Happy Thanksgiving!

Just thought I'd toss in a little post to say how thankful I am for all I have - family, friends, health, love, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, a living prophet of God to lead me, scriptures so I can teach my children the way home to our Heavenly Father, the atonement of Jesus which makes it all possible, and so much more. It's a wonderful day to really focus on what we have been blessed with and all the potential yet to be!

Adorable

Just thought I'd share my cute kids! I don't know where Xiomara and Kemiah were - probably upstairs playing.

What to do?

While Emily was writing in her journal tonight, she stopped and said to me, "Mom, I just caught myself being unspecific."

We have really been working with them being more specific when they ask for things, talk about things, answer questions, write in their journals, and so forth. I just thought it was funny to hear her say that from across the room.

I also realized my kids lead a very task oriented life. We expect them to do things right away - good, it helps them to learn to use their time wisely. Bad, they don't have much fun enjoying simple pleasures of daily activity. Example: Before Emily sat down to write in her journal she was "wasting" time by tilting the chair back on two legs then letting go so that it fell forward. She did it several times and I was just getting annoyed because she wasn't just sitting down in the chair to do the task at hand. Then she looked at me with a big smile on her face and said, "Look, Mom, the chair can walk." she did it again to show me that the chair would "walk" as she dropped it and it bounced forward. I felt bad when she slinked into her chair because I was looking at her in a "sit down and get to work" sort of way. I smiled and she smiled. I wonder what way is the right way? Do I worry about right or do I worry about better? Are they the same? How many of these things will work them selves out as the kids get older and mature and how many of these things do we really need to work on to make good habits as early as possible?

Fiber is the best!

A long time ago (back in May), Emily came home from Church a couple weeks in a row with a Fiber One bar from her Primary class. Kevin and I thought it was strange - although her teacher is an older lady. Kevin started to talk about the bar like it was the best thing in the world. After a little while Emily seemed to be smiling and the other kids appeared to be a little sad that they didn't get a Fiber One bar. As Kevin talked about how great it was Emily said, "I can break some off for you." She is so good at sharing. It is now a funny thing in our house to compare things to fiber. The kids will ask about the amount of fiber in the cereal they are eating. Nothing quite matches the Fiber One bar. I have even heard Kevin say, "Not like it's a fiber bar," to let them know it's not quite as awesome as that Fiber One bar. All in all I think it would be great if our kids kept eating fiber in their diet. Kevin will tell you how much it helps keep your colon clean and healthy. Anyway, today I bought some fiber cereal because we are trying to find something new to eat. When the kids finally noticed it in the cart they said, "Dad will love that." It was a wonderfully funny moment for me and I smiled a little more the rest of the trip.

Playing at the park

I had my camera, and my video camera, and I didn't take any pictures. Kevin has to work tonight so the kids and I left the house after lunch in hopes that he would be able to get some sleep. We went to Walmart, then to a park for the kids to play. It would have been a great time if Kemiah hadn't fallen off the merry-go-round twice and ended up with a cut on her forehead (and she still wanted to get back on). She was cranky and kept getting hurt so it was a little hard for her but everyone else had a fun time running around. I was planning on stopping by Kroger for more shopping (and dinner) but Kevin called me (yes, I had my cell phone and it was on and in my pocket). He said he was awake so we could come home whenever. We did stop by Kroger for groceries but went home for dinner and Family Home Evening. We worked together moving the wood pile in the basement. After we were done working together we talked about what lessons we learned and made our own parallels to the gospel. It was nice to see the kids understand and make their own connections. So, although there aren't any pictures, I just thought I'd let you know we are doing lots of really fun and interesting things.

Amazing!

After the kids were in bed, Kevin was off to work, and Domonique was nursing, I dialed my parent's phone number tonight. To my utter amazement it rang! Normally I get three busy signal beeps and then silence. We have magicJack and I am not always trilled with it but it is really annoying when I can't call my parents. I have contacted magicJack at least three times and they could never tell me why. Anyway, I was happy to hear my dad answer the phone... only to hear him say it was a terrible connection so he had to call me back. At least I was able to get through! That's certainly a step in the right direction. We'll see how long it lasts.

Now she's 3!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEMIAH!

How can she possibly be 3 years old already? That went by so fast. We had a great day celebrating her! She went shopping with her Daddy the Monday before her birthday and picked out her cake and ice cream. She told me all about it when she got home, "The big chocolate one is mine." We had smiling pancakes for breakfast, cream of wheat for lunch (she really doesn't like many "lunch" type foods), and Mexically soup for dinner - it's probably her favorite food.

I ran out of pancake batter but already had smiley faces on the griddle so this is what we ended up with. She is licking her lips, ready to enjoy them - especially the ice cream.


Here is what the pancakes really looked like. Don't they just make you smile!


Holding the card that her Grammy and Gaffa sent her.

She was a big helper with the cake and frosting. I think you can see chocolate in the corners of her mouth.

Gathered around the table, ready for the fun to begin. I love that you can just see Domonique's head at the end of the table.

Waiting for the happy birthday song to end so she can blow out the candles.


She stuck the candles in the cake. I thought it was strategy because they were so close together but it still took her three blows (one for each candle) to get them all out.

She was very happy when they finally went out!

Her doll came with a pacifier and she loves it all.


She really liked the frosting but wasn't happy with the cake. Try to remember that she doesn't like Devil's Food Cake.

All the family enjoyed the cake!

She's playing with Charlie, her new baby doll.

Here are a few funny things about her:

-She is a sucker for fuzzies. She still likes to hold them when she sucks her thumb.

-She is still very shy around people she doesn't know, but she warms up much faster now.

-Her attachment to the doll named Logan is not nearly as intense, especially now that she has Charlie.

-She likes to pick up box elder bugs and carry them around in her hand saying it is her pet, but she is quick to say "Can I flush him down the toilet?"

-Her favorite place to play is where Mom is - she's a Mommy's girl.

It's Autumn Time

The leaves are falling down! This tree in our neighbor's yard seriously dropped all it's leaves the other day during lunch. The kids went out with grand ideas and raked some up. I'm so glad my kids are willing to help others.

Big helper

After dinner, Emily noticed all the dishes and said, "When I'm done with my journal, I'll help you with all those dishes." True enough, she finished her journal quickly and came to the kitchen to help. She did a great job and didn't stop until they were all done. She didn't even mind the wrinkly hands... and she didn't believe me when I told her the skin would fall off her hands.

Feeling the joy of service!

4 Months Old

She is growing too fast. She still sleeps and eats well. She is starting to be interested in toys. She still loves to smile and be held. She prefers to sit up. She likes to stand while supported. She recognizes her Daddy's growl/snarl and will turn to find him. We all love her!

Trying to find a balance

Between mediocrity and excellence... with my kids. I have found that I swing from one side to the other. I expect greatness but then they don't give it their full effort so I drop the ball and figure they can't do it because they are too young. There has to be some nice place in the middle, where they are challenged and their efforts are genuine. I just hate it when they come to me with a question about their work that tells me they are trying to do the very minimum to complete the work. So do I try to get them to reach farther or do I let them settle? I think it might be one of those learned things... If they are never challenged then they won't like being challenged and they'll never reach beyond on their own. But I need to find a way to challenge them, allow them to succeed or fail, learn, try again (if necessary), feel good about doing something they didn't think they could, and then they'll want to be challenged again (or at least maybe it won't be so scary because they know they can do it with a little effort/work). Kids have to learn to work, just like they have to learn to walk. I need to know when they are putting forth true effort so that I can praise it, and when they are trying to slide by so I can give them an extra push to try a little harder.