I hope she always does

2016-10-032016-12-20

She fell asleep on me as I sat in the rocking chair singing her songs about ponies while Hyrum babbled and yelled at our feet, playing with mini flashlights and shining them in our faces. She was pretending at first, I could see her smirky smile beneath her closed eyes. But then off to sleep she went, because any time she holds still for a few minutes, she is quick to doze off. She is go-go-go, never wanting to miss a thing, and not wanting to slow down, a lot like me.

We had family home evening over spaghetti just the three of us because Jake was working late. I told them the story of Shadrach Meeshach and Abendago and how they got thrown into the big fire by the King of Babylon because they prayed to God. I asked Ava what she thought happened. She said that it would all be ok because God would protect them, He would take care of them. She has faith this little one. And protect them He did. They were completely unharmed, standing in the midst of the fire with an angel. After that the king believed. And I believe too. I know that if we are doing our best to follow Jesus Christ and do His will, we’ll be taken care of. We can have faith in that. It will all work out. I love that Ava believes that too, I hope she always does. #mamanotes

Tuesday

2016-09-202016-12-20

Sunday. Hyrum fell asleep on the way home, so I carried him up to his crib, got Ava a snack, then rested on the family room couch. I was soon asleep, and woke only briefly when Jake came home. He went downstairs to watch scripture videos with Ava, and I went back to sleep. I woke to the sound of Hyrum stepping down the stairs, one at a time, his elephant hanging from his hand, calling, “ma!” in his little raspy wake up voice. We went downstairs to find Jake and Ava asleep, so we put on our shoes and wandered out back for a little walk by the pasture near our house. Hyrum stopped and squated to observe every moving thing, every grasshopper, cricket, and ant. And he loved to watch the horses. “Mom, orse, neigh!” he’d say.

We had breakfast for dinner, I burned the bacon so we opened the doors and windows before the smoke alarm went off. All the flies came in. After dinner at Ava’s request, we went outside to the trampoline to watch the sunset. So many giggles playing out there. In true Schellenberg fashion, Jake was jumping and rolling in his Sunday best. The kids loved having him home. We stayed until the sun went down and the colors got brighter, then huddled downstairs to watch home movies. Hyrum wandered around the room most of the time, but Ava seemed so captivated, smiling as she watched her 1 year old self babbling away.

It’s Tuesday now, but I wanted to write that down to remember it. Surely the day was not without meltdowns and messes, but it was our together time, the four of us, and it was so good as simple as that. #mamanotes

Monday. I sat against the garage with my recipe book and sticky pad, waiting for Ava’s bus and trying to come up with a menu for the week. I like planning the meals, and a new recipe sounds like fun until the end of the day when I’m so tired that tuna sandwiches sounds like a great idea. So tuna sandwiches it was!

I packed steamed veggies in a tupperware, grabbed a can of pineapple, and wrapped some forks in napkins and we had ourselves a nice little picnic at the park! Jake replaced the tire on my bike when he got home, so we packed the picnic supplies in the back of Hyrum’s bike trailer, and biked around for a bit before stopping to eat at the park. Ava ate mostly pineapple and Hyrum ate everything. The sun went down quickly so we didn’t stay long. For family home evening we talked about the story of the Ten Lepers and how God gives us miracles and blessings too–then we went outside and looked at the stars with Jake’s new super laser pointer. It kind of scares me how strong it is, but the kids loved it.

Lately the kids have had a hard time getting to sleep because Hyrum keeps getting out of his crib. A lot of times he rolls out onto Ava’s bed, but then they chat and giggle or tease and neither of them gets to sleep. Well last night they fell asleep in the same bed! Hyrum was kind of on top of her all sprawled out, but it was the cutest thing. We put him in his crib, then retired for the night ourselves at 9:30! That’s been our goal for a LONG time and it felt pretty good to stick to it. #mamanotes

Pancakes

2016-07-132016-07-13

Ava wanted to make smoothies and pancakes for breakfast. We started with pancakes and ended with pancakes because well, this happened. 🙂 Ava wanted to make Hyrum look like a polar bear. I think she did a pretty good job.

She was a great helper too. Thanks to her, all the pancakes had plenty of chocolate chips!

(Recipe is at the bottom.)

Here’s the recipe in case you want it. Jake got it from a co-worker a few years back. These pancakes are a little more dense, so if you like really light and fluffy ones, this is probably not the recipe for you. But we sure like them!

1 1/2 cups full cream milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice or white vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted

Chocolate chips, banana, whatever you’d like to drop on top!
Melted or softened butter, for greasing skillet

Place milk, lemon juice and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir to combine, and then set aside for five minutes. During this time the mixture should develop a slightly curdled appearance.

Stir or whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in a large bowl until combined.

Add egg, vanilla, & melted butter to the milk mixture. Whisk.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until almost smooth: the batter should still have a few small lumps. Don’t overmix the batter as this may make the pancakes tough.

Enjoy!

When You Wonder How to Do It

2016-06-272016-06-28

To my daughter when you wonder how to do it,

Someday you may be a mother. You may be finishing off your kids’ quesadillas with crumbs stuck to your feet, knots in your hair, and strawberry smudges on your shirt. And you may be wondering, how did she do it? How did my mom do this?

I’ll tell you how I’m doing it.

I am sitting in my kitchen finishing off my kids’ quesadillas with crumbs stuck to my feet, knots in my hair, and strawberry smudges on my shirt. I am playing hide and seek, peek-a-boo, and red-light green-light, over and over. I am waiting for nap-time, snacking before dinner time, and putting off bedtime. I am giving kisses, filling bellies, and cleaning up messes, multiple times a day. I am doubting, stressing, and snapping from time to time. And I am tired. Mothering is a lot of work.

But I am happy.

I am happy to cuddle dreamers, encourage thinkers, and sing lullabies before bed. I am happy to give rides in laundry baskets, inspire good choices, and teach you how to pray. I am happy to have all of these stretching, testing, beautiful experiences that refine me and teach me. Happy to share all of it with you.

I am having the greatest time just watching you little ones be little. You are doing amazing things! I never thought I’d be so enthralled with babbling words, chubby cheeks, and bikes without training wheels. But I am! And you are just as excited that I’m right there with you, smiling back, picking you up, and cheering you on.

I get to care for you, teach you, and love you. And oh how I love you.

I get to be your mom.

And I am grateful for that, because someday I may be a Grandma. I may be stirring up a batch of chocolate chip cookies in a beautifully clean kitchen, with a hand-sewn apron tied around my waist. I may be reminiscing about this beautiful time in my life, perhaps wishing I could go back, even just for a moment. Someday you may be too.

So keep eating those quesadillas, filling those bellies, and giving those kisses. What you are doing is the best thing you could be doing. At times we all wonder how they did it, or how we’re supposed to do it, but maybe that isn’t as important. Perhaps what’s most important is to simply to do our best and enjoy it while we can.

*A quick afterthought… I was looking up some family history online today on familysearch.org and found this little gem of encouragement from my own mother and great grandmother! It’s from a talk my mom gave at her grandmother’s funeral.

She said, “Many times when I have been frustrated with the job of raising eight very active children and I feel that I have done absolutely nothing significant any particular day, Grandma’s wise words have come into my mind–‘You have gotten those children one day older–and sometimes that’s quite an accomplishment!’ I can’t count the times that thought has sustained me and encouraged me to try again another day.”

How neat is that!? It seems these feelings are universal, we all feel them at times. I just think it’s funny that I found that online, of all places. 🙂 Familysearch.org is so neat!

Mothering Me

2016-06-152016-06-16

The other day I showed my young neighbor how to take pictures with my “big camera”. I love what she captured. No make-up, patched knee-d, farmers tanned, mothering me. This is totally me. And I couldn’t be happier.