Stephen and Korbi Ashton Family

Our job that Stephen gives us in the morning is to water the flowers in the back yard. He does the front before he leaves for work and Beck and I do the back. I have a love/hate relationship with this job. If I don't do it Stephen is disappointed and I feel crappy. I do love to go outside and be in the garden, but at this stage Paisley is kind of too little to stay out very long because with Moses Lake weather I never know what to expect. And then once we are all done Beck will never come back inside! It's like torture dragging him in and he's screaming and the whole neighborhood thinks that he is being beaten or something. I am so excited for when we finish the other gate, then he can be outside and I don't have to follow him around as much.

Paisley woke up from her newborn slumber last night. She was up off and on most of the night and I was like, "well, this is it...." so this morning I was pretty grumpy, but I've been hanging in there. It's been nice to not have to go anywhere really pressing, but I have been out a lot. It's just easier with Beck. Although yesterday we were out in Othello all day and my relatives were probably hoping that I hadn't come to visit. Let's just say that Beck can be something of a brute. He not only bites now, but hits and pinches. It's great fun and I get a kick out of it. (sarcasm) It's actually quite frustrating to always be apologizing and trying to get him to understand. I've tried most tactics, he just seems to not care and he gets so wound up that it's fun for him to chase and be a bully. I always try and take him out of the situation or put him in a timeout. He goes out and says he's sorry, "dorry," but then it just starts all over again. So like I said before it's great fun and we love it here at the Ashton household. But we do love our little Beck the biter/pincher/hitter. :)

I have a lot of stuff, it's like in my blood. It's everywhere. I buy decorations, I make them, I love pictures on the walls, I buy birthday presents to have on hand and I accumulate yard sale stuff in a corner of the spare room which is slowly taking it over. The art in my home is pictures of family and kids. I am having a tough time deciding which pictures of Beck to switch out for Paisley's pics because there really is no more wall space to add more frames. I also have a lot of plants. They usually sit in the kitchen window, but it really looks like a jungle over there, so this morning I have been walking around trying to put these plants in different parts around the house and still be where they can get appropriate amounts of sunlight. I guess if they all die, I'll know that I chose the wrong place. But as I was walking around trying to find places for these plants I always get bugged by all the stuff that I have, so I start switching it around and taking stuff up to the yard sale pile, then as I am doing this I see the dust that has accumulated since the last time my sister helped me dust. Then I move onto the bathrooms and the floors that have not been mopped. And then as this cleaning depression takes over me because I never do it, I pull out the paints to paint with Beck. :) I'm hoping that everyone has this problem...

I just would much rather play and paint and make messes, but I want my house to magically clean itself. I keep the wash done, there aren't really dishes in the sink a whole lot and I keep it picked up rather well and I make Beck help, which sometimes he replies, "no, Mama" that means, are you crazy? you do it! :) Anyways, my house is never really all that "messy" it's just never really all that "clean." I need to start my rotation again, Monday: bathrooms, Tuesdays: floors, etc. Yeah, wish me luck on that. And when you come over to visit, don't look too closely at the floors, okay?