Author Study: Mo Willems

I'm back...periodically. =)

Occasionally we do author studies. We check out one copy of LOTS of books by the same author. Some times it takes a few trips, as it did with this author we did a couple years ago--Mo Willems. We all love his books. Especially Piggie & Elephant.

Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator
City Dog, Country Frog
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed
Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct
Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Time to Say "please"!

Piggie & Elephant Books
Happy Pig Day!
I Love My New Toy! - favorite
I Am Invited to a Party!
I Am Going!
Can I Play Too?
I Broke My Trunk!
Listen to My Trumpet!
I Will Surprise My Friend! - favorite
Elephants Cannot Dance!
Today I Will Fly!
Pigs Make Me Sneeze!
Should I Share My Ice Cream? - favorite
There Is a Bird on Your Head!
My Friend Is Sad
We Are in a Book! - favorite
Watch Me Throw the Ball! - favorite
Are You Ready to Play Outside? - favorite

Cat the Cat Series
Cat the Cat, Who Is That?
What's Your Sound, Hound the Hound?
Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly!
Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep!

Pigeon Series
The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! - favorite

Knuffle Bunny Series
Knuffle Bunny
Knuffle Bunny Too
Knuffle Bunny Free

Pretend it's May/June 2010

More updating. We're getting there. :)

More on homeschooling and learning styles
Finished reading The Well Trained Mind by Jesse Wise. Amazing book. Have had a copy for so long (borrowed from my friend) but hadn't spent much time with it until now (end of May/early June) as it's so big and overwhelming. Yet one night after deciding I needed to seriously consider homeschooling, and feeling strongly led in that direction that it may be the right thing for Bekah, despite my inclination to not want to do it, I read almost the whole thing in one night (all but chapter 1 and the jr high, high school years). Didn't get much sleep, but sometimes you just really feel like God is directing you and wants you to do something even in the middle of the night. It's the only time to really meditate and be able to see the whole picture of something because there are no interruptions. Somehow I was blessed with seeing more of the big picture of elementary education and how to go about it for our situation. Reading review after review of curriculum, yet within minutes receiving inspiration just by having it feel right or not right, and at the same time having to ignore my strong inner makeup that tells me I have to research everything about everything so I can make informed decisions. Learning to trust those feelings and acknowledging that it's help I need, so I can move on and do what needs to be done. I don't think I've ever felt that much inspiration flowing through me in that short of a time frame. (And I sure do look back and remember this night when the days get hard, when I wonder why I am doing this. The scripture somewhere that says "why doubt ye? I have already given you an answer" frequently comes to my mind.)

Sometimes I wish I could feel that 'pure inspiration flowing' into me more often, it's such a wonderful feeling to really feel like you're headed on the right path and not just hoping or guessing you're near it. I wish I had more time to ponder and meditate, but it seems to always come at the expense of leaving something else undone my family or my household needs. Motherhood lately seems to comprise less of diaper changing and feeding, and more of taxi-ing, phone calls, and constant interruptions. I'm not sure I like this increased busy-ness...it's so hard to make time to enjoy. I guess that's a hidden blessing of having another child is it forces you to feed and diaper change which ends up being a wonderful break from the hectic pace of life. If you would have told me this while in the thick of it with Bekah, I would never have believed it!

Later in May...studying more about curriculum and assessing learning styles. Fun side track trying to guess what Meiers Briggs code we each are! My best guess is Bekah is ENFP, but I think that might change as she gets older (Extrovert, intuiting, feeling, perceiving). Myself, INFJ (Introvert, intuiting, feeling, judging). I'm guessing Jason is ISTJ or ISTP (Introvert, sensing, thinking, and either judging or perceiving). Easy to see how Bekah is constantly feeling like life is boring since we're both introverts and she's not! It says a good occupation for Bekah's style is journalist--totally perfect fit! She loves to watch and listen for the news and has to know what's going to everyone everywhere! She loves getting the whole story. And she loves stories that really happened. She will love studying history!

Best introductory homeschooling book I've read so far: So You're Thinking About Homeschooling by Lisa Whelchel, former Fact of Life actress. Really easy read and helps introduce about 17 possible ways to homeschool. Totally makes you feel like you can find a method that works for you.

Piano lessons and summer job
I think in all these updating posts, I think I forgot to mention that I've started teaching piano lessons. Never thought I'd be one of those moms who works two jobs and still holds it together--I always thought I didn't have it in my to do all that and it seems like what supermoms do. But it is what it is. I was surprised to discover what the going rate for lessons out here is, so it makes it profitable in a third of the time it takes to clean a house! So at the end of March I began teaching one of Bekah's friends whose mom asked if I would teach. I also started teaching Bekah as well--wondered if teaching my own child would work, but since she's aware of someone else taking lessons and is at about the same level, it keeps her motivated to learn.

I'm finding I like teaching more than I thought I would. I've taught here and there, but never to do it for a regular paycheck. And I never liked the idea of forcing kids to practice when I know if that had happened to me I never would have liked the piano so much. But at the same time, I'm finding it wonderful to remember how excited I am about music and finding ways to inspire others to find that enjoyment.

So since it's summer now (Jason is done with his semester May 1st) I go back to working 3-4 days a week cleaning houses, and now piano lessons 1 day a week. (Thus the reason for almost no blogging or keeping up with friends since then. And just wait, it only gets crazier in September!) This gives Jason a sorely needed break from teaching, allow us to have an income with a flexible schedule so we can go to Utah for 4 weeks this summer, and frees up Jason's time to finish his office and the family room in the basement (originally for more play space, but now using it for homeschool mostly). I don't mind cleaning houses when you have clients you like to clean for, but these past two summers when you get random clients it's really hard to go to work. You never know what you're going to find. It might take 3 hours, it might take 6. You might be threatened by pets or overwhelmed by mold. It's not easy work. It's hard on my body. But it's worked out to be the best job for me right now as I know my weaknesses and limitations--needing a highly flexible schedule where I can leave the work day at work and not be tempted to be a workaholic. The occasional tips are nice too. :)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010
When I got home from work and taking Jason to the doctor and getting medicine, just in time for Bekah to get home from school, we tried to do something fun and spontaneous since Bekah was having a rough day. So we donned our bathing suits and turned the hose on in the front yard, only to be attacked by mosquitoes! They are extremely bad this year! Even the long-timers say it's bad. They come out in the day now, not just at night, and since we're behind on cutting our grass and haven't sprayed yet, they love our house. Poor Bekah. In 10 minutes we had about 10 bites between us. We had to stop. So to make up for it, we let the kids play in their suits in the bathtub with water guns and spray bottles. Almost as fun! They had a blast. We should do that more often. Except then JJ slipped and hit his head. Poor James.

Jason still has bronchitis and is trying some new medicine. I took the kids out of the house so he could sleep and we found a night light for James! Both kids love it! It's this cute white bear they named Fuzzy as soon as they saw it. It's a rechargeable animal you can carry around with you that runs on LED lights from Target. James has started not sleeping through the night because he's become scared of the dark, so we're hoping this will solve the problem. It's too much for me to deal with a sick husband and a toddler who won't sleep through the night anymore and work during the day all at the same time. This one night while Jason was gone on his trip, went to bed late because of homeschool research, slept for a half hour when JJ started screaming! He took an hour to fall back asleep, then awake again at his normal 7am. This happened both Fri and Sat night. Then Sunday night when I was trying to go to bed early (albeit 11pm) JJ woke up right then screaming and he'd only calm down if I stayed in the room so I ended up falling asleep in his chair until 1am. Finally got into my bed, only be woken up by Bekah who had a bad dream. Then JJ started crying again! I don't remember what happened after that, but I ended up averaging 4 hours of sleep each night Jason was gone! Sure taught me how hard single parenting is. So I'm hoping the night light helps James.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
It worked! JJ screamed for about 2 seconds and then it was silent. He put himself back to sleep! The night light, although not cheap, was worth every penny!
Ended up going to urgent care today because a bug bite I got on my hand while running in the hose started swelling up. Put me on antibiotic and dr also decided to give me a tetanus shot since I think I was 16 for the last one. That hurt worse than my thumb! And it made me feel exhausted. (Come to think of it--it was probably my crazy last several days that actually did it!) Ended up rescheduling work for another day.

Thursday, June 3, 2010
Spent an HOUR on the phone with AT&T trying to fix our internet. (Had to be after 9pm since we're out of minutes this month again--luckily their call center is open late.) I'm sensing no savings of time due to technology lately. Sometimes it's so frustrating I almost don't want new things to be invented because I don't want to have to keep up--it's too expensive, takes too much time to learn or starts new habits I didn't have to learn about before.

Friday, June 4, 2010
Bekah and I are reading a kids biography of Abigail Adams, received from her nana for her birthday. Thank you! She loves hearing historical fiction stories.

Saturday, June 5, 2010
JJ went from communicating by noise (could say drink but always preferred making slurping noises instead, knew how to say 'dog' but made 'ruff, ruff' noises intead--that kind of thing--can we say auditory learner!), to very slowly using one word here and there, to fully blasting forward into sentences! And he's using I/me/you in correct form! I'm pretty sure he doesn't realize what he's saying but he copies us a lot. He learns new words every day. He loves big characters he can go hug, like Chuck E Cheese. (He would have LOVED Cosmo!) Favorite phrases right now are "I did it", " 'mon" for come on, "They're coming" for birds (not sure why he got into that), "outside", "lawnmower" sometimes calling it "mow mow", "miwt" or "milt" for milk, and "ug" for hug.

He used to communicate with us by having us ask him a list of questions or so to try to guess what he'd want since having a hard time verbalizing it. So we'd ask things like "diaper change?" JJ: "Nooow" or shake head no or act upset. "Change clothes?" JJ same reaction. "Eat...hungry?" Same. "Blanket?" If this is what he wanted he'd start forced laughing! And that's how you'd know you got it right! It almost sounded like 1/2 crying 1/2 laughing.

He says "Tant U, Wew com" together 'thank you, welcome'--he thinks they go together. He's said "I found it!", "I see it!", "Hold you", "Tee bee" for TV, "mote" for remote, and "Hew-whoa" to mean phone or hello. When he wants Jason to get up out of the rocking chair so mom can rock him to sleep or read stories, while Jason is still holding him, James will grab Jason's shoulder, pull up, and say "Moof!"...which means "out of the chair, I'm done with you, mom's turn to sit in the chair". Hilarious!

His favorite books are A Truck Goes Rattley Bumpa by Jonathan London, "eb-ry-fin" means A Purpose for Everything or A Place for Everything, series by Larry Stewart (love these!)

Went to Chuck E Cheese this afternoon as a family. They added Guitar Hero--my new favorite game! Maybe we should get a wii...

Sunday, June 6, 2010
Favorite moments today:
--Sitting with Bekah in pew during testimony time and being able to trust her to sit alone while I take care of my calling and bear my testimony (since Jason in the hall with JJ), and her helping me set up the hymn numbers up front before church
--JJ walking into nursery, fully decked in his newsie's cap and blazer, hair slightly over his ears, sandwich bag in hand for lunch, all by himself, no crying as I left.
--Pretending we're riding a train while in the car so JJ will stop being upset about not being on a real train (we pass one on the way to/from church), saying things like "the next stop will be..." pretending to be conductors and engineers, "now arriving..."
--family game time playing "mom says" or "dad says" (like simon says). When it was Bekah's turn to choose she said "the chicken dance!" Then Jason found the music for the bunny hop and we hopped around the house and into JJ's room for bed. Totally funny memory I'll always remember, us all acting like chickens and bunnies!
--Papa pretending to be animals for JJ on the phone
--Bekah excited to play piano for me and listening and watching me play
--getting out Bekah's baby quilt and reading the secret message in the stitching
Wonderful day.

Monday, June 7, 2010
Got a bad headache on Saturday and it's still not gone. Pain at the base of my neck, stiffening my neck, throbbing in my throat, ear fullness, little bit of sinus pressure. Feels like a congestion headache but nose not stuffy. Maybe a reaction to spreading mulch on Saturday.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010
What a weird day. Headache seemed better, so went to work. Bam--the headache came on hard and fast. I almost passed out from the pain and was almost crying, but I finished the house (in the fastest time ever amazingly), Jason picked me up (he had the car--good thing cause I was in too much pain to drive) and took me to urgent care. I told them it was the worst headache I'd ever had. It was. But that started a chain of events: an iv for pain meds and fluids, CAT scan and other tests, headache still there, so wanted me to go to the hospital for more tests, but since had the iv they were required to send me in an ambulance! So went to immediate care about 11:45am, waved goodbye to family thinking I'd see them in a hour, ended up at the hospital about 3-4pm, neurologist comes in at 5:30/6pm says I need to stay overnight for observation! She said it could be a sinus infection or migraine, but also could be meningitis or a small bleed because of my head injury in Jan. By the time my MRI was done it was 7:30 and JJ was really needing to get to sleep. So I never got to see my family again that day. My visiting teacher (bless her soul) brought me a bag Jason had packed, complete with Bekah's teddy bear and food to eat. So here I am with a 15in TV that's pretty far away up in the corner of the ceiling, a leaky faucet, and wall clock that ticks every 1/2 second when the second hand is from the 6 to the 2 (can you tell I was bored?), plus all the noise from the nurses station across from me with only a curtain between us. It was very difficult to sleep. But I guess no worse than being interrupted by scared kids all night--although I would have preferred that. :{ I miss my family.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010
MRI results showed sinusitis. All this for just that! But how grateful I am it was only that. But didn't get released from hospital until 9pm!! The whole day was spent waiting for the neurologist to show up and look at the results. The int med dr and the ENT both said I could go about noon. At 6pm, neurologist shows up and ordered ANOTHER CT, this time with dye. By that time, I told Jason to come and bring kids hoping that would get me out of here faster, even though it was past JJ's bedtime at that point. The nurses gave the kids ice cream. What a day! At least Walgreens filled the Rx in 5 minutes! Obviously had to reschedule work for the next few days.

Sunday, June 13, 2010
Substituted for organist in church today. Very humbling since I totally messed up and got all the sound buttons wrong. At least all my music callings have forced us to be early to church.

After church we watched home movies from Disneyland and JJ started calling Darth Vader "helmut". The kids were wanting dessert but we didn't have much and amazingly I had recently got some free martini glasses, I pulled those out and made yogurt parfaits with crushed cornflakes on top (since we were out of granola) and the kids loved it! Maybe a new family tradition. James thought the glasses were candles except you got to eat them.

Tonight Bekah was listing all the things she loves:
"1. Heavenly Father & Jesus the same. 2. Then my family. 3. Next is my relatives all the way until the end. 4. Then my blankies."
She's decided since Jason still has his baby blanket (used as a pillow) that she "will sleep with my blankie when I'm an adult too, since daddy is my relative and we are connected."

Monday, June 14, 2010
Bekah lost a tooth tonight without even knowing it! She wrote a note to the tooth fairy after Jason pointed out she was missing a tooth (we think lost while brushing teeth), luckily the tooth fairy wrote back the she found it in the drain as she's always looking for lost teeth and gave her a $1. The P.S. part said "Thanks for cleaning your room so I can move around easier." Hopefully that will sink in.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Internet still not working! It worked for bit last time the tech came, but now it's been out for a few days. And now our TV doesn't work either. Kids were going nuts waiting in the house all day for the rep to show up, and once he did they couldn't watch TV or play in the living room so despite mosquitoes and the weather, I took the kids for a walk in the stroller to the school park across the street. It started raining and I didn't even care. So we swung on the swings and sang, in the rain which started drizzling and then very quickly started downpouring, so we ran home totally soaked, as Bekah says, "Those people in their cars are so lucky!" I was thinking not. What a memory.

Since Bekah's been out of school she's mellowed out some, is more helpful and patient, and her and JJ play longer together. JJ's vocabulary has increased tons--wonder if this is connected to hearing Bekah more. Homeschooling is looking better and better.

Thursday, June 17, 2010
Lately I especially love being around Bekah. I already feel closer with learning new things together (we've started some history and science this summer) and she's become my shopping friend! It's so wonderful to feel us becoming friends.
Favorite memory: Bekah setting up Mommy's Beauty Shop and doing each other's hair. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was in Bekah's place doing exactly the same thing to my mom. Sometimes it's alarming how quick it feels that life comes full circle.

Saturday, June 19, 2010
Went to the Crystal Lake beach as a family after dinner. James went up to his waist and chest in the water, no fear, before I had to pull him back some. He loves the water. Bekah's been nervous about swimming and getting in the water over her waist. But tonight she relaxed with Jason there and he was showing her some things about swimming.

Sunday, June 20, 2010
Father's Day! I tried putting the pancake batter in a squeeze bottle and made Jason pancakes shaped like D-A-D. Luckily they are letters you can turn around since I didn't realize you need to pour them backwards if you want the even color on top. I was pretty proud of myself for being so creative. :)

JJ kept saying "Appy Faddaz Dey" today--even during sacrament meeting!

Today I found out my sister is expecting!!!! I am so excited for her! It felt good to be the big sister talking it through, something I never got to experience with my first pregnancy.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Bekah really wants a pet, so she's been pretending she has one. A while back she named her plastic Halloween spider "Spike" and set up a portable cage with things for him to do in it. She would ask JJ if he wanted to hold Spike and she would take him around the house. Then it was "Lucky" the plastic goldfish for a week or two. I don't know what happened to Spike, but today she came to dinner with Lucky's baby food jar aquarium except no Lucky. Now it's Sleeping Beauty's gold high heel (plastic) and it's Ricky the cricket! She said he needed air, water, a home and food--"and he eats other insects. I know it sounds gross but that's what they do!" She said she feeds him every day.
I asked her what happened to Lucky. She said he died. "I forgot to feed him." Love her imagination!

JJ's new words: "di-shun-er" for conditioner, "cup a wa-der"

Thursday, June 24, 2010
Cleaned a house. Wanted to be mad at how demanding they were for so little thanks. While cleaning, the question popped into my mind "Why would anyone be like this?" (angrily to myself), then suddenly in a different spirit, "Why would anyone be like this? What happened to make them like this?" And suddenly was able to clean their house without being angry. I felt feeling sorry for them and how unhappy they seemed. Glad I could be someone they feel they got their money's worth on and that I cared about doing the job right.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
My cousin and her family came to visit! It was so fun to stay up late talking to Nate and Julee. We all get a long so well, and Nate is also getting his PhD in English. So fun to entertain company. We are so missing our families.

Pretend it's May 2010

Continuing on with updating our records...

Saturday, May 1, 2010
Bekah was an angel today! She caught herself from tattling...
"James is ... oh I forgot to mind my own business."
And she remembered all her bedtime routine by herself! She found satisfaction in doing good and in obeying and she said I didn't make her feel embarrassed for it, even though I noticed and said thank you. I love her!
Lately any time I've been praising her she gets embarrassed, but if I don't praise her and she notices I praise James she feels hurt. When talking to my mom about it, she pointed out that maybe it's because I'm still praising her like she's a toddler--super excited high pitched "yea!"s and "I'm so proud of you"s--cause that's what I've always done, but maybe now it's time to think about praising her in her grown up way and in her "love language". (Later note: I'm excited to read "Five Love Languages of Children" that I got for Mother's Day!)

Praise is a funny thing...I remember feeling the same way when I was a child--so wanting to feel adored and loved and yearning for that approval, but anytime that attention came feeling embarrassed about it. It's a strange dichotomy. Almost like (in my teenage somewhat-rebellious times) I wanted nothing to do with anything my parents' (or any un-cool adult) wanted me to do, and yet still wanting them to be proud of me and feeling like the only way to get there was to do what they wanted. Like I wanted them to respect me for me, not because I was doing what I was "supposed to be doing just because I was supposed to". I'm rambling a little, but interesting thoughts.

I've always heard that if you want people to respect you, you show respect for them first. Maybe praising her like a 6-7 yr old deserves (or even like I would praise an adult) will help her feel more respected and like the praise is real and not fake or inflated. And that it's something she can be proud of.

When I was in elementary school, I loved my teachers and the homework (for the most part) and the projects and just going to school period. I loved that I got more attention at school for doing good work, I got to accomplish things that were done in a day or two so I felt productive, and I got to see friends. I got to feel in control of my life a little, away from parents and siblings. But this was not Jason's experience, nor has it been Bekah's this year. Jason is pretty good at looking at things and seeing right through what they mean, whether it's ideas or people. In public school, he says he seemed to be pretty aware of the why's and what was going on and could distinguish between what was busy work and what was really relevant to him to learn. (Hope I am remembering this conversation somewhat correctly! Or that it's at least in the same spirit of things.) So if someone like this couldn't see the point of why they needed to learn a concept or do the homework, they stopped caring about doing it. And if they were required to do it, they may have felt no satisfaction in doing it because it didn't feel productive. So it was done as fast as possible or late or maybe not at all. And if too much of this happened day after day, they might decide all school is not productive and you go just because you have to and you don't really care about learning something while you're there. Some teachers might see this as underachieving, and it certainly is easy to label it as this. But with just a little individualized time together at the right time a teacher could make life applications in math or science or language arts and possibly open a child's mind to why they should care about it. And suddenly you have a student whose excited about learning and will learn it as fast as they can! You no longer have an average or below average student who might be causing "disruptions" in the classroom because they are bored or don't see the point or never feel self-satisfied with the work they're completing. Yet the answer doesn't lie in moving them up a grade to "challenge" them more, with more of the same busy work (according to the child's viewpoint). The answer could possibly lie in just needing a little more individualized attention and time in an area they are interested in.

So this goes back to praise and feeling good about the work you do. For some, it's enough to do it just because you're supposed to and you feel like you got something done, and you may almost blindly go along with it because you trust that teachers or your elders know what they're doing and the payback will eventually reward you. For others, you don't feel good about yourself because what you're doing doesn't enrich you or others and you question what it's all about. These thoughts never occurred to me before talking about this with Jason. And these thoughts have opened my mind to a whole new reality and possibility of what Bekah's future education may need to be in the next few years.

In primary at church, Bekah is so engaged and fully participates and feels fulfilled. She comes home excited about what she's learned and there are constant compliments from others who witness her exuberance! I want her to love learning at least some subjects at school just as much as she loves learning about God and her place in His plan.

Monday, May 3, 2010
Jason has been so sick off and on. Keeps getting a bad cough and cold, yet is supposed to be finishing final papers and administering finals for his students, both here at MCC and downtown at UIC. It's so hard to stop pushing yourself when you can see you only two or three more days before resting would be convenient. (Two days later I took him to the doctor and he had bronchitis and a back sprain.)
We asked our hometeacher to come mow our lawn today since Jason needs to rest. I was proud of myself that I got the tulip bulbs uprooted in tact (for the most part) so he could mow that section of grass, and I got 6 leaf piles bagged or out of the way. I worked along side the kids for some of it so we got to talk. Bekah was telling me things she talks about with the kids at recess. She told me a joke she learned.
Q: How do you make Lady Gaga cry?
A: Poke-her face.
I laughed so hard!! It was a totally funny joke! Over dinner, Bekah told the joke to Jason, and I can't remember the last time I've seen him laugh so hard! It made Bekah feel so good.
Yet at the same time I was wondering inside, what else are you learning on the playground? Do I want my first grader thinking Lady Gaga is cool to listen to right now?

Friday, May 7, 2010
Cleaned bathroom, showered, made ice cream cake, decorated living room and hall with sings, streamers, and balloons, decluttered and dusted
all by noon
when Bekah and her friend Kyla came home from the half-day at school for Bekah's birthday party.
They played. We ate cookie cutter sandwiches for lunch. Then we went to Monkey Joes while listening to monkey music in the car, getting monkey stickers, and wearing monkey socks. When they started getting bored of Monkey Joes (a bounce house place), we started playing hide 'n go seek and pretend movies. Then we got Pizza Hut, did presents, cake and played.

A few months ago, Bekah came home from school saying "Kyla's my BFF!" Jason and I had to ask "What did you just say?" We can't believe the texting/IM language is already filtering down to first graders!

Thinking more about homeschooling and my experience with BFA for high school. My mom pointed out to me (and I never even realized this!) that the same year Russ and I started BFA (meaning we only had 3 half-days of school a week so we'd be home more and our mom would have to oversee our studies a lot more) was the year my mom would have finally had all four kids in all-day school. That was a sacrifice for her.

Saturday, May 8, 2010
Stake Women's Conference--
"I know that God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He wouldn't trust me so much." --Mother Theresa

"Women are angels, and when someone breaks our wings we simply continue to fly. Sometimes on a broomstick. We are flexible that way!"--email circulating

"If your kids are fighting, they're bored."--Lois Jean Spencer's mom

"We hear a lot of 'ought to's. Pick one or two up and try them."--Bishop Burton

Unlikely Truths of Motherhood by Katie Van Dyke. Creator of Mother's Day fought to establish it, then afterwards, was saddened because felt it contributed to women feeling entitled. "Expectations are a reservation for resentment."
Don't sign up at the resentment hotel.
One year her husband forgot her birthday and it was just her and the kids, husband out of town, so she decided to throw her own birthday party and made invitations for each kid. Talked it up, made cupcakes together, and had the best birthday ever.

I always heard growing up that you need to surround yourself with good friends and good things so you can be strong enough to make good choices. To prepare for that end goal of marriage and family. And I thought about how to do this in my own for my own children growing up now. But until today I never thought about how I still need to surround myself with good things in that same way. Things that remind me that motherhood is important and noble and a privilege. In the home. In the car. On my ipod. Things that build up motherhood and womanhood. Then I'll have more strength and power to have patience and be the best wife and mother I can be. And then it will be so much more evident to my children that this is important. So maybe I'll make up some "mormon ads" for motherhood. We'll see.

*********
It's 12:11am. I'm so tired. I am feeling like nothing I do ever gets finished or even better. No matter how much I organize or declutter or put away, more stuff or the same stuff goes back in those same places. It makes me feel like it's out of my control and there's nothing I can do about it! It makes me want to scream sometimes!
I almost cried when Bekah asked if I could lay down with her for a minute or two with the lights out at bedtime. I probably should have...but I'm so tired. I'd fall asleep and then I wouldn't have got the sweeping, mopping, wiping counters, washing dishes done just so I can have some sense of peace and order for Sunday (and Mother's Day). I hope she saw that her mom loves her but sometimes she can't do everything and needs help. and needs her to do things herself. It's a hard thing to learn. But it helps us mature and grow up.
So here is what I did get done today so I can see it and feel better:
-went to stake women's conference (gone from 8am to 3pm)
-sang "In Perfect Faith" at Mark's baptism, and got lots of really nice compliments about it
-gave JJ a bath
-vacuumed almost the whole house
-watched Bekah open the rest of her presents that Jason had wrapped while we were at the baptism
-dropped off dry cleaning" of Jason whose not feeling better yet but still took care of kids all day so I could go
-took out trash and recyclables
-put away my pile of clothes that were by the bed
-loaded dishwasher
-wiped stove and counter and table down
-swept and mopped tile floor
That's more than I usually get done in two days, and I only had about half a day.
I guess sometimes I get down thought because most of that stuff has to get done again. Not that I don't want to do it again but that having to do it again means yet again no time to go through the other projects or piles of stuff that needs homes so our home can feel free and a place where we want to be. WE NEED LESS STUFF! But I don't know what to get rid of (nor do I have time to sort through it!). It's so frustrating.
I need to get some sleep. I always feel better in the morning.

Sunday, May 9, 2010
Jason gave me U2 tickets!!! Or at least a print out saying he would buy them if I wanted to go. Now I feel guilty, though, because they're expensive.
Jason made risotto for dinner. So good!

Monday, May 10, 2010
Bekah's birthday!
My birthday!
Not sure why but this year especially feeling like it's getting old having to share birthdays. But it is what it is.

Jason made us a wonderful breakfast! Bekah went to school, I had lunch with my friend (whose birthday it was also!), then I had lunch with Bekah at school, took cupcakes to Bekah's class, and cake and presents. Jason made me a 10-12 inch high ice cream cake! He made a layer for each type of candy I like. Wow!
Then Bekah and I took our "Dinner Impossible" trip Jason gave Bekah on Saturday to ride the train to Arlington Heights and eat at California Pizza Kitchen.

Thurs, May 13, 2010
So much rain our basement and small part of our roof flooded today!
McMullins end up having to move to San Fran for the summer and want to give us their U2 tickets as payback for watching over their house! Wow! I've been wanting to go to U2 since I was 16 and now I can not feel guilty about going! It's July 6th. I can't wait!
Bekah's open house was tonight. She loved showing us her art projects on display, her classroom and her book she published at the publishing center. It was dedicated to cousin Kaylee.

Friday, May 14, 2010
Bekah's well child doctor visit today:
51 lbs, 4 ft 1.5 inches.
On the way home (it was just the two of us) we talked about the possibility of homeschooling next year. Bekah was so excited about it! She kept coming up with ideas about how to learn things and how to make it fun. It was wonderful to see her enthusiasm and made me lose all doubt that we could do this.
Later that night we got nice chocolates, and as we ate one, Bekah said:
"Oh...mmm...how much do these cost?" (with mouth full of chocolates)
Mom: "About $3."
Bekah: "Remind me next time I have $3 to buy some of these!"

Saturday, May 15, 2010
So for my birthday Jason said I could buy a new vacuum (I could hardly vacuum with the one we had...it wasn't worth it much since the dust it kicked back just made the room more dirty!). With cleaning houses, I have fallen in love with the Dyson vacuums, but they are spendy. We thought long and hard and today I found one at Costco with a big rebate! So Jason said get it! I love it! I actually look for excuses to vacuum! It feels good to clean with it because I know it's cleaning so much better.
Bekah thinks I'm weird that I wanted a vacuum for my birthday. "Mom, that's not fun." Well, I guess that's what happens when you get old and become a mom. Or is it become a mom and get old. :)

Jason and I went out for dinner with our good friends tonight. We have NEVER gotten a babysitter where we just left and let go of the worry and just come home when we feel like it. But this babysitter was college age, totally trustworthy, and didn't have to be home by a certain time. So nice to really enjoy ourselves. It was a good long double date and we were with really fun people. We can't wait to do it again sometime.

Thursday, May 20, 2010
Bekah and I toured and observed HEART today, a homeschool program in Barrington that our friends go to. HEART stands for Homeschool Enrichment Achieved Respectfully Together. Every Thursday during the school year from 8:30-3:30. Very wonderful feeling there. Very Christian based. We'll see if it works out if we do decide to homeschool.

Bekah's eye doctor visit today. Left eye a little farsighted and has slight astigmatism, but not enough to need glasses yet. The doctor praised Bekah for telling the truth and not lying to try to get glasses like some kids her age do. We are proud of her for doing so, even though she does really want glasses.

Friday, May 21, 2010
We think JJ is starting to get scared of the dark. He stopped sleeping through the night like he has been. Keeps crying real cries and saying "dahk dahk" when we come in. We need to find a night light for him to see if that helps.

Saturday, May 22, 2010
Went to the Kohl's Children's Museum today. JJ's favorite area was the cars, car wash and tools section. Bekah's favorite was the grocery store and water area. Good memories.

Sunday, May 23, 2010
Thought more about homeschool today. Maybe it will only be for one year. I can't turn back the clock if I choose not to--I might regret not trying it. But if it doesn't work, she won't be behind. She's so smart, she catches on quickly. I only see regrets if I don't try it.

Monday, May 24, 2010
Been cleaning houses about 3 days a week this month. Today I cleaned two houses. Jason made lettuce wraps for dinner! Yum!
When you work all day and come home and see everything fine without you, you begin to think you didn't miss out on anything and that you still know how everything is. It's a slow process if you work full-time as a mom--to where you think this is working out to be gone all day. "I can still be a good mom" but you don't see what you're missing and you get out of the loop without even realizing it. You don't notice their new habits or how much TV they've had or snacks they've had, or new words they've said or things they've learned. You don't have that ability to oversee the whole picture to make better decisions for tomorrow or right now. You don't see how important it is to be there when the kids are there unless you do it and see it. I have to remember this. It makes me realize more what it's like for husbands who are gone all day and need to be brought back into the loop so they don't feel left out of things.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Saddest news today. U2 concert was postponed until next year! Bono had to have back surgery. Was really looking forward to going.

Played at the park as a family after dinner. Bekah decided to go across the high monkey bars all by herself. She really worked to complete her goal! She didn't give up! She didn't make it all the way across but her progress was amazing in such a short time. And she felt really good about herself. Really good. Instead of saying "Good job. That's so awesome!" I realized I should point out how good she feels so she can start working on finding more satisfaction within herself. "Doesn't that make you feel so good to do that? Look how far you made it! That feels so good." I should realize more times when I can do this for her.

These are my favorites times together as a family. Playing at the park, doing things together and enjoying each other's company. Time seems to stand still. Feels like magic.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010
JJ is walking around saying "I did it!" "I made it!". It's so cute! What's amazing is he isn't getting the you/I mixed up since we say "You did it!" back to him! I think he's learned it from Eric Carle's book From Head to Toe and from us cheering him to eat his dinner.
What's funny today is he did things he wasn't supposed to do and then cheered for himself and said "I did it!"
At least he's starting off with good self-esteem and confidence.

Monday, May 31, 2010
Jason left for his conference in Minneapolis on Friday, and James got pink eye Saturday. Great timing. We had to stay home from church and hibernate in the house for a few days. We had borrowed our friend's car since Jason took the van to the conference. We so couldn't go back to a car. I know I hit my head a few times trying to get them into the car seats.
Today it thunderstormed just before the parade was to begin. Bekah was so let down.
When Jason got back, Bekah and I went to Chuck E Cheese for some fun. Nice to be just the two of us.

Pretend it's April 2010

So for various reasons, many of which had to do with internet access being VERY sketchy for a while, I ended up going back to a written journal. And still I haven't stopped. I still love the idea of blogging, but I've found barriers to it.

1-Blogging involves the internet, and invariably I get distracted on the internet so it takes longer to blog than I have time for. I keep remembering things I was supposed to pay for online, or research online, or emails that have to get sent for church callings or other reasons...

2-I am a pretty decent typer. I can type fast. That's a good thing, and actually one of my reasons for blogging in the first place. But I've learned I can type so fast I don't have time to form my sentences before writing (or at least I don't take the time to do so), whereas with hand writing entries I can think about that while I write and say what I mean. And by virtue of the fact that my hand gets more tired I think I learn to be more brief (at least more brief than I would have been online).

3-You can edit what you write on a blog. This is too tempting to ignore for me. I can pour over a post for 30-60 minutes just making sure I said everything I was thinking and that I said it in a good way. Hand writing entries for the most part can't be edited easily so somehow I just turn off my brain to change what I write and just might rephrase it if needed, but I usually just write and don't read it over to remember what I said...again because I write it more slowly I think I remember it more as I'm writing more.

4-Blogging involves technology--like computers that either are being slow, or aren't working, or everyone wants to use at the same time. I can go anywhere with my journal and not have to worry about a strong internet connection or having children pull on my arms because they want to be on the computer too.

I didn't expect to post on the downsides to blogging...
But it explains why I haven't been writing.

So for my own family's sake (those both here and far away), I'm going back to April 2010 and going to do my best to highlight what's been happening.

April 9, 2010--Friday
I've discovered I love pruning--maybe not at the correct time of year, but I loved pruning our trees and bushes after the green leaves started coming out and the blossoms forming. It was easy to see what was dead and it felt good to do something outside in the sun, and you can see your progress. Purging things you don't need always makes it easier to breathe for me, and pruning seems sort of like that. It's sure easier than tackling the 'pruning' that needs to happen inside the house or inside myself. Couple that with the fact that you and your kids have been cooped up in the house for the winter and now we can spread out and not scream because we don't all want the same toy anymore because we're busy exploring--and you have a recipe for enjoying the moment.

April 10, 2010--Saturday
Dates: No matter how much your children protest you not only have to go on dates with your spouse, you need to tell your children that's where you are going and why you need them to go to bed on time. It shows them...
-your excited to be with your spouse
-he is important to you
-you make time for him just like you do for them
-it makes it even more respected by them (in the long run) and by you
'Home' dates are so much more real and actually work when you tell everyone that's what's happening ahead of time. You may not do anything new, but the name and expectation makes it more fulfilling and satisfying.
Even if it seems cheesy to call it a date. Even if your kids whine and complain and makes them try to stay up later. Even if it's easier to not let them know so they don't know what they're missing and they don't put up a fight. If that's what it takes to get you to respect your spouse and date night, then do it. And just by virtue of you respecting it, your children will learn and feel safe that their mom loves their dad and wants to be with him. And that feels good.
What's that quote? The greatest thing a husband (or wife) can do for their children is to love their mother (or father).
(Side note for Sept 2010: I'm definitely still working on this...summer plans and activities seem to throw schedules out the window and I'm still recovering!)

April 11, 2010--Sunday
(Sept 2010--I'm not going to each day, I promise!)
Jason's birthday! I was reflecting on birthdays in general, particularly feeling not great about remembering that I'm getting older each May 10th and somehow realized these things:
The older you get the more birthdays you can see so it's seems it's not worth celebrating cause it's just another year and you've had so many (I know some will laugh at this who are much wiser in years than I!). But tonight I learned something about giving. Birthdays are a chance for others to learn about the joy of giving. Do your children see you excited about giving? Do they know how to treat a gift with care and how to show you care about how it's given?

This led to this chain of thoughts:
We're born into this world.
Our parents are our entire world. (1)
Then parents are just part of our world (like when starting school). (2)
Then we don't want them to be a part of our world. (3)
They aren't part of our world. (4)
Soon we miss them being part of our world (5)
many times because we became parents too (6)
And realize how much a part of our world our parents are and have always been. (7)
Then, as we realize they are gone, they become our entire world. (8)

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could somehow stay in lines 1 and 8? This is a cycle of parenthood.
Sept 2010--more thoughts--The end result is the same as when we're born, but look how much now we've chosen it and are aware of it and feel it. So much to do with why our Heavenly Father needed to send us away for a while. Where am I on this chain with God? He was my entire world before I came to this earth. And He will be my entire world when I return to Him. So am I continuing on this chain? Do I appreciate Him as much as I should?

Had ward conference today and Bekah sang in church with the Marcucci girls part of "Jesus Once Was a Little Child". She was very nervous, but did wonderful! They sang the first part of the song and then the ward choir came in singing "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". At the end of that, they all sing together
So little children, let's you and I,
Try to be like him,
Try, try, try.
I'm trying to be like him.
Very moving.
Pres. Labrum's talk that day: God doesn't require us to be moving at the same speed. He only cares that we're moving.
So let's you and I, try, try, try.

April 13, 2010--Tuesday

Read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman in one day! Highly recommended for strengthening marriage.

April 16, 2010--Friday
Had to get a new washing machine, and I LOVE it! We brought the netbook with Muppet Babies episodes for the kids to watch in the shopping cart so Jason and I could really talk about what we're doing instead of refereeing the whole time. It was so nice to be able to shop together and make big decisions like that without anyone fighting or complaining! Isn't technology amazing! Then we had pre-dinner with shakes at Jamba Juice.

Funny saying by Bekah:
Jason likes to tease when we say one thing and it can mean another. And today is was getting frustrating to Bekah. She was talking about school library day and the books they were reading.
Bekah said "We were reading 'If You Give a Pig a Pancake'..."
Jason interjected "What? You ate pig pancakes?!"
B: "No! If You Give a Pig a Pancake!"
J: "What? You fed pancakes to pigs!"
B: (this is getting upset and mad at dad...but dad was only trying to joke and tease to make her smile)
(this is me talking for about 3-4 minutes about why dad does this and that he's only doing it in fun...he does understand you)
A couple minutes later...
Bekah says, "So today we read this book about a dad. He has this daughter. And he teases her a lot."
We busted up laughing!! So fun to hear her get it and to try to get back in fun.

April 17, 2010--Saturday
Fav things about today:
-Jason putting up our new mailbox!
-watching Bekah and JJ build a castle out of diaper boxes and blankets.
-JJ's random hugs to Bekah (oh and he started saying Bekah correctly last Sunday! Bekah was so happy she was literally speechless!)
-We got blizzards together!

April 22, 2010--Thursday
Led a book group discussion on The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe. I wonder if Dupin would have been able to solve it without first having the police inspector fail? Dupin made it seem so obvious but it was only obvious after seeing the more complete picture and observing someone else's actions.
Dupin's solution was to place himself in the shoes of G--- to think like he thinks. That is hard. But a valuable skill. Wish I could think like my kids to understand them better!
Taught another piano lesson today. Started end of March teaching one student, plus Bekah. Going great.
Bekah lost a tooth today! I guess the tooth fairy decided the longer it takes for teeth to fall out, the more $?? or maybe just more $ for teeth 5-8?? (She got 4 quarters instead of 2.)

April 24, 2010--Saturday
Bekah and I were doing a puzzle together. We were talking about friends at school and boyfriends. She told me she used to have a boyfriend. I vaguely knew this but had never heard her tell me before. So I asked her what happened.
She said "We just decided it wasn't appropriate at our age."
Awesome Bekah!

April 25, 2010--Sunday
Stake Conference today. Finished The Book of Mormon today. Met the stake goal!
Everything which inviteth to do good, which bears good fruits (helps people do good things)
is of God

April 29, 2010--Thursday
JJ's been going around saying "uh huh" instead of yes now, and in such a happy way!
On the 27th he went downtown on the train with Jason and me and saw so many "people" and "buildings". Learning new words like crazy.

I've always heard if you want someone to trust and respect you, you have to show trust and respect towards them.
How do you make a 7yr old feel trusted?

April 30, 2010--Friday
Tornado watch again this afternoon/evening. Sirens didn't go off but it looked ominous for a while there. We were safe. My prayers were answered.

Started reading A Well Trained Mind tonight. Starting to think more about what to do for Bekah and school. First grade is a challenge. I don't want her to start hating school and learning, or to be labeled. I thought I'd never homeschool...I had so many reasons for why it wasn't a good idea in general or why having her gone during the day makes me a better mother because I get "me" time or bonding time with James. It's just what's done. You send your kids to public or private school. And, forgive me for saying it, homeschool was for people who seem like they don't fit in or are trying to "bubble" themselves away from the world. (Which is funny I think this since I sort of homeschooled for high school.) I would so be doing private school if we had the money. So my options are limited. But this book is amazing at making you feel like you can do it and that it's important to sacrifice now to give your child what they need to have a life full of loving learning. As a mother, it's amazing once you realize that you love your child and you truly want whats best for them that you're willing to do what they need, even if it means great sacrifice. I think that might be one of the greatest lessons of motherhood.

Stuck in the Moment

I have to admit that I've been slacking on blogging. As I have been getting more into blogging and keeping in touch with others through the internet, I have been getting stuck with my own blog. And it's not that I feel like I HAVE to be blogging. It's this...
It's so invigorating at first to get so many cool ideas for crafting or read about inspirational life stories on other people's blogs. It becomes addicting to see the latest posts or projects and ride others' emotional roller coasters. I sure have gained strength from seeing others stay strong through trials or even just keep going when life seems to be mundane. So pretty soon it becomes more fun to read others' blogs than post on your own. That's certainly easier than trying to explain your own life and learn from it. But then some really not-so-good things can starting poking around in your mind...things like 'I guess I'll wait to post until I finish that one project I've been working on so I can have something like that to say on my blog', 'I'll wait until something exciting happens', and then you start thinking 'yet another day where I didn't finish that project' or 'something exciting didn't happen again', and then the clincher 'I must not be creative like others are' and before you know it you're in a downward spin...it's depressing! The great things about blogging can get overwhelmed with the not-so-good things of blogging, and then you feel like 'ahhh! I just started something else I can't keep up with!' (Which is another thing I struggle with balance on...technology and me have a love/hate relationship...I can navigate it fine, but it sure does seem to make life less simple...maybe I'll post more about that later.)

It's so surprising at times to me how Satan can work his way into every good thing to make it into something that benefits his purpose if you let it. So it's the same old challenge of finding balance in all things. This doesn't mean I'll give up blogging so I don't get tempted to go near his traps, but it does mean I need to be more careful. I already have seen so many good things for myself and my family coming from this. (I think I will try to set some better realistic expectations for myself and keep focused on the positive. Maybe even set some limits. Sometimes parents need those just as much as kids.)

And one of those great things about blogging for me is that in written form I do at times feel like I am creating something. Maybe my blog isn't filled with the sewing projects I've started or would like to start (because sewing is one of my loves), but I feel like when I spend time like this to reflect I am creating a sense of self, a stronger sense of family, a stronger sense of spirituality. I am creating something. Some say that women have more of a need to create and nurture than men...I don't know. But I know I don't feel happy if I'm not creating.

"I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create." -William Blake

This was quoted in a movie I saw recently, like this:
" 'I must create'...something...'or be enslaved by another man's'...oh, something, I can't remember...'my business is to create'...something...what is the something! All I know is if you don't figure out the 'something' you just stay ordinary. And it doesn't matter if it's a work of art, or a taco, or a pair of socks! Just create something new and there it is. And it's you out in the world, outside of you, and you can look at it or hear it or read it or feel it. And you know a little bit more about you. A little bit more than anybody else does."

This struck home to me. Every day I create something. Is it a good creation? Can I make it better tomorrow? Sometimes maybe the only thing I create is dinner. And a packaged dinner at that because the day was falling apart and I want to try better in the future, but it's enough for today. Or maybe I created a moment in time while reading to my children. Those little things are what add up to big things. I just have to keep noticing them and enjoying them. Goodness knows as a mother there is so much more to create in that child after it's born than when you're creating it inside yourself. But there are times when you need to create something that's just for you too.

I just finished reading "Tending Roses". Really good read. Goes right along with this. Something about "the times when my life was the best were then times when the roses grew wild"; meaning if gardening your roses is your favorite hobby, or in my case, sewing is your favorite hobby, we can't forget that the best times of our lives are when we don't have time to give our hobbies as much attention as we would like to. And be okay with that and enjoy what you can.

Part of one of my favorite U2 songs:

And you are such a fool
To worry like you do
I know it's tough, and you can never get enough
Of what you don't really need now...my oh my

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better
Now you're stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it

And if the night runs over
And if the day won't last
And if your way should falter
Along this stony pass
It's just a moment
This time will pass

Here's to getting 'unstuck' and making more time to notice and think about what I am creating.

I've got the First Grade blues...

Okay so the last two chapter books Bekah and I have read together (which reminds me I haven't done a book post in a while...what have I read lately anyway?) took place in New Orleans--Goodnight for Ghosts (Magic Tree House series) and The Zombie Zone (A to Z Mysteries Series). Although, the titles sound scary and gruesome, the books are more interesting than you might think. I probably wouldn't have picked them, but they are the last in each series so far and we had to know how it continues. Anyway, the first one depicted Louis Armstrong as a teenager finding his way to making music his career and each chapter title was the name of a song he wrote...and also happened to have the word "blues" in it. So on this day of first grade starting, I guess I have "blues" on my mind.

I sure have a lot of catching up to do (we recently got back from Oregon for my sister's wedding), but I couldn't let this morning go without writing about how proud I am of Bekah. I do have to admit I have been looking forward to this day all summer...the day when during James naps I just might be able to help on the house or get on top of laundry and dishes regularly. And I didn't think I'd feel the tears come because I was so looking forward to this. But I am a little teary-eyed. Bekah's only six and already I'm starting to become the uncool mom. I never thought it would start this early, but then again Bekah acts more like a nine-year-old so we might be on the fast track anyway. More than likely this is the last day she'll allow me to walk her to school, and she almost didn't allow that. But I'm still very proud of you, Bekah. You have grown so much and are such a beautiful girl. I love you SOOOOOOO much!

Mrs. Kallaus, Bekah's teacher last year, said this is the first time in her eight years teaching at West that it's rained on the first day. Kind of a yucky day. So instead of meeting teachers on the playground all the children lined up in the gym. First it was, "Mom, don't take a picture on the porch...wait til we get to school." Then once we were entering the gym, "Mom...this is embarrassing," (under her breath while I'm trying to take a picture). Then I watched as you met up with Mrs. Golbeck (student teacher for the term) and Mrs. Glass (your new teacher) and then filed out into the hallway to start your first day of first grade. Today is only a half-day, so you'll be home for lunch. Unfortunately I have to work this afternoon so I won't see you until just before dinner. So, Bekah, or should I say Rebekah since you've decided that's what you'd like to go by at school now, I will miss you and I love you forever. Have a wonderful time on your first day. Yes, you have been talking for weeks about how sad you are that we won't be able to play during the day anymore, but soon you'll probably forget that you even used to want to as your life becomes full of recess and school lunches and math, science, reading, writing, art, music, library...you will love school. I just hope you don't forget that I love you too and will try harder to make time to play with you in whatever time you can make for me in what over the next twelve years or so is an ever increasing decrease in needing your mom...or at least you admitting that you need me.

(Side note: I didn't plan this but as I'm pulling up the pictures I immediately thought of my first day of school picture...kind of spooky how life repeats itself without even trying.)

I love reading!

Somehow, I've found a lot of time for reading lately.

I started and finished reading Mitch Albom's For One More Day last night. It was so good. I think Mitch Albom has such a talent for writing and engaging readers, and he's easy to follow. Tuesday with Morrie is probably his most well-known book, which I think is a book everyone needs to read at least once in their life, but Five People You Meet in Heaven was very interesting too. For One More Day helps us appreciate life, even if you don't have a lot to be excited about or think you've made too many mistakes to keep on living. And it's a GREAT book to read near Mother's Day to remind us how much our mom's do for us.

I finished listening to The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on mp3. Very capitvating story. I love mysteries and Sherlock Holmes is the best of the best. This story is especially interesting of the Sherlock Holmes tales because he is hardly in it at all and Dr. Watson takes the forefront. I was also interested to learn that Sir Arthur killed off Holmes in one of his stories because he wanted to be done with the character, but the fans were so upset with him he had to resurrect Holmes! This is one of the tales soon after his "resurrection".

I read The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook for a book group. I'm hesitant to say I even read it because I don't really recommend it, but I wanted to keep up on my "Books I've Read List". It needs a lot of editing for my standards, but it got me thinking about how we either are trapped by our past and our ancestors' past, or enabled by it. It's just another account of how one generation making a very large mistake or mistakes can greatly affect several generations after. Sometimes I wonder if there is a way to help us when we're young see how debilitating some of our choices will be for our children and our children's children. It cetainly humbles me and makes me realize this is not just my life I'm living...am I trapping my children or am I enabling them? It completely negates the common teenage phrase, "It's my life, and I can do what I want with it." It's not. Even if you have no children, people around you are still affected by your choices. The book also left me realizing again how sometimes we think because someone is part of our family that we know what it's like to walk a mile in their shoes, therefore we have a right to judge them, when in reality we don't really know what it's like to be in their life even though they are family and we don't know everything they've been through that made them who they are. So we shouldn't get as mad or as frustrated about personality traits or behaviors because if we could see the whole picture we would understand why and judge a whole lot less. It reminds me of being frustrated with my parents as a teenager only to realize the more I got to know my grandparents the more I understood why my parents are the way they are...and to be more grateful for who they are. Judging each other, whether family members or not, just seems to bring on more contention.

The last book I read this month is Jon & Kate Gosselin's book Multiple Blessings. I know there is a lot of controversy over this family right now and who knows how things are going to turn out for them (this is the family that had twins and then sextuplets and have their own show on TLC, Jon & Kate Plus 8), but I really enjoyed this book. It made me cry several times and it made me love God and appreciate Him even more. It took me through their journey of faith and reminded me of many of the feelings of helplessness and fear I had during our move to Chicago with a two-week old baby and all the blessings we received when we found out we couldn't move into our house and had no where to go. (I want to go through and write all that down soon so I can remember how blessed we are.) Hearing stories like these help us remember "what great things the Lord hath done" for us and help us gather the strength we need to conquer the next trial that's sent our way. Truly with God all things are possible. I highly recommend this book, and ignore all the hype and negative publicity, and read it like you don't know anything about them.

More books

Last week I finished listening to the book on CD The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. (Incidentally she lives in Salt Lake City so I wondered if she was related to the Ruth Hales!) What a great completely underdone fairy tale! This version is definitely meant for the older kid to adult crowd, but I found myself dreaming about it like it was a movie running before my mind. Someone should seriously make this book into a movie. The title doesn't do the story justice. And I agree with the author's preface that the Grimm Brothers version leaves so many questions unanswered. I'd never thought about it before that if I didn't like a fairy tale it's totally fun to make up your own embellished version.

Last week Bekah and I started reading The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye, a favorite I got hooked on from several issues of Cricket magazine, given to me by my Uncle Jay. We also started reading the Ramona Series by Beverly Cleary from the beginning again, a series I fell in love with because of my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Ball. Right now we're on the first book, Henry and Beezus, at least that was the one the author wrote first.

We love reading!

Books we've been reading

Jason usually keeps a list of books he's read over the years. It's kind of neat to look back and see how much you've read. So I thought I'd start doing the same for me and the kids.

Today I finished Talkers, Watchers, and Doers by Cheri Fuller. Excellent book on how to figure out what your child's learning strengths are and how to cater and supplement those strengths (and inherent weaknesses) to make learning not frustrating. It was an easy read and I'll probably end up buying it just to have on hand since it had tons of ideas in it on how to make learning more fun that I would never think of. I learned I am a "talker". My strength is definitely auditory, then heavily visual. You never would have guessed, right?! It's so obvious since I'm doing this blog :)

I think Bekah is the same as me: auditory but visual comes in a close second. I think James is going to be visual since he is so observant and loves to just watch what's going on around him. For Jason--even when we do personality/color tests he seems to have a little bit of everything and I think the same is true here, although he doesn't have that need to hear himself talk to figure things out like I do. He definitely has some "doer" or kinesthetic in him. But since he might read this sometime, I'll leave it open for him to comment on.

Last month I finished reading an overview of Jean Piaget's work called Piaget's Theory of Intellectual Development by Ginsburg and Opper, recommended by Jason so I could start studying how children learn and how I can best supplement their education at home and over the summer. Very heavy reading, but it was very interesting to realize how our bodies and minds develop. I gained an appreciation for Piaget. Amazing person. By reading this I realized I would enjoy studying psychology since I love to figure out why people do the things they are doing and what they are thinking.

Bekah and I have been reading The Magic Treehouse series together by Mary Pope Osbourne. We love it! I don't know how long the series goes on, but it keeps getting better. We're on book #33 now. Bekah plays "Jack and Annie" all the time. We also started reading A to Z Mystery Series by Ron Roy. The main characters are Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose, and Bekah pretends to be Ruth Rose at times too. She's definietly in to mysteries, although has a tough time with anything with mummies in it. We just finished the M book: The Missing Mummy and she handled it much better than other books with mummies in them.

James loves his Good Night, Elmo! soft book. He loves to chew on the cloth toothbrush that's supposed to brush the star's teeth.

I won't even try to list what Jason's been reading lately because he reads so much for his major. But I did want to mention Bekah and I got Jason a cook book for his birthday. But not just any cook book--an Alton Brown cook book. His first, I think. It's called I'm Just Here for the Food. It's almost like a textbook on cooking with really good recipes in it. Jason really enjoys his show, Good Eats, on The Food Network and has been experimenting with Alton's recipes, so we think he'll enjoy reading this cook book.

It's all about teeth

Yesterday there was NOT joy in my journey. James has four teeth growing in and it is not agreeing with him. I finally resorted to teething tablets and then tylenol to try to get him to sleep. It's so easy to be mad when things do go the way I want. It's definitely easier than finding joy in moments where I don't get to eat because I can't put my child down, or having to resort to eating standing up with the plate on the microwave so it's the right height so I can balance him on one hip and turn to eat with the other hand...and then a daughter whose upset because I never get to play with her because the baby is always crying or eating. Then the times I have to resort to letting the baby watch TV (which I said I wouldn't allow until he was older) just so he will lay still on his back and not scream for 1 minute so I can get a diaper on. At least it was Sesame Street...since Bekah was watching that so she would stop being upset about me not playing with her and stop being upset that the five minutes I did play "Chutes and Ladders" with her while spoon feeding the baby dinner I ended up winning so it was a huge deal that I always win and she never does and she always gets the slides and I always get the ladders (can you just image the over-generalizing and drama we're in for in the teenage years?!). How can you rig that game so your kid can gain confidence and win? That's one that just doesn't seem to lend itself well to trying not to win. Anyway--although I usually set limits on things like TV and computer games, there are some days when you let it go just to keep your sanity.

What I see today is that maybe I couldn't see joy in the exact moment but I can see it the next day--and that's pretty close to the moment. After at least five hours of sleep everything seems more manageable. After all, it's not James fault that his teeth are hurting. Sometimes I think why did God make it so babies HAVE to hurt. They can't even communicate why they're hurting. It doesn't seem fair. Bekah put it well a couple weeks ago. She lost her first tooth several weeks ago and it's already growing back in. She had a health class in school recently about teeth and taking care of them (March was some kind of Dental Health Month). James is growing teeth. Bekah was worried about the tooth fairy and after putting all this together she said, "Mom, it's all about teeth, isn't it."

It always makes me feel better when Bekah and I sit down and read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. 

"It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

My mom says some days are like that.

Even in Australia."

It's pretty humbling when your 5-year old tells you "Mom, you're just having a hard day."

And at the end of the day, everything seemed to not matter so much when I sat on the couch and watched my almost 9-month old decide he wanted the cell phone so bad he crawled for the first time! Pretty neat. Then he proceeded to call Grandma all by himself. He's growing up too fast.