4 year old logic...

Laura said that she wants less 'me' in my blog and more Sirius and Sabian. So, just for Laura, here is a quick story from this morning......

Sabian picked out some cookies when we were at the store yesterday. They are round, flat, and fairly tasteless. Kind of like animal crackers, but not as good. So today I gave each of the kids 2 cookies for a morning snack. Sirius says: "You know, we should make a cake, because then we would have frosting left over and we could spread it on the cookies and make sandwiches."

Who can argue with the logic of a 4 year old!?

Words of Wisdom Not My Own.....

When I was looking for help with my 'theme days' one of my friends suggested "Wise Wednesday". My first thought was 'boy, do I have her fooled!'. As I thought about it further, I realized that while I don't have a lot of my own wisdom, I have garnered much from others through the years. So here is a quote that every one of my kids should recognize...one that I quote often and love dearly for it's simple truth:

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but that our power to do is increased."

I have seen this quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson as well as Heber J. Grant. So because I can't verify my source, I'll just say author unknown.

Happy Wednesday!

Marvelous Mary Monday...

(Okay, the date is off on this pic. I obviously don't know how to work my camera. Just change the 2005 to 2008 and forget it ever happened!)

So, this was Mary's idea for a Monday themed blog: "Mary Mondays". I'm supposed to talk about how cute and clever she is. I'm sure that this would keep me busy for months and months of Mondays, but for now I'll just say that MARY IS AWESOME!! If you want to know how awesome Mary is, here is a link to her blog, where she will personally fill you in on her awesomeness. Or, you could click here, and listen to this awesome song about how much fun it is to be with Mary. Mary is truly Fun and Fabulous, Sweet and Sassy, Cute and Clever, Bubbly and Beautiful, Helpful and Happy. I love her bunches and bunches. Here's wishing everyone a Marvelous Mary Monday!!

A Day of Rest???

My brother, Peter, suggested that I have a weekly Sunday blog entitled "A Day of Rest". So, in honor of my brother's blog input and active interest in my blogging, here is my first (possibly last) installment of a 'themed blog'.

Sunday. A day of rest. A time to recharge and renew. Here's an overview of a Sunday in my house. Up at 6:15. Must shower before the little guys get up. I am in charge of them this morning as Eleanor worked last night and didn't get in until 3:30 am. Go downstairs, brown pork chops for Sunday dinner, put them in the crockpot. Get breakfast for two little boys. Sabian -a waffle, no butter. Not cut! Hey, where's my syrup! Cut this for me! I need juice. Sirius - I want to make eggs. Where's the (chef) hat and apron? Sabian - more juice! Sirius -I want cheese in my egg. (sorry, no cheese) I think I want sausage, too. Sabian -I want more juice. I got the last! Sirius - I want the juice Sabian has. (Sabian just had the 'last') Okay, I'll have the other juice. Can you cut this sausage? I need more juice. My tummy is full!

Peel and slice carrots/potatoes. But first, I have to unload/load the dishwasher and sweep the kitchen floor (somebody forgot to do their chores last night). Now I can peel/slice the carrots/potatoes, put them in the fridge for later. Wake Sam & Peter for church. Start the muffins (will finish them after church). Eat breakfast, get dressed for church, wake Eleanor, find socks for Peter, wake Eleanor, and out the door we go by 9:40.

Home from church at 1:20, put the potatoes & carrots on, finish the muffins, set the table, unload the dishwasher, make the gravy, dinner on the table by 2. Load the dishwasher, put the food away, clear/wipe the table, start some brownies. Family home evening (on Sunday afternoon, because Joe has to leave today for his new job). Get Joe out the door by 3:30.......RELAX!!

Sunday. A day of rest!

Just an Ordinary Day.....

With as busy as things have been around here....Joe out of work for two months, scout camp, youth conference & various other summer stuff, along with a massive headache that lasted from Monday afternoon until Wednesday night (when Joe gave me a blessing so I'd be able to go to my Scout Committee Meeting) it's been a while since I've had just an ordinary day.

Yesterday was just an ordinary day. Up at 6:15, Family Prayer at 6:30, morning routines, 3 - 4 loads of laundry, check e-mail & blogs, some grocery shopping, pick up a few school supplies (Walgreen's had a great sale!), watch Christopher (a little boy I babysit), help Sam and Peter with some summer school work, straighten up the house, take Sirius & Sabian to the pool, evening routines, in bed by 10:30. Yep, just an ordinary day.

Did I mention how grateful I am? For ordinary days.

Not to be Outdone....

Joe was feeling left out. Even though I blogged about his job, it just wasn't enough. So, to appease my beloved, here is his very own 'car blog'...

Because Joe got a new job, the kids started bringing up all the promises that he'd made when he was without a job...."Dad, can I have a (fill in the blank)?" "Sure, when I get a job!" "Dad, can we go to (fill in the blank)?" "Sure, when I get a job!" Most of the time his thought was 'by the time I get a job, they will have forgotten all about this!' But my kids have long term memories. (short term, like 'take out the trash' is a whole other story!) So, one of his promises was to Jacob. "Jacob, when I get a job, I'll sell you my truck." True to his word, Jacob is now the proud owner of a 1997 Toyota Tacoma. Which leaves Joe where? Without a vehicle! What to do?? (...Here it comes)....."Honey, now that Jacob has the truck, what will I drive??" "Well, gosh, you could drive the blue car. (a '99 Escort)". "No, that won't work, what if Mary suddenly decides to get a job and needs the blue car?" "Well, gee, I guess we're just going to have to get you a new vehicle." (You don't suppose that was his plan all along, do you?)

Off we go on Monday, car shopping. Camry? no. Kia? no. Ford? Heck, no! After spending all day in the (extremely) hot sun, driving cars that had been sitting out in the (extrememly) hot sun all day, and were therefore approaching the core temperature of the Earth, he finally found his 'new' car. Drumroll, please.......

(Disclaimer: the following is a (potentially) paid, commercial announcement. Potentially paid because if anyone goes to Simpsonville Chevrolet and buys a car from them, using our name as a reference, we get a check for $100. I you buy from them, I'll split the hundred with you!)

A 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt!!!

Here is Joe with the Sales Manager, Jim Goss, cementing the deal:

And here is our salesman, Kynn Tribble, who not only sells cars, he also does windows!!

This truly was the least painful car transaction I've ever taken part in (aside from the oven temperature cars we drove in all day!) The people at Simpsonville Chevy were pleasant, and fun to deal with. Jim Goss even drew a little smiley face on his 'counter offer' to us!

So, there you have it. Joe's very own car blog, a shameless plug for Simpsonville Chevrolet, and another blog for your reading pleasure! I hope you have been sufficiently entertained.

Help Wanted....

I was reprimanded today for not blogging enough. Who, Me??? I try to blog twice a week, but it's been busy lately. (I was told that I may NOT give out excuses!) So, in an effort to meet the needs of my public (all two of you) I am petitioning for ideas.

I have some friends who have 'theme days' on their blogs. One friend does 'missionary monday', where she gives updates on her boy who recently left for his mission. I love it, the only problem is, I don't currently have a child serving a mission. This same friend does 'Shoesday' (on Tuesday), but I only have 3 pairs of shoes, so that won't work. There's 'Fashion Friday', but since blue jeans and t-shirts make up 90% of my wardrobe it really wouldn't be that interesting.

Another friend does 'weekly updates' at the end of every week to kind of give an overview of how her week went. I love these, too. All of these are fabulous ideas, but the only one that might work for me would be the weekly update.

So, for those of you who would like me to update more frequently, help me out! Give me some ideas! Maybe 'Manic Mondays'??, 'Weally wild Wednesdays'??, or how about 'Frantic Fridays'? If you want me to post more often, I think it's only fair that you give me some input. So, how about it? What have you got? All ideas will be considered (though I reserve the right to edit content. Karl has a wild side!)

A Job for Joe!!

Well, it's happened! Joe got a job!! After 18 months of uncertainty, 2 months of unemployment, countless resumes sent, dozens of phone calls, interviews in Kansas City, Atlanta, Charlotte, Boston, Columbia, and more places than I can name (mostly because I can't remember them all!), Joe has been offered and has accepted a job in Macon, GA.

Details:
-It is a kaolin company (ka·o·lin: –noun: a fine white clay used in the manufacture of porcelain.)
-His first day is July 28th.
-We (the kids and I) will be staying put for now...maybe until Sam and Peter finish High School.

If I left anything out, let me know and I'll try to fill in the blanks. For now, we will be busy getting Joe ready to go (just as soon as he gets back from Youth Conference!)

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it." --Helen Keller

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." --G. K. Chesterton

Confessions of a Lurker.....

I've addressed in past posts my current addiction to blogs. Well, I'm here today to 'come out of the closet' (so to speak!) I am a blog lurker. There...I've said it. I'm no longer content to enjoy/view just the blogs of people that I actually know. No, now I've branched out to the blogs of complete strangers! Some of them I come by through the blogs of people that I do know, and others I just 'come across' in my desperate search to feed my addiction. I bring this up in an attempt to drag others down to my pitiful level by sharing these interesting blogs. My hope is that you will become as pitiful as I, because you know what they say: Misery loves company! Actually, I'm not miserable, I'm quite content in my blog addiction. I mean, it could be worse. I could be addicted to soap operas, or celebrity gossip, or trashy magazines, or any number of terrible vices. Comparatively speaking, my addiction is pretty tame. (And in case my Bishop ever reads this: "Hi, Bishop, you realize that I'm just kidding about the whole 'addiction' thing, right?? I don't really HAVE to read blogs, I just enjoy it. I can quit anytime I want, really."

So here are some of my current 'lurking sites': one of my favorites is this one . This woman is absolutely hilarious, posts often enough to feed my addiction, and I guess she's not a perfect stranger, because, as they say on Facebook, we have at least 1 friend in common! From her blog, I've now started going to this one. This is my newest 'lurk' spot. I've only just discovered it, but so far, I'm really enjoying it. One that I've been watching for a while is this one. A stay at home dad of 22 month old triplets. I don't know how he finds time to post, but he does a great job.

So, there you have it. I'm not sure what the next step is the the blogaholic 12 step program, but I've competed step 1...I've confessed to my addiction. So to all of you who share this addiction...keep reading, and have fun! It could be so much worse!

What was I thinking???

In my quest to be the 'World's Best Mom' I sometimes go a little overboard. This week I allowed Peter to convince me that he should buy a car. He had the money in the bank, made lots of promises he won't keep, and gave me that smile that I just can't resist. Besides, if it doesn't work out we can always sell it again! So, that being said......drum roll, please......here is Peter in his 'new' car!!! It's a 1963 Mercury Comet.

Yes, it's 30 years older than Peter.

No, he can't drive it...yet...it's '3 on the tree' and he hasn't quite mastered the whole shifting thing yet.

Yes, it does run. It has a little shimmy when it hits 40 mph, but that can be fixed, right?

No, he doesn't have a job to pay for gas, insurance, etc....but he's working on it. (He bought the car from the manager at the local Little Caesar's Pizza place so he's hoping for a hand-up on a job there!)

In the meantime, the car is in the garage. He spent 3 hours on it the first day cleaning it out...vacuuming, doing the windows, fixing the tear in the front seat (duct tape). It's looking pretty good! It really is in great shape for a 45 year old car! The second day I couldn't find Peter anywhere.....he was sitting in the garage in his car, apparently taking a 'virual road trip'. So, needless to say, Peter is a happy boy. And I just may be in the running for 'Mother-of-the-Year'! At least for today.

Making memories....

I'm of the opinion that memories are made in the little things. Sure, the kids would remember a trip to Disneyland/World, whatever (not that we've ever taken one....okay, maybe when Eleanor & Laura were 4 and 2 1/2, and I don't think they remember!), but I think it's really the little stuff that we sometimes don't even think about that they really remember.

For example, when my kids were younger, we took Eleanor, Laura and Jacob to the cannery. (They were the only ones old enough to go at the time, Jacob was probably 12.) They still talk about how fun that was and wish that we could have done it more often. They talk about our summer days at Powder Springs Pool a little community pool where we spent our summers during the years we lived in Atlanta. They remember playing behind the elementary school across the street from our house, 4-square in the street, the pile of dirt that was in our backyard for years, jumping in the sprinkler, riding bikes, playing with the neighbor kids, making cookies, etc.

I guess my point is that memories don't cost a lot of money, but they do require time, effort and patience. It took time for me to load up all the kids (and half the neighborhood) and go to the pool all the time. It took me being outside with them (instead of inside doing chores) to help them learn how to ride bikes. It took a lot of behind the scenes looking out for them to let them have the freedom of ruling the neighborhood the way they did when they were younger. It took patience to let them build a mud bath in the dirt mound and play in the mud because I knew I was going to have to hose them off and that laundry was going to be a pain. It was a lot of work, but they have great memories of those days.

And now, with the next generation, I get to do it again. Tonight, when I was making the gourmet dinner of French Toast and Sausages, I tried to be patient when Sirius and Sabian pushed chairs up and 'helped' me. Because I knew that we were making more than dinner, we were making memories. I hope that someday, when Eleanor has her own place, her kids have fond memories of the days they lived at 'Abuela and Grandpa's house'. I hope they remember the nights when mommy was at work and we went to the Neely Farm pool and stayed until they closed. I hope they remember the nights we had 'game night' and played Mouse Trap, and Dominos, and Battleship. I hope they remember Grandpa taking them for walks, and going to feed the ducks in the pond, and playing at the park, and Grandpa telling them bedtime stories. I hope they remember Family Home Evening and singing 'Do as I'm doing'. I hope they remember hanging out with Sam, Peter, Jacob and Mary, watching tv and playing video games.

I hope they remember it all. I know I will.

To all my friends in the 'blogosphere'......

A message to all my blog friends, those who read my blog and those whose blogs I read:

You need to blog more often!

And if you're not blogging yet, get blogging!

I mentioned before that I have an addiction to BLOGS. I write them, I read them, I simply can't get enough of them. The problem is, I don't have enough. So either more people need to start blogs for me to read, or those whose blogs I read need to write more often. Twice a week is a good start. Three or Four is better. And if you could get together and alternate who updates when, then I could have something new to read every day!! You people are leaving me with entirely too much time with nothing to do but laundry, dishes, sweep, mop, make beds, pick up after kids, and other mundane responsibilities. And if you're not going to make a lunch date with me and get me out of the house, then I need more blogs to read. (Yes, I realize you are enabling me, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!) So "Doctor Anonymous" either needs to start up his 'Blogaholics Anonymous' group again, or you people need to get on the ball, ignore your children and your chores, and start blogging!

Either one works for me : )

DON'T!!

(ignore the date stamp, my camera reset when I changed the batteries!)

It's tough to be a kid these days. I've determined that the word Sirius and Sabian hear most around here lately is: "Don't!".

Here are some of our "Don't's"

Don't:

.....hit your brother!

.....slam that door!

.....pee in the backyard!

.....smear your popsicle on the backdoor (window, house or each other!)

.....touch that computer!

.....ever, ever go into Sam & Peter's room!

.....touch my stuff!

.....turn that channel!

.....push that button!

.....treat your brother that way!

.....talk like that to me! (or your mother, or Sam, or Peter, or, or, or)

.....stick your hand in your milk!

.....blow bubbles in your milk.

.....be afraid of wasps, they won't bother you!

.....go off the grass.

.....go near the dog!

.....open that fridge!

.....push that chair up to the counter!

.....climb onto the counter!

.....scare me like that!

.....spoil your dinner.

Yes, they hear a LOT of "don't". Yet, they keep on smiling. And on any given day, if you ask them how they're doing, the reply is: "Great!!" If only I could be more like them when things don't go my way. Roll with the punches and keep on smiling. Because after all, life is GREAT!!