35th Birthday

Today was my 35th birthday. I have to say I was kind of dreading it a little, only because I can now say that I am closer to 40 than 30. Today ended up being a WONDERFUL day. It started with each of my kids waking up and running in to wish me a happy birthday. Katie made me a wonderful home made birthday card. Sara did the same and also made me breakfast in bed... half an apple and two pieces of toast (one with butter and one without). Other than the mess the kids left me in the kitchen, it was a pretty good start to the day. The rest of the morning was spent being a mom and doing things that I just have to do. Unfortunately day to day things don't stop just cause its your birthday....I was able to have a nice lunch with Mike and then off to pick up Eberly from middle school. Eberly and her friend had been working on a surprise for me for my birthday. They were so cute about it. Lots of phone calls, texts and whispers. Normally Eberly and Jaycee come with me when I pick up the younger ones from Elementary school. But today they just had too much homework to do.. (wink wink). I went to get the kids from school and it was SO cute cause they were obviously trying to stall me. I turned around and Katie was walking and untying her shoe at the same time "Mom! stop... I need to tie my shoe". Stall #1. Then Sara says "Mom I have to go pee REALLY bad! I cannot wait to go home." Stall #2. We are on our way again and all of a sudden Jimmy just decides to lay down on the grass.... just to enjoy the nice afternoon. Stall #3. Then on the way to the car they walk SOOOO slow. We get to the car and start to drive home. Ring Ring.. Eberly is calling me. She is frantic..She is out of conditioner and asks me to go to the store right then to get her some. I was already almost home at this point. I finally decide to give her a break; I took the kids to the park in our neighborhood so that Jaycee and Eberly could finish up their "surprise". I texted Eberly and told her to call me when was allowed to go home. When I got home this is what I walked up to:

When I went inside, this is what I found...

Eberly and Jaycee blew up over 100 balloons and had them all over my family room. They taped streamers and flowers all over the kitchen and family room. And it was all done in my favorite color scheme...Red, black and white. I loved it! What wonderful kids I have... Tonight Katie came up to me and showed me her and Eberly's text messages while they were trying to stall me..It is so hilarious I have to share it:

Katie: The hawk(me)...(Eberly made up the code names..hahaha) is on her way..

Katie: The hawk is here. Repeat the hawk is here (meaning I arrived at the school)

Eberly: Distract the hawk. I repeat. Distract the hawk.

Katie: Ok. Hawk distracted cause she is on the phone. I repeat she's on the phone.

Eberly: Ok. Got it. When r u on your way home?

Katie: The hawk is planning on going home in a minute. I repeat the hawk s planning on oing home in a minute

Eberly: Tie your shoes together!!!!!NOW!!!!!

Katie: The hawk found out we are stalling

Eberly:Tell her we r not. Tell me when she is on her way.

Katie: K

Eberly: Who is she talking to?

Katie: She's not anymore

Eberly: Is she on her way?

Katie: Almost

Katie: The hawk is on her way up the hill. I repeat the hawk is on her way up the hill. HURRY!!!

Eberly: Ok.. Stall her

Katie: I can't!!!

Eberly: The White Rhino (Mike) is calling!

Katie: I know. I think the hawk know we are doing this.

Eberly: Tell her I am cleaning the house.

Katie: Ok.

I found this hysterical. It was such a wonderful day. I felt so loved. Yep.. I turned 35 today, but with so much love surrounding me.. how could I be any happier.

Grateful for the spirit of the youth

I had one of those mornings. Jimmy woke me up numerous times with nightmares. While he is super cute and cuddly, it causes quite a lack of sleep. Mike had to work last night. He called me around 2:00 am to let me know that he would not be home on time. While this seems like a nuisance I am grateful that he lets me know when he is going to be late. I am a bit of a worrier. Sara woke up in the middle of the night also with a sore throat. She woke me up again around 6am asking for a popsicle. I was exhausted by this point. I knew I wanted to sleep in. I felt like I desperately needed it.
I decided that I was going to stay home from church today. I knew Michael wasn't going to be able to go. He worked last night and has to return tonight. Sara wasn't going to be going. I knew Jimmy was going to have a hard time waking up since he slept so horribly. And Katie..oh Katie. She was SOOOOOOO grumpy yesterday. She kept on saying how tired she was. She was grumpy the whole day. I assumed she was coming down with something. I went in to her room around 8 and she was still asleep. I asked her if she was going to get up and she said "only if you want me to"....and she zonked back out. Decision was made. I was going to stay home and in my nice warm bed.
Then I went to talk to Eberly. I asked her if she wanted to stay home. Immediately she said "NO!!!" The look of disappointment on her face killed me. I told her that I really wanted to stay home and sleep. She didn't sway. She encourage me to go. I am so grateful that she did. How could I let my daughter down? I wasn't going to do it. So I got up and got ready for church.
I am SO glad I did. What a wonderful day at church. Testimony meeting was wonderful. Sunday School was great. Relief Society.... I can't say enough about how wonderful the lesson was today. It was about the Savior's Tender Mercies.
I do think sometimes we overlook all the many blessings that we receive on a daily basis. Sometimes our blessings our huge and very obvious. So many of the blessings we receive aren't as visible.
I feel so refreshed and ready for this week. I am grateful for my Eberly and for the wonderful example she sets for me.

Why does it seem to get harder?

Twelve years ago today Mike and I said goodbye to our sweet baby girl. It was the hardest decision we have ever had to make. Through much prayer and faith we knew it was the right decision. We felt so strongly that Megan was only to be here but for a short moment. Heavenly Father needed her.
It has now been twelve years. I can remember that day almost as if it were yesterday. I can remember holding that sweet angel in my arms for the last time. I can remember Mike singing Families Can Be Together Forever to her.
What I am having a hard time understanding is why I am missing her so much right now. Everytime I think about her I find my eyes getting teary and I get that lump in my throat. Am I losing my faith? I know she is where she is supposed to be. I am greatful to know that she isn't having to deal with the trials here on earth. I know she is happy. So why am I so sad?

Working harder

The last few weeks have been very inspirational for me and my family. Between firesides and lessons at church I have learned so much and have begun working on implementing things I have learned to be a better parent.
Mike and I attended a special stake fireside a few weeks ago that was specifically for parents or leaders of children over the age of 10. From the moment I heard about it, I wanted to go. It seemed like "someone" was trying to make it so we couldn't attend. Things kept on coming up and frustration started to set in. I got to the point that I was about to give up. Things got all worked out except for getting someone to watch the kids. Brother Monroe, our first counselor, called to remind us about the fireside. I explained to him that we were currently working on trying to get a babysitter for the kids and having a hard time doing so. He was kind enough to offer the services of his daughter. I was so grateful.
The fireside was amazing. We learned so much. President Haynie is such an amazing man and so inspired. He was so encouraging. Something that stuck in my head was about teaching our children. One of the speakers saids something along the lines of..... we give our kids rules...BUT we need to follow up those rules with gospel doctrine. They need to understand WHY they have those rules.
This really stuck with me. How many times have I told my children to do something, but not explained why... ALL THE TIME!!! Since that fireside I have implemented that into my parenting. What a difference! Not only are they responding, but I am teaching them simple gospel principals at the same time.
Today in Sunday School Brother Chapman taught the lesson about what we can do daily to grow closer to Heavenly Father. It was a great lesson. The "normal" things were mentioned; prayer, temple attendance, being humble, obeying commandments.... But one discussion really stuck with me. Scriptures study. A family in our ward has just recently started scripture study in their home. They get up at 5:30 every morning and read scriptures together as a family. They said that it is amazing how much their family has grown and changed in the few short weeks that they have started doing this. The husband said "If you do scripture study with your family, your life WILL change." This really got to me. If this family could do it so can we!!! We are terrible about doing scripture study as a family. Between all the diffierent schedules "How are we ever going to make this work?" Then I thought to myself..this is just an excuse. LET'S JUST DO IT! So we have decided as a family that we are going to start reading our scriptures every day right after the kids get home from school. This will work with Mike working grave yards. We started today right after church. We came right home and read our scriptures. It was WONDERFUL! I felt the spirit so strongly that I actually got a little emotional.
Finally today in Relief Society we were discussing sharing our testimonies with our children and how important it is for them to know how we feel about the church. Again..Not so great at this. One sister shared something that I thought would be a great way to implement this into our family. As we are having daily conversations with our children we can easily share our testimony with them. It doesn't have to be "I'd like to bear my testimony"... For instance when the whole Chelsea King tragedy happened, my kids were really affected. I was able to ease their minds and hearts by sharing what we believe as members of the church. I was able to tell them that she is with her Heavenly Father and that I know that she will be with her family again. I didn't realize at the time that I was actually sharing my testimony with them. I am hoping that I can really start doing this more often.
I am so grateful for the all the wonderful people around me. While they were just sharing their thoughts in a church meeting.. they helped me want to work harder.

Tis' the Season...

Tis the season to be sicky..fa la la la la la la la la....Jimmy has been fighting a cold off and on for the last few weeks. First week started with a 24 hour fever. I wasn't too concerned because Sara had the exact same thing. Second week he came down with a LITTLE cough, but again got a fever that lasted less than 24 hours. I figured that he was fine since he no longer had a fever. Well, Saturday night he came down with ANOTHER fever. This one seemed a lot higher than the others. I thought "oh boy.. this is it.. this is going to be that fever that lingers." I was wrong. He woke up Sunday morning with no fever. His cough was a lot worse by this point.
Sunday morning also started Katie's downword spiral. Not the best way to spend Halloween. She was completely fine on Saturday, but woke up with a horrible cough and fever by the afternoon.
I decided that night that I should probably take Jimmy in to see Dr. Rosenfeld on Monday. 3 fevers in 3 weeks just wasn't sitting well with me. Plus his cough was getting a lot worse. I called the office Monday morning and was able to see her by the afternoon. I decided that I might as well take Katie in too since I was already going to be there.
Dr. Rosenfeld came in and started to check out the kids. I hadn't seen her in a while so we were catching up...when she smiled and said (while checking out Jimmy) "Well, how about Walking Pneumonia for ya?" Then she moved on to Katie.... "How about 2".
Two kids with walking pneumonia! Fortunately I took Katie in when I did. She had only been sick for two days. She was not nearly as bad as Jimmy is though.
They both got their breathing treatments and prescriptions. My kids have gotten walking pneumonia before. I normally have to take them back in to see the Doc in about 2 weeks after they start their inhalers and antibiotics. Not this time. Jimmy has to go back on Friday!!! That is how bad he is. He is super bummed because Friday is his birthday and not only does he have to go to the doctor.. he can't go to school. Katie can possibly go back on Thursday and Jimmy is out AT LEAST this whole week.
I am so glad I took them in. Who knows how sick they could have gotten. You have to understand.. Call in mother's intuition? I call it Heavenly Father inspiring me. My kids tend to not act sick when they are sick. Jimmy has been bouncing off the walls and Katie has been her normal chipper self.
Now my counter is filled with inhalers and antibiotics. Tis the season.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward held their Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night.. For those that might not know what this is... We park our cars in the parking lot of our church and the kids trick or treat from car to car. I love seeing the creative ways people decorate their cars. It was a great night. It started off with a chili cook off. Mike made his delicious chili and entered it into the contest. We couldn't believe how many crock pots of chili showed up. I don't think I have ever seen so much chili in one place in my life :). Unfortunately Mike didn't win... but we took the empty pot as a sign that his chili was well liked.

The kids had a blast "trunk" or treating. They scored too. Having so much candy in the house is not helping my diet plan. Those darned sweet tarts.

Eberly went as Athena; Ever since watching Percy Jackson she has been very into Greek Mythology. She is now reading the Percy Jackson series and LOVING it.

Katie went as a "retired" angel. Let me explain. She wanted to be an angel for Halloween. But seeing how PICKY she is... finding a white angel costume that she liked, and that wasn't $30, was next to impossible. Then I found these cute blue angel wings with matching skirt. She LOVED it. But since angels wear white.. she said that she is retired.

Sara went as a vampire. Not really sure why she wanted to be a vampire. My mom had found this cape when she was going through her fabric. Sara saw it and HAD to be a vampire.

Jimmy went as a wizard. Again.. Not sure where the idea came from. But it was an easy costume. I found the cute wizard hat in the dollar bin at Target!

Thanks to my Mom for making Eberly and Jimmy's costume. My kids would have gone as ghosts if she hadn't stepped in.

Happy Halloween.

Light the Night

Every year Crimestoppers puts on a 5k run. It is apparently a pretty big competition among different police departments to see who can get the most participants. Mike, Katie and I decided to participate this year. I was very nervous...1. I haven't been very good at running lately. 2. I went to a concert the night before. 3. I had to run 2 booths at the Halloween Carnival that same day. I honestly didn't know how I was going to have the energy to do it. So I told myself that I would just walk it. I would let Katie and Mike run it.

We got there..after sitting in a ton of traffic. I had NO clue what a big event this was. I swear every cop in the city, that wasn't working, was there. It was awesome. We signed in, got our nifty glow in the dark t-shirts and got ready to...walk :)

Well we started at almost the end of the pack. It was just so crowded. Once we passed the starting line everyone started to thin out. My Katie was ready to go and to my surprise so was I. So I actually started running and I was able to keep up with Mike and Katie...for a little while. I could see that I was slowing my poor Katie Kat down so I let her and Mike go on up running 3/4 of the race. I only walked for about 1/4 of it. I was so proud of myself. But I was more proud of my little girl. She ran the 5k in 40 minutes! (I came in at 43). We figured out she came in 9th place for girls in her age category. SOOOO proud of her.

It turned out being a great night. I did way better than I thought would. I thought it would take me 2 hours to walk the thing. Not only did we support a good cause but it has motivated all three of us to get working and beat our time next year. In the words of Katie "I'm gonna kick their butts next year."

Slacking

So I keep on saying that I am going to keep up on my blogging. It just hasn't happened. I am going to make an early New Years Resolution. I think it is so important to journal what is happening in our lives. With how busy our lives are it is easy to forget..even the small things. So this is it. This is my goal. I am going to stay up on my blog. Wish me luck...

Day 3 - Grow A Garden

Today is Day 3 of the 77 Days of Summer GROW A GARDEN... Well, if you saw yesterday's post we went on a 4 mile hike. The kids were completely EXHAUSTED from their hike. They had no desire to do any gardening whatsoever. Can't say that I blame them. On top of that Jimmy also has bronchitis and Eberly was spending then night at a friend's house. So we decided to move onto Day 4...HAVE A READING CONTEST! What a great way to spend the day when you are exhausted. We changed it up a bit though...Instead of doing the number of books we read..we are doing the number of pages. I thought this would make the contest a little more fair since Jimmy's books are only a handful of pages and Eberly's are just slightly longer :) When the kids finish a book they will let me know and we will record it. I will also take this time to discuss the book with them to make sure they really read it :) I will keep you posted how they are doing. I think I am going to join this contest too.

Day 2 - Treasure Hunt

Today is Day 2 of the 77 days of summer. Today was HAVE A TREASURE HUNT! I decided to change it up a bit. We did a Treasure Hike instead. Mike, Katie and Jim are going to Little Lakes Valley in a few weeks. They really wanted to test out Katie's shoes and backpack and to see if she could handle a hike. So we went on a hike together as a family at Daley Ranch in Escondido. We hiked about 4 miles. We had a fantastic time. And yes...we did find some treasures along the way....pretty flowers, great views, lakes, a tarantula halk, snake trails and yes...coyote poop..and lots of it. We had so much fun. Even little Jimmy who has bronchitis did a great job. This hike had a lot of hills too. I was really proud of them.