Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Creative genius.

Made this with my kids and only wanted to throw the whole thing in the trash a couple times. But seriously, it might not be everyone's aesthetic, but I'm super pleased with how it turned out. And I was happy to include the kids in the process. I was hoping it would make them feel included and special. 


Mostly, I think it made them think that mommy is cranky. But ultimately, I hope they are able to one day appreciate that not just any mom allows their kids to co-create home furnishings. That, my friends, takes a special brand of insanity.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Adelle turned six!

Yeah. The whole idea that I've been hanging out with this girl for six years seems ridiculous!

I can't even talk about it. I will just become a cliche volcano - spewing forth my yearning for my little baby and her gummy smile and dismay that this is ripping by so fast. Bah!

I made a rainbow cake! I let the kids help and that was probably the only difficult part. But it was a good excuse for that much trouble.

We are so blessed to live near family. They all made Adelle feel so special and she had such a great time with them. I actually threw together a little friend party, too, with some kids from school and our next door neighbor. She's a lucky girl.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Reasons today was not a failure.

I took a shower.
My kids did something besides watch tv all day.
I ate and kept down two separate meals.
There was something for Jordan to eat for dinner and I helped make it, and it didn't come from McDonald's.

These are the simple ways I measure the days passing. And although today at 7:30 I am now so near vomiting and exhausted that I have retreated to bed, I'm congratulating myself on all the things I've accomplished today in an attempt to not feel so pathetic. Heck, I even did two loads of laundry and topped off the nearly full dishwasher, and ran it! I am hot stuff.

Today stands in stark constrast to the days that I do feel are a complete failure. Days when Jordan finds me in the same bed he left me in when he left for work. Days my children were neglected, plugged into screens, fighting each other and desperate for some kind of attention or affection from the lifeless blob on the couch that flinches every time they touch me because I'm afraid I might throw up on them.

All I can think about is a story Elder Eyring told.
" This story is about his father, the great scientist Henry Eyring, who served on the Bonneville Stake high council. He was responsible for the welfare farm, which included a field of onions that needed to be weeded. At that time, he was nearly 80 and suffering from painful bone cancer. He assigned himself to do weeding even though the pain was so great that he pulled himself along on his stomach with his elbows. The pain was too great for him to kneel. Yet he smiled, laughed, and talked happily with the others who were there that day weeding that field of onions. I now quote what Elder Eyring said of this incident:

“After all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded, someone [said to] him, ‘Henry, good heavens! You didn’t pull those weeds, did you? Those weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway.’

“Dad just roared. He thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great joke on himself. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have died anyway.

“… I [asked] him, ‘Dad how could you make a joke out of that?’ …

“He said something to me that I will never forget. … He said, ‘Hal, I wasn’t there for the weeds.’"

That story is what I aspire to everyday. As a mom so much of what I do is mounded into an ambiguous pile of drudgery known merely as "housework." And lately I have had days of literally pulling myself along the floor of my existence. But the truth is, I'm not here to keep a clean house. (which is good because I don't) and on days that I feel like I've weeded a field that didn't need weeding, and I have accomplished nothing but my own suffering, I remember how blessed I am to be where I am. I am a Mother, made so again in November, and that I'm not needlessly suffering. I, like Brother Eyring, am doing the Lord's work. I can laugh about my misery because I know the real meaning of it. I know many women who put up with worse to get their babies, struggling through infertility or adoption, and they would take my place in a second. The service is more important than the suffering. This spirit must receive a body, so they can do their work. Even when I have those days that feel like failure, I remember that I can't see how much growth happened just from enduring it all one more day. Success.

So I will try to be more like Henry Eyring. Just laugh about it! It is pretty ridiculous, after all. The Lord will see me through to the other side of this onion patch.

Monday, November 19, 2012

This thing.

So, blogging is always rattling around in the back of my mind as something I'd like to do. But then I never do it. And I'm on a self improvement kick so here I am. Cell phone pictures included.

First, this is the face Adelle makes if you ask her to smile for a camera... Everytime. I guess I'm just grateful she's not one of those little girls who have already perfected "duck face."

And then there's the little boy. Oh, what a boy. All trucks and tools... Except for the occasional tu-tu. He sure loves his big sister. She is warming up to him, I swear.

Last night, Baxter spent the better part of a 25 minute car ride to grandma's yelling "uh-oh" from the back seat. Here's the part that reveals both what awesome parents we are and the kind of thing that is just considered normal around here, because nobody did anything about it. Finally when we were a few blocks from our destination I asked what in the world could he be going on about. Jordan looked back and saw him staring intently at the rosemary bread I made which was sitting on the dashboard. Jordan moved the bread. It was like flipping a switch: silence. Jordan put the bread back on the dashboard. Baxter: "uh-oh!!" And we spent the rest of the car ride laughing.

This is the family I'm creating. I feel super lucky to have kids that are full of the ever-lasting enthusiasm for which we Sulzens are famous. They have all the determination and strength a Rudd has to offer as well. They are little powerhouses. Look out world. Or as Baxter would say, Whoa!!

Watch "Whoa." on YouTube

Monday, December 26, 2011

Haircuts...

I cut my kids hair. It makes me feel like a champion among mothers, even though I know at this age most moms tackle it themselves. Here's some before and after shots...

Adelle before and after
Not the best pictures but it's hard to get that kid to sit still!



Baxter before and after
At least I can strap him down in a chair so he can't escape.

Also, please note the adorable track suit Baxter got for Christmas from the Grandparents Rudd. Dare I say that my son is looking dapper? Yes. Yes I do.

More Christmas pictures to come!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

A few things...

I vacuumed out my car the other day. No need to worry about food storage. I'm pretty sure that we've got at least our 3 months supply in cherrios and graham cracker crumbs alone. If you haven't got yours sorted out yet then don't worry about it. I've probably got enough to keep you covered.

Thanks, Daylight Savings for giving me back a baby that wakes up every hour all night long. We had actually started to get 5 and 6 hour stretches of sleep at night before we had to "Fall back." I think I'll be moving to Arizona to have any future children.

I joined a group called Freecyle and I highly recommend that you look into it for your area. I received a 7 foot Christmas tree and a bunch or ornaments! Now we're really grown ups right? We've got our own Christmas tree!

Getting started...

Looking better...



Merry, Merry, Mary!

Adelle and Baxter are beginning to interact more. Even if sometimes she does act like he must be some kind of dangerous animal. I frequently hear, "MOM!!! Get Baxter! He's going to touch the table!!!" Every once in a while she'll look at him and when he smiles at her she laughs which makes him laugh which makes her laugh harder which makes him laugh harder...basically it's heaven. The moments are few and far between now but I'm so excited to get a little taste of the all the giggling they'll be doing together soon.

Adelle says "CHEESE!" instead of smiling lately.

We are blessed.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Some pictures and a video...

I want to get into a long sappy post about all the things that have happened in the past month or so but we've been pretty busy selling our condo, moving out, and then loosing the sale. So I've got rent and HOA dues and a house I'm trying to get organized after the move. The landlord should be here shortly to put in a new toilet and flooring in the rotted out bathroom we've been enjoying... all things considered we're very blessed and happy but this is far from a smooth ride. Without further commentary, take what you can get Mama! I love you!

This is a picture I took of all the things we had to leave behind in Virginia. It broke my heart! Especially the bookshelves which had belonged to my grandmother. When I took the picture below I realized something...


Apparently when we move Jordan likes to stand in this position and make this face. Kind of hilarious. This is in the middle of packing up the condo. It was.... so much fun. Just like Jordan's expression.

Adelle got to ride a pony!! We went to a little event in Issaquah one Saturday. It was called "Green You Halloween" because this is Seattle.

Adelle was Ming-Ming from the Wonderpets. If you don't know what that is I actually feel sorry for you. But also I feel a little sorry for myself since Adelle sings the theme song at least 20 times a day. It's good, but maybe not that good. We had little duck feet that went over her shoes and goggles to complete the aviator hat but it was really difficult to get her to hold still long enough to get a picture this year. Sharon came through for us again and made this whole costume possible with her amazing sewing skills.
Baxter loves food. LOVES it. and it's a revelation in my life. I have to take special food and snacks everywhere I go with Adelle. With Baxter I might take some graham crackers just in case, but he will eat whatever I eat and it's wonderful. I don't even mind trying to get the food off that has been plastered on every surface after each meal. Totally worth it. You should come over and have breakfast with us sometime. It looks a little something like this: