Out to Lunch!

Last Saturday I got to get together with three of my girlfriends from High School. I love those girls so much and it was so great to see each other and talk about getting old! Ha ha! No, seriously, we mostly talked about health problems and getting old!

We had such a fun time and it reminded me of how true friendship never dies. When I think of my experience in High School I count myself SO lucky that I had the best friends ever! And when I see these girls now, I still consider how lucky I am that, though we don't see each other all the time, when we do we don't skip a beat!

So, a funny thing happened when we were all together. (Actually, lots of funny things happened like when Anna said "Stoffing stuckers.") Anyway, Anna, Michele and I took an extra minute after lunch to walk through a couple shops and we continued talking about our lives and Anna and I started asking Michele all sorts of questions about what it was like to have a professional life. Question after question came and  Michele's answers of "working late into the night", "always being available for work" and "80 hours a week" seemed to just floor us. We stood there mouths ajar as she explained her job. And then Michele said something truly poignant she looked at us and said, "Yeah, but you guys are mothers, you never stop working either. It's not much different."

I've reflected at that moment a couple of times since and I chuckle to myself.  Here we were, looking at Michele as though she were some fabulously rare thing "a working woman," and I've wondered if we could turn our gaze back to ourselves would we see something equally amazing and wonderful?

We (stay at home moms) really are so quick to think less of our "work" as mothers and to not highly regard it as we should. And I confess and know that if I would just take to my job as seriously and with as much importance as Michele does hers, I'd be a much, much, much better homemaker, mother, cook, cleaner...everything.

And that leads me to think about a comment a woman made to me once long ago. She said, "Debra, you will never work a day in your life. You will find joy in whatever job you do and you will be happy." I loved the comment at the time. It led me to think that I had the power to successfully achieve a great life. And I'm sad to realize that I've forgotten about that inner ability and power I have. I've always thought of myself as a positive and happy person and I've always enjoyed life. So, why is it harder to summon up my whistle while I work, just because it lacks "glamor" or is not "professional" When in reality it can be the most glamorous and professional thing if I make it so! Right? Right!
It's like this: I'm the CEO. I get to decide just how great of a job this will be! Wonderful!

Counting Blessings

This morning something truly scary happened. Scary like, Henry came and happily informed me that he put a jelly bean in Rose's mouth, scary. (He was so pleased with himself for feeding her and for giving her a jelly bean.)

I ran and grabbed her, swiped my finger and found nothing. Then I calmly sat and just watched her. Black spit oozed out and I knew it was still in there. So I swiped again and found it in her cheek.

I am so grateful for each of my children. I couldn't bear the thought of losing one. I'm counting my blessings today for Rose's beautiful cheeks which securely held that jelly bean away from her throat, and I am also counting my blessings that Henry would come and tell me what he did. 

Meet Roger

 Meet roger. 

Roger was a friendly spider who came to visit earlier today. 

It seemed all too soon and sudden that he had to leave this earthly life when our neighbor-grandpa Rod sprayed him with insect killer. Funeral services were held. I was the pallbearer, and before I deposited roger into his large black casket I asked the children to say something nice about roger. Sophie said, "Roger was a spider." I agreed and added that he was indeed a spider, a very large one and friendly to boot. I then asked the children to say goodbye. Sophie's goodbye was simple even a trite: goodbye. Cheerfully said. Then Henry came to pay his respects. He looked at the dead thing sitting on the edge of the sandbox shovel. Roger's poor mangled body did not look at all stately or regal as it once had. And Henry's lip started to quiver. His eyes turned a weepy red. And no words could escape his embittered tongue. He ran, as little boys do, and hid his sensitive self, shielding his deepest feelings, and hiding his tears. Roger was gone. Roger. This ugly spider that we came to know and name just minutes before was gone. 

There's the story of Roger.

Got me down...

Had the Flu last week. The actual flu. Tested positive and all. The Dr. was skeptical, "Everyone is coming in because of this virus, it's not the flu, but we'll test you since you have little ones at home..." Then the phone call, "Ummmm...well, you tested positive for influenza A, so..."

So that's had me down and OUT for a bit.

And, little Henry is Potty TRAINED!!! He's a champ at it too. It clicked and once it clicked it was GREAT! What a relief (for him and for me).

This is a pretty good description of how I felt all last week, and still feel though I am MUCH much better I just don't know how much I want to interact with the world just yet!

And, on the other hand, I'm SUPER excited because I'm driving to Idaho tomorrow to send my Step-mom off on her mission to Nauvoo! What a great place to be on a mission. I'm so jealous of her, and then I think about wearing the pioneer garb in the middle of a Nauvoo summer and I rethink my jealousy! I love you Margie and I am so happy for you!

A Hairdresser of Seuss Talent

Last night I was summoned for a hair-DO! So I sat where I was told and let the little hairdresser's hands carefully (or not so carefully) craft their masterpiece.

It was lovely! I looked like her rendition of Cindy-lou-who.

Here we are, my little hairdresser and I!

What talent. What vision. What a girl!

I could hardly stand it at the end of the night when she asked if I could keep it in all night and all day "tomorrow." It melted my heart and I wished I had the strength of scalp to stand the pulling and strain on my hair. Oh, sweet Sophie. I love you and I love the hair do!

Celebrating Something!!!

So. Little Henners had his 3rd birthday and it was a HUGE success. I finished the quilt and I was so happy to watch my sweet and sensitive little boy open this present. He was so excited he exclaimed, "A BLANKET! I WANT TO SNUGGLE IN IT!" It was the perfect reaction to all TJ's and my hard work. (TJ helped me in snipping all the edges. Thanks babe!)

Then Henry got spoiled rotten with all his other gifts. So spoiled, in fact, that after the day was over and he was peacefully dreaming of train tracks, lawn mowers, cars, and blankets, Sophie looked at me and said, "I'm so glad Henry had such a great birthday and he got all these great presents that I get to play with when he's in bed."

Way to go my little three year old boy. You make my blood boil (sometimes), you melt my heart, you make me swoon and sometimes I just want to hold and squeeze you because I just can't stand how incredibly cute you are. I'm so in love with you my little buddy-boy. Now, go on and get yourself potty trained! I know you can do it!

So, in other news........

TJ is going to London in April and he's "forcing" me to go with him. What's a girl to do with herself???

And in other, other news

Hallie Growls!

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Thank you Morey Family for giving us an idea to completely copy for our Family Home Evening last night.

We each picked out four things that we LOVE and that we wanted to journal through photography.

Our love scavenger hunt was a blast. Sophie and Henry had so much fun taking their own pictures that they even considered not going to the treat store afterward so they could stay and take more pictures.

So, here you have it, the things we love:

Sophie loves Hallie because she is so cute.

Sophie also loves her Dress-ups because she can pretend to be a princess.

Sophie loves books especially Green Eggs and Ham because she can almost read it.

Sophie loves pouring her own water into her cup. She's an independent little fart.

Henry loves his Sippy-cup.

Henry also loves his trucks so he can play with them.

Henry loves this big truck too.

Henry loves his microphone because he loves to sing.

TJ loves sweet little Sophie,

silly little Henry,

Debra...

And, Hallie.

Debra loves Hymns Made Easy, because she can play them.

Debra loves bed-time for the kids.

Debra also loves all the (big and little) bliss's in her life.

During the process of our camera's battery dying, we neglected to picture what Hallie loves: Hallie loves her exersaucer and her daddy. (TJ was in charge of helping Hallie with her love scavenger hunt.)

Sophie has been so excited today and she's exclaimed a couple times that this really "is a great holiday because people keep bringing us treats!"

Well, there you have it, we love our family and a lot of our toys and we especially love getting treats! Happy Valentines Day!

I must be Crazy!

I've got one week until Little Henner's 3rd birthday. And, I openly and honestly admit that I must be crazy.

Almost a year ago I ran into a quilt at a craft show, and it was love at first sight. I've never made a quilt, except for an occasional stitch here, and a tie there. But this was a "rag quilt" which in the quilting world translates into "easy". (At least, in the quilting world in my mind). Ever since that craft show, I knew I'd be making that quilt (or something like it) for the little guy for his birthday...and here we are, one week before the big day.

So, one week ago I had nothing (still trying to learn about procrastination), except for the concept. Then a quick (and expensive) trip to the fabric store, and a good amount of time spent cutting up some old jeans solved my "nothing" dilemma. And now I have this:

And this:

Let's just hope I find the stamina to assemble this together in an orderly, and most daring fashion SOON.

In other news, the little guy discovered, just yesterday, that he's officially tall enough to turn on and off the lights without a stool. And from there we spent the rest of the evening excitedly going from thing to thing, all the things he was now big enough to do...he's still not sure about that potty though.

A Horror Story fit for a Monday Morning

Mr. T, and I sat down with our children at our wits end a couple days ago. Funny, but whatever it was that broke the camels back on Saturday, can't even come to my recollection right now (here's a HUGE hint to myself: if it doesn't at all matter now, it shouldn't have mattered so much to me right then...right?)

But. It. Did. Boy did it ever matter to me.

So, we sat the kids down and talked about ALL the naughty things we'd ALL done and we decided that we'd try hard not to be so naughty this coming week.

Church on Sunday was Perfect! (I can't say that too often, but it really was.) I think it was because Little Henners fell asleep during Sacrament meeting. Boy, he's a handful.

And 5 am came WAAAY to early this morning for comfort. And I just couldn't get Henry or Hallie back to sleep. So we were up. And, remembering our efforts to be super good and kind to one another, I decided to make the most of it and stretch with the kiddos. We did some down-dogs, some cats and cows, we saluted the sun, and relaxed our legs and hips with the butterfly.

Then, breakfast.

Then, dishes.

Then (can someone insert the theme from Jaws here?) came the pitter patter of two little pairs of feet up and down the hallway by our bedrooms. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

And they were quiet.

That's when I became curious. I turned my head around the corner of the kitchen and I saw it. One little body running down the hallway with a SUPER LONG stream of Toilet Paper running along behind her.

I screamed. But, looking back on the incident, I don't think my scream was shrill, or blood curdling. It was a different scream than I have ever encountered. It was a surprised and "I'm about to lose my mind" sort of scream.

I cautiously took each step toward the hallway to examine the damage. (This is the part of the Horror Story where you yell out loud: NO, DON'T GO LOOK IN THE HALLWAY) I should have just turned around and not even gone to look, but look I did, and scream more I did. And I cried.

There were two rolls of toilet paper torn in pieces ALL OVER MY BEDROOM. (It's still there...I can't face it just yet.)

And, now as I sit here and ponder this event, I wonder: What will my kids remember from this? Will they remember my screaming "YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THIS." Or will they remember how fun it is to toilet paper something?

I think I failed. Again. I should have had the composure to just laugh and merrily send them on their way to the naughty chairs. But, I didn't.

And I'm sure when I try to recollect this memory to tell someone just HOW naughty my children were earlier in the week, I probably won't remember exactly what it was that they did.

Building Self-Confidence in children

As I was sitting here thinking about some of my recent thoughts (deep, right?) I considered that I needed to consult something, (a book, a website, a trusted opinion...). Then I came upon one of my best and most revered friend's blog here and as I read it I felt as though she was having her conversation with me, that we were back in high school, and we were sitting in one of our bedrooms hugging our pillows as the night hours drew on and on and we talked and talked of life and all its mysteries. Her blog made me miss blogging.

So, here I am. Blogging.

Now, before I get too wordy, here are a couple pictures of our family's most recents:

Yes, we took off to Disneyland last week and it was SUPER fun!

And, of course, we took our children to the beach with no towels, no swimsuits, and no extra clothes...AND WE GOT WET!

And here are my recent thoughts: I want my children to have confidence as they grow older. I want them to stop whining right now, and use pleasing voices. I also want my actions and interactions with them to lead them to a place where they look back on their world, their home life, with affection and revere it as a happy home, a home where they were taught and where they KNEW that they were handsome, beautiful, smart, capable, and loved.

And, here are some of my musings about these thoughts: I feel like I'm failing so far...in the confidence realm, and others. Ultimately, my screaming and irritability of late are NOT getting me to that place where bliss abodes. I'm afraid that, my little hatchlings think that I think they're nothing but naughty (boy have we had a naughty week...makeup, brownie bits, and juicy popsicles all over the carpet on different occasions). So, how do I do it?

Thus my conundrum. Thus my desire to reach out to a world of blogging...to post my question out to the world to aide me on my path of motherhood.

So here it is: How do you instill a sense of confidence in your children (even at a very young age)? Is it possible? How do you handle the good, the bad, and the (very) naughty? How do you prepare yourself each day, so that you feel able to tackle your world? When you fail, if you fail, how do you recover?

And, for funny sake, what sort of outlandish threats have you ever made to your children? (I find myself doing this all the time... "Pick up those brownie pieces NOW, or else you'll never eat again!")