Hoppy Easter, Everybunny

This year we decided to dye both brown and white eggs, what the heck?

P and I started during nap time (we're mean) and did the brown ones!

Before:

 After:

 That night after Tatum left, we babysat the boys and did more eggs!

Quinn tried a way using shaving cream. Mostly he smashed his egg and ate shaving cream.

  

It was fun! Thanks for helping us decorate Cadon and Ry Ry! 

(Side story: Ryan had Batman pajamas on. Matt said something to the effect of "Oh hey Batman!" to which Ryan replied "Uncle Matt, these are just my sleep things." Matt: "Oh...you mean you AREN'T Batman?" Ryan: "Ha. No." ;) Silly boy!)

My "Why"

In the Scentsy business they always talk about your "why". 

Your "why" is the reason you're even selling Scentsy in the first place. What's your main goal? WHY would you spend time doing this? I went to a training on it recently and they strongly urged everyone to not only write out their "why", but to share it, so that others know why you do what you do. 

So, without further ado, my WHY: 

I think it's obvious why most people work. They have to. There are bills to pay, mouths to feed, and shelter to be had. No one is going to hand you these things, no one is going to make sure your children have food and clothing and can go to school. It's up to you. 

When my daughter was born I lost my mind. No, really. Paiton was born and I went crazy and quit my job. No way was I going to leave this little baby and go to work. The thought made me sick. I'd rather be poor than miss these seconds with my daughter. Maybe it wasn't the smartest, most non-hormonal decision ever made, but boy am I glad that's the one I made.

On that note - here's how the past 4.5 years went. I couldn't actually not work. Ha, I went to a private liberal arts college, there will never be a day of NOT working in my life. Those bills are most than most's mortgages. I immediately found another job working from home. I didn't get a maternity leave, not with either kid. I've never had to leave them or put them in daycare, but that sure doesn't mean I haven't had to sacrifice. I've never known what it's like to go to work and ONLY focus on work. My work has to be done with kids on me, crying, needing to be fed, changed, entertained. I've taken babies to meetings, I've nursed newborns in IEP meetings, I've stayed up long, late nights to get work done that I couldn't during the day. And I wouldn't change it for the world. I complain sometimes to Matt that I don't want to work. I want to spend my time doing my hair all fancy and going shopping in cute clothes with my kids and reading {gasp!} a WHOLE book all the way through! He always laughs and says I couldn't not work, and he's right. It's in me. I have to be doing something, I have to be being productive at least a little bit, and contributing at least a little. It's not the 1950's - why would I sit around while my husband works!?

So - back to my "why" - I have to work, and I refuse to leave my kids. So, TADA!! MY WHY!

I sell Scentsy because it's a job that I can do with my kids around me. I know people get tired of hearing about it, but guess what, sometimes I get tired of hearing about your job! I get tired of the people who want me to pay my bills, I get tired of seeing you post a thousand pictures of yourself on facebook, so you can deal with my posts about Scentsy, because it's feeding my children and putting gas in my car. {And buying acne medicine for myself but what of it!?}

My why's weigh 28 pounds and 24 pounds, they have curly dirty blonde hair and big eyes. They are the most spirited, down to earth, COOL, and beautiful children you will have the pleasure of meeting.

More now than ever, it is important for me to be home with my kids. In the last few weeks I've had several people refer to Quinn as "special needs". I don't know that I feel comfortable saying that about him, but yes, he does have special things that he needs. I have exercises I'm supposed to do with him all.day.long. Every 1.5 hours I'm supposed to do his sensory diet - very specific sensory things that his little body needs (throwing him into pillows, deep squeezes, massages, etc.) EVERY 1.5 HOURS. Are you kidding me!? I don't remember to eat until dinner time, and I'm supposed to do that ever 1.5 hours!? There's no way a daycare or babysitter would do that for my kid, and if they did, I couldn't afford it! He has physical therapy twice a week (only during business hours, naturally), and now he has another type of appointment every week. (Don't ask me what it is yet, I literally have NO idea. Something about helping his muscles, and learning spatial awareness, I don't know.) AND now a second lady will be coming out weekly to meet with Quinn and go over his sensory needs (which, for the record - I don't fully believe exist - hence the second opinion). Every day Quinn has to wear his braces for at least 3-4 hours. I won't lie, there are plenty of days I don't put them on for that long, or at all. He's SO good about them, and sometimes he even brings them to me and says "Mommy, my shoes?" and wants them on. And other times, he cries and cries when I put them on. He says "Owie Mommy, ow!" His feet get so sweaty and pruney. I know it's good for him, and he's taking steps with them on which is AMAZING. It's just hard to watch your baby be different, and struggle with something so very basic. Every time he takes steps on his own my eyes well up. I think I might just pass straight out the day he walks to me on his own. And all of this hard, hard work that he and I put into it, will be worth it. But right now it just kind of, sucks.
Paiton's a champ, of course. This kid was born amazing. She's such a cheerleader to her brother, and such a help to me. She's the most perfect kid. So helpful and kind. I wish I could give her more special attention, and I hope she knows she means the world to me. She's strong willed and stubborn, like both Matt and I. She does so well at school and is such an example to every kid she comes in contact with.
My kids make me more proud than I ever thought possible.

Because of all this, there's no way I could work outside the home, even if I wanted to. I always wondered as a Service Coordinator why SO many moms stayed home with their kids, even when it was obvious they desperately needed the money. There's really no other option. But as I said before, no one will pay our bills but us. So we make it work - I run my business that I started and it's getting quite successful. I'm very proud of it as I built it ground-up with no business knowledge whatsoever. I babysit a newborn for 11 hours a day 5 days a week for extra money. And I sell Scentsy. 

Why? 

Because my kids need me almost as much as I need them.

{{PS - thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who has supported my business this far. I do believe that Scentsy rocks and they take great care of their consultants. I was THIS close to winning an all expenses paid vacation this year. That's huge for how low on the totem pole I was. My business is growing well, and I can definitely tell the months I've had more time to put work into it. I truly appreciate all of you that have helped and supported me. Scentsy is a great product and, hello, smells DELIGHTFUL. ;) AND you're helping me build my business and raise my babies. 

THANK YOU.}}

As of late...

The Lockes. 

As of late.

We play with hedgehogs.

 Make cheese faces

 Bake pretzels with our boyfriend-nephews

 We went on a field trip with sister's school (more on that to come...)

 Lounged

Continue to be the sweetest kids ever

 Fed the birds on our shirt our sucker and then promptly fell asleep

 We've been really busy catching up on work

 And taking self portraits

 We wear our Mickey ears and make ridiculously cute faces

 Quinn picked out fabric he just HAD to have at the fabric store. This is a true story. He carried that bolt around the whole flippin store til we bought it to make him a blanket.

 We continue to be the coolest family on Earth.

 We snuggle

 And spend more time with hedgehogs

 We make sure our glasses are on our noses

 And be as sweet as pie

 We snuggle the dogs 

(Ok, well one of us does)

 And take them to the vet

 We went to the zoo with friends!

 And Paiton braved the giraffe slide. HALLELUJAH!

 Quinny spent time with his twin

 and checked out the lions

 We fed goats

 And sang (very dramatically) while baking cookies

 We braided hearts into hair for Valentine's day

 And partied hard. 

(Ok relax. It's a cider bottle. Don't hate because we're awesome)

 We did some more snuggling

 And continued to be the cutest baby in the history of the world

 Paiton assisted me on a photoshoot

 And we had blue skies

 We sewed blankets

 And insisted that all of our crib contents be carried around with us

 We took pictures of ourselves

We hung out with our twins again

 We gained a third child Monday-Friday 

  We hijacked husbands boxes of tennis stuff to send him pictures throughout the day and make him squirm

 And counted our toes over and over

 We missed sister when she had a slumber party and hugged for a looong time when we saw her

 We fed Tatum her bottles

 And took more self portraits

 We learned how to climb up on a kitchen chair and up onto the top of the kitchen table and say "cheese!" all in one day!

 We believe in child labor and making toddlers give us massages

 and snuggling with Uncle B

 We continue to snuggle constantly

 And had a field trip to the capitol, on which day we dressed ourselves :)

 We took baby baths

 And went to big Scentsy meetings

 We insist on singing brother lullabies with our guitar

 And sitting on top of the train table to play trains in the window

We went grocery shopping and HAD to have the car

 We went in Grandma and Grandpa's hot tub

Some of us for the first time:

 We ate ice cream cones

 and they were delicious

 We snuggled with Grandpa and cousin Ethan

 And made a trip to the park when it hit over 40* 

 We used Mommy's sunglasses as a spear to eat our chicken

 And played tennis with cousin Kylie

 We helped Daddy at work

 and relaxed in the car

 We laid in a pretty princess bed

 and Paiton created her name out of Play Doh all by herself!

 We had lazy mornings every now and then

That's my phone-picture update for now. I just deleted over 3,000 pictures from my phone, so be prepared for more. :)