Snorkel Anyone?

Jared had the chance to go out with Mark on a Father/Son date. They looked all over for a special surprise. What he really wanted was a snorkel. Why? I am not sure. After much searching since it is the end of the swimming season, Mark finally found one. He had so much fun swimming today. He could swim the whole length of the pool without coming up. The other girls tried out his snorkel and they could not get it to work. They kept getting water in it. When Sarah asked why it worked for Jared, Madison replied, “Because he is a boy!” I guess because Jared is the only boy, when there is a strange phenomenon that they do not understand, the girls always default to gender differences. Jared is always grateful for the distinction. I just had to take a picture and share.

Motherhood Craziness

As I have read many motherhood troubles on your blogs, I thought I would add one of mine. This week in less than 24 hours we had a few problems. Of course, everyday around here is crazy. However, Jared and Lauren were fighting the other day. Lauren insists that she is completely innocent. Despite the fact that Lauren did not antagonize Jared at all, Jared got extremely angry. To release his frustration he took a bottle of paint and threw it across the kitchen. Now if I had blogging on my mind I would have taken a picture. However, my thoughts were more on the mess that now faced me in the kitchen. So you will have to picture in your mind, blue paint on the cabinets, stove, oven, floor, rugs, refrigerator, and all over Jared and Lauren. With each person that tried to help, they produced more and more smeared blue paint. It was a little like cleaning up soap. The more you tried to clean the greater the mess. I even had to unscrew the refrigerator door handle it get it all off. When I asked Jared what he thought would happen when he did that, he thought it would only go on Lauren.

Like Lori mentioned in her comment, this picture takes on a new meaning, so I thought I would post it.

After I had gone to the grocery store, Mijken loves to help bring in the bags. So she came to help and I gave her the bag that had a box of panty liners in it because it was so light. Well, they looked familiar to her and I guess in her mind she knew just what to do with them. She took them upstairs into my bathroom. That would have been great if she had stopped there. But I suppose she had seen them used in there and decided she would use them too. So she opened the box and stuffed them down the toilet. A WHOLE box! Then she flushed. Needless to say, Mark asked as we were all putting way the groceries, “Do you hear water running?” He went upstairs to find our bathroom flooding and spilling into our bedroom with Mijken in the middle.

Life is never dull around here.

I might be doing something right

I told Mark the other day that I am the worst mother in the world. I even had proof because at least one of our children told me every day. Regardless of what they say I have a few moments of light that give me hope that I might be doing something right.

I signed Lauren up for a Young Statesmen Club. It is a group of youth learning about government and leadership. It is in its infancy and the first club meeting was coming up. The book for this month was The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour. She only had a little over 2 week to read it and it is about 480 pages long. She got a very slow start. With only about 3 days before club, she still had about 400 pages to go. Mark was reading it also, and said there was no way she would finish by Saturday. She became very determined and asked me if she finished by Saturday would I buy her the next Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites book. I said absolutely! One, I thought I was pretty safe, and two, the reward she is asking for reading a book is another book! I figured I won either way. With 10 minutes to spare before club started she finished. I was very proud of her. Not only had she finished, but she did not fall behind on her other schoolwork. More and more I find her reading instead of doing other activities like watching TV. Last week when the other kids were watching TV I found her in her room reading one of her historical fiction books for school. I asked her, “Didn’t you finish your school work today?” She said no and keep reading. Then a little while later she came into my room. Mom I had finished my reading for the day, but I just had to keep reading. She finished the book 2 weeks earlier than scheduled.

Madison’s interest level is higher than her reading level. To encourage her love of reading, I have given her some books on tape. She listens while she follows along in the book. This week she was reading Peter and the Star Catchers. She was getting hooked. I kept hearing comments like “I just can’t put it down; I am going to get my school work done fast so I can spend the rest of the day on my book.” On Friday she came begging, “Mom can I please just have the time to finish my book.” After giving her the right to be left alone, she sat in the family room for almost 3 hours to finish. It was wonderful to hear her gasp and the suspense, and laugh at the humor. Once she finished she could not stop talking about it. Her only regret is that now it is over.

Sarah after seeing everyone else read wanted a book of her own. She said mom, “Don’t you have book that I could read.” I just “happened” to have a book on Christopher Columbus that I wanted her to read. I said I thought I had one that would be just right. She started the book and then we went to the map. We talked about where he was born in Italy and how she had been shipwrecked on the coast of Spain when he was a kid. I explained where the Indies were and how he was trying to get there. Then she went back to her book. She looked up at me and said, “I want to read this book, then write a report so I can share it at my girls club.” I said that was a great idea!

Jared loves learning his letters. He stands up and gives a “touch down dance” every time he writes a perfect letter. And Mijken is right in the middle of everything. I love watching her concentrate on trying to color or “read” her own books. She wants to be as big as everyone else.

So in the dailyness of my life, it is hard to see any progress. Kids are laughing, crying, yelling, playing, making a mess, asking for food, and arguing about what I have said, however, if I step back and take a look I can find small baby steps in the right direction. I just had to share, so on those days that tears start to well in my eyes because I don’t think I can do it another day, I can read my own blog and be reminded of the small moments of success. Thanks of listening.

Just for Emily

1 Gallon=4 Quarts=16 Cups=8 Pints

1/4 Gallon= 1 Quart=4 Cups=2 Pints

1/8 Gallon=1/2 Quart=2 Cups=1 Pints

1 Cup=8 Fl Oz=16 Tbsp=48 Tsp

3/4 Cup=6 Fl Oz=12 Tbsp=36 Tsp

2/3 Cup=5 1/3 Fl Oz=10 2/3 Tbsp=32 Tsp

1/2 Cup=4 Fl Oz=8 Tbsp=24 Tsp

1/3 Cup= 2 2/3 Fl Oz=5 1/3 Tbsp=16 Tsp

1/4 Cup=2 Fl Oz=4 Tbsp=12 Tsp

1/8 Cup= 1 Fl Oz=2 Tbsp=6Tsp

1Tbsp=3Tsp

Grandkids!

Lori is amazing! Thanks for all the wonderful pictures. It is so hard to choose.

The joys of teaching a 5 year old boy to read

Today Jared came up to me and asked if I would help him read Rory the Lion. He climbed up onto the couch and snuggled in close. We opened the book and looked at the pictures. Then I would slowly read each word with him repeating. He would point to each word as we worked our way across the page. After a few pages we read the following passage,

"Then one night, Rory heard a real lion roar.

He ran to the window but the lion had gone."

Jared got to the word but and looked at me. Then he said in a questioning tone, "but?" He started laughing so had he could hardly stand it. He tried 5 times to read the page, however, when he got to the word "but" he could not help himself and would laugh hysterically. As everyone should know the word "but" to a five year old is hilarious. Even when I tried to explain it did not mean that kind of "but". Jared thought it was even more funny because mom had said it. We did not get through the whole book, BUT we sure had a good time.

We Finished the Book of Mormon

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

D&C 64:33

This scripture rings true at our house. Each night we gather to read scriptures and pray. With five small children this is can be very "weary". However, little by little we have made progress. It has taken us almost a year, but with just a few verses each night we have finished reading the Book of Mormon. It has been fun to see the kids progress in this tradition. As we take turns reading, Jared insists on "reading". He starts everything he says with "And it came to pass," and then he would tell us in his own words a story from the scriptures. The brother of Jared is his favorite. He refers to the story as "The brother of Me." Even Mijken needs her own set of scriptures. It seemed each night we made very small progress but we have accomplished a great goal! After we finished Mark asked what do we do now that we are done. Madison enthusiastically replied, "We start over!" And we did, the next night. However, Monday night we all went to cold stone for ice cream to celebrate.

Toothless Sarah

Sarah Keeps Loosing Teeth

The tooth fairy has been very busy at our house lately. Sarah has lost about 3 teeth in 3 weeks. It seems like everytime we turn around she has lost another one. We are hoping she will still be able to eat. I am sure she will getting two front teeth for Christmas, if not before.

Is that homemade fresh grounded wheat bread? YES!

While I was in Utah I was able to buy a wheat grinder. I was so excited to make fresh grounded wheat bread. It turned out great. I know to some the smell of fresh baking bread and homemade jam gives you a warm fuzzy. And to others you simple roll your eyes, wondering why take the time. However, to all of you that enjoy the work that goes into homemade bread, I wish you were here to share it with me. And to all of you who roll your eyes, don't worry I may only do it as often as I blog!