Appreciation for husband Sunday the 13th

This week Corey and I were driving to town and I told him that when our baby went to kindergarten and I had some spare time (Ha Ha Right?) that I didn't want to have to go to work right away. I always feel like I am going to have to go to work and I don't have any interest in that. I really just want to stay home and clean and raise good children and serve and volunteer. But raising six children hasn't been cheap and I always figure I will need to work part time. So I was telling him I just really wanted to have a year to devote to writing. I want to write a novel. Yes, even though I have no real experience in writing. I still want to do it. And I want one year of no pressure to give it a shot. Come to think about it, it will probably need to be when my youngest is in first grade. The time they are in kindergarten really isn't long enough to get anything done.

Anyway, I was telling Corey about this, and you know what he thinks?

HE AGREES! He thinks I should do it!

That just floods me with EXCITEMENT!

Thanks, Corey! (who wont quit teasing me that I am a hamster and that I have hamster children! ARGG!)

I got third place in the 5th grade science fair!!!!!

Oops, I mean....

My son got third place in the 5th grade science fair!

Don't you hate those science projects that you know the parents have done it? Or any project that the kids are suppose to be doing that the parents can't help but "over help". It is a VERY difficult task to refrain from helping to much, I know! I try very hard to let them do it themselves but I also think it is my job to guide them on how to do the job well. I learned early on with my first child to let them do things their way. Kassidy was in preschool and all the parents came to do projects with their kid. We were making a pencil holder out of felt and pom poms etc... There was a sample to look at but basically we could do it how we wanted. The children began and more than one mom was overly involved in helping their child unchoose colors and choose different colors and paraphernalia to make them match. I was amused and learned a little lesson and just let Kassidy do it her way. Kassidy made the rabbit black I think. It was fairly atrocious but we loved it. It held my husbands pencils for 10 years!


So with a son who seems to have some extreme "paying attention" issues, I did have to guide his science project. I admit it. I was happy for him to win though. With the way he struggles in school he needs a few wins in life.


He timed the kids doing math problems to rock music, piano music, and no music to see how well they performed.

Justine project stunk! LITERALLY. For the past couple days her room had been stinking! BAD. I was obsessed with the thought, for some reason, that it was coming from her old mattress. (We were getting her a new one soon. We were fixing up her room to make room for her little sister to move out of our closet and into her room. Phew! We have had a baby in our closet for 7 of the 8 years we have lived here. Seriously! It is a huge closet but it is getting old.) So I could not figure out what was up with this smell. I don't know why I was fixated on the mattresses being stinky, but I was.

Anyways all that to say, that the smell in her room turns out to be the plant she has been watering with milk all week. She was watering one in water, one in pop, and one in milk.

DUH! You would have thought that would be my first conclusion!

Rhett did a hilarious science fair project. He called each of my parents 10 times in a row each to see whom was more patient. After each phone call, he graded them on a scale of 1 to 10. My mom won. It was funny.

Sorry for crooked pictures again. I need Corey's computer help.

My soul sister... the hamster!

Will anyone think of me braggy if I say that I do believe we are the best hamster farmers in the whole state? These are some dang happy hamsters!


Will anyone think I am a little weird if I admit that I felt a kinship with the mom hamster tonight?

As I was starting a fire (brrr....) I was watching them. I think all these hamsters have ADD! (Just like the majority of my children) They were SPASTIC! Running all around the aquarium in some sort of needless frenzy. I don't know what the chaos was about but they were all climbing on each other and the mom was climbing about as well, and it was utter hamster mayhem. The mommy hamster was completely trapped with her seven babies who are technically teenagers at this point. It was nutso.

At one point the mom ran around on top of her hamster children and just spit a bunch of food out of her cheeks at them as if to say, "There! There is your dinner! Do not ask me for one more thing tonight!"

Did I mention I spit food out of my cheeks in a huge hurry tonight for dinner as well?


My son had cereal for dinner because I was too "whatever" to actually cook. I tried to brain wash him by saying, "Do you know how many kids would be thrilled if their mom would just let them eat cereal for dinner (I have 109 boxes, you know) instead of making them eat a real home cooked meal?"...Not sure he bought it.


So here I am watching hamster frenzy when...

...it hits me! I am that mommy hamster! Stuck in a house to small, (by first world standards, I realize), for all these growing children! And they are all running about me and I am running about them and it is madness and chaos and mayhem! It is nutso. The mom hamster and me are living the same life. Scary. (except she's lost all her baby weight already!)

And to top it all off...here is daddy hamster, in his man cave, enjoying his hamster solitude.

Oh wait, that's not it, here it is...

Greyson the Great!

(yes, I realize this post has an overly obnoxious amount of pictures of hamsters, so sorry. And yes, we are taking orders to find the hamsters homes. Application required.)

Appreciation for Corey Sunday the 12th

My husband has extreme physical endurance. He makes a goal and he sticks with it no matter what (even with a hurt knee). He also makes these crazy physical goals. The latest was, he wanted to jog straight up this super steep hill in our town. Of course, he didn't want to jog back down. That wasn't part of his goal. So I had to get up at 7:30 on a SATURDAY to wait for him at the top of this hill. Even though it was super hard, he didn't stop! I am always super impressed with his endurance. I wish I was more like that. I don't have great follow through. If it gets too hard I'm like, "Uumm, I'm good" and I'd quit. So I defiantly admire that about Corey. It also makes me feel secure that he would take care of us in any kind of physical disaster that could come our way.

This picture cracks me up! Out of shape me, driving by him in the van...

I also appreciated his extreme patience in putting together a bunk bed that I ordered on line. My daughter has slept on a mattress on the floor for a good year or more. I finally got her a bed. It was a happy night for her. A decent mattress and off the floor. She was happy. She has been sharing a twin mattress with her little brother (who won't stay in his own bed) so she was thrilled to be in a full and her brother even decided to sleep on the top.

So Corey and the kids spent about three hours putting the bed together. He let Justine and Nathan do it them selves as much as possible. they loved it. It was really good for them. They will always be proud of that bed. Just for the record, I REALLY wanted white, but was outvoted.

We also repainted Justine's room. Kate will be moving in there soon so we kinda did a redo. Justine loves green. The paint color was defiantly scaring me at first and I thought I had, yet again, chosen the worst color, (it is so hard), but now that it is almost all done and the bed spread is coordinated, we think it looks really great. It does need some touch ups still but here it is...

Thanks to all my great friends who volunteered to help me because I HATE painting. I appreciate it so much. But guess what? I don't hate it anymore! It was fun and went smoothly and I didn't even drip! Well, not that I'm telling my husband about anyways!

Don't you think it is cute? Bright, but cute?

Khronicles of Kate

WARNING- DON'T READ IF YOU ARE THE QUEASY TYPE!

I love that joke by Jeff Foxworthy. He jokes how mothers can handle things the roter rooter can't touch! That is totally me. Very little grosses me out.

Anyway,

I knew it wasn't a good sign when, at church during the sacrament and a complete silent time of the meeting, Kate gags a little and tries to pick a little hair (that i could never see,) off her tongue. She gags a little more and throws up a tiny bit. She gags a tiny bit more and I pick her up and am running to the door. Of course everyone is staring at me because I am the only excitement happening during the sacrament. So it was a great joy to the onlookers when I was holding my hand over her mouth trying to trap the throw up in and it actually splatters out and into the air. The poor young boy who was the door holder never moved faster or had more fear in his eyes as I ran to him with splattering pukey toddler.

A sweet friend was waiting in the hall and helped me get provisions to clean my girl up. I totally humiliatingly go back in with wet paper towels to clean up any mess I might see. I look at Corey. There he sits, just listening to the meeting. Cracks me up! Guys! A little assistance might have been appropriate but its all good, right? He said he didn't realize what was going on. I am going to use that excuse next time. "Huh? What? I didn't notice anything..."

Excuse the unedited pictures. I was going to crop out the wet shirt mess but Corey redid our computer and now I don't know how to work anything. I HATE that.





Apparently I don't know how to rotate the pictures either. Oh well.

Khronicles of Kate

Earlier today, (when I was not watching my Kate EVERY second) I came into the room and...

YUP! You guessed it. Watching TV and eating Mayonnaise right out of the jar. Nice. So one bath and a few hours later...

YUP! You guesses it! Smearing lip stick all over the place.

I swore I had that door shut too! Here are all my "Keep Kate under Kontrol" provisions and she still gets the best of me!

Child lock on back door

Fridge Lock, a MUST!


Big sister's room lock

Pantry child proof lock

Front door lock

Computer room lock

Cutie pie

I would lock the bathrooms but my 4 year old can't get in to go potty! She can't open my bathroom doorknob as long as I remember to shut all the doors.

So then I go downstairs for a minute and someone had forgotten to put the cereal away! Yup! You guessed it. Good thing I pay under 50 cents a box now thanks to my couponing. I did not clean this mess up either mind you. Charles Ingals would'nt have. The cereal leaver outer had to do it.

Sweet Relief!

Right?

Not so much...

because this was 6:00 at night and this means she'll be up until midnight. Or 1:00am. Whatever works...

I love her though. Really. She's a doll.

Be still my weepy soul... Teary at the highschool talent show!

FOREVER it has been my dream to be musical. So of course I am pushing that onto my children. I have deep desire for them to learn music and some of my dreams are coming true!

Yesterday the school had a ever so humorous talent show including deafening rock music, dancing, yo yo-ing, etc... It was fun.

Kassidy decided to play a piano piece. Some things don't just come naturally to people. This kid has to work for almost all she achieves and she works! She has practiced this piece for weeks and it sounded GREAT.

I was so proud that she was so brave to play it in front of the whole school also.

She played Claire de Lune. Ever heard of it? Nope me neither. Not, that is, until "Twilight" made it cool. It was really pretty. Her piano teacher came to watch and everything!

ACK! UGH! @%$#&

Today has been a busy day for my little mess monster!

I was coming down the stairs, and from across the two rooms and down one hall, I see

THIS!!!!



Cute, huh? The little kids have learned to use the bunk bed ladder to get things they want. Like paraphernalia out of my cupboard where I keep paper and crayons etc. for the OLDER kids to use.

Only it wasn't so cute because she had a bottle in her hand, and was squeezing white stuff out of it at full speed, onto the carpet! I race and run to stop her.

It was glue. Awesome.

I hope my husband isn't reading my blog today. It might just push him over the edge! Thus, another reason why we don't invest in nice things.

On a happier note, she has learned how to get out of her crib. Yea for me.

Appreciation for husband Sunday the 11th- The home fires burning warm tonight!

Just wanted to give a HUGE kudos to my ox of a husband Corey for all his super, deathly, hard, work in the summer, to chain saw, drag to the truck, unload, split with an axe, haul in a wheel barrow and stack in a super compulsive beautiful pile. I am grateful! I never appreciate his hard work enough. I could never do that much physical labor! (aside from child birth 6 times, that counts right?) It is so AWESOME to come in from the super, frost in your nose hair, cold weather and have your house so blazing hot it almost blasts you as you walk in. I also appreciate all his hard work keeping the fire going all the time, going to the deepest places in the forest to get the best wood, teaching our kids to haul wood, keeping the wood box full, keeping the newspaper stack full and keeping the kindling box full. He is a hard worker and I do appreciate it. I also appreciate it because it means he never watches TV and I don't have to fight him over shows. Here are some pictures so you can appreciate why I LOVE heating our house by firewood.

Too cute, right?

One of my most favorite parts is teaching the kids HARD work. They grumble when it is time to help but I love it when we all get going. Sometimes it is like a family effort and I feel like in the olden days when you worked hard in the summer because your life depended on it in the winter.

Appreciation for hubsband Sunday the 10th!

This week Corey changed the brakes on my van. He learned how to do that all by himself a few years ago. I swear it is not my fault, but somehow with two separate cars, I have managed to grind my brakes down to the rotors several or more times. Corey says it is my sudden stops and that he has never seen anyone go through brakes that fast. He is speechless about it. I have no explanation. However I am thankful he can change them himself so it is not so expensive and I won't have to change my ways!

Thanks, Corey!

We washed the penny in case you were worried!

So thankful for inspired programs straight from Heavenly Father.

Family Home Evening

Where we set aside one night a week to play, learn and grow closer. (You know, unless we are fighting inbetween the prayers...)


"We advise and urge the inauguration of a Home Evening throughout the Church, at which time fathers and mothers may gather their boys and girls about them in the home, and teach them the words of God ... 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 influences and temptations which beset them." The First Presidency (Joseph F. Smith)

“Monday evenings should be reserved for family home evening. Local leaders should ensure that Church buildings and facilities are closed, that no ward or stake activities are planned for Monday evenings, and that other interruptions to family home evenings be avoided. The primary emphasis of family home evening should be for families to be together to study the gospel. We remind all that the Lord has admonished parents to teach their children the gospel, to pray, and to observe the Sabbath Day. The scriptures are the most important resource for teaching the gospel.” (First Presidency Letter, 30 Aug 94 — Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Thomas S. Monson)

“We call upon parents to devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church. The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility. We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities.” (First Presidency letter, 11 February 1999 — Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and James E. Faust)

"We cannot impress too much the importance of having family home evenings once a week . . . that you may be rewarded by a fulfillment of the promise that if fathers and mothers will discharge this responsibility, not one in a hundred of your family, as has been said by the leaders who have preceded us, would ever go astray." Spencer W. Kimball

Anyone remember this game?

It was so exciting to the kids...!

I refuse to be a mom who won't participate. Yes, I even swim. In a swimsuit. At a public pool. For all to see.

Appreciated Corey taking a brake from work to come play, gloves and all!

Also-wish I was not one of those people who leave cupboard doors open. Don't know why I do that.

Trying to get revenge on dad for pushing her face in the flour!

We also had a lesson. I taught the kids about work. How important it is. How good we feel after we have done it. They were slightly astonished by that one. They said they don't feel good after work. Hmm... maybe someday. We read some great quotes from our Sunday school lesson at church,

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, "The gospel of work is part of the 'fullness of the gospel.' Though joyful, missionary work is work. Though joyful, temple work is work . Alas, a few of our underwhelmed youth work all right, but mostly at trying to please themselves..."Be careful...when you inordinately desire things to be better for your children than they were for you, Do not, however unintentionally, make things worse by removing the requirement for reasonable work as part of their experience, thereby insulating your children from the very things that helped make you what you are!"

Also, I told them dad and I have made lots of mistakes and it was our job to teach them better and that from now on we were a family who does not borrow money. Not even for a car. It is just not smart. I have heard Dave Ramsey talk so much about it, of course our church has been telling us that FOREVER, and I have learned my own lesson on it as well. I told the kids we will not worry about what others have, we will only worry about what we can personally afford. We will learn to save for what we want. There is more satisfaction in that anyhow. Thriftiness is important. Material things just do not matter that much. That being said I must show you the cute little chicks I bought myself.

Too good to pass by, thrifty of not!

Anyhoooo, I have ALWAYS wanted to have a Family Creed, or code, or whatever you want to call it. So last night we started one and we are going to add at each Home Evening. Here is the start of ours. It is hanging on the wall. (I might edit the part about borrowing money. I guess there would be other times you'd want to borrow money, such as opening a business, some crazy emergency, too adorable chick statues...I don't know. Also I hope I never come off preechy. I wouldn't want to sound that way to all my 'peeps' (hee hee) so sorry if I do. I am not perfect at any of these things. I am muddling through all of it!)

Anyway, here is the start of our creed-

Next week I want to add something about service and do humanitarian kits...stay tuned. Feel free to give me ideas for my family creed! I am going to post it on the side of my blog.