January 29

Hurricane

Source

• I just went to church. I went to my class. I played with toys and eat. I played on the grass.
• Hurricane got hit with a toy car that cut below his eye. He handled it well and wasn't angry for long.
• He is trying to dress himself often. He will get on his own pajamas and take off his clothes.
• When Hurricane doesn't want to do something, he will say, "My Grandma says I don't have to do it." I think that both his Grandmas would say he needs to do it even if he doesn't want to try.

Underfoot

Source

• I did my ABCs. I practiced doing stuff that Donald Duck does. (We checked out Donald Duck from the library.) I went to church. I saw my teacher that is in my class now. I did my own thing that I wanted to.
• Underfoot is starting to rhyme out loud. He also really likes to do a math game on-line.
• We found at the library a compilation of Thomas the Train stories. Underfoot is very happy to listen and make sure we read them. I think he likes the quiet time for the end of the day.

Wendy

Source

• My neighbor took me to Market on the Move. It is a group of people that rescue produce and share with community for a donation. A participant gathers 60 pounds of produce for the $10 donation. I got 50 pounds of Roma tomatoes and 10 pounds of shredded carrots. We made sauce last night with the tomatoes and ate carrot cake tonight. Tomorrow we will have carrot chowder. The produce is near the end of its life and needs to be used quickly. (Yes Uncle Eric - I will finish the saucing tomorrow by canning it. I guess I really do like it.)
• I also started to take piano lessons. I will take one every 3 weeks. My hope is that I will increase my skills, have music in our home, and improve how I teach students.

Sweetheart

• As an 11 year old BSA scout assistant leader, Sweetheart gets the opportunity to go on camp outs. He went Friday and Saturday. The 5.6 mile hike was more challenging than he anticipated. Sweetheart didn't sleep.
• Sweetheart gave a talk today. He talked about how we can go to the rescue and through love let people know they are important.

January 22

We did it! We got the bench done!

 We get to park in the garage and have the buckets hidden! What bench you ask? The bench was a creation from my Dad's head during their visit in here over New Year's. Sweetheart and Dad built it together. I then sanded, stained, sealed, sanded, and lacquered once again. The missionaries helped us move it into our freshly cleaned kitchen floor. (I know the clean kitchen for isn't that great of a detail, but I want it written for posterity that we did wash the floor.)

Picture Link

Underfoot and Hurricane

• Underfoot attended Joy School. He LOVES to go to school. He memorized his phone number and street address as part of their goal and order segment of the curriculum.
• Hurricane wants to go to Joy School and is practicing on his goal to use the potty to go to Joy School.
• The boys drew more sidewalk figures as I finished the bench. They painted with washable paints most days. They got to paint outside one day while I was trying to finish the bench. Hurricane painted himself blue that day. The same day they took the stain from the bench and tried to stain the sidewalk in front of the front door. (They then got to sit in time out together for quite a while.)

Sweetheart

• Sweetheart really struggled at the beginning of the week. The pressures from work have been pretty overwhelming. He changed his attitude midweek, and he made great progress. He really loves his job.
• Sweetheart loves to listen to audio-books to and from work. He will sometimes listen to the book twice because when you listen (like when you read) you will miss things. Some of the books he has "read" lately have been Eisenhower: The White House Years, Shine, and Entreleadership. The library has a pretty good selection of books that he will listen to. Not all of the books are fascinating but he is engaging his mind as he drives.
• Eleven year old Scouts activity changed times this week. It is still held at our home. Our sons are really enjoying the interaction of the Scouts here.
• For our date, we watched Tron Legacy. Sweetheart liked it. That is saying a lot since he is not a movie fan.
  

Mama

• Friday the carpets were cleaned in the house and Fred (Sweetheart's commuter car). They turned out beautiful. The car does not look so gross. We spent the day at the zoo, going to a nursery, ran an errand or two, and at the library. The boys and I were exhausted by the time we returned home. The best part is the mineral oil that was spilled in the carpet has seemingly disappeared. It doesn't look like someone wet the carpet and then spread dirt in it anymore! Yeah!
• I made a lot of dessert this week. Chocolate chip cinnamon rolls with chocolate icing, cinnamon rolls with maple frosting, banana cake with chocolate icing, and soft chocolate cake with orange sauce. Are you noticing a theme?

Today I learned in Relief Society about forget-me-nots. The teacher brought out the five points that are discussed in this talk from Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I thought they are worth sharing.

 

1-Forget not to be patient with yourself. He tells us that no one is perfect despite what we think. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and it is not fair to ourselves to compare ourselves with others. We are continually growing and learning and need to be patient with ourselves. 

2- Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice."Giving up a little sleep to help a child who is having a nightmare is a good sacrifice. Staying up all night, jeopardizing our own health, to make the perfect accessory for our daughter's Sunday outfit may not be such a good sacrifice."How do we know the difference? " We can ask ourselves, "Am I committing my time to the things that matter most?....Our Heavenly Father is most pleased when we sacrifice something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective"

3-Forget not to be Happy Now. There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings,( like marriage, a home, good job, family) The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event to appear."  Sister Earls shared her experiences with the yearning for a family. The devastation of losing the children she fostered, and hoped to adopt, back to their biological relatives. Knowing the importance of being "Happy Now" she continued opening her home to foster children and was able to be happy taking care of them and enjoying their wonderful spirits while she waited for her chance to adopt.

4- Forget Not the "Why" of the Gospel. "When we understand why our Heavenly Father has given us this pattern for living, when we remember why we committed to making it a foundational part of our lives, the gospel ceases to become a burden and instead, becomes a joy and a delight."    

5-Forget not that the Lord Loves You. "Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with infinite Love."   

Remember we know you are important and are grateful you are in our lives!

Be well.

January 15

On Tuesday afternoon, I spent time transferring our friends and family's email to a different computer. On Wednesday, Underfoot accidentally poured a glass of water on our computer killing it. In fact he came out and said I needed to go in and fix the computer because "it had died."  Sweetheart was successful in running a diagnostic on the computer yesterday, but the computer won't boot up on its own. We are in a little bit of limbo because it was the computer we watched movies on, stored our journal on, and had the last 6 months of pictures on. The best part is I didn't erupt like Mount Saint Helens in 1980.

Our project of the week was to sand, stain, and lacquer the bench that my parents built with  Sweetheart over their stay at New Year's. The boys would draw on the sidewalk while I would sand and stain (except for when they went to be at the computer and have water spilled on it). They started with simple things like hands, letters, rainbows and progressed in their drawings to missiles and missiles with guidance systems that blew up the bicyclists on our street. It was usually other children on the bikes. After they bored of drawing, they rode their bikes down our driveway hill (missing the missiles of course) to turn at the the last second to avoid rolling into the street. I can't accomplish the job after they go to bed because I'm too tired trying to keep them alive from giving me a heart attack.

Since September Underfoot has been asking  Sweetheart to teach his Joy School class. On Thursday,  Sweetheart taught. He read. He played. He instructed. He went head to head with 5 year old intelligence. He came off conqueror. Underfoot announced to the neighborhood in his loudest voice, "My Dad is teaching us TODAY!" He was so happy. Pictures were taken and will be shared at a later time.

Sweetheart and I went to the Tucson Symphony on Friday. I had bought the tickets at a school auction last April. We enjoyed being together.  Sweetheart asked how we could usher so maybe we could go more often. We'll see how that turns out. The kicker was it was nice to see "fresh young blood."

In Joy School, the children are working on goals. Hurricane made his own goal to sit on the potty. He jumped up in the middle of Joy School and ran to the potty to use it. He didn't come back and didn't come back. I found him as he was just pulling his whole bum out of the bowl of the potty. He said he fell in and that his bum was cold.  He had a very clean backside.

Be well.

January 1

Happy New Year. We celebrated by hosting Mama’s parents for a quick 3 day visit. Among other things, we:

•   Visited San Xavier Mission
•   Visited the Mormon Battalion Monument in downtown Tucson
•   Visited the Franklin Car Museum (Franklin cars were made from 1902-1934. Franklin cars were significantly more expensive than comparable Fords because of the air cooled engines, which were patterned after airplane engines.)
•   Ate lunch at an exciting local restaurant - Cafe Poca Cosa
•   Built a bench for Mama’s kitchen (to disguise 9 five gallon plastic food storage buckets)
  
•   Installed a new ceiling fan in the kitchen (improved lighting from 60 Watts to 240 Watts. . .we can see our food again!)
•   Created additional storage space in the kitchen by putting shelving up in an otherwise “dead” part of the kitchen
  
•   Beautifying the kitchen by optimizing kitchen tool storage locations (a.k.a. hiding the junk in the newly created cabinet space)
•   Increased ambient kitchen lighting by changing a blind in the kitchen
•   all of the above items completed in a mere 72 hours, including a visit to Lowe’s and Harbor Freight Tools

Also:

•   Mama gave up her sugar fast
•   Underfoot and Hurricane played with Grandpa K and loved on him lots!
  

On New Year’s Eve, we celebrated by having supper at a local Greek restaurant. We were able to use a Groupon. We enjoyed fine dining and then visited Target on our way home. We also stopped at the church to set up the room for Mama’s lesson today. We all cried when K and J left at the airport this afternoon. Underfoot cried the most! We are so grateful for K and J's generosity and we will cherish the memories they made with us.

We are excited for the new year. We were able to spend some time today calendaring. Save the date- Friday, November 16th, Pie Party 2012!

Be Well.