It’s freezing outside. The air quality is bad. We are stuck inside…again. While I have mountains of laundry to do, Matti and Wyatt decide to go camping. They grab their backpacks and sleeping bags and make themselves at home under their already-made “tent” aka: the piano. I gave them a flashlight to tell scary stories and a cup full of marshmallows, turned on the fireplace and voila! Entertainment that doesn’t include video games, the tv or computer… just plain creativity of a 5 and 6 year-old.
Matti is asleep. While deep in dreamland, she has inherited this wonderful trait of not only sleeping with her mouth open, but her eye open as well, just like her mom used to do (or still does?) The kids find it “creepy”, but she is just a chip off the ‘ole block.
Looks like a picture-perfect weekend…reading to the soft glow of the fireplace with Harley purring next to me. Well it would have been great if I wouldn’t have had flu symptoms to go along with it. But if you’re going to have the flu, the company of a loving pet, warm fire and a good book softens the blow just a bit.
I think kids these days ARE smarter than we are. I have always been a good speller. I was the 4th grade spelling bee winner, I have a bachelor’s degree and started my masters in math, but I’m not sure I ever had words like these! Cameron brought home his spelling list this week. I looked at it, and all I could think was, “I don’t even know what equanimity, omnivore and a polyglot are!” As long as he can spell them, I guess it doesn’t matter. Test was today. Hope he got 100%!
“Time to pray, Colton. Fold your arms”, we say. And he does it, but it makes him sad. He has done it several times since, and we can’t figure out why he cries. It’s another one of those funny Colton quirks that makes him such a unique part of our family.
There’s an old lesson that goes something like this, “Feed a man a fish, and you’ll have to feed him every day. TEACH a man to fish and he can fish for a lifetime.” I am trying to implement this same idea in our house by teaching the girls to COOK so they can eat for a lifetime. Hopefully they are learning how to not starve when they go to college and be great wives & mothers, AND they can cook for me when they get older! I already am planting the seed by telling them, “When you grow up, you’re going to cook for mommy, huh”, and they’re already excitedly saying, “yes”! It’s a brainwashing technique my own mother taught me. Thanks, mom.
I have all sorts of new habits that I am trying to establish: drinking less soda, going to bed earlier, (both of which are nearly impossible) and Family Home Evening. Thank goodness for the Activity Days leaders that helped the girls prepare a lesson to give to their families. Cam also had to give a lesson to earn his Weeblos badge. Both lessons went so well that I think I am going to let the kids (the ones who can read anyway) take turns with mom and dad giving the lessons. I love being inspired by new ideas that make my life easier!
What’s FHE without visual aids, a word scramble (below), and the ever-popular time filler known as “hangman”. We even had a song and cookies that the girls made for dessert.
How many groceries does it take to feed a family of 8 during a typical week? Well, it was kind of scary to think this one through, but here's what I came up with: 6-7 boxes of cereal, 5 gallons of milk, 4 loaves of bread, 42 Gogurt, string cheese and pudding snacks, 3-4 bunches of bananas, 1 gluten-free diet for Colton, and a partridge in a pear tree. And that’s for 6 kids under 10…can’t wait ‘til they’re teenagers with teenage appetites!
With 3 girls in the house, the beauty salon is up and running. We went to the $ store and found these sponge rollers to try out. Who doesn’t remember wearing these as a kid? Truthfully, I was feeling a little lazy and looking for an excuse not to have to blow dry their hair! Unfortunately Brit couldn’t sleep with them in and came up at 11pm to ask me to take them out. They worked far too well for Brooklyn since she looked like Shirley Temple after taking them out!
It’s 5th Grade Science Fair time! Cameron is preparing his project on hovercrafts. He made his own homemade hovercraft and is experimenting whether the plastic, metal or paper one hovers longer. Totally a “Cameron” project!
Grandma gave of her time today to watch Colton so the 7 of us could go see “Gulliver’s Travels”. She knows the routine for naptime, but thought she would skip those crucial nap preparation steps I mentioned a few days ago. The first time she checked on him he was completely naked. Boy it was her lucky day that he didn’t have a messy diaper to take off and play in. So, she taped the outside of his onesie and put him down again and this is how we found him when we got home…
Taking a bath in the big bathtub is definitely a treat, not only for me, but the kids. If I am feeling especially generous, and we are not doing the quick in-n-out, late-night, can’t-remember-the-last-time-you-took-a-bath assembly-line bathing (which has happened a time or two), I will share this coveted retreat with a lucky kid. If the lucky kid happens to be Matti, this is the aftermath of the sought after “play bath”. And it’s one of those messes that makes me smile…
After coming home from a long day at Kindergarten, Wyatt sits up at the counter next to Matti for lunch. She says, “You’re the best in this whole house. I love you, Wyatt”. Then she leans in to give him a hug. And in turn he plays Barbies, mermaids and makes up dances to country music with her. He is confident enough in his manhood to play with girl toys because after all, he is playing with his best friend.
This is my least favorite time of the year. It’s cold. It’s dark. I don’t have enough Vitamin D in my system. And all I want is for Spring to come (and a tropical vacation). But since I can’t have either right now, I dressed up my table in spring décor and I will just pretend that spring has sprung.
“Lay down”, I say. He drops like a sack of potatoes, puts his thumb in his mouth and stays there. I feel empowered. I am the “Colton Whisperer”. After countless hours of routines and consistency, he listens and responds to me well. He knows what to expect. But before this proud moment happens each day, much preparation is needed for naptime. Yes, that’s right. Naptime.
Comfort is not the reason he is dressed in his pajamas in the middle of the day. Because Colton likes to take off his clothes, including his diaper. Colton is as happy as pig rolling in mud in his crib. Unfortunately, if we miss a step, he looks like one, literally. We have learned these safety measures, one at a time, the hard way. What you DON’T see is the duck tape around the waist of his diaper, the special ordered large onesie, the safety pin attaching his pj’s to the onesie. The cutoff sleeves are not a fashion statement. They are a necessity. With long sleeves, he uses his teeth as a tool to wriggle his way out of the pajamas. Was that Houdini’s secret?
I love animals. Really. Especially when they are at the zoo, on a farm, or at the pet store. I love them anywhere but in my house. I love when other people take care of them and clean up after them. So how did this happen? A persistent husband is the culprit. He has been begging (and bugging) me for anything furry for the last year and a half, and I finally fell in love. But I am not the only one in love. So are the kids. Meet “Harley”. She lets the kids carry her like a stuffed animal. And even though she looks like one below, she IS real and she is a wonderful addition to our home. And just in case you were wondering, hell did not freeze over. 
In fact the kids are so crazy about this 2 year old kitty we adopted that I have to set the timer so everyone gets a turn holding her. If that’s a precursor to bringing home a little brother or sister (this is not an announcement) then I am set.
I don’t have an awesome camera. I am not a photographer. I don’t have a journal. I don’t have an excuse not to record our new life together as an eternal family. There’s not a better time to start the first day of Project 365 than now, on the day we are joined for time and all eternity in the Draper, Utah Temple on January 15, 2010.
There’s really no reason we picked the Draper Temple. We just liked it. We also liked the Hawaiian Temple and San Diego Temple, but we wanted our family and friends to enjoy this day with us, so here we are.
Last fall on our way back from a weekend getaway in San Francisco, our plane experienced major engine failure. The pilot tried to ease the seriousness of the damage to the aircraft by calmly stating that we would not make it over the mountains and across the desert if we did not land immediately. Justin and I looked at each other with the same thought in mind…that we weren’t sealed yet. We made an emergency landing in Sacramento where our plane was surrounded by crash landing crews. A few hours later we discovered that our flight made national news via The Associated Press. While we boarded a new plane back to SLC, we casually asked how serious the failure was. The senior flight attendant said that our plane should have never been in the air. Which makes today much more meaningful.
It took patience, perseverance, faith, prayer, testing moments (aka: being pummeled by the adversary) forgiveness, repentance and dedication to reaching one specific goal in mind to get to this day. We made it because we wanted to be here for us, and our forever family.
This is only a sneak peek at just a few of our wedding photos. I will post more when I get them!
