Lights, Camera, Action!

We've been meaning to get the outside lights up for some time now, and today ended up dry and with a little morsel of time to do it!  Hooray!

The ladder we have is only three steps high.  Still - I needed to get ON that roof.  Just Amelia, Andrew, and I were at home, so I looked at Andrew and said, "Throw all your body weight on this ladder and DON'T. LET. IT. MOVE."  I climbed up and then tippy toed quick on the top you-should-never-use-this-as-a-step rung and shot myself up on the roof.  The exhilaration I felt when I realized I was not dead or broken was fantastic.

I got all the clips on and then needed to help the kids unravel all the lights.  Umm...this meant I needed to get down.  Andrew said jump.
Me: "Uh, that's a lot of weight flying at the ground, buddy."
  Andy: "Oh yeah, and you have bad knees."
Me: "And a bad ankle."
I sat.  For awhile.
I  pictured stunt men and thought about tucking and rolling.
Seriously.
Then I laughed at myself.
If you know me well - you know I am uncoordinated.  In high school I accidentally gave a guy a bloody nose as he attempted to flip me over his shoulder.

I eyed the unstable 1 inch wide top of that ladder about 5 feet below the rim of the roof.  Again I said, "Throw all your body weight on that ladder Andrew.....you too, Millie!"
It was crazy.  It was stupid.
I made it down.

Andrew became the roof man.  After I made it down he told me that he gets up on the roof by climbing the tree on the side of our house.  He was up in like 15 seconds waving to me from the crest of the roof.  He did a great job and it was a lot of fun to work together.

Millie spent her time dutifully tangling all the lights as fast as I could untangle them, and once we finished it Andrew ran to plug them in.  He did so ceremoniously and.......one whole strand didn't work.  Instead of crying, we laughed.  It really seemed ridiculously funny.

So maybe we'll redo it on Monday, or maybe not.  Maybe this year I will just look at half my house lit up and smile and remember how much silly fun we had doing it.

Right Place For This?

I've been learning so much lately (which I can tell you feels fabulous.  I haven't made time for really studying ANYTHING in a long while.) and I just really want to share.  So here you go.  I love this.  The last sentence especially struck me.

President Henry B. Eyring said in October of 2010, speaking of God, "You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks.  If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference (I would add church meeting/personal study time), you will find it.  And then if you go and do what he would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you.

I, of course, have added the italics.

Love you all.  Goodnight. 

You didn't!

Oh Yes, YOU DID.
(her hair is so light you can't really tell how much there is.)

Luckily it just kind of gave her a layered look.

And the boys are home early from school today. It's Christmas Break! They enjoyed their Christmas parties and at Jake's they had a "Deck the halls" card exchange and he got POKEMON!!! All the rage at the school right now. (Isn't this a few years behind the fad?)
Anyway, Millie is so happy to have her big brothers home for the afternoon, happy to play the game with them (Jake keeps coming up to me and whispering that he is going easy on her), and even Emma - the little girl I watch now is enthralled with the action.

They both got straight A's. Jake studied for hours for all his final exams. It was tough. I am so proud of him for doing hard things. He says he plans on getting a $30,000 scholarship for college, so here we go! Off to a good start, buddy!

The Power of Scripture

"Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high."


Isn't that a great blessing!  So exciting!  I am always seeking to better understand what is going on in my life.

Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles also stated,

"Our Father in Heaven understood that for us to make desired progress during our mortal probation, we would need to face difficult challenges.  Some of these would be almost overpowering.  He provided tools to help us be successful in our mortal probation.  One set of those tools is the scriptures.

Throughout the ages, Father in Heaven has inspired select men and women to find, through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, solutions to life's most perplexing problems.  He has inspired those authorized servants to record those solutions as a type of handbook for those of His children who have faith in His plan of happiness and in His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  We have ready access to this guidance through the treasure we call the standard works-that is, the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price."

 I am so grateful for all the resources I have and for the sure knowledge I have of where I came from, why I am here, and where I am going.  I understand why I have trials, and I understand where to get the strength to bear them up.  Not only bear them, but like I was telling my brother yesterday, to sometimes receive the blessing of having some trials not even feel like a burden anymore.  When I yoke myself with the Lord he can bring me comfort and cheer - despite an outwardly difficult time.  To really feel cheerful and hopeful in the midst of a trial is a miracle and I am so grateful to my Creator for granting it unto me.  

He is my strength.

Little Lady

I love this girl. So very much. Tonight she went to bed only after separating her hair into three sections, putting pig tails with bows in the front and asking me to braid the third section down her back. Okayyyy.....

Her thing for the past month or so is surprises. Everything (pencils, forks, stuffed animals, shoes......)gets wrapped in a scarf or blanket or slippy and then brought to me. I have to make three guesses and then she tells me, "Just close your eyes." She motions with both hands in kind of a downward waving motion when she tells me this. Then she unwraps her surprise and says "OPEN!" She also does this every time she washes her hands. Before she comes out of the bathroom she calls to me to shut my eyes and then runs out and shows me her hands and tells me to smell them.

She loves brushing her hair "straight," and eating "buttoed bwead - NOT toasted, mom" (buttered bread) or yogurt with blackberries or strawberries for every meal.

She makes up songs all.the.time. She sings wherever she is, or just talks out loud in her make believe land. She dresses up like Sleeping Beauty, Belle, a ninja, a horse, a ballerina, or a cowgirl. Maybe all in the same day. She practices Ninja moves and ballerina dances often in the front room and constantly asks me, "Can you do this, Mom?" "It's vewy hawd." "Isn't it amazing!?"
Yes, Amelia, you are amazing. (:

Ummm......

Having children is like eating a slice of humble pie every.stinkin'.day.  

Why didn't these things come with a manual?!?!  I have no idea what I am doing!

Chocolate For Sale!

Andrew woke me up this morning (Saturday) at 6:50 am.  He just wanted to

"let [me] know that he was going to be outside selling chocolate bars."

Here he is.

The sun is not fully up yet.

These boxes of chocolate were handed out Friday afternoon for a school fundraiser.  I had to work until 5:30 and we had plans for the rest of the evening and he was going crazy.  He needed to be selling those bars right now!  I thought it was going to kill him to have to wait till the next day.

I seized the early wake up time and ran to the grocery store for some milk for breakfast and by the time I got back he had already sold 5.  Before 7:30 in the morning!  He sold all 50 by ten in the morning.  From our driveway!  I guess I should have let him get more boxes yesterday.

Just as I was about to hit "post" he told me I had to come in the front room right now!
This is what he made for me.

  I love you too, Andrew!

Espanol

I am here because Amelia has been completely irrational and screaming at me all day.

"Mom?  Will you put the tape right here?"

"Sure."  I put the tape right there.

Screams "I didn't want you to press it down!  Why did you press it down?!  I just said PUT IT RIGHT THERE!!!"  Falls into convulsive sobbing.

So I am attempting to laugh at it rather than be undone by it.

Right now she is locked in her room screaming, "I only know how to write Dad in Spanish!  It's all I know how to do!"  Interspersed with "Who cares?!"

Umm.......did someone else teach her Spanish?  I'm not sure what she is talking about but I am going to mop my floor and pray that the girl gets some sleep already!

Let's Get This Party Started!

Time to fire up the old blog again.  

Since I didn't record Halloween last year, I will do it this year. 

Yes, 2010 was the year of Star Wars.

You are beholding Darth Vader himself, Hans Solo in all his glory, and Princess Leia's overwhelming beauty and strength.

Grandma and Grandpa Thomason were here for a visit and saved us from any wardrobe malfunctions.  We carved scary pumpkins and even went scouting out better goods in other neighborhoods.  Yes, last year we were the family you didn't know, (with a gang of friends) looking for the biggest chocolate bars and maybe even whole cans of soda.  

We were not disappointed.

Here's to another ghostly month of fun!

Sidenote:  Amelia still often wears her beautiful princess Leia dress my mom made.  It works as Mary, a ghost, and a ninja (with added black belts), WHO KNEW!

Guess What's Coming?

HALLOWEEN!!
the children's most anticipated and talked about holiday of the year

Graveyard set up has begun

Decorations are being applied

Signs are being made
Watch out folks, spookiness is on it's way, if Jacob has anything to do with it.

Ka-Ching!

Andrew's been working hard at dog-sitting and controlling his urge to spend, spend, spend all that lovely cash, and now has a BRAND NEW BIKE!!

Oh, yeah, check me out.

Off to show his friend, Emerson.

He woke up early this morning and was pacing non-stop until Millie woke up and we could get to the store to GET THAT BIKE!

Father's Day

Here's a picture of the kids and Mike on Father's Day.
(Amelia is exhausted after a fun 3 night sleepover at her grandparents.)
But they all look pretty cute. (:

Rolie Polie Races

This is how our morning started off. Andrew collecting rolie polies the minute he finished his waffles. He and Jake made them a habitat "with all the things that make them comfortable."

Then Andrew called to me to come out and see the underwater races. It was Bluehawk vs. Greenhawk. They are in the water.....they are off! "Aren't their little legs so cute!?" And Greenhawk wins! Hooray!

My dear sweet darling children. I am amazed at your abilities. Amazed that God has entrusted me with your care. You are so good. So creative. So intelligent and inquisitive. So forgiving, quick to have fun and look at the brighter side of things.

Andrew - you cleaned out the van as a surprise for me because you knew I would be driving kids from youth group around for a scavenger hunt tonight. You even pulled out all the rugs and beat them and used a wet rag to clean out anything left in the cupholders. You were sweating like crazy! It is an April evening and was 94 degrees out. You were thrilled to be doing it and I overheard you letting Amelia join in as well, using a gentle teaching voice to direct her as to where things went. Here you are enjoying some cold watermelon after finishing your surprise.


Amelia - every time you pull a candy out of the Easter stash Grandma and Grandpa just sent you, you run to me with an identical candy and say, "One for me, and one for YOU!" and then give me an adorable smile with light spilling out of your huge beautiful eyes.


Jacob - I had so much fun running with you a few weeks ago. What a great conversationalist you are! The time flew by and it was so great to be passing it with you on a cool Saturday morning when the world was still quiet. The next day at church one of the men in our ward came up to me and commented that he had seen us and said it looked like I was having a lot of fun with you. I WAS! Here's a funny picture of you from our road trip last summer.


I love you all! I love that you are all willing to work on things with me. I love the flowers Andrew always picks for me, the way Amelia does something (like leak a little bit before running to the bathroom or open her eyes during prayer), tells us about it, and then states, "But dat's okay." With her eyes kind of squinted, her head kind of nodding at a tilt, and always followed by a knowing little laugh of hers. I love that Jacob ALWAYS checks in when at his friends house within the MINUTE of when I've asked him to. ALWAYS. And even if it's just a check in he's already spilling out what a"marvelous" time he's having and what he and his friends are up to, and what they've eaten, and why they're laughing in the background, and "wait Mom, one more thing, David just told me this joke. You HAVE to hear it........" and I end up having to kind of cut him off while laughing and let him get back to what he's doing.

How grateful I am to be your mama.

TOGETHER!

My boys have been marching around, giggling uncontrollably, with their arms draped around each others' shoulders and chanting...

"We're just two belly buttons out to face the world's problems together,
TOGETHER!"

Now they are laying on the couch pulling each others' ears and shouting/guffawing/drooling
"TOGETHER, TOGETHER!"

Jeepers. I love them.

Okay - funny side note. They were also talking about being Siamese twins. Mike just read this and told me that the night before he had taken the boys to the bookstore and they had been captivated by a book on Siamese twins. Ahh..there is an explanation behind the madness.

Baseball Season

Andy got his uniform at last night's practice and can hardly wait for his first game this Saturday! Right after breakfast he got all dressed up and wanted to start practicing again.

But just in case you're worried.... "Mom, I LOVE baseball, but don't worry - I'm still going to be a professional soccer player." His enthusiasm is so darling.

Swinging

The other afternoon we were out swinging in the back yard. Amelia was in a little car swing flying high in the sky...

Me: Millie, where are you driving to in your car?

Amelia: Salt Lake City.

Me: Oh! What are you going to do there?

A: Get married in the temple.

Me: Really? Who will you be marrying?

A: My mother-in-law

And because I ran and got the camera, the boys had to do something super cool.

I'm having a moment

I feel old tonight. Like all of a sudden time is moving faster and I'm a bit nervous. So here's the deal. My friend called this evening to ask if I would show her son my flute and maybe let him play around on it to see if it's something he'd like to pursue.

I start thinking about how I felt when I first started playing the flute and was trying to figure out what kind of songs we started with. When I realized I was foggy on this and was wondering why, I started to calculate how many years it's been since I learned.

It's been 20 YEARS!!! Okay, so that explains the fogginess. Yikes!


And to stay on that "My kids will seriously never relate to me or believe that I know what it's like to be them" train......this morning I was fondly remembering when my family had a boat and we would take off on Saturday morning and tube the day away. The special treat when we headed home, exhausted from the sunshine, was to stop at Taco Bell and - get this - all of us got to choose THREE (oo-la-la) items from the

THIRTY-NINE CENT menu.

My sister, Lindsay, always instead finagled her way into getting 1 super expensive item instead. Maybe a seven layer burrito for (gasp) $1.07.

So there it is kids. Proof that I grew up in the olden days. Nothing will ever be the same. Sigh.

Snow Day

A cold spell came through Texas, and with it an actual snowstorm. The next morning we had almost an inch of accumulation, so schools closed, work was canceled, and we played. First order of business was a proper snow fort with some neighbors.

Next up was sledding. Sleds aren't sold here, so we got cookie sheets, trays, and cardboard boxes to slide down a hill. At least we had donuts and hot chocolate when we went, so we didn't miss actual sleds too much.


Finally, we had a snowball fight. Fantastic fun.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I am inspired by Dr. King. What a noble thing to stand up for what you feel so strongly. We had a great discussion as a family on what this day is all about. We watched his speech during the march on Washington. We then watched the speech he gave at a small gathering in Mississippi right before he was assassinated. You could feel the tension. We watched Walter Cronkite break the news of Martin Luther King's death on his nightly broadcast. We then watched Robert Kennedy break the news to the people he was with and give a great message about the choice we have to choose our reaction and decide what direction we want to head. We then listened to a recording of Robert Kennedy being assassinated.

Lots to talk about. Lots to be grateful for. The boys really got a feel for the upheaval in the country. For the fear and tension that comes with change. And for the importance of standing up in a quiet (or sometimes not so quiet) firm way for what we believe.

I hope to be as strong in those things I value. Our country's educational system comes to mind. What can I do to support good legislation or bring about desperately needed changes? Mike also pointed out the necessity of patience. The changes "officially" started with Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and then the Civil Rights movement started to really push in the early nineteen-fifties and still lasted for about another fifteen years. Important cases and decisions are still being made in order to eliminate discrimination. Am I willing to remain steady and be consistent in the direction I choose, and hang in for the long term? I hope so, for as Martin Luther King so eloquently stated in a letter from a jail in Birmingham, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."

I am so grateful for a country where freedom is talked about, fought about, written about, cherished, and made possible. I am also grateful for time spent with my husband helping my children gain an understanding of their past and an appreciation of the present.