Personalities

Personalities are funny.
Well, not funny haha, although some definately are. I mean just funny as in different, and it's funny how everyone's are SO different.

Take me and Russel for instance. We couldn't be more different if we tried. To name a few, he's very left brained, I'm more right. He's known to be more patient, me...not so much. He's technical, I'm creative. He's very go with the flow and I like things planned and structured. He likes to have the toilet paper ON the holder, I like to sit it on top of it, and one of the most important differences is that I'm ALWAYS right and he's always WRONG! :) haha jj

And I'm starting to notice my daughters personality traits come out more and more as they get older. It's neat to see what they get from each parent. I see a LOT of me in them sometimes (which is very, very scary) and many little pieces of Russel as well. I would prefer they take after him.

Rebekah is and has always been so much more like her Daddy in most ways. She's very happy go lucky. Always smiling, always laughing. Very photogenic. She has the BEST easy going personality. She's playful and she's a free spirit. She has to be going, going, going. Doing, doing, doing. She doesn't focus on one task for a very long period of time before she's reading to move onto the next. CLASSIC RUSSEL BEHAVIOR! But she's very smart. She's also very loving and kind. Of course a couple exceptions can be made in that area as of late regarding her and Madelyn. They butt heads more often than not lately, so it seems. What she gets from me is her attitude. She's extremely opinionated and isn't afraid to tell you what she thinks. She has a very expressive face. She can kill you with a look! LOL She tends to be emotional. She's timid and shy until she gets comfortable with people or a situation. And where she's extremely loving, it's more so with her words than with her actions. She isn't very physically affectionate most the time.

Madelyn on the other hand, up to this point has been hard to read. She just turned 2 in November so her personality is still newly forming and revealing itself. Madelyn is a very quiet very serious child. Polar opposite from Rebekah. She is a couch potato, she LOVES the tv and she rarely plays with her toys unless prompted. She HATES having her picture taken and will avoid looking at the camera 98% of the time. Grrr. She is very sweet and loving as well though, and she's just like her daddy in that she is very physically affectionate. She will hug and kiss and cuddle you to death. She takes after me in that she has a stubborn streak. She is whiny and opinionated as well and she very much likes things HER way. But up to this point she has been a very well behaved and mostly easy going child. She usually does what she's told without much argument, so I'm curious to know when that's going to change. lol Something else about her personality i've noticed over the past few days is she's very particular and precise. She was playing with dominoes and lining them up in a straight line and when she colors she's very careful and stays in the lines, using one crayon at a time and then lining them up in a almost perfect line afterwards. That reminds me a lot of myself. I'm very much a perfectionist and like things a certain way. Neat and orderly. Anal retentive might be more the word. Rebekah scribbles and just does everything very nilly willy.

So I'm very curious what this all says about them. If they'll be more left brained, like their daddy, or more right brained like me? Or maybe a combination of both. Only time will tell I guess!

Spring has Sprung

This week the weather has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we've been trying to soak it in as much as possible because as you know in Oregon, the sun never lasts for too long! It's so funny, all of a sudden it's like people come out of hybernation. (or is that just me?) You see people taking walks, the parks are slam packed, people are out washing their cars, cutting their grass, and the smell of bbq is in the air! You'd think we'd all been holed up in our houses for months and months on end. Oh, wait...WE HAVE! (or again, is that just me?)

:(


So anyways, today we took a drive up to Detroit Lake. We've never been. Russel drives through on the way to Bend all the time. Another place I've never been, hehem. Russel.

Oh who am i kidding, he doesn't read this blog! Does anyone read this blog???

Anyways, it's beautiful up there, but sad to say the lake isn't much of a lake, just yet. So we'll be going back this summer to really enjoy it. Then we went back to the capitol, it's so pretty there. I just snapped some pics and we enjoyed the sunshine for a little bit before heading back home.

Here are some shots from our day!

Daddy and his girls at the Detroit Lake Dam



And mommy even made an appearance, LOOK FAST! You won't see it again for awhile :)
Ugh, there's a reason i stay behind the camera...




just some pine cones on a crimmus tree



the girlies sitting in front of the lake, or lack thereof...




The reason I love the capitol so much in the spring. I just lurve the contrast of the pale pink cherry blossoms against the blue sky!




This is the ONLY picture I got of Rebekah for the day, as you'll see



she wasn't interested and was off in a flash to find a "climbing tree" and run in circles...because that's fun apparantly...Oh to be a kid! I love her spirit!




Madelyn is far from my cooperative child, photographically speaking. But today I managed to take mostly pictures of her. I've noticed that lately, going through pictures. One day i'll take all Madelyn, the next time Rebekah, and it kind of goes back and forth that way. I swear I don't favor one child over the other! Only sometimes...when one of them is irritating me....

ok, i'm kidding. Sheesh!








and my favorite from the day!
she's a daddy's girl, that's for sure..


By the end of the day they were exhausted and tired of pictures might i add.
See?! Doesn't make the photographer in me very happy, but totally cracks me up.



Happy Spring Everyone!!!

Perfect Mom

***Newsflash: I'm NOT a perfect mom!***


I know, sorry to burst your bubble. I know many of you were under that impression. ;)
I want to be though, so that should count for something, right? No? Yeah, that's what i thought too. (insert big sigh here)

I had all these grand aspirations upon birthing my two beautiful perfect angels (yeah right, we'll save that another post) but so far I can't quite reach up to my own standards. How pathetic is that?!
And you know, it's not that i am really deluded enough to think that the perfect mom exists, i'm not really that nieve. There is no perfect human being therefore there can be no perfect mom.

GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD KRISTEN! (smacks hand)

I know it's an impossibly high standard that we as mother's (or just me?) set for ourselves that will neverrrr be met, but still....i expect myself to reach it and when i fail, i feel less than. It doesn't make sense!

What is my *idea of a perfect mom you ask? Ok, I'll tell you. Wait, you didn't ask? Well, i'll tell you anyways.

The perfect mom would...

- wake up everyday before the kids (4:30/5am in this household)
- she would always get dressed, shower AND brush her teeth all in the same day

i know, i've already set the bar too high , but while we are there let's continue..


- she would NEVER let her kids watch endless amounts of television
- she would sit on the floor and play with her children all day
- she would spend at least 1-2 hours a day teaching her children
- there would be LOTS of crafts, library trips and playdates
- she most definately would never yell or lose her cool
- the house would be spotless at all times and perfectly organized
- she would cut coupons and save hundreds of dollars
- she would make her own house cleaners and laundry detergent
- she would buy and feed her family only the healthiest foods
- she wouldn't have to discipline her kids because they would always be obedient and well behaved
- she would be put together at all times
- she would always smile, never complain
- she would never be tired or need a break
- she would never need to ask for help

and last but not least:

- she would never stop doing something because after all something always needs to be done!

There's more, i'm sure there's more, but i think you get the idea.
I have set an impossibly high standard for myself and I'm exhausted just reading those things let alone trying to do them. I could make another very long, detailed list of the kind of mom i really am, and i think i can honestly say that not a single one of those things is on that list. Unfortunately.

But I'll spare you the reading of that pathetic list and instead i will sum it up by telling you that I may not be perfect but I LOVE my children with all my heart and soul. I love them with a love that far surpasses any love i can imagine or explain. They are my world. I live for them, I breathe for them and I exist for them. I drag myself through the day doing everything I can to make sure they have everything they need and even most things they want. I am exhausted and overwhelmed and most days at my wits end but that's ok. I complain and sometimes stomp my feet when they aren't looking (yes, i do that shuddup) but I do it all anyways. I may not know how to be perfect but I do know how to love them. I'm hoping one day I will stop being so hard on myself for the things I don't do and instead praise myself for the things I DO do. But I don't know when and if that day will ever come.

Until then here's to all you Non Perfect moms out there giving it your all! YOU ROCK!