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...

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!

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?