Brave-ness

My 9 year old Matthew is PAINFULLY shy! He is SO shy that it worries me sometimes. He definitely takes after his dad in that respect. For a couple of weeks now he's been talking about trying out for the school play, which is Cinderella. He wants to play the part of Gus-Gus, which totally cracks me up because he is an incredibly slim size 8. Seriously, we have to cinch up the adjustable waist on those slims. Believe it or not, he takes after me AND Brian in that respect. Who could guess with the way we look now, but it's really true.

Anyhoo, He actually took the initiative to sign up on the list and he chose a certain day and time for the audition. Tuesday, January 22 @ 4:30. He was SOOOO thrilled about this!!! He had to pick a song to sing that was as long as the Happy Birthday song, and recite a couple of lines. Well, I suggested and suggested and suggested songs to sing. For example Spongebob's It's the Best Day Ever or F-U-N. The Best Day Ever shows lots of range if you think about it, so I thought that would be perfect.  He never liked any of my suggestions and he never could decide on a song to sing until 10 MINUTES BEFORE THE AUDITION! He chose Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Whatev! I know he should have practiced it a lot more and he should have been more prepared and I told him that but he didn't care. He wanted to audition!

The way I pictured it going down: We would get to the school and he would have a severe case of stage fright. He would cry. We would come home.

The way it actually went down: He led us right to where the auditions were. He showed us the paper that he had signed up on that was hanging on the door leading to the auditions. He studied his 2 little lines as he patiently waited for his turn. The chick came out to get him. He bravely walked up the slanted ramped hallway leading to a stark white room with 4 lady judges. He sang his song. He said his parts. Gracie, Max, & I waited in the rampy hallway where we could see his back and hear his voice. He did a great job! We came home.

I...WAS...STUNNED!!!!  

And more than just a little bit proud of my boy!!!!! I am so impressed with him and it makes me feel better. Like he's going to be ok. I can't begin to tell you all of the times he's been too shy to do something. He won't even stand up for himself or ask or tell his teacher something important. I've worried about how he's ever going to make it in this crazy world. Well, apparently he has it in him he just has to want it bad enough. It seems that he's improving little by little, day by day, year by year. I just have to remember that everyone grows at their own pace and that Matthew is Matthew and Zack is Zack and Max is Max and I just can't compare them to each other because it just doesn't work that way. They are rightfully different and fabulous in their own ways and I am just so glad that I get to be their mom. The one who cheers them on when they need encouragement and the one who gets to pat them on the back and praise them when they take those baby steps and show that growth.

I've always said that he would be a wonderful actor. He is SOOO dramatic! When people think we have it easy because girls are so dramatic I always say...you haven't met Matthew or at least he hasn't warmed up to you enough to let you see his dramatic side. He'll be good if he gets the part. I hope that they at least give him some kind of part. He was so brave that I would hate for him to not at least get to participate in some way. Fingers crossed...& toes! :)

Old-School

Sometimes I feel like I live in the dark ages compared to other people. We don't have iPods, iPads, or iPhones. We drive a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta and a 2003 Ford Windstar Minivan. Brian prays every day that the Jetta makes it another day without the transmission going out.

I've used a day planner for the past few years. I just love the organization of them. I have always saved my calendars and day planners because they are kind of like a journal. They tell a story that's for sure! Well, last year I decided to try to be cool and use my pathetic little phone as my planner. All appointments and meetings and school activities were put in it. It was ok but I really just felt so out of control most of the time. I decided that I'd go ahead and use a planner again this year. I found the cutest one at Target Saturday! I just love it! It's black, white, and a pretty shade of pink. I already feel so much more organized. I might look funny with my big ol' planner when I'm next to the iPad people but it works for me. What can I say...sometimes old-school just works the best...

Cuteness and goodbye...

~This morning I was sitting on the floor in the closet trying to organize shoes and clothes when Matthew and Max started getting ready for school. They were singing songs from the radio. They didn't get a lot of the words right and it cracked me up. I didn't correct them, I just smiled as they sang their little hearts out. I just love them so much!

~Last night we had the last family shindig before Nathan and Heidi headed back to Florida. We ate, visited, the guys watched the big game upstairs. The kids played together. Isabelle (Nate's oldest daughter who's 5 and in kindergarten) said to Steph and J.J. that they could come to Florida to visit them on Valentine's Day or Easter. Then she told Brian and I and our kids that we could come visit them for her birthday in June. She described the birthday cake she'll have and other fun details about the party she'll have. She is adorable and had a wonderful, dramatic, excitement, and imagination about her. It was so hard to look at her beautiful little face and her pretty little eyes and try to explain that we can't afford to go to Florida to see her. I'm so afraid she's totally expecting us to show up for her birthday and will just be so disappointed when we don't show up.

When Izzy was born they lived in Provo. They came to Mom's for Sunday every week. They shared holidays, birthdays, dance recitals, births, baby blessings. They moved about a year and a half ago. My mom has been broken hearted ever since about it and poor little Josh (Steph's 5 year-old son) has missed her so much. They were best pals since he was born when Izzy was 4 months old!

I'm not big on goodbyes! There are 6 of us kids in our family and now Rob, Dana, and Nathan all live in other states with their sweet families. We all miss them so much! When I think about it I just don't know how my mom handles it!

They left for the airport at 3:00am so we had to say goodbye last night. We said our goodbyes and headed downstairs before they said goodbye to my parents. I guess Izzy just sobbed and said that she didn't want to leave. :'(  Little Mikey is about a month older than my Gracie is. Tommy is about 14 months old. We'll miss them all so much! Gracie still didn't really know what was going on so she cried this morning when we told her they were gone.

It was fun to see what a cute little family they are. I love listening to my brothers talk to their kids. Heidi is such a good little mom!

I wouldn't have been very good "back in the olden days"

I am thankful that I'm alive in this day and age.  I just don't think I'd have been very good at living "back in the olden days". 

My reasons:

• Make-up. Yeah, I scare small children without my make-up. Not that it makes THAT much of a difference but I feel less scary with it on anyway.
• I hate laundry now.  I can only imagine how much "fun" it was to hand wash everything. I know that they had very few clothes to actually wash but still.  They typically had HUGE families, and there was no running water.  No hot water heaters.  No dryers.  No matter what the time of year, the weather, or the temperature, you still had to do it.  
• I would have driven people crazy by my incessant boredom. I swear I have ADHD & OCD.  I'm sure it would be a major problem for me.  Being alive now is just perfect for me.  There are so very many enjoyable ways to spend your time these days. T.V., movies, my phone, the computer, Pinterest! I can't always have time for these things but it's so comforting to know that they're there for me if I need them. :)   Oh, and cameras!  Isn't it great to be able to capture precious moments in our lives like new babies, and weddings, first smiles and first steps.  I could go on and on about that!
• Running water and toilets.
• As much as I love riding horses and I wish I could ride horses more often, I don't think I would want to have to rely on horses as my only form of transportation, whether it be riding one or having my wagon or buggy pulled by one.  I think I'd much rather have the comfort, warmth, convenience, and shelter of my mini van.
• Sleeping on hay mattresses doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun either. 
• There was no Target.  No Costco.  No Walmart.  No Ikea.  No Maurice's.  No outlet stores. 
• Modern medicine.  Especially the actual medicine.  I hate that my Trigeminal Neuralgia's nickname is "The Suicide Drug". It's nice that I can be helped by taking medication for it. Just a few years ago my medications hadn't been developed yet and no one knew they worked for this anyway since they actually were developed to be used for other ailments.                                          And I would NOT have been into having a  baby without the convenience of an epidural.  And those little monitors they put on you that help track the baby's heartbeat. We would have lost Matthew if not for that!  And thank goodness for c-sections! I shutter to think about what might have happened to a lot of my nieces and nephews and their mommies if that hadn't been an option or if it hadn't been done fast enough thanks to detecting the problem in time.  (Not to mention having to be the person who had to clean that mess up in your house after having a baby in your home, without mattress protectors or a washing machine to throw the mess into.  If it happened in my home now I'd just throw it all away and get new ones but I'd imagine you couldn't very well do that back then.)  And Penicillin!  That alone has been such a blessing in people's lives. We are blessed to know that we and our children can be well taken care of if the need arises.  And vaccinations.  I once read in a parenting machine, that we are merely a plane ride away from acquiring any number of hideous disease from people from other countries where they don't vaccinate but who are carries of the disease.  Kind of a scary thought if you ask me. .
• And finally...food!  I love food!  There we no fast food restaurants. No Olive Garden or Cafe Rio.  No happy hour at Sonic.  No Pinterest to find fabulous recipes on.  No Food Network.  No Sweet Tooth Fairy.  It's definitely much more fun to eat these days than it was back then!

This and That...

~I must say that I was rather embarrassed to HAVE to put up a whole end cap at Walmart that was solely devoted to Justin Bieber. I'm not a fan of the show, The Office, but Brian and Zack LOVE it so I just endure it each week.  :)  I will admit, though, that I laughed my butt off when Jim said something to Dwight about Justin Bieber and Dwight said, "What's a justice beaver?" LOL! So ever since then I call him Justice Beaver. It's not that I don't like HIM or anything, it's just that I just...don't "get" it. Last night Justice was on The Voice and his pants were so far down it was ridiculous. Seriously, below his entire butt. What is up with that? LAME!!! Just had to get that out... 

~That baseball craziness has begun. Zack's games are so much fun to watch now that he's older. Add the kids are more competitive and more able to execute awesome plays and such. I'm so proud of Zack because he got hit with a pitch the very first time he was up for bat this season. I figured it would be a very crappy hitting season for him because of being afraid but he is awesome and has hit most pitches since he's been up to bat. Max and Matty are on the same team this year also so that will be a TREMENDOUS help!! Only problem so far is that a lot of the games are scheduled right during Y.W.. Tonight Zack has a game in a town really close to ours from 6:00-8:00 and has to be there at 5:30 and Matty and Max have a practice at a baseball field near where my parents used to live here in town from 6:00-7:30. And I visit teach tonight at 4:00 and 5:00. I don't have to work today like I did last week, which is so nice with all of this going on.

~Brian still hasn't found work. I am stressing so much! Ever since the Priesthood Blessing I had last week I've felt a lot better but it's just so very hard to deal with! We HAVE to figure out what we are supposed to learn from this so we can stop having this same trial over and over and over and over. It's so draining/exhausting/stressful.

~My house is looking more in order now that I'm not working so much. It will get crazy again closer to Mother's Day but for now it's been nice to have more time to devote to cleaning the house and more energy. I've felt so much better lately. I've had my share of pain here and there but for the most part I can deal with life better than I could before. Bending down to pick stuff up is getting increasingly difficult again, which I hate. Feeling like my head and face are going to explode is just not my favorite, call me crazy. I really can't complain though because it is so much better than before and I know it can always be worse. I really need to be more positive!!

~I am always so terrified when it's my turn to teach the Young Women's lesson. I seriously stress out for at least a good week over it. This week when the girls heard it was my turn to give the lesson they all were really happy that it was my turn and were like "Yay, it's Sister Freeman's turn to give the lesson". It just made my whole week! They are such amazing girls and I really hope that my lessons help them and that they I'm not just a blithering idiot up there. LOL!!! We were really early for Sunday School this week. We were actually REALLY late for Sacrament Meeting, but I'm trying to be more positive.  :)

~So, when Gracie was about 2 months old or so, I bought at darling light pink tutu and some cute fairy wings to match, so that I could have her pictures taken in them. Well, she wore them for her Halloween costume when she was one year old, but other than that it has been hanging in her room waiting for us to be able to afford to have her picture taken again. The only time we had her pictures done was when she was a month old in her blessing dress. My parents had some pictures of them with their grand kids when Gracie was about 6 months old. Other than that, this poor little girl hasn't had her pics done in all that time. She will be 3 in May. Everyone thinks she looks like she's at least 4. I worry they'll expect more out of her. Trust me, she may look 4 but she acts like she's 2!  :) Anyhoo, I finally got her pictures done a while back and I'm so excited to share them!!! I can't tell you how happy I am about it!! I'm sure Brian is happy he doesn't have to hear me whine anymore about it. LOL!! I usually only leave my kids' pics up for a couple of days because I don't want creapos to see them.  :)  I got the disc so prepared for a plethora of pics. Who can pic just one. I mean really...  ;)

~Please excuse the grammer and incoherent sentences. I don't have time to proof read...

Random stuff...

~Well, I'm over my bout with strep throat. NOT fun, by the way. Now poor Zacky has it. Matthew has croupe. Gracie has RSV. So, yeah, super fun times here at our house. Stay far, far away from our house!!!  :0)

~We had our big revision with Hallmark at Walmart last Thursday. It looks great! We had a couple of nights of working til 1:20 and 2:00 a.m. in preparation of the revision.  We had a lot of fun, giggled a lot. I just love working with Tamra! I found out my friend, Tiffani, who lived in my parents ward when we moved here, also works for Hallmark at Walmart in her town in Nevada. Fun!

~Last night we had rootbeer floats for our F.H.E. treat. For some reason Matthew and Zack used forks instead of spoons. They also ate theirs in the living room, huge no no. Then apparently one of them dropped the fork on the floor and didn't pick it up. Then Zack was chasing Gracie around and she was happy and laughing. Then she fell and landed on the fork. It gowged (don't know how to spell that) her cheekbone area with one of the tines. It was right under the corner of her eye. Scared me to death!!! It came way too close to her eye!  I feel so incredibly blessed that today she still has an eye and that she was shielded from serious harm!!!  Makes me sick to think about it. I made up a new House Rules chart, using some of the ideas I found on Pinterest. I made them recite it with me this morning and I'm going to make them do it every day right after we read scriptures. Maybe if they have to repeat it every day they'll start following the rules. Many a rule was broken last night that all added up to make one very scary accident. We used to recite a House Rules chart right after we read scriptures together when we lived in Pleasant Grove and then we would read an article of faith. One for each month. We've got to get back to doing that. We just get so caught up in every day life that we just forget that doing those "little" things make such a HUGE difference in our family dynamics. They have rules at school and they follow them so I think it's important that they realize there are rules in our home and family also, and that they are expected to follow them.Well, I hope it works out. I used a different font and a different size of font for each rule.

 House Rules

Always tell the truth

Use kind words

Keep your promises

Keep your hands and body to yourself

No yelling (that one is especially for me)

Say please, thank you, excuse me

Chew with your mouth closed (my sis Dana would laugh cuz she knows I'm a freak!)

Try new things

Forgiveness is mandatory
Always be grateful

No Running

Ask first

No hitting

Offer to help

Count your blessings

Clean up after yourself

Stop eating when you are full

Encourage each other

Always be looking for ways to serve others

Dance

Food stays at the table

Have integrity

Be on Jesus' team

Laugh

Have faith

Have a good attitude

Pray always

Be happy

Don't forget to be awesome!!

~I'm feeling so inspired by the quotes that are posted on pinterest. It is so nice to read those positive things. And to see a lot of fun ideas for making crafts and organizational ideas for our home. I also love all of the recipes and ideas for giving homemade gifts. The food storage ideas and other preparedness ideas. Oh, and the outfit suggestions.I LoVe my clothes board!!! So much fun!! I haven't found anything I don't like about it, actually. 





Seriously?!

I like to at least give the illusion that I have it all together but my family just keeps revealing how very much I don't have it together at all and it is so not nice.  :(   So yesterday I was at BYC for like ever and when I got home it was time to leave the house to head to church. Matthew was wearing a cowboy boot and a dress shoe. When I asked him what the heck was up with that he told me that he and Brian had searched high and low and hadn't been able to find either of the matches to his crazy little pair of shoes. Greaaaaat! So I did a quick search and couldn't find a match either. Now, some of you have actually seen their room and you are not surprised in the least but they had their room totally clean on Friday. I bribed them with a trip to the $1 store and they whipped that room into shape in no time. This fact made me even more upset about the shoe thing. The matches are probably hidden in abyss at the bottom of the toybox, never to be seen again.So he went to church with 2 different shoes on and even had to give a talk in Primary (which, by the way, went surprisingly well considering I forgot he had to give a talk in Primary until the last speaker in Sacrament Meeting was speaking, so I had to just throw something together), where he had to walk to the front of the room where EvErYoNe got to see his unmatched shoes. Oh, and by the way, I just LOVE what obnoxious kids say to other kids. (yes I know mine are probably obnoxious too and I'm just blinded by motherly love to see it) Last week he couldn't find the other church shoe and wore his cowboy boots and some obnoxious kid made fun of him for wearing cowboy boots to church. Ummm there are parts of Emery County, Salem, Kansas and, I'm sure a zillion other places, where cowboy boots ARE their only church shoes and that's totally cool.

Anyhoo...



So, just when I'm getting over the embarrassment of yesterday's shoe dabockle, Max is ready to walk out the door to wait for the bus, when I look at his feet and realize he has on 2 different sized snowboots. One being his size, and one being 4 sizes bigger. Seriously!?! Does he not see a problem here? Really? (big ol' sigh)  So I frantically looked for a matching snow boot and Brian found the match and told him to put them on. The bus had already showed up and Zack was doing an outstanding job of stalling in hopes that Max would get out in time. Well, Max ran out of the house with one boot on and one boot off. Thank goodness Brian had shoveled snow so he wasn't running through that. So I close the door, and I'm still furious over this crazy situation and Brian tells me that Max didn't take both of the matching boots. He took one of those and the 4 sizes too big boot. So I furiously drove over to the school, in my pajamas and my hat that protects my trigeminal nerve from getting cold and causing me pain, but makes me look like the 3rd clone of the dude on the movie, Multiplicity, you know the copy of a copy one, that is always saying, "Hi, Thteve!" and tried to shave his tongue but they had taken out the blade on the razor. So, I get to the school in all of my glory and Max and Matthew just happened to be the only kids on the playground, seeing as how it's only 20 degrees out and all and they are clearly crazy. So I have Max switch boots but he couldn't get the one on his foot so he still has the 2 unmatched boots on. I told him that if anyone says anything to him about his crazy boots then he is to tell them that his mom didn't want him to wear them like that but he snuck out with them on, so people don't think I'm such a loser mom. If this illusion I'm trying to give is eVeR going to work then I'm going to have to have my kids on board. I mean really, they're totally cramping my style.

Not your average chore chart!

So, after my little venting post earlier today, I decided I needed to make something. When I make something, it makes me feel happy. A few years ago when we lived in Pleasant Grove, I ordered 2 magnety board things for a Relief Society Super Saturday project. I made the one that was the Family Home Evening one but I never did anything with the other one. I've wanted a chore chart for my kids for some time now but I am really not a fan of most of the chore charts where they do the same chore everyday. I've tried other ways but I'm just so inconsistent. My friend, Mysti, has a dry erase board and she just puts everyone's name on it and writes what chores they need to do that day. A much better idea if you ask me! So I made over my little board. I'll just write the chores with a dry erase marker each day. I just used letter sticker that I ordered from QVC several years ago instead of my Cricket because I need a new mat thing, some vinyl, and possibly a new blade.  Other than that it's totally great! ;)  Anyhoo, it was already painted black. I Mod Podged the paper on and then just glued chip board letters (also from QVC). I decided it would be nice to have some positive messages on it to encourage them to do their work (once again, they are letter stickers from QVC). If you've never Mod Podged before, try it! It's so great you'll want to start Mod Podging EVERYTHING!  It's kind of pricey but it lasts and lasts! I just got it at Walmart. I have used it and used it and I've let my friends use it and there is still like half a bottle. Just get a foam brush or a paint brush and brush it on fairly thick. If you do it too thick it will dry strangely but if you do it too thin the paper won't stick because it just dries so fast. Really watch for running or globs. Those dry so ugly so be sure to clean those up. Basically, I just painted on the Mod Podge, then put the paper on and made sure I pressed it down all over and tried to make sure there were no bubbles. Then I just put another layer of Mod Podge over the top of the paper, cleaned up the runny spots and globs, then I put a thin layer of Mod Podge on all of the exposed wood because I have the glossy kind and it looks best if you put a layer of it all over the wood so it all looks the same. It was SOOOO easy! Anyway, I'm so excited to start writing chores down for my kids tomorrow!!! 

Just Some Silliness...and a Trumpet

~Last night we attended Zack's first band concert. He plays the trumpet. He's in the sixth grade so this is his first year to play an instrument in a band. We waited in the auditorium for 45 minutes waiting for the concert to begin. That's a long time for an 8 year old, a 5 year old, a 2 year old, 2 grown people to wait for...anything!  At one point Max's gum fell out of his mouth went right between the back of the chair of the woman in front of him and the woman's back. I about DIED!!! I had to tell her! What if it was sticking to her pretty sweater?! Thankfully she was really nice about it AND it didn't stick to her but fell to the floor. Max did not get another piece of gum!!! Well, the band finally started their concert. They played 4 songs. They did a great job...except one poor student that couldn't hit a single note right on their clarinet and always played an extra note when everyone else had stopped. The first 3 songs went so well! Unfortunately they did not stop while they were ahead and played ANOTHER song! It was very....entertaining. But bless their hearts they really tried, and Zack did a wonderful job of starting when he should, ending when he should, watching the band director's cues. The best part of the whole night, though, was that all 4 songs took about 8 minutes from start to finish. It was awesome!!! After the concert we decided to surprise the kids with some Little Caesar's Pizza. I can't remember the last time we did that. Of course, we had to watch the Biggest Loser season finale...after eating pizza! There is something really wrong with that!

Gracie says that Santa says Har! Har! Har!  Cracks us up! When the boys heard that, they tried to correct her but she just still always says that Santa says Har! Har! Har! She also likes to drop the first letter off of words. Makes understanding her a bit difficult sometimes but it's awfully cute! Oothbrush-toothbrush, andy-candy, ood-food, Anta-Santa. Sometimes she just uses the wrong letter at the beginning of a word. For instance, she calls Zack's friend Tanner-Nanner, and mink-drink, nammies-jammies, Yack-Zack, Yacky-Zacky. She also says Grandpa for GrandMa and for Grandpa. That gets confusing! We love her 2 year-old speak! She is so much fun! She's in the 95th %-tile for height though, so people often expect her to act much differently. She won't be 3 until May but people already think she should be potty trained. She probably should but I can't get her to actually GO when she's on the potty. I think if she can finally figure out what she's supposed to do when I put her on there, she might actually just keep doing it and life will be good. She tries. Any suggestions???

A few months ago we discovered that we LOVE the show, The Big Bang Theory. We watch the reruns at 10:00 most nights. Last night's episode was SO hilarious!!! I just have to share cause laughing is so much fun!!! If you don't know the premise of the show, they are all Geniuses (except Wolowitz of course, because he only has a Master's Degree HEHE). They are all a bit backwards but Sheldon is just totally socially inept it's ridiculous. He's always very serious and analyzes EVERYTHING. And he's a major germaphobe. Anyhoo, I hope you laugh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqwPp--hy-c

A very....interesting baptism...etc.

Our sweet little Matthew was baptized Saturday. He has looked forward to being baptized ever since he saw Zack get baptized 3 years ago and has talked about it often. As his baptism date has drawn near he has talked about it even more. He had started talking about how excited he was to be baptized but how scared he was to actually be dunked under water. We've encouraged him and I told him that I was TERRIFIED to have my head under water when I was baptized, too. I told him that our Branch President even talked with me and told me that everything was going to be ok. My wonderful Grandma Irvine sent me a lovely letter of encouragement also. I just remember praying really hard that I wouldn't drown and being so thrilled that He actually answered my prayers and kept me from drowning. HAHA   I thought that might help him but it didn't. He got more and more nervous as the week progressed. Poor kid!

 Well, the big day came. There was a little girl from another ward named Jessica who also was being baptized. When the talks finished the Bishop who was conducting said that they would like to have Matthew baptized first and then Jessica. Well, Matthew freaked! He did NOT want to go first! I was rather embarrassed and explained that Matthew was very nervous about having his head dunked under the water and wondered if she could go first. That's when SHE freaked out TOO! Her mom said she was scared too. It was seriously the craziest thing we all had ever seen! They both were weeping and wailing and yes there was some gnashing of teeth! They both were baptized...eventually. LOL! Some of us joked that we wished we could take video of it so we could show it at Matthew's wedding reception. LOL! It was definitely crazy! Now he says that being baptized was so awesome that he wishes he could do it again and that he can't wait until he's 12 and can go to the temple and do baptisms.

Interestingly enough, though, the spirit was very strong. Especially when Brian confirmed him. I'm thankful that Zack & Matthew have been blessed with that companionship. I am grateful that Brian holds and honors his Priesthood. What a beautiful thing! We felt the spirit throughout the rest of the day. It was like we just felt we needed to be reverent. I had to run to the store for my prescription and I hated going because it felt like I was breaking the Sabbath or something.

The luncheon afterwards was nice. Yummy food and spending time with family. I love baptism days! They are just joyful! I am so grateful for the gospel. I am so grateful for the joy that fills our lives as we strive to live righteously. We are FAR FROM perfect but Heavenly Father blesses us for our efforts and I am truly grateful for Him and the blessings He gives us.

~Brian was told at the very end of last month that his job will be terminated in January. They just simply have enough people in Logan at USU that do the work that Brian does here that they are going to give them the work from USU-CEU and terminate that position here. We are so worried and Brian is hoping that he'll be able to find something. It was nice to have Matthew's baptism to bring some joy to our lives since we've been pretty stressed out. If you hear of any Accounting jobs in your area please feel free to let me know. :) tarafree26@hotmail.com

~So my friend Nikki who was doing my hair in exchange of me babysitting her 2 awesome kids, moved away a couple months ago. She did hair but she also worked part time for Hallmark at Walmart and Smiths here. My friend Tamra worked with her. Well once Nikki moved they put Tamra in charge and they needed to hire someone else to work with her and they hired me! It's very part time and very flexible, which is what I need! So I started yesterday. It was SO much fun! I am really excited about the whole thing! There were about 9 of us yesterday working on a whole redo of the cards and displays and such. It was really fun working with those ladies and learning lots of new things. And those of you who know of my love for stationary, cards, and wrapping paper, and organizing, sorting, and filing, know that this is right up my alley!!! I'm just thrilled with the opportunity!

~So Brian had church meetings all morning Sunday. He usually helps me tons on Sundays so I was worried about making it to church on time when we are always late to church when I HAVE his help so I figured I didn't stand a chance on my own. I was really trying to stay on top of things. When we got to church I scanned the congregation for Brian and couldn't see him anywhere. So I looked at the congregation and I realized that none of these people looked remotely familiar. So I looked at the Bishopric and THEY were different too! So I checked my watch and it was 10:00. We were an hour EARLY!! Yes, I'm crazy!   :~/

Matthew rockin' his 70's jumpsuit. He thought that big collar was totally groovy! :)

My hair looks like crap but I was there on time. :)



Matty with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa gave the best talk on Baptism. I cried like a baby when he talked about how 8 years ago we were all gathered together for Matthew's (and Jessica's family for her) baby blessing. The time is just slipping away...  :(



Matty with Steph, J.J., Josh, & Emily. He's looks kinda like a little ragamuffin. He started undressing and I told him he had to take pictures before he could change his clothes. So his shirt is cockeyed, and his pants are twisted. But his cute little Jack-o-lantern smile makes the rest not matter!!!  Grandma and Grandpa game him a suit and he was THRILLED to get to wear it for the first time on Sunday. He looked very handsome!!!

Matty with his cousins Jordan, Jeremy, and Marne. Jordan just came home from his mission a couple of months ago. We just love them!

Matty with Aunt KayTee. Uncle Chris had to work so he wasn't able to make it. We're so glad KayTee came!!!

I can't stand it when...

*I can't stand it when my kids throw tantrums. OOHHH I just burns me up!
*I can't stand it when Gracie screams and freaks out every time I fix her hair!
*I can't stand it when my kids fight me about doing their homework!
*I can't stand it when my kids ask for a toy or treat or something EVERY time we go to a store!
*I can't stand it when my kids take their shoes off and spill sand all over the house!
*I can't stand it when my kids sass me! That really drives me up the wall!
*I can't stand it when Gracie and Max get food all over themselves when they eat! Seriously, you can give each of them 1 M&M...just 1...and they get it all over themselves!
*I can't stand it when my kids drink my can of Cherry Coke when I'm not looking and I come back for a drink and it's empty!
*I can't stand it when my kids dig in my purse and steal my gum or my pens!
*I can't stand it when my kids don't do what I ask them the first time I ask them in a super nice, lovely tone of voice so after the 3rd or 4th time I ask them I have to yell or talk in my very firm and not so lovely voice and THEN they do what I ask!
*I can't stand it when my kids don't put their shoes in their closets when they take them off and we have to frantically search the house looking for the missing shoes before school or church! Or they can't find their retainer or their backpack or their jacket!
*I can't stand it when my kids can't seem to find the garbage can EVER!!
*I ESPECIALLY can't stand the fact that they get all of this bad behavior from ME!!! Every time something like this occurs in our house I have a flashback to when I was a kid and I know that I absolutely, positively deserve to have to deal with every.single.bit of it! I am amazed that my mother is still sane!!! And I can testify that 'The Mother's Curse' really works!

A few thoughts

Sometimes if I ask Gracie if she wants to take a nap she'll say no and then a little while later she'll say she does want to go ni-nite. So I asked her today if she wanted to go ni-nite and she said, "No, dedo" and smiled really cheesy.
Max was playing with my hair today. I have my bangs pulled back in a couple of bobbie pins today. He had one of Gracie's hair flowers in his hand and said, "I'm just going to cover these up with a flower because when I see them I think they are kind of hideous."

I'm finally enjoying the summer. We're just kickin' back and havin' fun and I'm feeling very relaxed. In most ways I'm not looking forward to school starting. I am, however, looking forward to having a cleaner house. That's it. That's the only reason I'm looking forward to school today. Tomorrow if the kids start fighting I'll look forward to school starting then too. I'm really looking forward to having some one on one time with Gracie. She is such a sweetie and the poor thing is kid #4 so she pretty much just has to go with the flow. It will be nice to not have anybody in preschool. Being able to keep up with the house better will be nice. It will be nice to feel like things are more calm and relaxed. I really NEED some calm and relaxation in my life!

Can you believe I actually braved free swimming day at the pool for International Days? They said there were over 1,000 people there that day and I believe it! It was crazy! But we had fun! Gracie freaks out when the waves turn on but by the time we left that day she wanted me to take her to the biggest wave in the pool. She's so cute! I love spending time with my kids and feeling like I can actually feel like doing fun things like that with them by myself. I am really thankful for modern medicine!!!

I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me....., scripture marking, that dadgum tooth fairy!, Brian's delicioso burritos

~As a parent you I feel the magnitude of the responsibility I have to raise good, decent, humble, active participants in church, and successful, upstanding citizens of this crazy world. I realize that I have to be a good example to them in every way because they learn so much by watching others. Now that I have a daughter I feel this responsibility even more than before! What she sees and hears me do will shape the kind of person she will be, just the same as it will shape her brothers. But it will also shape the kind of wife and mother she will be. Kind of mind blowing for me! She truly watches EVERYTHING I do. She is so cute to watch as she does stuff I do. She loves to help me with every task. She is a hard little worker! Her favorite way to help is to hand me the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Today I got out a towel to dry the dishes with since I usually use plastic cups and they just never seem to dry in the dishwasher. Well, Gracie got herself a towel out of the drawer and came over and started drying off dishes too. Oh my goodness! It was adorable! She melts my heart! She.is.JOY!!!
~So I went to that little scripture marking class last month and the teacher gave us a piece of paper with all the scripture mastery scriptures on it. She said she figures that if the youth of the church need to memorize them she should probably at least have them marked in her scriptures. She marks them in a rainbow of colored pencils so she knows when she runs across them she will remember that they are scripture mastery scriptures. I have been marking them in my scriptures since Brian got them for me a few years ago and I haven't marked very many scriptures in them yet. Although, Gracie has done her fair share of marking them!  ;)   I have so enjoyed marking these scriptures because they are just wonderful, inspiring, faith building, thought provoking, scriptures! I don't really take time to read scriptures on my own. We do as a family and that is wonderful but I really feel like I need to make more of an effort personally to study the scriptures on my own. I am so grateful for the scriptures! What a wonderful gift we've been given by our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ!  The prophets in the scriptures had such courage, such faith, such obedience. We can learn so many things from them!!!
~K, soooo, my face had been feeling like I was having birthing contractions for a couple days. So intense and unbearable! I don't think I've ever cried from the pain I have there before. I just try to be tough but that pain had me curled up in a ball on my bed, crying like a baby!!! Then my last tooth on the top on the right hurt so badly it's ridiculous so I went to the doctor. The crappiest part was that my T.N. could be causing that pain or it could just be a rotten tooth. My dentist said the only way he could tell if it was the tooth was to remove the filling I had in that tooth and basically do a root canal which would cost like $1500 and it could just be the stupid nerve causing it in the first place and I would have wasted $1500. I just had him pull it. He said it's really not that important of a tooth anyway. So, now I've had 3 teeth pulled. And not once has that dadgum tooth fairy brought me so much as a penny! Can you believe that?!?!  :)
~Brian makes these AMAZING pork burritos! I mean seriously TO DIE FOR!!! They are super easy to make too. And the smell fabulous!!! Ok, so this is what he does....

Brian's Delicioso Burritos

*Place a pork roast in the crock pot.
*Pour a can of that green chili verde enchilada sauce over it.
*Cut some onion up and throw that in. Brian cuts it into pretty big chunks so the kids can easily pick it out.  :)
*Cut up an Anaheim pepper and throw that in too. We didn't have one last time and it was still fabulous!!
*Let it cook in your crock pot for  like 6-8 hours from frozen.
*Put some on a flour tortilla and roll it up and ENJOY!!! We put cheese on the kids' meat in their tortilla because they'll pretty much eat anything that is covered in cheese! :)

Welllllll....

I went to that Dr's appointment. The first lady that came in acted like I didn't even have TN and was trying to diagnose me. I was like I know what I have I just need further treatment...HELLO MCFLY!!! So she finally got her superior who knew a lot about TN and she came in and was like yes, I totally think you have TN. She said that she thinks I should just keep trying to find the right medicine and the right dose for me and if I ever get to the point where I don't get relief from medication anymore then I should consider surgery but otherwise it should absolutely be a last resort. She said that she understands my desire to get off of my medications and not have to take them forever but since TN can go into remission and since I am much younger that most people with it I should just patiently wait it out. Most people who get it are in their 60's or 70's but you can get it at any age. She said the surgical treatments are fairly new and they can be scary. They can cause you to have even more problems than you already had in the first place. Or the problem can happen all over again. I have heard some real horror stories so I suppose it is best to not have surgery. BUT since November, when I FINALLY had a diagnosis from 3 different doctors and I started researching treatments and stuff I have just been dealing with the pain the best I could knowing that there was an end in sight. I just KNEW that I would go to this appointment that I have been on the waiting list for all of this time and they would tell me which of the procedures they thought would work best for me, I would have it done and then I would be all better. I could be the mom and wife I really want to be again. So today I have been very upset. I just can't help it. Now that I don't have an end in sight, no motivating factor, what do I do. Am I strong enough to endure this crap? It seriously sucks! I don't want to have Trigeminal Neuralgia!!! I just want it to go away! I don't want it to continue robbing me and my family of ME!!!! I know that this stupid thing gets progressively worse and I am really scared about that. The fact that they call it "The Suicide Disease" because it just gets so horrid that you just can't take it anymore terrifies me. I have tried so hard to be as positive as possible. People are always surprised when they find out what I have because I try so hard to not let it show. But right now I just want a whole day of just staying in bed, just sleeping and crying and wallowing in self pity. Just accepting it fully as something I will have to endure the rest of my life and trying to get all the negative feelings out. Then the next day I can just get out of bed, dust myself off and go forward. But instead I have to just keep going and that really sucks. No wallowing in self pity for me. Ok, so I am still wallowing today but I just can't do it while laying in bed. :) I get to do it while I clean the house. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully I have a new attitude because today's attitude really bites!!!

It's exactly the way I pictured it!!!

Today is wonderful! I feel fantastic! The kids are having tons of fun! They played in the mud with friends. I mean PLAYED in the mud, mud from head to toe. It rained today, whatchya gonna do?! They rode their bikes. Our back "yard" is just dirt and weeds. I think it is ugly but I also think it's a really cool "boy" backyard. There is a big dirt circle drive kind of a thing that the kids like to dig in and ride bikes on and stuff. There is a big area that is like an acre that they can ride bikes on. They catch lizards. They get super dirty every day. They have a couple of adorable little neighbor friends to play with. I have a friend who comes over sometimes to play  and our kids like to play together. They have the 2 little kids to play with that I babysit. I'm so glad because I had to FORCE them to play outside last summer! They hated it and I felt so bad for them. So now they are happy and I am just so glad!
As I was hosing them down and we were laughing and they were having so much fun being hosed down, it occurred to me that THIS was exactly how I always pictured motherhood being. Everything about today just feels...GREAT!! It's great to feel good and to feel like I'm able to keep up today. I have felt really rotten for like almost 3 weeks now. So-much-pain. Yesterday pretty much sucked!!! No other way to put it! It was painful and I had to take 6 kids with me to the vet to see what is wrong with my poor, sweet, dog. More about my dog later. He's a mini schnauzer. I LOVE HIM!!! He ADORES me! He's been with us since January and has been my little pal through all the good days and bad. They say he's bleeding internally and they think he got into poison. He's on vitamin K and an antibiotic. After that I had to take Gracie to the doctor because she has an ear infection. Thankfully I only had to take Gracie and Tessa, they are both 2. They are adorable! But every time I turned around it was something. It just kept getting worse and worse all day. So it's amazing to feel so much better today! It's great to feel like I'm more "together" today. I really just love being a mom today!!!

Tomorrow is a new day.

Hopefully it's a pain free day.

 Hopefully it's another day where things just flow and everyone is happy.

Hopefully it's another day that is exactly like I always pictured it being.

I just always pictured the house being a LOT cleaner so hopefully tomorrow it WILL be!!

     ;)    

I'm hoping you are having a really great day too!!!

Hooray for great days!

My hair before...

My hair after...

I'm loving this deal I made with a lady in our church. I watch her sweet as pie little kids for a few hours a week and she does my hair and my kid's and Brian's too. Our kids all love each other so it's almost like she's doing me this big favor by letting her kids come play with my kids so my kids don't fight with each other all day and complain about how bored they are. I love it!

A little catching up...

K so I know I haven't blogged in a really long time, it's actually been almost a whole month! Crazy for me! But my medicine has been working REALLY well...most of the time anyway. I still have some really bad days, sometimes for several days in a row. But I'm definitely having more good days than bad days...I'll take it!!!! On the really good days I think of a zillion things to blog about but I'm running around doing all the things I can't do on the bad days. I still try to just work through life in pain on those days, I'm just a LOT slower! I have to sit down more often and rest. Thank goodness for recliners! I just try to find joy on those bad days by spending more time with the kids. Reading to them. We like to watch movies and eat popcorn together when it hurts too much. I love the chance that those bad days give me to just spend time with the kids, snuggling 1 or 2 kids on the recliner while we watch our movies. The good days have been like a dream come true! I can mow weeds, clean more deeply, run errands, organize our house better. When we moved in a year ago we just haphazardly put things away just to get rid of the piles boxes in the house. I have reorganized most closets, drawers, cabinets, to make them more functional. I just get so much more done on good days than I do on bad days for sure!!! I have caught myself feeling FANTASTIC many times and doing things I couldn't for so long and I just feel so incredibly happy that it always brings tears to my eyes to feel NO PAIN and I feel like myself for a change! Then when I go back to having my Trigeminal Neuralgia pain on bad days that brings tears to my eyes too. I am so grateful to have found a wonderful doctor who knew what was wrong with me AND how to help me! I am grateful to a wonderful friend who, when I mentioned I didn't have a dishwasher, gave us a dishwasher that they had in their garage that was from a different house they had. Her very clever husband build a cover for it since it is the kind of dishwasher that is meant to be built in to your cabinets. We had to have it as a portable one so he made it portable. He also came over to our house 2 evenings in a row hooking it up. I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to have a dishwasher!!! As you might imagine, we have a LOT of dishes around here seeing as how there are 6 of us and we eat out once or twice a month, if that often. So 3 meals a day for 6 people.....fun stuff!! I have spent more hours washing dishes this past year than I care to think about. What a time saver a dishwasher is! I feel giddy every time I close the dishwasher door and press the buttons to start it and walk away after spending a few minutes loading it! It's unbelievably freeing! And I am so incredibly grateful that they so generously gave us the dishwasher and that he sacrificed 2 evenings hooking it up!!!

Baseball season has been going on and tonight Matty has his second game at 7:00 and Zack has a game at 6:00 to make up for the game they couldn't play yesterday because of rain. Matty is a natural when it comes to hitting! He's awesome! Zack has been playing second base this year. He has always played third base before so it's a bit different but he likes it and does a good job! He's been hitting the ball, being pitched to him since he was 2 years old but he's been hit by the ball a couple of times from some wild pitches and he has not hit much at all for 2 or 3 years. It drives us nuts because we know he can do it he just needed to get past the fear of getting hit. I finally told him a couple of weeks ago to just forget everything his different coaches have told him about how to stand and stuff and just watch the ball. It doesn't matter how he stands or what he does if he doesn't watch the ball. I told him baseball is meant to be fun and if you aren't having fun then what's the point?! And I told him that the worst case scenario is that he gets hit by a ball. He's done that and he lived so don't worry! It did the trick! That night he actually hit the ball!!! We were so excited for him! He has been hitting the ball at games ever since! They had a tournament last week. Friday night his team won which meant he had a game Saturday morning at 9:00. That was Gracie's bday and I had a zillion things to do so I couldn't go to the game. He hit the ball way out to right field and made it to 2nd base and 2 of his teammates scored off of that hit! What a confidence boost for him! I was so happy for him! His team lost but they still have the best record in the league for the tournament  with only one loss, so they play tonight again. They would have been finished last week but with all the cancelled games because of rain, the tournament is still going on. I can't wait to see how his team fares!

Can you believe Gracie is 2 now?! It just blows my mind! I'll try to post some of the fun pics of her bday. For now I have to go...busy, busy, busy!!! :)

Rice, Surviving Sacrament Meeting, Ipod Touch, Spiritual Thought, Crazy Life, Please share!

~I finally perfected rice after 17 years of trying. When Brian and I were first married I was the worst cook ever!! I was especially bad at cooking rice. I also had a hard time actually remembering to cook rice in the first time with meals until the sauce or whatever I cooked was finished. Brian was also bad at cooking rice. He can make fabulous bread, rolls, meals. I can cook just about anything that doesn't require yeast. But we just couldn't get along with rice. It always ended up crunchy in spots and gummy in other spots when we made it. So gross!! So we started making Minute Rice all the time. It saves time and it is always cooked right. Now that we have a family of 6 people to feed and a VERY limited budget, we decided we better master the art of cooking rice. We've been trying for a few months now and Brian finally figured out Jasmine rice. But still more expensive than regular old rice. I was still struggling until I started cooking 2 cups of rice with 5 cups of water and I cook it at a bit higher temp than we were before. Now it works! Every time!!! I am SoOoO happy!! I know it's kind of weird to be so happy about that I just felt like a weirdo for not being able to figure it out before. It seemed EVERYONE but us could cook rice. Yay me!!! Now I just have to get serious about mastering recipes that require yeast. Wish me luck!!  :)
~I've decided after attending Sacrament Meeting with my kids last week as usual on Sunday morning, that every single one of them must have ADHD. Sometimes they're worse than other times and last week was rough. We've tried taking snacks, books, coloring books, notebooks, Friend magazines, lacing boards to keep them entertained but it seems they just fight over them. Or discuss what they are doing...LOUDLY!!! Make huge messes. Cause many distractions and big scenes. It just isn't pretty! So last week we tried the -not bringing anything- thing...again. I think it worked about the same as anything else does. My biggest problem is that Max and Matthew think their voices only have one volume. Full blast! I wish there was some kind of muzzle for kids that I could use at church. Is that bad? This week we didn't bring ANYTHING again and it worked pretty well. Much better than last week. Matthew's volume is still full blast but they behaved as well as any little wiggly boy could be expected to behave.
~I am truly grateful that we decided to buy Zack an Ipod touch for his birthday last year!!! He had been begging for a Nintendo DS or an Ipod for a couple of years. An Ipod touch costs more than they do but you can use it for both games AND music as well as about a zillion other things. We NEVER spend anywhere near what we spent on that thing for birthdays but he's a great kid, we can't afford to pay allowance, we can't afford to take him anywhere fun ever, he NEVER gets ANYTHING fun so we figured it was worth a splurge for him!! Thank goodness we got it for him! If you don't have one in your family you definitely need one!!! We were sitting there in Sacrament Meeting when Zack remembered he was supposed to give a talk in Primary today. He whipped out his Ipod touch, that Brian was going to borrow for Sunday School and Priesthood since it has the scriptures and lesson manual on it, and looked up the Friend magazine and found a lovely little story by Elder Uchtdorf to read for his talk. Saved again!!!
~Our lesson in Sunday School was fantastic today! I just love it when this certain man substitutes! He is outstanding!! We talked a bit about The Word of Wisdom and about how some people don't want to commit to following that commandment or any commandments but want to eat, drink, and be merry and not be accountable at all. Brother McCourt talked about how Jesus suffered all of our sins and died for us that we might be forgiven of our sins and return to live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our families forever and what does he ask of us in return? That we obey His commandments. That we live lives that emulate Him and that we be instruments in His hands in serving others, loving others, and bringing our brothers and sisters to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that none of us is perfect and that ultimately we are all striving towards the same goal. And that we all know what we should and should not be doing but I just love how each week at church we can be inspired to live certain  commandments and principals more fully. Each of us may find something different that we, as individuals need to work on but if we all go with the same attitude of being humble/teachable, the spirit can speak to us and help us find ways to achieve our Celestial goals. I was really not thrilled to go to church this morning. Time changes are hard and I turned off the alarm and decided say a quick prayer before getting in the shower and accidentally fell asleep until 10 minutes to 8:00. Not good!! It's a circus at our house Sunday morning and sometimes when I'm sitting in Sacrament Meeting after all the craziness, I don't always have the right spirit about me. But I forced myself to go and I am so glad I did! I eventually humbled myself and allowed those wonderful whisperings to happen. Next week I'm going to try to not FORCE myself to go but to go with a happy heart and with an excitement to learn.
~The last few weeks have been crazy! Here are a few of the things we've had going on.
*baseball sign-ups
*baseball try outs
*New Beginnings: LOTS of hours and details and work but oh so worth it!!! It was a really great night!!!
*Zack received his Arrow of Light badge through a really neat ceremony at the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts. Incidentally, the entire Blue and Gold Banquet lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes! Only church should last that long and even then...kind of iffy! :)
*Meal planning for a month
*Grocery shopping for a month
*Zack's D.A.R.E. graduation
*Matthew's Patriotic concert for school on a Wednesday night that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes
*Zackary's Patriotic concert for school the very next night that lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes also. Same program. Same parts. Same songs. Different kids. They didn't have enough room for all of the parents and families to be there on the same night so they decided to split it up and have them do it on 2 different nights. UGH!!!
*Fire station field trip with Max's preschool
*Parent/teacher conferences: Warning: Shameless bragging ahead!! Have I mentioned lately that my children are positively BRILLIANT?!!!!! I am so proud of them! I love that the teachers always say they wish they had a class full of students as well behaved and smart as my kids are! They are awesome!!! And they both have THE best teachers EVER!!!
*I had a couple of Dr.'s visits, medicine additions and tweaks, and 8 vials of blood for testing. Fun stuff!
*A 3-4 hour Book of Mormon Read
*My beautiful niece Emily's 1st birthday party

We've been busy and having fun! Brian and I are gearing up for a very busy baseball season as many of you are. I've GOT to be more organized with our meals this year. Last year we ate so many hot dogs that the mere thought of them makes me gag a bit! We never tired of sandwiches though. What is your favorite "go to" busy night meal. Please comment and share your tip with me! Even if I don't know you PLEASE help me out here! Take care everyone!!!

Rise and Shine...

We used to be so diligent about having family scripture study every night before our kids went to bed. That was until Zack started playing baseball. The hours are so crazy! It throws our whole schedule out of wack and we have such a hard time recovering it when the season ends. Course once that ends, football season is right around the corner and it's just as difficult to stay on track. We have a hard time squeezing dinner in, let alone scripture study. And the kids are so hard to keep under control for scriptures in the evening when they are more energetic (won't keep quiet) and can't stay still (they poke, punch, and bug the heck out of each other which leads to lots of referreeing and a general lack of feeling the spirit). When this school year started we decided that Brian and I would take turns reading scriptures while the kids ate their breakfast. They just talked to each other the whole time instead of listening. And then Brian started working 4 days a week,10 hours a day so he can be home on Fridays to help me more and he started waking up at like 6:10 a.m. The boys have to wake up at 6:50 in order to make the bus on time. So, we've started getting the kids up at 6:30 to read scriptures and I must say it is FABULOUS!!! We have iliminated all talking, poking, punching, and bugging each other. They're still half asleep so they're too tired to do anything but sit there on the couch, wrapped snugly in their blankets, listening. It's wonderful! We should have done this years ago! Getting them up a little early has been awesome! By the time we are finished reading scriptures they are good and awake. When they get dressed and eat breakfast they aren't so sluggish and that parts easier. I've even made eggs and toast for breakfast a few times and Brian made pancakes once on a Friday morning with the extra time we have. They eat cold cereal, instant oatmeal cooked in the microwave, or toast and yogurt or fruit most mornings so they love this improvement. And I don't feel so guilty so it's all good. :)

Loser mom...again, Chore chart progress report, and Way to go Zacky!!!

~So, I'm checking facebook (rare for me because it gives my computers viruses but I was totally bored) on Sunday night around 9:00 and I read one of my friend Emily's posts that talks about her son's Valentine box he made for school. UH OH!!! We totally spaced off the Valentine's boxes. We were going to do them on Saturday. Matthew was going to make a dragon. Zack was still figuring his out. They were going to be awesome and they were totally going to win 1st prize in the Valentine box contest at school! Man I suck sometimes... Sorry mom, I had to say it! Luckily Zack was still awake because Brian has been letting him stay up until 9:00 lately. The poor kid had to stay up late and throw a box together. It was pretty cool and even had a monster drawn on it with it's mouth open around the card slot. Matthew had to get up early and throw his together. They would have totally rocked when I was a kid but since the Valentine's box competition is CrAzY and people are really intense about it, they didn't have a chance! When there are Spongebob, Bunnies, a whale, and a dragon that are all HUGE and intricate and totally awesome there is NO way my kid's had a chance at winning. They knew going into it after their experience last year. That is why we were going to make totally awesome ones this year. Unfortunately, I taught Zack to clean the bathroom Saturday, made the other kids do chores, took Max to his friend Michael's super fun 2 1/2 hour birthday party at the Wave Pool. We finally got faster Internet for several reasons and now we can watch our Netflix movies through the wii so we pretty much spent any spare time we had over the weekend watching movies. So, after the bday party we watched a movie while the kids played outside since it was a beautiful afternoon and apparently none of us even thought about the Valentine's boxes. Next year...it...is...on!!! We are going to start making them in like January so I won't be a loser mom and my kids will at least have a chance at winning! You'll see! It's going to be great!
~Max is cracking me up lately so much. He is always hilarious but lately he is just really funny. I am SO like Dori on Finding Nemo so I can't remember 5 minutes later what he said but it is fun to have a good laugh at the moment. I'm going to start writing everything he says in a notebook in my purse now so I can remember and share. I'm just a mess!
~Zhack talksh really shilly lately becaushe he hash retainersh now. He got them last Friday. His top one is cobalt blue (he picked it because it's called BYU blue but I am a Utes fan so I'm choosing to call it cobalt blue) with the Batman symbol. Totally awesome!!!
~This new chore chart thing is the best! Last night Matthew's chore was to straighten the living room, Max's chore was to vacuum the living room, Zack's chore was to peel potatoes. When they were finished Matthew asked if he could wash the dishes, too. Who am I to stand in the way of a kid that wants to work! When he was finished he was disappointed that there weren't any more for him to wash. AND he's totally stoked about learning to clean the bathroom on Saturday. He keeps telling me everyday that he just can't wait until Saturday so he can learn to clean the bathroom. He was my biggest grumbler about chores for the first few days and now he's my biggest helper. How cool is that?!
~Zacky has always been a great student. His kindergarten and first grade teachers in Cedar City called him "brilliant"! He was always one of the 3 top scoring kids in the class. His second grade and third grade teachers in Pleasant Grove were INTERESTING!!! At that school they literally tried to dumb things down for students that excelled so that everyone was on the same learning level instead of having different levels for different kids. I talked to his second grade teacher about how he was reading at a fourth grade level in the first grade and just wondered how he was doing. And she said that she didn't realize he was that great of a reader, she would have to test him. This was in FEBRUARY!!! It was just not the same, to say the least. The teacher he had in Salem for the last 3 months of 3rd grade (we moved there in March...HARD for him!) was interesting. Each time someone misbehaved EVERYONE was punished by having to put their heads on their desks for a minute. The next time it happened it was 2 minutes, then 3 and so on throughout the day. How is that fair to anyone! Here's my poor Zacky who has always behaved so well (every one of his teachers has said they wished all of their students were as well behaved and as kind to the other students as Zacky is) and he's being punished off and on all day long for other's bad behavior instead of rewarded for his good behavior. Not cool! One morning on the way to school, he was crying because he didn't want to go so I started crying too and just kept him home. I just couldn't do it. Fourth grade here last year was..eh. Now, this year his teacher is outstanding and recognizes that he is "brilliant" :) and LOVES my boy so much! She challenges him and helps him become the best he can be. It's been amazing! He and 2 other students this year are always the top scorers on everything. She moved all 3 of them up to accelerated programs in reading and math. He is doing so, so well! He's happier! We're happier! It's been a wonderful year and I am so grateful that things are going so well for him! He really needed this boost in his confidence after so much weirdness! And with all of our crazy moves and everything I am just so proud of him and his ability to be so resilient and remain the "brilliant" :) amazing boy that we love so much!!!