R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Today was better. So much better. We still had conflict and the boys earned time-outs, but nothing like yesterday. I know the difference had to do with the way I handled things. It also helped that I had this:

Last night for Family Home Evening we made up a contract. Our lesson topic for the last month and a half has been on various aspects of respect. This week we reviewed everything we've been learning and put it on paper. With the exception of Phoebe, we each signed our own name. I think this is the first time Cooper has ever written his name.

Throughout the day I would reference the aspects of respect by number. "Cooper, when you jump on the couch, are you taking care of our belongings? Please follow number three." "Peter, remember number one? It's my turn to speak now, it will be your turn in a minute."

I have no idea how long this document will have power, but I'm going to use it as long as I can.

Peace To My Soul

Today was... a day. Not a good day. In fact, the past few days have been pretty lousy too. When Bryan called home between classes to see how we were doing I said, "Not good. I'm going to need a blessing when you get home."

After I read my scriptures, things did get a little better. We even made it to the library and I only had to chase down Cooper once and Peter not at all. That's an accomplishment for our little crew. But I still had that after-anger shaky feeling. Do you know the one I'm talking about? It's like the feeling after you've been crying, but without the cathartic cleansing associated with shedding tears.

That feeling lasted until after bedtime when Bryan came in and gave me a blessing.

And now where there was anger and sadness, there is peace and hope.

Tomorrow will be better.

Bedtime

My goal for tonight is to go to bed before 1AM. It is now 11:47PM.

Guess I should turn off the computer...

Sick Day?

I have a dilemma.

Peter came home from school yesterday with a cough. An awful cough. He spent most of the night hacking, which woke him up several times. Usually I would keep him home from school and let him recover.

Here's the catch: he's not acting sick. I woke up to both boys tearing through the house at 6:30 this morning. Peter is his usual energetic self, just with a cough for added awesomeness. Because his behavior hasn't been affected, I'm not going to take him to the doctor. Because I don't think he's sick enough to go to the doctor, does that mean he's well enough to go to school? And I have a meeting while he's at school, so I would either have to cancel it or take him with me and have him cough in the corner of the office.

The last part of my conundrum is exposure. I don't want to get the other kids sick, so keeping him home sounds like a good choice. But I talked to Peter's teacher last night and found out she has bronchitis and only came to school because she had Parent/Teacher Conference afterward. She was clearly not feeling well and hadn't been for some time. So that means that Peter along with his twenty-eight classmates have already been exposed to the bug.

What would you do? Would you send him? Or would you keep him home?

Hairnets

Rise And Shine

Tonight at dinner Peter was telling me about the Morning Angel and the Nighttime Angel. Apparently the Nighttime Angel helps you go to sleep. I told him that we could use a visit from the Nighttime Angel. The Morning Angel, on the other hand, helps you wake up in the morning by sounding a special alarm.

Me: And what does the special alarm sound like?

Peter: Oh, you'll see Mommy.

I hope that's not a warning of how tomorrow's wake-up call is going to go down...

Homemade Zoo

In the days leading up to Christmas I spent lots of my time making gifts for my family. When they were done I wrapped them up and sent/handed them out.

What I failed to do was take pictures.

My sister-in-law sent me a picture last night of two of the gifts, so I can show you at least a few of the things I made with my mad skills.

The turtle was for my nephew Henry (I made one for my nephew Nathan too) and the pattern came from here. The flamingo was for my niece Clara, those instructions are here. I wanted the beak and legs to be sturdier so I sewed two pieces of felt together and stuffed them before I attached them to the body instead of using a single piece of felt as the pattern called for. You can't see it, but the flamingo has a wing on the other side that doubles as a pocket.

I think they turned out beautifully, especially for a non-sewer.

I've Got Rhythm

I went to my first live Zumba class tonight. It was free and I'd done a Zumba DVD a few times, so I figured it would be a nice little workout.

I may not be able to walk tomorrow.

After ten minutes I realized I was seeing stars. My thought process was this, "What is going on? I ate dinner, so I should have enough fuel. Am I going to pass out?"

After twenty minutes I felt like I was going to throw up. Really. I lowered my intensity a bit and kept going. Part of me wanted to go sit down and wait until I couldn't hear the blood pounding in my ears, but another part, the stubborn part apparently, wanted to continue because it was the closest thing I've done to a dance class in years. And I really love to dance.

I caught on to the dance steps quickly and my rhythm was good. It's funny how your body remembers certain skills even though they've been dormant for a long time. I don't think I'll become a Zumba regular, but I do think I'd like to take a dance class or two.

You know, because I totally have room for it in my schedule...

You've Got a Friend in Me

Peter: (tonight, during dinner) Mom, you, Dad, Cooper, Phoebe, Isaac, Falisha, Benjamin, Michela, Noah, Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ are my best friends.

Well, I think I'm in good company.

Mickey They Are Not

Tonight I had the job of going to the grocery store after the kids were in bed and buying mouse traps.

Because the mice are back.

If you need me, I'll be deep cleaning, well, everything.

Sisters

The Bride and the Maid of Honor, August 2001

The Matron of Honor and the Bride, December 2011.

Paige's friend (and now my friend too) Jenn took this beautiful picture after the sealing and gave me permission to use it here. She sent it to me last night and I've been beaming over it ever since.

These two pictures make my heart happy.

Excused Absence

Did anyone notice what was missing from my list of New Year's Resolutions? It's something that has been there for the past three years. The fact that I didn't post yesterday should be a big clue.

I did not resolve to post every week day.

Now, this doesn't mean that I'm letting the blog go. I'm still going to try my darnedest to get something up here Monday through Friday. But if I have nothing good to say, or my brain is completely drained, or I'm holding a child that should be sleeping and won't and I've left the blog until the end of the day (which is what happened yesterday), then I'm not going to stress over it.

See, as much as I love having this fabulous record for myself (and for my children) blogging five times a week has become a major source of stress for me. And it shouldn't be. This was my outlet. It was my stress-reliever. I want to keep it that.

So that's it. I'm still going to blog a lot, but I might miss a day here and there.

And that's just fine.

House of Mouse

After spending ALL DAY decorating for the reception, I wanted to head back to my parents' house and fall into bed. We still had plenty of things that needed to get done, but I really wanted a nap. As we were getting ready to go Bryan, who had taken our kids home to give them naps and quiet time, called and suggested we all go out to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Peter's birthday.

Oh right, Peter's birthday.

We had sung Happy Birthday to him and he had gotten cupcakes and ice cream the night before when we had a joint celebration for all three of the December birthdays in our family. We hadn't done anything just for him though. Being the good mom that I am, I dug down for whatever scraps of energy I had left and said yes. I got the others that were still with us at the church on board too. My brother who can't eat dairy even came in spite of the fact that he couldn't eat anything.

Peter loved it. This was his first time inside the kiddie heaven. And I think part of what made it so fun for him was having aunts and uncles and cousins to play with. He and Cooper ran around playing games while Bryan and my brother Jordan followed them. I got to sit and eat with Phoebe on my lap, which was just what I needed.

When we got back to my parents' house that evening, Peter got to open his birthday presents from my parents. He has been enjoying his birthday books since.

And thanks to the pizza break, the rest of us had the energy we needed to do the flowers, and the nails, and bathing small children, and everything else that wasn't done yet. Actually, I can't take any credit for the flowers or the nails. Paige's best friend Catie was our beauty expert and Falisha took charge of the flowers. They both did a lovely job and I'm so thankful they were there to do so much. I did help get kids to bed, so that's something.

Little Miss Curator

P.S. Grandma, I hope you don't mind that Phoebe carried around your paintings. I only let her touch the sturdy ones, which I probably shouldn't have done. Well, it made for a sweet movie, right?

Letting My Inner Wedding Planner Out

My sister Paige and my newest brother-in-law Eugene held their wedding reception at my parents' church building. We, as the work crew, were scheduled to decorate the day before the wedding. The night before we were to decorate I asked Paige what decorative elements we were using.

It wasn't much.

One woman in the ward was lending them hurricane jars and tall battery-powered candles, but only enough for half the tables. Another woman was lending small mirrors and small round jars, again only enough for half the tables. Paige had little candles for the second set of jars.

And that was all. No runners. No ribbons. No flowers. No color.

I asked if she wanted anything else. She said yes and I asked if she cared what we got or if she just wanted us to make the decisions. Spoken like a girl that is tired of wedding-planning and just wants to get married, she said "Sure." And that's how I became the puppet-master of the reception.

The morning that we went to decorate, my newest sister-in-law and I stopped by Michael's on our way to the church. We wandered the aisles for a few minutes looking for inspiration. After settling on small glass stones to put in the jars, we paid and left. As we exited the store Falisha veered sharply to the right and went to investigate the Christmas clearance that we had passed when we first went in.

She reached into one of the bins and extracted her prize: a small sparkly blue tree branch. We went to work, digging through the boxes, searching for blue and green. Our mission resulted in about twenty blue branches and twenty-five green branches, some with leaves, some with needles, one feather. We found blue and green ribbon that matched beautifully and said prayers of thanks that Paige's tables wouldn't be barren.

Once we had our supplies in hand, it took some time to figure out how to make all the pieces come together in an aesthetically pleasing way. Neither of the pictures that I have show the complete centerpiece. The hurricane jar had a sage green square of material under it and the mirrors had some blue ribbon that came out from the edges, but this gives you a good idea.

Considering we had no idea what we were going to decorate with, I think the whole thing turned out beautifully.

We also spent time rehearsing. My mom had asked me put together a handful of musical numbers for the reception. Eugene's sweet younger sisters were excited to sing. Here I am giving my unsolicited feedback on their duet of Love Changes Everything (this is a mildly bizarre group performing the song, but it was the best I found in my thirty-second YouTube search) from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love. They were nice and didn't tell me to leave them alone and let them sing. And remember, I was the puppet-master, so at this point in the day I had been telling everyone what to do anyway, so I think they were used to me by then.

Grandma Bonnie, Bryan, and a revolving door of familial helpers took care of the kids in the nursery. It was a great chance for the cousins to play together. As far as I know they were happy for the most part, I don't remember any reports to the contrary.

Wedding Teaser

Bryan and my sister-in-law Falisha gave me the pictures they each took at the wedding. I've been itching to post some of what went down last week, but now I'm faced with a small dilemma. Do I post all the pictures in one giant wedding blitz? Or do I spread it out, make the pictures last, savor the experience and tell the stories behind them.

Well, when I put it that way...

This is my favorite picture from the trip. Phoebe and cousin Clara were outside the San Diego Temple with the rest of the group, waiting for the bride and groom to appear. Clara was graciously sharing her crackers with Phoebe, which was good because Phoebe's mom was in constant motion that whole day and completely forgot to bring snacks for her children. Also, aren't those dresses darling?

Lacking Humidity

I think I'm allergic to Utah.

Maybe it's the arid climate that I have a problem with. Or perhaps it's something in our house. My nose is feeling tickly and my eyes are getting watery.

In California I felt fine. Well, I was intensely exhausted from all that was going on, but I felt healthy. Now that we're back I'm feeling like a cold is coming on. Honestly, I think it started before we left the Golden State, but I prefer to blame winter weather and dry air for my desire to go crawl under my covers and sniffle.

I'm off to find some tissues...

Happy New Year!

Did the blog feel kind of empty last week? Did it feel like I was phoning it in? Did it feel like I wasn't even here?

That's because I wasn't.

We got back at 2AM this morning from a week in California. Because I was running almost constantly while we were there, I chose to do cop-out posts all week. That means that I have Christmas stories and California stories to tell.

But I'm not going to tell them now. Right now I'm thinking about 2012. Last year I had several resolutions that I didn't achieve. This year I'm keeping it small. Here's my 2012 list.

• Learn something new.
• Read.
• Pray.
• Maintain my sanity.

I think those are modest goals.