The Lamoreaux Family: May 2008

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Andrew's Antics, goat attacks, and bike crashes

I walked in the kitchen and found Andrew helping himself to a little snack (like father, like son):

Um...Hi Mom!

A couple of cute pictures I took of him recently in our yard

Our week: Bob has been working hard at school, and then coming home and working hard on putting in our new bathroom & laundry room upstairs. He has gotten a lot done! The bathroom is usable now, Bob got the tub, toilet, and sink hooked up at about midnight last night. The boys were excited to have their own bathroom to shower in this morning!

Aliysa just had her end of the year party to sign yearbooks, roast hot dogs, and play games with her friends from our Charlotte Mason Collaborative School. She, Jace, and Courtney had their piano recital yesterday, and they did well. Aliysa had some especially difficult pieces that she really had to work hard on. They are beautiful.

Jace has had a couple more really "great" crashes on his mountain bike lately. Aliysa has too, in fact, she may have cracked a rib a couple of weeks ago.

Bob, Dan, Dave, and The Spencer (Jess's soon to be husband, this week in fact-yeay!) have been working to make a super mountain bike course in our yard. Bob injured his foot and leg in a mountain bike crash the other day. I wanted him to get an x-ray, but he just kept hobbling around until he realized that if it was broken, it might keep him from playing football this fall. Since he wants to play on a BYU-I team, he finally went into the health center. Thankfully, it is not broken. And I still think he is tough, even though he got an x-ray. Our Spencer also has been working toward getting 100 good bike wrecks because Uncle Dan told him and Jace that they have to get 100 to be in "the club". (Thanks Uncle Dan!)

Tasha broke her neck yesterday on her mountain bike, but she is doing great now. Ha ha. (Really, I have no need for any adrenaline rush that could involve injury. I'm content just watching, cheering, taking pictures, and applying band-aids.)

Courtney is happy because Bob just purchased a violin from a student up on campus. She has been giving herself lessons from a beginning violin book Bob bought. He also bought a trumpet and trombone from another student, so our home has been full of... "music" this week. In fact, yesterday the kids and their friends had a "band": trumpet, trombone, violin, guitar, and piano. ALL AT ONCE. It was amazing! Tasha is contemplating a purchase of a nice set of earplugs. :)

Mallory is still being my little helper all the time. She also has fun riding her bike.

Zach and Andrew continue to be double trouble, and a lot of fun. They are either best of friends, or worst of enemies, and it can change in a split second's time. Andrew loves being outside now. He has two things he says when he wakes up each morning: "I want to go outside!" or "I want FOOD!"

The other day he was outside eating a piece of toast, and the goat (who had gotten off her rope) decided she wanted it. She went after it, and Mallory, Zachary and Andrew started screaming at the top of their lungs. I ran to help them. A tree service man who had just stopped by our home to see if we wanted his service, was just leaving and I think he was, well, rather unnerved to say the least. When he arrived, he was met by two dogs barking furiously at him, and a goat on the front porch. He weakly handed me a paper with his logo & phone number, then quickly left amidst the screams, and me chasing the goat away (in a very dignified, manner, I'm sure.) Ah, such is life around here. Andrew now calls the goat "the mean Me hee hee", and if he can see her, he won't go out.

Abby is getting bigger every day. She smiles a lot and sleeps more now. It is fun to see her grow and change. She has brought a wonderful spirit to her home, as babies always do.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Mother's Day

This week, I've been looking through our old pictures, and I decided to post some of my favorites, that show what we as mothers do for our children.

What might our children say about us?

She encouraged me in life's adventures...

She counseled me to choose good friends

She helped me develop my fashion sense

She put up with all my pets...

She helped me love to learn

She taught me to work hard...

But never bite off more than I can chew...

She encouraged me to "fly"

And to develop my talents

She taught me to love people despite their quirks...

She loved me when I was feeling beautiful...

...and on my "bad hair days", too.

Yes, mothers are there to love you in good weather...

...and bad

To love us from when we are young...until we are old...

To help us through the storms of life...

And to support us in everything we do.

“Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother’s image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child’s mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world.”

--David O. McKay (Gospel Ideals, p. 452.)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Happy Abby

I love this picture!

The double chin is especially great.

She always wakes up so smiley now. It is fun to get to the point where she responds to us.

For family home evening, we all sculpted with Aliysa's new 8 lb. package of sculpey clay. Bob had to sculpt something for one of his classes, so we joined him for a great family activity. I wish I would have taken some pictures of Aliysa's creations, they were super. Jace took this picture of his & Bob's sculptures after we had all squished ours.

We've had a round of stomach flu here. Zach had it first, then Andrew. Aliysa & Jace both felt queasy one day, but that was it. Poor Andrew could hardly keep anything down for three days. He got skinny & really lethargic, but he kept just enough water down that we didn't feel that he was too dehydrated. I'm hoping Abby won't get it, she doesn't seem to feel real well today, but it may be from the stuffy nose she has.

Signs of spring!

Jace has about five of these frogs, they live outside.

Aliysa also just found a baby salamander-my favorite pet--really! (they eat spiders)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here is the weather out our window today, May 1, 2008.

We really are thankful for the moisture. (Sigh)

Jace is supposed to go on a campout tomorrow night.

They didn't plan on it being a winter campout!

Here are a couple of pictures of Abby:

She is learning to smile now. She will smile for Bob the most.

I almost caught her smile with this picture, this is the end of it, as it is fading away.

Fill the spiritual needs

“some parents become so expert at filling every physical desire for their children that they begin to suppose that all is well in this life and that their eternal stewardship is progressing right on schedule. … I believe that we must pause and take a careful inventory to determine how well our families are doing spiritually. We could ask how well are we feeding, nurturing, training, and exercising the spirits of our children; or how well have we taught, trained, loved, and inspired our children to build their spiritual muscles and strength? … Remember, eternity is now, not a vague, distant future. We prepare each day, right now, for eternal life. If we are not preparing for eternal life, we are preparing for something else, perhaps something far less.”

–M. Russell Ballard

Pray with your little ones

"Behold your little ones. Pray with them. Pray for them and bless them. The world into which they are moving is a complex and difficult world. They will run into heavy seas of adversity. They will need all the strength and all the faith you can give them while they are yet near you. And they also will need a greater strength which comes of a higher power. They must do more than go along with what they find.

They must lift the world, and the only levers they will have are the example of their own lives and the powers of persuasion that will come of their testimonies and their knowledge of the things of God. They will need the help of the Lord. While they are young, pray with them that they may come to know that source of strength which shall then always be available in every hour of need."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

Be Wise In Our Diet

“…let us consider our relationship with ourselves. We must each take proper care to see that the little things regarding our personal life are in order. We must learn to care for our health and our mental well-being. Do we maintain proper exercise to give us the energy and alertness of mind necessary to keep our spirit strong & our attitude positive? Are we wise in our diet? Do we avoid the unnourishing snack that might keep our stomach full but our health quite empty?

–Joseph B. Wirthlin, Finding Peace in Our Lives, p. 59

Turn it off, walk out...

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

“Tragically, the same computer and Internet service that allows me to do my family history and prepare those names for temple work could, without filters and controls, allow my children or grandchildren access to a global cesspool of perceptions that could blast a crater in their brains forever. . .

“Along with filters on computers and a lock on affections, remember that the only real control in life is self-control. Exercise more control over even the marginal moments that confront you. If a TV show is indecent, turn it off. If a movie is crude, walk out. If an improper relationship is developing, sever it. Many of these influences, at least initially, may not technically be evil, but they can blunt our judgment, dull our spirituality, and lead to something that could be evil. An old proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, so watch your step.” (Place No More For the Enemy of My Soul, April 2010)

Only a teacher

"If any parent needs added inspiration to commence his God-given teaching task, let him remember that the most powerful combination of emotions in the world is not called out by any grand cosmic events nor found in novels or history books—but merely by a parent gazing down upon a sleeping child. That glorious biblical passage, 'created in the image of God,' will acquire new and vibrant meaning as a parent repeats this experience. Home will become a haven called heaven, and loving parents will teach their children 'to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.' (D&C 68:28.)"
--Thomas S. Monson

Quote

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. …”
--C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Raise up patriots

The importance of teaching & training

"In 1904, President Joseph F. Smith said to parents: “Do not let your children out to specialists … , but teach them by your own precept and example, by your own fireside. Be a specialist yourself in the truth.

… Not one child in a hundred would go astray, if the home environment, example and training, were in harmony with the truth in the gospel of Christ, as revealed and taught to the Latter-day Saints.”

The ideal way to transform your home into a house of learning is to hold family home evening faithfully. The Church has reserved Monday evening for that purpose. In 1915, the First Presidency instructed local leaders and parents to inaugurate a home evening, a time when parents should teach their families the principles of the gospel.

The Presidency wrote: “If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them.”

President David O. McKay gave the same promise in 1965 and added that the youth will gain power “to choose righteousness and peace, and be assured an eternal place in the family circle of our Father.”

In 1976, the Presidency reaffirmed that “regular participation in family home evening will develop increased personal worth, family unity, love for our fellowmen, and trust in our Father in heaven.

Considering these glorious promises, we would expect every faithful member to be exceedingly diligent in following this prophetic counsel. But, of course, we are all human, and our best plans don’t always materialize. Why not? Let it not be for lack of commitment."

--Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Spiritually Strong Homes and Families

Our Health Duty

“I am grateful to understand that my physical body is an eternal component of my eternal soul, and that I have a duty to honor and respect and care for it, and to refrain from knowingly imposing upon it any treatment or substances deleterious to it. While I could not choose nor govern the condition of the body into which I came, I have the responsibility to give it the best care I can, and if I do not I am acting in derogation of a great gift of God.”
--Marion D. Hanks, “For Man is Spirit”

Come to the Temple

"The season of the world before us will be like no other in the history of mankind. Just as this is the dispensation of the fullness of times, so it is also the dispensation of the fullness of evil. There is no safety in the world: wealth cannot provide it, enforcement agencies cannot assure it, membership in this church alone cannot bring it. We must come to the temple for light and safety. There are hosts of unseen sentinels watching over and guarding our temples. There will come a period of time when even the elect will lose hope if they do not come to the temples. They will long to bring their children here for safety's sake. The covenants and ordinances will fill us with faith as a living fire. In a day of desolating sickness, scorched earth, barren wastes, sickening plagues, disease, destruction, and death: we as a people will rest in the shade of trees, we will drink from the cooling fountain. We will abide in places of refuge from the storm, we will mount up as on eagle's wings."
--Vaughn J. Featherstone