Teachers and Student

Last night Paul and I stayed up late to finish my homework assignment that I forgot was due yesterday. I signed up for Jordan's "star of the week" week at back to school night the first week of school. Unfortunately, I forgot to write it on the calendar. My little boy tried to tell me when he got home from school but I was busy cleaning up my 8th potty training incident of the day. He tried to remind me as I frantically tried to throw dinner together because the aforementioned incident set me back a precious 20 minutes. He tried to tell us as we sang a primary song to which we couldn't remember the words as we fought the frustration of having 10 minutes before bedtime to pull off Family Home Evening. When we finally got to the family business portion of Family Night, he took his time to inform us that he was supposed to have a "cool" poster with tons of pictures and a treat. He should have had it yesterday but "that's okay, I can take it tomorrow". I was a humbled mother. He was forgiving, flexible, understanding, and positive. If that wasn't enough, he was trusting and showed confidence that I would mother up* to the task and not let him down. This was his chance to shine in front of his classmates and enjoy the spotlight. He had confidence that even though I had not lived up to my responsibilities, I would make everything right.

*Mother up: derived from the saying "man up" but referring to the expectations and responsibilities a mother must live up to. Though I've never been a man or been expected to "man up" I believe to "mother up" is more difficult with more lasting consequences. Think about it.

This morning, when Jordan saw the Rice Krispie treats Paul had made and the poster I made compete with stars I luckily happened to have on hand and poor quality photos printed on my printer at 10:30 pm, he exclaimed “This is so cool, thanks Mom!” My heart leaped with gratitude for my pack rat tendencies which vomit supplies at urgent moments.

And then my heart softened again with humility. As the kids all ran off to school, I flashed back to yesterday afternoon, when I ranted at my other child who had forgotten to turn in the homework that he had finally completed a week late. This was after countless (not so patient) reminders, and being grounded for 3 days. I mentally replayed the last strand of my patience slipping through my fingertips. As I reflected on all of the positive attributes Jordan had displayed with all of his 8 years of earthly experience, I found myself in awe of the spirit of Christ evident in my little boy. I was ashamed. As a mother I should be the example. I should be the one showing Christ-like love, mercy, patience, forgiveness. How can my child’s feeling of self worth and knowledge of his mother’s love, trust, and confidence compare with missing math worksheets? I am reminded of a better way to motivate. Unfortunately, in the frustration, exasperation, and anger of a moment I forget what I know.

The longer I have been a mother, the more I realize I have to learn and apply. There is so much my children can teach me. I hope I can be a good student in the short time I have them as teachers.

Surprise! I have pneumonia!

Went to the doctor on Thurs. with some pretty random symptoms, had xrays and they didn't know what was wrong. Doc called today and said he took another look at those xrays and found I did have a "little sign" of pneumonia. Glad it's not all in my head officially proving me a hypochondriac! I am also grateful that I can get a z-pack to get rid of this!I just wish he had called BEFORE I had to finish mowing the lawn. I could have used the excuse! :)

My latest projects

I've done a bit of sewing lately and gotten some fun results. These are super fun skirts that don't even need a pattern and I made them for about $3 each.
Aren't they the cutest models even with their after church hair?
The patchwork took more time and I don't know if I would do one again but it turned out cute.
I also made some accessories with ideas from these links: Rosette tutorial and snaps

The girls really like their new clothes and it was fun to make them but I think I'm done for a little while. As much as I like the things I made, I don't love sewing!

I am linking this to Made by You Monday, All Thingz Related, Tatertots and Jello, and Works for me Wednesday.

Our Handsome Jordan

Here are some recent pictures of Jordan. I love how photogenic he is! Doesn't he just have the most contagious smile?! And those sun-kissed freckles, I just have to kiss them too!

Our beautiful Jenna

I have been very negligent in getting Jenna's pictures taken so we went this morning. I still wish we had managed to capture that big amazing smile that I love.

Rainy Days

I can't believe it! I had 11 kids in the basement this morning and it was actually quiet! After one kid got smacked in the head with a foam croquet mallet, I told them they were welcome to play if they found something quiet and calm. They all found a game or something else that kept them occupied for an hour or so until lunch. I really enjoyed watching them play together and I am very grateful for a neighborhood with nice kids so close for my kids to play with. We are very blessed today. Now if you ask me tomorrow about having those same 11 kids in the basement, it may be an entirely different story.

Jordan's Baptism

Here is our handsome Jordan. He was baptized on Saturday. What a wonderful day! We had so much support from family and friends. The service was so nice with Grandpa B giving a talk, the other kids singing "I am a Child of God" and everyone singing "Nephi's Courage" which is one of Jordan's favorite songs.

We are so blessed to have the priesthood in our family and Jordan was excited to have his dad baptize and confirm him. I got teary eyed of course seeing them walk down into the font and hear that beautiful prayer.

Afterwards, we had a whole house full of love, and joyful noise. Thanks to everyone who came and supported Jordan on his big day!

Jordan is such an amazing boy with so much love and enthusiasm for life. He keeps us smiling with his laughter and love. I call him my freckle faced boy and despite my efforts to count his freckles I am always distracted by his cute smile and laughing eyes. I have yet to find out how many freckles he has. Jordan is very smart with so much potential! He gets very good grades and enjoys school. He has real natural talent for sports and loves to shoot hoops and play catch. He also loves to wrestle with his dad whenever he gets the chance!

We love Jordan so much and he is such an important part of our family. We wouldn't be the same without him!

Jordan's Birthday

We had a fun birthday party for Jordan. He wanted a Star Wars party and thought it would be fun to play with water too! We had the Princess Leia relay where they had to carry a dripping cup over their heads to fill a bucket. In another relay they had to run to a specified spot, sit on a water balloon and then run back. We created the Jedi Trainer in which they had to go through a spraying obstacle course made out of PVC pipes. We turned a happy smiley faced piñata into the Death Star for them to destroy, and then had an epic Light saber fight with Light saber mades from pool noodles.
Although the weather did not cooperate, we still had a lot of fun. It was the one windy, rainy day in 2 weeks! Jordan later told me, with a huge grin on his face, that the weather didn't matter, it was still a REALLY fun party anyway. That's the part that I liked the best!

Summer Fun!

We have wonderful neighbors and good friends next door who have a pool. They invited us over for a swim and shaved ice. We really had a lot of fun. Emma and Jenna were all over the pool with their pool noodles. Jordan is also really getting the hang of using a snorkle and loving it! I am so grateful that they are getting the opportunity to feel comfortable and confident in the water without Mom having to don a suit in front of the whole town! Not only that, but it is so easy to just tell the older three kids when it's time to head next door for swimming lessons!

Crystals!

A few days ago, we decided to do some experimenting with growing crystals. Working outside on the deck, we tried 7 different methods, with a variety of ingredients. Some recipes called for epsom salts, others used bluing, and still others called for Borax. We have seen success with 5 of the 7 so far.

The green lumps are crystal growing on small pebbles and sea shells.

The white snowflake-like crystals are created by evaporation on a black piece of construction paper.

The rainbow crystals are growing on small sponges. The jar with yellow liquid has crystals growing on a pipe cleaner Christian shaped.

We also had fun painting on black construction paper with our solution and then when it dried it was sparkly.

We couldn't get one of the experiments to work, although we tried it twice. The other jar with green liquid will be rock candy but takes at least 7 days.

Christian, our resident scientist wannna-be gathered and prepared all of the supplies and was very scientific and careful about conducting the experiments. And.... bonus! We passed off a requirement for Cub Scouts in the process. It was a successful couple of hours of keeping the summer crazies away. Check out other fun ideas for kids on my side bar.

I am sharing this on Get your craft on Tuesday (even though some may argue it doesn't qualify as a craft) and Works for me Wednesday.

A couple of requested recipes- snickerdoodles and playdoh

A couple of weeks ago at a gathering, I was asked for the following two recipes. They are some of our favorites. So here they are:
Paul's Favorite Snickerdoodles
½ c butter
½ c shortening
1½ c sugar
2 eggs
2¼ c flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp soda
¼ tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar
1½ Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400º. Cream butter, shortening and sugar together. Add eggs. Blend in dry ingredients except 2 T sugar and 1T cinnamon. Roll dough into balls. Roll balls in mixture of 2 T sugar and cinnamon. Place 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8-10 min. They are done when they crack on top but are not browned. If overcooked they will not be soft. However, placing them in an air tight container with a slice of bread can sometimes restore moisture and softness.
Christian loves to make these! Kids love to roll them into balls and roll them in the cinnamon and sugar.

My favorite Soft playdoh
1 c flour
1 c water
1 Tbsp cream of tartar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
½ c salt
food coloring

Mix all ingredients and cook over med-low heat. Cool. Knead. Store in a sealed container or bag. Kids love to help add and mix ingredients before cooking. This stuff lasts an amazingly long time in the refrigerator. I recommend making a batch for each child so they can choose their own color and have plenty to play with.

My kids love to help me make both of these recipes. In fact, I think we will be making playdoh tomorrow afternoon! We love to do bubbles in the summer too. Be sure to check out our recipe for those here.

I am grateful

I am so grateful for the wonderful neighborhood we have moved into. We were sad to leave our old neighborhood and it was hard to hope for a great experience like that to happen more than once.

One of the most amazing examples of neighborliness was the day we laid our sod. We started at about 2 or 3 pm on a Friday. The first person to come was our then unknown neighbor, Mike, from down at the end of the street. He had noticed the pallets of sod in the street and thought, "they're going to need some help". He stayed with us to the end, about 5½ hours later! His son came for a while and his wife came down later when she got off work. As the day progressed we had family come and go and we are sooo grateful for their support. As we continued it started to rain. Our wonderful next door neighbor sent out the boys (hers and ours) to knock on neighbors' doors and ask for help. I had no idea until people just started showing up. How busy were their lives that day? What excuses could they have used? Would I have dropped everything and come to lay sod? By 5:30, we had 20-25 neighbors laying sod in the rain. There were men, couples and even quite a few women whose husbands weren't home, so they came alone! These people know how to work! We could never have completed our yard without them. We laid 9,000 sq feet of sod that day and it looks great!

I find that experiences like this fill me with profound gratitude and wonder at being led to such a wonderful place. God's hand is in the details and his angels do exist. I also have to stop and ponder what type of neighbor and friend I am striving to become. I still have a long way to go. It's a good thing our loving Heavenly Father has given us a lifetime to get there.