Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
I went to teach skating earlier this morning to my student Amanda who is going to be in the Christmas show next week. Then I ran home to pick up Max and Markus for a drop in hockey session. Markus was having a fit about some toy that he wanted, that Morgen showed him online. So he didn't end up skating but Max did and had a great time playing hockey for an hour and a half. I just held Markus in my lap and tried to talk to him about the concept of being good before Christmas, that Santa Claus is always watching, etc., but he was not listening, he wanted his toy today!
When I came home I decided to start spreading some Christmas cheer and put all the decorations out, except for the tree of course. I have to wait a few more weeks to buy that so that the tree doesn't die before Christmas.
My favorite decorations are the village pieces that I have started to collect. And my Grandma Jo's nativity scene that she made out of porcelain and hand painted and bejeweled each piece.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Caution...Read at your own risk!
Okay, so I don't really know why I am writing this, but I guess it has been on my mind and I am in a moment. I was reading on a friend of a friend's blog and she was posting about this topic and so now I am going to as well.
So, I have been really thinking lately about this perfect blog world that I live in. I want to show how beautiful my life is and want people to feel and know this reality. However, I am having a day. I'm not ever a pessimist. However, I'm in a moment and I'm going with it!
My life is far from perfect. Just last month Ben took a late night bath, which always precedes a bad moment and we fought all night instead of sleeping, all because of something that I did. Can any of you relate? Hate those nights because I know that I am going to be a zombie the next day from lack of sleep. Anyway, I am sure I come off to most of the world as a pretty put together gal, all her ducks in a row, well let me tell you good friend, that I am great at putting up a facade. Lovely isn't it....I have flaws. So, my contemplations the last few days consist of sadness of thoughts for my mother-in-law Diane, who has been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, metastasized to her hip bone, what the h e double hockey sticks!!! On a much brighter note, my marriage is on the rocks and I am going to counseling for the first time in sixteen years. I am in perfect health, have so much to be grateful for and I still have stuff to complain about....go figure!
I warned you to read with caution and I'm sure it will all seem better in the morning, but for now I'm signing off as the discontented blogger!!
So, I have been really thinking lately about this perfect blog world that I live in. I want to show how beautiful my life is and want people to feel and know this reality. However, I am having a day. I'm not ever a pessimist. However, I'm in a moment and I'm going with it!
My life is far from perfect. Just last month Ben took a late night bath, which always precedes a bad moment and we fought all night instead of sleeping, all because of something that I did. Can any of you relate? Hate those nights because I know that I am going to be a zombie the next day from lack of sleep. Anyway, I am sure I come off to most of the world as a pretty put together gal, all her ducks in a row, well let me tell you good friend, that I am great at putting up a facade. Lovely isn't it....I have flaws. So, my contemplations the last few days consist of sadness of thoughts for my mother-in-law Diane, who has been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, metastasized to her hip bone, what the h e double hockey sticks!!! On a much brighter note, my marriage is on the rocks and I am going to counseling for the first time in sixteen years. I am in perfect health, have so much to be grateful for and I still have stuff to complain about....go figure!
I warned you to read with caution and I'm sure it will all seem better in the morning, but for now I'm signing off as the discontented blogger!!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Human Race
Monet called me last night to see if I wanted to do the Human Race fun run today with her out in Draper this morning. It benefits the Utah food bank and so I decided to do it. It was a really fun race and the weather was wet but it felt really good to run in it. Kailey & Aria did it as well.
Kailey, B, Monet & Aria at the outlet mall before the race began
Aria was trying to take these balloons home after the race was over, but Monet wouldn't go for it. I just checked what my time was online and I finished in 24:20 (3rd in my age group), it was a really fun experience, I am planning on doing it again next year. Afterwards I went back to Monet's house and we warmed up with some hot wassail and watched the parade before I headed home to my house of chaos. When I got home Max still had his friend Justin over who had spent the night. The beds were all unmade, everyone was still in their p.j.s and Ben had invited his sisters Amy's boys, Finn & Atticus over to play. He went to work out and I tried to clean up, get the boys ready and made two pumpkin pies, sweet potato pies, and a veggie tray to take out to my sister Marilee's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I will post some photos later.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sweet Potato Pie
In honor of my friend Julie who is always so nice to post all of her yummy recipes out on her blog, I thought I would post this one. It is from another friend, Laurie, but I have made it for years now and although I don't really like sweet potatoes, everyone seems to really like this version.
5 Yams (cook until tender)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
3 T. butter
1 t. vanilla
Mash all the above ingredients together and spread in a 2 qt. casserole dish. Top with the following:
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
2 T. butter
1/2 c. pecans
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Enjoy.
5 Yams (cook until tender)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
3 T. butter
1 t. vanilla
Mash all the above ingredients together and spread in a 2 qt. casserole dish. Top with the following:
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
2 T. butter
1/2 c. pecans
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Enjoy.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Take it to the Max
Max received all A's on his report card today and after I went to his SEP conferences he wanted to buy something at the book fair at school. So we went in and he found this crazy ooze making kit. He has been having so much fun with it today, it has taken over my kitchen though, as it is very messy but oh how little boys love messes!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Swimming
I am going swimming this morning for a little bit. I haven't been swimming as much lately. It is just so nice outside for running I would rather do that and be outside, so that is what I do on most days.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sweet
I had such a great day today. I think it was because it was so beautiful outside, I don't know why, I just know that it was a sweet day.
I took Markus and Max swimming as Morgen was at scout camp for overnight. Then we just played and hung out until the BYU vs. Utah game started. We had some neighbors come over and had fun until the fifth turnover of the game, then Max was bummed since his team lost. Monet came over and was sad because her boyfriend Rocco is writing a script for his new movie and didn't have time to be with her today on her birthday. So I suggested that we go up to Park City for dinner with my parents and she agreed. Then Rocco called and she was instantly cheered. I think she had a good birthday after all. Happy Birthday Monet!!!! (Sorry I didn't take my camera or I would have posted a photo from your party!)
I took Markus and Max swimming as Morgen was at scout camp for overnight. Then we just played and hung out until the BYU vs. Utah game started. We had some neighbors come over and had fun until the fifth turnover of the game, then Max was bummed since his team lost. Monet came over and was sad because her boyfriend Rocco is writing a script for his new movie and didn't have time to be with her today on her birthday. So I suggested that we go up to Park City for dinner with my parents and she agreed. Then Rocco called and she was instantly cheered. I think she had a good birthday after all. Happy Birthday Monet!!!! (Sorry I didn't take my camera or I would have posted a photo from your party!)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Coddled Kids
I found this article on a friend of mines blog and thought it was really interesting.
Quit Coddling Your Kids
I look around at young people these days, and I honestly fear for the future of my country. People are becoming less and less resilient and more and more clueless on how to survive in the real world. We live in a society of namby pamby men and women who whine when they don’t get what they want and think they are entitled to all the comforts the world has to offer. What do I blame it on? Bad parenting.
Baby Boomer parents developed a parenting philosophy that was soft on discipline and heavy on spoiling their children. Because many Boomer couples were both working, they wanted to make sure their children liked them to make up for the lack of time they were spending with their children. Generation X parents are even worse about coddling their kids. To many many Gen X parents, children are just an accessory you get to dress up with ironic t-shirts and fauxhawks.
In an effort to stop the wussification of yet another generation of children, here are six ways young fathers can raise strong, resilient, and independent children.
1. Give them some independence
Several weeks ago there was a large brouhaha over a NY journalist having [1] allowed her 9 year old son to ride the subway home all by himself. Some people chastised the mother for putting her son in danger, while others wrote in to applaud her decision and to share their own stories of taking solo adventures as a child. I, of course, side with the latter. Kids can’t venture a half a mile from their homes these days without parents worrying for their safety. I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood adjacent to a middle school. Every day, SUVs line up down the street to pick up their kids because heaven forbid they would walk the mile home by themselves. They could be snatched!
This culture of obsessive over-protectiveness is bred by the media. As the 24 hour news networks and Satan’s minion, Nancy Grace, regurgitate stories of abduction over and over and over again, it begins to seem like the world outside your suburban castle is a very dangerous place indeed. Yet the reality is very different from how the media spins it. According to [2] Newsweek: Nationwide, stranger abductions are extremely rare; there’s a one-in-a-million chance a child will be taken by a stranger, according to the Justice Department. And 90 percent of sexual abuse cases are committed by someone the child knows. Mortality rates from all causes, including disease and accidents, for American children are lower now than they were 25 years ago. According to Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group, between 1980 and 2003 death rates dropped by 44 percent for children ages five to 14 and 32 percent for teens aged 15 to 19.
Don’t coddle your kids by keeping them under lock and key and only letting them out if you can keep a constant eye on them. You’re squelching their development and sense of independence. Teach your kids how to stay out of trouble and away from strangers, and then turn them loose to ride their bikes, roam the neighborhoods, run errands, and walk to school by themselves.
2. Let them do unsafe things
“Helicopter parents” not only worry about their child being abducted, they wring their hands over letting their children do anything mildly unsafe. Everything today is childproof and fun proof. Have you been to a playground lately? Did you notice what was missing? Teeter-totters, merry-go-rounds, and sometimes even swings are going extinct, replaced by plastic coated, low to the ground, snooze inducing apparatuses. Some playgrounds even have signs that say “no running.” I kid you not. While these changes are often pushed by city managers worried about liability, parents are equally at fault in trying to clear any dangers from the path of their children. They fail to understand that while sticking kids in a protective bubble may keep them in safe in the short-term, it leaves them more vulnerable in the long run. Some lessons in safety must be learned from trial and error. If children don’t learn to deal with dangerous tools and situations growing up, when they finally leave the nest, they will be lacking in the skills necessary to negotiate the real world.
3. Don’t be their best friend
I recently read an interview with Billy Ray Cyrus in which he was asked how he keeps his daughter Miley from turning into another Hollywood train wreck (this was before the topless pictures in Vanity Fair episode). He responded by saying, “I always try to be her best friend.” While many parents applaud such a philosophy, it is fundamentally the wrong way to raise a child. Parents want to believe they can be their child’s best friend because they enjoy such a healthy, close relationship. The reality is that parents want to be their child’s best friend because they’re afraid of their kid not liking them. But parenting is not a popularity contest. Being a true parent means that sometimes you have to lay down the rules, and oftentimes your kid is not going to like it. While “tough love” may be painful for both child and parent in the short term, it greatly benefits both in the long term. Kids don’t need a best friend, they need an authority figure. Deep down, they do want someone to lay down the rules and give them some structure. They want guidance. Best friends are equals, parents and children are not. If you insist on being your kid’s best friend, a situation will inevitably arise where you do finally try to reign them in and make them respect you. But it will be too late; they’ll feel free to toss your advice aside like they would for any friend.
4. Don’t automatically take their side
My mom works at an elementary school. One day, one of the students was causing all manner of trouble: disrespecting the teachers, throwing tantrums, and antagonizing the other children. It got to the point where the girl’s parents actually had to be called to come take the child home. When the mom arrived, she gave the teachers the stink eye, turned to her kid and said, “Awww, you’ve been having a tough day, haven’t you Sweetie? Let’s go buy you a toy.”
While it’s natural to think the best of your children, don’t be overly defensive when others criticize them. Teachers and friends typically do not have ulterior motives when sharing a story of your child’s misbehavior. As outside observers, they may have valuable insight into something about your kid that you have overlooked and need to address. Your child needs to earn your trust, just as anyone else does. Don’t give it to them automatically.
5. Make them work for what they get
Many young people today are swimming in debt up to their ears. They feel entitled to the things it took their parents 30 years to acquire. Such a problem exists because many young people have never had to earn the things they’ve enjoyed. They expect the good things in life to naturally flow into their lives.If children are not given responsibilities and work as a young age, it’s harder to instill the ethic when they’re older. You’re doing your child a great disservice if you buy every stinking thing they want. Sure, it’s easier to just buy them the $10.00 toy just to shut their tantrum up. But all you’re doing is conditioning them to the idea that if you whine enough, you’ll get what you want.
By encouraging your children to work for what they get, you’ll be teaching them valuable skills that they will carry with them the rest of their life. Not only will they develop an appreciation for work, they’ll learn valuable money management skills, responsibility, and initiative. During the early 1900’s kids were working 60 hours a week in factories and coal mines. While it was a deplorable situation, it shows that kids are capable of taking on far greater tasks than parents today are willing to give them. They may no longer have to break slate, but they can at least clean the bathroom and mow the lawn.
6. Don’t praise them indiscriminately
“If everyone is special, then no one is” -The Incredibles
One year, I volunteered at an after-school program at an elementary school. At the end of the summer we had an awards ceremony for the kids. The very PC director (no Pilgrim or Indian crafts on Thanksgiving!) insisted that every kid, whether they deserved one or not, had to receive an award, lest anyone should feel left out. So we were forced to think of awards even for the kids who had consistently misbehaved and caused trouble. Upon such students we ended up bestowing the “High Energy Award.” What a crock.
What’s the point of an award if everyone gets one? What’s the point in striving to be your best, if everyone is equally rewarded? Praise then loses all of its meaning, even for those who really deserve it.
Every parent believes their kid is special; that’s natural. But if you heap enormous and unwarranted praise on your kids, it’s going to end up debilitating them. Praising your child indiscriminately sends the message that praise is not earned, it is something one is naturally entitled too. It will end up dissolving their competitive drive. These children grow up believing they can do anything and everything well. Thus, they become restless at every job, quit, go to culinary school, then getting a masters in philosophy, and then think they’d like to try to enter the space program.
The reality is that there are certain things we are good at, and certain things we are not. If you praise your kids for everything, they’ll have a harder time honing in on their true talents and abilities. Instead of praising them indiscriminately, center your praise on specific achievements. For example, say, “You did a great job on your math test.” Not, “You are so smart and wonderful!”
Quit Coddling Your Kids
I look around at young people these days, and I honestly fear for the future of my country. People are becoming less and less resilient and more and more clueless on how to survive in the real world. We live in a society of namby pamby men and women who whine when they don’t get what they want and think they are entitled to all the comforts the world has to offer. What do I blame it on? Bad parenting.
Baby Boomer parents developed a parenting philosophy that was soft on discipline and heavy on spoiling their children. Because many Boomer couples were both working, they wanted to make sure their children liked them to make up for the lack of time they were spending with their children. Generation X parents are even worse about coddling their kids. To many many Gen X parents, children are just an accessory you get to dress up with ironic t-shirts and fauxhawks.
In an effort to stop the wussification of yet another generation of children, here are six ways young fathers can raise strong, resilient, and independent children.
1. Give them some independence
Several weeks ago there was a large brouhaha over a NY journalist having [1] allowed her 9 year old son to ride the subway home all by himself. Some people chastised the mother for putting her son in danger, while others wrote in to applaud her decision and to share their own stories of taking solo adventures as a child. I, of course, side with the latter. Kids can’t venture a half a mile from their homes these days without parents worrying for their safety. I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood adjacent to a middle school. Every day, SUVs line up down the street to pick up their kids because heaven forbid they would walk the mile home by themselves. They could be snatched!
This culture of obsessive over-protectiveness is bred by the media. As the 24 hour news networks and Satan’s minion, Nancy Grace, regurgitate stories of abduction over and over and over again, it begins to seem like the world outside your suburban castle is a very dangerous place indeed. Yet the reality is very different from how the media spins it. According to [2] Newsweek: Nationwide, stranger abductions are extremely rare; there’s a one-in-a-million chance a child will be taken by a stranger, according to the Justice Department. And 90 percent of sexual abuse cases are committed by someone the child knows. Mortality rates from all causes, including disease and accidents, for American children are lower now than they were 25 years ago. According to Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group, between 1980 and 2003 death rates dropped by 44 percent for children ages five to 14 and 32 percent for teens aged 15 to 19.
Don’t coddle your kids by keeping them under lock and key and only letting them out if you can keep a constant eye on them. You’re squelching their development and sense of independence. Teach your kids how to stay out of trouble and away from strangers, and then turn them loose to ride their bikes, roam the neighborhoods, run errands, and walk to school by themselves.
2. Let them do unsafe things
“Helicopter parents” not only worry about their child being abducted, they wring their hands over letting their children do anything mildly unsafe. Everything today is childproof and fun proof. Have you been to a playground lately? Did you notice what was missing? Teeter-totters, merry-go-rounds, and sometimes even swings are going extinct, replaced by plastic coated, low to the ground, snooze inducing apparatuses. Some playgrounds even have signs that say “no running.” I kid you not. While these changes are often pushed by city managers worried about liability, parents are equally at fault in trying to clear any dangers from the path of their children. They fail to understand that while sticking kids in a protective bubble may keep them in safe in the short-term, it leaves them more vulnerable in the long run. Some lessons in safety must be learned from trial and error. If children don’t learn to deal with dangerous tools and situations growing up, when they finally leave the nest, they will be lacking in the skills necessary to negotiate the real world.
3. Don’t be their best friend
I recently read an interview with Billy Ray Cyrus in which he was asked how he keeps his daughter Miley from turning into another Hollywood train wreck (this was before the topless pictures in Vanity Fair episode). He responded by saying, “I always try to be her best friend.” While many parents applaud such a philosophy, it is fundamentally the wrong way to raise a child. Parents want to believe they can be their child’s best friend because they enjoy such a healthy, close relationship. The reality is that parents want to be their child’s best friend because they’re afraid of their kid not liking them. But parenting is not a popularity contest. Being a true parent means that sometimes you have to lay down the rules, and oftentimes your kid is not going to like it. While “tough love” may be painful for both child and parent in the short term, it greatly benefits both in the long term. Kids don’t need a best friend, they need an authority figure. Deep down, they do want someone to lay down the rules and give them some structure. They want guidance. Best friends are equals, parents and children are not. If you insist on being your kid’s best friend, a situation will inevitably arise where you do finally try to reign them in and make them respect you. But it will be too late; they’ll feel free to toss your advice aside like they would for any friend.
4. Don’t automatically take their side
My mom works at an elementary school. One day, one of the students was causing all manner of trouble: disrespecting the teachers, throwing tantrums, and antagonizing the other children. It got to the point where the girl’s parents actually had to be called to come take the child home. When the mom arrived, she gave the teachers the stink eye, turned to her kid and said, “Awww, you’ve been having a tough day, haven’t you Sweetie? Let’s go buy you a toy.”
While it’s natural to think the best of your children, don’t be overly defensive when others criticize them. Teachers and friends typically do not have ulterior motives when sharing a story of your child’s misbehavior. As outside observers, they may have valuable insight into something about your kid that you have overlooked and need to address. Your child needs to earn your trust, just as anyone else does. Don’t give it to them automatically.
5. Make them work for what they get
Many young people today are swimming in debt up to their ears. They feel entitled to the things it took their parents 30 years to acquire. Such a problem exists because many young people have never had to earn the things they’ve enjoyed. They expect the good things in life to naturally flow into their lives.If children are not given responsibilities and work as a young age, it’s harder to instill the ethic when they’re older. You’re doing your child a great disservice if you buy every stinking thing they want. Sure, it’s easier to just buy them the $10.00 toy just to shut their tantrum up. But all you’re doing is conditioning them to the idea that if you whine enough, you’ll get what you want.
By encouraging your children to work for what they get, you’ll be teaching them valuable skills that they will carry with them the rest of their life. Not only will they develop an appreciation for work, they’ll learn valuable money management skills, responsibility, and initiative. During the early 1900’s kids were working 60 hours a week in factories and coal mines. While it was a deplorable situation, it shows that kids are capable of taking on far greater tasks than parents today are willing to give them. They may no longer have to break slate, but they can at least clean the bathroom and mow the lawn.
6. Don’t praise them indiscriminately
“If everyone is special, then no one is” -The Incredibles
One year, I volunteered at an after-school program at an elementary school. At the end of the summer we had an awards ceremony for the kids. The very PC director (no Pilgrim or Indian crafts on Thanksgiving!) insisted that every kid, whether they deserved one or not, had to receive an award, lest anyone should feel left out. So we were forced to think of awards even for the kids who had consistently misbehaved and caused trouble. Upon such students we ended up bestowing the “High Energy Award.” What a crock.
What’s the point of an award if everyone gets one? What’s the point in striving to be your best, if everyone is equally rewarded? Praise then loses all of its meaning, even for those who really deserve it.
Every parent believes their kid is special; that’s natural. But if you heap enormous and unwarranted praise on your kids, it’s going to end up debilitating them. Praising your child indiscriminately sends the message that praise is not earned, it is something one is naturally entitled too. It will end up dissolving their competitive drive. These children grow up believing they can do anything and everything well. Thus, they become restless at every job, quit, go to culinary school, then getting a masters in philosophy, and then think they’d like to try to enter the space program.
The reality is that there are certain things we are good at, and certain things we are not. If you praise your kids for everything, they’ll have a harder time honing in on their true talents and abilities. Instead of praising them indiscriminately, center your praise on specific achievements. For example, say, “You did a great job on your math test.” Not, “You are so smart and wonderful!”
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ben's Birthday Bash
Ben turned 41 today and he wanted to go to Red Robin to celebrate. So here are the photos from the big burger birthday bash...
Diane, Jim, (Ben's mom & dad) & Ben
Diane, Jim, (Ben's mom & dad) & Ben
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Beautiful Day
All of my boys had friends over to play today after school. Markus invited Lucas and Justin and they were having some kind of U vs. BYU battle out in the front yard. They went to our neighbors down the street, who happen to big U fans (they have a BYUH8R license plate in their front window!) and drew with blue chalk BYU Rocks!!! on their driveway. Little mischief makers.
Max's friend Adam has a great sense of humor and was cracking me up all the way home in the things he was saying to the boys. His dad is a news reporter so I am guessing he gets his communication skills from him.
Max invited his friends, Zac & Adam over after school to play real football and the video version. Zac has had a rough time lately, his parents were divorced, than his house was burnt to the ground and now they are living with his grandmother until the house is rebuilt. He is a really great kid and loves to play football so he and Max get along great.
Morgen was in a great mood after he earned all A's and one B in G/T Science for the first term of eighth grade. So he asked if I would take him to Hastur's to buy a W.O.W. miniature game of some sort, which I did. Then he invited his friend Karsten over to play it with him before going to guitar lessons.
I passed off a couple of scouts on their personal fitness merit badge tonight after I made dinner and did the dishes. Now I need to go do all of the merit badges and rank advancements for the upcoming court of honor on Thursday.
It was my friend Nicole's birthday today as well... Nicole HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Oh Pucks
Markus finished his first semester of Start Smart tonight and Grizzbee was there from the Grizzlies hockey team
Markus playing a scrimmage game
Grizzbee was throwing the puck in for the face off
Markus & GrizzMax also had a hockey practice after Markus was finished and before the piano recital...
Kate, Max's piano teacher and Max at his piano recital tonight. Busy night.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Kissing Cousins
My sister Sheri asked me to babysit my nieces Whitney & Josslyn today while she flew to Mexico and back (she is a flight attendant) so I of course said yes. Josslyn is such a doll and Markus absolutely loves playing with Whitney so it was a really fun day for them. A little crazy for me, but fun for them nonetheless. Here are some photos:
Markus and Whitney sitting in a tree...
Markus, Josslyn & Whitney
Josslyn was always smiling so cute until the flash went off and then her eyes would get all big and she was so scared.
Whitney was taking this photo, can you tell?
I just can't get enough of her little baby face, I just have to kiss her checks and Markus thinks she is pretty cute too and kept making her laugh by making all these little monkey noises. Morgen even stopped playing video games for a few minutes to hold her today.
Josslyn is almost six months old now
Josslyn was very excited to see her mommy again tonight (as she is still breastfeeding) but she took a bottle pretty well once she was hungry enough. I have a funny story about what I did before then to calm her down, but I can't write it on my blog, so ask me about it in person next time I see you, if you are interested!
Max having fun with his cousins Whitney and Aria
My Dad, Mom, my sister Monet & her friend Rocco.As if today wasn't busy enough taking care of a few extra kids, church, teaching primary, home teachers coming over and dinner, my dad's class that he holds once a month on the constitution was tonight at my house as well.
So the kids all hung out playing games and running around outside while we listened to my dad teach us all about what he knows. l to r: Kailey, Casey, Morgen & Cole
There, that was my day, how about yours?
So the kids all hung out playing games and running around outside while we listened to my dad teach us all about what he knows. l to r: Kailey, Casey, Morgen & ColeThere, that was my day, how about yours?
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Shopping Saturday
My friend Kelli sent me a coupon for the Gap's friends & family day so I went shopping today. I had a bunch of birthday presents to buy and while I was there I bought a vest for me as well. I also had a gift card from my friend Jessika from my birthday to Nordstrom, so I used that plus a few (hundred) dollars more to buy my perfume 'Quelques fleurs', that I have been out of for a while now. They haven't carried it for a long time at Nordies, and I even had to buy it in Paris once, but they have it again now and I was excited.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Better With Time
Do all things improve with age? I have heard that before but I don't know who said it and why. I also heard it said that all things get better with time, is that really true? I just wonder sometimes. Maybe it is just our perspective of things that change or we think about them in a different way. If that is so, than it doesn't really take time per se, but rather it takes our mind or wisdom instead. I am learning something new everyday, and that is what I believe gives me the wisdom that I need.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Bail Out
Max was so sad this morning on the way to school. He was supposed to be dissecting owl pellets today for science and was assigned to bring some tweezers to assist him in this task. I gave him the tweezers and he lost them in the car somewhere, so he was very upset that he wasn't going to be able to do the dissecting. So after I dropped him off for school I felt bad for him and ran to the store to buy him some more tweezers. When I took them in to his class, the look on his face was priceless, he was so surprised and excited. I am not sure it was the best thing to do, bail him out, but if the government can do it, then I guess it is okay for moms to do it once in a while, right? Here is a copy of his findings:
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Yes
...is what I would say, in a New York minute. I was thinking about my brother today. If he would just talk to me, I am sure I could figure out what it is that I did to offend him. This photo was from last year at his rodeo for the 4th of July. Markus loved the whole day, from being in his cowboy clothes, to having his face painted like spider man, to riding with Adam on his horse and being the chicken for the crazy chicken race, and he wants to be a cowboy when he grows up just like his Uncle Adam.
Sorry for the delay in posting... I just hadn't really felt like it until today.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Birthday Parties
My Mom's 67th birthday party at the Mandarin yesterday
Markus' friend, Ben, invited him to his 6th birthday party yesterday
Hudson, Markus' 'best friend' was at the party as well, and they were bouncing off the walls!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Coaches
Coach Davis
Coach Andrew
Coach Jeff
Coach Jason
Some photos from Max's game today, which sadly, they lost 2-0. But it was still a great game to watch.
