"The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day."

To pass the time, James and I read The Cat in the Hat (his new favorite book) and then we played a little game called See how many times mom tells you to stay away from the hot stove before you put your entire hand down on the burner that she just used to cook your lunch!

Do brains go through growth spurts? I'm really waiting for James' to hit one.

See, just last week James and I had a very lengthy discussion about the stove and the dangers of it after he stuck a piece of paper on a hot burner and then brought it to me with burning pieces falling off.

Can it really all be summed up with "he's a boy?"

Now before you go thinking I'm a cruel unkind mother. I want you to know that I did cuddle and kiss and apply ice to his poor little burning hand. But, the whole time I was fighting the urge to just throw my hands up in the air and say " Well, this is what you get!"

At least there aren't any blisters this time. I'm actually becoming quite the burn expert!

Since you asked, Mom

I have been debating whether or not I really wanted to post these awful pictures of me in my Easter dress. I had pretty much decided on NO, but then my Mom asked in one of her comments what I am making for myself. I've actually tried making a few things since this dress but neither one turned out quite right. I'm finding it very tricky to adjust clothing when it is on me instead of on someone else standing in front of me.

So, this is the Easter dress I made for myself from drapery fabric. I realize that most of you reading this already saw me in it at church but for the few that haven't here it is.

Samm says...

"Hey Mom look at me. I can hang upside down from my legpits!"

I love that girl's mind!

How will our children remember us?

I found this great Ensign article today while I was preparing my lesson for Young Womens. I really needed it. You might too.

All Rollins!

Before I met Josh I can honestly say that I never once stopped at a gas station just to buy a drink. Actually, I don't think I ever went into a gas station to get a drink even if I was getting gas. Mostly because I'm not a big beverage person, but also partly because I grew up in Oregon where you don't pump your own gas so gas stations always gave me the creeps a little bit. Anyway...

Then I became a Rollins and learned that you don't go anywhere without first stopping to get a drink. A really big drink!

So after our trip to Lowe's this afternoon when Josh got in the right lane instead of the left I didn't even have to ask where he was going.

Even though he did surprise me by getting Slurpees instead of pop, you can see that the kids have taken to their heritage quite naturally.

And James got his summer haircut a little bit early this year because he kept complaining that he was too sweaty.

Well...that's just what a good Mom does.

It was beautiful today! So I decided to put away the sewing projects and spend some time outside with James.

After lunch I put Macy down for a nap and told James to get on his swim shorts. We sprayed the trampoline down with the hose and hopped on.

James thought it was very funny to watch me try and lay down while he was jumping. I also got a spray bottle and let him squirt away. I even allowed him to spray me when I got too dry and hot.

After a while though we were both still pretty sweaty so I let him go in and get us some Popsicles to cool us off from the inside. Unfortunately they were sugar free and not very good so he had to go back in for the fudgsicles.

It was really nice to spend some quality time with James. He even said "Wow Mom, your staying out here a long time with me today!"

He loved it so much that I think we might do it again tomorrow.

just stuff

I found my old old camera the other day hidden in the mess of James' room. I took pictures of one very cute baby covered in spaghetti. I sat down to post about my very cute baby and the classic spaghetti pictures and was quickly reminded why we bought the camera who's battery no longer works in the first place. So, no pictures

Instead I will tell you that you should check out my sister's craft blog and see the cute little blocks she made.

And if you haven't already, visit Joni's blog to enter her giveaway.

Now I'll go to bed and try to fall asleep in between bouts of coughing up my lungs.

Most people blame their moms...

But I'm going to blame my Dad for this one!

He was constantly telling me "You don't have to be like everyone else!"

Of course back then all I wanted was to be just like everyone else. I wanted to be smart and pretty like Anne, stylish and pretty like Danielle, athletic and pretty like Kate, creative and pretty like Jennifer, and just about anything I thought everyone else was that I was not.

It took meeting the right guy for me to really learn and believe that I am all those things. Well, athletic is still up in the air.

Anyway, only then did I start to understand the importance of what my Dad had been telling me all those years. I thought it was just his way of telling me not to drink and do all the stupid things that teenagers do. I didn't realize he was also telling me to find out who Sally is.

So, just who am I. Well, I'm a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a child of my father in heaven. Those things will never change. However, with each new stage of my life comes new experiences and a re-evaluation of me. My tastes and hobbies are constantly changing. I don't want to be the mom still wearing her clothes from the early 90's.

Now I find that where I used to crave "normalcy" I crave being different. I don't want to be the same as the next girl. In fact it kind of bugs me.

Don't get me wrong, I still need to be loved and accepted, I think we all do. I just don't want you to love me while wearing the same shirt.

OK, so the point of this whole long post is to blame my dad for my new found sewing obsession. I guess I have to blame Joni a little bit too. But, oh my, do I love to create things that are completely my own. It's so addicting. I can't get enough.

Here is my latest creation. A summer dress for Macy. Too bad she would not turn around for me. She pretty much did everything she could to make taking a picture of her impossible.

And just so you know. I was also told repeatedly...

1) Never spend more than you make.

2) A moment on your lips, forever on your hips.

Sound advice for anyone! Although I pretty much ignore #2.

ADD and mental strength

Does anyone else do this too?

You start out cleaning a room, say your four year old's bedroom that is so trashed it can only be rescued by a mom. Then when you go to throw away some garbage you realize the next day is trash day so you take the can out to the curb and collect all the bags that are sitting in the garage. Then you realize that the garage floor is covered in dirt, leaves, and those annoying helicopter seeds from the tree in the front yard so you start sweeping the floor. Then you remember that the front porch is also covered in those pesky little helicopter things so you sweep the front porch. While sweeping though you realize that the flower beds along the front walk are embarrassingly over run with weeds, so you abandon you sweeping and end up spending 3 hours weeding.

And the bedroom never got clean!

Anyone?

So, I will say this for myself. Even though I can't hardly stay focused on one task to save my life, I did show an incredible amount of self restraint when after only an hour of weeding the mail lady dropped by to deliver this book that I have been waiting for for over a month now, and instead of tearing open the box I left it sitting on the table and finished what I was doing.

I'm not going to lie. It was tough. But I knew that if I stopped to even just flip through the book I wouldn't be able to put it down and our front yard would still be a jungle.

Now, I'm very excited to start some fun sewing projects.

PS. This book if for beginners and has 23 patterns in it!

I miss my camera

I guess I should say I miss having a camera.

I'm still trying to decide if it's really worth paying $30 for a new battery when the camera itself was only $100. Because what I really want is a nice camera. Speaking of which, does anyone have any suggestions for me on what kind I should be looking at.

Anyway, I forgot to have my mother-in-law take pictures of Samm for me on Easter so, here are a few I took of her modeling the dress after I finished making it. I also made a little bolero jacket to go with it, but it wasn't done yet when I took the pictures.

I don't know where she gets her poses from, but they always crack me up.

Check out those guns!

Everyone's invited

Ahhh, young love!

Still no camera battery, but I do have something fun for you.

My sister Krista is getting married this summer and she just emailed me some of their engagement pictures. Aren't they cute?!!

Here's the fun part... All you Medfordites, can you name that strapping young man?? Really, it's fun, try and guess.

Scroll down for the answer.

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

And the answer is.....Kenny Johnson!

What?!!

Yep, that's really him!!

I know It's kind of crazy. They never dated in high school or were even friends for that matter, but they hooked up after their missions and now my sister is going to have Ryan Johnson as a brother in law. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one, but I am so happy for her. There are some dang cute kids in their future!

Today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow

This Saturday we went to an eggstravaganza where the kids got there faces painted, got to take only one ride down an enormous slide because it was a ridiculous $3 per ride and then raced to fill their baskets with eggs full of cheap crappy toys that I now have to dig out of every corner of the house and throw away. It was great. Unfortunately my camera battery has completely died and won't recharge so I have no pictures for you.

Instead, I thought I would share something with you that has really helped me out this last week. I'm hoping it will help you too.

While I was talking to my Mom last week she mentioned that she hadn't been able to read my blog for a while and had just gotten caught up and noticed that I seemed to be going through a rough patch.

So I told her about how I was struggling as a mom. How I actually wished one day that I didn't have to be a mom anymore and how scary that was. We talked about how I was dealing with things emotionally, physically, and spiritually. She had many words of wisdom for me. She is after all a mother of 7. What struck me the most and what has stayed with me all week though was when she told me to "live in the now"

Let me explain. Time frightens me. It pulls me in a million different directions and then looks me square in the face and laughs. By the time I sit down to eat breakfast I have already run over my list of folding laundry, reading scriptures, showering, putting dinner in the crock pot, paying bills, and on and on and my heart starts to pound because I don't know what to do first and what if I can't do them all in this small amount of time I have allotted myself. It's exhausting. Physically and emotionally.

So, "live in the now" she told me. Do one thing at a time and don't worry about what is coming next. If you can't fold the laundry right now because you have something else that needs to be done instead than forget about the laundry. You'll get to it when you can.

It's been hard. I still feel the clock staring at me but I have tried hard to push it away. And while I know this will be something I continue to work at, I have already noticed my days are smoother and I am less of the crazy psychopath mom that I usually am.

Spring has sprung

Check it out over here!