" I Wana win!"

My friend and I walked on the equestrian trail this morning.  She is very adventurous.  Me not so much.  I should have enjoyed the walk much more than I did, but I allowed myself to be too distracted from all of the little critter holes along the path.  I really do hate when things jump out at me.  More of that huge sudden burst of adrenaline.  The one where it instantly makes all of my sweat glands start to drain, including the ones in my eyebrows.  Thankfully, nothing did jump out.

I brought with me my new food storage weights.  I had a great idea last Monday after I was putting away some cleaned out empty juice containers.  They have some nice grip handles on them and I thought how these would be really nice to convert to weights.

So yesterday I opened up some of my cans of dried beans and filled those empty bottles up.  From the way my arms felt afterward I would say they will be an effective tool in toning my arms back up.  I am going to try to figure out a way to convert the other 2 bottles I have into leg weights.  Maybe I can find some heavy duty velcro and strap them on.

I scored big this morning at the grocery store.  I have been waiting for months for bacon to go on sale.  Like 1.88 or less type of sale.  Nada, until this morning.  I happened to stop in the lunch meat department to pick up some cold cuts that were on sale but they didn't have any smoked ham left.  "Oh well" I thought.  I have learned that most things rotate every 12 weeks to go on sale.  No big deal.  I moved on and saw the sign.

Cue angels singing and there it was.  Is this true?  Am I really seeing a sign that says that this16 oz package of  beautiful farmland bacon is on a special sale for just today for only  .99 cents.  I grabbed all of them except for one.  I didn't want to be too greedy.  The sell by date was for today.  I just stick them in my freezer anyway, plus they all looked fresh and well.  I love a great deal.  The only bummer, if there could be one, is that I had just gotten a coupon in the circular for $2.00 off a package of this particular brand of bacon.  I had the prompting to grab the thing but got distracted before I left.  A learning moment again.



Sera came home today with some new things she bought from the book fair. ( with her own money)  I guess she really wanted to get the same thing Emma bought yesterday.  Unlike Emma, this turned Sera into a diva of sorts.  She was all sorts of sassy tonight.  It earned her an early royal spot in her bed.

 This was taken over 6 years ago when Emma got into my mascara

Emma walked in the door from school and had bright pink eyeshadow on.  It matched her bright pink shirt and then later her sleeping beauty dress up dress grandma made for her.  She later added the bright pink lipstick.  I am just curious what the makers of these sorts of things are thinking when they create such a product.  I know...

"George how about we put the brightest of bright colors that scream hoochie momma to all the world!"

"By golly Fred, you are a genious!"

Sally tries to pipe in "Um, guys I don't think that Moms...."  rudely cut off

"Fred, I think this will be a big seller!"

Unfortunately for Emma I think her eyelids will be hot pink for a while. 

I made bread this morning.  6 loaves.  Too bad I accidentally put 3 tablespoons of salt in it instead of the 2 it calls for.  I should know better than to walk away to help a little one when I am in the middle of measuring.  I didn't realize until after the fact, when the loaves came out rather small and then I tasted them and thought that they were extremely salty.  Then I thought back of when I was measuring and realized my mistake.  I hate wasting, but I  can't stand the flavor even more.  Baking will be on my agenda for tomorrow.

Lucy is  reading now.  It is always a thrill for me to see our children learn and get it.  She has been reading these "Bob books fun!" books.  Great beginner books.  Eliza likes when she reads them to her. 

Tuesday nights, for a little more than a month now, are my volleyball nights.  It is my outlet.  There are 6 teams.  We are the "new team."   All of the other teams seem to have played together for several years.  We seem to not win very much.  Out of all of the games we have played we have only won 2 matches.  They happened to be against the team who when we first played them, decided to be very strict and unfair about the net rules.

If you ever wanted to see older women get fuming upset, then you should have been there that night.  I thought one of my teammates was going to punch the other players. I really could have cared less.  I mean really, I have enough things to worry about, I am not going to freak out about net or line calls.  We lost to them, but the following 2 times we've played them, we crushed them.  Sweet revenge...... or something.  I don't know how we will do tonight.  It seemed like last week we started to get into a nice groove.  I hope it continues because it sure is a lot more fun to win than lose.

Well I am off to hopefully  help our team win some games.

Last week on one of the teams we played against, had a former college volleyball player.  I felt like doing what that guy is doing shielding himself from the hurt.  She is really good and every time she goes up to spike I want to make a slow mo "mmmmmmmmwwwwwwwwaaaaa" sound, and then hide of course because as soon as she hits the ball it literally goes straight down...fast!

Oh The Excitement!

The best Easter picture we were able to get of the kids before church. I love Daniels smile.

.

It was great to start the day out with a nice brisk walk this morning.  My friend and I talked about preparedness and children.  Love it!  When I got home I switched laundry and put in my 3 load for the day. I love my Mondays!

Recently I have had to come up with creative ways to divert Eliza's attention from Daniel.  She seems to like to smoother him with kisses and very tight squeezes.  Occasional pile drives occur as well.  In an effort to protect Daniel on Mondays when I am folding laundry I bring Eliza in with me.  I wanted to test her ability to remember. I must say I was shocked a little when I first pulled out an article of clothing from the dryer and asked her who's it was, and she easily told me.  So now that is our new game we play on Monday's together.  "Whose clothes are these?"

Lucy and Kady wanted to play matching games and old maid for our "homework" this morning.  Lunch was not very succesful.  I tried serving leftover noodles from last night but they mostly complained about it.  They did eat strawberries so at least they had something.

This was taken last month

We filled the water table up in the afternoon and the girls had a blast using their imaginations.  Eliza again sat in it and was sopping wet.  She came in without me realizing and went to sit on the bar stool and literally made a big sloosh sound with her diaper.  I brought her back outside to dry off.

Emma had garden club today after school.  It is such a great idea to me to do with kids.  They have planted a "salsa garden", "cactus garden" and a "vegatable soup garden"

Next week they will be having a party and will have samplings of the products.  I am excited to try it out.
Emma also decided to buy several things at their book fair today, with her own money.  I was unaware that she had intentions to do so.  Sera came home with a cute little tiny jeweled notebook.  I asked her where she got it from and she told me Emma had bought it for her.  She was excited because Emma told her she had another surprise for her once she got home from garden club.

Sera was so excited to see what it was.  When Emma got home she pulled out this large poster of a little puppy with a pink bow in it's hair.  Sera was beyond elated.  Emma also purchased this, how to be a star beauty book.  In my former mother life I most likely would have poo-pooed on her purchases, but have learned since that sometimes it is best to put your personal feelings aside and enjoy the moment.  I know I am a late bloomer.  It was a joy for me to watch all of the girls be excited and to watch Emma beam as she felt so happy inside to have shared with others what she had bought.

The girls played dress up and wanted to do a fashion show but we ran out of time tonight.  Another night I suppose.  Emma also got another free little puppy poster, becasue as she said "I got more than $10 of stuff" She decided to give that to Lucy.  Emma told us several times how good she felt for sharing.  That makes me happy, real happy!

Here are the girls doing a photo op after Emma dolled them up

We enjoyed  delicious bake potato bar for dinner.  Lucy made a huge mess putting her's together jsut the way she wanted.  We always say "It's okay to make a mess, you just need to clean it up when you are done."  So she did.  Kady was sad that she didn't get to put her potato together so I told her that if she ate what was on her plate then she could have some more and she could fix it herself.  She ate very fast so she could do that.

I was in charge of the treat tonight for Family home evening (FHE).  My sister gave me a great suggestion to make chocolate jello with cool whip mixed in and then layer it with oreos.  Super easy and everyone enjoyed it.  Emma was in charge of activity.  She chose to do a fire drill and talked to us about what to do in case of a fire.  We decided where we are to meet if our home was on fire.  She was very thorough.  Sera was in charge of lesson and she talked about being kind and used Emma as an example.

Sera showing off some more.  She was waving her hands around and speaking in a British accent.

I love it when everything seems to be going right and good.  I don't know what other homes are like but if they are anything like ours we go through ebbs and flows of wonderfulness and then down right blah.  Right now is the time where everything just seems to go just right and then something snaps and then the  kids will seem like all they do is tattle tale and complain and want to hurt each other.  I seem to be less patient and kind myself during those times.

 Jared's Grandma came down Easter weekend with his aunt.  Daniel enjoyed talking with her and getting lots of kisses from her too.

I have learned that it is just the nature of our lives.  I feel that those times when it all seems hard and frustrating are the times we can either learn and grow or just give up and feel defeated.  Of course sometimes it may feel as if it would be best to just give up, but I believe that it is not in our innate nature as women to give up, but to pick ourselves up off the ground (sometimes literally) and get back to work.  That's the trick to figure out how to get up and get back to work, to reach beyond our own abilities and trust God in knowing what is best for us and then doing.  A wise person once said we should "Go and do, not sit and stew."

"Little Hero's"

Last night as my husband and I sat on the very hard metal chairs for nearly 2 hours, we wanted to make sure we got the soft seats for today's 2 hour meeting for Stake conference.  We thought people would be as passionate about getting the soft seats as we were, so Jared rode his bike with Sera in the trailor, up to the church to ensure comfortable seats.  I guess people did not share the same idea, because when they got there around 8am there was only one other person there.  The tech guy.  The good news, we got the nice comfortable seats we wanted, and we now know when we need to get there to get them.  Bad news, Jared and Sera waited nearly 2 hours until we came.

This picture was taken August of 2005, right before we moved to Nebraska.  My dear friend came over to let us love on their new baby girl.  We were able to get a picture just in time before Sera started shoving the baby away, "I am done!" is what she was trying to say.

Conference was great!  Well, at least what I was able to get from it with having 6 small children with us.  Eliza enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with the couple behind us and then alternating leaning as forward as she could in the pew in front of us to turn her head to get the people's in front of us attention. 

About half way through, I had the thought of "It is so nice that the children have been behaving so well."

Just before we stood to sing the intermediate hymn the kids started nit picking at each other and Eliza did her classic "NOOOO STOOOOP IT!" high pitch scream, whilst Jared would immediately put his hand over her mouth to muffle the scream.  2 of the kids left just before that song to go to the bathroom and upon returning, as we were singing the song, decided to stand up on the bench to sing the song or to poke a sibling.  It is odd to me why a 9 year old would feel compelled to do that, but to each their own I suppose. 


I quickly corrected their behavior  yeah scratch that.  Who can ever control their  kids when you really want them to behave a certain way. But if I do say so myself they really did do well for being little.  The older girls even shared what they learned.

That is another thing I am always fascinated with.  That a young person who seems as if they have no clue on what is going on around them can grasp and pay attention and give a full detailed description of what they learned.  It does help me to realize that our children really do hear us and are learning, even if it may not seem like it.  If they got just one thing I consider that a success.

A minor mishap....
Emma was upset that I took the book she was reading away from her toward the end of the meeting.  Sorry, sweet child, but when you get upset with  2 and 3 year old's  for touching you when you are "trying to read", it means it is time for you to have a break from the book....annnnnddd sulking about it does not get you your book back (.) !

We had lunch and then the miracle happened.  Every single person in this home took a nap at the same time.  What universe are we on.  The stars must have been in alignment or something. I awoke first.  I had about 30 minutes to myself.  I got some dinner stuff prepped and talked with a few people on the phone.

I was happy to get a call from a new friend.  She recently lost her father.  She is the only child.  Her father and her were close.  Anyway she has been going through the mourning phase and it has been hard, as you can imagine.  Before he passed we would walk together in the mornings.  Just before her father passed ,and since then, we have not been walking.  I have missed that, but I knew she needed the time to process and mourn her loss.  I told her that when she was ready to let me know.  She called me today to let me know that she was ready.  I am so elated that we will be walking again in the mornings.  She is just such a delight to be around and it is a great way to start my day.

One by one peoples started waking up.  Each came in with a smile and a "Hi Mom!"  I love that, because it does not always happen that way.  Sometimes when they wake up, you almost wish you would have skipped the nap, and taken the person you would have had, come 4 o'clock because they would have seemed more manageable.  So I am grateful that all was well on that front.

I started getting dinner ready.  Breaded pork chops were on the menu tonight with fresh peas and carrots, noodles with salt and pepper butter and a little cream, watermelon, and applesauce.  It all turned out so yummy for me.  The older girls and Jared were very complimentary and I always appreciate that.  Everyone cleaned up dinner while I got Daniel down for the night.

When I was done we watched  our Sunday movie.  A little background on this.  Back in February I thought that it would be nice to give some incentive to being reverent during our services at church.  My proposal was that if they got through the whole meeting without getting any warnings then they could watch the movie and have as much carmel popcorn as they want. 1 warning- small bowl of popcorn and watch movie, 2 warnings- no popcorn, yes watch movie, and 3 warnings- no popcorn and no movie.  It has worked out so far.  We watch classics.  Like Fiddler on the Roof, The Other Side of Heaven (thanks to this one, Lucy in particular, will burp after every meal to thank me for a delicious meal), Gigi, Tyler a real hero, etc.

So the caramel popcorn was made and it was movie time.  We had 3 spills of popcorn before the movie even started.  Probably within minutes of each other too.  It was funny.

Tonight we watched a movie I DVR(ed) from BYU television.  Actually a lot of the movies we watch have been recorded from there.  The title "Little Hero's"  Such a cute film.  Before the movie was done I came upstairs to change Eliza's diaper so I didn't catch the ending.  When the kids came up, Sera came and stood by me.  She seemed sad about something, so I asked what what the matter.  She started crying.  She told me how sad she was that the girl's dog died at the end.  Moments like these I cherish, and they are a great reminder that underneath all that energy of this child that there is such a tender, compassionate soul who really does want to look out for those around her. 

 I told her about a time when I was reading the book "Where the Red Fern Grows"  It was the summer of 2001.  We had a young boy with us for the summer.  I wanted to do some things that would make learning be a fun experience for him.  So we had gotten some books from the library.  We read "Where the Red Fern Grows" together.  We finished the book on a Saturday.  I remeber because we were out on errands and Jared was with us.  As I read the ending I could hardly read because the dog had died and I was sobbing so hard.  Jared and the boy just laughed at me, in a kind way, probably a nervous laugh come to think about it.  It was such a good book to me. 


At story time, Kady kept on passing horrendous gas.  Jared thought someone had pooped their pants.  At bedtime, Eliza had grabbed her singing toothbrush and would press the button to turn on the music and then would turn it back off quickly.  I turned it into a game.  So when she had the music going I would smile and nodded my head back and forth and when she turned it off I would frown.  Kady and her just laughed and it encouraged me to keep on doing it so I could hear them laugh.  I love the sound of children laughing!

Fruits of our labor

Today was such a productive day.  It started at 5:30am.  Somehow the children have not figured out that just because the sun is up does not mean it is always time to be up.  I took in stride and figured we could get a jump on getting our home ready for the Sabbath.  That was until I started feeding Daniel and realized how exhausted I was.

After feeding him and getting him back down, I laid back down myself for about 30 minutes.  Jared helped some of the younger ones get breakfast, and then joined me.  I always enjoy when he comes back and cuddles as we fall back to sleep.

We finally got started around 7 and went full speed ahead.  We started with family scripture study.  I introduced some new methods we will be incorporating into what jobs they get to do on Saturdays and through out the week.  We also introduced a pilot of how they can earn money. 

This picture was taken when we lived in Scottsbluff Nebraska.  The windiest place I have ever lived.  There was a nice breeze here where we live all day today.  This evening I opened the windows to let the nice cool air in.

When I was at my friends home the other day we somehow got on the subject of kids and earning money.  At that time I thought I had come up with a great way for the kids to earn money but then she shared this nugget of info she had learned about at a recent meeting she attended.  She told me that a woman with a lot of children had said that what worked for her family was that at the end of each month the child would be paid how ever old that child was. i.e Emma is 9 so she would get $9.  Their children were then taught to give 10% to the Lord for their tithing, 20% to put into a savings and the rest they can do with what ever they want.  Fabulous in my opinion!

After our study we got to working.  Everyone stripped their sheets from their beds and we gather all the towels, so I could start the wash.  This took a bit of reminding, but it eventually happend.

The kids are always in charge of cleaning the play room on Saturdays.  I figure they can make all the mess they want during the week, but come Saturday I expect them to put everything back in order.  Well it did not go so smoothly today.  I chalked it up to very early rising.  So around 1pm I had waved my white flag and had 5 of the 6 children soundly sleeping.  It was amazing what a good nap can do to any ones ability to focus.  Good call on my part. 

Before the naps though Lucy and Jared cleaned the bathrooms.  This is Lucy's specialty.  She loves to clean them with Jared.  Sera sat on top of her bed for over an hour huffing and puffing how she could not get her new sheet on her bed.  I responded with "You are right sweetheart you certainly can not get your sheets on your bed if you are just sitting there.  At least try.  We had a lesson later on how if you have forgotten how to do something or you need specific help then we can do a review, but to just sit there and complain to the universe on how hard it is, it will never get you anywhere.  Bless her heart.

Kady seems to have figured out that she is the fourth child and that the fourth child can often times get overlooked when it comes to doing work.  I made a mental note that this is something that I need to put more energy into.  It will be on my "things to ponder" list on what I can do differently to help her.  Who knows maybe she is just one of those kids that will end up with maids one day, but at least I will know that I did everything in my power to teach her how to work hard and how to use some elbow grease.


While the children napped, Emma and Jared worked in the yard playing detective on the sprinkler system.  It was fun to watch them locate the heads and then dig down around them to expose them.  Emma seemed to enjoy getting very muddy. 

And while they were doing that, I worked on making delicious stuffed green peppers for dinner.  Once I got that done I stuck them in the fridge so they could be ready to stick in the oven later on to heat for dinner time.  It is so much easier for me to make meals that can be made earlier in the day so when "that" time of the day comes all I need to do is re-heat the meal.

Once everyone woke up from naps, the home was nice and fresh and ready for the Sabbath.  It is one of my favorite things.  A freshly cleaned home.  The energy that comes from my home.  Almost like a "thank you for cleaning me, I wasn't sure if you had noticed me at all during the week.  So thank you" kind of feeling. 

 Again another Scottsbluff picture.  We were having macaroni for lunch and I was cleaning stuff up when Sera said "wook mommy funny!"  It certainly was and I was able to capture it .  Nothing says yum like macarnoi in your nose

Jared took Kady and Lucy to the dollar tree on a hot date.  They came back with cotton candy and were so happy.  We had dinner which was soooo yummy!  Lucy did not care for the green peppers.  But she gagged them down because her desire to have dessert was great than her desire to not eat them.  Gotta love determination.  I had cut up a watermelon for a side dish and Eliza ate hers and then would sneak others off of their plates while they were not looking.

After dinner and dessert everyone got bathed.  Then my wonderful step-brother and his beautiful wife and son came to babysit for us so Jared and I could attend a church meeting tonight.

  Elder Allan F. Packer, of Quorum of the Seventy spoke at our meeting this evening.  All who spoke shared such great messages.  It was all so edifying.  It was exactly what I needed to hear.  About 7 months ago we got to here Elder Packer speak in our stake back in Michigan in the same kind of setting.  When I saw that he was going to be presiding over our meetings I thought of how he had shared how much he enjoyed calling people to come up at minutes notice to share a message.  I am glad he did not do that tonight.  I always get so nervous for whomever is asked to do such a thing.  


We came home to an even cleaner home than what we left.  Dishes were done, kids in bed.  No lights on.  All was well.  I am glad the girls got to spend time with their aunt and uncle and cousin.  They will be moving at the end of May.  We will miss them but we are also so excited for their next adventures that are ahead for them. 

 I felt like my eyes went cross a few times today.  Nothing a little chocolate can't fix

Today was a great productive day.  Even if it was like pulling a tooth that isn't ready to be pulled out, to get some of the kids to do their responsibilities.  I know that consistency is what matters and even if they don't get it now someday they will, I hope.

Dreams

I was dreaming this morning about something random when in my dream all of the sudden a baby started crying out of nowhere. I tried to find the crying baby to see if I could comfort it. My efforts seemed to be fruitless and then I woke up and found Daniel was up and crying. It is so facsinating to me how that happens.

Kady tuckered out after church.  She found a place under the dining room tables.  She actually peed on the floor shortly after I took the picture,

Last week he went through a growth spurt. So for several nights he was up for a midnight feeding to up my milk supply to accommodate his growth.After the growth spurt feedings it leaves me quite full in the mornings now. This morning was no different. I think he had been crying for a while so he must have had a good air bubble. After chugging down on the first side he un latched himself looked at me with a very overfilled look and spewed milk all over me.

Can you count how many chins he has?

Kady had come in his room to talk while I fed Daniel. (yes some of the kids wake up that early) When he exploded she said "Oh dear! He's okay?" So cute.

I got frustrated with Emma this morning. She needed to finish her homework. She had about 4 questions left. I came down stairs about 7, after I got myself ready for the day. She had already been down there for a good 20 minutes prior so naturally I had thought she was done with homework.  Nay, nay.

This is what it looked like when I came to the kitchen.

Emma was sitting at the table still in her pajamas, hair crazy. Her change purse dumped out on the table with a few random pieces of trash from her drawer. Still no breakfast.She was chatting up a storm with Lucy about who knows what.

My first thought was, "well maybe she is using this stuff for homework. " But after about 20 more minutes of just sitting there I felt it necessary to sternly remind her that she had roughly 15 minutes to get her lids done and that I was pretty sure nobody at school wanted her to show up in her night gown.

Most of the time the responsibility lids work. Sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, I need to work on how to respond to it. I get so frustrated. Mostly because I feel that they have been doing the lid thing for so long (about 4 years now) that surely they get it.

Unfortunately, I get reminded on how many times I need to be reminded of what I am suppose to be doing.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and His example of the kind of parent I need to be. 

After Emma and Sera left for school we got to help a family in our congregation.  We took the 2 older sons of the family to school and got to bring a dinner for them.  Eliza closed her eyes and pretended she was asleep to avoid the strangers.  She has been going through the stranger danger stage lately.  It was cute to me to watch through the rear view mirror.

I love looking at my kids eyelashes when they are sleeping.  So cute!

We got home and while I fed Daniel we watched some footage of the royal wedding.  The girls got bored so they played with play doh. 

We made cupcakes this morning for our babysitter.  Her birthday is on Monday.  We had fun.  I ate 4 of them.  They were so airy so I tricked myself into thinking that surely something so light and fluffy couldn't possibly have too many calories. 

After lunch we all took a nice nap.  Oh blessed nap time. 

For dinner I had some free pizza coupons from the community.  They sent us a nice welcome package thingy with several coupons to use at local places.  We got a Barros pizza.  Double cheese.  Yum! 

The girls had a picnic dinner in front of the tv while they watched their Friday night movie.  Lucy's tummy got a rumbly and threw up.  She seems to have a sensitive tummy lately.  Once Jared got home from work we headed out on our hot date.

Kady and my Dad napping during conference

I was in charge this week.  We take turns.  We went to the Mesa Temple.  What a great night.  We headed to Culvers to indulge in their yummy butter burgers.  We got a vanilla bean shake but that was not as good.  We talked about how we are going to work on making and succeeding financial goals for the future and I told him some cute things that happened this week with the kids.  He looked so handsome sitting there in his Sunday clothes.  He told me about how the retreat went.  What a great night!  I am glad he is home.
Off to bed ;)

 Jared napping with Emma and Sera when they were 3 and 2.