Rachie attends a story time that she loves and call her library school. The story time is excellent and is more of a class than what you would think of as a typical story time. The teacher loves my little girl. They read many fun stories together that follow a theme and have an excellent craft to go with it. You have to sign up for one of the age-appropriate groups in order to register and attend. I am able to drop Rachel off and come back 45 minutes later.
I had the most flattering question asked to me today that I have heard. It was from a little girl that participates in Miss R's story time. She asked me, "Excuse me, are you a queen?" It took me a while to figure out where on Earth that was coming from. Then I realized it was because Rachie was wearing one of her fanciest dress ups to her school and she told her friends while I was gone that she was a real princess. So I asked the little girl if she was wondering if Rachie was a real princess. The little girl told me that is what Rachie said. I told her that Rachie is a real princess, but that she was one too. And that I believed that all girls were princesses. This answer didn't satisfy her. She asked me, "Do you live in a castle?"
Rachie loves her nicknames. I can't stop using so many nicknames for my children. I think it is so natural to me because that is the way I grew up. She loves to tell others her nicknames. Some of them are Sweetest, Sweetest of Beetest, Na Darling, Squirrel of a Girl.
I was taking pictures of my two youngest children at the park. I looked down to delete the pictures that I didn't want to keep. When I looked back up Mister Twister was on top of the play structure nude. He hates clothes, especially if they get wet. The play structures were damp this morning. I told him to come back, but he just kept running away from me.
Later on in the afternoon he had an accident. It was a very stinky one, but luckily he had a pull-up on. I asked him if he had an accident. He looked at me, put his finger to his lips, scowled, and said, "Shhhh!" When we got home before I could change his, he had started to take off his clothes, get his hands in it, and smear dirty fingers on the wall. It is hard to explain to others how he got his name Twister. Sometimes you just have to experience someone to understand.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Yum
Mister Twister has a new nickname that he has given himself. He can't pronounce his own name. When people ask him what his name is he says, "Yum."
My favorite Rachie quote was the definition of gunk, "Gunk is something really yucky that can take any shape. Like even a line or different shape like a wildebeest. Boogers are gunk with bumps in it."
Miss R got a cold but didn't know how to describe what she was experience. She said, "Mom, I have an allergy caught in my nose."
I don't think that Miss R was meant for soccer. We asked her hesitantly if she would like to participate when the opportunity came to play town soccer. We didn't want to prejudge her and say that she wasn't athletic because she was a girl. I had the sense that it wasn't going to be her thing, but I told myself not to decide what kind of person she was going to be. It has proven to be a total disaster. She wants to wear her princess dress-ups to go play. At first she tried to play. Now she just hangs her head and stands out on the field. Last week Master I was telling her to go back out and play. Mark was working and Master I seemed to instinctively step in to his shoes. He went up to Miss R and said, "You have to go out there and play! We paid money for you to be able to play."
I whispered to Master I just like I would have whispered to Mark, "Well, she is sick."
Master I said to me in exasperation, "I would go out with bloody feet and I would play!"
Her younger brother tries to encourage her in his halting English he yelled, "GET BALL!"When she was on the sidelines he put his arm around her.
It is all to no avail. At this point we are just trying to teach her what our parents taught us...finish what you started.
Yum is totally potty trained. He really learned this summer. He hated wearing clothes and that is really how he learned. If I go into the restroom while he is doing his business he yells at me, "Move!"
I try to stay out of doors as much as possible. I do this for two reasons. 1.) I love the fall weather and I love to be outside. 2.) I have found that whenever I am in the house trying to get things done Twister and Miss R are wrecking havoc in another area. I can't keep up with the disaster. I get the house clean and I hurriedly get everyone out. Twister broke the computer last week. The only thing I can have them do that won't cause a disaster is to watch a movie and i don't like to do that too much.
Master I continues to be a great companion and friend, but as strong-willed and freedom loving as ever. Today he told me, "I can't wait until I can say no to you. When I am 18 and I come home from college you will ask me if I will do the dishes and I will just look at you and say, "No."
About a month ago he was trying to express to me he frustration about the lack of freedom he experiences as a child using a chess analogy. He said, "I feel like I am in a desperate situation and I want to use the Queen, but I am just a Rook. And I want to take over the King. I am a Rook and I can put the King in checkmate if I can only use someone else's moves. But I can't because I am a Rook."
I think what mostly makes him feel this way is when he argues with me. I try very hard not to argue with him. I tell him a line I learned from Love and Logic, "I love you too much to argue with you." He finds this infuriating. I am still trying to learn the fine dance of not arguing and having contention, but being firm in my expectations.
My favorite Rachie quote was the definition of gunk, "Gunk is something really yucky that can take any shape. Like even a line or different shape like a wildebeest. Boogers are gunk with bumps in it."
Miss R got a cold but didn't know how to describe what she was experience. She said, "Mom, I have an allergy caught in my nose."
I don't think that Miss R was meant for soccer. We asked her hesitantly if she would like to participate when the opportunity came to play town soccer. We didn't want to prejudge her and say that she wasn't athletic because she was a girl. I had the sense that it wasn't going to be her thing, but I told myself not to decide what kind of person she was going to be. It has proven to be a total disaster. She wants to wear her princess dress-ups to go play. At first she tried to play. Now she just hangs her head and stands out on the field. Last week Master I was telling her to go back out and play. Mark was working and Master I seemed to instinctively step in to his shoes. He went up to Miss R and said, "You have to go out there and play! We paid money for you to be able to play."
I whispered to Master I just like I would have whispered to Mark, "Well, she is sick."
Master I said to me in exasperation, "I would go out with bloody feet and I would play!"
Her younger brother tries to encourage her in his halting English he yelled, "GET BALL!"When she was on the sidelines he put his arm around her.
It is all to no avail. At this point we are just trying to teach her what our parents taught us...finish what you started.
Yum is totally potty trained. He really learned this summer. He hated wearing clothes and that is really how he learned. If I go into the restroom while he is doing his business he yells at me, "Move!"
I try to stay out of doors as much as possible. I do this for two reasons. 1.) I love the fall weather and I love to be outside. 2.) I have found that whenever I am in the house trying to get things done Twister and Miss R are wrecking havoc in another area. I can't keep up with the disaster. I get the house clean and I hurriedly get everyone out. Twister broke the computer last week. The only thing I can have them do that won't cause a disaster is to watch a movie and i don't like to do that too much.
Master I continues to be a great companion and friend, but as strong-willed and freedom loving as ever. Today he told me, "I can't wait until I can say no to you. When I am 18 and I come home from college you will ask me if I will do the dishes and I will just look at you and say, "No."
About a month ago he was trying to express to me he frustration about the lack of freedom he experiences as a child using a chess analogy. He said, "I feel like I am in a desperate situation and I want to use the Queen, but I am just a Rook. And I want to take over the King. I am a Rook and I can put the King in checkmate if I can only use someone else's moves. But I can't because I am a Rook."
I think what mostly makes him feel this way is when he argues with me. I try very hard not to argue with him. I tell him a line I learned from Love and Logic, "I love you too much to argue with you." He finds this infuriating. I am still trying to learn the fine dance of not arguing and having contention, but being firm in my expectations.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
When Master I gets home from school I feel like I need or maybe want to do so much with him. More than can be done.
In my ears I hear doctors that warn of childhood obesity and so I want him to get exercise and run around and play. I hear mental health professionals and grandparents warning me that play is a child's work and that children need unstructured time to be a child. So I want him to play.
I have in my mind the words from the letter home to the parents from school about how successful children need a structure time and place to do homework every night, but that it shouldn't be right after school because they need a break. The teacher also warns that children are expected to read every night for at least 30 minutes in addition to homework. That suggestion is echoed in any educational literature sent to the home. I remember listening to Sister Beck share how much she wanted to nurture reading so she let her children read in bed as long as they wanted.
But another need tugs on my heart. the image of an exhausted boy when I wake him in the morning. The warnings that children need 10 hours of sleep a night.
I think of my husband saying that more than anything he thinks our children need to work more. I remember my childhood and expectation from my parents that we work and my dad's warning to me to not rob my children of the hard parts of life that made me who I am. And so I want to make him do chores and do the work of practice needed to learn to play the piano.
I think of my promises to God, to myself, and in memory of parents that drug their body out of bed at 5 am so that we could pray as a family and have scripture study...and that lights such a fire in my heart that I will not let a day go by that we don't study scriptures and pray together, nor a week that we don't have family home evening.
I think of the latest social science warnings echoed by living prophets that children who eat dinner with their family and the dinner table are less likely to struggle as teens. I remember warnings that it needs to be healthy.
More than anything, I hope I have built my relationship with my boy. I hope I haven't raised my voice. I hope I have built Master I's confidence in himself. I hope I have connected with him. I hope he feels loved. I hope he as able to talk to me about things that were on his mind.
These concerns and many others are always on my heart. In addition I have another laundry list in my mind of the needs of each other child and the needs of my spouse.
I remember when I began my mission feeling anxious like there was no way that I could do all that I wanted to do. I remember reading these verses from Mosiah 2 and finding my answer here:
In my ears I hear doctors that warn of childhood obesity and so I want him to get exercise and run around and play. I hear mental health professionals and grandparents warning me that play is a child's work and that children need unstructured time to be a child. So I want him to play.
I have in my mind the words from the letter home to the parents from school about how successful children need a structure time and place to do homework every night, but that it shouldn't be right after school because they need a break. The teacher also warns that children are expected to read every night for at least 30 minutes in addition to homework. That suggestion is echoed in any educational literature sent to the home. I remember listening to Sister Beck share how much she wanted to nurture reading so she let her children read in bed as long as they wanted.
But another need tugs on my heart. the image of an exhausted boy when I wake him in the morning. The warnings that children need 10 hours of sleep a night.
I think of my husband saying that more than anything he thinks our children need to work more. I remember my childhood and expectation from my parents that we work and my dad's warning to me to not rob my children of the hard parts of life that made me who I am. And so I want to make him do chores and do the work of practice needed to learn to play the piano.
I think of my promises to God, to myself, and in memory of parents that drug their body out of bed at 5 am so that we could pray as a family and have scripture study...and that lights such a fire in my heart that I will not let a day go by that we don't study scriptures and pray together, nor a week that we don't have family home evening.
I think of the latest social science warnings echoed by living prophets that children who eat dinner with their family and the dinner table are less likely to struggle as teens. I remember warnings that it needs to be healthy.
More than anything, I hope I have built my relationship with my boy. I hope I haven't raised my voice. I hope I have built Master I's confidence in himself. I hope I have connected with him. I hope he feels loved. I hope he as able to talk to me about things that were on his mind.
These concerns and many others are always on my heart. In addition I have another laundry list in my mind of the needs of each other child and the needs of my spouse.
I remember when I began my mission feeling anxious like there was no way that I could do all that I wanted to do. I remember reading these verses from Mosiah 2 and finding my answer here:
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all theathanks and bpraise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and cpreservedyou, and has caused that ye should drejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should aserve him who has created you from the beginning, and is bpreserving you from day to day, by lending you cbreath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own dwill, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all yourewhole souls yet ye would be funprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he arequires of you is to bkeep his commandments; and he has cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ekeephis fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
So maybe I try to do all of the things in my heart, but maybe they don't each happen perfectly each day. Maybe some days are better for play and other days for work. I feel better just putting to words the different pressures I feel.
It is similar to the pressure I felt as a missionary. I was a terribly imperfect missionary. My anxiety to do it all perfectly didn't help. I think I was much more effective when I still gave my heart and soul, but peacefully accepted that no matter how much I gave I would still fall short, or be an "unprofitable servant." I guess I just have to apply the lessons I learned from my mission to my life now. Just do the very best I can, be at peace with the fact that I can not do all that I would love to do every day, instead try to follow the promptings of the Spirit and do well the things I can, and try to be happy and find joy in the journey.
Rice and Beans
1 Bag of black beans
1 fork full of minced garlic (maybe a little under a Tablespoon)
6 rings of jalepeño (from a jar)
6 cubes of beef bullion
cumin (2 tsps ?)
oregano (1 tsp?)
Can cook on a pot or overnight in crockpot on low. When beans are soft mash them with a potato masher so that maybe 1/4 get mashed. This makes the sauce thicker. You can squeeze the juice from the other half of the lime and sprinkle in fresh cilantro if you like. I think the beef bullion is what makes these beans yummy. I wouldn't use chicken or veggie
Lime Cilantro Rice
Cook rice until done. Immediately sprinkle fresh chopped cilantro so that it cooks slightly and flavors the rice. Squeeze the juice from lime. Salt if you haven't done so already.
Pico de Gallo (320 Market has an excellent Pico that I just try to copy)
Tomato-seeded and diced
Salt
Red Onion
cilantro
avocado
lime juice
1 fork full of minced garlic (maybe a little under a Tablespoon)
6 rings of jalepeño (from a jar)
6 cubes of beef bullion
cumin (2 tsps ?)
oregano (1 tsp?)
Can cook on a pot or overnight in crockpot on low. When beans are soft mash them with a potato masher so that maybe 1/4 get mashed. This makes the sauce thicker. You can squeeze the juice from the other half of the lime and sprinkle in fresh cilantro if you like. I think the beef bullion is what makes these beans yummy. I wouldn't use chicken or veggie
Lime Cilantro Rice
Cook rice until done. Immediately sprinkle fresh chopped cilantro so that it cooks slightly and flavors the rice. Squeeze the juice from lime. Salt if you haven't done so already.
Pico de Gallo (320 Market has an excellent Pico that I just try to copy)
Tomato-seeded and diced
Salt
Red Onion
cilantro
avocado
lime juice
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
First Day of School
The highlight of the day was the beginning. Master I and I had our scripture study together in the morning. For our study we actually just read Joshua 1:9. "Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest." We watched a video of some youth singing a song about this theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVHC0vsIeeA
It has actually been our tradition to read this verse and listen to this song since Master I went to the first grade. We love it. It gives him the courage to conquer!
We tried to keep up our other traditions: a fancy first day of school lunch, a new first day of school outfit, a big first day of school breakfast, and the most important to me, a priesthood blessing starting off the school year. Master I was lucky enough to have that blessing from his Patriarch grandpa this year. We read the notes that we took after the blessing so that he could remember how he felt again when he received the blessing over the summer. It was a sweet morning. When I was done reading the notes he told me, "I really believe that Mom. I don't think that words exist to describe what it feels like to feel the Holy Ghost." I agree with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVHC0vsIeeA
It has actually been our tradition to read this verse and listen to this song since Master I went to the first grade. We love it. It gives him the courage to conquer!
We tried to keep up our other traditions: a fancy first day of school lunch, a new first day of school outfit, a big first day of school breakfast, and the most important to me, a priesthood blessing starting off the school year. Master I was lucky enough to have that blessing from his Patriarch grandpa this year. We read the notes that we took after the blessing so that he could remember how he felt again when he received the blessing over the summer. It was a sweet morning. When I was done reading the notes he told me, "I really believe that Mom. I don't think that words exist to describe what it feels like to feel the Holy Ghost." I agree with him.
Labor Day
This Labor Day we mostly just did labor. I went to get my hair done and did some shopping. Mark was home with the kids. While I was out there was a torrential down pour. This is what I came home to see.
Everyone had been playing in the rain. I was so pleased with this. They were so happy. Miss R and Twister played in the river in the road while Master I shot hoops. What a memory and way to seize the day. Good job Dad!
Camping Trip
I found it more difficult to find a camping site close by. We decided to do some backyard camping. The kids had a great time.
When we woke up the kids shouted,"We did it! We slept outside all night!" We hadn't contemplated not finishing out the night so I found their pride amusing.
Uncle Lukie Comes to Town
Miss R and Twister played on the stage while....
Luke coached Master I in basketball techniques.
After they worked hard we treated Uncle Luke to a Philadelphia treat...Rita's water ice!
I love this baby brother of mine. So cute. So introspective, a conversationalist, a listener. So positive, fun and happy. So giving, so helpful to me. So darn good!
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