Sad Boy

Drew was excited to pop the bubbles of some packaging. He soon got discouraged because they were too hard to pop. He came crying to me and said, "I'm too young!"

Isn't he adorable?!

Busy

Well, last week was crazy and this week looks like a match to it! Here is what we've been up to:
Monday--Jeffrey had an orthodontist appointment. After that I mailed 52 aprons to Wokits that I'd sewn the week previous. I went visiting teaching but we only caught one person on our list of four. Got a call from the school that Camille had been pushed down and had a big scrape on the side of her face (She had sort of been asking for it though. She can be a merciless tease and this boy had been pushed to his limit! However when I took her picture she was excited to finally have her picture on the blog. Silly girl!) Camille had a friend over. I took Brandon to baseball practice and waited for him for 2 hours (I enjoy the quiet reading time!) We were able to squeeze in a little family time.

Tuesday--Dennis took me for my treatment. I asked the nurse to speed up the I.V. so we could hurry. She was nice and hurried it a little. We made several stops and got back in time for Dennis to go to his track practice. Jeffrey did some service at the library for a merit badge. Brandon had scouts. I gave Dennis and the boys hair cuts.

Wednesday--I did laundry, took the kids to a friend and went to town. I picked up my elderly friend, Myrtle and we went to lunch at the Sr. Center. Then I made 3 stops, one of which was to the health department to see about a permit so we can get started on our addition on our house--I came away discouraged. They said we will need a bigger septic tank. After school I ran Brandon to his game in town. Camille tended Drew. I couldn't stay to the game because I had to pick Jeffrey back out here at our community library. Dennis went to his game after his track practice. I worked on a project.

Thursday--I made a dessert for Friday. I competed my project of a new wall grouping for my living room. I cleaned for company. We were planning to go to Preston for a track meet but it snowed so they cancelled it. We took the kids to the museum only to find it closed. So we went to the temple visitor center and watched the Joseph Smith movie. (Jeffrey needed to scope out a facility for a merit badge.) We really enjoyed the movie.

Friday--I had book club at my house. After that was over I worked on another project. It was a nice relaxing, stay-at-home day! That night Dennis gave the boys lots of help on their merit badges that they have been working on.

Saturday--The boys had merit badge pow wow and each earned 3 badges. We cleaned, did laundry and mowed the lawn. We went through our carrots from our garden last year and threw away the bad ones and trimmed the growth off the good ones. Dennis and Jeffrey went to a stake leadership meeting and then Dennis and I went to the evening session of our stake conference. (While I was getting ready for the meeting, Mary spilled a whole bottle of aftershave!) Afterward Dennis discovered that we have had a leaky pipe for some time under the house. Fortunately nothing important was ruined and now he just needs to find a time to fix it when a parts store is open (he says in case a pipe breaks and he has to turn off the main.)

Sunday--We enjoyed a very nice day. We had a stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake. It was so good. We had home evening because tonight Dennis has a track meet and Brandon has a game. Dennis also completed his home teaching.

I guess being busy keeps me out of trouble. And I'm grateful to feel good and have the health to do everything that needs to be done!

Reflections of Christ

Perhaps many have already seen this video. But I wanted to post it, maybe just for myself because I want to watch it often. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Click HERE to see it.

I loved this advice!

From The Love and Logic Institute
by Dr. Charles Fay

Raise Great Employees

It's getting harder to find good, responsible employees. While a problem for employers, this provides a great opportunity for parents! If we can teach the following skills and attitudes, we can practically guarantee that our youngsters will become financially secure adults:
-The ability to complete tasks without reminders
-The desire to be proud of one's work
-Knowing how to cooperate and compromise
-The self-discipline to complete boring, tedious tasks
-Being able to creatively solve new and unique problems
-The ability to learn from one's mistakes

The single most important thing we can do to help our kids develop these skills is to expect them to complete chores without reminders and without pay. In our CD, "Didn’t I Tell You to Take Out the Trash?!", we teach the following steps for making this happen:

-Instead of saying, "Take out the trash, now!" try giving your child a deadline, "Just have the trash taken out by six o’clock."
-This deadline gives you plenty of time to think about what you will do if your child forgets or refuses to do the chore.
-Resist the urge to nag and remind.
-If your child forgets or refuses to do the chore, do it for them.
-With great empathy, provide a consequence. "This is so sad. I did your chores. How are you planning to pay me?"
-Your child can pay by doing extra chores, staying home instead of being driven somewhere they want to go, giving you a toy, etc.

Thought for the Day

I'm reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (abridgement is by James K. Robinson). Jean Valjean spent 19 years in prison or the galleys. He was later saved two times, once from himself and once from others who wanted him back in the galleys, by angels on earth, so to speak. Last night I was so touched by this:

"Everything around him, this quiet garden, these balmy flowers, these children, shouting with joy, these meek and simple women, this silent cloister, gradually entered into all his being, and little by little, his soul subsided into silence like this cloister, into fragrance like these flowers, into peace like this garden, into simplicity like these women, into joy like these children. and then he reflected that two houses of God had received him in succession at the two critical moments of his life, the first when every door was closed and human society repelled him; the second, when human society again howled upon his track, and the galleys once more gaped for him; and that, had it not been for the first, he should have fallen back into crime, and had it not been for the second, into punishment.

"His whole heart melted in gratitude, and he loved more and more."

This is just a novel but I'm sure Mr. Hugo had experiences with the power of God for his book is a masterpiece about the love of God and how it changes people! Jean Valjean was a hardened criminal! He overcomes much and becomes much because he feels and responds to the workings of the spirit in him.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. Here are a few memories I have of Dad:

Dad had an appliance store when I was in high school. He made such a creative float in the Famous Preston Rodeo Parade! He piled boxes in the back of his little pickup: washer, dryer, refrigerator, microwave, vacuum, dishwasher and TV boxes piled up as high as the lowest wire along the parade route. (yes, he even went out and measured!)

His creative mind was at its best on Christmas eve. We could expect some kind of trap ready to catch the earliest riser on Christmas morning. They began with as simple as a string stretched across the living room entrance. When the string was walked into, noisy metal milk buckets jangled and Dad hollered: "go back to bed!" One year he piled chairs and bar stools in the entrance. They got more high tech as the years went by. He put a tape recorder in a present that spoke to us when we turned on the light. He put the burgalar alarm on everyone's bedroom doors one year. And the list could go on and on...

One time Dad was in the grocery store with his brother Kent. They noticed that their sister Margene was there shopping, but she didn't see them. They followed her through the store putting things in her cart when she wasn't looking that she never would buy (probably beer, coffee and who knows what else). When she got up to the check out she was surprised by what was coming out of her cart! Dad's aunt Udell worked there and I don't know if she was the checker but she was aware of what was going on and finally clued Margene in by pointing to her two laughing brothers hiding from her view.

We were going to go on a family trip one year to California. Dad taught us how to brainstorm about how to get there. Dad wrote down all the ideas: motorhome, airplane, car, etc. David was probably about 4 and he yelled out, "motorcycles!" We all burst out laughing. Except for Dad. He told us that there were no wrong answers when you were brainstorming and he wrote it down on the white board. (We didn't take motorcycles.)

Dad sticks up for what is right. One time when he was in the army two guys were seeing who could out do each other with their profanity. Every morning they would yell their obscenities through the barracks. One day my dad could take it no more and he got up and told them to shut up. The guys told Dad that he had better watch his back because they would get him if he were ever alone. Both guys did catch him alone and both told him thank you for making them stop because they didn't know how to stop themselves.

My dad helped me through some times of indecision. He pointed me in the right direction and set my feet on the path, including helping me discern answers to my prayers concerning who I should marry. From time to time my dad has helped me discover my gifts. Together with my mom he gave me the very most important gift that parents can give their children. He gave me the beginnings of my own testimony. I will be forever grateful for my dad!

Here's to half finished...

I read once that if there is an unpleasant job, you can time it. You will know from then on that such and such only takes 15 minutes to complete and it won’t be so dreadful knowing the amount of time it takes is so minute. The job I loathe is folding the white batch of laundry and putting it all away. I have set out to time the task a few times. All I can tell you is that I get many interruptions. Then I forget what I’m doing and get started on this or that. It could be the middle of the night when I remember I was timing myself. This is how I seem to work. Right now I have 3 different projects going, a batch of cards, bread that needs to be put in the pan and this blog. Plus, Mary is presently on the table eating the cottage cheese that Drew didn't eat at lunch (I leave it out in hopes he will return to finish. It usually turns out that Mary discovers it.)

Here is last week's bread just after I put it in the pans. I meant to get a picture of the finished product but forgot. Maybe today I will. But don't hold your breath.

I have been thinking about Jesus when he said that clothing the naked, feeding the hungry etc. was like doing that for Him. Sometimes homemaking seems routine and insignificant even though I do enjoy it. But are we mothers not doing what is most important? So next time someone is out of underwear I will try to remember this! (They're in that unfolded batch of whites that I threw back in the laundry basket so I could get to my bed last night!) I'm off the clothe the naked!

Scraped Up

Mary wants to go outside constantly! Sunday she got out without me knowing and she fell down the 2 steps. Poor baby!

Monday I was reading and wasn't too worried about where Mary was because the kids were home from school for the day. They are good to watch her. But.... No one was watching! My peaceful reading time came to a halt when someone yelled, "Mary is outside!" Drew had gone out and left the door open and Mary had taken advantage of the open door. She didn't have on her coat of course and she was so cold! I bundled her up and she let me snuggle her for quite awhile.

Teeth

Yesterday I put piggy tails in Alexa's hair and she said, "This is the first time I have had piggy tails with my missing teeth." Chuckle.

She was feeling so bad that she still had all her baby teeth and most to all of her friends have lost teeth. You can imagine her glee at her first loose tooth a couple of weeks ago! She worked on it constantly and wanted us to keep checking it. Finally she asked Dennis to help her and he got it out pretty slick. The very next day she worked on another tooth and got it out as well. She left a note for the tooth fairy to please let her keep her teeth so she could show her class at school.

Thanks!

I would just like to give a great big thank you to Darcee for designing my new blog banner. I really love it, Darcee. Also thank you to everyone who read my last post. I again feel so loved and I love you all!