G is for Get Out of the House

I think I say that a lot because the other day Avery said,

"should we get out of the house?"

November has been so nice - hardly any rain at all - so we have been able to "get out of the house" lots.

We went to this little farm up the street. Their Guernsey cows make the most delicious yogurt.

We love going to Hovander.

Even though it's not raining, it's still chilly. Bundle up, kids.

This is a park in down town Bellingham. 

It was really pretty, but someone said there is a "homeless camp up the street, and they use the bathrooms to shoot heroin". 

So, yeah. 

My friend gave me a bucket of rabbit poop.

We dug up the garden and shoveled in the little pellets. 

The kids were surprisingly very helpful.

Then Jim went out and polished it up.  

N is for BedNar

David A. Bednar came and spoke to our stake.

It was amazing.

 

It was extra amazing because Jimi stayed home with the kids and let me go all by myself.

Do you know how long it's been since I sat and listened to a speaker with my full attention?

Probably years. I'm either wrestling with children or doing the teaching.

 

So a combination of being alone and listening to an apostle of Jesus Christ - I can't stop thinking about it. I don't usually blog about churchy things, but I just loved it so much, so there you go.

 

This is like showing you a picture of the sunset; you can only really appreciate it fully if you were there. And even worse, I am trying to describe the sunset. 

But for my own memory's sake, I want to write down some of the things that I loved.

 

He speaks so flawlessly and didn't really have a "speech" that he read from. He just kind of talked to us.

At conference, his talks are always so straight forward and serious. It was fun to hear him be way less formal. He talked for probably an hour, and I didn't blink the whole time. It went so fast.

 

First of all, he told us that two weeks ago he was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Last week he was in Johannesburg (Africa). Some time before that he visited a state on the East Coast (can't remember which).

He told us all about a radio interview he did in Johannesburg for 8 million listeners. He said the answers to their questions are so simple, they are all the stuff you learn in primary.

He pointed out that our religion impacts people from Mongolia to Montana - bridging vastly different cultures.

 

My favorite is when we read Matthew 4, and he discussed the unselfish nature of Christ.

Satan temps Jesus to do things for himself, but Jesus only thinks of others.

 

Our stake president, President Pringle, spoke to us before Elder Bednar did. He told us to think of a question that we would like to bring to an apostle of the Lord.

 

My hypothetical question was, "How can I be a better mother?"

 

And boom, there it was. Be less selfish.

I went home all ready to be extremely selfless. It lasted about two hours before I remembered how hard being unselfish is when three children are demanding everything from you.

 

Elder Bednar said that the things we do are hard, but "in His strength, you can do all things".  

 

I is for I

Mary took our family pictures this summer. I can't decide what to use for our Christmas cards. 

1. I love doing puzzles. They are nostalgic and addicting. But I have found an extra reason to love them - in this day of technology (you know, like blogs and stuff), puzzles are one of the few things that requires no technology. It's just me and my thoughts. I sing, I talk to myself, I meditate. 

Even better than THAT is now Avery is joining in with me. She found the flag pieces and put them together all by herself. I told Jim, "that is a big step into the Charles Wysocki school of puzzlery." It is great together time. Evan...still needs some time before he effectively contributes to the cause. He was using his back hoe to dig it up tonight.

2. I love a good documentary. We just watched the one about Julian Assange and Wikileaks. What a bizarre event in history. Plus, I don't watch the news (it freaks me out a bit), so when I watch these stories, I am blown away that something like this actually happened (while I was comfortably oblivious that it happened in the first place).

Along this note, I cannot stand fighting/action scenes in movies. They bore me to death.

 Just give me an intriguing, likable character and some good dialogue. And popcorn.

(ps we just bought an air popper...it is amazing. I can't believe we went so long microwaving popcorn.)

That segues nicely to #3. I am kind of a food snob. Not gourmet food - but food with fresh, real ingredients. Like, I can't eat soup out of a can, or a pie made out of ingredients found in a can/box. I enjoy making dinner for my family, and they are starting to eat real meals more and more.

4. I don't mind how rainy it is here. I thought it would bother me, but I love the hunker season when we hibernate in our house for a few months with the heater humming. Yet a few months later I am ready for the sun and outdoors, right about the time spring rolls around. 

I think having four seasons is the most brilliant thing of this world. I am fascinated by how perfectly balanced the planet Earth is. The specific distance of the sun from the Earth makes such an impact on us humanoids. Too much of it, or not enough of it makes such an difference on how we function. It's a perfect balance, and one that's obviously not accidental. 

5. I don't have many talents, but one thing I am good at is being a leader. I can take control of a situation when there is a lack of leadership. If there is already a solid leader established, I am an excellent follower. I think this comes from being a middle child. I can lead, I can follow. (Unless it has to do with driving in Canada. Then I become a pathetic fool. Don't ask me to navigate or drive. Ever.)

6. I always thought I would be a way better mom than I am. I imagined myself reading with my kids all the time, teaching them lots of things, being funny.

At least I feed them good food though; no soup from a can over here.

heh. But really, I hope I get better at this as my kids get older. Because it gets easier when they are teenagers, right? heh. heh.

7. A wet, cold towel after a shower? The worst. 

Also, putting pajamas on kids after a bath when they aren't all the way dry yet? You know what I'm talking about. Also the worst.

8. I have mild anxiety about bad things that could happen. I don't talk about them because I think if I say the bad things that could happen, they might actually happen. Let's just move on.

9. I grew up on a dairy farm with all kinds of room to explore. I for sure prefer a small town over a big city. Me and Jim's dream is to live up here in Washington forever and have a home with some land and maybe have a cow that we feed and then butcher it and eat it. Maybe have some chickens, and I will get good at gardening. That kind of a thing. (Of Mice and Men anyone?)

10. We dream of when traveling with our kids will be easy, and when we can go to neat places. We have hopes that our kids will enjoy going on adventures together, and we will all be each others' best friends. We've fantasized about going to Hawaii of course, but also Brazil to eat one of the oranges that are green but really tasty on the inside. And tonight Jimi painted the scene that one day it would be awesome to spend Christmas in a small European village with Christmas lights and lots of snow outside. That exists, right?

V is for forgiVe

I was looking through summer pictures and found some good ones that never got any attention. So, no we didn't go on a ferry ride to Friday Harbor recently.

But let's talk about Avery for a second. She is changing so much now that she is in school. I can tell there are other influences in her life besides the ones found within our home.

They aren't bad influences...just new things come out of her mouth that she didn't learn here.

We were walking home from the bus stop and she was jumping over the cracks saying "don't step on the cracks or something something something" (can't remember). Simple things like that.

Yesterday she got up in the 5am hour. When she got home from school, I could tell she was exhausted. She was moody. 

After dinner, she wanted me to make cookies. I told her no, and she continued to say things like "then I don't like you." 

At bedtime, she was upset about something (I think she wanted tap tap), so while the rest of us were saying family prayers, she went into her room and shut the door. I could hear her in there talking.

As I was getting Evan's teeth brushed, she came in to the bathroom and told me that she said her own prayer and in her prayer she said she didn't like mommy and daddy.

Jim and I both expressed to her that that made us really sad, and we would never say that about her, and it's not nice...and all that other parent stuff you say. She burst into tears and ran to her room.

We left her alone for a while and mused about how our sweet little girl is changing.

Then I heard her door open. She came out and looked at me and said with her shaky little crying voice, 

"I'm sorry."

We all hugged and it was a sweet moment of contrition and forgiveness. 

I am so proud of her. I just imagine her in her room thinking about what would be the right thing to do. What would make her happy and her mom and dad happy? 

It's such a hard thing to say you're sorry.

Let's talk about Evan for a minute. 

Will he ever forgive me?

He has a hard time obeying when I ask him to do or not do things, so I've had to resort to getting physical with him. 

I never imagined myself as a mom getting as physical as I have with him. Two Sunday's ago, Jim was giving a talk, so I was sitting on the pew alone with all three kids. There is something about pews and me and Evan that do not work. He gets so naughty and I get so mad. Red hot steaming mad.

That was kind of my breaking point. Something had to change, and it was going to have to be me. I was texting with my sisters about what he does that is so "naughty", and one of them said that it sounds like he wants attention.

It was kind of an awakening, even though I know about human nature and what kids need. I know they need positive attention. I KNOW this.

I resolved the next day to shower him with love and cuddles and kisses. I set my clock to every two hours in which I would then smother him in affection. I also did a lot of the "love and logic" giving choices, but that's a lot of blah blah blah.

That whole day he was considerably more mellow and cooperative. The next day too. 

I don't even know how to sum this up because the battle isn't over. He's still naughty at times. But I feel like a window shade has been pulled up in the room when the sun is out. 

And finally, let's talk about this kid. 

He likes to roll over on his belly when I lay him down to sleep, so that makes him cry and cry. He's tired as a sloth, but he rolls over and flails around instead of sleeping peacefully. 

The uncomfortable act of "cry it out" is in effect over here. Not my favorite. It gives me ants in my pants.

Ta da! Being a parent is banana sandwich.

I is for Imagination

This is my third year following the kids around with a camera for

I is for Imagination day,

and I love to see how their imaginations have changed and how they have stayed the same.

Because Evan was at school and Andrew was asleep, Avery was able to make this creation without anyone stomping on it or grabbing at it. Life is difficult with brothers around.

Coming in for a landing...

Similar to this ...

Later that day, they were outside playing and swinging. Avery came running in crying because she "heard a frog".

She summoned daddy to save her from the vile thing, but he couldn't find it.

She clarified, it sounded like it was coming from the neighbor's yard, and do we think it can jump over the fence?

Evan chases Avery inside, pretending to be a frog.

"Ibbett! Ibbett!"

She runs and screams, he hops and giggles and "ibbetts".

Until he finds a flag, and pretends to be the flag guy in a race.

"Mark, get set, go!"

Avery examines her seashells brought in from the yard.

(All beach treasures get thrown out back. They are "found" over and over.)

Meanwhile, this guy just minds his own business, scooting around on his bum and playing with whatever is on the floor.

The bus! He always plays with the bus. Remember two years ago?

I would say a school bus is his top toy.

Stop and play with the paper cutter thingy...

Avery notices that I am taking a thousand pictures, so she takes some too.

Get the bus in there...

Mad because he wants a turn taking pictures.

Still taking pictures,

still minding his own business.

Later, she wants to do an art show.

All those stars are from school. Every day, if she's not naughty, she gets a star and we hang it on the wall.

 

"Rainbow Fish"

and

"Self Portrait: Princess"

I drew that "Bo on the Go", and it almost didn't make it up on the walls of the gallery because Avery said it was "too silly".

 

Evan puts giraffe in a diaper.

More bus play.

She explains that this big bus is like the one she rides, and the other little one is like Evan's.

I love that all her self portraits include a crown on her head.