Monday, March 30, 2009

A Child's Prayer


I just have to write a parent moment before I forget, these days we will be lucky if I remember what I am writing all the way to the end. My Isaac (who is 5) says the cutest prayers. Yesterday in primary he said, "bless these people not to miss us so much when we move and I will miss them and I just wanted to say this prayer so that I could say goodbye..." This morning he offered to say my morning prayer for me. After blessing that I would be a good mom he said, "bless that all our family will be safe where ever we are, even if there isn't a fence and it is on a high mountain. And bless we will have long ropes so that we can get down the hill safe and sound...." He is so cute!

Friday, March 27, 2009

The Winner of My Favorite Things Is...






Boy will y'all be glad when we finally move into the house and you aren't suffering through the play by play of the building process....The thing I felt most excited about has come to pass and I thought I would post pics. Picture #1 is of my all time favorite thing. In case you can't tell it is floor to ceiling book shelves that take up one entire wall and they are blue...glorious, so me blue! #2 Folding table in my laundry room with the cubby lockers for each kid on the side. You can't see it, but outside that window is a killer view of the mountains...I spend my entire life folding laundry, the view is a gift. #3 & 4 Pictures of the kitchen cupboards, did I mention that I love blue? Thanks for looking!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Look No Further....Parent of the Year


The following post will contain a great deal of sarcasm. Please note that it's not because I am not upset or not aware that there never was a worse parent, it's just how I deal. Last week I was out at the house trying to surprise Lyndon and do some of the cleanup so he wouldn't have to. I was working along and came to check on my baby, he was drinking out of a bowl of paint thinner. It looked like he hadn't gotten any so I didn't worry to much. Later as we are headed to town for pizza, because I am incapable of doing a project and feeding my children well, he starts throwing up straight paint thinner. After a good deal of time with poison control we were told all would be well as long as he didn't ingest it into a lung while throwing up. They told me and I quote, "if he stops breathing and turns blue, that is bad, call 911." Whew...thank goodness he let me know, because I am not sure I would have known what to do if he stopped...He's fine. I was "comforted" after speaking with my dad who teasingly remarked, "what kind of mother let's their kids play around that stuff?" My reply, "well obviously the mother of the flipping year." Today I met my mom and sister at my house wanting to show them the cupboards. It was a little nuts with all the kids, workers and all that was going on. I am saying that to set up the horror that follows, though please note I am not excusing myself. We left with most all of the kids crying, Lyndon needing a ride because his starter is shot and hurrying because I need to make dinner because the kids are "starviiiiiiing." Half an hour later the phone rings, it's the neighbor. The cabinet guys want to know if we are coming back for Grayson. WHAT? That's right we left one of our children and we didn't even know he wasn't here. My adoptive friends will be appalled, Shannon will probably disown me...These people wish every day for their kids to be home to take care of and I who am blessed to have them forget them...Mother of the year. I have to cry now and await the police coming to take me away...I will be taking collections for the therapy my sweet son is sure to need. Lucky me I just happened to leave the one who I left in an orphange for 8 months the last time I left him...

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Multiple Fruits


Today was one of those days that I just really could see the magic of childhood (instead of being annoyed by the amount of laundry generated by childhood). Let me share a few magic moments with you. Isaac & Jamen went to play with a friend (thanks Brandt), while driving home they were both trying to tell me all of the great things about the visit. Issac was bursting with joy (he's 5) when he let me know that he had homemade jello with "multiple fruits." Seriously when was the last time you praised jello with "multiple fruits." We came home and read a stack of picture books one of which was Make Way for Ducklings and then we went for a drive. While out we talked about how fun it would be to see a line of ducklings. Not two minutes later while driving up the canyon we saw a line of wild turkeys! My kids were ecstatic, and to tell you the truth so was I. While we were in the canyon I told them to pick one little rock or leaf to show dad about our trip. Jamen brought back a cool rock that is all glittery. Isaac picked up a little pebble (to get what he felt was an assignement out of the way). Gray was all excited about his find and he opened up his little hand to reveal it to me. It was the top off of a pop can. He is avidly guarding his treasure. We also read the book Library Mouse (which we love) and had our own "Meet the Author"day. We stapled together little books and made our own and read them to each other. We had Star Wars, Dora, a gripping story about a Dinosaur that ate the family's dinner table and a sneak peak of the mystery that Kyle is writing. You know I am (today at least) beginning to see what all those people who have grown kids mean when they say, "You're going to miss this!" You know I think they might be right...

Saturday, March 21, 2009

What About the Honey?


I have been thinking a lot the last little while about my kids...this is nothing new for all of you mom's out there, I mean really what else do we think about? The topic however for the last little bit has been a lot more about love and a little less about laundry. I have been around a few people over the last little while who have really inspired me with the love they have for their kids. One of those is an excellent speaker and mentor named Angela Baker. You can tell she adores her kids and wants nothing more than to be around them and help them meet their mission. Another friend (Emily) honestly can't think of anything she loves more than life as a mom and the adoration she has for her three awesome kids just shines in her face, she inspires me. I just finished a book called Honey For A Child's Heart. The book is really about what and why we should read constantly to our kids, but I didn't really need that talking to! But in the book she points out how willing we are to give our kids "milk" as in making sure they are fed, clean and ran to this and that. But, she pointed out that often we miss giving them the "honey". She was mostly talking about how important for relationship building it is to read, but I caught the underlying message of how we need to be more to them than just a nanny (except of course if you are Mary Poppins). We need to look into their eyes and see the greatness that is there, see what God planned for them and then help them reach it. We need to look past the dirty faces, nose picking, never ending pile of laundry and see these amazing people that are ours to love and take care of. My kids need a hug and a story...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Phase#7 A Few of My Favorite Things






Just some pics from the house...So many fun things happening. It turns out that when you build a house, that eventually you get to live there! It is getting close for us and we are so excited! The pictures are one of the garage door openings, the fireplace (without the mantle that is so wicked awesome), the entrance to our bedroom (Lyndon calls it my princess entrance), the entrance to the other half of the house and a little picture of the hardwood that Lyndon is installing as we speak...

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Leadership Education


I spent the weekend at a leadership education training in Salt Lake. I feel completely inspired by my weekend and since I love lists I just wanted to make a list of the "biggies" from a very full day that my head is still spinning from! The training comes from a concept called A Thomas Jefferson Education, I am not going to go in and explain all there is to this, but I will highly recommend the book to anyone interested. But, the basic idea is raising children to be leaders and not just sheep willing to follow along behind whatever fad is presented at the moment. It also encourages finding personal mission and then living it fully. So now a list of the "biggies".
#1 Oliver Demille, who is the founder of all this and an incredible speaker, gave an amazing speech on the times. He pointed out that history repeats itself and follows four cycles. He pointed out that our world is in crisis. While we all know this, he pointed out why we should be almost thrilled that this is where we are. Crisis proceeds change, we are in a position to lead a good change for the future of our children and grandchildren. Think Civil War, horrible, bloody, awful, but also look at what came from it! Slavery is abolished (finally) and we are a stronger, tighter nation! In this time we can succeed by a following some basic guidelines. First of all we need to realize that this is where we are, stop wishing for the 90's and live in the now, so to speak. This is a time that we as a community, as a state, as a nation can pull together and make great things happen. There can be less selfishness and watching out more for one another because we desperately need each other! OK, sorry this one really got me I could go on and on. Reading Suggestion: Our Home, Sargent
#2 If you want your children to have a great basis for education there are four biggies you need to start with. The Bible (and Book of Mormon for my LDS friends), fairy tales, myths & Legends and Shakespeare. Think about it! So much of what we read and hear about is pulled from these sources, how much better off we and our children will be if we have read and studied these things. We certainly will be focusing more on that here. Reading Suggestion: The Fairy Books, Lang & D'aulaires Book of Greek Myths
#3 Marriage is meant to be passionate! If we had fabulous marriages we would have happier kids and stronger communities! Shannon Brooks pointed out that your children should be telling you to, "get a room" often! What better gift can we give our kids than for them to see two people passionately in love working through life together? Reading Suggestion: The Peacegiver, Farrell
#4 Teach your children to work. Yes, it is easier to do it yourself! But, if you could help them see that they are an important, contributing member of your family you could change their lives! Reading Suggestion: Little Britches Series (We read these at night as a family...gotta love em!)
#5 Just a quote that I love and will be putting on my wall: No one can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.--E.B Browning
What a truly inspiring day! I hope I can maintain the fire I feel right now and help my boys to reach the mission that God sent them here to fulfill!


Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Simplify-Great, But How?


I have had this little cartoon sitting on my desktop for awhile because I love it! The caption under the picture, if you can't read it says, "Today's lesson is on the Gospel in it's simplicity." This is hilarious to us Latter Day Saint women because this is so true to life! Since the birth of baby #5 I am constantly trying to figure out how to live a simpler life. I have made some progress in that area but still have so far to go! Let me give you a little list of things I have done that have worked and then if you would, I would love to hear your suggestions for simplifying-heaven knows I could use them!
#1 I put all of my boys (except baby) in one room. We tuck them all in at the same time, get family prayer and scripture time in and read from our on going chapter book (at the moment it is the Little Britches series). Many people think that putting our five sons in one room is going to stunt their growth or something, but I can't disagree more! Some have even suggested that our oldest should have his own room. Why should he and not the others? Talk about learning conflict resolution! My take on that is, will it ever be a big deal to have room mates or mission companions when they have shared a room with 4 brothers, yeah I didn't think so!
#2 We have no gaming system and just recently decided that we wouldn't turn the TV on until the weekend. Sometimes this feels like more work for mom who misses the babysitter! But, then you don't see me trying to figure out how to regulate the amount of time they spend parked in front of said objects. We do use the computer and they each get two 30 minute chips per day.
#3 My boys own roughly 5 shirts and 5 pairs of levis. They don't accesorize, there are no coordinating shirts to go under or over other shirts and they pretty much all share the messy pile of socks in our laundry room.
#4 At a recent stake conference our Stake President suggested that we shouldn't be packing tons of things for our kids to eat or do at sacrament meeting. My first thought was, "does he hate me?" But, we decided to give it a go. They are allowed to grab one book to look through quietly while they listen, but that's all. It has been so great! I am not saying they are perfect (this is 5 boys 10 and under in church mind you). But, it is quieter. No one fighting over the crayons, no spilled cheerios, no trucks being supplied with sound effects. Plus I don't have to try and pack a big old bag for church.
Anyway, that's just a few things we do that work for us. Tell me what do you do to simplify at your home?