Nov 30, 2012


 Clara has climbed from white belt to yellow belt on the long ladder of Tae Kwon Do progression.  She looks forward to her classes and seems to be having a blast.
Her new blue gloves are something fierce, but apparently they are not for punching people in the face.


A Little Lesson
Clara is following in the footsteps of two highly motivated siblings.  I became acutely aware of the fact that she needed her own thing...something she would not be compared to and something that was just hers. I feel so blessed we found it so quickly. Happy Day!


Nov 29, 2012

Finding His Name

Naming our little newborn was more difficult than it has ever been.  Benjamin was difficult but Parker was off the charts.  We had a long list of names we loved, but Craig and I both didn't like any of those names in their shortened 'nickname" forms.  It took us such a long time to name him.  Even my Young Women who came by to give us a "heart attack"   gently nudged us on several of the hearts to get it together and name this baby!


After much deliberation we finally decided his name will be Parker Thomas. 
Parker after no one, we just really, really liked the name.  Although Jordan will tell you he was named after his awesome EFY counsellor Parker Geren from the summer. (We didn't.)

Thomas was a whole other story.  It meant so much.
For me . . .
I have an Uncle Tom who I've spent my whole life admiring.  He wrote and published a family news letter, (before the age of the Internet) for over a decade. He mailed it out to dozens and dozens of family members all over the country, every week.  He sings and plays his guitar to the senior citizens every Sunday at his local senior's home, even when he was busy being a stake president.  He reads the Book of Mormon every month.  Yep, every month.  He writes beautiful poetry about verses in the Book of Mormon, scuba dives, river rafts, dives for golf balls, loves the outdoors, and even knows how to knit.   In fact, that is what he gave Craig and I for a wedding gift,  a colourful heavy knit blanket.

To this day, it is known as the warmest blanket in the whole house and is asked for by name by our kids "can I have the Uncle Tom blanket?" He takes gentle care of my grandma whom I adore and stands tall as a spiritual giant but lives small as a humble servant of the Lord.

For Craig . . .
Tom, or President Walker is the man who Craig first worked with as Elder Quorum's President when Pres. Walker was Branch President of the YSA branch.  He loved President Walker and truly looked up to him in every way. He then worked closely with Tom when Craig was called as Bishop, and finally he spent six very special years serving with Tom Walker in the Vancouver Stake Presidency. I can't count how many times Craig would come home from a Thursday night meeting with Tom and Brent (the other counsellor)  and say, "I am so fortunate and so blessed to spend every week working with such incredible men."  We cherish the countless experiences we have had with Tom and his wonderful wife Linda.

Naming him Thomas was a no-brainer.

A Little Lesson
Can you really go wrong naming your children?  Perhaps not, however over the years I've polled my friends and family only to discover so many people don't love their name.  They don't hate it, they're just not really in love with it.  I wonder if that has less to do with the name and more to do with how we spend so much of our lives hearing our names attached to something negative.  When mom or dad is happy we get called hun or sweetie pie, but we get both of our names when we're about to get in trouble.  Even as married couples we are more inclined to use terms of endearment when everything is positive and happy.  Mmmmm something to think about.

Nov 28, 2012

'Works' Every Time

"Mom!  She  . . . . . . . .!!!!! "

"Yes, but he . . . . . . . .!!!!! "


Approximately 4 minutes after an altercation with big sister Clara, Sunday afternoon.


So far, the hardest part of parenting for me is when my children argue with each other.  It hurts my ears to hear it, it hurts my eyes to see it, and most of all it hurts my heart to feel the unkind sentiments being slung through the air from one offspring to the other.  I have tried many strategies, but the one that I like the best and the one that works almost every time is work.  Work works!  If I, remain calm and before the fight gets heated, simply say, "Benjamin I need help cutting some celery for dinner, are you free?"  The fight ends immediately and his feet hardly hit the ground as he runs to the island to climb the bar stool.  For Clara, celery wouldn't cut it, as that would be considered a five-year-old distraction.  Instead, "Clara, would you help me separate some eggs for tonight's dessert?"  She would fly down the hall with her hair flappin' in the wind to get to that fridge to collect the eggs. I believe the power of work and service is a universal principal that helps anyone pull out of thinking purley about themselves and focus on helping others.  Especially five and eight year olds right before dinner.  Why don't I always use this method to prevent my children from going at each other?

The temperature of the fight reaches boiling point before I can distract.
I don't always remain calm. (This is critical by the way!)
I don't keep celery or eggs in my car.

A Little Lesson
Forget yourself and get to work.
                                                     -Gordon B. Hinckley
Love the story. . . love the quote.


Nov 27, 2012

Check it out Dad!






A Little Lesson
“Instructions for living a life."
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
                                    
― Mary Oliver

Nov 26, 2012

Some Day is Here!

A few years ago I was going along posting away on my blog and I wrote this little entry when Jordan was just eleven . . .




A few Friday's ago I noticed my 15 year old filling up his water bottle at the sink.  Noticing he was wearing his camping gettup . . .

Mom:  "Hey is that venture camp this weekend??"
Jordan:  "Yep you need to take me to the church in 45 minutes."
Mom:  "Oh??"
Mom:  "Do you have everything?"
Jordan:  "Yep"
Mom:  "Do you need anything?"
Jordan:  "Nope"
Mom:  "You're all packed?
Jordan "Yep"


I didn't even know where they were going! He packed everything himself, his gear, needed food,  clothes, bedding and everything else that he might need on his weekend venture camp out.  All I knew was I probably needed to pick him up sometime on Saturday afternoon.

 A Little Lesson

When did it happen?  He went from so reliant to so self reliant.  I blinked.  My little lesson back in 2008  spoke of as "some day"when he would be able to do things without me being part of the equation.  That 'some day' arrived incognito, no warning and with no grand announcement. With a newborn who requires everything from me and a fifteen year old who requires so very little - these days I try to balance holding on tight while gently letting go. . . not so easy.

Nov 25, 2012

Hide and Seek

 

Most of my kids are perfectly happy to be healthy.  As long as they don't have to see it or taste it, they don't mind that I put all sorts of 'extras' into their meals and snacks to help give them more nutrients, minerals, vitamins, omega-3's, and so on. It's like an ongoing game of hide and seek.  I hide the nutritious nuggets of goodness and if I do a good job they don't do a whole lot of seeking.  Clara is my biggest seeker . . . she will say "did you make this healthy?"    Fruit smoothies and pancakes are probably the easiest place to play the game.

A few nights ago I had a YW presidency meeting.  I ran out of time. So dinner was pancakes and blackberry shakes.  So it was a plethora of hiding and thank goodness very little seeking.

nuggets of nutrition

flax 
spirulina
chlorella
goji berries
coconut oil
spinach/kale
colloidal silver
vitamin D drops
wheat bran / wheat germ

A Little Lesson
The secret is to consistently add microscopic amounts. Most of these nuggets of nutrition do not have the greatest flavour, so a drop, a few grains, a dash, and a sprinkle of these items day after day gently hidden in what I prepare never leaves the kids wishing they didn't have to drink a blackberry milk shake or chocolate chip pancakes.  Keepin' it delicious is an essential part of the game.  Trust me, I've had plenty of whoops, added too much "goodness" disasters under my belt to know.  

Nov 23, 2012

Two Months Old

  
I'm two months old.
I like to smile, but mostly I do impressions.
                 pic name
pic name
pic name
  I can hold my head up lots of the time.
I coo and make adorable sounds in my moms ear.
I hear I look like Jordan 45% of the time, Emily 35%, Benjamin 15% and Clara 5%.
When my aunties come over they dress me up in goofy outfits but I make sure I don't smile.
pic name pic name pic name
I love it when my mom holds me in her left hand and plays the piano with her right.
I sleep a lot.  I cluster feed all evening and go to bed at midnight.
I like to wake up after my big brother heads off to seminary around 6:30am
I like riding in the car.  (I had better as I spend most of my life there!)

A Little Lesson
Lessons I've learned so far . . .
play dead when the dogs come around
the longer I sleep at night the happier my mom is in the morning
flash a big smile at my brothers and sisters and they drop everything to come play with me

Nov 22, 2012

Graveyard

Recently our property has become somewhat of a stuffie graveyard.
Yes, once beloved stuffies are now strewn all over our yard.
No care or concern for the fact these were once loved by our children.
No regard for stuffie life.
It's disturbing.
The culprit?
Molly . . . our puppy and stuffie abductor.


A Little Lesson
I don't know why I just cant stop thinking of this scripture when I look at all the carnage. . .

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth, rust and puppy destroy
and where thieves break through and steal.

Changing . . .

In Parker's first few days home from the hospital, the community health nurse phoned to check in on us. She asked how many wet diapers we had changed so far.  Truthfully, I didn't have a clue.  He had been under the constant love and care of his big sister, who eagerly changed him, dressed him and cuddled him around the clock.

These days, there is a new, mature and nurturing quality emanating out of my little twelve year old. Thank you my sweet Emily for loving your new little brother so tenderly!
 It brings a tear to my eye.


A Little Lesson
Things have surely changed around here.
Bringing a new baby into a home brings a special feeling that always melts my heart.
Watching an old baby of mine love and serve that new baby of mine makes my heart 
literally . . . burst.

Nov 21, 2012

Stacking the Deck

Our family plays a lot of Uno.  Especially when grandma brings her bionic Uno dispenser . . . it mixes things up a bit. Benjamin particularly likes to play this game as he finally feels like one of the older kids in the family.  He does find himself frustrated every so often as he is unable to win as often as he would like.
pic name pic name

After Family Home Evening last week, he asked if I would play just a quick game with him before bed.  I agreed and he scurried off to "shuffle" the cards.  After I received my third "pick-up-four" from him I asked him to see his cards.  I quickly discovered I was playing with a card shark!  "Benjamin did you find all the wild cards in the deck and give them to yourself?" I asked.  "Not exactly. . ."  he replied.  "Benjamin that's cheating!" I declared.   He then explained,  "But mom it's good cheating, because . . . see now I'm going to win!"


A Little Lesson
Mmmmmm.  The irony is if we could stack our decks in life and have more control over the hands we are dealt each day, I am pretty sure none of us would choose most of the trials we have endured.  We would instead fill our lives with aces and wild cards that would make it seem like we would surely win the game.  However, I am convinced without a doubt that it is the trials in our lives that make us strong and robust.  Sometimes it takes a great deal of time and even distance from the trial to recognize this, but it is inevitably true.  A stacked deck would indeed leave us loosing in the end.  Now I'm off to teach my 5 year old not to cheat.


A Blessing

pic name pic name pic name pic name pic name

On the morning of Parkers's blessing, I tried to quickly snap a few pictures of the people who took turns holding him, while everyone got ready for church.  It was a chaotic morning trying to get everyone out the door, but there is just a wonderful calmness about baby Parker.  When I hold him I quickly get lost in his beautiful eyes and his angelic stare, nothing seems so important that I can't just stop the world and gaze into his deep blue eyes.



A Little Lesson
Craig gave him a beautiful blessing.  The words reminded me of similar words spoken over fifteen years ago at my oldest son's blessing.  I suddenly understood with a greater depth that those words said by a young, inexperienced father fifteen years ago, were not just wishes or hopes or dreams placed on the head of our new baby, but rather seeds of faith.  That faith begins with just words, but continues to grow and be nurtured by those exercising that faith. Sitting next to my teenager while hearing those beautiful words of faith,  I felt a great sense of peace and joy for the opportunity our family has to live life in the gospel.   I am coming to realize it is a blessing to see through both the eyes of a new mom as I hold my little newborn, and through the eyes of an older more experienced or perhaps weathered mom as I sit in church next to my teenager.

Nov 20, 2012

Behind, Benjamin, and Bieber

I'm three weeks behind in a lot of things, one of them being getting Benjamin's hair cut.  That being said, if I was on top of things I wouldn't have this little story to tell . . .


Sunday morning after getting all his church clothes on Benjamin
 tears down the hallway shouting 
"Dad!!!  I need you to do my hair!!!  I need you to do it just like Justin Beaver!"  
"Are you sure?" Craig responds somewhat confused.  
"Yes!  Then all the girls are going to (insert dramatic pause) like me!!!"


Oh dear . . .

A Little Lesson
Wait, how does he know who Justin Bieber is... and what his hair looks like... and that girls notice boy's hair??? Hey when did my 5 -year old Benjamin turn 13? I've decided the speed at which a kids grows up increases exponentially based on how far down they fall in the family order.  Poor Parker.

Nice Try

Jordan's response after hearing the "going on a mission" age will now be lowered 
from age 19 to age 18:

"Hey do you think they might think of lowering the dating age from 16 to 15?"

Jordan's current age:  15

Nope.


Arm Control

Baby Parker can go from  .  .  .


pic name pic name pic name pic name
          happy                        to terrified                     to empowered              to dance party

and back to happy in 1.6 seconds

A Little Lesson
This is really how we should all travel through life, willing to give ourselves a few pit stops into terrified, overwhelmed and even grumpy, as long as we always swing back to happy.