she and Maelle always "fight" over!

 poor Maelle had to chew on the swing...i know, I know- it's kind of gross, but, seriously, isn't this one of the cutest pictures you've ever seen?? and look at those huge rolls on her arms??!! Ahhh, you gotta just love it! :)

I told you I thought Hailey's new bike was cute :)

mother's day fun!

In celebration of Mother's Day we went for a walk to Briqs for ice cream cones :) 

(we also grilled out steaks, I got my hair brushed by my beautiful daughter and was given a handful of handpicked flowers- straight from my flower garden) ;)

On Saturday we went and bought Hailey a bike with our garage sale money and she absolutely loved it! (so much that she got up at 5:30 two mornings in a row to ride it)

Sunday was her first time riding her bike while we walked and it was definitely an adventure for all of us :)

 not quite the adventure that the eating of ice cream was, though :)

 we all learned some valuable lessons on Sunday: 

1)never go out for ice cream without a whole, unopened package of wipes, because if you have any less you'll most likely run out!

2)ice cream cones are not good food to give your babies to munch on when they seem hungry and you don't wanna nurse them

3)the chances of your 1 yr old and 3 yr old eating ice cream fast enough to not have the babies get bored and start screaming is incredibly low

4)riding your bike to Briqs for ice cream might seem exciting, but its a little too long for your first bike ride

5)our quad stroller not only carries 4 kids, but it can also carry a bike (fairly easily) :)

6)your kids really don't care that much about Mother's Day...mine got up at 5:30, were incredibly crabby and whiny all day, and all 4 of them did whatever they could to stay up longer than they (and their mommy) could handle!! 

7)its way more fun to watch your kids enjoy ice cream than it is to eat it yourself! I truly enjoy watching my kids enjoy the little things in life :) 

8)it never grows old to watch your kids learn new things. I remember how excited I was when Hailey rolled over for the first time and it wasn't any less exciting to watch her ride her bike for the first time! It was awesome and I loved it! (until she melted down in the middle of the road and we had to carry her bike home...that was a little less awesome of a "first") 

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's mother's day, today, and it's a great day to celebrate our mom's and our grandma's and to teach our kids the "importance" of celebrating and thanking the special women in their life...but, it has really gotten me thinking about what makes a good mom! My sister asked me that question a few months ago and it has 1/2 haunted and 1/2 spurred me on for an answer since then! 

these all seem to me to be "mommy" moments...big sister's, mom's, grandma's, great-grandma's snuggling, enjoying, holding, playing with and cuddling babies!

But, I'm still left wondering- what am I striving and working and yearning towards?? Are all of my sweat and tears and exhaustion getting me anywhere? 

Would I be a better Mom if my kids wore clean, adorable matching clothes? Would I be a good mom if their faces were always washed, their hair was always brushed, their teeth were always clean, never ran in church and spouted off Bible verses at every turn? Really, truly- what does make a good Mom?? There's been a lot of talk, lately, about "mommy wars" and mom's competing and trying to "one-up" each other and somehow be better and do more and have better kids and we all know that's not what it's about, but if it isn't- then what is?? Am I a great mom because all my kids survive the day? Or am I a bad mom because that's sometimes all I can say I accomplished that day? Am I a good mommy because I nurse my twins?? Or a bad mom because I take the time away from Hailey and Jack to do that? Am I a bad mommy because I only nursed the older 2 for 10 months? Am I a bad mommy because I don't teach them their colors or their alphabet or take them to storytime? Am I somehow ruining them for life because I don't have the time and attention to give each of them? Or does all of that somehow make me a good mom?? Is the best I have to give- good enough? 

I love that the group of mom's that I hang out with don't try to pretend that they have it all together. I love that we're all so different and that we all do "great" mommy things that look different from each other, because then we can learn from each other- we can teach each other things, but sometimes that leads to us questioning and critiquing our own parenting. It's hard not to compare. It's hard not to think that what we're doing is somehow better or worse than what another mom is doing.

Being a Mom is just hard, exhausting and scary work and I think that's why we're always striving and working at it...we want to be a great Mom and we want to do what's best for our kids. 

In my "quest" to know what a good mom is- I asked this question of an older, wiser woman in our church and this is what she said to me, "Jenni, stop striving and doing and working towards being a good Mom. First and foremost you need to take the time to read your Bible each and every day- do whatever it takes to do that! Then, you just need to relax and enjoy being a Mom." I'm so thankful for that advice and I'm so thankful that it came, now, when I needed to hear it the most! There are plenty of days here where I just need to take a step back, put a movie in, get a few moments to myself to read my Bible, then turn off the tv and snuggle with my kiddos or build a fort with the blankets or go for a walk (or leave the tv on and snuggle up). I need to wrestle with my little boy, bake cookies with my daughter or let her brush my hair. I need to remember that wise piece of advice and just enjoy being a Mom and leave the rest up to God! Because, after all, being a Mom is hard and exhausting work and we might as well enjoy it as much as we can :)

I hope and pray that you can enjoy being a Mom, especially today!!