MY MOM!

So on this day a long, long, loooong time ago the world was given the gift of my mother.  I know many of you may of missed it or been unaware of her influence on the world but let me assure you she has changed the lives of many. 

My Mom is one of those people who they make movies about.  She was born into a home that had many trials, yet she found a way to prevail.  Not only did she make her life better but she managed to make every moment of my life (and that of my sister) memorable.   I have often noted that it was not until I was an adult that I realized that not every mom was like she is.  She never missed an event in my life.  She attended every performance of the school play, every band concert (even when the most exciting song was hot cross buns), and never failed to chauffeur from place to place when I needed it. 

She taught us how to give even when we didn't have a lot.  And she taught us to find joy in serving others. 

And now, just when you would think she would rest she has become the nearly perfect grandmother.  Never failing to think about my kids and the many exciting events in their lives.  She attends every event she can make it to and makes the most out of those visits (seeing Emma's school play 5 times even though her part was only 5 minutes).  She sends letters and "just because" gifts so the kids will get something in the mail.   And there is no doubt in my kids' minds how much they are loved by their Sweetie Pie. 

So to My Dearest Mother:  I love you!  I miss you!  I can't wait to see you!  I hope you have a wonderful birthday and can feel our love all the way from here!  We love you to the moon and back, to infinity and beyond and no matter what, where ever we are, you will always be in our hearts!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The First Official Sleepover

Last night was another first for both the big kids.  Emma has never had a sleepover with the exception of having a cousin over from time to time.  But the stake decided to have a father son camp out (Isaac's first) and so we decided to invite Emma's closest friend (for the time being) over for a sleep over.  They had so much fun. 

The Agenda:

1- Dinner at a local burger joint.  Good but greasy.

2- Tuck Everlasting and popcorn

3- painting of the finger nails and nail art

4- pillow/tickle fight

5- roll hair in curlers

6- sleep

Was seemed funny to me was this is the kind of sleepover you would see on a movie.  But they did it all.  There was also much giggling and playing Wii.  They told me their goal was to stay up past 1am.  However I believe they were in bed around 10:30 and by the time I got to them at 11:30 they were fast asleep. 

Isaac and Daddy had a great time too.  They got new sleeping bags and ate s'mores, even though I warned Isaac they may not have them.  He assured me you can't have a campfire without s'mores.  They stayed up late and hung out with the boys and when the stake ran out of food for breakfast this morning they went to IHOP.  Who could ask for anything more?

More Signs that My Baby is Growing Up

Emma came home the other day with a smile on her face.  She handed me this paper and let me know it was the first "real" grade she has gotten.  Yes it is an A and we are so proud of how hard she is working in school.  Of course her statement followed with, "Yes I know I could do better; Lindsay got all 5's."  I assured her that she could not get 100%, 100% of the time and that her dad and I are thrilled with 98%.  I wish I could show you her art work instead of the grading sheet but the teacher kept it at school to decorate the classroom.  I hope to see it when we go to back to school night.

Are my kids going to turn out alright?

So over the last few months Shawn and I have really been talking about what kind of people we want our children to be.  Some of this is spawned by wanting to help our children overcome some of our short comings and some is based on experiences we have had with people in our lives. 

I feel this need to create flexible yet strong, respectful, contributing members of society.  I did get a small glimps of Isaac's ability to do this the other day.  He went to play with a friend and at that friends house they are not allowed to use the word kill.  Now, we are not allowed to use that word toward other people but if it is one action figure saying it to another we over look that rule.  But once he was informed of this rule at his friend's house he and his little friend decided to use the term "knocked out."  He got home that night and insisted on going back over to tell his little friend that he had thought of a new word they could use... "defeated."  Yes, I know this seem small but I was so proud of my son for adjusting to the cards he was dealt and making the best of it. 

Another lesson I want to teach my children to be respectful of and value other people's time. I hope that by teaching them to find value in their own time that they can learn to appreciate the time others dedicate to helping them in all aspects of life. I do not want my children to be those people who take advantage of others with no thought of it. A person that thinks the world revolves around them, their life and their schedule and it can be changed on whim with no notice.


I want my children to be good decision makers.  I think all parents want this for their children but I think many are more successful at acheiving this than others.  If you are one of those parents that have children that are great decission makers please let me know.  I have watched those that I love make decissions that move them in a direction that I know they don't want to be going and wonder, can they not see the path in front of them?  How do I help my children open their eyes and see past the moment and into tomorrow?  How do I get them to focus beyond the inconvienience and see the reward.  Have you ever taken a picture and the point your camera chooses to focus on what is in the foreground but it blurs out the beauty of the background, the bigger picture, the reason you decided to take the picture in the first place?  I want my children to see the whole picture the beauty behind the blur. 

In sacrament meeting on Sunday a story was told relating the war in heaven to the raising children.  We need to let our children make choices and experience the consequences.  They should experience both failures and successes.  I hope that I will have the strength as I continue to raise my children to allow them to make their own decissions, so that their successes will be theirs and their failures will be their lesson to learn. 

I need my children to know that they get to write their own life story.  They can make their life look exactly like they dream.  Often times that dream requires more work than people are willing to put into it, but it can be done.  I need to find a way to teach them that the harder they work the "luckier" they will be.  Decide what you want in your life and make it a priority.

So I am begging you, if you have tips on how to do this please let me know.  I know I have really great kids and I don't want to fail them.  I hope to be able to teach them to take control and be who they want to be.

Mother of the Year --- Maybe Next Year

It is official I am out of the running for Mother of the Year.  Isaac had a short day today.  I (or someone designated) is required to pick him up at the bus stop.  I headed down in plenty of time; I was worried that I would be bored waiting for him at the bus stop so took a second to find my book to read while I waited.  I arrived at the bus stop to see a mother yelling, "Stop! stop! she is here, she is here."  Yes, the bus was already there and they were about to take my sweet son back to the school to wait for me to come pick him up. (Good thing I decided not to go back for a water.)

I guess we will see tomorrow if I learned my lesson.

Our trip to PA

We began out trip to PA with a little bit of a rough start.  I woke up with a migraine and decided to sleep a couple of hours to try to get rid of it.  We had tickets to see Independence Hall at 1:00.  We pulled out at 9:30 and arrived in Philadelphia at 12:30.  We were told to pick up our tickets AT LEAST 1 hour before the tour time to give ourselves time to get through security and other stuff.  I ran and got our tickets (due to the line I didn't have them in hand until 12:45) took the 3 kids with me and my honey went to park the car. Will you believe that I got 3 kids through security, changed a diaper and we all still made it to the 1:00 tour time.  I couldn't believe that it worked out, but I was so grateful it did.  The tour was worth the hurry, all be it short.   

One of the highlights in the beginning of the trip was looking for National Treasure spots. As you can see in the picture this is the place where Nicholas Cage found Ben Franklin's glasses.

One of the things Shawn really wanted to do on this trip was to eat a Philly Cheese steak.  So we stopped by a little bistro to have lunch.  The food was great, the service sucked!  But he got his Philly cheese steak sandwich. 

When we got to the Liberty Bell one of the Rangers had silly bands.  As you can imagine Emma was all over that.  We of course got our own patriotic silly bands too. 

Day 2 we went to Valley Forge.  We had so much fun there.  It was a near spiritual experience.  It was absolutely beautiful; which is ironic because it was cold, wet, muddy and treeless back when the Continental Army was settling for the winter but I would say it is now a small piece of American Heaven. 

Here the kids are in one of the huts (replica) built for 13 soldiers to share.

 
 
 
 

Isaac was thrilled with the cannons.  He was "aiming" this one at the British. 

We eventually joined the Continental Army to help fight for our independence.

We finished our day at the headquarters of George Washington.  The coolest thing about this place was that 75-85% of the building is original to when General Washington was there. It was cool as we walked up and down the stairs to know that our hands were holding onto the same railing that George and Martha Washington had used to climb those same stairs. 

I have done many of the Washington things around D.C. and I have always had a great deal of respect for the part George Washington played in the creation of our country but after walking through Valley Forge I have to say my respect has grown to admiration and love. 

Day 3 back to Philadelphia.

We started our last day at the Constitution Museum. As you can see Eli LOVED it. I do hope when the day comes that he learns about the Constitution that it is intact and being upheld by the people.

We all signed the Constitution signifying that we supported the document in its original form and seek to uphold it. 

 

One of the things the kids liked best about the experience was the "Once Upon a Nation."  They had these story tellers both in Phili and Valley Forge.  After almost every story Emma said, "This is how they should teach us at school.  We should just get to go from bench to bench and hear stories."  I have to agree with her it was a great way to learn.

So that was our trip.  Of course there were many other things we saw and learned, but I guess if you want to see them you will just have to go yourself.  We loved the trip and are actually hoping to fit in one more trip up that way before we leave here. 

1st Day of School

After returning from a long weekend in PA we finally got to bed and in my fatigued state I set my alarm clock to go off at 6pm.  So when I rolled over and peeked at the time this morning I was jolted out of bed when I realized it was 25 after 6.  Emma had to catch the bus at 7:00 and it was the first day of school so hair and clothes must be perfect.  It was a race against the clock but as you can see we made it in plenty of time to get her out the door. 

One of my favorite things about the school year this year is that Isaac catches the bus exactly one hour after Emma does.  So we do not have the early morning fighting, teasing, bossing and lolly gagging with each other.  I came in the house after walking Emma to the bus stop and got Isaac going.  He was a little more nervous and woke up with a really bad headache.  I'm sure I seemed like the most high maintenance mother as I took him in and introduced myself to the teacher.  I explained that Isaac wears glasses but doesn't have them today, and then went onto tell him the my kid had a headache and I made him come to school because it was the first day.  Isaac was feeling much better by the time we got to school but I miss having a teacher I can go into and talk to like a friend about my kids.  Yes, it is true although I never doubted it I miss VV very much.  Before I sent Isaac off to school I found him thumbing through a photo album of a CA friend and he told me he hope he can make as good a friend here as he had in CA. 

Surprisingly enough I had planned to do the dance of joy when my kids finally made it out the door for a new school year, but I did shed a few tears as I walked back to my car after dropping Isaac off. 

You will be happy to know that when Isaac got home he had informed me he made a new friend... Daniel.  Daniel plays Star Wars with him and after they learn about the Revolutionary War next week they are going to play that too.  (Daniel will be General Washington and Isaac will be one of his Life Guards...his BEST Life Guard.) 

The best thing about their day:

Emma- "I got my own locker."

Isaac- "I got to ride the bus home."

The Beginning of the End

Yesterday we went to Emma's new school to get her locker and meet her home room teacher.  I have to say I can not believe my baby is going to be in middle school.  I really do feel like it is the beginning of the end of her being our "little girl."   Before we know it she will be talking back, rolling her eyes and want to spend more time with friend than with us.  --- Oh wait!!!  We are already there.

Nonetheless, she is not our baby anymore.  I can't believe how fast time flies.  As we plan our life from here in the DC area to South America it hit us that when we are bidding on our next post Emma will be entering 8th grade.  How did that happen?  But for here and now we will be just focusing on the wonderful moments we have with our 10 year old, 6 year old and little one.