I said that I'd like to write about the good qualities of my children, so I'll just go in birth order, which makes Dalan next.
When I was pregnant with Dalan, I got the feeling that he was very strong-willed and had great potential to be a force for good, but that I would need to teach him the right things and it may be difficult. That premonition has definitely been seen to be true. He is extremely determined and strong-minded. But, I have also seen him forgive others quickly, treat a young child with kindness and gentleness, and he always apologizes sincerely (after he calms down and realizes he hurt someone's feelings).
Dalan has a very quick mind and loves to learn. When Kydee was in kindergarten and learning to read 'word families,' like cat, bat, rat, hat...he caught on faster than she did and he learned to read right along with her. Part of that was because he didn't want Kydee to be able to do something that he couldn't. He was the same way with riding a bike without training wheels. We taught Kydee to ride a two-wheel bicycle and a couple of months later, Dalan was training-wheel-free, too.
Dalan has a very adventurous spirit and loves to try new things, especially if those things involve trying to defy gravity, test the limits of his digestion, or gross his sisters out. Luckily, all of our trips to the emergency room have always ended without stitches, casts, or staples. He has had to have an IV for the time he drank 3/4 of a bottle of children's cold medicine, but he got to watch cartoons for 4 hours while I kept an eye on him in the ER, so I don't think he minded it too much.
Dalan, I love you and know that you have great potential! If you keep learning from your mistakes and follow the good examples around you, I know that you'll be a good influence in the world.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
A girl who inspires me...
My daughters love American Girl dolls (http://www.americangirl.com/) and to enter a drawing for one(Felicity--they're discontinuing her!) found at http://www.mommafindings.com/2010/09/toy-news-american-girl-announces-plans.html, I have to blog about a girl I know who inspires me. It was difficult to pick just one, because I have known so many girls and women who inspire me to be more thankful, more graceful, more generous, more joyous, and more caring.
I finally chose to write about my daughter, Kydee. She is a very tenacious thing. When she sets her mind to do something, you can bet that she'll do it. When she was only 3 years old, she was asked to recite a scripture (John 3:16) for the entire church congregation. Other children were also asked to recite scriptures or short little statements about what they'd learned that year in their church classes. They were all told about three weeks ahead of time what their assignments were. Their teachers would be there to help them to tell them what to say. Kydee did not want anyone to help her. She said she wanted to read her part by herself. I reminded her that she couldn't read and that the only way to do it without any help would be to memorize the whole thing. She insisted that we practice every day, a few times a day. She memorized the scripture long before the three weeks were up and even had the right inflection and pace when she recited it! (Remember, this is a 3 year old!)
Later, when she was 8 years old and a Brownie Girl Scout, she wanted to go to Girl Scout camp. It cost several hundred dollars (which I didn't have), so I told her if she could earn half of the money, I'd pay for the other half. She got right to work. She sold over 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, she sold several of her toys at a yard sale, and she had a pop stand in our front yard. She earned enough to go to camp, plus she had $20 left over.
Not only is Kydee good at accomplishing her goals, she's also very generous. We pay our children allowance. They get 10 cents/week/age, so Kydee, who's 9 gets 90 cents per week, Dalan gets 70, Elora 50, and Elias 20. It's not much, but it's enough to be able to buy a toy or two a year. We think it gives them good practice for saving, budgeting, etc. Anyway, Kydee is always donating her money to charitable causes. She gives to our church, to her siblings, to homeless people, and to humanitarian aid projects. She often gives 15-20 percent of what she earns and sometimes even gives more, which is extremely generous, especially when you compare her to adult's typical donations. She is always willing to share her candy, books, cake, stickers, etc with her siblings and friends.
One other thing that Kydee is gifted at is being willing to help others. I know I can count on her to help me around the house. She is always helping her brothers and sister, sometimes when they don't want her help! She notices when neighbors are weeding or raking leaves and always gets her work gloves on and goes and helps. I'm so thankful for Kydee and her example of what a great 'American Girl' can be.
That was really fun to write about one of my children. I think I'll do all of them, but not today. I'm tired!
I finally chose to write about my daughter, Kydee. She is a very tenacious thing. When she sets her mind to do something, you can bet that she'll do it. When she was only 3 years old, she was asked to recite a scripture (John 3:16) for the entire church congregation. Other children were also asked to recite scriptures or short little statements about what they'd learned that year in their church classes. They were all told about three weeks ahead of time what their assignments were. Their teachers would be there to help them to tell them what to say. Kydee did not want anyone to help her. She said she wanted to read her part by herself. I reminded her that she couldn't read and that the only way to do it without any help would be to memorize the whole thing. She insisted that we practice every day, a few times a day. She memorized the scripture long before the three weeks were up and even had the right inflection and pace when she recited it! (Remember, this is a 3 year old!)
Later, when she was 8 years old and a Brownie Girl Scout, she wanted to go to Girl Scout camp. It cost several hundred dollars (which I didn't have), so I told her if she could earn half of the money, I'd pay for the other half. She got right to work. She sold over 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, she sold several of her toys at a yard sale, and she had a pop stand in our front yard. She earned enough to go to camp, plus she had $20 left over.
Not only is Kydee good at accomplishing her goals, she's also very generous. We pay our children allowance. They get 10 cents/week/age, so Kydee, who's 9 gets 90 cents per week, Dalan gets 70, Elora 50, and Elias 20. It's not much, but it's enough to be able to buy a toy or two a year. We think it gives them good practice for saving, budgeting, etc. Anyway, Kydee is always donating her money to charitable causes. She gives to our church, to her siblings, to homeless people, and to humanitarian aid projects. She often gives 15-20 percent of what she earns and sometimes even gives more, which is extremely generous, especially when you compare her to adult's typical donations. She is always willing to share her candy, books, cake, stickers, etc with her siblings and friends.
One other thing that Kydee is gifted at is being willing to help others. I know I can count on her to help me around the house. She is always helping her brothers and sister, sometimes when they don't want her help! She notices when neighbors are weeding or raking leaves and always gets her work gloves on and goes and helps. I'm so thankful for Kydee and her example of what a great 'American Girl' can be.
That was really fun to write about one of my children. I think I'll do all of them, but not today. I'm tired!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Quick update
I don't have time for much of a blog post, but here's some pics of what we've been doing. We shingled the roof (by we, I mean my dad), and made the patio and flower beds. I'm busy being Super-Mom (as you can see by my outfit), and Dalan's been playing baseball. Well, I'm off to work on more projects and to clean my house!
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Moab on Memorial Day
For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Moab to help with my mom's cotton candy booth at the Moab Arts Festival and to have some fun playing on the rocks. We all took turns to try climbing. It was fun to see Micah and Kaylee and their kids, and Aunt Lori and Uncle Dan. We wish we could have spent more time there!
PS We wish Micah and Kaylee the best during this difficult time and are praying for Kaylee, the doctors that work on her, and her family! (Kaylee was diagnosed with cervical cancer last week.)Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monthly Update...
After church on Mother's Day, we found out that Dale's parents were in West Valley City. We thought, "Hey, that's only three and a half hours away. Let's go visit with them!" And so, we did. We left at 2 in the afternoon and got home around midnight. Dale's parents were staying with his brother Charles and his family. His in-laws live close and have a veritable zoo at their house, so they decided to spend the day there. The kids loved seeing the animals--there were al pacas, llamas, camels, ponies, miniature horses, goats (including fainting goats), pigs, a yak, cows, chickens, geese, and rabbits. The camel in the picture with Dale was especially friendly and tried to give us kisses several times. He loved to follow everyone around.
Elora is on the verge of an obsession over My Little Ponies, so of course, her favorite animals were the ponies!
Kydee made friends with the horses that were generally known to be unfriendly and people-shy. She was quite proud of herself!
Dalan loved the little baby goats and they loved him. They would let him pick them up and pet them and they followed him all around the yard.
Elias' favorite animals were the chickens for two reasons. First, they were smaller than he was; and second, they were in a fenced yard so they couldn't get to him. The other animals, he was rather nervous about. (Although, by the end of the day, he decided the dogs and baby goats weren't so bad.)
Well, I've just realized that another month has gone by without me updating my blog. Why am I so bad at this??? Oh well!
Elora is on the verge of an obsession over My Little Ponies, so of course, her favorite animals were the ponies!
Kydee made friends with the horses that were generally known to be unfriendly and people-shy. She was quite proud of herself!
Dalan loved the little baby goats and they loved him. They would let him pick them up and pet them and they followed him all around the yard.
Elias' favorite animals were the chickens for two reasons. First, they were smaller than he was; and second, they were in a fenced yard so they couldn't get to him. The other animals, he was rather nervous about. (Although, by the end of the day, he decided the dogs and baby goats weren't so bad.)
Well, I've just realized that another month has gone by without me updating my blog. Why am I so bad at this??? Oh well!It's almost two in the morning and I'm having some very pell-mell, helter-skelter thoughts, so I'm going to ramble. I was just thinking about how much I HATE being cold and how ironic it is that I live in Idaho and that I'm not looking forward to being here for at least 3 more winters. (Okay, let's face it; living in Idaho is like having 3 seasons of winter, so it's more like I'll be living through 9 more winters here! Ugh!) That reminds me of our yard (winter-snow-outside-yard, follow me?) and how much work I want to do out there. I want to build a patio and rock walkway, a play area, and some raised gardening beds so that I don't have to deal with weeds. Then I'm left wondering why I want to do all this, since it's only warm enough to go outside for 4 months of the year!
Oh, and speaking of pointless things, I was just thinking about cleaning my house. Sometimes I wonder why I bother, until I have a day like today. I spent most of the day in my room cleaning and sorting drawers and miscellaneous boxes and piles. Mom, you'll be glad to know that I've turned into you! I can't believe how much junk I found! It did feel good to get rid of stuff, come up with an organizational plan, and put the things that I kept away. It was just depressing that it literally took my entire day.
Which leads me to my next thought (depressing, taking a dang long time) about the computer! I just spent the last five hours on the computer transferring photos from our old computer to our new one, sorting through those pics, creating photo playing cards for Christmas presents (I had a coupon code that expires tomorrow), and checking email and facebook. It took forever! and now I feel guilty for wasting so much time!
I feel guilty a lot about my time. It seems like no matter what I choose to do with my time, I feel guilty for not doing something else. For example, when I clean my room, I feel guilty for not cleaning the rest of the house because that's what everyone sees, so why should I worry about my room?! When I clean the rest of the house, I feel guilty for not spending time with my kids having fun or teaching them things. When I spend time with my kids, I feel guilty for not working on the yard, or cleaning out the van, or cleaning the house, or making a nutitious, gourmet meal for dinner! Am I the only mom out there that's this crazy? I really hope not, but when I tell Dale about it, he just shakes his head and either gives me a look that tells me I am crazy, or he says I need to just be happy with whatever I choose to do!
Man, I am hungry! That happens to me whenever I stay up past 11:30. I try to go to bed and just hurry and fall asleep, but without fail, I have to get up and have some toast or cereal. (That's another thing that Dale thinks is wack-o about me--he says eating after 11pm is just plain weird.) Maybe it's because my mom always asked us if we needed something to eat before we went to bed, so I have this subconcious need to eat before I can sleep. (Yes, mom; I really can blame you for all my problems!)
Okay, I'm tired and hungry, so I'm going to sign off for tonight, or should I say for this morning, seeing that it's now 2:15am?
Moms, good luck out there! I appreciate all your stories of messes and mistakes because it helps me realize that I'm not alone. I hope that this little blog session where I just wrote whatever came into my mind helped you smile. (Heck, you were probably laughing at what a nutcase I am!) I look forward to reading about your misadventures!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Easter in Cedar City
For spring break and Easter, the kids and I went to Cedar City.My whole family was able to be there (except Eli, who's on a mission). It was lots of fun to spend time with everybody. We also got to go down to Las Vegas for a day to see Dale's parents and sister. The kids really miss their cousins, so it was fun to have so much time to play with them.
Friday we had an egg hunt near Leeds. Saturday morning we went to the egg hunt at the city park; Elora won a kite and both Kydee and Elora came home with tons of candy. Dalan decided he didn't want to get out of bed for it, so he and Elias stayed home with Uncle Amos and Uncle Micah (who also stayed in bed). I think Dalan was expecting the girls to just give up their candy, but we told him they didn't have to share since they did all the work. I think they each gave him a piece or two, and I hope he learned that staying in bed might not have been such a great idea. At noon, we went down by St George to a lava tube. It was a tunnel that went down quite a ways. Once we got to the end, it opened up into a pitch black, large room. We broke apart glow sticks and shook them all over. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in little dots of glowing light. Then we covered ourselves with the splatters, turned off all the flashlights, and played hide and seek. It was really cool-looking. I hear that there's places around here that you can do that, too. We'll have to try it with some friends.
Sunday we watched General Conference and ate a big Easter dinner. We headed home Monday morning, and I didn't even stop at IKEA on the way home. (Dale was so proud of my excellent will-power.) We will be taking a trip with everyone this summer to California, so we're all looking forward to spending time with them all again.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Murder Mystery Valentine's Dinner
For Valentine's Day, I wanted to do something different, so I hosted a murder mystery dinner. I was a lot of fun. Here's a picture of the 'speakeasy.' We had a poker table in one corner, a black jack table in another, a bar, a buffet, and a few tables. I printed off some 1920's posters from the internet and hung them on the wall. 
It turns out that I was the murderer! But we were all pretty shady characters! Can't wait til the next one.
Here's some pics of the players.
We had Beef Scallopini, pasta, breadsticks, salad, pie, and spumoni for dinner, along with sparkling grape juice and IBC root beer.
It turns out that I was the murderer! But we were all pretty shady characters! Can't wait til the next one.My funny kids
Elora likes to try new foods and new flavor combinations. This is a picture of one of her latest; Mandarin oranges and cheese on chips. Silly girl!
Dale will probably die when he sees that I posted this picture of our youngest son, but I thought it was too cute not to share! Elora and he were playing downstairs and he came up with this on. Apparently he dressed himself and he refused to take it off for a long time. He kept spinning around and posing. It was too funny!
Here's Elias sans skirt, shawl, gloves and hat, looking like a rock star! Sunday, February 21, 2010
I kinda forgot...
that I have a blog! So, what's new in my life? Dale started school in January and he's still working full-time, which means we rarely see each other. He goes to class from 7-10pm Mon, Tue, and Thur this semester and I work Wed night and Saturday all day. Ummm....other than that everything is pretty much the same.
Oh, wait--I have now started selling my bodily fluids for a profit (my plasma). It's not too bad, it's pretty much like donating blood, except it takes longer and they give you back your red blood cells. They provide free babysitting and so I get to get paid to sit and read a book for 45 minutes! Dale thinks I'm insane, but I can get $45/week, so I think it's worth it. I have also joined a "health club" where I work 2 1/2 hrs a week to get a free membership. The kids and I go swimming there at least twice/week and I'm trying to figure out my schedule so that I can work out at least three times/week. Why am I working out all of a sudden, you might ask? Well, not only do I need to get rid of this flab around my midsection (I promise; I have some--being 29 is catching up on me), but my sister and I are competing in the Great Urban Race this summer!
For those of you who've never heard of the Great Urban Race (let's face it--ALL of you) here's a quick explanation. It's similar to the Amazing Race TV show on a smaller scale. The Amazing Race races around 12 cities in several weeks and the teams have to complete certain tasks and figure out clues along the way, but the Great Urban Race has 12 clues/tasks in one city (we're going to compete in Seattle) and only lasts half a day. Oh, and the biggest difference is that in the Amazing Race, teams win $1 million, but in the GUR you win $300, and then can go to the finals and have a chance to win $10,000. Maybe if we run in this, we can apply to be on the Amazing Race and have a better chance at getting accepted! (We love that silly TV show and imagine ourselves traveling the world)
Our team name is The SuperMoms (I know, not too creative, but we had about two minutes to figure out a name). We have to wear matching uniforms, so we're going to dress as superhero moms. I'm designing an outfit with an apron, a cape, and rubber gloves. I'll post a picture as soon as I'm finished (not for a while). Ariane's been studying up on Seattle tour books and bus routes, so hopefully that'll help. I'm going to start studying soon, but I want to get the uniform out of the way.
Well, I'd better go make some dinner. If you have any Seattle guidebooks laying around, send 'em my way!
Oh, wait--I have now started selling my bodily fluids for a profit (my plasma). It's not too bad, it's pretty much like donating blood, except it takes longer and they give you back your red blood cells. They provide free babysitting and so I get to get paid to sit and read a book for 45 minutes! Dale thinks I'm insane, but I can get $45/week, so I think it's worth it. I have also joined a "health club" where I work 2 1/2 hrs a week to get a free membership. The kids and I go swimming there at least twice/week and I'm trying to figure out my schedule so that I can work out at least three times/week. Why am I working out all of a sudden, you might ask? Well, not only do I need to get rid of this flab around my midsection (I promise; I have some--being 29 is catching up on me), but my sister and I are competing in the Great Urban Race this summer!
For those of you who've never heard of the Great Urban Race (let's face it--ALL of you) here's a quick explanation. It's similar to the Amazing Race TV show on a smaller scale. The Amazing Race races around 12 cities in several weeks and the teams have to complete certain tasks and figure out clues along the way, but the Great Urban Race has 12 clues/tasks in one city (we're going to compete in Seattle) and only lasts half a day. Oh, and the biggest difference is that in the Amazing Race, teams win $1 million, but in the GUR you win $300, and then can go to the finals and have a chance to win $10,000. Maybe if we run in this, we can apply to be on the Amazing Race and have a better chance at getting accepted! (We love that silly TV show and imagine ourselves traveling the world)
Our team name is The SuperMoms (I know, not too creative, but we had about two minutes to figure out a name). We have to wear matching uniforms, so we're going to dress as superhero moms. I'm designing an outfit with an apron, a cape, and rubber gloves. I'll post a picture as soon as I'm finished (not for a while). Ariane's been studying up on Seattle tour books and bus routes, so hopefully that'll help. I'm going to start studying soon, but I want to get the uniform out of the way.
Well, I'd better go make some dinner. If you have any Seattle guidebooks laying around, send 'em my way!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Girl Scout Cookie Time!
Kydee is selling girl scout cookies again, so if you're in need of some really good cookies, call or email me! She is trying to sell enough to go to a week-long horse camp. Last year she sold about 390 boxes and went to a Girl Scout camp in McCall ID. The Girl Scouts are opening a camp closer to us where the girls learn how to ride horses, and she's very excited for that this year. I know that she's a hard worker and will reach her goal. The price this year is $3.75/box including tax. Only $1 of that is for the actual product cost, $.23 is sales tax, and the rest goes to the girl scouts divided among the council, the troop and the girl. She's been hitting the pavement today and sold 43 boxes so far. Way to go!
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