December 15, 2013

The boys are big into basketball now.  They're doing really well.  Rachel's volleyball starts again this week. All the kids activities are fun, but it sure makes it hard to fit in lots of fun Christmas traditions. We've made fudge and christmas pretzal kisses and we went to the lights at the speedway this weekend.  But we're lucky if we get one afternoon a week when all the kids are home, and then they want to play with friends.

Aaron is doing better in lots of ways, but he still has trouble with some things.  Like helping with anything. He just doesn't do it or lies about it or falls on the floor in a fit.  He's a little addicted to the ipad and sneaks away and spends too much time playing.  He cries his head off and is going to die when he gets hurt, but only at home.  He and Danny fight a ton.  He doesn't notice other people's needs or feelings--his needs are way too big--more than other kids.

I finally got botox last week.  It seems to really be helping. Today is my first really bad headache.  I still get headaches most days, but they aren't as bad and they can be short.  It used to be that if it got really bad it would stay that way until I went to bed.

The skin on my right knee went numb about two weeks ago. It doesn't cause me any problems and I can't remember anything I could have done that would cause it. But in case this ends up being a long term thing now I'll know when it started. 

January 27, 2012

Linda died on Monday.  They had diagnosed her and started giving her treatments that she was responding well to, but then everything turned around again and she didn't make it.  Bob stayed in Utah all week to make all the funeral arrangements and comfort his sisters.  The funeral was Friday.  We drove up and stayed with Wendy on Thursday.  The kids took it pretty well.  It's so great to have the gospel so I could tell them exactly where she is now and that we'll see her again and that she's happy because she's with her husband.

Bob will go to Virginia for three days this week to do the graveside service and stay with his grandparents.  I'm so glad he gets to go be with them.  This has been so stressful to arrange everything and deal with his crazy sisters and his own grief.  I hope they can offer him some comfort and he can feel a little taken care of for a change.

Then Thursday night I fly to Arizona for a girls weekend with Amanda and Wendy. I'm sad it'll delay getting to spend time with Bob now that he's finally home for good, but I'm so excited for our time together.  It's been so nice to have that to look forward to during all the time of doing everything by myself.

Today is Seth's 4th birthday.  He's been telling me he wants a pinata for months and we bought it a week ago and he can't stop talking about it.  We got a lightning mcqueen pinata and plates and lots of balloons.  The other kids all made him great cards and he got cards with money from his grandparents.  He was really happy.  And we got him a roller coaster for his main present, but the shipping took a lot longer than I thought it would so it isn't here yet.  But we told him about it and he's really excited.

I'm trying to work with Aaron with more natural consequences.  He's so great at school and church.  I get glowing reviews of his behavior. He was student of the trimester for the whole first grade.  So I know he can turn it off when he wants to.  But at home he's still being crazy.  So I've been attaching bigger consequences to tantrums and trying to keep my emotions out of it.  Today, while we did Seth's pinata Aaron tantrummed about how he couldn't get his bag open instead of picking up candy and he missed most of it.  He begged the other kids to give him candy, but I told them not to.  It seems like it's making a little sense to him. 

December 9, 2012

The big kids and I started reading "the life and adventures of Santa Claus" at night.  I'm really liking that. I want to read to them more.  They really like it too.  We also made fudge this week.  I love our Christmas traditions.

Seth started a playgroup with a little boy from the other ward.  I didn't realize the other little boy is a whole year younger than Seth. But it'll still be nice for him to play with a boy. I need to figure something out for Seth.  He's always done things his own way and I've been ok with that.  But he's almost four and he'll be going to Sunbeams in a month and preschool in six months and he's not good with listening to other people if it's not what he wants to do.  The other kids might have been like that with me at home, but they would never dream of not being obedient to another adult.  Seth doesn't care.  One of my new year's resolutions will be to be better with preschool at home for him and to get him more structured.  I need to pray about this one.

Aaron's also having a hard time.  His tantrums and quitting and fighting with the other kids is really getting old.  He's the opposite of Seth because I always get glowing reports from school and church about what a great kid he is.  But at home he doesn't play well with the other kids and has a tantrum at least once a day.  That's another one I need to keep praying about.

9/19/12

Aaron-practice positive thinking

• Pray with him in mornings
• Talk over day - prep him for his night prayer

October 28, 2012

Last weekend my mom, dad, grandma Donna, Casey and Kristal came to do the PumpkinMan Triathlon.  We had such a good time.  Kristal did the olympic length and I did her swim part.  Bob and my Dad did their own sprint races.  And Casey and my mom were on a relay team.

Everyone got here Thursday night.  Friday the girls all went shopping and out to lunch.  Then we all picked up our race packets and tried to go to bed early.

Saturday we went down to the lake for the race.  We got there about 20 minutes before Bob's start time.  So when we parked I jumped out and ran to take pictures and help him set up.  But by the time we got to the bike racks I realized I'd lost the car keys along the way.  So I retraced my steps, but they were gone.  I prayed my guts out and talked to all the race volunteers over and over because all my race stuff was still in the van.  I had an hour until my start time.  And it got down to 10 minutes before my race so I decided I'd swim without my wetsuit and they said there were extra caps and I got Bob's goggles from him and we just wouldn't be timed because I didn't have the timing chip either.  So I was walking down to the lake and the girl who picked up my keys turned them in right then.  So my mom and I sprinted to my van and I put my wetsuit on while my mom drove me down to the lake.  I ran into the lake, they pointed out the course and then the gun went off.  We barely made it, but what a blessing. 

My swim was 1500 meters.  It went great.  I did it in 31 minutes. And I did half of it breast stroke because it took me a long time to get my stroke right with being able to look forward so I'd swim straight. But about halfway I got that down and then it went really smoothly. It was fun to swim in open water instead of laps.

Saturday afternoon, my mom and dad went with my family over to a grassy spot on the Aliante trail and took our family pictures with our new fancy camera.  They turned out great and I already have them on the wall.  Then that night we went to Laser Quest for Aaron's birthday.  Everyone had a great time.

Aaron had a good, low-key birthday.  He has happy that so much family was here for him.  He got a couple lego sets and some gummy bears for his birthday.  He decided to keep the rest of the money he was given and save it.  He had over $350 saved up now.

September 27, 2012

At Primary on Sunday, Aaron's awesome teacher asked him what his talents were and wrote them down.  This is what Aaron said:

1. Super fast at sports; swimming and soccer
2. Says good prayers
3. playing basketball and baseball
4. he wants to get better at tetherball

8/5/12

Brainstorm for questions to study:

Danny

• Love him into obedience
• what school will be best for him
• skills he needs, talents to develop

Rachel

• I need to be more loving toward her
• get her to open up to me more
• help her strengthen talents - art, piano, tennis, kindess

Aaron

•  Build self-esteem
• help him avoid negative thoughts
• help him be a better friend

Seth

•  give him more attention - play with him
• teach him preschool
• discipline more consistently

Ruby

•  more play time
• consistent discipline
• start playdates this year

Young Women

• build relationships with each
• pray for guidance every time I see them

Bob

• Things I can do to make him happy
• things we can work on as a team

May 6, 2012

It's stake conference again.  Last night we went to the adult session.  That is my favorite conference! We also went to mexican food with a bunch of other couples for Cinco de Mayo first.  A few things I loved from conference were

• Love your kids into obedience
• See others as the lord sees them through temple worship
• Satan is attacking minds, thoughts and attitudes. We should look to the Savior in every thought
• President Stolworthy shared an amazing talk by F. Enzio Busche at BYU in May 1996
• Avoid negative thoughts: if you don't cut them out they will hurt you.  We need to practice ignoring negative thoughts.  I need to share this with Aaron
• By daily reading of the scriptures, we are protected. I need to share this with Danny

 I had a talk with Danny on Monday about the things I felt when I was praying for him that day.  He took it all in.  He's been reading his scriptures about 5 verses a day and his prayers must be much better.  The change in him has been amazing.  He's so much happier and kinder.  The next morning he got up early to fill water balloons for Seth and Ruby.  He hasn't been so moody and he's quick to apologize when he plays to rough with the other kids.  It's wonderful.  He's such a good kid.

Friday night I took Danny, Rachel and Aaron to the High School musical. It was Charlie Brown.  We had a great time.  We went out to Mcdonalds after and to Old Navy to get new flip flops.  It was fun to be with my big kids.

Bob and I got our cruise plans finalized.  We found this awesome 7 night cruise that goes to Honduras, Belize, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  It was a little longer than we were planning on, but it's such a better trip than the other ones that just went to a few close islands.  We're usually so frugal with things like this, but we both agreed that this one is worth it and we're so excited.  And we're so grateful that President Jones is letting us use his flight vouchers.  I don't know if we would have gone for it if we had to pay for flights too.

Websites continue to be busy.  I've been working 10 hours a week for the last couple of months. That feels like so much more than my usual 5ish hours. I have such a long list of things that need to be done for the websites with converting them to Drupal and making everything work smoothly. I'm trying to get as much as I can done before school gets out because then it'll be so much harder.  And I don't want to have to work this much when they're home.

December 11, 2011

Soccer is over and basketball has started.  We had another sports filled day yesterday.  The boys both had a great soccer season.  And Danny's first basketball game yesterday was great.  He scored 2 baskets.  It was pretty fun to watch. 

I think I'm pretty much done with all my christmas shopping.  I'm so glad because it is a lot of work to figure out what everyone wants and then try to spend about the same and in budget on everyone and make sure everyone gets about the same number of things under the tree.  I went pretty over budget this year.  I started out over budget because I decided I was going to use some of the extra website money I made last month to get Bob an Ipad. I'm so excited about it.  He would never ask for something like that and he won't really like that I spent that much on it, but he'll love it.  And I hope that the kids get things they'll love and will feel fairly equal. 

This year the kids drew names for who they would get presents for again.  But this year we decided they'd make presents for each other instead of buying them. So I took the kids all out of school one afternoon each to buy materials and make their gifts.  It's been awesome.  The kids are so excited and they're all making great things.

We got some names from an eagle scout project angeltree and had the kids pick out gifts for those kids.  And Bob's work is sponsoring several homeless teenagers. So we're going to target tomorrow and having the kids each buy at least one thing with their own money for the teenagers.

December 4, 2011

Our Thanksgiving was perfect. We left Tuesday after school.  I realized I don't like driving with the kids in the dark and it was dark for most of our drive.  I have to do so much entertaining when the kids can't see anything. Wednesday my mom and I went shopping and she bought me several things for my birthday. Then that night Kristal, mom and I went to see the new twilight movie.  Bob was so nice to babysit so much that day.  Thursday we had a great meal and went to a new park after we ate.  The weather was perfect all weekend.  A little foggy in the morning, but it warmed up every afternoon. Friday I took Danny and Bob shoe shopping because they both needed some. We played games and had fun.  We left Sunday after sacrament meeting.

Danny has started basketball.  He's in the NJB league. He's on a team with CJ and Ethan Whittle.  It's so great to be able to carpool.  And we found a basketball hoop on craigslist so Danny is all into basketball. Even though there is still one more soccer game.  Both Aaron and Danny have had great soccer seasons.  Then we'll sign Aaron up for Basketball through North Las Vegas and that will start in January.

November 13, 2011

Ruby is one year old! We had a party for her of Friday. We had red velvet cake and red balloons and streamers and we had the Deans over.  She got some little people sets that she is loving.  She's such a great little girl. She's walking like a pro and she has such a happy personality.  But she is also getting some strong opinions and she doesn't let anyone push her around. I'm so thankful for her in our family!

We signed Danny up for basketball. He's going to be on the same team with CJ and Ethan Whittle.  It'll be nice to have a carpool for practices.  It'll overlap with soccer for a month, so it'll be a little busy for a while.  But then Aaron isn't doing a sport (just maybe a basketball class in January) and Rachel's tennis takes December and January off (she just got moved up a level in tennis!). And piano takes December off. I'm looking forward to the break.

October 30, 2011

My websites continue to take up too much time.  I work 2-4 hours a day and on Wednesday I even had Bob stay home from work so I could 10 hours that day.  My goal is to go live with the site next weekend so this week will be very full of websites too.  And then I wish it would go back to how it used to be, but I'm sure I still will have lots of less critical things to get done; so hopefully I can find a good balance between family time and making progress on the websites.  I'm so thankful I don't have to work all the time.  It must be so hard to have to work all day and then come home and do all the mom stuff.  I procrastinated too much over the last several months to make that last little while really busy, but there should be an end to it sometime soon.  And I'll just be more careful with my sites to not let it get so bad in the future.  But at least I do like working on the websites.

The kids had Thursday and Friday off school for a teach work day and for Nevada day.  Thursday we rode bikes to the park and met the Deans and then the kids played together all afternoon.  And Friday we went to "The Farm". The kids fed the animals and rode the little train and went in the hay maze.  It was a fun afternoon.  The Deans met us there and then the kids played together all afternoon.

Saturday was full of sports.  Aaron and Danny both scored goals in their soccer games and Rachel did great at her tennis lesson.  Bob and I went out to eat on a nice date that night.

The kids got to wear their halloween costumes a few times this week.  Monday the Deans had a fun Halloween party.  Wednesday was their Halloween parade at school and Thursday was the ward Trunk or treat.  This year Danny is s a lego guy, Rachel is Medusa, Aaron was Darth Vader twice and a lion once, Seth was an elephant and then a baseball player and Ruby was a frog.

October 16, 2011

The boys all went camping this weekend.  Bob even took Seth.  They went up to Goblin Valley in Utah and met Josh and his boys.  They left Friday morning and came back Saturday night.  So I just had the girls for two days.  It was a great girls weekend.  It was fun to give Ruby some time with just the two of us.  And I got a lot done when she was napping.  And Friday we went and picked up Rachel and took her out to lunch.  After school she had practice for the primary program and then that night we had a Wii dance party.  Saturday we got up and went on a bike ride.  Ruby really liked the trailer and this was the first long bike ride Rachel's ever been on. Then Rachel got to go to Stake Activity Days.  They did an awesome job and Rachel loved it.  Then we went to Bath and Body works and Uswirl.  It was a great weekend.

Ruby is getting to walking really well.  She loves to climb up the stairs, but not down.  Seth is talking pretty well now.  We've tried potty training a few times, but he doesn't seem to get it.  We are going to give it a good try this week but if he doesn't show any improvement after a couple of days we're going to drop it again and give it another month or two.

Rachel and Danny both got into the GATE program at Goynes.  We're all really excited about that.  The school has a really good program.  They get to go to GATE three times a week and they are supposed to get some really good field trips too.  Their teachers are also really good.  They seem to expect a little more than at their other school.  Both of their grades have gone down a little this year because they were working the same as they did at the other school.  I'm glad they'll have to work a little harder now.  Danny also started back at piano.

Aaron is settling into kindergarten really well.  He is becoming a good reader.  And his tantrums are so much better. 

August 21, 2011

Kristal came to visit this week. She is going back to school so she had the summer off. She came last Sunday night and stayed until Friday night. It was so nice to have her here. She watched the kids for me several time so I could run errands or go to the gym. And we went swimming lots. We got a babysitter and did some real shopping one day. And we went to a movie. The kids had a great time with her. And it was so nice to spend time and get to know her better.

Tuesday morning I woke up to hear Ruby crying in her room so I went in to her like usual. But Aaron was holding her in the rocking chair. I didn't know he could get her out of the crib. And then as soon as I took her from him she threw up all over. He told me she fell out of the crib. I knew that couldn't happen, so they he told the truth and said he'd gotten her out of the crib and set her on the twin bed to play with her. Then he walked away to turn the light on and she fell off the bed. He said he just couldn't get back fast enough to catch her. He was so quick to suggest we pray for her and he wanted to say the prayer. So we did that. Then she continued to be really grumpy and didn't want to do anything. So I left the kids with Kristal and took Danny with me to help with Ruby in the car and took her in to see the doctor. She turned out to be fine. So thankful because if she had been hurt it would have been so sad for her and Aaron. We have much stricter rules now for getting Ruby out of bed and carrying her around.

Linda came on Friday afternoon for the weekend. The kids just loved it. She brought plenty of little gifts and took the kids to the dollar store, which was a highlight of the visit. They went swimming and played. And she watched the kids both nights so Bob and I could go out.

We've all had a cough for the last two weeks. We don't feel very sick other than the cough, but it just keeps hanging on. What a pain. I hope we can clear up by the time school starts in a week.

Rachel had her baptism interview this morning. She's so excited and we are too. Just two weeks away...

July 17, 2011

We just got back from Lake Tahoe last night. We had a wonderful time! We left last Friday and stayed until this Saturday. Wendy and her family came too. Amanda has a great new house that fit all 6 adults and 12 children perfectly. It was so fun to spend so much time with my girls again. We went to the beach several times and we went on a few little hikes. Lake Tahoe is just gorgeous. The Smiths just got a jet ski and kayak, which our kids adored. The girls and I went to dinner by ourselves one night. Bob and Danny went to a golf tournament and met Jimmer Fredette one day. Just our family went to Carson City one day. We did that last year too. The capital grounds are beautiful. We had a picnic and took tons of pictures and went to a museum. On Sunday my parents came and went on a hike with us after church. They were driving home from a family reunion in Idaho and just thought they'd call as they were driving in the area. But it turned out they were one mile away so they stopped and spent a couple of hours with us. The adults played Settlers of Cataan every night. We played Minute to Win It games and had a kid carnival. And we ate so much food. I feel so blessed to have those two girls in my life. I love them so much.

The week before we left we had a super fun party with great friends on Fourth of July. We had five families over for bbq, swimming, water balloons and fireworks. It was a great time. We love that we have such great friends and now we have such a great house to entertain with.

My breathing thing was completely gone in Tahoe and it came back within an hour of being home. I remember it did the same thing last year when we went. So maybe the heat triggers it. It sure is annoying whatever it is. How unlucky is that to be "allergic" to the heat and I live in Las Vegas?

Do we have another baby? I'm pretty sure we're done having kids. I gave away all my maternity clothes and all of Seth and Ruby's baby clothes. I really don't want to be pregnant again and I know Bob doesn't want to do a baby again. But we've always said the only way we'd have more is if the Spirit told us to. A couple weeks ago a friend told me how another friend is having her 7th baby because they went to the temple and found out they weren't done. That kind of scared me. Then I was remembering how I saw Aaron in the temple when I was pregnant with him. He was smiling. And that has helped me so many times when his tantrums are at their worst. But there was also a girl spirit that I saw that day in the temple. I thought it must be the girl I was doing the endowment for. Her name was Anna. But maybe it was a daughter I should have. If I had another girl I would name her Anna. I'll have to think about this more. We have had such a hard time since Ruby was born. We love her to death and wouldn't change a second. But moving and five kids and the bishopric and three kids at home and Seth and Ruby so close have all made life difficult a lot of the time. We barely feel like we're keeping our heads above water. But if I had to pick the trials I have in life, being pushed to the limit with lots of babies would be way better than a lot of other options.

June 26, 2011

The kids finished their first week of swimming lessons. They have one more week. Aaron is doing so well. It's so nice to have three good swimmers now. Ruby loves going in the pool. And Seth is getting better at it. He loves playing on the step and is pretty brave there. And he's let us take him off the step a few times in a floaty. We're loving our pool. It's so great to be able to go cool off every day.

The kids all finished tennis yesterday. So we have the rest of the summer off from sports. Bob and I are looking forward to easy Saturdays.

I have an appointment tomorrow with my regular doctor to find out about my breathing. I hope he has some answers for me. I went to my OB this week for my annual appt. and she prescribed a nasal steroid to try in case it is some kind of allergy; and a chest xray.

This Thursday and Friday the kids are going to the Deans' house while Bob and I and Ruby celebrate our 10th anniversary. We're going to go see Lion King at Mandalay Bay and we're going to stay one night at a hotel at Lake Las Vegas. We decided not to go anywhere far because we have Ruby and if we stay here she can sleep in her bed more and have her toys to entertain her and we can get babysitters really easy. So we're just going to go one night away and the other night at home. We've been married 10 years! I love Bobby so much. He's so perfect for me.

The kids' summer goals are going really well. Our Wii broke in Visalia, so we decided that the reward for all of us completing our summer goals will be that we get a new wii. I'm excited that I found a great project for us all to work on for our Serve goal. It's pretty hard to find things the kids can actually do, but I found an agency called Baby's Bounty. They give baby necessities to low-income new moms. And they always need donations. So the kids and I are going to organize a mock baby shower for them to have with their friends. We'll do all kinds of cheesy baby shower games that kids will love. And their friends can bring diapers or other items that we can donate to Baby's Bounty. We all think it will be lots of fun.

Their jobs are going well too. I'm not very good at remembering to enforce dinner jobs, but they're doing their laundry and rooms and Saturday jobs really well.

June 12, 2001

We ended up getting a pool guy too. That pool is ending up to be complicated and expensive. But I'm still so glad we have it and think it will be so worth it to have such a fun thing to do when it's so hot outside. And Aaron learned to swim by himself this week. He's taken swimming lessons for three years, but doesn't ever want put his head under or do what the teacher tells him to. But he was watching Cannon Dean practicing swimming with Kata and he decided he could do it. He told me he wanted to swim to me and he did and he started putting his face under and everything. Now he swims across our whole pool. We start swimming lessons when we get back, so that'll be great to polish up his skills.

I'm at my parents' house now. The kids got home from school at 12:45 and we were on the road at 1:00. The drive wasn't horrible. We stopped and got out at Mcdonalds once so I could feed Ruby. There was some fighting, but Ruby and Seth did really well. So far the weather has been perfect here. The kids have been swimming everyday at the neighbor's house. We went to the mall to pick out fathers' day presents--ties for Bob and new in-style jeans for my dad. I went and swam laps at my mom's gym. And the kids have been feeding the turtles a lot. Tomorrow we're going to the roller coaster place next to the Fresno Zoo. The kids are all excited.

The kids had their last days of school and Antonello. Danny was a little sad because he had a great group of friends this year. Rachel did too, but she she's never been as sad about moving schools, she's more excited. They had their award assemblies and Danny got A/B honor roll all year--I think he got one B on his first trimester report card. And Rachel got A honor roll all year again.

Bob is back in Las Vegas now. He had a great time on his trip and got 6 out of the 8 high points he had planned because of bad weather.

I started having my weird breathing thing again like I did last year when I was pregnant. I forgot how miserable it is. And it also makes me nervous about what can be causing it. Last year they couldn't figure it out and said I just had to wait until I had the baby came. And it did get better within days of having Ruby. But this week it just started again. This is the same time of year so maybe it's an allergy thing. Or tuesday I went to my swimming class and we worked on stretching our breathing out so I really stretched my lungs. But that seems bad too if my lungs can't handle that. I have a Dr appointment in a few weeks to check it out.

May 29, 2011

Now we're done with Baseball. Danny had 2 playoff games this week. They were close, but they lost both and it was a double elimination tournament. He played well, though. He got a hit, which he hasn't done in a while. And he made a few runs from getting walked. He was really upset when they lost that second game. He got tears in his eyes as we went home. Sweet little boy.

I got my pillows and love them. Now I'm going to paint my kitchen chairs to match the table. And I know what curtains I want and I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow. It's so nice to have a plan.

All three older kids are now playing tennis. Aaron asked if he could play and then Danny wanted to also. The coach is really good and easy going so he had no problem adding the boys even though the session already started. It was so fun to walk over there with the three of them and watch them all work on a new skill together.

May 22, 2001

We thought baseball was done last week, but Danny's team is in the playoffs. So he has at least 2 more games. But Aaron is done. And Rachel started her last session of tennis for the summer. She just moved up a level. It was so fun to watch her be really good even compared with the older girls in her new class.

I've been searching for how to decorate our house. But I can't find something I love to start from. I've looked online a bunch and gone to fabric stores. Then I found some pillows this week at Crate and Barrel. They are great and have a lot of color. So I ordered four. They'll come tomorrow and then I'll go get curtain fabric hopefully next week. And yesterday I stapled the laminated fabric I bought onto our $5 table. I think it'll work really well. At least for a year or two while I figure out what kind of table I'll want and save up money for it.

Kata and I planned a going away party for a friend who has moved out of our ward. And things are really moving on my websites. I think I'll be done with my big projects by the time school gets out, like I planned.

Ruby is sitting up now and eating solid food. She's had rice cereal, peas and graham crackers so far. She takes a bottle great thanks to BJ. She's so fun. She's interested in everything and wants to touch and hold anything she can reach.

We've been getting things a little more organized in our family. We're trying new things with the kids fighting. When 2 kids have a problem, they have to go do "handshakes" together. Usually they get 5 but it can be more if it's really bad. They have to go do our Cox family handshake 5 times and then they have to ask each other to forgive them. So far it's been working great. It really diffuses the situation. We also started a job and allowance system. They get allowance once a month. They get twice their age and they have to save 20% and pay tithing. I have an app on my phone that tracks their money like a bank account. And we'll pay 10% interest quarterly. Their jobs are to clean their room before school. They have to fold and put away their laundry. And they each have a dinner job-set, clear and vacuum. And then they have Saturday jobs. I make a list of things that need to be done on Friday and assign them.

May 8, 2011

Aaron got in to all-day kindergarten! Yea! And I found out there are two other kids in our ward doing the all day class. Hopefully we can work out a carpool.

Danny's fasting didn't quite go as planned, but I think it worked out still. I talked to him in the middle of his fast and he said he thought he was feeling good about staying at Antonello. Shoot! That wasn't what was supposed to happen! So then I had to go with the spirit and figure out how to turn it around. So I told him that his dad and I were feeling good about Goynes and parents can get revelation for their children. I talked to him about learning to understand the spirit and about how it feels to me--some of the key points like it'll make sense in your mind and heart; Heavenly Father doesn't use fear as an answer. He was a little mad about me saying he should plan on going to Goynes, but I think he really listened about the other stuff. So I just left it with him being mad about my answer, but the next day he was fine and talking like it had always been the plan for him to go to Goynes. So I guess it didn't work how I planned, but it still worked.

It's Mother's day today. I got to sleep in and the kids all made me cards. I made some muffins the night before and Bob cooked them for me this morning. He's so great. They didn't turn out to be the best muffins; I was just trying a new recipe. They turned out to be a little dry so Bob made icing and put it on them, which helped them a ton, before I was awake. I was pretty impressed that he figured it all out. Then I found a website open on the computer--it was yahoo answers and the question was "Um..How do you Make Icing for Cinnamon Rolls?" He's so cute. I love my husband!

I wanted a trampoline for my present. Our old one broke before we moved. So Bob got me a new 15 foot one and put it together for me yesterday. Our old backyard barely held our 10-ft trampoline. This one feels huge and and backyard has plenty of room for it. We're so blessed.

I worked a ton on my website last week. The drupal site for United Way in Illinois has been hanging over my head for weeks and now I'm finally at the deadline and just had to get it done. I worked 3-4 hours every day. The kids went to BJ's 3 days this week and I worked at night. I made some really good progress. I'm not done, but I have enough to show them and get their feedback before I finish. I feel like I'm really understanding the software better now though. There were so many unknowns for me before that it was a little daunting. But now I feel like I still have some things to do, but I'll be able to do them. I still have to do the second site for Illinois. And then I have to do one for United Way in Provo. So I still have a lot, but I have a month before school gets out. I'm really hoping to keep this pace up for the next month while kids are at school and I can still use BJ. Then I won't have to work much this summer while the kids are home. Because I think 5 kids at home all day is going to be a big enough job. And I want to do a good job with them.