Why My Children are Driving Me Crazy and Other Pointless Rants: Maybe we should say a prayer and say thank you and stuff...

Whirlwind. Thats honestly how I feel lately. I'm in a whirlwind of being behind and just trying to keep up.

I was hoping once the kids were out of school for Christmas vacation things would slow down, but that hasn't been the case. I'm hoping somewhere in the middle of the chaos, I will feel like I enjoyed this December. It's the little things that matter so I want to remember some of these little things that had brought me joy.

Last Friday was one of those days where the little things mattered. Steve was home for a long lunch hour and he went with me to pick up kids from early release at school. Right as he pulled onto Wendell street red and blue lights flashed behind him.

He was speeding and he was guilty. (oh so guilty)

Luckily the officer told him to slow down and have a nice day. (This is #1 thing that mattered.)

We then drove to Chick fil A for lunch. We had the three oldest in the car with us and as we pulled up to the drive through window, we found out the car in front of us had payed for our lunch, (#2)

As we waited for our food to be finished, we got a phone call from our bank letting us know that the interest rate fell .15 % and that our loan would be locked at the lower rate. (#3)

Needless to say, these little things mattered a lot to us and made our day seem pretty bright. As we drove home Andrew said, "Maybe we should say a prayer and say thank you and stuff." Hilarious and very well stated. So yes, we stopped and said a prayer of thanks...for all the good stuff that had happened in the past 20 minutes. (Steve also watched his speed. haha)

Other small things that have mattered...

Our elf has been watching. Saylor keeps asking for new items to be added to her list. Schnitzel finally had to write her a letter and tell her that her presents were already packed on the sleigh and that she couldn't add more to her list. I really like our elf. He's got my back.

My presents arrived in the mail.

I make photo books for my kids every year, but this time I make books containing our family photos. I can't display them all, but I want them printed. Having prints in back of a frame or in a drawer somewhere do absolutely no good. I'm hoping these books will be a better solution to preserve our family pictures.

Carter was put in the deacons quorum presidency this month. There are twelve deacons in our ward.

Oh how this matters to me. These are good kids and we are lucky to have them grow up with Carter.

These little things matter to Carter A LOT. He officially has armpit hair and whooped and hollered around the house letting us know how much it mattered to him. (You might have to look close, but it is there!)

Boys are silly.

Saylor had her Christmas program last Thursday.

She was the bell on the lower left.

She swore it was sweaty.

It mattered to me that my mom could come to Saylor's program with me.

Saylor is adorable and the song "Snow Pants" will always be my favorite!

Love the reindeer shirts her class made!

It mattered to my kids that Star Wars came out last weekend.

Carter and Andrew sat in D-Box seats opening night (I can feel the motion sickness right now) and Steve took Colby to the 3-D version. (The motion sickness now includes a headache.) It mattered to me that I got to stay home and enjoy not being in a crowd of people. Life is good.

Big thing that mattered last week?

My trim was finished and the house was prepped for paint. (It's being painted as I type and should be finished by the beginning of next week. I also found out my cabinets will be delivered next week as well. ) The following pictures are from last weekend.