Conference prep

Every year, my sister in law Tara inspires me by getting her home all sparkly clean and ready for General Conference weekend.  I always read her blog and think "I really would love to do that".  Well, this last week we had a day off of homeschool group classes, and I decided to do a whole-home deep clean in preparation for conference.  I didn't get as ambitious as my friend Tracy, and try to de-clutter by getting rid of 40 bags of junk, but we did a lot of scrubbing, dejunking, and organizing. It was a lot of work, but what peace I have felt this weekend! Everyone helped a little bit, but it was Aliysa who helped so much while Jace and Spencer were gone to work with Bob. Zach, Andrew and Abby did their part by trying to mess up whatever part of the home we weren't working in currently.  Courtney and Mallory enjoyed having some days off of school, and they played and pretended and entertained the little ones whenever I wasn't having them help.

Aliysa and I listened to Dave Ramsey's financial peace CD's, and a radio theater production about the life of William Wilberforce while we worked.  Both were excellent and we enjoyed them, although we've found that Aliysa doesn't work so well when her mind gets too involved in what she's listening to.  I caught her staring open mouthed at the cd player multiple times and just had tease her.  Hee hee. 

 

Here's the last batch of laundry in the washer!  Yeay!

 The boys bathroom even smells good now.  It really needed a good scrubbing. 

 Aliysa made the girls bathroom spotless, even the cupboards and drawers are organized.

 I took down Taycie's bassinet this weekend (sniff, sniff).  She loves the crib in the girl's room, and sleeps all night, every night.  What an angel.  Anyway, this gives us a little more room in our bedroom now.

 There's nothing better than a freshly-cleaned bathroom.

 Taycie cleaned this whole room herself ;)

All the dishes are done, some cupboards cleaned out, countertops bleached and scrubbed.  I even washed out and scrubbed the garbage can.  

The couches are all set up in front of the TV to watch conference.  All distracting toys and balls taken out of the room or locked in the toy cupboards.

 The boys room

The dining/school room

Mallory pulled out all the couches in the living room, vacuumed under them, and took the cushions off and vacuumed the hidden crevices in the couches, then put it all back.  Thanks, Mallykins!

 Empty laundry hampers - no dirty laundry.  Ahhhhhh!

There are still lots of things that could be done - the garage and attic storage room need lots of help, the fridge and pantry didn't get cleaned out, etc. On the whole, though, it has been so nice to be able to focus on conference, enjoy being together as a family, and walk through a nice clean home this weekend.

Jace - the budding author

So, Zachary, Andrew, and Abby were writing "books" in school today.  We cut out little pages (1/4 sheet of paper), they wrote and illustrated each page, and then we put covers on them and stapled them together.  Jace got home from seminary and decided to join in.  Here's his book.  (Make sure you read his back cover summary). 

The Dragon's Puppy
By Jace

Once upon a time there was a dragon
It was a mean dragon (dragon illustration)

The dragon ate men and frogs and cats and other dragons
cuz it was the biggest dragon.

Anyway, the dragon had the smallpox but that doesn't matter
cuz he can't die.

He also had malaria and a puppy.
His puppy was brown and had blue eyes.

One day the dragon was eating another dragon.
The other dragon coughed in his face so he got the
plague, but that doesn't matter cuz he can't die, remember?

CHAPTER 2 THE CASTLE (castle illustration)
The castle bugged the big dragon so he decided to destroy it.

He flowed to the castle and torched it.

CHAPTER 3 THE LIGHTNING (Lightning illustration)
The dragon was eating a lot of men and their frogs
and he got hit by lightning.

He was mad so he went and killed Zeus.

The End

(Back Cover Summary)
The dragon and his faithful puppy undertake a heroic journey to free the men and frogs and cats and other dragons from the tyranny of the evil God Zeus.  To do this they must destroy the evil castle that is ruled by Zeus' minion,  Apollo, God of horror.  During the battle the puppy is separated from the dragon.  
Will the dragon be able to find his puppy in time, or will he have to face Zeus alone?

Julie B. Beck

Recently I had the privilege of attending a meeting at BYU-Idaho where the general RS president, Julie B. Beck, spoke.  My testimony was strengthened, and I came away from that meeting wanting to study my scriptures more.  Sister Beck is a real scholar of the scriptures.  She took questions from members of the 10,000 women in the audience, and answered them using the scriptures.  She'd say "the answer is in..." and then go right to where the answer was in the scriptures (in all 4 of the standard works).  I want to be able to do that.

I wish her whole talk/presentation was available to read.  But here are some excerpts from it:
http://lds.org/church/news/relief-society-a-call-to-minister?lang=eng

Afterwards, some of my wonderful friends and I went out to lunch at Original Thai restaurant.  Yum!
I am so blessed to know and be friends with such amazing women.  I absolutely love them.

Worry

Sorry for this long post.  I've got to get my feelings down.  And I hope some of you will have words of wisdom for me.

Lately I feel just literally sick with worry about my children.  I’ve always kind of felt that if I did my very best to teach them, they would all turn out all right, and make good choices, and life would be great. 

I’ve always known about agency, but suddenly I’ve realized…my children are going to make some wrong choices.  I don’t want them to!  I want to teach them to be righteous, intelligent, kind, thoughtful, wise, obedient, clean, respectful, etc. etc.….and then have them be that way all the time.  But it has hit me this week that it can’t be that way.  They are going to make some mistakes (gasp!) and I’m having a really hard time with this realization in my life. 

I feel like this has suddenly taken some of the joy out of parenting, and I feel like I’m going to have to worry daily until every one of my children is married in the temple.  Probably even then I’ll worry…and then I’ll have grandchildren to worry about also!

Seeing how evil the world is around my children is the main cause of this worry.  I just feel so scared about the very serious temptations that are going to surround my children.  I feel like they are walking on a narrow path with sheer cliffs on either side.  One wrong step, and they could be lost spiritually. 

It doesn’t help that we’ve recently received several wedding announcements from kids who come from great LDS families, who have strong parents, and they aren’t getting married in the temple.   Looking at the engagement pictures (one with the bride to be in fishnet nylons and leather boots), and knowing the stories behind these wedding announcements is so saddening and confusing to me.  They knew better, and they still made wrong choices.

There are other little things that make me worry.  Watching my oldest children with their friends, for instance.  My kids have great friends, and my kids are good kids, but sometimes they say or do dumb things.  When I see this, I think “you know better!”  and then I panic, thinking “what if they make dumb choices with the really important things that they know they should do?” 

Suddenly their immaturity seems so scary.  When I realize that some of my older children always forget to close their eyes during prayers, I'm scared that they don’t understand how important prayer is, or that they don’t really think about who they are praying to.  When I have to remind my daughter multiple times that her skirt is too short, or her shirt is too tight, I see that she really doesn’t understand the hows and whys of being modest.  And I want her to really get it.  And I know she will, with more maturity.

When my children were younger, I sometimes would get really worried about their physical safety.  I specifically remember worrying about Jace.  He was the sweetest, most angelic baby you could ask for, and I remember thinking that he was so perfect, and worrying “what if he died?” It scared me so much.  It didn’t help that in a couple of months, he was lost multiple times, was almost strangled, and almost drowned.  I was at my wits end. 

While I still am concerned for my children’s physical safety, my concern for their spiritual safety is so much greater. 

I know that living with constant worry and fear is not the way we are supposed to live.  We have to live with joy.  But I’m just not sure how to do that right now.  I know I will not be able to stand it if one of my children is ever lost spiritually.  I would love to hear comments from people who’ve learned how to live with joy while still being aware of the dangers surrounding our children.

One positive effect of all this worry is that I’ve become much more compassionate for parents whose children have gone astray.  I think in the past, I’ve occasionally been tempted to judge some of these parents, but with this shift in my thinking, now I can imagine how heart wrenching and humbling and agonizing it must be to have children make bad choices.  My heart aches for those parents.

I’ve been trying to look up scriptures about hope and joy, but even those haven’t helped to comfort me much because they all talk about how joy and hope comes through Christ, and through the gospel, and then I think “what if my children choose things that take them away from the gospel?” 

Luckily I have Bob.  When I shared my worries and fears with him, he commented about how perfect we both were growing up, and how nice it was that we never made any bad choices or got in any trouble, and why can’t our children be like that?!  He reminded me that I wasn’t perfect as a kid, but I have a strong testimony now.  So, he helps me keep it in perspective.  But the world just seems so much more evil than when we were children. 

Tonight I brought Taycie upstairs, and changed her out of her clothes.  I looked at her little knees that are pink and lightly calloused from crawling around all day.  I put her in the bath, and comforted her, since she is always a bit scared when she gets in the bath.  She splashed and played and every few moments looked up at me with her big beautiful blue eyes, just to make sure I was still near her. 

I sat by the tub, and thought of all my worries, thought of the people in Japan who are suffering from the tsunami, thought of children in the world who are in horrible situations, and thought about the fact that Taycie will have to face many trials and difficulties in her life. 

She tried crawling and slipped in the bath, and I was there to grab her.  I want to always be there to help her when she slips, and to comfort her in the times when she needs it.  Then I thought of the hard times I’ve faced in my life.  Most of those trials and hard experiences I would not change.  Some of them I would choose to change, but I wouldn’t want to give up the lessons I learned from them.

As I lotioned up Taycie’s adorable chubby little body, and put her in soft pajamas, I knew that I do want her to have a full and complete life – one with all the ups and downs and temptations and lessons of mortality. 

Tonight, though, I was grateful that I could nurse her, bathe her, put her in warm pajamas, and then cuddle her and sing to her as she sucked her thumb and drifted off to sleep.  I’m glad that she has a sheltered and happy world right now.  I hope these times where I make her feel loved and secure will be something she can hold on to and draw strength from later in life.

I guess that is all I can do – try each day to teach and snuggle and feed and comfort and love each of my children.  It is an overwhelming task that I can never do all on my own, so I’ll also keep doing another I’ve been doing a lot lately – praying fervently for each one of these precious little souls in my care. 

Lissa's new blog

Lissy lou has a new blog: http://monkeyshine101.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!

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Play it Again Sports March Madness

Some friends of ours asked Bob if he would like to be in a commercial they were involved with. So, he did it! It is so fun to see. Bob had a lot of fun being a part of it. It started airing on TV today. Let us know if you see it on TV!

Families Can Be Together Forever

My kids and I love watching the "Mormon Messages" as part of our daily devotional. I really liked this one. I'm so thankful for our church and its emphasis on eternal families. Nothing would really matter if we couldn't be together forever.

Abby's Singing

Abby sings all day long, and we've always loved how she makes up her own songs.  She belts out any song she knows, and if she doesn't know all the words, it doesn't dissuade her a bit.  She'll just carry on with her own words. 
This is the latest that she made up herself:
"This land is my land,
This land is your land,
from the red ripe strawberries
to the newborn kittens."

When I laughed and asked her "where did you learn that?" She replied:  "from choir!"

Croup & some of my thoughts about life

I'm home from church today with my sweet little Taycie Grace.  She is croupy.  (This is why I've had the time to write 13 blog posts today! I'm finally catching up!)  

She really is doing all right, but I don't think I'll ever get over feeling completely panicked when one of my children has croup.  Anyone who has had children suffer from this and struggle to breathe knows what I'm talking about. You just worry so much about them.  Watching Zach stop breathing when he was Taycie's exact age is an experience I'll never get over.  I'm so thankful he's here with us.  

Here she is rubbed down with chest rub, sleeping soundly.  I kept Abby and Andrew home because their noses are runny also. 

Oh, I love this baby.  

Thinking about croup reminds me of a poem I read a long time ago in the Ensign magazine.  When I read it, I was absolutely amazed, not because of eloquent prose, but because it put into words perfectly the way I felt when Christian and Tara were getting married.  I'm always excited for people to get married, but sometimes I just feel a little overwhelmed about the long journey they are beginning so naively and blissfully.  It is such a learning and growing experience, and a lot of people go into it so unprepared.  

Here's the poem that I could have written:

Martha P. Taysom, "The Wedding Reception", Ensign, Apr. 2005, 25

I sit and watch her.

My pastel punch and thick-iced cake

(On delicate plate)

Balance awkwardly on my knee.

I think of me 12 years before.

Her smile beams

First on this reception guest,

Then that.

Sometimes blushing,

Sometimes laughing,

Always turning

Eyes of admiration to the handsome groom.

.
Should I tell her?

Tell her of face-down peanut-buttered bread

On new-mopped floor?

Of a two-year-old stretched out

and kicking angrily

In the grocery store

(And everybody watching)?

.
Can I tell her?

Tell her of the almost-can’t-cope days?

The lonely evenings

Waiting for bishopric meeting

To end?

.
Will I tell her?

Tell her of the terrifying cry

Of croup

Deep in night?

Or the quickened step

Of the home teacher

Summoned to help administer

To a feverish brow?

.
No.

But neither can I share with her

The thrill of a newborn’s nose

Bobbing in my neck;

The pride of seeing a six-year-old

Begin to read.

.
I cannot tell her

Of a husband’s gentle touch

On my hand

As we pass briefly

In the chapel foyer.

.
So,

Standing, I brush away the crumbs

From my not-so-new dress,

Smile,

And wave a little

To the bride

Across the room.

.
Oh, I get tears in my eyes just reading that.  I think I've reached a point in my life where parenting is not as hard as it once was.  I have older kids to help, I recognize when I'm tired or need more nutrition in order to feel sane, and I've made a bit more reasonable expectations for myself.  But remembering those times when all my kids were little brings back the feelings I had back then.  

I didn't need to worry about Tara.  She's taken all the hard parts of mothering in stride, and made probably the most joyful home I've ever seen.  Check out her blog at: http://hahnlife.blogspot.com/

Anyway, two more thoughts of married life:

President Gordon B. Hinckly quoted Jenkin Lloyd Jones with this quote:

There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks, to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear, the divorce courts are jammed.
Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .
Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.

I have to admit that when I first heard that quote by President Hinckley, I really disliked it, because I really feel like I've had an un-typical, blissful marriage.  But that quote really is true.  The joys of family life are mixed with lots of hard work, long days, and mundane tasks.

I agree with this quote from my favorite talk about marriage:

"While marriage is difficult, and discordant and frustrated marriages are common, yet real, lasting happiness is possible, and marriage can be more an exultant ecstasy than the human mind can conceive. This is within the reach of every couple, every person." - Spencer W. Kimball

I love living here

We have had so many deer this year.  They are beautiful and it is so fun to see them around here.

Planetarium

We went on a field-trip to the BYU-Idaho planetarium

Zach and Andrew watching a drawing machine while waiting for the planetarium show

In our seats waiting.  The show was really interesting.  It made me just feel in awe of God's creations.  Outer space is just amazing!

Big headed Zach

Andrew meeting a visitor from outer space

Early Morning Scripture Study

My kids like to really thoughtfully ponder what we are reading each morning

Art

Each Wednesday, our children are involved in homeschool group classes called iFamily (http://ifamilyidaho.weebly.com/) Jace, Courtney, Spencer, Mallory, and Zach are taking classes - debate, guitar, knitting, sewing, a math enrichment class, art, Knights of Freedom (a boy's class where they study great men and adventurers), drama (improv), unit studies, and choir.  The classes are taught by homeschool Moms, and they are fabulous.

 Two weeks ago Zach and Mallory's unit studies class went to the Art Museum in Idaho Falls.  We saw art exhibits and then the kids did an art project - a self-portrait.  They learned about guidelines for drawing faces. 

Zach studying his face.  Cute!

Here's his first draft of his self-portrait.

He got to use paint in a spray bottle

Here is a piece from one of the art exhibits.  Pretty time consuming, each of the little marks is a brush stroke.

This was a neat piece by a lady who took a lot of closeup pictures of old things in junkyards. This is a picture of rust, then she painted on an eye, etc. to make it look like a horse.  You can read about it below.

 Mallory didn't go to the art museum because she was finishing up her sewing class.  She usually comes in the unit studies class after sewing ends, so she doesn't come on the field trips with us.

Back at iFamily classes, Spencer and Courtney were doing their art class.  It is a fabulous class taught by Keri King where they are learning art techniques with charcoal, acrylic paints, watercolor, etc.  They love it!

Spencer next to his friend, Seth

Eve, Courtney, Keziah, Arianna, Hannah

Flashback to the 80's

Courtney had two of her friends, Keziah and Eve over.  Aliysa decided to give them crazy hair do's. 

If only they could sing and play the electric guitar.

Entrepreneurs

Andrew and Zach decided to open a snack stand in our kitchen.  They prepared fruit & veggie kabobs.  They had good business sense - they opened it right when we were all getting hungry during school.

The kabobs they made are on the counter

Whenever they needed to go use the restroom or do something else, they'd put up their "closed" signs

Maybe Bob and I will purchase their business from them. 

The Beehive Spa

Courtney and I planned a Beehive activity at our home.   We had a spa night with a cooking class, yoga/stretching routine, foot scrub, foot baths, pedicures, and healthy snacks.  We gave them a handout with quotes about being healthy.  It was a fun evening!

Sadie and Ryan

Riley and McKenna

Riley, McKenna, and Cammy

Taycie Grace

I love this little girl dearly.  It is amazing how such a little person can add so much to your life.  Taycie is the sweetest and best baby anyone could ask for.  I love her big blue eyes, I love how she smiles at me when she wakes up, I love how she pops her thumb in her mouth and cuddles up to me.  I love how she just studies everyone and everything.

We are realizing that she has a very determined little personality.  She wants to see everything that is going on.  Sometimes when she is nursing, you can tell that she wants to know what is going on behind her, and when she can't stand it any longer, she'll stop nursing just to turn around and watch her siblings. 

She scootches all over the place now, not a real crawl, but kind of a fast army crawl with lots of flops.  Aliysa kindly vacuums the family room at least 3 times a day so that Taycie won't choke on anything.  In December, Abby fed Taycie an almond.  She actually swallowed it when we weren't watching.  Abby told us matter-of-factly:  "she was choking on it, and then she swallowed it!"  I'm glad she must have guardian angels watching over her.  It scares me to think of all the dangers for a baby.  Just last week she crawled over to the fireplace, and burned her head. I felt so bad!  We're trying to figure out some sort of a barricade to put around the fireplace now. 

This week Taycie got her first tooth.  She has been quite good about it, not fussy at all.  

Little Taycie, thank you so much for coming to our family.  I wish I could explain how much I love you and how much you have added to our family already, but it is impossible to put into words.  I adore you, little girl.