Paid in Full!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mandy: "What do you want to remember about our week, Mark?"

Mark: "That it is done. We got through it and no one can bring it back."

He has sort of a dry sense of humor.

Master I's costume was a homemade miracle. If you will look closely you will notice that the pants are actually the arms of an old shirt. The cape was an old skirt and the rest of the costume was a lot of imagination and my old clothes. He was a Jedi Knight. This proved to be problematic as the night wore on and the pins and folds began to lose their strength. I am sure that he felt like he was Cinderella and the stage coach was turning back into a pumpkin. He was mostly troubled by the gaping hole in his pants or how the pants just wouldn't stay up. For the next day's activities he opted for the Spiderman costume. I don't blame him.

I worked in Master I's classroom for his Halloween party last Friday. I am the Room Mommy with my buddy Nancy. Master I assures me that the fun is worth all of the work. He loves me being the room mommy. For the party we had different stations that they rotated through to do Halloween activities and snacks. At Nancy and my station they did a writing activity. I wrote a Halloween story and left blanks for all of the adjectives. I explained to the children what an adjective was and that we were going to call them "magictives" because they were going to make our stories come to life and spook everyone. I had lots of adjectives cut up and put into my witches brew pot. Then they used those adjectives or their own and made their story. It was so fun to see the children concentrating and mouthing different words to try to think of the perfect word for that blank. Then they colored the picture of a haunted house for their cover. I thought it was very fun and very good for them educationally.

Master I got sent to the "penalty box"(the car) for biting Miss R's arm when she destroyed his game. After he had served his time he asked his dad if that was his only consequence. Mark answered that it wasn't. Master I wanted to know what the rest would be. Mark answered, "The horror of the realization that you have bitten a human being."

Miss R was thrilled to be a Winnie the Pooh character. She is developing a strong personality. She loves reading Goodnight Moon. Her favorite page is about the old lady whispering hush. She calls her Lady Hush. She says that she wants to say it silly when she sees the page and then yells out, "Lady Hush!"

She goes around grabbing the things that she wants out of other people's hands. When I correct her she responds, "I got it for Christmas!"

We have really been working with her on potty training. I told her that if she would go poopy in the toilet that I would giver her a special elephant stuffed animal, pillow, blanket thing. She calls it, "Efelunt." The catch is that if she goes poopy in her panes then I take it until she goes poopy again in the toilet. So far it has worked really well. Except, one day she did go poopy in her pants. I smelled it and then peaked and saw it. I asked her if she went poopy. She shook her head emphatically that she did not. I asked her who did it and she said, "W did it!"

Master W had no major food allergy reactions this week. I noticed that his eczema is starting to flare up again so I'll have to begin the skin regimen again of Aquafor 4x's daily and hydrocortizone 2x's daily.

Master W still cries a little when we put him to bed. This is terrible for me. Mark believes so firmly that we should do this. When I am tempted to go get him, Mark calmly invites me to sit with him and we have a logical conversation about the risks and benefits of such an action. All of my reason agrees with him, but it breaks me heart to hear my baby cry. I get out of it mostly by putting him in bed while he is sleeping. Now that he is used the the schedule, he usually falls asleep during the feeding prior to his sleep time.

He has the best smile and loves to be held. I hold him often and just rock back and forth in the over-stuffed chair. He is fun to love...and exhausting to love. When I see his darling smile I just want to make him even more happy or continuously happy. But sometimes it is overwhelming to have a baby you want to love all day long and not be able to indulge in that desire because there are other children to love and many tasks of home life to do. I believe in doing it all. I believe in having a clean and orderly home that is a haven. I believe in being my spouse's best friend. I believe in delicious and nutritious, thrifty meals that we gather around and enjoy as a family for a party every night! I believe in educating their minds and helping provide for them the finest education available. I believe in fun family traditions that give children a sense of identity and fun memories. I believe in laughing with kids and getting on the ground and playing with kids. I believe that disciplining children should really mean teaching them and doing it without any anger or irritation. (This is my hardest one.) I believe in reading everyday to children-- for Master I classic literature that breaks his heart and then sews the enlarged heart back together again. For Miss R Goodnight Moon and Little House on the Prairie picture books. But even more than nurturing my children within a warm home, with warm food in their bellies, I believe that there is nothing my children need more than to be with a mother whose faith is like a fire that warms their souls and hopeful will spark a flame in their own heart. And it takes time everyday to feed myself spiritually and have quiet moments to ponder scripture and feel close to God so that I can be that woman that I long to become. But, it all takes time and it is all important. It is this endeavor that I have absolutely thrown myself into.

I am still waiting for the payoff to see the amazing things that my children become and do because of my great sacrifice and my great effort. But even if it never came, I have to admit that giving of the gift was payment enough. I have to honestly say that I have been surprised by the joy I have felt every time that I put a meal on my table. I hope my playing with my daughter will be a foundation of a life-long friendship. But even if that doesn't happen it was payment enough to see my daughter giggle uncontrollably when I pretend that she knocks me over when I am swinging her on the swing and then turn my back to her. I really hope that somehow all of the love that I give my baby boy will wire his brain and shape him into a man that feels loved and feels compassion for others. But even if that wasn't the result, the deep satisfaction I felt when I soothed him when he was fussy was payment enough! All of my work as a mother was worth the those few, unplanned, unpredicted moments with my oldest boy when we both felt the Spirit of the Lord together and knew it. Even if those moments never added up to him becoming a certain type of person, I have to admit that the joy of those moments was payment enough!

And so I guess I need to stop waiting for a future payday to see who my children will become. I must admit that I am living my dream today and I am daily paid in full!

Who We Really Are

I just opened a facebook account. I saw pictures of old friends from high school that I remember holding books, pom-poms, flutes, and balls that are now holding babies. It has touched the deepest place in my heart to see them as mothers. I thought to myself, "Now that is who that person really is." Our identity then was so tied up with our extra-curricular activities. But cheerleaders, swimmers, runners, students, dancers, student-body leaders wasn't who we were at our core, right? We weren't fully developed. It is so interesting for me to see them with the love of a mother in their eyes and in the soft lines on their faces. When I see these friends in a role that I never could quite imagine when I knew them 20 years ago, I recognize the soul of the person that I knew, looking more like themselves than they ever did back then. Who are we really?

"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual pre-mortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."
The Family--A Proclamation to the World

http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,161-1-11-1,00.html

Another Week of Living the Dream

The kids and I went to the last ward conference today. This was the sixth time that I have drug my kids along with me so that I could do my calling and be with them in church at the same time. Every week the bishop of that ward speaks and the stake president visits that ward and gives his same talk. The theme is building your foundation on the Rock of our Redeemer (Heleman 5:12). I have rather enjoyed hearing different bishop's perspectives on the same theme. I have even enjoyed hearing the same talk given by the stake president. He emphasized different things each time and maybe it just takes me 6 times to get the message through my mind. Apparently, "Master I" didn't feel the same way. When the stake president was a couple of minutes in to his talk my boy turned to me very irritated and said, "Every week I go to Church I hear the same talk!" I didn't even know he was listening.

My hubbie worked nights at the hospital this week. It made for long hours for him and we couldn't keep the house quiet during the day, so we decided to take advantage of UEA weekend and visit our family down south. Mark would never complain about our noise and this has probably made me pity him all the more.

So, what did I do this week. I mostly held Baby W. Let's face it .... he can't sit if I am not there with him and my house doesn't really have spots for him to play on the ground. I breed tyrants.

I walked into R's room this morning. She loves to sleep and she was still tired from going to bed late last night. We have this thing that we say to each other when we are excited to see each other that I said to her to try to make her excited about the new day. I said, "You came to me?!"

In a very grumpy voice she said, "Don't! Don't talk about it!" Then she rolled over in her bed and tried to keep sleeping.

The Tyrant is Dethroned

R... wanted to sit in the "baby seat" for our hike on Tuesday night. I let her for some of it. She loved it.

W...is actually quite happy when not screaming because of allergies

Everyone wearing their Halloween garb.


Master W

The tryrant is dethroned. It is amazing how babies can become the dictator of the home. This baby got to the point that he would only sleep in my arms, day and night, and if I put him in his crib he would immeadiately burst into tears. Somehow even if he was dead asleep he would know what was happening. Needless to say, I wasn't getting any sleep. So, I decided to dethrone him. Mind you, I have never been successful at these types of ventures. Master I ruled with an iron fist. Many times I attempted a coup with him, you know the quick take over where I try to become the one that is calling the shots. It never worked. He always proved to have stronger determination than me. To this day he panics when it is time for bed and looks for a way out. He can't stand it when I leave.

Little Miss R was too mild natured to ever try to become the dictator. She enjoyed her crib and her binky and blanky. She was so easy going.

Master W has been much like Master I was. He pretty much rules my life as I have already describred. I had a simple plan for the take over with him. I would put him down to sleep when he was tired, but awake at 9:00 am, 1:00 am, and 8:00pm. He would cry but I wouldn't get him out. If I needed to I would pat his back to try to soothe him. When he got up in the middle of the night I would feed him one time and the other times I would just make sure he was ok, but not get him out. Well, I have done it...almost. Ok, so I woke-up this morning and he was in bed with me. I don't remember getting him out of bed and feeding him, but that is surely what happened. I think that I'll still be able to have control though. One false move like that and it would have been a failed coup for Master I. I hope it goes ok. I started last Thursday.

Little Miss R
Some of you have asked if we have had any more allergy moments. Our moment from last week involves The Darling. She wanted a milk sippy bippy and so I gave her one. This isn't a regular routine at our house because she hardly ever drank milk after she was weaned. But she wanted one so I gave her it and continued to do my work in the kitchen. Behind me little did I know that she was doing her dasterdly deeds. The next thing I knew I heard her say, "Well, he liked that!"

Putting two and two together in my mind and hoping that the sum wasn't what I thought it was I asked, "R... did you give W... your milk?" She responded with a big smile and quickly bobbing her head up and down. Well, and that was the begginning a very stressful morning. I didn't know whether or not to trust her because W... has a delayed reaction with milk of 30 minutes or so. But he did react. I think that the most stressful part of his reactions is the screaming. I am pretty sure that he gets hives on the inside of his intestinal tract or some other thing that causes terrible stomach pain. Thank goodnes for Benadryl. It seems to take care of the reaction every time and even puts him to sleep eventually

How can I get mad at The Darling? She is so cute and so wonderful. How can I get mad at someone that says, "I want to go so mucher!" The "er" is added for emphasis.

Miss R still has potty accidents. Mark and I try to persuade her to not go potty in her diaper. She convincingly says, "I wouldn't!" But, she still does.

Master I

This boy is a fabulous reader. His first grade teacher was suprised that we had to work at all on our spelling words for the week because usually the two go hand in hand. But I still remember the day that he came home from school with a 70% on a spelling test. I was devastated by tried to hide my horror. He looked at me and said, "It is a 70, but that is alright because a C is just like normal." I told him later on that night that it was OK that he got a 70 last week, but that we wouldn't ever let that happen again. We would work really hard to learn those words.

And so the spelling tradition began. We put hours into those words. We have the practice suggestions from the teacher, but along with that we have our own regimine. We take a pre-test at the beginning of the week and then use every day of that week to master the words that he missed on Monday in our pre-test. We have all kinds of tricks. We think we have gotten it down and now he gets 100% pretty routinely.

We get him a treat if he gets 100% on his spelling test. He chose a small meal from Dan's of cheesey tater tots and chicken strips. When he got in the car R.... asked if she could have one. He responded, "No, these are my special treats for doing well on my spelling test." But immeadiately after saying that he gave her some. I thanked him for sharing with her. He said, "I can't help it. I love it!"

I asked, "You mean sharing?"

"Yah," he said with a grin.

The other day Master I said to me, "Do you know what I want? I want to live some where else, but have you live with me, but I make all of the decisions." So, I decided that I would try to give him a day where he got just that.

This Sunday was the day. I started the day by reading to him the Sabbath Day chapter from Gospel Priniciples and explained that I would go along with what ever he wanted to do as long as it wasn't breaking the commandments. I told him that if he used his power well that he would be given more power, but if he used it poorly then it would be taken away. (This proved to be the most influential thing I said. He refered to it often and used it to determine his choices.) We then made a list of appropriate Sabbath Day activities, but then spent the morning doing my calling.

We had a Ward Conference to attend in the morning and then I had to do the Sharing time in that Primary. Mark was at the building because he was in bishopric meetings, so I called on him for his help. Instead of doing the sharing time with the three kids like I usually do, I gave them to him during our 11:00 Sacrament Meeting and I taught a sharing time on the other side of the building. Mark opted to sit in the congregation with them rather than on the stand. This proved to be a good choice. By the time that I got to him he was in the flustered in the foyer saying, "R.... is crazy."

"I know." I said. "But at least you didn't go with your original idea of sitting on the stand with the baby and watching I... and R... in the congregation on the front pew. That would have really been embarrassing.

So, anyway. I went home and fed the kids lunch and then went to the Thai/Laotian Ward because they were having thir Sacrament Meeting Presentation for the Primary. So the kids went to three Sacrament Meetings for church yesterday. By the time that we got home at almost 3:00 there wasn't much of the day left, but it was enough to be a very special day for our son. By the end of the day he was saying, "This has been the best day ever!"

"What made it so good?" I asked.

"I was in charge." He said.

The funny thing was that we did the same things that we usually do like go on a walk, read books, family scriptures, eat dinner, etc. But, he loved calling the shots.

The highlight was dinner. He thought it was so fun to choose what we were going to make. He said, "When I am in charge we have appetizers, a big meal with lots of options, and dessert!" He set the table in a fancy style and then he made names tags of where everyone would sit. He helped create a new salad dressing by mixing the Raspberry Vinegarette with the Poppyseed dressing. I loved it. He basked in my approval and said, "See, when I am in charge and I am helping it is like magical. Everything is just awesome."

This is our life. These are our highs and lows. These things make us laugh or want to pull our hair out. In this normal everyday life we feel sometimes bored and other times we feel the significance of what we are doing and it feels downright holy! The best feeling of all is when we feel deep love for each other. The worst feeling is when we feel the opposite. The conclusion is that we are absolutely living the dream!

A Desire to be a Presider

Master I: "Mom, why do daddies go to work and mommies stay home?"

Me: "Because the Proclamation on the Family teaches us that a mommy is primarily responsible for the nurture of her children. That means taking care of, teaching, and loving children."

Master I: "Oh, but a daddy does that too right?"

Me: "Yes. Mommies and daddies are equal partners. But the Proclamation on the Family also teaches that a daddy is responsible to provide, preside, and protect. Providing means earning money and presiding means chosing who says the prayer and stuff."

Master I: "That sounds really fun!"

Me: "What sounds fun?"

Master I: "Presiding!"

Real Hikers at Lake Mary, Martha, and Catherine

Two brothers marry two sisters. Good choice. The sisters set each other up.

Late spring snows stopped us just short of our final lake. What started off as a disappointment turned out to be the main attraction. The parents were all raised in California and like the idea that the only way that we like to go sledding is in the warm summer sun high in the mountains.

You must click on this images to get a close-up picture to see everyone's faces. The mixture of adventure and trepedation or terror and excitement are timeless.


The funnest mother. Ever.



What you see is us eating the left over breakfast waffles for lunch. There was no fancy hiking equipment. It is called, "Everyone put on your shoes! We are going hiking! Everyone takes their own water bottle. What is for lunch? Quick, grab the left over breakfast."

Baby William

Conquerors

Real Hikers at Lake Blanche

Six miles...no problem!

Return of Fall

Look Who is Sitting!

Ok, so he is seven months old now, but I am still so proud. I have held him a lot in the past three months so he hasn't go a chance to work on his skills. Don't be deceived by that charasmatic smile. He was diagnosed with severe food allergies at four months old. It has been a very rough road. Now that we have got under control what I can eat (because he has reactions to what I am eating) we have started him on solids. He has had two severe reactions in the past week where he broke out into hives and his face turned white. All the while he is screaming and I think it is stomach pain. The hives can be on his insides as well. Once his lips turned blue. I have learned that I can't let this baby cry because he could be having a reaction and that I need to take my epipen and benadryl whereever I go. The reactions have been to tomato soup. The ingredient list appeared kosher, but the reaction was severe. The pediatrician suggested not giving him any processed foods. The second reaction was from a teething biscuit. I didn' think to check the indregients. I don't know why. There was whey in it that comes from milk. The reaction was qutie severe. My non-alarmist husband asked me, "What can we do to make sure that this never happens again? We can't do this. This is a life threatening mistake." Allergies...living the dream.

What is Better than a Saturday at Home?

You can go to the park by the house and play in the sand.

You can dream of being a Jedi Knight for Halloween. He tried to convince me that the purple robe wouldn't be embarrassing. I had to put the kabosh on that one.

You can build forts on the beds.

First Haircut

It was time for a haircut for this boy. You see him in the bath after his haircut with socks on his hands while he is in the bath. That is because he scratches himself until he bleeds, so I either put socks on his hands or I have to hold his hands the entire time. Allergies...living the dream!

Potty Training

Little Miss R got to go on a ride at the zoo after she filled up her sticker chart for going potty on the toilet and having dry underpants. It was a very fun day!

First Day of School

He loves his new teacher Mr. C, a kind and calm man teacher that has a great sense of humor. He has been so happy because he feels really comfortable in the class because he has friends here from Kindergarten. When I go to school and see him he is smiling and happy. I guess you really do have to taste the bitter to know how to prize the sweet. It broke my heart to see him sad other years, but I don't know if I would have so much joy to see him happy now if I didn't have that bitter experience. I would just expect that my children should be happy all of the time.