Thursday, August 28, 2008

Meet puppy!

Meet puppy!

We've had this little guy for just over a month now and are really enjoying him. He's such a sweet little guy and so mellow for a puppy! He's pretty smart too, well except for this little incident
where he tried to fit through the fence and ended up with his front leg and head on one side and his rear end and other 3 legs on the other. We ended up having to unscrew the board on the fence to get him out!
Here is a video of Tyce playing with puppy. Aren't puppies so much fun, well except for the house training and chewing part but other than that look at the cutie!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Works for me Wednesday

Yeah WFMW is back!

Well school has begun and that means earlier mornings, which in my house means cranky kids! I love the summer months when we all can sleep in and stay up late! Well I get really tired of telling my son 50 bigillion times to find your shoes, get your backpack, or brush your teeth only to be pulling him out the door to get there just in time for the bell to ring yelling, "hurry hurry!" I would end up dropping my son off totally frustrated and then feeling bad leaving him because he had had a rushed morning where his mom ended up yelling at him to "hurry up!" He'd be frustrated because he was trying hard and then he'd be mad that we couldn't walk because we were so late.
Well do I have the solution for this! I mentioned it in my Monday post but thought I'd wait to go on and on about it for this post. It's called the Children's Miracle Music and it is just that a complete miracle. The website seems kinda cheesy but really it works so well. I've been using it for a couple weeks now and I heard about it from a friend who's been using it for 2 years and yes it still works. My friend has left a testimonial on the site along with others and it really is as good as they say!
I put the CD in the CD player before my kids wake up and it plays soft music to wake them up, then it has a ladies voice that comes on and tells them good morning and they start the game. They end up making their bed, getting dressed, showering, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, clearing dishes, putting pj's away, fixing hair, and doing a job (act of kindness) each morning in about 40 minutes with a smile. I really just sit back and watch or help when I'm asked. They are so excited to do everything because when they earn 100 points (about 12 per day) they get to pick the place and go on a date with one parent. It's fun because I get to take my son out with just him and listen to all the fun things he has to say. I feel so much better with it because I drop my son off at school knowing I didn't tell him to hurry once and I wasn't frustrated because he was ready in plenty of time with a happy attitude and excited because he was all the closer to his date.
I tell you it's a genius idea and totally worth the $30. That's right it's only $30, I'm amazed at the product and wish I'd found it sooner!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Another reason you know you should have stayed in bed this morning

So I just cannot believe huns luck these past few days (if you didn't read my last post about his luck click here) and so I had to share what happened this morning with you all.
I was upstairs with my boys eating breakfast when I hear a loud crash in the basement. It sounded like hun had crashed the ironing board while ironing a shirt (yes he does iron since I am not a fan of it, bonus points for him huh?). He yelled up to me and so I ran downstairs only to find him in the bathroom completely naked with the shower door shattered in pieces all around him. He couldn't really move because the floor was covered in glass. He ended up getting a big cut on his foot, hand, and stomach but luckily no stitches. He said he was just shutting the shower door not yanking it or anything. Here is a look at all the glass

I didn't even realize those doors were actually made of glass. I guess it makes sense but the people who built this house and lived here before we bought it were very cheap in everything they put in so I would think they would have put in some cheap plasticy (nice word huh) crap but apparently they forked over the $300 for these doors. I would have never guessed they cost that much but now that we have to replace them I'm quickly finding out.
This morning we locked the bathroom door so that everything could dry out before we tried to clean it up. When hun got home from work he took the broom down and ended up sweeping up more than a garbage can full of glass, I could not believe all the places it had ended up.

When I told hun I was going to go get my camera to take pictures he turned to me and said, "Why? Are you going to put this on the blog as yet another reason you know you should not have gotten out of bed this morning." He knows me oh so well since that was exactly my plan. Well I guess I'm off to go look for a new shower door!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

The importance of working together

Family Moments Monday
Have you noticed lately how little kids know about work? It's concerning to me since my parents taught me how to work yet my baby sister (9 years younger) moved in with my oldest sister (9 years older) when she was 16 years old and had no clue. One night my two sisters were cleaning the kitchen together and my older sister said, "okay I'll wash the dishes, you rinse the dishes." My older sister started washing the dishes and they began to pile up in the opposite sink when my younger sister picked one up and looked cluelessly (is that a word?) at my sister and said, "So do I just get the bubbles off these or what?" Imagine my older sister having a really good laugh at this point. My youngest sister was 16 years old and had never rinsed a dish in her life. Of course after living with my oldest sister for 2 years she learned quickly. Needless to say it made a great point for me of making sure I teach my children how to clean. So for a great Family Moments Monday I have decided to have a BBQ with my boys and then as a family pick up the yard together. It's amazing how much younger children are willing to help if you just give them the opportunity and make it fun. My boys are more likely to clean if I'm right there by their side helping them out than if I just tell them to go do it on their own. I think it's really important to teach our children to work and Family Night is a great time to get started. During the day my boys and I like to turn on music and see if you can get an entire room or floor or whatever cleaned before the song is over. As a side note, I do this with my kids in the morning (Children's Miracle Music) and it is a fabulous stress free way to get your kids ready and out the door with a smile on their faces and at the same time teaches them responsibility. So look around your house or yard and see what needs to be done and then get the family together for dinner and after the dishes are cleared put your work gloves on, turn the music up and have at it!

Friday, August 22, 2008

The bigger picture


Is there some unwritten rule that when you enter the 2nd grade you must turn from loving school to spouting off comments like, "I hate school, I don't want to go today" or "School is so boring, I don't even like it." Or when they return from school and like a good mom you ask, "Honey, how was school today?" only to get a response of, "Dumb!" So I follow up, with a smile of course, "Well what did you do today that was so dumb?" response, "Nothing!"
Seriously, where did this come from? It's been nearly a month since Spencer started 2nd grade and last week on the way to school he said, "Mom I don't even want to go to school today because it's spelling test day and I don't like spelling tests." Really? In 2 years there have only been 3 tests that he hasn't gotten 100+% on, but apparently, yep you guessed it, "They are boring!"




I have to say I was starting to get concerned but thought with a little more sleep and a little time maybe things would get better. Well, yesterday he told me that he's starting to like 2nd grade because he was the first one to finish his word search. He went on to tell me that at first 2nd grade was so fast but now he's getting the hang of it because he's getting really fast.
I guess it's like everything in all of our lives aren't most of us resistant to change? When we have done something before and therefore know what we are doing we feel confident, we are creatures of habit and new things can be scary. Four years ago when we moved to this neighborhood I have to admit I was a little scared of the unknown. Would I fit in with the people at my new church? Would my children have friends here like they did in our old house? How would my children adjust? I remember sitting in church almost crying when my son turned to me and said "Mom I don't like it here, I miss my friend Colby, can we move back to our old house?" I felt so bad since I was sitting there feeling alone too.
Fast forward four years and I can't imagine living anywhere else. I love it here! I love the people at church, love my neighborhood and love where we live. We are so close to the mountains that it's just a short drive away yet we live close to the city so we have all those conveniences as well. Spencer found a new best buddy that he plays with several days of the week, they attended preschool together and have been in the same class in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades. Tyce is the same way, not long after we moved in another family moved in with a little girl his age and they hit it off immediately, when they were almost 3 years old they would leave the family meeting at church hand in hand and walk to their class. How cute it that? and except for a few moments like these, they get along great and love to play!
So I sit here typing feeling blessed knowing that even though we are afraid the Lord sees a much bigger picture and even when we are scared he helps us with what we need and helps us to find happiness.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Can you believe this?

The other morning I walked outside and this is what I found
(Take note of how far up on the curb the car is, that's how my husband parks it so there is hardly any of the car on the road, yet someone managed to hit all that was in the road).














That's right, my husband's car had been hit in the night while we were sleeping. Now we live on a dead end street with very little traffic especially in the night so I was perplexed by how this happen. Considering he was parked in the north side of the road and the car was traveling east. So the car was on the wrong side of the road and apparently driving super fast since our car was bounced a full car length. Luckily there was a note left on the window. Thank goodness for honest people! When my husband called the number on the note he found out that this number belonged to the newspaper man and he had been delivering newspapers when he plowed our car. Can you even believe that? It was the newspaper delivery man first thing in the morning. That morning my husband got up and said, "I'm pretty sure that if your car gets hit first thing in the morning you should go back to bed." I told him, "I'm pretty sure if you hit someone's parked car that early in the morning you shouldn't have gotten out of bed."

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Listening to Bits and pieces

Last Sunday in Sacrament Meeting (family meeting) the speaker talked about Peter walking on water. We were sitting in the very back and my children were a little restless so I didn't expect that they had listened to much of it. Apparently Tyce was listening because today while we were looking at pictures of our summer fun on the computer I pulled this picture up of Spencer jumping off the diving board.




When Tyce looked at it he turned to me and said, "What? Spencer knows how to walk on water?"

Friday, August 8, 2008

Yeah the Olympics have finally arrived!


I'm back! I had so much fun on vacation, I pretty much roasted on the beach every day. The water was so shallow that my boys could all play in it and I didn't really worry much. They all had fun as well and Kaden (2) would wake up every morning and say, "moma wimming wimming." Which if you couldn't tell is his version of swimming! Anyway, enough about that.

I LOVE the Olympics! That's right, I love every bit of it and am so excited to watch the Olympics this year. So tonight I am having an Olympics party. I have a few different families coming over with their children. We are going to have an international dinner and then play Sonic Olympics on the Wii (one of my favorites) and then watch the Opening Ceremonies. Well at least part of the Opening Ceremonies since it's like 4 1/2 hours long I'm not sure the little kids will be up for all of it!
Anyway, I'm so excited about it but wanted to check in and say hello but I have to run as I need to get my house ready and my food cooked! I have other things I want to post but they'll have to wait until tomorrow or Monday. Happy Olympics watching!