High on a Mountaintop....

This hymn about temples has been running through my mind a lot lately. Probably because we have been able to do some temple work for Will's side

of the family this week.  This morning we finished up the work for his mom, and also for his older brother that passed away tragically a few years ago. We are so glad we attended our ward's Genealogy class that helped us get started.  It truly is amazing to do the work for YOUR family. Or your husband's, for that matter. We are looking forward to finding out more and more about Will's biological family so we can continue this good thing we got going on. Walking out of the Brigham Temple, you face directly east and have a most breathtaking view of the Tabernacle and the mountains.  You need to go see for yourself.  Gorgeous!!

 

P.S. Waking up at 4:40am so you can leave by 5:15am, so you can be in Brigham at 6:00am for the 6:30am session is really early.  Especially if Addie, aka "Little Miss Terrified of all Things Halloween Related", sleeps with you and kicks and smacks you ALL night LONG. **But we LOVE her and LOVE her sleeping with us (minus the smacking part).  And going to the temple is amazing.  Plus stopping at McDonald's for a $1 McMuffin on the way home, makes it all better.

 



2 Month Check-up......

Our 2nd month of school is nearly done. Time to reflect and tweak what needs tweaking:

• I usually start with the basics each day, but I have been surprising the kids with our "subject of the day" first thing sometimes.  It has been a much needed change of pace for us.  Who doesn't want to start their day off with studying about bats for "Science Wednesday" instead of waiting until after lunch? I know, right?!  Changing the order of how you do things is kinda refreshing.
• Having my kids do a book report a week has been great for me, and painful for them....or at least some moan and groan.  It has been a goal of mine to have my oldest to do better at finishing books from the library instead of reading a bit from like 10 different books.  I have been letting them read a book of their choice one week and them I get to pick the next book the following week.  It is working so far.  Yay.
• We stink at singing a hymn a week.
• Our devotionals have been hit and miss.
• We are doing great at history, geography, AND science this year.  The school years when I was either pregnant or just had a baby, these subjects have not been done as well as I would have liked, so I feel very good about how things are going this year!
• I love having geography with my homeschooling buddy and her boys once a month. We watch a short video about the country we picked, the kids share something they learned that was interesting to them, AND we eat food from that country.  It has been super fun! This is the only co-op we are doing this year and I am ok with that. :)
• I have felt more relaxed and feel good about how we have been spending our days.  I know some homeschoolers do more than we do.  I know some probably do less.  But, we shouldn't compare ourselves, should we?  It never is a positive thing. Improve where we need to but take note of all the good we are doing, right?
• I joined www.cleverdragons.com for Seth and www.alwaysicecream.com for the girls.  The price was right and it has given them something fun AND educational to do on the computer when I need them to do something independent for a bit.  I gotta change a diaper or clean up the mushed up playdough sometime during our school day! Ha!
• Sasha's spelling is getting better and better and I am so glad.  She has struggled and feels badly about it.  I got her an electronic dictionary and that has helped.  We are doing regular spelling tests, journal writing, and notebooking which have all helped her a ton.  Way to go, Sasha!!

I am looking forward to the holiday season and hope we get lots of snow!!!

For Ardella.....

Today was a very special day for Will and I. Someday, I plan on printing out this blog, so I wanted to make sure this day gets recorded.

Will was born in Indiana to Wayne and Ardella Andrews.  When they got married, Ardella was only 14 years old.  By the time Will was born, she had 8 kids and was 24 years old.  She ended up having 11 children in all, I believe.  Wayne worked as a tree trimmer, so they never had much money.  The state eventually intervened and placed all the children in foster care, so they would get cared for better. Some of the older kids actually ran away from their foster families, and went back home.  Will and his younger sister got placed together, with the Rodgers family, who eventually adopted them.  The Rodgers family met the missionaries and got baptized, so Will grew up with the Gospel.  :)

In the early 90's Will met his biological parents, and a most of his siblings over a few year's time.  He is very close to his oldest brother, Roger who comes to see us regularly. When we lived in Iowa, one of Roger's girls got married, so we went to the wedding.  I was able to meet both of his parents; Will takes after his mom!  She is dark like he is.  His dad was very quiet but very kind.  Our visit with them was brief since we had to get back to law school.  That was the last time we saw them.  But, Will always called his mom on Mother's Day to tell her he loved her.  She always cried.  I imagine it has been hard for her to deal with the fact that her children were taken from her.  Will always wanted her to know he harbored no hard feelings towards her or his dad for the past.

She passed away a few years back and Will has wanted to do her temple work.  He set a goal to get it done, and I was very willing to be a proxy for her.  This morning we got up very early and set out for the Brigham City Temple.  We wanted to do her work there since that temple is special to me, being from Brigham City.  It was our first time doing temple work for someone we actually knew.  As I got ready to leave I wondered if Ardella knew what we were going to do for her that day.  I was anxious to get to the temple; I just wanted to GET there! It was probably silly, but I was worried something might stand in our way; car trouble, traffic or something! 

There was a very special spirit in the temple today.  As I took Will's hand as we waited for our turn in the font, we both started to cry.  It was such a sweet feeling to do her work.  She had a hard life.  She did not have the gospel and maybe wondered if the Lord had forgotten her.  Well, Ardella, your wonderful son, Will did NOT forget you.  We love you.  The Lord loves you.  All is well.

Will's dad, Wayne passed away during the summer, so we are counting down the days so we can go and do his work.  What a blessing temples are.  What a loving Father in heaven we have.  My joy is full.

Little Boy Blue by Sasha

Sasha took some great shots yesterday of our little blue-eyed boy.  Here he is "helping" daddy fix the light fixture that is hanging down.  He was barking orders like you wouldn't believe. They will have to give it another try another day.  It is still hanging down.

An extreme close-up.  We love that sweet face so much!!

Yes, it's true!  He is walking now...well, pretty much!  He only does it when he feels like it.  Crawling is still his prefered mode of transportation. I am so glad we have all been able to enjoy these precious moments together! :)

Another Book Review.....

You MUST read this book:  The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan. I picked it off the shelf at the library because a librarian had recommended it and wrote a little review of it for all to see.  Those librarians know a good book when they see one, so I gave it a try.

It takes place in the 50's and 60's when companies would have contests and would award some pretty amazing prizes to those whose jingles got chosen.  This lady "raised 10 kids on 25 words or less".  She was married to an abusive alcoholic who drank away his paycheck instead of giving it to his family, so she entered contest after contest, and with her wit and talent won prize after prize.  Appliances, sports equipment, cash, even 2 cars!  I loved this book because of her ability to press on despite the turmoil in her home.  She was able to try, and try again, finding optimism I am not sure I could if I were in her situation.  Her contest entries were witty, and full of sunshine.  Her children loved her and loved how much she sacrificed for them.  I think I need to own this book.  It is a keeper.

A Book Review: Factory Girl by Barbara Greenwood

I found this book as I was walking to the check-out desk at the library.  The old picture of these girls caught my eye, so I decided to take it home with me.  I loved it!  It is filled with the most amazing pictures taken of factories and the people, including children that worked there in the early 1900's.  What an eye-opener!  What hard lives they had!  Working long, horrible hours, doing repetitive work, over and over.  They had very little rights at all.  Their pay could be withheld if they didn't meet their quota for the day, or if the boss just decided to NOT pay them that day.  It is a book written in an interesting way: fiction and non-fiction, all in one book.  A fictional story goes throughout the book, and in between those chapters, she has put facts and photographs about the time period.  It was a great read; probably suitable for upper grade levels and older, but younger kids will learn a lot from how other kids lived at that time.

King Tut and LeRitz

We just finished up a unit study of Egpyt, so when I heard about the King Tut Exhibit at a museum in Idaho Falls, we thought we'd go check it out.  Driving that far and coming right back home with 5 kids didn't seem like a good idea, so we opted to get a hotel.  We decided to stay two nights so we could have a little fun.  Oh, and did we have fun!  LOL!  We stayed in a place called "LeRitz" and we got a kick out of the name.  It was pretty nice and the price was right!  I didn't get a single picture of the hotel, of us swimming or anything BUT the museum and those turned out blurry.  DANG!!                                               

 We got to the museum after we checked into our hotel, and we only had 40 minutes to look around since they were closing.  That was actually just right since Audrey was pretty terrified of everything in there and kept saying "I don't want anymore!!".  My visions of walking around and having intelligent converstaions with my kids about the artifacts and replicas there didn't really happen......

 This picture cracks me up.....the kids are like "Is it time to go to the pool now???".

One last shot and we left the museum and hit the pool. 

In fact that is pretty much all we did.  Go swim.  Go back to room.  Change into clothes.  Someone asks, "Wanna go swim?".  Sure, why not.  So we put our suits back on and swim some more. We even had pizza delivered and got drive-thru so we wouldn't miss out on all that precious pool time. Hilarious.

The first night was miserable; Noah cried off and on all night long, and the moments where HE wasn't crying, Audrey was.  I am getting old, I think.  It is so hard to travel with the babies!!  Oh, and Noah got kicked on accident and got a bloody nose.  :( The 2nd night was soooooo much better! We did decide when we go on another little adventure, we need to spend a little more for a bigger room.  A room with two queen beds just isn't cutting it anymore.  Our 3 older kids are too big now to sleep well all crammed in the same bed and we were stepping all over eachother!  But, I sure do love hanging out together at night and first thing in the morning, where at home we are all in our own rooms.  All in all it was a fun time and memories were made.  And that is the point, right??

How strange it will be when it is just Will and I traveling all alone with no one to keep us awake at night.  No one to grind chips in the hotel carpet.  No one to escape and run down the hotel hall when we aren't dressed yet and can't go chase them.  No one whose cannon-ball jumps in the pool need judging. 

As I gazed out the window as the older kids swam and I held Audrey who was cold, I saw a young couple walking to the hotel across the street.  It reminded me of us pre-kids.  What DID we do with ourselves back then?  I don't really remember but I know now our lives are full, and busy, and time for yourself is rare, but can be found....most days!  May I treasure the here and now and not worry about the poor night's sleep, the messes and squabbles over whose turn it is for what.

Where should we go next..............??

Scouting Seth

 My handsome Seth getting his Wolf, some arrow points, belt loops, AND his Conservation Award. He came home and said, "I am so proud of myself!!".  Good thing I lovingly force him to go to Scouts & to do his requirements as part of his schoolwork, huh?!

 This is from his recent Raingutter Regatta.  Sasha helped him paint his into a pirate ship!

He won the first two and was totally happy.  He lost his last race and was totally NOT happy.  Dang!  It was cute to see them all racing, though!  :)

Addie-Boo!

My favorite thing:

 A sweet little face missing their two front teeth!

So cute!  Addie lost one of her front teeth while we were eating dinner at a restaurant and the waitress gave her a free ice cream sundae!

Her 2nd once came out just as she was heading to bed.

She excitedly told me, with her little lisp even cuter now that her front teeth are missing, "I hope I get $3 whole dollarths!!!".



My Heart Was Mended...

 The sweetest pictures of my Audrey Anne........................

A friend of mine had a full-term stillborn baby boy.

He was perfect in every way, but was born still.

My heart aches for my friend.

I am sure her arms ache for her son.

She has been down this road before.

She has lost two others near 20 weeks, like I did.

But, going all the way to the end and losing your baby? 

That would break my heart in so many pieces.

I took my friend dinner tonight.

I came home and looked at my two little ones raising

a ruckus and filling our home with screams and laughter.

Those five years trying to get Audrey here were so hard.

Four losses in a row.

Two at 20 weeks.

But, she made it.  Safe and sound. 

Then came Noah, anxious to be with his sister here on earth.

Those two are the cutest little buddies.

As I looked at them this evening, I realized, again, that I have been

given such a gift.

I don't cringe when it is the "anniversary" of a loss.

I don't avoid baby showers.

I don't look longingly at newborns; especially boys.

I don't avoid conversations with pregnant women.

I don't ask "Why?" anymore.

................

What would I do if I didn't have them?

It could have ended differently for me; for our family.

But, for whatever reason, the Lord gave me two more

chances to be a mother here on earth.

I am so thankful for that.

So very, very thankful.

..............

I know my friend will have some rough, sad days ahead.

I hope that I can be there for her.

I hope in time, her heart will mend.



Happy October 1st Day!

I decided to start a new tradition of sorts.  It has been a long time since we have had a "FUN CRAFT DAY", and I feel badly about that. Sometimes, believe it or not, I get so focused on academic side of our homeschool, that we don't do enough of the fun stuff.  So, I decided this morning that today would be "Happy October 1st Day".

We put on our Halloween earrings, and put our Halloween bows in our hair. We put our Halloween socks on and started to craft.  Addie is painting her bat made out of egg cartons.  We are going to suspend them from light fixtures as soon as they dry....

We went to our neighbor's house for a housewarming party this weekend and she had done some crazy-cute crafts with her daughter.  She found the ideas on pinterest, which I hardly ever get on.  The one we tried involved mixing Elmer's glue and shaving cream and finger painting them on a paper bag.  Once dried, it is similar to puff paint.  Homemade!  Even better!  We colored ours black, purple, green, to see if it would work.  Our neighbor kept hers white and made dang cute ghosties with googly eyes.

Audrey had fun with her paper bag and painted for quite awhile.

Yes, even my Sethy came and joined in.  He made the cutest pumpkin!

Sasha making a witch.

This is Addie's creation.  We can't wait for them to dry all the way so we can put them up.

I decided to decorate my house a little more for Halloween, so I did this.  I made the banner out of scrapbook paper and strung it on black tulle.  I put scrapbook paper in some frames and put ribbons of ripped up fabric I had around to make it look spooky but not TOO spooky.  (Poor Addie is afraid to go downstairs alone, AGAIN.  Dang  that Spirit Halloween store and their freaky, gross decorations).

I have decided I won't be buying any more of that fake spiderweb stuff!  Soooo messy to clean up!  I found these spooky mesh, net things at the dollar store a few years back and picked up a few more this year.  They are super cute, and way easier to work with!  I put the ripped up ribbon do-dads on the banister and called it Spookified!  I love Halloween.  It is a fun holiday that kinda helps us get over the fact that summer is over.  We love summer, have I ever mentioned that??

I am glad we took the day "off" from school and crafted.

I needed to.

Sometimes as mom's we tend to loose ourselves and it's ok

to take the time to do what WE love.

I LOVE to craft and decorate, and if I didn't

homeschool, that is what I would be doing all the day long.

I don't have time to be on pinterest much.  Even if I did find something I wanted to do or try, I am sure it would take me FOREVER to actually do it.  Unless it takes 15 minutes and then I might get it done.  UGH!!

I have felt kinda run down lately and like my work is

never done.  Always something I should be doing.

My dad asked me the other day if I EVER just stop.

Well, today I did and it felt wonderful.