Sam's many faces

Since people are saying who they think Sam looks like, I would like to say I agree with both Robin and Sarah. Sam looks so different in different pictures too. I discovered this yesterday picking out pictures for the blog. Here are two pictures. One I think looks just like Tim, one looks just like David. You tell me if you agree. This first one looks like Tim to me. The expression and shape of his face really make me think of him.

And this one looks like David. The smile is identical...especially if you see any pictures of him as a kid.

My Baby turns 3

Today is Sam's 3rd birthday. I am so thrilled to have my little baby growing up. I really don't mind my kids growing up at all. My opinion is that kids just get more and more fun the older they get. That may change when my kids turn 12 but I hear it doesn't have to. I hope I am so lucky. So far I have felt very lucky with all my kids in all their "difficult" stages.

This is a first. I have never had a child turn 3 and they not have a younger sibling. I don't mind that change either. I can give my baby the attention he wants. I just may potty train this one earlier than the others too but I am not holding my breath. Actually. . . until he is potty trained. . . maybe I should. Sammy is our little sunshine right down to his blond hair. Lincoln and Sam seem to be as good as buddies and Joe and Elisabeth. That is so fun to see. He is such a gift to our family. Thanks for being part of our family Sammy!

The Sabbath is not a day of rest

Today was one of those Primary substituting nightmares. Oh my gosh. First of all I volunteered Friday to substitute for a primary class that none of my kids are in. I thought I had no good reason to say no so I said yes. Yesterday I remembered that today I was hoping to get a bunch of recipe cards from people in Relief Society so I DID have a good excuse. It would only make my life more convenient so it wasn't an absolutely perfect excuse and the people I was subbing for left town Friday. Too late to back out, darn it!

They split the CTR 8 into 2 classes. We have subbed for the one with Elisabeth in it and that is pretty low key, one or two hyper boys but this class has like 4 CRAZY kids! Boy did they play off of eachother too. You know those days when you want to come home and cry? This was one of them.

I learned a little something today, next time, when someone asks if you will substitute their primary class and you don't have to cause your kid isn't in it? SAY NO! Especially when you have subbed for other classes and observed that class from a distance and thought, I am glad my kid isn't in that class so I don't have to sub for that one.

I also have 13 ladies who I need to get recipes from by the end of tomorrow. Since tomorrow is Sam's birthday I would like to get it done by tonight. So far that doesn't look likely. So after I leave here in a few minutes I am going to pick up 3 ladies cards and call it good for today. I called all of them and that is the best I can do. Substituting for primary is about all I can handle of "sabbath day rest" for one day.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

There are good and bad things about what was accomplished today in our back yard. First of all we are going to get a new shed. This of course is a good thing. The one that was there had a rotting floor, and no door to keep kids out of the dangerous stuff inside. We have someone coming out Wednesday to build a new one for us. YAY! So that is another good thing. Not only are we getting a new shed but we aren't going to build it ourselves. This is a picture from the company we are using. Our's isn't going to be exactly like this but this will give you an idea. It will be white with dark green trim to match our house.
The bad is that I got some nasty splinters moving the rotted wood. Ouch. They have been bugging me like crazy. Really deep and difficult.

The ugly is now we have a HUGE pile of rotted wood with nails in it at the back of our house. So much for keeping kids out of dangerous stuff huh? Who knows how we are going to get rid of that dangerous eye sore in our back yard? Anyone have any brilliant ideas? I want to cry!

Here I Go Again!

When Tim and I lived in our old house we had lots of excuses for not working out more. One of them was that we didn't live closer to the rec center because if we did? We would be working out EVERY DAY!

Well. Now we live in another house and as it is we can see the rec center from our bedroom window, and our house from the Rec Center entrance. We also have a cheap years membership because of Tim's working at UVSC and we get a large group discount. The only thing between us and the rec center is the track that belongs to the rec center which means a 7 minute stroll. How rediculous is that? We have been living here since September and guess what. We have NOT been working out every day. Except for a date or two we havn't worked out at all...not at the rec center anyway.

I think spring helps wake you up or something because every spring I start thinking...ummm why AREN'T we getting up early and working out? I think the answer would always be...because in the winter it is too dang cold and dark to be parting from one's bed a single milisecond earlier than you absolutely have to to survive in this world. The rest of the day is just too crazy really.
Anyway last Friday Tim and I had one of those moments of rediscovery. Now we have been working out . . two days. It is just a start but at least it is a start.

The best part I find is that there isn't that constant nagging reminder in my head ...."I need to find sometime to exercise today." Exercising makes me be a little more picky about what I eat too. I am not going to get up early, sweat on a treadmill or eliptical for 1/2 an hour to lose 110 calories, just to replace them with a Twinkie. I am not saying I resist all sweets but the cheapo not so satisfying ones are easier to resist. You have put some investment in your health so you are going to work a little harder to protect the investment.

This happens every spring. I get excited about getting into shape again. I love it. I just wish I knew how to keep up the good habbits in the winter. They got to pot EVERY winter. No fail.

If you want to see what one of my treadmill workouts look like, here is a little peak. :^) The people at the rec center get kind of miffed that Tim and I take up all the treadmills.

Something to Always Remember

I read this quote on another blog I share with some friends. I loved it. We all need friends like Christopher Robin to remind us of important truths like these.

"Promise me you will always remember:

You're braver than you believe,

and stronger than you seem,

and smarter than you think."

(Christopher Robin to Pooh)

How Stupid do you think I am?

First of all, please don't answer that question, I am NOT asking YOU! I am asking Joe's friends. Last Friday he was playing outside in front of our house with some kids from the culdesac on the other end of our dead end road. They asked if they could come in and I said yeah. Then it occured to me their parents may never think to look for them here since they never played at our house before. I asked them if they had a time they needed to be back and if their Mom's knew where they were. One kids said yes he needed to call his Mom. The other kid said
"My mom doesn't care where I am." I asked,
"Well, when do you need to be home?"
"Actually my Mom doesn't care when I get home. I don't have to be home until 10 O'clock PM"

This boy is an 8 year old. I know of his family from church. I don't think his mom doesn't care. I looked up his mom's number on the ward list and had him call her. When he did, guess what! He had to go home because it was dinner time. SURPRISE!

That would have been a great way to make friends in our culdesac. Keep him at our house 'til 10:00pm and not notify his mom where he was.
"But he said he didn't have to be home until 10:00pm and that you didn't care. It isn't my fault your son is a liar!"

Busy Week Ahead, and Guilt to Boot.

These are my favorite stress foods
.
This week I am feeling a little bit stressed. I have to
1. Write a 3-5 page paper
2. Record an interview showing all the interviewing skills I learned this semester
3. Pass out recipe cards to 15 sisters in the ward so they can fill them out and get them to me to make a ward cook book. Doesn't sound so hard does it? But I have to make sure I give it to them in person. That means I need to either go out 15 seperate times (these people are not my next door neighbors, I have to drive or walk a little while for all of them) when it is good for them, or find a time that is good for all of them to be at home at the same time. HA! I am not looking forward to it.
4. Get food to refill our 72 hour kit meals.
5. Kids are home from school all week so I have to keep them happy I guess.

Today I went to the library with the kids. Then they asked. . . "Mom, can we go to the park today?" I tried to think how I could possibly want to do that. Today was a beautiful day and the next two days at least, maybe more, are not supposed to be as nice so it seemed a shame not to go and enjoy the weather. Maybe we could have a picnic lunch too, maybe we could go to a different park then our standard one. These all turned out not to be. I just got more and more stressed trying to make it happen and thinking of not getting to work on my dreaded tasks.

I took the kids to the store and looked for picnic food on the way home from the library. I bought my ultimate temptation food that I usually don't allow myself to buy, Cheetos. You can tell I am stressed when I buy one of my 3 temptaion foods. Cheetos, Cheese Its or Oreos. Watch out, Mom is stressed !!! At least the kids get a bunch of it too, so they don't generally complain. Usually it is "Hooray!"s all around. I also did research on possible ideas I had for 72 hour kit menus. All of them expire in the next few months so I can't buy them darn it. Back to the drawing board I guess.

I spent the rest of the afternoon making progress on the other three items on my to do list. I worked on my paper (now I just have to reread it one more time Friday night), made an appointment to have the interview take place tomorrow night and put together packets for the recipe cards to be handed out. Now I will be more at ease about everything and more fun for the kids to hang around. Maybe I might even clean the cyclone that is my house right now. Tim is being awesome and making dinner.

I had a productive day right? I have felt less guilt on far less productive days. I did something to accomplish every thing on my to do list today. Took the kids to the library, checked on 72 hour kit stuff, bought the kids one of our favorite snacks, and worked on the other 3 projects. Why do I feel guilty? Because I didn't take the kids to the park! It was a beautiful day but I put my own comfort of mind over their entertainment and health. No wonder so many Moms are on Prozac. . or Cheetos. Enough is never enough. You could have always eaten. . I mean done more.

Spring Break! (not what it is for some but nice none the less)

I had a great weekend! Beautiful weather first and most of all. My family and I could not get enough of the sunshine. We finished the square foot garden preperations on Thursday night. Tim made a box that gives us 4 x 10 square feet. Filled it with fertilizer and top soil and marked each square foot off with string. We bought and planted our first crop of strawberries and rhubarb friday night. This year for the first time I am very interested in being involved in the garden project. In the past I just let Tim do it. I don't know if it is just that our youngest is now almost preschool age so I feel more free to persue hobbies like gardening or if it is I am SO SICK of being inside and am looking for excuses to be outside these days. I might also be tired of having to answer the question of "What are you planting this year?" with "You will have to ask Tim."

Saturday we went to Lowes and Walmart and bought some more vegetables and herbs for our garden. I surprised myself with how excited I was to see all the different choices and how excited I was to make them. Even better than that, the kids are excited too. We are involving them in the garden as well. They were almost as excited as me. We bought grape tomatos (my favorite), roma tomatos, basil, green bell peppers, carrot seeds, corn seeds, lemon balm, peppermint, rosemary, acorn squash seeds, and maybe an herb or more I can't remember at the moment. (You will have to ask Tim :) )

After gorging ourselves on Red Robin burgers and bottomless fries we came home and planted our new harvest. We also enjoyed our new sunburns. I do this every year. I embrace the first signs of sun and then I remember, oops...the sun is not as friendly as I remembered it andI need to protect myself and my family.

Sunday we had Family Home Evening in the back yard. We made 72 hourkits last year and so we went thorugh our inventory and got rid of the old food and made sure we had all the non food stuff in our bags.. We plan on repacking everyones bags with new food and inventoried supplies next Sunday. I really hope we don't have need for our 72 hour kits between now and then or are we going to be an unhappy family. The one week we decide we can risk being without. My kids are gorging themselves on granola bars, fruit snacks and trail mix. If anyone has a good menu for a 72 hour kit please let me know. Fruit snacks get really gross after a year just as a warning. I am looking for ideas. So far we have not been pleased by the ones we have seen. After FHE the kids played for hours on the hammock and the new tree swing that Tim made at Joes insistance.

I love Spring. Too bad we wont be able to enjoy it all week. It is supposed to be 40 degrees the next two days and rainy. YUCK! It is spring break for the kids this week too so if it is icky I can't send kids out to play. My older kids are home to help entertain and watch my younger kids. What a nice break for me that is. I slept in until 10 a. m. today! I love spring break!

IKEA beds do it better than Dad...or Mom

I am so tired. Last night, well actually this morning at 4am Sam woke up crying. I went to him and comforted and went back to sleep. He appeared to have had a bad dream. 20 minutes later, he cried again, this time he wanted his light on, and then again. This time I woke up Tim and asked him to check on him. He wanted Mommy appearently because Daddy would not do. I heard from my bed "NO, MOMMY!" (Sam said that, not Tim.) Great!

I went and talked to him again, he wanted his light off this time. A little disgusted by now, I told him he needed to stop this because I needed my sleep and so did he. He tried to be a trooper but he kept waking up crying and then falling asleep again. Tim said he probably was having nightmares about disaperaing Mom's because he seemed shocked when they got home and I wasn't in the car anymore. He was asleep when I got out of the car to join my friends for a girls night. What is this, punishment for ditching my family for my friends?

I finally went and slept in his bed with him. That was fun! He tried to turn on his light while I was there and I had to give him the ultimatum, me or the light. "but I like light." He finally caved. After some wacky dreams, strange sounds and smells coming from my 3 sons, Lincoln's light being on, and tossing and turning I decided to go back to my bed. I also decided after sleeping in Sam's bed that maybe it was time to change his quilt cover. It's in the washing machine right now.

Not much later Sam awoke and came to our bed. After about 1/2 an hour I asked him if I could take a shower as it was time to get up. I was sure he wouldn't give me up. . .but he said quite happily "OK". I don't know how to feel about that. Appearently Mom and Dad's bed with or without Mom will do just fine. This would be a good plug for IKEA beds I guess. When you have an IKEA bed who needs Mom? He is still sleeping in my bed and it is 10:30 a.m. He never sleeps in this late. The poor little guy. Wait. . . he is the one still asleep, in my bed no less. Poor me! ----- Original Message -----