Share and share a bite

This is a common sight in our house, Dad eating ice cream out of the carton with a fork and three small children waiting for their turn to have a bite.

All we need now are three wagging tails.

Simple civility

"It is in the home that our behavior is the most significant. It is the place where our actions have the greatest impact, for good or ill. Sometimes we are so much 'at home' that we no longer guard or words. We forget simple civility. If we are not on guard, we can fall into the habit of criticizing one another, losing our tempers, or behaving selfishly. Because they love us, our spouses and children may be quick to forgive, but they often carry away in silence unseen injuries and unspoken heartache... When we feel anger or contention in our homes, we should immediately recognise what power has taken control of our lives and what Satan is endeavoring to accomplish. Solomon provided us with this wise formula: ' A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.' (Prov. 15:1) Our home should be a refuge where each member feels safe, secure, loved, and insulated from harsh criticism and contention that we so often encounter in the world."

I have no idea where I got this from, but I found it in my 'keepsakes' file and want my children to know how important it is to work on creating harmony in our homes and our lives. I have learned from experience in watching the atmosphere in my home change dramatically as I paid attention to what I was saying and how I was saying it, to my children. I am so sorry to them for the times I didn't work hard enough to choose my actions and words more carefully. I pray that our home will always be a safe, secure and loving home.

January 2006

Grammy has a very short list of things she hates in life and bananas might very well top that list. Jayce does not have a wide array of food choices, but I am always trying. So, imagine my surprise when today, as I cut up a bananas for Lainy I asked Jayce if he wanted a bite and he happily answered 'sure mom'. I was a bit startled but went with it, and stuck it in his mouth. I have never seen a banana shoot out of someones mouth with such force and so fast. It must have hit the floor 4 or 5 feet in front of him. I laughed of course, and then he started to spit. And spit and spit until he gagged. He gagged, I am assuming until he was sufficiently satisfied that every morsel was gone. Your Grammy would be so proud.

Playing in pecans

Shelli and I headed to a nearby park today to get the kids out of the house and out of energy. It was in a beautiful neighborhood surrounded by pecan trees. We got to walk through one of the houses Matt was working on, and I will forever remember it as the castle house. Doors disguised as bookshelves, a washer and dryer for every bedroom, a butler's pantry, a whole back wall that slides open to the backyard, not to mention all of the cabinetry and crown moulding...

The park was fun, the boys played a little football, the little ones did a little flirting, and Shelli and I got in an adult conversation!

Thanks Shelli!

Voices in my head

A few weeks ago...

Lainy: "Dad? How come my voice is copying me?"

Today...

Lainy: "Mom, watch me while I talk in my head"

Adult owie

I had this on a scrap of paper and wanted to make sure it was documented properly.

2/16/06

Well, you know Jayce and his little comments- today's was especially humorous. He had been out back with Jason this evening while he burned some weeds. Jayce got scared and ran inside complaining he had an 'owie' which of course, he did not. In effort to explain just what an owie was, I leaned over to show him a pimple on my face, before I could explain that it was my owie, Jayce got a terrified look on his face and said "Mom!! Your-your-your face! Your face is breaking off!" I had to laugh.

Crayola at it's best

Themed costumes have become an obsession with me the last couple of years. I ran out of time to paint the wagon like a crayola box... Thanks Heather for the great idea of the birthday hats wrapped in fabric!!

Still holding tight in first place in my love of costumes is the patriotism we had last year...

Oh Crap.

A quote I love and recently ran across...

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says 'Oh crap, she's awake'

Words to live by

"Better a nudge now, than a wedge later"

Spoken by my insightful husband today after I thanked him for a 'nudge' in reminding me that something I was thinking of doing was unnecessary.

Just be happy

"Cultivate a cheerful attitude and the ability to laugh, even at yourself. A sour face and grumpy disposition are truly a gruesome burden to impose on others. Get a handle on your moods. Learn how to act better than you feel. Some might ask, 'Isn't that hypocritical?' Certainly not. You might not be able to choose how you feel, but you can choose how you act." - Elder Eric B. Shumway

Thank you Mom and Georgette. Two women in my life who live with this kind of attitude and are a great example to me.

Normalcy

I think many of us have heard Lainy's 'accent' by now.

(cracker=crackow stairs=stows car=cow)

People notice it more these days as she gets older, and Lainy is beginning to catch on. Just this morning she was saying 'apple juice' over and over, which happens to be a phrase she does say well. But then she said "Yup, I speak nowmally"

I am woman, hear me roar.

I have been putting off blogging my camping trip and if I don't do it now I will never document it. Here's the bulleted version.

Camping in payson with 2 amazing women and 12 children

Wood. Chopped at endlessly, sword fighting, timber!, and balanced on

2, yes TWO taranchulas

2 trailers (thank you!!)

only having to pack food and clothing (again, thank you!)

walking sticks (check out Jayce's walking log)


being able to bundle up

And the reason we left a day early.... BEES! The kids had a great time even in the campers avoiding the bees.

And the best thing about camping? My super happy kids!

Every night when we sit down for dinner, each person at the table takes turns telling what the best part of their day was. Tonight:

• Mom- I got to watch the entire movie Kate and Leopold (love!) while sewing costumes.
• Jayce- Seeing mom after school
• Lainy- Eating

Before dad could say what the best part of his day was Jayce blurted out, 'Please don't say kissing' He has a newfound annoyance with us kissing.

Cinderella

I was sweeping the floor this morning when Cinderella taught me a valuable lesson. Aside from the obvious following orders from a grumpy stepmother without ripping her own hair out, and trying to find something nice to say about lucifer the cat, and making little clothes for mice, I learned I have a long way to go in learning to be unselfish.

First, when her fairy godmother was bibbity bobity booing, she was so humble about not having a dress to wear and kept quiet about it until her fairy noticed. That would have been the first thing I asked for. Then as she realizes it's midnight, and after the dream come true evening and meeting the man of her dreams, she apologizes to all her little animal friends for making them run and stress because she lost track of the time. I would have been whining it was all over too fast, not worrying about my friends and their sore feet. And as if that isn't enough to make her your daughters role model, after she calms down, she sits and talks about how wonderful the evening was and how she was grateful for even just one night. Then her friends point out to her that she still has the glass slipper. She sighs and thanks her fairy godmother for the gift to remember the evening by! Seriously, I would have been sobbing, begging my fairy godmother to give me another chance! Who wants a stupid shoe made out of glass when you know this lady has the ability to make all your dreams come true??

Still still still

There is nothing like a morning filled with the stress of life and chaos, being replaced by the quiet moments spent with a child. My morning was one such as this. The never ending list of cleaning chores, children playing, fighting, yelling, and running, bills to be paid, finances to stess over and more cleaning. Jared wanted in on half of my earphones so we sat down on the bed to listen together. "still, still, still" was the song being played by Jon Schmidt. The peace quickly overtook the chaos and all was well again. Blessings of the highest quality.

Leading and guiding

2 days can be long

I am sure that you all feel the same as I by now, that my posts are getting a bit repetitive... But for the sake of teaching my children later in life what monsters they had the ability to be, I will post another...

2 days. What can you fit into 2 days and still keep the sanity of a mother?

• Poppy diaper removed and strewn about the house.
• New diaper removed and pee on the floor.
• 10 DVDs removed from their case and placed into pee on floor.
• cushions removed form couch and chocolate milk squeezed out of box onto couch.
• Water dispenser on fridge pushed until large lake is located on kitchen floor.
• Water filled in cup and dumped while running through kitchen and living room.
• A 6 year old requiring an enema
• Finally loading children in van to take 6 year old to school....

The van was dead.

As I drove the kids packed like sardines into Jason's school commuter car I asked for silence.

Lainy began to sing... Onward ever onward as we glory in his name, onward ever onward as we glory in his name, forward pressing forward, as a triumph song we sing, God our strength will be press forward ever called to serve our King!

Jelly Bean Chronicles

We knew where she hid them. 3rd shelf up in the cupboard by the fridge. She just never gave us enough it seemed. I can't remember who decided it was a good idea to start sneaking a few extra jelly beans that day, but I can imagine I deserve the brunt of the blame. I'm sure mom knew from the beginning, mom's just seem to see everything. When she called Julie and I into the kitchen we knew we were had. But what came next was pure genius, and seemed a delightful solution to us. She took us to the nice dining room table, sat us down, plopped the entire bag of jelly beans, (which was if I remember correctly, huge) and instructed us to eat them all.

I am sure we must have looked at one another in silence not wanting to disturb the momentary insanity of my mother's choice of discipline. And we began to eat them. I remember requiring, no allowing Julie to eat all of the black ones, since they were the best ones. And somewhere between shoving as many as we could into our mouths, and trying to pass off as many to the other as possible, we realized the brilliance of my mother's plan.

I don't know about Julie, but I couldn't eat jelly beans for years after that day. I learned a valuable lesson. "Don't steal. You'll get way more than you bargained for." And of course, that a mother is all knowing.

Floor flying

Classroom chatter

When your small and in grade school you tend to have (at least I did) a lot of anxiety. Spending 2 hours the night before setting out everything you will wear the next day, right down to your socks, fretting whether or not the teacher will call on me the one time I don't know the answer, praying they don't play dodge ball for P.E. that day, or ever. I got a chance to work in Jayce's class last week and as soon as I walked in, I actually felt those familiar feelings returning. But this time I was feeling them for someone else. As I was stapling papers, I got to take in the classroom setting and watch the kids in action. It was mathematics, and they were learning a new concept. She showed how to do it on the chalkboard a few times, and then picked a stick out of a can with a child's name on it to come up and solve the problem for the class. I felt myself stiffen. Of course, I quickly reminded myself there was no chance of me being called up there and went back to stapling. Then I heard it. "Jayce, come show the class how to solve this at the board." I heard a choking noise escape from my throat. I looked behind me to see an enormous smile plastered on the front of Jayce's face. I have a feeling that even if he had messed the problem up, he wouldn't have cared! How cool it must be to know at such an early age, that it's perfectly acceptable to make a mistake. Some of life's biggest lessons can be learned from a child.