Journals

I've not been good at keeping a traditional journal as of late. I am making a pretty good effort, so far, with this one. I have, however, kept a scripture journal for a while. I'm supposed to speak on Sunday on Strengthening the Family and was given relatively short notice. The bonus is that when Robert and I spoke in Monroe last year, my assignment was on Strengthening the Family. It has been a real blessing today to find my notes as I studied for that sacrament talk and to be able to read through them and glimpse of the spirit that I had as I prepared for that talk.

Growing

Joseph is going to Scout Camp this year and the last physical he had was two years ago, so he was due for a new one... which he had today.

He is now 5'6" (77%) and 105 pounds (42%). How time does fly. I still remember him at 8 months and worrying about him not growing enough (I was newly pregnant with Bekah and I thought I was losing my milk). I guess I really didn't need to worry too much cause he sure is growing now!

Math, Math, Math and Politics

This morning started off well. I got Joseph up early and we went through Unit six in his PreAlgebra B. As we were working on his math he commented that hash browns for breakfast would really be nice. Since they sounded good to me as well, I told him that I would make them as soon as we'd reviewed the material and he was taking the unit test. At breakfast not only did we have the hash browns, but over easy eggs sounded yummy too, and english muffins, yum! I ate so much and was very satisfied.

After breakfast all of the kids got there math out and worked on it while I got ready to go visiting teaching. I decided to take Moroni visiting teaching with me. I started to back out of the driveway and realized that I needed to run in and grab my piano books since I would have my piano lessons before I got home. While Cindy and I were at Pam's, Cindy asked me what I was going to do with Mo during my lesson... oops. I hadn't thought of that. I should have as I backed out with him in the car and realized that I still needed my books. I just didn't connect the two. I've been blaming it on pregnancy brain. It's nice being pregnant cause I can just blame all my blond moments on it. Tee hee. Cindy was great and took Moroni during my piano lesson. He really enjoyed being at her home and playing with her dog while I was gone.

I got home and half an hour later I left for my water aerobics class. My children have decided that I secretly work for the CIA and that's why I keep leaving. They are so fun.

By the time I got home from class, Robert was here and offered to cook dinner. What a sweetie. After dinner we cleaned up and Rebekah and Rachel went on their first official/non-family babysitting job. They are quite excited. It's nice that they're going together too. The babies will be asleep, so they'll have each other to talk to and they both took books to read.

We read the end of Jacob for family scripture tonight. It talks about Sherem and how he flattered the people away and how he could speak well. Joseph kept comparing him to someone else that speaks well and is flattering people away from Christ. Maybe the key to getting Joseph to be familiar with things of the spirit is to talk politics. For me that just seems dichotomous.

Tounges of Angels

Knowing that today was Early Release for Mt Horeb, I lightened the kids' school load so we could quit after lunch. I got to practice the piano quite a bit since I'd been slacking all week long and my piano lesson is tomorrow. The kids played most of the day outdoors with their friends.

After dinner Robert came home and we were going to have a short fhe so he could run out with Phil and retrieve a piano for Hannah. Just before he was going to leave Hannah called and said, "never mind." I guess the owners decided to donate the piano to charity instead of give it to her. She's pretty heart broken and I wish I could do something to ease it.

We got started with FHE and were watching Jeffrey R Holland from April 2007 The Tounge of Angels. We were discussing how strong words are when the Hansen's showed up with FHE dessert for us. How Yummy! They brought two strawberry pies to share. We really enjoyed them... Sam really liked the crust (graham cracker). After the pie we played Blockus on the patio while the kids played with their twins and Mo in the back yard.

It's getting dark (8:30) and we've cleaned up outside but the kids are still outside. Rachel just brought Moroni in (chilly feet and all) and he is screaming and throwing a big hissy. He just wants to be outside. I guess it's time to bring them all in and settle down. Summer is just around the corner.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was full of mixed emotions today. Robert had to stay home to wait for the appraiser, so he couldn't go with us to church. He did keep Moroni with him which was a blessing for Sacrament meeting. Moroni stayed in nursery last week, so I would have liked for him to go again and remain familiar with it. But, since I had visiting teaching interviews during Sunday School and I was conducting during Relief Society, I decided I better not risk it.

Sacrament meeting was Aaron Noltemeyer's farewell since he'll soon be leaving on his mission. I think this is what made Mom's day hard. I was trying to get Joseph to sit up and pay attention, and at the very least to quit disrupting Ben and Mary who were sitting beside him. He kept giving me faces and I was frustrated. Then Aaron gave his talk on becoming a disciple and he talked about having more meaningful prayer and purposeful scripture study. The tears came. I couldn't help it. I so hope I am teaching my 13 yo to be a disciple, but right now I have to get him to stop goofing off. I worry that he's not capable of holding a spiritual conversation. Yes, we need to laugh and be of good cheer, but we should be able to revere things of the spirit.

I think the blessing in all of this was I happened to see Aaron after Relief Society was over. I commented on his talk and said that I wished I'd known him when he was 12. He said, "maybe not." I know that there are a lot of changes that will happen for my son in the next 3-4 years... but I hope I'm picking the right battles now. How will I know? I can't peek ahead and see what I missed. I guess I'm going to have to go on prayer and faith and trust that the Lord knows what he's doing. I've trusted that he can mold me to be what he knows I can be. I just have to trust that he can do the same for my son.

When we got home Robert had dinner all ready for us. Mom asked if I felt pampered at least by dinner. I really should, and do, but Robert's gotten in the routine of having dinner ready for us on Sunday since Rebekah, Rachel and I stay for choir. I really feel pampered just about every Sunday. What a wonderful husband I have.

Saturday is a Special Day

Robert and I got up this morning and made the kids pancakes for breakfast. Unfortunately I had them half done by the time Robert got out of the shower. He was kinda disappointed because he likes to make them with chocolate chips and into funky shapes.

Robert left with Joseph and Rebekah for the youth temple trip. Since I didn't go along, I thought I'd have Rebekah tell you about her first trip to do baptisms for the dead.

"It was great. first when i entered the temple i thought 'Wow. This is what I've been waiting all my life to see.' and then we walked into the waiting room. It seemed like any other waiting room, but holier. then we waited a long time. then a guy walked in. he was ALL white. his shirt was white (of course) his pants were white. (DUH) but what i found interesting but i already knew he would, his tie and belt were white. i liked that. then i read his name tag and it said brother wardle. i remebered him. i watched his guinea pig, lyle, for a while. he appologized that it took so long and that they were ready. then his wife, sister wardle came in and showed us how to fold up the towels and clothes when we were done. then we headed to the room to get our clothes. we picked them up (and a white hairband) and went into te next room. the font was so beautiful, to beautiful to describe. but what i can describe is this: it had pews like a chapel at the back of the room (three rows) and then there was this thing that was like a glass fence. and on the other side, there was this desk thing that looked like a tv, it was a projector for the names of the people that we get baptized for. and there were chairs by it where the people that did the stuff sat. and in front of it, was a beautiful font. it was round and the water looked so clear! the room was breath takingly beautiful. then we went into the bathroom to change. the bathroom had lockers to keep our clothes and changing rooms and a shower. but i didn't want to use the shower because (no offense to the other girls) as much as i trusted them, one could accidently open the curtain. so then i went to the locker and threw the confirming clothes and my glasses in there. then i went to change. i hopped into one of the changing booths and took off my clothes (more than you need to know.) and i put one pieced underwear that looked like a leatard. it was uncomfortable. then i slipped my baptism outfit on (that looked exactly like my confirmation outfit. which looked like a baptism outfit.) and i jumped out of the changing booth and i put my clothes in the locker and attached my key to my zipper. then i walked out to the baptism room and sat down kind of in a line. there were three girls kind of in head of me. as i waited, it was a silent akwardness. then(finally) brother wardle came out and welcomed us. then he said that the girls were going first. i was very nervouse since when he asked whoever was here for a first time to raise my hand, i was the only one to raise my hand. then the baptisms got started. while i watched the three girls in head of me get baptized around twenty times. then finally it was my turn. i walked slowly into the font. until i finished the last step (or i thought it was the last step at least. then i tripped on the actual last step. i think i heard some silent laughing. then i got up and got all positioned. surpriseingly unilke my baptism, the water was so warm that wished that i could do baptisms for the dead every day. then, after i got baptized around twenty times, i got up and sister rose handed me a towel and i went back in the locker room and i got my next pair of one peiced underwear and jumpsuit. then i walked out to this lady who took me into the confirmation room while i waited for my turn. they also like the baptism, said a prayer around twenty times. i liked the way when they said 'who is dead' because they said it so diferently then the rest of the prayer, not as smooth, the prayer is all smooth until they get to the part where they get all seriouse and say 'who is dead' then they get calm again. then it was my turn. after I got confirmed around twenty times, went back to the changing room to get my clothes on. around half way through taking the jumpsuit off, i heard a voice 'sister husted?' but i thought it was just sister rose trying to congradulate me and ask me if i needed anything. so i kept quiet. 'sister husted?' this time the voice didn't sound like sister rose, so i answered. 'yes?' i wondered who it was. 'are you in your clothes yet?' i told her no. then she told me that they accidently missed one. i figured she meant confirmation. i told her i would do it. so i quickly threw my dry confirmationg clothes back on and zippered the zipper. then i hopped out to see that it was the lady who took me to the confirmation room. she lead me to the pew and told me we were waiting for someone to finish. then, i payed attention to the baptisms. it was dayne's turn. then on the last one the lady pushed me foward. then it all made more sense. they missed one of the baptisms, not the confirmation. so i nodded and hopped in the water. it felt nice. he said the prayer then dunked me in. i wished that time would slow down, just for a minute. and then i got back up and sister rose rapped me in a towel again. i headed back into the changing room and picked a booth. i hopped in one. then sister rose came in as soon as i was changed. 'It's not the first time I've had to get re-baptized.' i joked. then we headed back to the waiting room and waited. finnaly we could leave. then we headed for wendy's and ate, then we got home. it was a long day and I for one, was glad to be home."

A Great Date

Robert took Friday off. We got up and got to work outside. Robert removed the rock from our future strawberry patch and I weeded the garden bed for the snap peas that are coming up. We came inside and got breakfast ready for the kids, hit the showers and then left for the movie theater. Robert was excited to see Star Trek and it was a pretty good movie.

After the bank we went to CostCo. By the time we got there I was unbelievably green. I figured I just had to get out of the car and I'd be okay, but then I smelled the heating blacktop and it got worse. We got inside quickly and I hit the snack counter for a vanilla frozen yogurt. I nursed that all through the store and it seemed to really help. I should probably do that more since it also curbs my hunger during the shopping trip and any impulse purchases.

After shopping we had lunch (at CostCo) and then headed home. Part way home we realized that there were a couple of more errands we were going to run while in Madison. We decided to just go home anyway. It worked out well since we'd been gone most of the day and the kids had been babysitting and we got home just before their friends got home from school. Joseph, Ruth and Moroni helped me carry everything in from the car. Ruth saw the plums and really wanted to 'try' one. I cut it into small slices and she took a bite and said, "hmmm... that's not bad." Little stinker.

Robert and I then watched Bones from Thursday night with Rebekah and Rachel. They are really excited to see the season finale next week. They loved the Chuck finale from a couple of weeks ago. They even asked us not to delete it so they could watch it again.

Robert figured out how to get Civ III up on my mini laptop and his work laptop so we spent the rest of the night playing until 2am -- hence why I'm journaling on Saturday morning. It was a long day together and we both really enjoyed it. It really felt kinda like a honeymoon. He should take the day off more often.

Pizza, Pizza

This morning started really well with the kids and school. We worked real hard until noon and then had lunch, played outside and cleaned up. They were quite excited since I was having our Enrichment Food Group over for Pizza cause Daddy would be taking them out to McD's for dinner.

I realized that I'm getting a lot of pizza this week. We had ChuckE Pizza Tuesday night and Homemade Pizza tonight and tomorrow we're having upside down pizza. If I hadn't been so sick on Monday, we were scheduled to have grilled pizza then too. Robert wanted me to make some extra crust so I could make pizza for us to have for breakfast tomorrow, so we can add that in to our Pizza Week.

When Robert and the kids came back Ruth came in and said, "Mommy, I came back!" As if I was worried she wouldn't be returning. haha Ben was quite frustrated that I called them up for scriptures/prayer, "I knew it" with a pouty face. I asked him if he knew what time it was? No. It's after 9:00. "Oh."

After prayers we read some Huckleberry Finn. Joseph and Rebekah enjoy it, but the rest of the kids don't really get it. The dialect can be hard to follow, especially when Jim is speaking. Joseph and Rebekah seem to be able to catch the story line though. I still have the younger ones listen in and Ruth and Sam usually fall asleep listening. Tonight only Moroni and Joseph were up by the time we read two chapters. Ben told me that it's because it's soooo boring, trying to convince me to start a different book. When we're done with Huck, I think we'll start Frankenstein.

Moroni stole a piece of pizza and snuggled up next to me on the bed. He finished it off and drifted off to sleep. He really likes pizza. He had two pieces at Chuck E Cheese's the other night. Then when we were getting ready to leave, he snagged another piece. Then he downed almost a full piece tonight after eating dinner at McD's. Maybe he's headed for a growth spurt. He could use one.

Busy, Busy

I'm getting better at getting things started in the morning. Now that I know that the kids don't have to have school 'complete' by the end of May (we can pick up in Sep where we left off), there is a lot less stress and I can give the kids more reasonable amounts of schoolwork.

We spent the morning working through schedules, etc. with the older three and gave them assignments of what to complete by tomorrow morning. They didn't do so well again, but I think they were starting to 'get it' by this evening. Maybe it will start carrying through to tomorrow. We'll see. I have high hopes.

Ben and Mary covered a lot in Math. We were supposed to work more with them in other areas too, but Moroni needed a diaper change. I went in to change him and in the time it took me to get a new diaper he had scratched so hard at his bottom that it was bleeding quite bad. I picked up the phone and made a dr appt for him the same time that Ruth's was scheduled, which was just 20 min later. So we quickly got them dressed and bolted out the door.

It turns out that Ruth has a form of ringworm. The Dr said that it probably originated on the thumb that she sucks and then transferred to her other finger and big toe. She then sent in a prescription for her and realized she did it under Moroni's name. She was really frustrated with herself because it was the second time she'd done that today. After resending a script in for Ruth, she checked on Moroni. She said it's kinda funny cause he has the same fungal infection on his bottom and would be treated the same way. Since she already sent the script in for him, we were on our way.

After we got home we had lunch with the kids and then Moroni and I went out to weed the rest of the dandelions from the front yard. There are still a hundred other kinds of weeds, but the yellow ones were easy to spot. Moroni loved picking all the brightly colored flowers. He just grabs the top and pulls. After a while I showed him his hands. They were yellow from the flowers and dusty from the pollen. Of course he wiped it all over his shirt.

I checked on the kids' progress with their schoolwork, and it was very frustrating, but by the time dinner rolled around, I think they knew what I wanted from them... actual work. I think it helped that they lost the privelege on working at it on their own in the basement and had to complete assignments upstairs... for the most part. Maybe they'll be better tomorrow... after all, it's a new day.

I took the Joseph to scouts, they had a partial palooza where they worked on or set goals for partially completed merit badges. He has a few goals, but I hope that he motivates himself to get things complete.

Rachel and Mary had activity days. They made some Mother's Day gifts and are really excited to give them to me. I told Mary she'd have to wait cause Mother's Day isn't until Sunday. I think she was thinking I didn't want to open her present. Sweet Mary.

Rebekah didn't have Young Womens so she got to stay home with daddy. I wonder if she got much done in the way of schoolwork while I was gone. We'll have to find out tomorrow.

Chuck E Cheese

Woo Hoo! Look at me! Two nights in a row!

This morning started off great! I was quite productive and felt really good about it. At 10:30 I left visiting teaching and then got back in time to go visiting teaching again. The kids have decided I have a secret job, or work for the CIA. After visiting teaching I went to my piano lesson. When I got home Joseph asked how my job went and I told him that I got to beam someone with a toaster. haha. (If you don't get it, it's a family joke.)

I got home and pulled a whole trash bag full of dandelions. I even made a dent and got most of them out of the front yard. Just the side and back to go. Wonder if I'll continue to be so ambitious? The new weed puller I got makes it really easy.

This evening we went to Chuck E Cheese for a WIVA social. The older three weren't too thrilled about going, but they had each other to hang out with and enjoyed the time anyway. I kept telling them that they couldn't stay home, it was their dinner (and WIVA was paying) so they were going. They kept wolfing down the pizzas, I think we went through three or four before they went off with the tokens. Since we kept asking for more pizzas, WIVA sent us home with the leftovers... but half of the leftovers were eaten before they even made it into the box.

We're now home and the kids are in beds - though not sleeping yet. Hopefully that will come soon.

Family Circle

I keep thinking that I'm not preserving memories and moments. Then I think to this blog that I started and I really want to make the same commitment to a family journal that Pres Eyring spoke of.

This morning started a little behind the ball. I need to get back into the swing of hopping out of bed and into the shower to start the day. I really struggle because I want to read my scriptures and the best time seems to be before I shower and hit the day, but then everything else gets a slower start. If I bump scriptures to later on, then I run a high risk of not getting to them. Today I didn't get either advantage. I had a slow start AND didn't get to my scripture study. I gotta find a way to have both.

We did get a lot of schoolwork done though! We turned in a lot of ETAs (Essential Teacher Assignments) which is a good thing cause there are only 4 weeks left in the school year. I can't wait for school to be over... the kids can't either. WIVA through NOSD has been tough this year. There seems to be a lot of extra hoops as they try to be more like a traditional school. I'm hoping and praying that the new WIVA (through the McFarland School District) will be what I remember COVA as.

I really shouldn't complain about the old WIVA either. It has provided me wonderful opportunities to be with my children. We were even talking in FHE tonight about how it has helped our family grow closer together and even become stronger. I'm just hoping that the next school year will still provide that closeness, but without so many distractions.

After Robert got home we had cereal for dinner and then the kids went out to play with their friends. They really like the neighborhood and the weather is great for outdoor play right now. Robert and I got to sit and talk for a while. I really value the close relationship that we have with each other. I'm blessed that he wants to spend time with me too.

For FHE we had everyone gather in on our bed in a circle. We talked about how a circle is eternal and has no end and no beginning. While our family has no end, I had never really thought about our family not having a beginning either. It does feel like Robert and I have always been together though. And with each member of our family we can't ever imagine life without them. It seems as if they've always been there.

Joseph was wonderful and did the dishes tonight. Usually I'll rinse them and he'll fill the dishwasher, but I was busy so he did it all by himself. What a helpful son. He always is telling me that he loves me and I'll just quip back with don't tell me, show me. He really does show me that he loves me.

The evening is now done, Moroni is snuggled up to me with a bottle and it's time to shoo the other kiddos off to bed. What a wonderful blessing of a family we have.