memories of swimming lessons

Grant and Alex (after locker room shower) waiting for June swimming lesson to begin. Grant holds the family record in wearing goggles (in this painful fashion) for 3 hours straight before getting in the pool.

Alex's contract

Carl's mom gave the kids a typewriter this summer. They used it daily until it ran out of whiteout ribbon. One day Alex handed me a sealed envelope addressed "to Dan" (Alex's newest uncle) and asked if I would put it in the mail. About a week letter he received a reply in the mail which I read and laughed about. After further investigation I was given the information of the original letter which follows:


"Dear Dan, do you want to draw pictures for a book I am going to make, The book is called The kids who were WIZARDS, Thers going to be 5 books, Ther will be 100 75 a book or less, Ther will be pictures of Zombies and stuff, sighn here if you want to do it.


P.s pleas wright back.


from Alex"

Dan's letter of response:


Dear Mr. Alex xxxxxx


I am excited to hear more about this series of books you are planning to write. It sounds like you are planning for considerable success.


After reviewing the terms of the contract you sent me, I have decided to offer my services to the extent that I will illustrate for you the cover of your first novel. Upon completion of this first illustration, we may then begin negotiation for further work.


Please respond with an outline for your first novel so that I may begin work on this project. Also, any other information that will help me understand your vision for this book will be helpful. You may contact me directly or through my secretary, Katie.


Thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to working with you.


Daniel xxxx xxxxxx


To clarify, Dan is an amazing painter currently working on his Masters of art right now. After reading Dan's response I asked Alex without cracking a smile, "so what did you think about the letter?" He responded frownily that he'd ask for Dad's help instead since he wanted the cover and inside illustrations to be done by the same person. What a guy!

sowwy mom

Grant: "Sowwy mom"

Me: "What are you sorry about?" (I couldn't see anything obviously wrong)

Grant: "I put Foxy's cowwar awound my neck...(long pause)...can you help me get it off."

Married

So my sister Katie was married a while back. Here are some of the pictures from her wedding. Jordan, Alex and Grant taking advantage of some game time when they think mom's not looking.

Grant would not leave Dan's side. He loves the guy.

My dad, uncles and brothers. I found them like this several times during the day in a crcle telling stories as my dad laughed his head off.

Here is Diane Schwartz with my brother Andy. She surprised everyone by showing up to the wedding after traveling over 12 hours to get there. I haven't seen her in probably 12 years.

Here's the quilt I made for Katie. I was cutting off the strings to the matching pillowcases on the way to the wedding. It was a close call.

My Uncle Jeff and Jordan.

Em with the nephews and neice that were there.

My amazing Aunt Steff who decided to run a half marathon the morning of the wedding. Did I mention the wedding was in the morning?

Waiting for the bride and groom.

This is the only group picture I got--oh well!

Schools Out!

I've been dreading summer for the last few months. I love the kids but hate all the fighting and begging to play the computer all day. I changed my attitude just in the nick of time though (from listening to Dr. Laura's book Stop Whining, Start Living book) and started looking forward to summer. I talked to one woman who helped me realize that I don't have to provide the entire summer entertainment. I never really provide great entertainment but just feeling like I should is exhausting. So before school got out we had the kids come up with a personal list of things they would do when they feel bored. We also initiated a summer rule: if you say, "I'm bored" or anything like unto it, you will be given a job to do. So far so good--its been 3 whole days.

One other thing that's hard for me about summer is the lack of schedule. Some people love this I know but I don't work well without some kind of structure. So here's this summers routine. Before playing or doing anything fun you must first:

Clean your room

Do 3 jobs--assigned by mom

Practice piano for 30 minutes

Read 1 hour

Write in your journal (yesterdays topic was "if you were an inventor what would you invent")

Math flashcards/written math drills

New chart made from tiny envelopes I picked up at the dollar store. Each child has a different color strip they place in envelopes when finished

This way we get the house peacefully clean and all the other naggable items have been taken care of.

After the work is done then the kids can play their 15 minutes of computer and use the rest of the day to do whatever they can think of.


The other summer idea that the kids are really excited about is cooking. The three oldest kids each have a day of the week to plan and prepare 3 meals with my help. Its so great to have kids to do at least half of the work.

Bridal Shower

It happened a little while ago. But since she's already married I thought I'd better post about Katie's bridal shower before I post about the wedding. My little Katie was there and strangely we didn't get one picture of her. We also didn't get a picture of Cindy and Holly (those girls are so funny).



Mostly we ate and talked but we also played a couple of games (Katie wanted to be sure we didn't play anything too embarrassing). One was a "guess Dan's answers" game. My little Katie made up most of the questions. Here they are a few with answers included:

What is your favorite: Food: Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Activity: Watching March Madness

Flower: Sunflower

Holiday: Independence Day

Tipe of Dog: Australian Shepherd

Pet: Possum

Musical Instrument: None

Tree: Willow Tree

Computer Game: Warcraft

Toy: Dominoes

Bird: Falcon

My sister Katie was pretty stumped. I guess they had never talked much about important subjects like trees, pets, and flowers. We laughed pretty hard about the questions and Dan's silly answers to them.

Candace

Jodi with daughter and Katie

really great food--the 7 layer greek dip was amazing

Mom, Andrea and Katie

Katie and friend

Amy and Leigh--had both just lost 20 pounds

Old Dog Update

Some of you were wondering what happened to Cooper, our yippy, white dog. We didn't actually give him to an unsuspecting family member. It turns out they asked for him. We were planning on driving him all the way to his original home sometime in June but since someone wanted him for their daughter, we (actually Carl) willingly gave him up. The only problem is this particular family came to visit while Katie, Jordan and I were running errands. They asked for Cooper out of the blue and Carl sent him home with them. He thought it would be fun to see how long it took the kids to notice he was gone. Big mistake. At bedtime Katie asked with terror in her eyes, "where's Cooper? I've looked all over for him and can't find him anywhere. His kennel is gone too." I started looking around with her, not knowing what in the world went on a few hours before. Finally Carl (who at first acted like he didn't know either) tells us what happened. Katie was in tears (Cooper used to sleep in her bed). Alex, who was there when Cooper was given to the cousins, also remembered the entire bad experience and cried for the second time that day (so Carl told me). Of course they were sad-to have their favorite furry guy taken away from them so suddenly. It was shocking. They needed more preparation. Carl is neither sentimental nor emotional so he had no idea that giving away the dog would be such a problem (still doesn't probably). Though I felt bad for the kids and totally understood their sadness I can't tell you how happy I was that Cooper was gone. Is it okay to smile and feel bad at the same time that one of my favorite family members is listening to endless howling, yipping and dealing with chewed up underwear. So happy it isn't me.

Happy Mother's Day

What do you get when you cross Mimi (her grandma name) with a bunch of grandkids?

patience with grandkids jumping on her bed early in the morning (she loves it)

lots of hugs

love-she's great about letting the kids know she cares about them

How did we get so lucky!

P.S. Thanks for the sweater mom. Its just what I always wanted.

Thinking WAY ahead

Let me explain. Alex has this fascination with tarantulas. He has probably read 20 books about them and can spout out all kinds of information about spinnerets, the difference between different types and where they are located. He has even held one and experienced their stinging hairs (you should wash your hands before touching your skin). When he asked me if he could get one I replied, "absolutely not" which was followed by tears that didn't soften me a bit. When he asked his dad (out of my hearing) Carl said that yes he could get one when we is 12 if he learns all about them. I think Carl was sure that Alex would forget about it in a few months. That was last November. Alex explained to me after writing to Santa that if Santa brought one in place of a stocking (which is all that Santa brings to our house) then he wouldn't have to pay for one. Funny huh! Alex isn't one to leave details to the last minute.

Santa's letter back:

Dear Alex,

So nice to hear from you! I'm still on vacation in Hawaii. I don't ordinarily take requests years in advance. I'll think about it. In the meantime keep being a good boy. Make sure you're really nice to your excellent mother.

Love,

Santa

P.S. Are you sure you want a Tarantula? How about a nice stuffed animal?

Carl gets his dog

(Here Carl and Foxy are playing soccer. She can actually dribble the ball with those short legs.)

After a few years of saving, Carl finally got the Welsh Corgi he always wanted. She's 6 years old and probably one of the best behaved dogs in the world. She doesn't bark (unless Grant is sitting on her head), chew underwear, poop in other people's yards, etc. We love Foxy.

We've been saving for a dog since our MA days. There, the price of a Corgi was $1100. We didn't pay that much for Foxy.

If you're considering buying a dog, here are a few tips:

1) get rid of your underwear eating, whiny, bark when trucks go by dog. Hopefully you'll be able to find an unsuspecting relative to give him to.

2) research and pick a good breed of dog. Its true the small dogs are pretty yippy, want to play all the time and commonly follow you around the house always two inches or less away from your heals. If you want to hold a dog all day, a small dog would be a good kind to get. On the other hand, Corgi's are commonly mature, calm, want to be in charge (at least of other dogs) and smart, a better match for our family, especially if they can outsmart Grant, the great annoyer of dogs.

3) buy an older dog--much less work

4) Change her name. It only takes a few days for the dog to catch on. Foxy came with the name Keyna, which is Welsh for jewel. I told the kids we'd need to come up with something else. "Why not jewel?" they asked. "Are you kidding me?" is all I could respond. Anyway, since nobody would agree to Wonder Woman or Goldilocks we agreed to Foxy, after one of Carl's Corgi's from his farming days. Foxy the first was Carl's best friend. So it fits. We love her.

Happy

Its amazing the small things that bring me joy. Here are a few recent ones.

• Katie giving me and Carl a kiss goodnight every single night and before she goes to school. She initiates this
• Jordan reading to me while I cook dinner
• Alex spending all his free time writing
• all the kids sitting around the coffee table drawing or doing puzzles while humming the theme song to Little House on the Prairie (still makes me laugh thinking about it.)
• Alex: "I'm Mr. Spacely. Grant, you're George." (name that 80s cartoon)
• Hearing the kids practice the piano
• Seeing the kids sing in Sacrament Meeting at church
• Watching Katie and Carl read Fablehaven together
• Grant letting me hold him in my lap (doesn't happen much anymore)
• Alex, getting up at 6am to get all his work done. Some days he's so motivated

I wonder if there anything in the world that brings more happiness than family...and more misery, but that's a topic for another day.

A pretty lucky girl

I don't know how I got so lucky. Not only is Carl handsome and fun to be around, he also finds coaching baseball a stress reliever. I wonder if going from bedroom to bedroom reading to the kids at night (even using different voices) also relieves his stress. Right now he's reading Hank the Cowdog to Grant and Alex, Harry Potter to Jordan and Fablehaven with Katie. I usually fall asleep before he's done. Besides reading, Carl also does the dishes, makes the bed, corrals Grant to bed etc. He works crazy hours, usually no less than 12 a day plus a lot of Saturdays but he never seems to lose all his energy. He's amazingly positive and inspires me to work harder.

LOOK

I was reading a childrens book to Grant a few months ago called How Big is the World. I didn't really find the book interesting until I read "the more you look, the more you will see." For some reason that one line really got my wheels turning. I thought of how sometimes my thought process is pretty negative. When I look for the bad I always find it. There is always something to be anxious about, mad about or annoyed about if I'm looking for it. I think I naturally look for the negative. The other option and the higher brain path would be to look for the good. Its really not hard to see the beauty around me, the good that goes on in this home, the good qualities of others if I just LOOK for them. "Seek and ye shall find" comes to mind.

21 days #2

My list making 21 days was pretty successful. I've been a lot more productive, especially with my time with the kids. I've also been able to put my reading in check for the most part (or is it because I'm not reading a book I totally love right now).

21 days #2 is peacemaking. This includes not gossiping which is really tricky. There are so many excuses for talking about people and I find myself saying too often, "I love Cindy but..." I actually don't know anyone named Cindy but you get the idea.

I was thinking the other day how peacekeeping and peacemaking are two different things. Peacekeeping connotes that there was peace to begin with. Peacekeeping really isn't very hard its peacemaking, making peace out of chaos, that is the challenge. I think of how sometimes my reaction to a crying child actually escalates the emotions of the house. Here are some scriptures my kids and I are trying to commit to memory in order to help us practice making peace.

Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger."

Romans 12:21 "Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good."

Matthew 5:44 "But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, go good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

Romans 12:14 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another."

My Cute Little Rascal is 4

Cannon, Andrew, Easton, Grant and Leah

playing Bingo

presents

I was really hoping Grant would go for the paw print cupcakes but he was dead set on the dragon. The wings were supposed to be made of square fruit rollups but since they weren't on sale we had to make due with fruit by the foot.

RASCAL:

• "mom, you bummy head"
• throwing himself on the floor in the middle any given store because I won't buy him a candy. How could this be so hard to figure out? I never buy him a candy.
• getting out of bed at nine o'clock, finding his way to the sewing room and cutting himself while disassembling my rotary cutter
• cutting his lip with scissors despite my warning, "don't do it Grant."
• screaming when everyone leaves the basement without waiting for him
• "Awex, shut yours mouf!" (Alex, shut your mouth) It was actually pretty funny
• "Mom, what is this?" he asks 25 times in a row no matter what my answer is
• WHOOOOOing in people's ears (more on this later)
• "I'm not going to chuch ANYMOY!" (I'm not going to church anymore)

CUTE LITTLE GUY:

• Me: "Katie, could you tell me what time it is?" Grant: "I'll check mom...its 8 0 40."
• "She hit me two twices." or "I'll do it two twices."
• saying "oy" instead of "ore" such as: stoy (store) moy (more)
• "That boy talks wiwy weeid" (that boy talks really wierd)
• drawing pictures for all our neighbors
• "what's my job mom?" (music to my ears)
• "I'm sorry I broke that mom." He says sorry really quickly even when he didn't do a thing.
• cleaning under the oven for fun
  
  I LOVE THAT LITTLE GUY!

First 21 Days

I guess since its March its time to start my 21 day part of my New Year's Resolutions (see 2010 resolutions in archive). My first 21 Day program is to make a to-do list every day. "What at list?" you ask. No these aren't regular lists, these are Prioritized Daily Task Lists (I don't care for that name either, sounds complicated) as described by Hyrum W. Smith, the Franklin Planner guy. (I'm reading his book: 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management--I love it!) So the idea is that your list reflects the things that you really value. If you value your family higher than you do projects, then your priorities on your list should be family type stuff.

So the last 2 days I've made a list and actually spent some quality time with Grant AND gotten the regular life stuff done. You know what? I feel happier than usual because I'm doing the stuff that really matters (playing with the kids) even though its really not as urgent. Makes me feel content. Plus, usually I do the easiest stuff first--send emails, make phone calls etc. just because they are the easiest thing to do but they are usually the very least important and least urgent. I'm also really quick to do things that are sitting around--cleaning the dishes, mailing that letter, putting things away, returning things to the library. These are all important things to do but when I make my list they are probably things that can wait 'til tomorrow or next week (okay maybe not the dishes) while the more urgent and more important matters are sometimes forgotten because I have no visual aids to remember them by.

Here's a sample of one of my lists (not that you care, but in case I need some refreshing in the future).

C-1 make enchiladas (freeze them)
B-4 Next weeks dinner menu
A-4 Laminate that YW poster
C-4 Work on Jordan's quilt
C-2 Read
B-3 Blog 30 minutes
C-3 Make list of women to help with Lasagna Dinner (at church)
B-1 Call Stevie (new neighbor)
B-2 Call Melissa about boys playing
A-3 Laundry
A-1 Read to Grant
A-2 Play play dough with Grant
C-6 Print stuff for meeting on Sunday
C-5 Call Jerry about table question
A-5 Store-milk, butter

The idea is to write a list in the order it comes to your mind (its easier to think that way). Assign A B or C to it according to what is most important and then what is most urgent. Then order by number. So you do all the A's then B's then C's. I always want to let Grant play as long as possible by himself so I can get stuff done but I find that if I put him first, then we're both happier and he watches less TV. Plus the laundry never gets crossed off the list until its done, folded and put in drawers. Looking at the list several times a day reminds me that I need to change it.

I heard about this program when Carl read the book 10 years ago and I tried to practice it without really understanding it. I thought it was dumb. It really is designed to make life easier and it keeps me (for two days at least) from wandering around the house trying to figure out what to do first.

birthdays

We've had a couple of birthdays recently.


Alexander the Great has turned 7. This cute little guy shows his generous side every once in a while, like last week when he paid for his older brother at the Movie Theatre and on the same day gave me 4 quarters and said, "this is for all you do for me." Pretty cute!


Alex always picks Pumpkin Pie for his birthday dessert. Since this is Alex's off year for birthdays, he and Carl went to the local Nicklecade for a few hours.

His handsome father also had a birthday--a whopping 35 years old. I had big plans for his birthday but since it was a hectic week and things weren't working out AND I knew he wouldn't be as surprised and grateful as I would like him to be, I bought him a cheesecake instead, which he ate for the next 10 days since he's the only lover of cheesecake around here.

I guess we used all the candles for Alex's birthday

Grant giving Carl his box of band aids (the ones he got in in stocking) to Carl as a gift.

Katie's gift was a page of stickers.

Not pictured, Jordan and Alex both gave partially painted pictures to Carl.

Happy Birthday EM

2007



Emily is one of the best friends I've ever had. She has remembered my birthday and probably sent me a homemade card for the last 15 years. She has gone out of her way to see me when I've been either near Seattle or visiting our hometown. She's great! One of those people that you can easily talk to even though you haven't seen them for a few years. I love that girl!

Happy Birthday Em!

Spring Decluttering

Last month I read a book called Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. It wasn't my favorite decluttering book (which is still Lose 200 Lbs. this Weekend by the funny Don Aslett) but it WAS motivating. Just as a side note, the author of the Feng Shui book talked about clearing your colon, which was kind of surprising and funny. She was totally serious but I thought it was funny. Anyway, here are the basic questions the book suggests to ask yourself while dejunking:


1. Does it (the stuff) lift my energy when I think about it or look at it?
2. Do I absolutely love it?
3. Is it genuinely useful?

So I got rid of several things that were once useful and no longer are, including 10 year old college textbooks that I loved once but have not cracked open since I graduated from college 10 years ago. Plus I can easily find the information elsewhere when I need it. I got rid of enough books and magazines that I ended up selling a 6 foot bookshelf. YAY! I made $85 selling the bookshelf and other once useful but now dust collecting items. It feels good--real good (think Nacho Libre). I'm planning on hitting every closet and room during the month of March. Anybody with me?


I wish I had a before and after picture for you but this is my beautiful sewing room/piano studio, the area I've decluttered so far. I feel so happy every time I walk into it. Now if I can just keep it this clean.

I'm going to have to do something about that cluttery look under the table.

I DID IT!

I just finished my scrapbooks for the last 4 years. I'm up to date for the first time in my life. YAY! Since I really don't enjoy scrapbooking but love to see the kids looking through scrapbooks, I decided to take advantage of a great deal on digital photo books--$20 for 1 book up to 100 pages. That's 4 books, each about 100 pages for less than $100 (including shipping). Amazing huh! I'll let you know when next year's sale is running.

For the last several Christmases we've done the 12 days of Christmas to at least one person in our neighborhood. This has so far been the most organized year. We have several elderly neighbors in the neighborhood. We picked 7. In one day we made all the crafts and set them aside. The treats were a little more time consuming to make all at once. I think I'll do it next year though. Each morning between 5 and 7am Jordan and I would drive around and deliver the gifts. Next year we'll have to make and package everything before Dec 13. Between the Elf and the 12 days of Christmas it does get a little difficult to prepare and remember everything.

Day 1 Marshmallow Men

Day 2 Merry Christmas swag (made from old Christmas cards)

Day 3 Chocolate covered pretzels (not pictured)

Day 4 Snowman cards

Day 5 Snowflake







Day 6 Cookies (not pictured)

Day 7 Candycane Mice



Day 8 Hot Chocolate

Day 9 Tabletop Tree


Day 10 Reindeer Ornaments

Day 11 Caramel Corn

Day 12 Home bottled peaches

I love seeing the kids excited to do something nice and secret for someone else. It makes the whole family really happy.