The journey

Lately, I have been thinking about the journey that I'm on. It has been such an amazing journey, this journey that I call my life. It's been so unexpected in a wonderful way.

If I could have had a sneak peak into my life when I was a teenager, I wouldn't have believed what I saw. I never pictured myself as a wife, mother, and stay at home mom. When I thought of how my life would look this is defiantly not what I imagined. You see, I thought that women who stayed at home with their children were just doing it because they had nothing better to do. It never entered my mind that I would stay at home with my children as a choice. That it is a real job, the most important job that I can ever imagine.

I was so different in my 20's. My life and focus was on me. I received a Master's degree, I traveled extensively through Mexico and South America, and made a life for me, about me. Thank goodness this road in my journey changed. God had a better plan in mind for me but first, I had to learn to stop focusing on me.

After I had Gabriel, I was determined to continue my life as I knew it. I was going to continue being a social worker and living my life for me. Every morning, I rushed off to work determined to control my destiny and not give into my motherly instincts. You see, whenever I dropped Gabe off at daycare every cell in my body screamed, don't leave him. And every morning, I left him because my journey was going to be about me and what I wanted at that time.

God had a different road for me to travel and since I wouldn't give in, he took control. Owen arrived. God took the control away from me when working didn't make finacial sense anymore. I had to stay home but, I continued to fight against this change. I didn't feel important as a stay at home mom. There was no salary, no compensation, no tangible rewards. My journey was about me and staying at home didn't satisfy that inner need for attention. I was cleaning, changing diapers, wiping noses, pushing swings, reading books, picking up toys, making macaroni and cheese, and taking kids to preschool. None of these things were about me and I didn't like it.

So, I took control. I started doing all sorts of things for myself. I joined a mom's group and became the Moppetts director. This gave me all sorts of attention and made me feel important. It also took hours of my time. Other things suffered. Mainly my home, time with Bryan, and time with the kids. I also was involved in several other activities that took hours of my time each day. And, if I wasn't doing any of these things, I was with my friends. We would have play dates and I would get adult time with them. This always satisfied that need to feel important.

Again, God had a different plan. A different road for me to travel. He took control and I had no other choice but to surrender to his plan. He moved me away from my family, my friends, and my busyness to a place called Thornton, CO.

This detour has not been easy but it has put me in the exact place that I need to be. In this place, I give my time and my life to my husband and my children. This is what makes me happy. This is my purpose. This brings me great joy!

Today, I am so thankful for this road that I am on. Today, I have surrendered myself to this part of my journey. Today, by choice, I loved my husband and my children with everything inside of me. No distraction, no detours, no u turns only pure love.

Mess

Today we had Gabe to school at 7:30 am. After the trip to the school, we came home and read books, played, and made a mess in the living room. Kids are so messy!!

We picked up Gabriel at 10:30 and went to the library. We picked out books, played, and met some new friends.

We came home at noon and and made lunch. Chicken fingers, green beans, and apples. YUMMMMMM.

Then we went swimming. Gabe stayed under the water the whole time with his snorkle. I didn't even see him the entire hour that we were swimming. That kid loves to be in the water. Owen for the first time put his head under the water. I was very proud of him. Eli chased the ball around the baby section of the pool. We were all wet and tired. 2 out of 3 fell asleep on the way home.

Who has time to pick up this messy living room? We sure didn't have time today. We were to busy!

Boys and Trees

I really don't think that I need to say much about this subject. Boys and climbing trees go together like peanut butter and jelly. This particular tree is on our porch of our little condo.

When Gabe wants some alone time, he will climb the tree and move the chair so that Owen can't come up. Owen cries and Gabe yells down. "I just need some time to myself." Owen just can't understand this and cries until he comes down. There is not much alone time or time to yourself when you little brother stands at the bottom of the tree crying until you come down.

How to eat a choclate donut

Grammy and Gramps came to visit us this weekend. One of the best parts of the visit was the chocolate donuts .Gramps calls it "huntin food". Owen lives for "huntin food" and he has perfected the technique of eating it. I felt the need to share this technique for future reference.

Place the donut face side up and start from the center. Take a bite of the frosting and sprinkles. The trick is, don't eat very much of the cake part. Just he frosting and sprinkles. Eat around the whole donut. When your done set the left over part on the table and let everyone know "I don't eat the udder part".

Oh, the joys of childhood.

My breath is whining?

Owen has entered the land of meltdowns. I know that every kids goes through this stage. I just never thought that my sweet little Owen would ever throw these kinds of fits. It's hard to believe that my perfect little angel can turn into the Tasmanian Devil.

Every mom knows and understands these fits. Some of the symptoms are screaming, hitting, laying on the floor, face turning red, and spitting. These fits never make sense and even if you tried to appease your fit throwing child they would find something else to throw a fit about. In their world, it is time to have a good fit and the best thing to do is ignore it.

This particular fit throwing morning was beautiful. The perfect morning to ride your bike and go pick your brother up from school or so I thought. I could tell that Owen was tired, but I wanted him to get some fresh air. So, I told him he had to ride his bike to go and pick up Gabe. In retrospect......big mistake.

From the moment he mounted his bike he was crying. He was riding his bike and screaming. I kept asking him "Owen, what's wrong, why are you crying?" There really wasn't a good answer. He just kept saying "my breath is whining". My breath is whining? what does that mean? I'm not sure I will ever really know but in Owens world it means, I'm having a meltdown.

With my great mommy wisdom, I thought, I will take care of this. I have to stop this fit. "Owen", I said "if your breath doesn't stop whining you won't be able to ride your bike to Gabe's school". I thought for sure he would straighten up. He loves to ride his bike. Boy, was I wrong. I had to follow through with my threat so we parked his bike beside a tree and left it behind.

Man oh man, this just increased the meltdown by about 50 notches. Now he was screaming at the top of his lungs "I want my bike, I want my bike". Decision time. We had 10 minutes to get to Gabe's school. Not enough time to go back and get the bike or to return the fit thrower back home. We had to just keep walking. Screaming child and all.

I just want to apologize to my mother who thought she was going to take a nice relaxing walk to Gabe's school. Owen screamed all the way to the school and all the way home. When we did return to his bike, he didn't want it. There was no way around this meltdown.

I always judged these types of fits until I became a mother. I thought, that mother should really get control of her child. If that was my child, he wouldn't be screaming at the top of his lungs. At this stage in the game, I have accepted these fits as a part of life and I try and ignore them as much as possible.

Now,we have a new expression around out house. When someone is crying all you have to do is ask "Is your breath whining?" It puts a smile on every one's face. I suppose that everyone breath whines at some point.

mmmmmmmmmmm

Everyday little Eli's personality is getting bigger and bigger. He is starting to have favorite things, laugh at certain jokes, and say little words.

His new favorite sound/word is MMMMMMM. He does this whenever he's hungry or sees a food that looks really yummy. The first couple of time he said it, I didn't connect what he was doing. I thought he was just making noises. Just the other day when he was sitting in my lap looking at some choclate and saying MMMMMMMMM, I knew he was actually saying, "mom, that looks really good, can I have some?"

Today he crawled up to me as I was making breakfast, locked eyes with me and said "mmmmmmmmmm". And, this afternoon he saw Owen with a rice crispie treat and his MMMMMMMM got really LOUD. Enough said, in the high chair you go and let's bring on the food. This communication is so much better then crying!

Here is another favorite activity. Driving. He loves to sit with me in the front seat of a car and drive. He gets the biggest smile on his face. He also has a little toy with a steering wheel that has become his favorite. When he sits on the floor driving it he even makes a car noise. Is this just bred into boys? I'm sure that I never taught any of them to make car noises and all three played this game. How do they learn this stuff? It's just another wonder in my land of boys.

Just two friends

All you need for a play date is a hill, skateboard, and a good snack to share after playing outside all afternoon. This is Jake, Owens friend that he met at Gabe's school. Jake has a sister who also goes to kindergarten. Everyday after we drop Gabe off at school, Owen and Jake play together at the school playground.

Today Jake came over for a play date. They had so much fun.

Mary's Lake, Estes Park

Three little boys. 6 fish. Fresh air, sunshine, and the mountains. Guess what the Dahl boys got to do his weekend?

Gabe is a very serious fisherman. This little boy can sit and fish for hours. It's amazing.

Owen is also quite the fisherman. His favorite part is getting to hold the fish after it's caught. The only problem is trying to convince him that we have to clean it in order to eat it. Taking his fish and cleaning them always causes a meltdown. When I cooked his fish for lunch the next day he was not very happy with me but he did clean his plate so we're making progress.

Eli isn't quite ready to fish but he sure did love being out with his brothers. He crawled around in the sand putting rocks in his mouth all afternoon. If he wasn't so darn cute, I wouldn't know what to do with him.

Child's play

Many hours are spent playing at the park since our move to Thornton. We have discovered many new parks to play and explore.

Here are the skills that have been mastered since moving to Colorado. Monkey bars, self pumping on a swing, and going down the large twirly slide without help. Not to mention, riding our bikes without training wheels.

My boys need to run. My boys need to climb. My boys need to explore. There are some afternoons I think, let's just stay home today, get some things done around the house, and let Eli take his nap. These are the days that I want to pull my hair out. By the end of these afternoons, I wonder why I torture myself. I don't have nice quiet little girls who like to color and read books. My little ones need to be outside burning off energy so we can go home tired and ready for bed. Everyday I am keeping them busy by allowing them to just be boys. Run, play, yell, scrape their knees, find bugs, swing, and whatever else that boys do.

By the end of the day I always think....have I ever been this tired? Then I think about all the things that we did during the day and I realize that I can rest and relax later because we are having so much fun playing and growing. Right now, there is no time to sit around. We have boy stuff to do.

Time in Laramie

The past two weekends have been full of football games, play with cousins, and hunting. The weather was beautiful in Laramie and we were able to spend time with family and do some of things we love. What could be better then Wyoming Cowboy football and elk hunting? I'm not quite sure that my boys realize how lucky they are to be able to do so many cool things.

Here are the boys playing in the park behind Tyler and Austin's house.

Mr. Fix It

The past couple of weeks Owen and Eli have really started playing together while their big brother is at school. This morning, Owen asked me to bring Eli in the kitchen so they could "fix stuff" together. They love getting out my screw driver set and fix their toys. They are very cute together and are starting to form a true brother bond.

Eli is so proud of himself for fixing his toy. New batteries were added and it plays music which he loves.

Here they are enjoying a snack together.

asleep at the wheel

Our mornings start early. We are up and out of the house by 7:20. I really like that we get an early start to our day. By 8:30 we have ridden our bikes to school, dropped Gabe off, and played in the playground before returning home. I am not much of a morning person but, have learned to enjoy my time in the early mornings. Gabriel has always been a morning kid and this morning schedule works well for him also.

How I miss those days that I would have Gabe and Owen lay down in the afternoons and take a nap. I would usually nap with the boys or would take time to get some things done. Those days are long gone. Gabe and Owen absolutely won't hear of taking a nap. I can't even bribe them to take one. Little Eli has to catch is nap whenever he can. Mostly, in the stroller or in the car. But, there are those days that sleep overtakes them where ever they are. I can't force them to take a nap but sometimes their little bodies just can't take it anymore and they fall asleep in the strangest places.

I remember when Gabe was about 2 years old he fell asleep on poor Bridger. Here is Owen after a day at the park. He walked in the house, laid down in the kitchen and fell asleep. Eli fell asleep while playing with me on the couch the other day and I snapped a picture.