My Thought

As the New Year approaches I always try to figure out what my goals are for the next year, my "resolution", it is more of a thought that I keep with me all year. As I was reading through someone who is very close to my heart's blog I came across this...and it is my thought of the year:

A reminder of the 3 things that we take with us in this life as taught by Elder Holland at Ashley's(the daughter of the Elder that taught and baptized me-she was 5) Funeral. 1. Our Families. 2. Our Character. 3. Essential Ordinances

1. Family is our first priority in our home but making the time more meaningful is my specific goal.
2. Since I am not perfect and no one is there is always something in our characters we can work on. What I am going to work on is being a better listener. SO if you catch me thinking about what I am going to say next, or interjecting instead of listening correct me.
3. Since I have participated in all of my essential ordinances my goal is to make sure my children are learning of their importance on their path to return to Heavenly Father.

GLIMMERS 6

*Santa's Elves came and brought us our Christmas PJ's. We know now Santa can get in with the magic key he brought!!!

*SANTA CAME- we had such a fun morning, with cinnamon rolls, a great big breakfast, and PRESENTS!!!!

*We had Christmas with G&G Kepler and Granny on Sunday and decorated cookies how fun!

*We baked cookies all day one day or should I say mom did with intermittent help from us all!!!

*A few of us got the flu but it was quick and we are all fine now. Lesson: When you see a cart at the store and think I wish I had a Clorox wipe avoid that cart like the plague!

*Mom has been disinfecting the house like a crazy woman!

*We missed Great Grandma's Christmas Party today to insure she doesn't get sick or anyone else for that matter and it looks like only a couple of us are going to get sick!

*Thanks to everyone for all of our gifts!

*Family Home Evening Lesson- Thank you to Heavenly Father for the best gift of all His Son Jesus Christ! May this season bring joy to your hearts and remembrance of Him on High!

The Hardest Part

This is the hardest part of Christmas for me. I have been up since 4am because I can't sleep. I can't wait for the kids to come down and see the Christmas tree, the presents, their once empty stockings full and see the looks on their faces. The joy on their faces with the reality Santa has come is priceless. It is 5am now and I am cooking cinnamon rolls in hopes the noise in the kitchen will wake them up. All the lights are on and Christmas music playing and yet they sleep. How much longer am I to wait....

15 years ago

I was at a Christmas Party and very anxious to get home. I couldn't explain it but I just needed to be home. I had been up all day starting at 5:30 am shopping and cooking getting ready for a Christmas party at my house the next day: Christmas. I went to my Grandma's Christmas party around noon and took frequent naps which was odd for me but I attributed it to getting up so early and running around and then headed to another family gathering it was at this gathering I needed to leave and was quite insistent about it and so I left around 10:00pm. I called my mom for last minute parking plans and were she would be sleeping etc. Then took a shower and headed to bed. I then called her again to ask what it looked like when your water breaks and she explained it to me. I was due Christmas day but my Dr assured me first time mom's never have their babies on their due date. Well he was worng! As soon as I hung up the phone with my mom my water broke. I couldn't believe it either I was going to have my baby in 1/2 an hour or in 24 1/2 hours or I was having a Christmas Baby! 8:16 am Christams Day I had the most perfect baby boy!
It is hard to believe that it is has been 15 years from that day! He is the best thing that has happened in my life without him my life would have went in a very different direction.

How do I go about describing him:
HE IS incredibly outgoing with a titch of shyness
HE IS Genuienly Funny
HE IS determined. When he puts his mind to doing something it is going to get done.
HE IS Considerate
HE IS Athletic
HE IS good. He has a good moral compass.
HE IS a goofball at times
HE IS Musically inclined..I will miss him singing when he leaves home!
HE IS fun!
HE IS my son.

My heart soars seeing him grow and progress. Take chances and reach new heights. My heart saddens to watch him stumble and fall but again to see him pick himself up and try again, repent, move forward, move on, move upward again how my soul is filled with joy. He is my son and I love him more than I can express in this life time. My prayer is he knows it!

COOKIE MAKING DAY

SUGAR COOKIES

2/3 C butter warm
¾ C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour


Beat butter, sugar and baking powder until combined plus 1 minute. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add 1 cup of flour at a time and mix. Divide dough into 2 balls refrigerate for 3 hours.

Roll out ½ inch thickness and make cut out cookies. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes. Decorate as desired . I use Pillsbury vanilla frosting.

FIVE MINUTE FUDGE

12oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 C other chips
14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
8oz nuts of choice
½ cup dries fruit of choice

Grease 8in round cake pan.

Dump first 4 ingredients in to saucepan: on low heat for 3 minutes.

Cover can from milk in wax paper.

Add nuts and fruit to chocolate mixture.

Put can into center of pan dump chocolate into pan adjusting the can to center. Let cool with can in
center. I add red and green M&M’s for a wreath look.

ELDER PETERSON COOKIES

These cookies got the names from The Joker. The Elder that taught and baptized me loved these cookies I made and so the name has stuck through all these years Elder Peterson Cookies!



1 12 oz chips
¼ butter
1 can sweetend condensed milk
2 C flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 bags Hershey Hugs

Melt butter add milk and chips until chips are melted add vanilla. In a large bowl add chip mixture to flour; mix until flour is mixed in. Unwrap Hugs and wrap them in a 1 inch ball of your chocolate mixture. Bake at 350 for 6 minutes. DO NOT over cook. They will look shiny and look not done but believe they are. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes and let finish cooling on wire racks.

OATMEAL COOKIES

1 C firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 melted butter
1/2 sugar
1 egg
1/4 water
1 tsp vanilla
3 C oats
1 C flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
cinnamon

Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, butter, and sugar for 1 minute. Add egg, water and vanilla: beat well. Add combined oats, flour, soda, and salt; mix well. Add cinnamon to taste.

Drop douagh by rounded teaspoon fulls onto ungreased cookie sheets. I sprinkle them with Christmas sprinkels to add a little yuletide cheer. Bake 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

SNICKERDOODLES

1 C Warm Butter
1 1/2 C Sugar
2 Eggs
2 3/4 C Flour
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tb Sugar
2 Tb Cinnamon

Cream first 3 ingredients, stir in flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. In seperate bowl combine 2 Tb sugar and 2 Tb cinnamon. Roll dough into 1 inch balss and the roll into sugar coating entire ball. Place on cookie sheet roughly 2 inches apart and bake on 400 for 8-10 minutes.

Cracks me up!!!

My laid back boy is becoming a full blown ham. To give an example of his hamminess the other day we are eating dinner(we have benches for the kids not chairs) and he makes the sound you make before a really dramatic sneeze(AHAHAH)the next thing you know he fakes sneezes so hard he falls right onto the ground all propelled by him pushing himself off the bench at just the right moment to make it look like he sneezed so hard he blew right off his seat. Of course he recieved the desired reaction from the peanut gallery and proceeded to do it over and over until the laughter subsided!

GLIMMERS 5

*We got new hot chocolate mugs and if you know my mom guess what is on them?

*We had a Christmas party with my Grandpa and Grandma Neal and my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Neal. We ate and of course opened gifts. Granma Diane even brought us chocolate santa cupcakes, my favorite!

*We spent a lot of time in the car on Tuesday doing service and we all had a fun time until the very end!

*The princess was Mary at preschool this week and she made a gingerbread house too! It was yummy! She was nice enough to share with me...eventually!

*My mom planned a wonderful party for my class again, we all had so much fun!

*Another snow day-we stayed in our jammies all day and watched Christmas movies!

*We wrapped and wrapped!!!

*Did you know my mom finished her book? We did!!!

*Santa came to our house this week!!! He brought us the magic key since we don't have a fireplace. He drops it off to us before Christmas with a note reminding us how great we have been this year and to keep up the good work!

*Did you guess? they are.... SNOWMAN cups! my mom loves snowmen oh yes she does!

GLIMMERS 4

* 2 snow days
* I built a gingerbread house at school made out of candy
* In gym I had a snowball fight
* Decorated for Christmas
* We made gingerbread houses at home with corkboard and foam sitckers
* We painted ornaments with dad
* For Family Home Evening we learned about the 10 Lepers and the importance of saying thank you
* We played in the snow
* We rented Horton Hears a Who and watched snuggled in blankies while sipping Hot Chocolate
* We did lots of stuff for other people this week and I am tired of being in the car

NOTE: Glimmers is composed by The Brain with permission from mom and is a weekly glimmer into the lives of moms 4 little Jewels

Finally Done!!!

I have been writing a book for a little bit short of a year now and it is finally done. I always have more ideas and I could keep on writing for years. As with all good things they need to come to an end and I am so excited to be done!!!
I probably won't ever publish it accept for those for who it was intended but it still feels good to be DONE!

A year in 6 lives -2008

(we don’t use names on our blog so look to the right and you will see our pictures and our nicknames so you know who I am talking about in my letter) .

Let’s just say our year started out with a BANG literally. My prince charming (okay so he is mom’s but he is my first one too) was in a car accident and if you don’t believe in miracles if you see my dad he is one! If you have any doubt God Our Eternal Father hears and answers prayers with the whisperings from the Holy Ghost or miracles occur in our day, you should talk to him he has quite a testimony to bare. He works hard and plays hard and that is one of my favorite things about my daddy. He might come home exhausted but he ALWAYS …ALWAYS takes time for us. Playing legos or games with the Brain, star wars with the Laid Back One, chess or sports with the Teen, and what do you play with a Princess….princesses of course!!! Before all of the fun mentioned above begins he ALWAYS…ALWAYS walks in the door and says, “Where is the most important girl in the world?“ and he goes and finds Mom and gives her a hug and kiss! They are best friends you know and I can tell you from experience that once they become a united front on something there is NOTHING that can tear them apart -NOTHING!
I have a best friend too…The Brain! We however can become easily divided but we always come back together to go on grand adventures together! He started kindergarten this year and is learning so much. He loves his teacher and quotes her frequently. He has also been teaching me how to write my letters and spell some words like CAT and BOOK too! He is one smart boy and Mom is great at channeling that mind of his toward good. Mom is used to him building things with legos or kinex. She even has gotten used to him creating birds our of sticks, rocks, pinecones and found feathers or creating other flying devices. She has gotten used to him making droids out of twist ties and turning his hands into robots, transformers, spiderman or any other thing his mind can imagine. Kindergarten however has brought a whole new world to his imaginings. He has found that the construction paper and large rolls of paper with tape, crayons, markers, staples, glue and other miscellaneous craft items can become anything and our home has become crafting central. If any of you know my parents you know where he gets his imagination from but in the department of crafting items you can look straight to Mom. She loves crafting with kids and has always had an abundance of materials available for when inspiration strikes. With Mom the inspiration is occasional this however is not the case with the Brain it is daily and if you don’t believe me come over sometime around 4pm it looks like a craft store exploded in our home. We have hats, solar systems bigger than our table, he makes books-boy do we have books , to name a few The Life Cycle of a Pumpkin, How to make a Snowman, the Solar System, Seasons, On the Go the list can go on and on all hand crafted by him, we have pictures lining his bedroom walls large and small. He is ALWAYS thinking…ALWAYS!
The Brain is ALWAYS thinking well we have a teen in our house and he is going through that not thinking phase this year and the growing thing too! He has grown not just up as in height this year but as a young man. It is amazing how trials can shape you and this fall was a shaping moment. When faced with a trial he was awe inspiring. He went from a goofy 14 year old to someone who showed great maturity, compassion, empathy in face of tragedy. Mom truly enjoyed watching the touching moments with him and his soccer teammates/friends as they rallied around each other, to lift each other up, to strengthen each other. I am sure it is something none of the boys will ever forget. They might have gotten a low blow early in their soccer season but that strength , the unity that came from tragedy lead to triumph. They went undefeated 13-0-0 scored 69 goals with 4 goals allowed. Mom also scored 3 new sons out of the deal and for them she is grateful! It is always nice to hear, “Mommy!” and now she has 3 new voices to hear it from whenever they see her. The Teen is still goofy, the joker in the family and a freshman this year. As I said earlier he played on the JV team soccer team but he also had the opportunity to help out the freshman team. It was one busy soccer season for him and us but we love it. He is enjoying high school with the pep rallies, off campus lunches, Friday night football, and all the other happenings of high school life and to help make right choices when there are plenty of opportunities for wrong he goes to early morning seminary(scripture study at church) at 6:20 am for an hour before school. It has been nice to see his commitment to going and enjoying his time there and the knowledge he receives. Mom says it is like putting the Armor of God on everyday before school. I am not the early morning type but I am sure my other brothers and myself will do the same thing. The Joker also enjoys young men’s(he has the best leaders and daddy is one of them) at church and is working on his Eagle Scout. He is a lot like daddy he works hard but he plays harder and he ALWAYS takes time for family activities ALWAYS (usually being the biggest kid of all)!
I have talked about the biggest brother and the brainy brother and now I will tell you about my littlest brother. He is mom’s Laid Back Boy. He goes with the flow around here and is mine and the Brains shadow except for when Mom goes hunting for him and he is ALWAYS snuggled up in her bed ,blankie in hand, thumb in mouth rubbing his silkie on his nose, sleeping- ALWAYS. I think he sleeps as much as the teen does these days. When he is awake we have fun playing together when the Brain is gone at school. And when I am gone to preschool(except when Mommy herself teaches me) Mom has the unusual treat of having fun with him all on his own. He likes to play with blocks and his dinosaurs(they even used to be the teens) With me the Princess he plays kitchen, we cook ourselves into a frenzy(even borrowing mom’s stuff sometimes). He is very smart my little brother, do you know he can read even the same stuff the Brain reads. He has known what all of the ABC’s look like and sound like since he was 2. If you think kids do not pay attention he is a perfect example of someone who takes everything in without you even realizing he is doing it. The Laid Back Boy has also become very funny always doing crazy faces and stunts to get us to laugh and we do. Our most favorite thing for him to do is his silly face but besides that he is quite the little break dancer. He is so strong for his size and Mom is always surprised of his new moves he does right in the middle of any open floor and I mean any(think grocery store, restaurant, the school)UGH! With all that dancing going on like I said he gets tired and yes if Mom is busy it is her bed he goes to for sleeping but if Mom happens to be sitting down it is her he finds and so do we all to be quite honest. You don’t think that someone has four sides until you have seen my Mom cuddle us all at movie night. I don’t know how she does it but she does and we all love it!!! Mom has helped me to this point of the letter and now it is Daddy’s turn to help.
If I am the princess, Mommy’s the Queen! She decides to let Daddy get up first most mornings, and you know why? She keeps her bed warm for us! That’s right, we ALWAYS come downstairs and head straight for her, whether it’s for a cuddle or a tickle, or maybe just to talk (sometimes we let her know that we are ready for breakfast, NOW J). Warming beds isn’t Mommy’s only trick! Sometimes we have so much energy around here that we don’t know what to do with it and it starts to spill out all over the place (the Joker calls that wrestling). When it does, Mom is right there to help us do something better with that energy, whether she’s teaching us to work together to get a job done or she’s helping us learn a new craft to make, she is ALWAYS ready to engage our minds and hearts ALWAYS. When we’re sad, she ALWAYS finds that special thing that makes us laugh and laugh, whether it’s making fun of us (when she knows we’re faking) or tickling and playing with us, Mom can make anything feel better! Ya know, it’s funny, she always says she can’t sing and Dad is the real musician in the house, but she is ALWAYS at the piano, plucking away at a church Hymn until she knows it, and NOTHING can stop her until she’s got it NOTHING except blood or fire. Then comes the best part, she’ll sit us down with her and teach us the words to sing next to her! I think I’m going to be just like Mom when I grow up, and Dad seems to be fine with that!
NOTHING in our life comes before the love of our Savior. We are ALWAYS trying our hardest to follow His teachings and His example ALWAYS! In this Holiday Season this is our wish for you as well find your Saviors love for you ,discover the path Heavenly Father has laid before you and wants you to take, and as you are walking down that path ALWAYS listen to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost ALWAYS(I hear it can come in handy sometimes) !!!

Love, The Princess and the rest of my family too!

GLIMMERS 3

* we went and got our Christmas tree and decorated it
* we made hot chocolate ice cream cones
* I made a snowflake ornament at school
* we played in the snow twice
* we went to Christmas brunch with G&G K and Granny was there too
* we worked on secret stuff, lots of it and got it all done
* we watched the Grinch
* for family home evening we put up our tree and had hot chocolate and we learned "many hands make light work"
* mom came and helped in my class this week and she was covered in glitter
* we went to McDonalds and got Happy Meals they have my favorite toy Bionicles and for the Princess My Little Ponies

note: GLIMMERS is written by the Brain and is a GLIMMER into our life every week

GLIMMERS 2

*figured out what to get Daddy for Christmas
*we played Duplos and I made a cool castle
*I played duck duck goose, freeze tag and passed the ball around in gym
*we made thankful turkey for Family Home Evening
*at school I had a feast before 5 days of no school
*we saw Madagascar 2
*went to Turtle Cove for Thanksgiving
*saw Bolt 3D
*Mom sent out Christmas cards
*we changed around our living room for the Christams Tree


***Glimmers is written by the Brains of the Operation and it is a GLIMMER into our lives

I am planning....

I don't know why but my hubby said something and it just cracked me up so I will share:

"There is who I want to be and who I am and I am planning over the next millennium to combine the two."

Like I said I don't know why it cracked me up but it did and I think it is perfectly applicable to us all.

A Gem

The Laid Back Boy-

"Mom time to get up." Thinking I am still asleep after he has climbed all over me for 5 minutes. "I know I will push you off the bed, NO I will roll you off the bed, NO I know I will pull the blankets off!" And that is exactly what he proceeded to do!

A Jewel

"Let's go set up the table for breakfast for mom!" -Princess

"Yeah when we work together it makes work easier, let's go!"-The Brain

GLIMMERS

*I made placemats for our feast this week in the art center
*In gym I made my heart beat very, very fast doing animal moves
*Mom taught preschool this week. Let's just say our house was "full of colors"
*Watched Santa Parade-Candy, Candy, Candy need I say more
*Wall*E movie night with Grandma, Aunt Laura, Gabe, Luke, Anya, and popcorn with all in PJ's and we had a sleepover!
*The Princess had one of her preschool friends stay extra long on both days of preschool
*The teen went on a food scavenger hunt with church friends
*Family Home Evening- let's just say we will all try to be "Happyosauruses"
*Dad gave us a fencing lesson and played a game with us every night this week
*We had fun playing with our other cousins Isaac and Daniel

NOTE: GLIMMERS is composed by The Brains of the Operation with permission from mom and will be a weekly GLIMMER into the lives of The 4 Little Jewels

Excuse This House

Excuse this house....Some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there. Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere.....the smears are on the windows, little smudges on the doors; I guess I should apologize for the toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children and we played and laughed and read, and even though the bedroom's messy, their hearts are full instead. For when at times I'm forced to choose the one job or the other....I want to be a housewife, but first I'll be a MOTHER!!!!

I love this poem! I received it from a family member when my oldest was very young and my house had to be clean, clean, clean! I might go a little to far the other way some days (see pictures below if you look carefully at the picture of dishes you can see a picture I found with the poem above on it, I read it everyday to remind me of my priorities)but I will never get tomorrow back and I am glad we have the moments. The dishes did get done by midnight and the clothes folded but most importantly we had that moment of organized craziness, laughter, creativity, and simply loving being together!

What We Did Do.....

WE WATCHED A MOVIE!!!



WE DANCED!!!



WE READ!!!




WE PLAYDOUGHED!!!



WE CREATED!!!

and Now What We Didn't Do!!!

HALLOWEEN

Here they are my little medieval times trio. If they look familiar it is because this is exactly what they wore last year with an updated princess dress straight out of the dress up bin. They were all going to be something different until they saw their old costumes and just had to wear them again! We also had a desperado but with no picture to show for it and I am sure he is thrilled about it.

The kids had a great day starting off with me dressing as a pirate and having fun in D4's classroom for his school party. The day continued with Trunk or Treating at the church and will the medieval times crew went to Great Grandma Neal's and Grannies trick or treating; The desperado went with Grandma Miller to his cousins football game. The weather was wonderful, seeing so many of our friends and family in one night was perty great too!!!

A New Favorite

Love this website-

sugardoodle.net

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!

Life Lessons from a Group of Teenage Boys

I am so proud of the soccer team this year. They all are so different quite and outspoken, calm and wild, leaders and followers, black and white with a few shades in between, fast and not so fast, precise and sloppy, funny and laid back the list could go on and on.

Very early in the season the team suffered a great tragedy. 2 of the boys lost their father in a motorcycle accident. What happened next was inspiring...the team rallied around the brothers, they went to the viewing, the funeral, the dinner. At home games they wore black arm bands in honor of their teamates father. They shared tears and hugs and laughter. Through all of this the team became just that a team, they were stronger and unstoppable as a team. If they were down by a point you could see them all reach deep down to get ahead and work more as a team.

When tragedy strikes our lives or those around us.... do we dig down deep? Do we become stronger? Do we work as a team with our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ? Do we rally around them? Are we there? Do we share hugs, and tears, and laughter?

When you are glad...

I am glad we say our prayers everyday and that I try to remember them in my heart throughout the day. As I drove past the school to see 4 police cars my heart sinks and then I remember the prayer of safety for our family today and know all will be well and I know we will make through yet another bomb threat day this year!!!!

Soccer Season

The Soccer season in short:

• 3 mercies
• No ties
• No losses
• 69 goals scored
• 4 goals allowed
• Undefeated
  
  Go Chemics!!!

Yummy!!! and oh so easy!!!

My love for Bruschetta came from a very yummy restaurant when I visited California. I haven't now or since found bruschetta that was so scrumptious. This quick and easy recipe I found doesn't either but my pickiest eaters liked it!

Bruschetta Chicken

2 cloves garlic minced
1 box chicken stuffing
1/2 Cup Water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil
1 cup shredded mozzarella
3 boneless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl add stuffing, water, garlic, and tomatoes: stir until moist, let sit. Cut up chicken and place into a 13X9 baking dish or 3 qt casserole sprinkle with basil and cheese top with stuffing mixture. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

1 prayer, 2 answers, 3 testimony's Strengthened

Where are the car keys? Who knows they aren't in the appointed spot and neither are the spares. They aren't in coats or pants pockets or in purses or bags. They have disappeared on the busiest night of the week for us and we turn to prayer. My little brain offers the prayer asking Heavenly Father to help us please find the keys and when it is over I ask both the smart one and the princess what their first thought was. He answers, "they are in the van." She answers, "they are in my hello kitty purse." And I think great thanks a lot in exasperation.
I decide the van sounds good to me and off I go to start searching the van and what do I find my spares I threw into the glove box when we went on vacation. We were saved, we have the keys and my smart guy is beaming with a testimony of prayer.
Fast forward to the next day. I am cleaning up the toys downstairs and am going through the dress up clothes and run across the hello kitty purse and I open it and I take the purse to my princess and have her open it up and when she sees the keys she knew Heavenly Father heard and answered her prayer that the Holy Ghost whispered to her. Her eyes sparkled like the sun glinting off a stream. I am indeed grateful to Heavenly Father for answering one prayer with 2 answers and strengthening 3 testimony's.

A New Favorite

Apple Blossoms Orchard...who knew 2 miles down the road from my house there was an apple orchard. Not me and it is one of my new favorites. They have the cutest little apple orchard with bees busy making honey, of course apple trees, pear trees, a little pumpkin garden with squash. The kids had so much fun and the owner was great with them. She took them back to show them how the apples are shined and of course they were able to pick one out. They have my favorite apple varieties too which made me even happier with the little place. My hubbies favorite $1.00 apple cider slushies yum! yum! With honey, apples, pears, squash, pumpkins, cider, and slushies how can you go wrong!

How You Know Your Child is Growing Up

WHEN HE....
..says, "Mom I Love You" when you walk into a room.

...takes care of his responsibilities with little to no coaching from you.

...shows compassion for other people.

...decides to go to bed early because he knows he needs his sleep.

...chooses salad over fries.

...needs you because he just does.

...says thank you for something you have done a million times before.

...shows sympathy towards a friend that loses their father almost at the point of empathy.

...starts answering your questions with more than one syllable.

...thinks of others before himself.

..becomes the leader of righteousness.

...tries to call you more than once to get you a message.

...chooses the right and is able to explain exactly why in the moment to a friend.

...starts calling you mommy again in front of his friends.

Another Smart One!!!

"My food goes down my sesophgagus" the laid back one For those of you that don't speak threeish "my food goes down my esophagus"

What is green, brown and wet all over?

You guessed it the soccer fields today or maybe it could describe a few players! It was like soccer soup out there today. The great news is despite the rain and then the down pour which followed the joker and his team mates won 8-0 (mercy rule applies)with 8 minutes left. This is the second time this season they mercied another team. As for the joker personally 1 goal 2 assists and a soaking wet uniform!!!

The Sweetest Thing

One of my friends refers to my little brain and my goodbye before school the "love thump" and the cutest thing happend this week. My little princess called out to her brother waiting in line to go into to school and he looked at her and she gave him the "love thump" and he did it back it was the sweetest thing. I will remember this when I think they might almost kill eachother.

Good week or a Bad week...You decide!

Our week-

We went to an away soccer game(good) in 2 lane traffic with no shoulder- child wets self(bad). I have extra underwear(good) but no pants(bad). Have cell phone type in department store and it readily tells me there is one .2 miles away and tells me how to get there(good). My back, arm, and chin go numb at soccer game(bad). Have mom that is a masseuse(good) along with a day on an ice pack feeling a bit better(good). Come home and our new driveway is done(good) 2 parking tickets and dealing with the bueacry of it all (bad).

Doing last load of laundry for that minute(good). Talking to husband about cleaning out dryer vent early this year and that we should do it tomorrow(good) Moments later smell something burning(bad). Go to dryer pullout clothes see fire(bad). Have fire extinguisher(good). Smell of CO2(bad). Decide after an hour of tearing apart the dryer that we actually can't get to the lint that caught on fire(bad). Call a repairman and he can come in an hour(good). Cost $150.00(bad).

Notice the bumper on the new 2008 car is falling off(bad). Have warranty (good). Hope it gets fixed soon(good) Realizing it was held on by 2 screws and a wing nut(bad) who designed this thing?

Sons friend dad dies(bad). Son very sympathetic(good). Son sad(bad). Sees friend(good). Sees friend laugh(very good). Eveything is going to be okay(good).

So did we have a good week or a bad week I can't quite tell you. We had an insightful week, a week with no stress, a week with some sadness, a week with some pain, we had a week that helped us grow closer to Heavenly Father, we had a week of talking, we had a week of love. I think it was a perty good week!!!!

An I Love You Goodbye!!!!!

My sweet brain and I were talking and he said I didn't wave goodbye to him at school. I of course did and couldn't get his attention. As we were talking he said we should have a special goodbye wave and he decided we should make a heart out of our hands and have it thump on our chests twice. Now we have our very own special I Love You Goodbye!!!!

I hope this teacher is ready for him!!!!

First day of school was an exciting one for us. One to High School(can't believe it) and one to kindergarten so firsts for everyone. The big guy has already been doing soccer at the school since July and so this was no big deal for him. He has been in the school everyday and he has been around buddies so this was a walk in the park for him or should I say a sprint up and down a field would more likely describe him.
The first day of kindergarten was a easy one for my smart guy. They are learning the routines and rules this week and I get a report on it daily. The thing that cracked me up the most was after his first day of KINDERGARTEN he says, "Mom, they didn't teach me about erosion today." He fully thought that they were going to teach him about erosion in kindergarten. I hope this teacher knows what she is in for. Maybe I should let her know.

Tired of packing the same old, same old......

After packing school lunches for about 9 years you get into a rut. Well I found my way out with these yummy alternatives and the little guys like them too!!!

Lunch Box Pizzas

2 tubes(7.5oz)refridgerated bicuits

1 can of diced tomatoes in the blender with basil, oregano, and garlic powder to taste

1/2 Cup diced pepperoni

1.5 Cups shredded Mozarella cheese

Flatten each biscuit into a 3 in circle and press into a greased muffin cup. Spoon 1 tbs of sauce into each cup. Top each with a sprinkling of pepperoni and about 1 Tbs of cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes or unitl golden brown. Store in covered container in the refridgerator until ready to surprise your kids for lunch. These also freeze well. Put them into the refridgerator overnight to thaw.

Pictures, Pictures everywhere!!!

I am terrible about getting pictures on my blogs so this weekend it was my goal to get a few of the newer ones with pictures, so check it out!!!

A Ton of Fun in an Ounce of Time!!!!

Our first end of summer adventure was cut shorter than we would have liked but we know how to pack a ton of fun in an ounce! We went to the Great Wolf Lodge and the kids had so much fun they wore out the parents. Thank goodness we had Grandma with us to help out. I think we wore her out too. Up and down the slides over and over and over again. We did have opportunity to have some grown up girl time in the grown up HOT HOT HOT tub AHHHHHHHHH!!! Our teen of course played tons and tons of hoops but like the best big brother he is, he would always take a break and take his brother or sister down the great big slides or race up the netting. The lazy river was a big hit for the princess and the smart one since they could put on life jackets and float around and around and around in the river. They also liked every slide, every slide! Our little laid back boy however loved the red slide. I can't tell you how many times I alone took him up the stairs, over bridges (inevitabily having a huge bucket of water dumped on my head) through the tunnel and then up 2 more sets of stairs. Then down we would go him on the red one and me onthe yellow one. The funniest thing was none of the adults or our teen even knew what it was like going down the red slide that is how much he loved it.

The other thing my hubby and brain discovered while their is Magiquest. You got a magic wand and then wnet on quests. Finding treasure, fighting troll kings, looking for magic crystals and talking with fairies they had so much fun running around withthose magic wands looking for the next clue to the next adventure. When we left the hotel before we could leave the city we have to go to my favorite pizza place in our state. It is a whole in the wall place but we love it- Paesano's...Yum Yum!!!

After our fun get away we realized we had a free day. Yes there was tons to do around the house but we only live once and I can work extra late a couple of nights doing some catch up, right? Any way we went to our secret little get away called Grandma and Grandpa K's "log house". We had so much fun and the weather was great and even better they were both there. We fished a bit, paddle boated, kayaked, tubed behind the "air boat", went on the "fun boats" and picked apples and looked at the mud birds nests under the bridge(I think there was a turtle sighting as well), hot tubbed, swam, caught a baby turtle in the cove, played on the "baby beach", went on an adventure in the woods- ok I think 5 and they collected wood for our fire, so we had smores too, they learned how to open and shut the "castle gate", road their trucks, and we had sword fights. I told you we can pack a ton of fun in an ounce of time.

Up Nose: The New Edition

I am telling you what I feel like taking the lovely child that decides things need to go up the nose to the doctor even when I know I got it out as a deterrent so it won't happen again. We had a rice spill yesterday and so this needs to be cleaned up and what do I hear my sweet child say, "I have rice up my nose." I honestly thought she was kidding but nope she wasn't and that rice came flying out of her nose like a shot(for those of you that don't know cover mouth and side of nose without object and have them blow it has worked everytime). Let's see bb's, beans, and now rice ugh I am glad I only have one child that finds this activity amusing!!!

One Week After Potty Day

We are still dry and as predicted a couple of accidents. He is doing a great job with coming right up and going to the potty even when playing without any reminders so my hats off to you big guy and again yahoo no more diapers!!!

A Perfect Potty Day!

This is a time of sadness but also of celebration NO MORE DIAPERS!!!! Sad because no diapers means my kiddos are all big boys and girls now but happy because NO MORE DIAPERS!!!
Our laid back boy was showing almost all the signs for being ready to be potty trained except one and it is in my opinion the most important one and it is wanting to do it but the time was right...summer travel had ended and dad had the day off so I could put all my attention on the potty day. We introduce the potty which he had met before. The diaper came off and underwear went on. Koolaid was made along with applejuice. We had potty pez waiting when there was success. Grandmas on call to hear of all of his happenings of the day(and one aunt when no grandma was available). We were all set for Potty Day! I never thought I would be a mom to be offering my child gallons of koolaid but I was all morning and after the first accident and him really not wanting anything to do with the whole business I almost decided he was not ready but the koolaid had caught up to him and by accident he went potty on the potty. Well almost he was sitting on the potty but the guard was down so it was all over the floor but success had happend and this is when the magic began and the first potty pez was awarded. Roughly 5 minutes later he wanted more pez and he was informed the only way you get it is if you go on the potty well he marched right over and went. Once he realized he got candy everytime he went on the potty, he went on the potty. To my surprise he was dry this morning as well and went right to the bathroom. I am sure we will have a few accidents over the next month but huge progress for one day. Congratulations to my big guy!

Be Like Little Children or At Least Learn from Them

My blog is called Jewels of a Child and the reason is we truly learn little jewels from our little children. It is the Savior Himself that says, "be like little children". Here is a little jewel for the most expected source a child:
My little brain came up to me and says, "Mom I have been thinking about it and teasing is not what Heavenly Father wants me to do." This is when I realize the countless teaching moments, Family Home Evenings, and scripture reading is all worth it even when I feel I might be in the middle of a circus at times. It is in this moment that I realize they are getting it, they are listening, they are feeling the Holy Ghost and acting on it. It was a jewel of enlightenment to me that even when you think they aren't listening and possibly think you can't teach kindness, peacemaking, importance of family relationships one more time you can and you will because they need it and then one day the Holy Ghost comes in and makes an impression on their little hearts forever because you paved the way.

Further Evidence I Do Have The Best Husband Ever

My hubby and I instead of buying each other gifts for our birthdays plan a day for each other doing something as a family. Usually I have lots of input in the planning of my day along with a lot of the prepping. Not this year! The only input I had was what beach we were heading off to. He meal planned, he shopped, he packed, he got the kids dressed and ready to go, and the only thing left for me to do was get into the car. It was great seeing him write out a to do list and a meal plan. Do you know what he didn't forget anything! Guess who is packing for our next beach trip?!? Probably me but I am grateful for my day of leisure! We had a wonderful day at the beach and I can't wait to see what he plans next year!

Ending a Highly Stressful Week on a High! for One in Our Family

This week has been one of exhaustion, hunger, emotion and triumph for our teenage boy. Have I mentioned in July he was 4'11" and he is now 5'4" and I am sure these number will keep climbing the way he is eating and sleeping and in midst of all of this growing he had soccer tryouts. Which exhaust the exhausted and hunger the starving. I honestly think we will have to take out a small loan to feed this boy at a box a cereal a day, a half gallon of milk a day, and I am at a count of 30 cucumbers this week alone. After a long week of 2 a day tryouts he has made the JV team(1 of 2 freshmen to do so) and it came down to a nail bitter for him. They announced who made the team by class with freshmen being last. Funny thing is by the time he returned home to tell me the news I already knew via the mass e-mails I received about times, places, orders, meetings and such that will be taking place in the next 5 days starting with getting socks last night for the 4 game tournament on Saturday! Let the games begin!

4.5 miles in 45 minutes on the "expressway"

Yes we had a wonderful time at the zoo. Drove there in less than 2 hours with no problems at all. On the way home all I can say is UGH we left at 4 and got home at 8:45! I can't even imagine what time I would have gotten home if I didn't call a lifesaver of a friend who rerouted me around all of the crazy traffic! Thank you Sara!!! What did I learn from all of this? Have an alternate route handy!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears Oh My!!!

You guessed it we went to the zoo yesterday, me and my wee three! We had so much fun learning and exploring!!!
We always start by going to the penguinarium to see the King, Macaroni, and Rock Hopper Penguins! Funny enough all the main penguins from Happy Feet! Then we headed to
amphibianville to see frogs, toads, newts, skinks, some fish, but he kids favorite is the rainforest you can walk through and see turtles, a manta ray and with the hopes of seeing the 2 toed sloth and we did see his claws and while we were there and the first sighting besides his claws all day his face high up in the trees! If we haven't seen enough of the creepy crawlies we go the the reptile house and see all kinds of snakes, lizards, tortioses, turtles, caimens, and of course a couple of crocodiles! Now that we have went into all the houses we head off to see all the animals of the zoo...camels, tigers, red panda, gorillas, chimpanzees, zebra, kangaroo, bears, lions, lemurs, snow monkeys and much much more. Our highlights of the trip were the polar bears were swimming. This doesn't sound like much but at the zoo we went to you can walk underneath the polar bears through a tube and watch them awim all around and the kids loved it! The second highlight of our trip was feeding the giraffe and learning all about them, ask the brain what he learned about giraffes sometime just have 10 minutes to spare. After spending near 5.5 hours at the zoo it was time to go and do what we always do after the zoo we went to the Temple. It is so fun to hear the response to what is this? and the princess call out it is where you and daddy got married. It is such a wonderful end to a fun day to be able to take the kids onto the Temple grounds and teach them how important the Temple is to families!

In Denial

I can dig in my heels all I want and I can even go into personal denial if I want too but whether I like it or not school is going to start in 3 weeks(so sad). As I was trying to decide how I was going to organize all these schedules of mine and stay on top of picture days, harvest dinners, soccer games, preschool schedules, orientations, play dates and on and on I found a little gem: http://www.cozi.com/ It is great; it a is a free online calendar. Everyone in your family has their own color dot and you can look at one person's weekly schedule or the whole families at a glance and see what is going on and for who. I am loving it!!! I hope with my new found organization tool I won't forget it is our turn to bring snack or school's out early for one and not the other, practice gets out late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday well you get the picture! Wish me luck!

Feelings On Family

Without getting into much of a back story when my honey and I were dating we had a conversation about families and our individual visions for our families. It was amazing we both had the same ideals and in recent months heard a couple quotes that summed up our thoughts and feelings on the subject of families:

"Parents devote your best efforts to the teaching and rearing of your children......however worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform"

"So much of what we concentrate on in mortality-power, prominence, property, prestige-are things that we don't have any evidence will make any difference in the next life. But family will."

These quotes so eloquently but straightforwardly said put words to the thoughts we shared with each other that day. It has lead us down this path of our life. This ideal of our family is first with Christ leading us down our path of mortality to eternal life with a kind and loving Heavenly Father. I am indeed grateful for that conversation that day. It has indeed shaped and guided our family!

When I was a Kid!

Most don't know I am a country girl I grew up on the Salt River. When I say "grew up on" I mean when I looked out my living room window everyday the river was right there. I spent hundreds of hours of my childhood swimming, building sandcastles more like entire towns on the sand bars, and exploring all its wonders. Well today I had the oppurtunity to take my kids to where I grew up. It was so fun to see them do all things I spent so many summers doing. Finding clam shells and following the clam trails and actually finding one and having it spit on the brain was so funny. Finding racoon, deer, and blue heron tracks. Skeletons of cray fish and actual ones too. Climbing over and under and onto fallen trees. Going to the big rock and watching them do the same thing to that old rock I used to do(splash it and slide down it into the water) was so reminiscent of me and my sisters doing the same thing over 20 years ago. Smearing clay all over themselves and jumping into wash it off of course. Swimming at the bend(a curve in the river where it was deep enough for even a teen to swim). Seeing the lavender butterflies that I haven't seen since I was a child was shocking to me I forgot all about the lavender butterflies. Needless to say we had a wonderful afternoon doing all things I used to do when I was a kid.

Moments That Make Motherhood

• A huge hug and the words "Your the Best" - the princess

• The most disgusting, smelliest backpack in the world and you don't mind taking care of it's contents because your teen had a blast at camp.

• "I am glad I am in this family"-The teen (can you believe that from the teenager)

• All of them lying on top of you for morning snuggles viaing for the best spot.

• "Mom what can I wash for you?" and then proceeding to wash everything with puddles of water everywhere and using their very own toothbrush. The next day "I want to help again?" followed by more puddles and the right toothbrush this time. - the princess

• Them having the need to have good night kisses or it just isn't a good night.

• Cuddling with the teenager watching a movie.

• "Thank you so much mom for making dinner." - the smart guy(I wonder if he knows I am expected to do this as a parent)

• "I want to wear my big boy underwear!" followed by the diaper off and readily putting them on, which is great progress after weeks of absoluetly no way that is going to happen also followed by the other realization of he isn't ready quite yet- the calm one

• Seeing the excitement of the fruits of their labor come to fruition. They were so excited to see red tomatoes in their garden.

• Hearing the prayers of your children for their daddy and big brother to come home soon and their faces lighting up when they do!

• Hearing your child say something you say with the same inflection and going that came from me- "Actually"- the laid back boy

• Them doing something because they know it is the right thing to do and then seeing their sense of accomplishment on their faces when they realize it.

• Knowing your laid back boy is not so laid back because you passed his nap time and now reality has struck you that you get to deal with the grumpy gus. Note to self don't miss nap time tomorrow.

• "I lud you too mom." followed by a huge kiss and a big bear hug and then his little body just melts into yours- the calm one

• When you see parts of you in a boy you were sure was all dad- the brains of the operation

• When your little brain comes down and says, "We forgot all about the hug and the kiss!" and you are now humbled because you are typing this very blog.

I can't believe he's...........

My smart guy is 6 and I can hardly believe it. We started his birthday last week because his dad and big brother were going to be out of town for his birthday and with their crazy work and soccer schedules we will be having a week plus of birthday fun. Friday morining last week he had of course donuts and opened his presents and dad ran off to work. That evening we went to the Loon's game and we actually got to see them win for the 3rd time in a row(has our attending the game losing streak ended...we'll see). The fun never ends at a Loon's game..Shaking Looney's hand, his name on the big screen wishing him a Happy Birthday, we all end up there too smiling of course, trips to the playgorund, and ending with fireworks what more can you ask for. Well you see he can he had this list so Loon's game is checked off. He went on a sleepover with grandma and checked several more things off the list- pizza and ice cream at Pizza Sam's, a trip to Target(he actually got 2 trips), Bob Evan's with Granny, and lots of one on one time with Grandma K. Today is his birthday and the list continues and I think it is complete- McDonald's for breakfast and to play, a trip to the school store, to the library to make funny bug hats, to the movies, a quickie to walmart, and then for dinner tacos so I think we covered it all except when Dad and big bro come back we will be having a cake "this tall"-which is above his head(I told him a cake that big will have to wait until he gets married) and a pinata whomping. We have had a fun, full, and wonderful day(with more to come)!

A bit behind

My laid back boy had his 3rd birthday in June which gives me my 3, 4, 5, year old chain of children for one month. We had a fun day starting with donuts and he was the cutest thing with all 3 kinds lined up in front of him with one bite out of each. He watched his favorite "Monkey George"(Curious George) cartoon. Since going to Disney he had been loving Wall-E and it came out on his birthday; we all went to see the cute little robot movie(he fell asleep in the first half and hour) but everyone else enjoyed it. Now all stuffed with donuts and popcorn and whatever junk was provided we were all feeling a bit blah and so we passed on the cake and ice cream bit until a few days later(I made a double layer cake with chocolate frosting-mud with a blue icing water fall down the side coming from a pond that was surrounded in rocks-they were chocolate covered candy that looked just like rocks but tasted like M&M's with Diego in his big truck climbing ove the rocks). We ended the evening with gifts and several swings at a pinata. Happy 3rd little guy!!!!

Who am I talking about now?!?

As many of you have probably noticed I do not use my kids names in my blog. With that being said I do refer to them often. If you look at the pictures to the right each one has a different name, the joker, the brain of the operation, the princess, the laid back one. When I am writing I will use the exact name or something similiar like the funny one or teenager, smart guy, miss pretty in pink, or the relaxed boy or something of the like. I hope this clears up who I am talking about in my blog.
Also for more fun stories about my Little Jewels on occasion they show up in my other blog Jewels of a Kitchen(see link to right).

20 things I learned from my week of camping

1. My tenative child is not so tentatvie when dad is the leader. They crossed trees that had fallen across the creek and I had never envisioned my little brain even attempting it but he did over and over even after he fell in!!!
2. My little brain knows how to use it in a crisis and doesn't even panic(see above).
3. Keep it Simple does apply to have a "vacation" when you are camping.
4. My princess now loves the water and virtually has no fear. She even took on the 3 foot waves in Lake Michigan.
5. Always bring benadryl.
6. Something my hubby learned the second application of sunblock is important.
7. There should be more Drive In Movie places.
8. My joker does make right choices when the pressure is on.
9. It takes 30 minutes to catch 47 fish and all day to clean them and the clothes of your teen smell horrible at the end of that day.
10. My laid back boy is just that.
11. Taking my kids to a insect safari did help them get over their fear and now they have become quite avid bug catchers.
12. I can cook over a open fire for 6 nights in a row and we won't starve.
13. You can camp with 60 other people and have your own time too.
14. My laid back child is very obedient(he was riding his float toy and daddy was pulling him around and we told him to hold the handles tight so he wouldn't fall off. Great advice until he flipped over and wouldn't let go which caused a suction effect so dad had no other choice but to grab the eyes of the floating crab and pull it and the boy straight up out of the water).
15. Walking up and down sand hills pulling a wagon is exhausting.
16. Never underestimate the tenacity of your teenager ( I was able to best him at dunking 11-4 but I was more like the karate kid at the end of the movie I won but I got my butt kicked doing it).
17. Thank goodness for family across the way.
18. When you tell your child to watch for cars before they cross the road you need to also add: bikes, scooters, runners, strollers, rollerbladers, etc...
19. Love your neighbors.
20. Curb your exuberance is a nice way for the park rangers to say be quiet at 1am!

We finally did it!!!

Today my little princess and myself went and each had 10 inches of hair cut off. We are donating it to Locks of Love and are both enjoying our new found short cuts fun and cool for these humid hot days!!! Okay due to mechanical and human error the pictures we took have disappeared which is a bummer but here is the picture I just took of her and her new do!

And the Doctor said.....

One little boy jumping on the couch,

He fell down and bumped his mouth,

Momma went to the doctor,

And the doctor said 4 little stitches and teeth that might be dead.


* sung to the song 5 little monkeys

What was that?!?!!!!

Last night at 2:30am I am awoken by something passing by my window. At first I almost dismiss it but I am sure it was a person and not a thing. Realizing my husband is not in bed I go out to him to say did you hear that outside. There is something outside and I am perty sure it is a someone. He gets a huge smile on my face and said it was me and then goes into explaining that he has set up a scavenger hunt for the kids in the morning and the first clue is by the syrup so I need to make sure I send one of the kids to get the syrup for breakfast. Needless to say the kids didn't find the clue when they were sent for the syrup so it was pointed out to them and they had a great time on there hunt for treasure. Thanks to my husband for starting our day off with fun!

I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!!

I hear a hysterical scream followed by, "I didn't do anything, she did it!" As my little princess comes into sight with a very red face and a scream like I have never heard from her before and I am sure she has lost a limb but behind that scream there is something almost audible and I think she is saying something about an ant. Sure enough behind those screams of hysterics is the fact there is an ant in her hair and now we are into the scream GET IT OUT!!! I am telling you I have never looked for a needle in a haystack but that would have been easier than what I was doing. I looked in that jumping head of blonde hair with the shrieks of "It is in there get it out!" for over 15 minutes and I finally say I think you gave it a heart attack from all the screaming and he died or jumped ship. However she is insistent it is there and I look some more without any luck and I say again it is gone. My little brain points out that maybe the hairats ate it and of course this doesn't convince her at all and with more screams of the fact there is an ant in her hair I begin my quest again and I do find the smallest little ant that was quite ready to be found and once again we have a happy little princess....later that day we are prepping pea pods to be frozen and my little princess comes across a little green caterpillar and says very endearingly, "look mom it so cute I need to take him outside to live." She picks him up ever so gently and takes him outside to live in our backyard. It amazes me that our little princess can be so hot and cold about the living creatures on this earth and I am ever ready to hear I didn't do anything and it is one of those small creatures frollicking in her hair near a heart attack from all the screaming.

Terminology in Our House

For all to understand the funniness of my next post I have to explain one term I use everyday and that is- hairats. My little princess hated getting her hair brushed and so I started making this a fun game by hunting for and getting rid of the hairats(tangles) out of her hair. I had to make it something she really wouldn't want in her hair and hairats was just the thing and so to this day we get the hairats out of her hair.

FUN FUN FUN

Today after sending our big joker off for his first youth conference (hope he is having fun) we went off to the zoo. Train rides, petting tortoises, spotting hundreds of tadpoles, going through the pond on the rock trail and wobbly bridge, and of course ending all the animal sightings with a ride on the carousel. This is not the end for us though we found a perfect spot to throw a blanket down and had picnic under the shade of apple trees.
What a wonderful day out but is this the end NO WAY. We go to the newest children's museum down the way and spend 3 hours exploring until dad is falling asleep on a bail of hay leaning on a cow(he woke up just before I got the picture). This is a new found treasure for us we absolutely loved the whole thing from pulling teeth the size of little legs, putting skeletons together, exploring the insides of a heart, building and racing cars, milking cows, picking veggies from a garden, figuring out how things work, the art room we won't get into the insanity of that area, changing tires on cars, washing them, driving them, seeing how a motor works, and a water area we could not get the kids away from(I am glad we saved this for the end). I couldn't beleive that after 3 hours the kids still didn't want to leave they truly loved it.
The funniest thing was at dinner we asked them what was their favorite thing they did today and there answers were: watering our garden, playing tag, going down our slide and being pushed on the swing. I am always so surprised that after a day of fun it is the simple things of home the truly love!

Getting your wisdom teeth out is no biggie, this is really OUCHIE!!!

I couldn't figure out why after having my wisdom teeth out that instead of getting better everyday suddenly yesterday evening the pain was getting worse a lot worse. SO back to the dentist I went. Apparently I have an infection in my bone. Here were my options A) rip open my sutures and inject medicine directly into the bone or B)drugs lots of them. We decide on B since I was healing so nicely. The great news is I will be sleeping all night(sorry to those of you with newborns that are reading this) which I haven't done all week! Off to Vicodinland I go!

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

This is all I can say about getting out my wisdom teeth OUCH!!!!!! and how wise are we when we have them anyway? We actually pay someone and willingly lay there with our mouth open and let them give us shots and then pull out our teeth. Quite frankly I think I am much wiser now that they are out!

Amazed

One of my little jewels has been wanting a cell phone and after the last one was lost who knows where we have been hesitant in this request(even though it would make my life much easier). We finally a few months or so ago heard from our joker, "why can't I have one?" We will talk about it was my reply. It was decided that the ball would be sent back into his court and had 24hours to tell us 3 reasons why he should have one, he smiled and said, "I can tell you that right now." as the sentenced continued and 3 reasons why you shouldn't. I didn't realizes jaws could get that close to the floor. Of course in 24 hours we had our reasons but it truly came down to responsibility. We needed him to show us he was responsible and explained examples of how he could show us responsibility. We didn't think this was a huge request but was not accepted well and the subject was there for dropped(little did we know he was listening).
Now we will fast forward to yesterday as we are planning out the details of summer. Plans, expectations, what every one wanted out of summer vacation and then we went ahead and planned as much as was reasonably possible. As we neared the end of our calendering session I am surprised by this request from my joker, "I have been thinking about it and I would like a cell phone so could we make a chart labeled 1-100 and every time I am responsible I get a 1/2 a mark and then if I am not responsible you can take away a 1/2 a mark. Then when I get to 100 then can I have a cell phone?" I can tell you I was simply shocked because he was able to present to us a long term plan and have both needs met over time. We needed a show of responsibility over a long period of time and he would like a cell phone. Both needs met in the simple little plan. I am amazed by my children everyday but some days they leave me speechless at how amazing they are!

What I learned in my 24 hours of darkness...

1. I can cook pancakes over an open flame in the dark and not kill anyone
2. Showering by lantern is not too bad
3. I can count on family to get me out of the dark
4. We need to run preparedness drills
5. People do get irritable in a crisis
6.People do get irritable when they are hot and there is nothing you can do about it(fan, air conditioning)
7. I am glad we have a gas stove and gas water heater and (this is a doozy)
8. Consumer will let you check the status of your power outtage on line...now where are the batteries for the computer.

styrofoam

Okay the funniest thing happened on the way home from Lowes last night. We strapped on 2 pieces of (DOW) Styrofoam installation on top of the van and proceeded to drive home. As we are driving David said you would think with something on the roof of our car this guy would not be tailgating me. I am telling you no sooner did he finish that sentence the rope that was holding down the Styrofoam cut through it all and ended up in dozens of pieces all over the road. I am sure that guy wet himself as all this stuff went flying at him. Lesson to all don't tailgate and apparently don't tie blue Styrofoam to the top of your vehicle.

A Showing of Character

This morning was such a great morning started by going to the farmer's market on the search for fresh grown in the Tri Cities produce(you have to be careful I was nearly lured into to buying what I thought was yummy MI strawberries then took note of the truck full of cases of strawberries straight from California not that CA is bad just I wanted picked today or yesterday strawberries not picked last week and shipped here strawberries).
Then it was off to the soccer fields and what a great day for a soccer game not to hot with a nice breeze. I am so impressed with my soccer guy he had gotten advice when he was 8ish that the best soccer player on the team is the one that makes everyone look better and he has held true to that. Stepping up when he needs to but truly letting other players grow. He scored 3 goals today but I am more proud of the 15ish attempted assists than those 3 goals. I am amazed at the leadership skills he has honed in the last year thanks to a great coach that realized this kid knows more about soccer than I do so I will get advice from him and let him lead the team which he has with selflessness which quite honestly is a lost characteristic of most 14 year olds now a days. Today might have been his last soccer game of the season but more importantly than the game or the outcome was a true showing of his character. Love you bud!

The first of many fun summer nights I am sure!!!

Tonight we went to a Loons game and we had so much fun. If you have never went to a Loons game when BirdZerk is there you need to do it if you have young kids he is hilarious!!!! The kids loved him! Tonight was also the first nice warm night this year and we so enjoyed it! My Princess(she always does, the players love her) and My Joker caught balls or at least one was directly handed to one of them which does make the game for them. Of course the brains of the operation was on the big screen twice, the princess once and my little dancer was loved by the camera man so he was up there dancing away and the camera guy did catch him peering over the fence watching the game...how adorable! I now have 4 tired kids, one exhausted mom, one wound up pup(sorry you couldn't come with us Jasper-my fifth kid), and one missed husband/daddy!

GOTCHA FINALLY!!!

I have finally did it! It wasn't until my sons second bowl of Italian soup and many compliments that he asked what was in it and the look on his face when I listed the last ingredient as bulgar was one in a million. I finally got bulgar by him after almost 9 months of trying! Yahoo for me!!!

An Extended Weekend of Fun....Monday!!!!

Jet skiing, Paddleboating, Fishing, Basketball Playing, Hot Tubbing, Knee Boarding, Speedboating, Nature Sightings, and Fun in the Sunning Day!!!

An Extended Weekend of Fun....Sunday!!!!

Not so fun. All the digging I did has left my already funky back in lots of pain so I spent the day taking lots of pain meds but not too much to cause my liver to shut down! We did however have a lovely barbque at the inlaws and all the fun that goes on there!

An Extended Weekend of Fun...Saturday!!!

Yard work oh how fun and it was with enthusiastic little guys ready to dig, weed, rake, plant and water!!!! Well I did most of the digging, weeding, and raking but they did love playing in the dirt and on their "playground" for their little breaks from the dirt! Hopefully soon we will have little flowers popping up everywhere!!!

An Extended Weekend of Fun....Friday!

This day might not been so fun but we did get somethings done. The request was in from the teenager that he could sleep on his break from school so he did until 9 which I was surpised to see him up and then he was a man on a mission to get the grass mowed(you have to love the FHE lessons about work). I was getting stuff done on the inside and then we took a little trip to a grainery to pick up some soybeans which I had been wanting in my food storage for sometime. To be quite honest I think the kids had fun going somewhere new and I am sure the McDonalds we picked up onthe way made for a fun little outing!
It is Friday after all and so it was taco(we do a pizza taco rotation for movie night) and movie night for us!!!

An Extended Weekend of Fun..Thursday!

If there is any movie saga my hubby loves more than Star Wars it would be Indiana Jones so I set up the babysitter(thanks Grandma Kepler) weeks ago for the anticipation of the question when are we going to see it? My response was the day it comes out I have everything taken care of and so off we went to see the much pined over movie(for the last 2 years) and we LOVED it!!!

Until Midnight...you have got to be kidding me!!!

We have had our first up until midnight project extravaganza! I remember when a book report was a book report but not anymore. You read a book, a magazine, a couple of internet articles then the fun begins. Putting together the book report 2 page essay typed, fliers, medical reports, photo album, journal entries, a crossword puzzle, a cover, bibliography, table of contents,title page, news clippings all nicely appointed in a 3 ring binder with page protectors. My how school has changed and I am exhausted!!!

Words from my Four Star General

Today my 4 Star General and I were talking about food storage and joking he says,"I have finally figured out why food storage is so important to you........you know I am going to eat no matter what and you don't want it to be you!"
Actually the truth of the matter is he would eat whatever he could find and I don't want it to kill him so food storage is on my list right now and I don't want to be eaten either(LOL)!

Joking with a joker!!!

I am sitting at lunch and look over at the back of my dark haired boys head and notice one white hear near the crown of his head. I exclaim, "You have one white hair and you don't even have kids yet!" Without missing a beat he replies, "I have you!"
Love ya Christian what would I do without you to keep me in check!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Motherhood feels much easier after a good massage...doesn't it!!!

The age old question: Once a week or a load a day?

I can tell you I have always been a load or 2 a day person. Then I had heard of someone that does it once a week and that it was wonderful to do laundry once a week and be done with it! I decided to try to do laundry once a week! UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I do believe it was 1am when I had all my laundry done and by that time my little guys and big guy were sound to sleep and here I had laundry still to put away the next day and with sport socks and other disgusting sports clothing hang out for a week well you can just imagine. Laundry isn't pleasant anyway and this made it way more unpleasant(for those you that do not have a teenage boy yet, just wait) and I found myself doing laundry in the middle of that week anyway(church pants and socks are also for choir and soccer socks from practice are covered in mud and i need them for the game and on and on). Needless to say to answer the age old question:

A LOAD A DAY!!!

Rainbows are...

I have a little artist in my midst and he drew me this lovely picture. When I had him tell me about it he went on to tell me the following..."It is you and me under the rainbow holding hands. The cloud is a little bit in front of the sun like it is today. The red bag is full if rain drops so we won't get wet."
Inquiring about the picture I asked, "If the rainbow was protecting us from the bag of raindrops? " He looked at me like I had asked the silliest question in the world and said, "Rainbows can't protect us they are made out of little water droplets."
Our little jewels are smarter than we often give them credit for!!!

I'm a Thinker

One of my lovely jewels asked me if we could do something, get something any way he wanted something and I was in the middle of going over my shopping list to make sure I had grabbed everything needed. In the midst of my intense concentration on my list but also knowing I was being summoned by my dear child I gave a just a minute response which was " I will think about it." Now his response to this was immediate, " but Mom you are such a long thinker" with a sigh to follow.

I think at times being a long thinker is a good thing but is it always? We are always learning from our little jewels!

Our year 2007

Hello family and friends( i sent this out to some and thought many of you would love to read it),
This year mom decided the family letter would be written after the new year and after I shared my thoughts of how I was going to write the letter she thought it would be appropriate for Valentines Day.
This is Julianna Rebekah again and last year I remember my letter was full of screaming well not this year it is going to be full of LOVE.
I LOVE PINK and PRINCESSES!!! I however have 3 brothers which I LOVE so I played soccer which Christian LOVES this year and well I LOVED my coach and friends but the soccer it will come, maybe. Christian is 14 now and some things he LOVES I already mentioned soccer that is more of his passion driving force in his life which mom LOVES because he will do just about anything to play soccer. He LOVES to play basketball, run track, camping and a couple of new found activities wrestling and rock climbing. He is a Teacher at church now and is also in scouting, did I mention I LOVE him! He also has another LOVE and with that LOVE we have a new addition to our family this year. His name is Jasper Jones. The cutest little guy you have ever seen and you know what I LOVE him. Did I mention Christian LOVES animals? I know some of you were thinking another baby but no Jasper is our LOVING little dog. He makes Christian’s face light up like the sun. Speaking of sun I am a sunbeam at church and I LOVE going to primary like a big girl with David bringing our scriptures with us every week. The one thing David has in common with some of the people in those scriptures is he LOVES to build(mom says none of her kids scare her but she is afraid one day he will rewire the house or something of this sort because a mind like his thinks of lots of things). Mom will often ask him about how he came up with something and he says” I just was thinking about it and thinking about it and looking at it and I figured it out.” Scary HUH! I LOVE that about him because he comes up with the best games and we can go on wonderful adventures all piloted by his wonderful imagination. Luckily for me he knows I LOVE pink and princesses so I often get to be one when we play and guess who is old enough to join in on our grand escapades Jensen Marc and if you ask him his name he will tell you it is just that he is Jensen Marc. I LOVE him so much he plays dollies with me and he shares another LOVE of mine coloring and play doh. I think we LOVE it so much we could play with play doh all morning and then color until dinner. Again Jensen is a brother too and he LOVES to play with cars and trains. The other thing Jensen LOVES is shoes now that is my kind of brother. I think we will be getting along well in our teen years. There are a couple of people I think are not looking forward to the teen years but I LOVE them to the moon and back and that is mom and dad. I will start with the latter. Dad works hard and plays harder. He always takes time to play with my princesses with me and read me my Strawberry Shortcake book (again) and I LOVE it! He doesn’t only take time for me though he plays legos with David, trains with Jensen and homework helping with Christian. The newest thing Dad LOVES to do with us is swimming a couple of times a week and since he works a little farther away from home now which is very good for his working life I am LOVING that he still takes the time for us. He is teaching the youth at church every Sunday with the person we all LOVE and this is mom. Mom wears lots of hats like most moms do and a couple of my favorite hats are the hat of a teacher she not only teaches at church she teaches David, Jensen, and Myself preschool 5 days a week and we are LOVING all the adventures she takes on through books. We have visited medieval castles, ventured through the human body, and traveled to lands far away and long ago. Her favorite part of preschool is science and so we have grown butterflies, tried to grow a frog poor Tad he died when his back legs popped out and lots more experiments and fun. Then there is the chefs hat(which she looks so cute in). She is always whipping something up which I always LOVE and some others in the home are skeptics but she keeps trying to appease the masses. She is always wearing her Loon’s hat(the new minor league baseball team in our town) and when I ask her why she says she is charge of the Looney bin, I don‘t quite know what that means but I think it is supposed to be funny(I suppose other moms know what she is talking about). The other hat I love is nurturer and if you watch her closely sometimes you can see this hat. I have seen it on occasion it is gold and hovers over her head but I have seen it crash to the floor sometimes but she always trying to do her best. She LOVES being a mom and a wife and I LOVE her for it. There is a LOVE we have in our home that is more important than anything else and that is the LOVE for our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. We hope in the following year you will allow Their LOVE fill your homes and hearts!
LOVE, The Keplers (David, Julia, Christian, David, Jensen Marc, and Myself, Julianna)

Surprise... it is you!

We had a night at Disney again tonight! Not really but Christian's choir concert tonight was a Disney themed one. It was so fun to here the kids say that is from the Lion King or Little Mermaid. Christain's choir specifically sang Beauty and the Beast and he was Gaston and a good one at that! He is getting to be such a young man I am very proud of him and all of his endevors. He is fearless not ever afraid to try something new even of he might flop. He is even doing the high jump for the first time in track and doing well at it and today he went to his coach and said I want to try to do the shotput. Coach told him to give it a throw. Needless to say I think he will not be doing the shotput. I am always amazed what we learn from our children. Currently I am learning give it a try you never know what can do, you just might surprise yourself!