Oooooooklahoma, where the wind comes rushing down the plain...

Last week John and I went for a vacation to my brother John's house in Oklahoma. And it really is pretty windy there. I think I woke up every morning to some pretty serious wind sounds outside our window. John's mom, Pam, came and watched the kids for us, which was awesome. The kids love to get to spend time with their Buffalo grandma.

Lots of people seemed surprised that we would choose Oklahoma for our getaway vacation. All I can say is that I really like Oklahoma, mostly because my favorite little brother lives there with his super nice wife and 2 cute boys and 1 cute baby girl. I hadn't had a chance to meet his new baby Brooklyn yet and John and his family find it harder and harder to make it to Utah. And my husband is very nice and doesn't mind spending time with my family, which is also very nice. My brother has a nice guest room that he let us stay in, and we rented a car so we could do our own thing a little.

I guess I have two words for how it turned out: restful and rewarding. Oklahoma is surprisingly restful. I think it is beautiful in a plains sort of way and there are a surprising amount of trees. My brother seems to have a nice little house and family. The people are very friendly and welcoming and I just felt rested. John and I slept in every day and if I wanted to take a nap I did. I played on my computer, played games with my brother and his wife and my John, and went out shopping and to eat at several places. And John got in lots of good Wii time with our little nephews. In fact, I think they probably think he is the best uncle ever because he taught them how to play Mariocart. I also visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, which was surprisingly peaceful and well thought out. And lastly, temperatures stayed at about 50-60 degrees all while we were there and it seemed really nice. Again, all very restful.

And the trip was rewarding. I got to catch up with my brother and his family, which was really fun. His boys are super cute and his daughter is beautiful. I got to spend quality, one-on-one time with my favorite person in the whole world, my John. And lastly, we got $600 in travel vouchers from Southwest for giving up our plane seats on the way down. All very rewarding. Here's to the occasional vacation. It does a body good.

Shopping with Lily

A couple of weeks ago my mom and I took Lily shopping. This is how I found out that Lily is 2 going on 17. Recently she has had a lot of confusion about her age. If you asked her how old she was, she would answer 5. When we started laughing about it and telling people that she was really 2, she changed her answer to, "I'm 2 but I think I am 5." After a lot of pressure from her sisters, her answer has finally become a resigned, downcast, "I'm 2."

But when she shops, she is definitely 2 going on 17. I took her to pick out an outfit, new shoes, and new socks. What I didn't realize was that her main qualification for anything was that she pick it out "HERSELF!!!" I took her to pick out shoes first. She would point to a pair of shoes and say, "I like these..." I would say, "OK, let's get your size to try on." The minute I touched the shoes, Lily would counter with, "Actually, I don't want those." After about 20 minutes of this, in frustration, I picked out some shoes for her, put them in the basket and herded her to the clothes section to pick out her outfit.

We looked at all the clothes and again, as soon as I touched something she seemed to like, Lily would move on. Eventually after Lily loudly told me, "No, mom, I want to choose the clothes MYSELF!!" I clued in to the problem. The thing that changed her mind every time was that I had touched her choice, and thus somehow contaminated it, and she was no longer choosing "HERSELF". I was just trying to get her the right size. I didn't know. After my revelation, I showed her the color of the tag that was her size, and she methodically went through a stack of shirts, found her size shirt and put it in the cart in about 2 minutes. Then she did the same with some pants. It was hilarious!! I thought the problem was that she just couldn't make a decision, when the problem really was that she didn't want any input from her mother. My mom thought it was the funniest thing ever. I am just worried that I may not survive until she is an adult.

Lily's Preschool

Lily was a little bitter that she was the only girl not going back to school this year. Each day when all the girls would leave she would fuss about her getting to go to school too. I had also taken all the other girls school shopping for an outfit and school supplies and she was sad that she didn't get to go. So after about a month of this, I caved. One day I was inspired by Marseille and her blog to do a little preschool for Lily and Adam. She had a link for a website (letteroftheweek.com) that had free resources and lesson plans for doing a home preschool and they were really simple. (I think Linda also used this same website for her little boy.) I liked what I saw and so I tried it out.

I started by making a new big flannel board (which I bought supplies for a few years ago and never made). Then I printed out the first lesson and the overall lesson schedules and put them all in one of my cheap folders that I bought with our school supplies. And finally I colored and laminated the different pictures and headings for the flannel board. I like doing this sort of thing and I counted it for about 2 projects for my challenge. I also took Lily school shopping and let her pick out an outfit, some socks, new shoes, and a new folder. She seemed excited.

Unfortunately Lily was only interested for about 3 days. She was a little bummed that she didn't get to leave the house to go to preschool. She really likes kicking back in the morning and watching her PBS shows. Oh well. It was a good idea and is a good way for us to plan some fun things to do together. We've done about 3 days so far. Her favorite activities so far have been playing with play dough, and writing a letter in a pie pan filled with rice. She also likes reading the story books. I think it is a good, relaxed way to do a little something with her when she feels like something. I also have been making up some gospel activities out of books that I have. She likes them I think and I am finally using some things that I have had for years. Overall I think it will be good. This is a huge step for me because I am really not a homeschool person, although I totally support all my friends who are. I think it will be great and is just my speed.

Goal Update October 2009

So here's my update for the month:
Read 100 books this year --I just finished my 61st book. I really need to pick up the pace on this one. I think I'll start trying to read at least a chapter a day and see how it goes.
Index 10,000 names--I just finished this. I was very excited because it seemed like a pretty big goal, but I just did a little a day and it added up fast.
Finish my 200 projects by Sept. 1 of next year--I actually pulled out my sewing machine and John made me shelves to organize my stuff. It is really nice. So far I've done 10 things, although I haven't posted about any of them. I'll do that later. I need to pick up the pace if I'm going to make it, but I've plans for lots of things so I should be OK.
Complete the $200 DMBA health challenge--I'm right on track to finish the current challenge and I've really enjoyed it. The current challenge is to exercise 3 times a week and it has given me an excuse to play on DDR and Wii Fit and go walking in the afternoons. It's all good.
Post on my blog once a week--I think I'm OK on this one but I have a lot of posts that I've thought about but haven't written yet so I'll have to work on getting some of those down.
Write in my journal at least 5 days a week--Still trying to work this one out. I haven't quite found a time that really clicks for me yet.
Finish reading the Book of Mormon and D&C by the end of the year--I think I'm OK on this one too. I haven't really worked out the numbers but I've at least been reading some every day. I'm in the middle of Alma and on section 13 in the D&C. I've found a good time that is consistant and that has helped a lot.
Get A's on all the beginning level songs on DDR--I actually have gotten A's on all the beginning levels on both I and II except for 2 songs and they are killer. I'm not sure if I will ever get them but I'll keep trying.
Make bags and organize toys--I still haven't done this. I keep getting distracted by other projects. But I still would like to try it soon.
Try to be nice to my kids and have fun with them--This is still my toughest goal. I started doing a little preschool with Lily and Adam, which is basically an excuse for me to plan to do some fun stuff with them. I've had mixed success, but I enjoy planning the stuff. I'm still doing Tuesday Nights Out with the girls and they all really like that. I've also been taking one of them with me to my Mom's on Saturday to work on my quilt and they seem to like that too. Last week Kate came with me and she got to use her sewing machine and make a pillow case with my mom and me. That was fun. It's all good.

Kryptonite Toast?

Sunday morning I put my toast in the toaster and the toaster gave off a bright green spark. Now having watched my share of Smallville, I know that bright green sparks are never good. They usually result in some kind of insanity inducing super power. So if I start acting funny, blame it on the meteor rock toast because I went ahead and ate it. I never waste a good piece of toast.

Postscript: "I Will NOT Walk"=I am a Puffin!

This is a postscript to my last post about Adam. Right after I wrote it, we were watching a Go, Diego,Go episode about puffin penguins. On the show Diego was trying to teach a baby puffin how to waddle like a penguin. Adam was really getting into it. He was waddling back and forth on his knees. So maybe the real reason why he walks on his knees is that he thinks he is a penguin. So many things make more sense now... Can you see any resemblance?

I Will Not Walk!!!

Adam will not walk. This in itself is not that big of a deal because he's not even 18 months old and some of our kids have started walking later than that. The funny part is that in order to avoid walking, yet still get all the benefits (like being able to carry things in his hands while moving) he walks on his knees. It is hilarious!! He looks like a little midget (no offense to all those small people out there). I'm not sure why knees are better than feet, maybe he feels more stable because he's more compact, or safer because he is closer to the ground. I've been tempted to put shoes on his knees just to complete the illusion and to save the knees on his pants, but I've resisted so far. Anyway, I have to say that I really love my boy but he makes me laugh and laugh.

I Love the New Era!!

Earlier today I was reading an old article in the New Era by President Faust titled "We Believe in You." He had a section on integrity which really made me think of integrity in a new way. He says, "As President Gordon B. Hinckley frequently says: 'It all comes down to personal integrity.' Integrity is the value we set on ourseves. It is the fulfillment of the duty we owe to ourselves. Complete and constant integrity is a great law of human conduct. Self-respect and dignity as sons and daughters of God should both advance your gifts and talents and act as a restraining influence." I loved that. "Integrity is the value we set on ourselves." I guess I often think of integrity as honesty. But after reading this quote and the rest of the article, I realized that integrity is about the most important kind of honesty: honesty with ourselves. And I realized that devaluing ourselves or our own worth really amounts to a break with our integrity. I also loved that because of integrity we must do some things to honor our true selves, and must not do others for the same reason.

I have a favorite quote by President Hinckley that I hung on my wall and I think it ties into this, though I never would have connected it with integrity until today. He says, "Be not faithless, but believing in yourselves, in your capacity as a son or daughter of God to do great and good things." I think of Hyrum Smith who the Lord said he loved because of the integrity of his heart and I think maybe this was Hyrum's strength--that he believed that he could do the things he needed to do to serve his brother and the Lord and then he did them. I've always loved Hyrum and thinking of this gave me a little more insight into his character.

Anyway, I found this all very enlightening. And it made me say to myself, "I believe that I can be a nice mom and fulfill my responsibilites like God expects me to." And now I'm going to go work on my integrity by doing the dishes and feeding my kids. You know, you have to start with the small things.

Adam--The Kissing Monster

Adam has become a kissing monster. He just learned how to really kiss--pucker up, gaze deeply into your eyes, move in and then smack the lips. It is hilarious and makes me laugh really hard. And he really likes it (he must take after his father, but that's an entirely different story). Last week when the kids stayed at my mom's, my mom said he kept tackling Mary, pinning her down and kissing her while she laughed.

On Friday, my visiting teachers came over and Adam was on one. He was fussing a little and was really tired so I picked him up. Immediately he started the kissing monster. He must have kissed me like 10 times in about 5 minutes. All the time I was diligently trying to keep up a conversation with these ladies. No matter how I moved my head to see my company, he would grab my face, line us up and move in for the kiss. Finally I couldn't help it and bust up laughing. They were laughing too. I have to say that I love my girls, but my little boy is sweet, sweet, sweet.

Equal Opportunity

Some friends of ours that live down the street had their 4 year old granddaughter visiting yesterday. I guess she got bored and asked if they knew any friends for her. Dick said he knew just the house and brought her down. She was immediately welcomed into the fray (especially by Ruth) and she seemed to be having fun. Then she decided she needed to go back to her grandparents' (she said, "My mom gets worried about me when she doesn't know where I am") but she invited Ruth and Lily to come along. They stayed for a while and seemed to have fun and then came home. Later Dick reported this conversation with Ruth as she was putting on her shoes to come home.
Dick: (pointing to her shoes) What are those?
Ruth: My rainbow shoes.
Dick: Oh, did you have fun?
Ruth: Yea.
Dick: Do you like Allison and her brother (his grandkids)?
Ruth: Yea (Still putting on her shoes)
Dick: Which one do you like better?
Ruth: I like both my shoes just the same.

Dick said he laughed all day about it. I'm glad we can provide entertainment for the neighbors.