Good night, sleep tight... and PLEASE just go to sleep, for REAL!!

So, remember my whiny post about daylight savings? Well, this isn't exactly a whine, but I feel I just have to share... From the day the sun started staying up later, it seems like we've not been able to get back on track and get our little people in bed at a decent hour. Are we the only ones who just can't seem to stick to a bed time?? It's almost comical.... but then, most of the time, it's not really.

8:00 is generally a lost cause these days -- the sun's still bright as noonday and they KNOW it!

8:30 comes and goes, is that a sunset? nope. not yet.

Then 9:00 comes and goes. Finally starting to get dark and look like bedtime.

Then sometimes it's closer to 10. Yes, bedtime. There it is, see? the sky is dark now. You can finally close your eyes, little people. Sleep. Dream... Really, sometimes even AFTER 10. If we've been hanging out with family, it's sometimes even 11ish. Yikes!

Not so much fun, when I'm the mom and I just DESPERATELY want them to GO. TO. SLEEP!!! 

Why? I sometimes ask myself. Why does it really matter whether they go to sleep at a decent hour? And then I remember the 5 p.m. ranting that happens when they've had a late night the night before. Or the late afternoon can't-be-stopped nap that perpetuates the whole cycle over and over. sigh. Yes, my people like their sleep. And *I* like my night-owl, on-my-own time, or my talk-with-Brian time, ya know?

Anyway, that's probably enough complaining from me on that score. I really do love them so much and really, once school's out (which is the end of this week, for us, since we're leaving on a trip this Friday), I think I won't stress so much about it so much... as long as I can enforce a mandatory 8 a.m. sleep-in time in the mornings, right? ;)

Well, I thought I'd put up some pictures of our bedtime routine at its end, as well as some videos of scripture time, if I can get them to load...

First up, look who lost a front tooth, right after we did final hugs and last drinks!! This was last week, and the other front tooth is out now as well. So exciting. I'll have to get pics of BOTH teeth gone, but she looks so cute with that one snaggle tooth, I think...

 And, of course, the camera's out so Nat climbs out of bed and says, "take my picture, too!!"

 And Spencer, too, of course...

Tonight during prayers, here's Spencer, being a banana boat. He ended up having to sit by dad because he was struggling to stay still for more than two seconds, as is often the case...

Um, is that the scriptures, Samantha?? No? Well, can you put it away, please, while we're reading scriptures, because it's probably pretty hard to concentrate on what we're studying in the scriptures while you're reading "Whatever After," eh?...

No, Natalie, you can't wear your sandals to bed. And no, Momma's not helping you put them on, because they don't belong in your bed. And no, you can't cry about it. Please??...

Dumb blogger! I tried to upload some cute vids from our scripture study tonight, but blogger still has a problem with me posting videos. Sorry! Just picture Brian helping Natalie read a verse from the Book of Mormon, two words at a time... slow going, but so cute. And then picture Spencer, trying to "trick" us by reading the first words of a verse that is NOT the one Dad is helping him with... and me finally getting frustrated and threatening to read his verse myself and not let him participate, if he won't read the right verse and stop laughing. Oh yeah. We're keeping it real around here, and documenting it with videos, even IF blogger doesn't cooperate!

Anyway, just out of curiousity, what's YOUR biggest struggle at bedtime? Anyone else out there a night owl? Anyone have some happy sleep solutions worth sharing?? Well, for now, I'm headed to bed... and tomorrow we'll do it all again, of course! 

A Mothering Moment

"Mom!! Come look, come look!!! We just built the most AMAZING 3-D PYRAMID... all out of cans!! It's AWESOME! You HAVE to come see this!"

Samantha came to my room, where I was getting ready for church last Sunday morning, just specially to tell me to go see their cool tower in our pantry. All three of them had worked together, and were sooo excited about it.

Unfortunately, this tower was built less than twelve hours after I had spent my ENTIRE Saturday evening organizing our pantry, rotating in our food storage items, putting every last can of tomatoes in the same column, every last bag of pasta in order, every last snack item on a special shelf, in a special order. 

Did the kids notice the pantry was clean and organized? 

     Well, it turns out that yes... yes they did.

Did they appreciate my handiwork?

     Well yes... yes they did.

Did they feel obliged to improve upon my efforts.

     Yes... yes they did. 

Ah, kids... (Sigh.)

ps. I did not yell OR cry. But I felt like doing both.