October 7, 2012

It's conference weekend.  So great. I had two questions going in to conference.  One was to learn the talents and skills my kids need to develop.  Elder Perry answered that  question for me.  I need to plan better FHE lessons - we've been pretty lazy with this lately.  We have it every week, but it's usually thrown together 5 minutes before.  But as I pray and play out FHE lessons, I'll know what things my kids need and be able to teach them. My other question was how to study the scriptures and get answers through the scriptures better.

We signed Danny, Rachel and Aaron up for basketball in the winter. I didn't think Rachel would be interested, but I didn't even have to talk her into it.  I'm excited for her to try it.  And I recruited several other kids for each team, so I should have some good carpools going.

Danny and I had a big talk about whether or not he could read the Hunger Games.  He's asked before and I just said no.  But he came home from school and said almost his whole class has read it and he really wanted to.  So I really thought about it.  I wanted to make sure I wasn't just saying no because it was easier.  But the whole time I could feel the answer would still be no.  I asked several friends with kids Danny's age and my mom, which just solidified my answer. I told him and he was disappointed for about 2 minutes and then he forgot about it. 

We had an experience a couple months ago where he wanted these bucky balls - little super strong magnets you can shape.  I really didn't like it because their so dangerous and we have little ones in our house.  But in the end I justified it and bought them, mostly so I didn't have to hear all of Danny's arguments and complaining.  They came and I warned Danny really strongly about them.  He played with them for a day or two and then came down one night at bed time completely distraught because he was worried he'd swallowed a magnet and didn't know it.  He had Bob give him a blessing.  And we had a good talk about how I had felt it was wrong to buy the magnets, but didn't listen because I wanted to give Danny what he wanted.  It was a good lesson for both of us that sometimes I know or get inspiration for what's better for him and it isn't always what he wants, but we both need to listen and do the right thing.  We returned the magnets.  I think that experience was helpful with the Hunger Games discussion and was probably the main reason his complaint about my answer only lasted two minutes.

8/13/12

Danny-
He has so many bad moods - I need to make sure and not let him push my buttons. I need to stay unemotional when I talk to him. He needs structure and lots of positive attention when he is being good. He needs to know I love him.

8/6/12

Danny & Rachel -
Quarterly at least I need to have a big talk alone with each of them. Like when I had "the talk" with them - it opened communication for a month or 2 after. It will also give me opportunities to talk to them about issues, sex, drugs, puberty, friends - whatever big things I feel they need to hear.

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.

April 30, 2012

I've started focusing on praying for each kid on their own day again.  I feel like I can concentrate better and receive more answers for them that way.  So today is Danny's day.  I started praying for him and all that would come out was asking to give him opportunities to rely on the Spirit and recognize what is really important.  I tried a couple of times to back off and rephrase things so I could ask for blessings for him, but not really anything too hard.  But I couldn't. I tried three times and different words came out, but the same meaning.  And I remembered Danny's father's blessing from the start of the school year. It said "You will be able to listen to the Spirit and recognize it. The Spirit will help you when your safety is at risk."  I remember that scaring me last fall.  I need to make sure Danny is ready when he needs the Spirit. I'm going to make sure he's saying meaningful personal prayers and at least reading one verse a day on his own.

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 28, 2011

School starts tomorrow. We've had a great summer. We swam every day. We went on great trips. We had some lazy days. I think we really used our time well.

This week we went to the Dinosaur park. We haven't been there in so long. We haven't gone to any parks for a while because it's so hot. And the dinosaur park is so big I have a hard time watching five kids going five different ways, so I prefer other parks. But we went at 8:00 one morning. We were the first people there. We stayed for an hour and by the end a few people had come, but it was definitely one of the more enjoyable trips to the dinosaur park, even though it was so hot.

One day we went to the water park by Heckethorne e.s. We love that one because it's never been crowded when we've been there. We hadn't gone yet this summer. So we packed a picnic and went. The kids had a great time. Seth and Ruby even loved it. The kids loved to play "jail" and get trapped in the middle of the water sprays. And Seth kept saying, "I get vet! (wet)"

Friday night was the Daddy-Daughter campout. Bob and Rachel had a great time. And the boys and I and Ruby had a "boys party" with the Deans. When the boys go on their campout, Rachel loves all the mother-daughter time. But when I was planning the boys time with them, their ideas kept including the Deans. So we ended up going to Panda Express for dinner and then the Deans came over and we swam in the dark with the pool light and played Mario Kart and stayed up until 10.

Saturday was our annual End of Summer party. We barbequed and swam and played water balloon volleyball. That was the hit of the party. They hadn't played it before. And we have a volleyball net we bought in GA and haven't been able to use since then because our backyard was too small. But now we have a great backyard so we took advantage of that. Even Seth loved playing and he was the official "balloon getter". It was his job to reload the towels with balloons when we popped one.

Rachel got glasses and Danny got new contacts. Rachel picked out some really cute purple frames. She's so excited to be able to see so well. I had asked her a few times before we went to the doctor if she could see the tv from the farthest couch and she said she could see it perfectly clear. But the eye dr said she could see about 20/80 so I guess Rachel didn't know what she meant when she was saying she could see clearly. And Danny has gotten good at getting his contacts in. I think he'll like using them this school year.

I'm excited to be able to get more of a schedule going now that school is starting. And to get more done. But it's also nice that they moved the school day up so the kids will get home at 2:00. I'll still have time to play with them every day after school.

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.

May 1, 2011

We signed Aaron up for all-day kindergarten this week. There were more than 30 kids who signed up so it'll go to a lottery and we'll know in a month or so if he got in. I've been going back and forth with this for a while. Originally I really wanted to do it. Then I realized I'd miss him and Seth was getting bigger and maybe they could play more, plus it costs $325/month. So I decided he'd be fine at home with me. Then I found out they are changing school times next year so he would only go to kindergarten from 8-10:30. Getting done that early seems like there's hardly a point in going. So I brought it up with Bob again and he said he thinks all-day kindergarten would be great for Aaron. He's already been going to preschool for 2 years and he's already reading. So I finally asked Aaron what he wants and he was super excited to go all day like Danny and Rachel. He said he wants to learn faster. And he wants to take a lunch to school. It'll also make playgroups for him easier because his friends will all be in first grade this year. So hopefully it'll work out for him and he'll get in to the all-day program.

Joan Faircloth has adopted us on Sundays and sits with us and helps me take care of all the kids. We love her. She also works in the office at Goynes--the kids' future school. So she gave us a tour on Friday after school. Aaron and Rachel were really excited. Danny has been really nervous about the change and doesn't want to leave his school. He's actually fasting about it today. I pray that goes well for him. Because I think I need him to move to Goynes with the other kids. And I think he'll adjust fine.

We took family pictures Wednesday night. Celise took them at the Butterfly park. The weather was perfect. And it was right between two really windy days. Seth and Ruby didn't cooperate very well, but I guess that is to be expected with two little ones. I told Bob, it'll only get better. In a few years we'll all actually sit and look and smile at the camera and won't that be amazing.

We were also grateful we took the pictures on Wednesday because Thursday Aaron smashed his face into the floor. The boys were dancing and Aaron never does that half-way. He was trying some new, cool move and he kicked his feet out from under himself and rolled in the air and came down straight on his face. Both lips were bleeding and his nose. After we got the bleeding stopped he laid on the couch for a while and then went to bed. He seemed like he'd be fine. But then around 10:00 he woke up crying "mom, mom, mom!" That's all he said constantly for 20 minutes. The only time he said some thing different was when Bob said his name and Aaron asked "Where's Aaron?". That made us a little nervous. We couldn't get him to calm down, so Bob gave him a blessing of comfort and then he and I left for Urgent Care. We got a third of the way there and Aaron threw up all over himself. So we turned around to clean him up before we took him back to the dr. He threw up a few more times, but then he was doing much better. Bob took him to urgent care then so I could stay with Ruby, who has a cold and isn't sleeping well. The doctor said nothing was broken and he didn't have a concussion. His stomach was just irritated from swallowing a lot of blood. Bob slept with him and checked on him through the night and he was fine. He's fine now. He has some scabs on his chin and a black eye, but he says he's back to normal. And I'm so glad his swelling is mostly down now because it was so sad to look at him with that huge, puffy face.

April 10, 2011

We didn't move this weekend either. We almost did. We got one of the two approvals we needed, but the third one said it would be at least Monday. But the Lewis's said we can move in if we want. So we really thought about it because I'm going to be out of town next weekend. We started getting ready to move on Thursday. Bob felt fine about it. But I kept getting this pit feeling in my stomach. And when I'd try to pray about it, I couldn't focus my thoughts on it, my mind kept wandering. And I've been thinking about moving all the time for months, so not being able to think about I realized was a stupor of thought. I prayed and prayed about it our situation because Bob felt ok with it and I didn't.

I had Bob give me a blessing because I've not understood these kinds of feelings before and ignored them and then I really regretted it after. Satan can really get to me when I mess up like that. The blessing said that the fog in my mind would clear and that my heart and mind would both make sense. I thought about it all night. Finally about four in the morning I realized I didn't feel good about it not because the sale is going to fall apart and that the house won't eventually be ours, but because it's not ours yet. And it really doesn't feel like it's the Lewis's to give either because they haven't been paying on it for almost a year. But that answer gave me the peace I was looking for. I explained it to Bob and he was good with it. So, he's probably going to have to move in without me, but he's fine with that.

Hopefully things will go well with the banks this week and we'll be able to buy our new house and move in. I've been praying about that for weeks. I even started praying for the people who will be signing the approvals with the banks. I hope they are happy and have nice lives. And I hope we get our house soon. In the meantime, we have a key to the house and we've found excuses to need to go over there most days this week. We all like to go try out all that nice space.

I also had a great experience already with assigning a day of the week to each family member. On Monday I felt that I need to get Danny reading the Book of Mormon every day. So I printed out a reading chart for him. He seemed excited about it. And then on Friday, as I prayed for Ruby, one of the things I asked for was that she would learn to roll over since she hasn't done that yet. That day she rolled over two times! And then it was just nice to have time to focus and pray about each person and make sure I spent some good time with them.

My websites are hard to get going on. I keep running into delays from server issues, but I'm also procrastinating. But I'm coming up on my May deadline for both United Ways and I'm starting to feel the pressure of that. It'll be great money and good experience, but right now I'm wondering why I'm doing this. It's just adding to my stress with moving and five kids and all the things I have going on. But the only way to get rid of that is to push through it and just do it. So I'm hoping to move this week and then really make some good progress over spring break when my mom is here and can watch the kids for me.

We've all been quite healthy other than allergies for a long time. I feel so blessed with that.

April 3, 2011

We didn't move in this weekend. They had paperwork problems. They said it might be this week, we'll know more in the next few days. We're sure hoping it'll work this weekend because the next weekend I'll be gone and then after that is Easter, when everyone is coming. But this weekend my mom can't come and BJ and Kata are going to be out of town. So I'll have to find lots of help with the kids. Hopefully Seth will be ok because there aren't that many people he likes to go to. We went swimming there this weekend. The house is empty now and the kids loved running around in all that space!

Danny's birthday was yesterday. He's 9. I can't believe it. He's such a great boy. Here are some of the things I said about him on our family blog:
Danny is such a great boy. He's a hard worker and loves to go at 100% when he gets into things. His current loves are baseball, cub scouts, playing with his best buddy CJ, school, and riding bikes.

He has a strong testimony and sense of right and wrong. He tries so hard to live the gospel. He's a great example in our family. He's patient and loving with his younger brothers and sisters. He takes good care of them and loves to organize big games and projects with them.

Conference was great this weekend. I missed quite a bit from trying to watch it with five kids in the room, so I'll have to go back and watch it again. But there was so much that I needed to hear. I've been working since the beginning of the year at being better at finding needs and serving others, but I feel like I still have so far to go to be good at it. So I was really praying I'd learn more about how I can do better at that from conference. This year is the 75th anniversary of the Welfare program, so there were tons of talks about service. I got so many good ideas!

I was also praying about how I can help my family more. And last week I got the prompting to assign each family member to a day of the week and focus on that one in my prayers and actions. I'm excited to try that out. I think it'll really help me to do a better job.

March 27, 2011

Seth's cold last weekend ended up being two ear infections. And one of the ear drums had ruptured and the other looked like it was about to. But we got him on medicine and it cleared up quickly. Ruby got the cold and has had a runny nose all week, but no grumpiness or fever.

It looks like we're going to be able to move in next weekend! There are still a lot of things that could stop us, but we're moving ahead like it's all going to work out. We did the home inspection yesterday. And we have the financing all in place. So we're hoping everything comes together and we get to close on Wednesday the 30th. We're so excited for all the extra space!

Danny went to cub scout day camp this week. He was in heaven. He loved all of it so much. But best of all was the bb gun shooting.

My computer had trouble this week. It was at a repair place for three days, which was especially hard because we were trying to get paperwork back and forth for the financing. But it all worked out. At least I didn't have any pressing website projects.