Blessing. . .our new pet!

So. . .as I mentioned earlier, Gehrig has been wanting a bird and I made him the deal that if he took good care of the garden this summer and showed that he was responsible enough to take care of a pet, I'd agree to a bird. Lou didn't feel the same way, but the other day he came home with a surprise. [Oh, a couple of weeks ago I saw a birdcage with accessories and a stand for $8 at a garage sale and bought it--for the future.] He had caught a pigeon in his office--it had come down some pipe or something into a closet in his office. He brought it home for us--I'm thinking it was to show me how messy birds are. . .but maybe it was just to be a fun dad! Anyway. . .Look at Damian's expression as he anticipates seeing it for the first time.

 

I love Gehrig's expression in this one. Don't you love Lou's look of concentration? :) He was trying to figure out how to get the bird from the garbage can to the cage without losing it in our home. He got wise and moved to the bathroom to make the transfer.

 

Gehrig named her "Blessing" because she came at a time when he was really struggling with some fears and she gave him a distraction and comfort.

 

They were all so excited about her. I, not so much. I was a bit worried about a wild bird (disease), plus she was much too large for the cage. For the time being, until I decided whether to keep her or not, we borrowed a much larger cage from our great neighbors. A few hours after we got her settled in her cage, I had all the kids settled down for quiet time. Well. . ., somebody let Isaiah out and apparently, he went to check on the bird and let her go. I bet she was jumping for joy when she realized she was free from so many adoring children's grasp! The kids took it all surprisingly well and I was relieved to have the dilemma out of my hands. I'd much rather have a small bird from a pet store. Plus, Gehrig needs time to prove himself--so far so good!

 

Cute Kids

It may seem crazy to let my kids dig up my lawn like they have, but I'm telling you---they get sooo creative in that little spot of dirt! This particular day, they dug a deep hole and built a wooden bridge over it. In the past, Gehrig has created a city out of rocks with pyramids, etc. They've made an island with water flowing (ughh. .mud). They've planted things and even watched them grow. So. . .sorry to the next owners for the mess, but the mess is worth it when they can spend hours at a time in that small little section of our yard and let their minds go wild with imagination.

 

I was a little too late with the camera to capture the moment I had seen just before I grabbed the camera. It was priceless to hear my children encourage me to go back to my bedroom and let them finish cleaning! CLEANING! My children--without supervision or prodding. Isaiah was on the counter with a washcloth--wiping it down. Emma was sweeping. Damian was mopping. Gehrig was blowing my train whistle and giving out orders--all in good humor and fun. Now if only I didn't have to go back in that kitchen and clean up their "cleaning." :)

 

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden. . .

That is right you see. . .Do you remember that little Primary song? Well, here we go--3rd year at this home (still feeling like a complete novice). Hopefully we'll be blessed for our attempt at a tiny garden! I put Gehrig in charge this year (with the promise that if he does a good job of watering and taking care of our garden, we'll let him get a Parakeet. . .more on that later). [For my records, we planted the garden from seed on May 15th--the tomato and pepper plants were planted a week or two before that as plants.]

Lou has taken more and more pride in our lawns as time passes and wanted me to take a picture of how nice it looks right now. I'm partial to the flower beds (I take care of those)--but love it when the lawn looks this nice! :)

 

Our Blooming IRIS Plants
Aren't they beautiful? I got them from a good friend's yard (some that she didn't need) about 2 years ago and they're doing particularly well this year!

 

Here's our little garden. Can you see where I've planted in the flower beds? We have little budding lettuce plants, spinach, beets, carrots, strawberries, etc. Can you see that beautiful large broccoli plant hiding between the flowers in the front flower bed?

 

Gehrig wanted me to post a picture of his sunflower he planted. He actually dropped a bunch of sunflower seeds in our garden before I planted and had dozens and dozens of them growing like weeds! :)

 

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FREE ($200 and counting) Taekwando Class

Another K12 (online school) parent (who teaches Taekwando) wanted to give other children schooled at home the opportunity to take some Taekwando classes and make new friends, so she offered a FREE 4 week class (an hour twice a week). I really wanted to let my boys have the opportunity, so even though it was 45 minutes away, I figured we could survive for 4 weeks. . .

Look at Damian kick!

 

Here's Gehrig's kick!

 

I loved having the boys in this class; lots of action, lots of games--no time for goofing off. In this particular game, Gehrig won last time they played it. The instructor keeps adding weight to their leg until they can't take it any more.

 

Damian won it twice today. He's the youngest one in the class! Not bad, eh?

 

You can tell how much fun they have had. This Thursday is their last class. I sure wish I could afford to keep them in a Taekwando class. I think it's really good for them.

For those who want to read on for my pity party, I'll explain how FREE turned into $200 and counting. . .The second day we went to class, I got pulled over by a friendly--HA!--police officer, right after I came out of the aquatic center where the class is held. I wasn't even really nervous, because I couldn't imagine that I had done anything wrong. I thought something might be hanging out the back of my van or something. No, apparently, I failed to STOP coming out of the aquatic center. Now. . .I can admit I was distracted b/c I had had all my kids in seat belts before I started driving, but as I was pulling out of the center, Damian was trying to hand me the portable cd player I had let him use to show me a song he had been listening to that he thought was a lot like the FHE lesson his daddy had just been teaching them the night before. I was instructing him to get back in his seat belt. So. . .granted, I was distracted. BUT, I know without a doubt that I looked for cars and there weren't any nearby. I didn't pull out in front of anybody or do anything that would harm anybody.

Anyway. . .blah, blah. I got the ticket--regardless of the fact that I was very polite, have a clean record and promised to be more careful in the future. The officer didn't even know how much the ticket would cost me. I found out a few days later when it was posted. A whopping $90. Like I had $90 to spare. UGGHHH!! The worst part is that it could make my insurance go up. If I want to fight it to keep it off my record, I'll most likely have to travel the 1 1/2 round trip several times and figure out what to do with my kids for several hours each time. I'm hoping that Lou, as an attorney, will be able to figure something out to avoid the mess. It might require another $50 and traffic school. Who knows. . . But anyway. . .since I was thinking about how expensive FREE was becoming, I figured I'd track my mileage and figure out how much I had to spend on gas money. Another $104 for the trips. Can you believe that? I would have been much better off signing up for a class less than a mile from my home. Ahh. . .isn't hindsight 20/20?

On the bright side, the boys have had a BLAST, made some new friends, and since we kept passing Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolate Factory and Sweets Candy Factory, we stopped for the tours 3 different times (twice at the chocolate factory b/c they weren't doing much the first time). Chocolate, sugar, corn syrup running through pipes, candy EVERYWHERE. . .my kind of heaven! :)

Routine. . .Consistency. . .Good Intentions. . .

A am trying to find some kind of routine that will help bring a little more order and less chaos into our home. I started a couple of months ago with the Daily Dos*, which has really helped us in the morning and I've found that through consistency, my kids actually CAN do things that I expect them to do.

So. . .I'm now adding to our routine [a daily devotional]. This is how our day went today. . .

*DAILY DOs. . .everybody makes their bed, gets dressed, cleans their room, brushes their hair and teeth, showers (if necessary). [Starting the day out this way makes things feel so much better for me. I love the made beds, clean rooms & clean children--to begin with!]

BREAKFAST. . .I let them make their own egg and toast, even Isaiah.

SCRIPTURES & PRAYER with Daddy

Gehrig practiced the piano while Damian, Emma & Isaiah sorted the laundry and got it ready to wash. Isaiah unloaded the silverware, Damian swept, Emma ate SLOWLY.

DEVOTIONAL after Daddy left which consists of:
A song, pledge of allegiance, poem, journal writing, story (The Secret Garden), share & tell time (share something learned or tell about something exciting to each of them), writing practice (writing our address & phone number). We even quietly played the music from the Broadway musical while I was reading. [Gehrig thanked me for the devotional. He really liked this format.]

A snack and organizing puzzles while I corrected previous assignments.

LUNCH

QUIET TIME (the boys and I watched War of the Worlds b/c Gehrig finished reading it and earned the privilege). They helped finish the puzzle project and the laundry while watching.

Gehrig helped make a spaghetti dinner and Damian helped make Peach/Pear Cobbler for FHE.

FHE The kids and I made a plan to help motivate them to sing during Sacrament Meeting and behave better. I hope it works! They'll earn SWOKS (our little bank account system) towards things they want to buy with them. I made a little chart to keep track of their SWOKS during Sacrament Meeting. Damian gave a WONDERFUL lesson on prayer that he prepared without being asked to. He told of 3 different times that he has used prayer and it worked (when lost, scared about spiders in his bed at night, getting a punishment reduced and the courage to tell the truth)! He really has a lot of faith and knows what to do to help himself through tough times. Then, everybody wanted to bear their testimonies. After that, we all gathered around the piano and sang a hymn, had a closing prayer and ate the wonderful Peach/Pear Cobbler and ice cream! The only thing missing was their daddy. :(

7:00 BEDTIME (everybody is allowed to read until lights out at 8:00) Lou did make it home by 7:30 and was able to hear a repeat of Damian's lesson and say family prayer with us.

And I've been able to finally catch up on some blogging, etc. tonight! Hip, hip, hurray!

A Happy Mother's Day

My kids were so cute on Mother's Day--even before then. Damian, in particular, had been planning something for me all week. Apparently, he asked Lou to help him make me a cake. He actually made me some muffins from scratch, his very own recipe, on Saturday while we were gone (my cousin, Lindsey, was so kind to watch our kids while we went to the U of You, a personal development seminar that I dragged Lou to--and we even benefited from it!). She said that she didn't help him at all, which was evident when you tasted them, but I must say--aside from the fact that it was WAY too salty, they actually looked and tasted like muffins!

Anyway. . .Saturday night Lou and the boys went out and bought a muffin mix and some treats. Sunday morning, Lou made muffins and eggs for breakfast! After church he barbequed for us while I made the rest of the meal and then he helped me do the dishes!

 

Back to the kids. . .they were hilarious! Emma started it by wrapping one of her favorite leotards in paper and giving it to me. You should have seen the look of anticipation in her eyes when I was opening it! She was so excited to give it to me. She said, "It's for you when you grow small!" She loved my reaction so much, that she came back with several other gifts (my little pony, candyland pawn, another game piece, a picture of baby Jesus in the manger, a book, tulips from the neighbor's garden--AHHHH!!--, the cap to a pen, etc.). Isaiah wrapped his favorite white teddy bear. Damian and Gehrig both gave me pens (really a thoughtful gift since I'm always yelling at them for not having any pens when I need them b/c they always take them and never put them back).

 

Damian had written notes for Emma and Isaiah during the week. They're on the refrigerator and say (from Isaiah & Damian), "You are so Beautiful. You are as beautiful as can be." And from Emma & Damian, "A princess Emma Princess Bug. I love you. Beautiful girl." Damian said these were their own words. If you can blow the pictures up, it's funny to see his spelling. Anyway. . .aren't they cute?

Damian also made me a fancy card with a door that opens and everything while he was at his daddy's office during the mormon.org project. He also sent me on a treasure hunt. His notes say, "Go and look in the bathroom," "Go to the garage," "Find what place this is (with a picture of a basketball stand), and finally, "Happy Mom's Day." What a cute kid. He really does love me! Sometimes I think he and I are too much alike. We both want to do what's right so bad, but sometimes we're too intense about it and do things wrong. Our hearts are in the right place! I have to remember that about him.

 

I hope all you wonderful women out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Crazy Busy

Well, since I last blogged, let's see what we've done. . .The boys have been taking a 4 week Taekwando class in Clearfield (a 45 minute drive away, twice a week--more to come on that one), they had their end of the year testing (CRTs), story time at the library (once a week), end of the school year party at Hollywood Connections, dentist appointments (no CAVITIES or teeth to be pulled!!!), a REALLY fun few days with Aunty Heather & kids at our home, a day at the Clark Planetarium, scouts, piano lessons, another fun visitor overnight(Emily & her friend John), the U of You (a personal development seminar for me & Lou), we sang in sacrament meeting, Gehrig gave a talk in primary, we went to the Genesis Group, etc. . .Any questions why it's taken me so long to blog since my last post? :)

HOLLYWOOD CONNECTIONS
Note to those who might be as crazy as I am. . .do NOT put on your own roller skates if you are putting some on your 2 and 4 year olds. It's impossible to help them!! WHAT WAS I THINKING??? After trying to help them one at a time (and even getting a little help from a new friend), I turned them loose on the carpet and took 2 spins around the rink myself. Ah. . .reminded me for about 1 minute of the good old days.

As you can see, the kids had a blast on a roller coaster, bumper cars, a hot air balloon ride, carousel, arcades, etc. They also had pizza and a drink, all compliments of our school, Washington Online.

 

A random picture, but I thought it was so cute of Emma & Isaiah having a sleep over.

 

Lou had a very neat opportunity to be chosen to share aspects of his testimony on camera for a new project with the missionary department and mormon.org. You should be able to see him on their website sometime in June. The boys and I followed them to his office where he was interviewed for a couple of hours on camera.