Conference Challenges

This Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. General Conference is when our Prophet and Apostles and other leaders of the church meet together and speak to us, via satellite. It is time consuming....especially with children. This is the first year that I tried to entertain them with projects. I briefly went over a video we have of Jesus' resurrection and followed with some worksheets for them to work on while David and I listened. The first hour and a half went really well, after that.....well, I now know that next year I will have to put more preparation into this before general conference begins. Better luck in April of next year! Daddy and Hyrum taking it easy while Brigham and Levi color and work on the worksheets.

Mommy taking a break and laying down on the couch.....but was soon joined by Levi and Brigham.

And this is what happens when you get a phone call from a friend and you don't pay attention to what the littlest one is doing....Daddy's tie in the toilet!

Are those your pants, Mom?

I was out here on the computer when Brigham comes sneaking out of my bedroom. He does this a lot around this time of night. We only have a 2 bedroom house and so you can imagine bedtime with 3 little boys in one room. So the system we have down is that we put Hyrum to bed about an hour before the other 2. Then Levi goes in the bedroom with Hyrum (because he can actually be quiet) and Brigham goes to bed in Mommy and Daddy's bed until he falls asleep. Then Daddy transports little guy in his own bed. Well, Brigham always comes out multiple times to say that he needs to put his book back (we let them take a book to bed) or that he forgot to give me a hug and kiss or that he is coughing and the list goes on. Every once in a while he comes up with something new. Tonight he came up to me and said, "Um mom...I accidentally didn't do something...um...." Then he was mumbling something I didn't understand so I went in the bedroom and found this! I just started laughing and of course that was all it took for Brigham to think it was ok to put my pantyhose around the ceiling fan. Just before he got back up on the bed so I could take this picture he said, "Are those your pants, Mom?"

Homecoming Parade

Today I was suppose to help Mrs. Goff with her class as they were watching the homecoming parade. The parade was during Hyrum's nap so I needed Daddy to be here to stay with Hyrum. The plan didn't work out like I'd planned and I'm glad it didn't! Hyrum has bowl movement issues and today was no exception. He was in a LOT of pain this morning and so I ended up putting him to bed for his nap much earlier than normal. I think all that crying took a lot out of him because he didn't fight me putting him to bed so early. Then 1:00p.m. rolled around and David still hadn't showed up to stay with sleeping Hyrum. Even though David was just a 5 minute drive away, he couldn't get to me because of the parade (we live right by the schools and that is where the parade was circling around). So he ended up having to find Mrs. Goff's class to try and help. I'm really glad that it worked that way because I ended up hearing Hyrum stirring in the bedroom at about the same time that I heard the band....they were coming down 7th street! So I hurried and got Hyrum out of bed and of course he had peed everywhere so rush, rush I went to getting him changed and shoes on. As you can see in the pictures, I didn't even have time to button him up! It was so cute to watch all the girls get excited over the baby/little kid on the other side of the fence. Most of the parade watchers were on the other streets so by the time they got to us they were pretty excited to see someone again and it just happened to be a cute little boy! As you can imagine, he was spoiled with candy!

We Are Family

I have a wonderful family, both blood related and through marriage. David and I were blessed to live by his side of the family for a while and now we are by mine. Neither of our families are perfect and yes, I'm sure we all irritate each other at times but I honestly feel really blessed. I mean, I have heard some real horror stories of "in-laws" and neither David nor I have them. We may "wonder" about certain things and why they happened but honestly, they are so minor. Most importantly, though, I think David and I have a good understanding that we were just raised by different parents so not all is going to be as we think it should and that is ok. Both sides of our family love the Lord and both are supportive family members. I got to really feel that this last weekend. First, Amanda and I went to Joplin, Missouri to get Levi some of his scouting stuff. She never seizes to amaze me when it comes to giving. While we were in the mall, she took Levi and Hyrum to the arcade...of course paying for their tokens because, well, that is typical Aunt Me-Me. I didn't ask her to do it and neither did the boys.Later that night, Daddy was outside getting ready to wash my Grandpa's truck. David's truck has not been working for weeks now and all we had to do was ask once if we could use Grandpa's truck for possible jobs for David to use. Well, when the jobs were over he still needed to get that truck going before giving the truck back and not once did we hear a complaint from my Grandparents. I like this picture because it is Brigham who is washing Poppy's truck. David and I think that he has Grandpa's body type. So many people tell me how he looks so much like Ronald and I agree but he's got my Grandpa's body through and through! A few days later was the Pelican Festival parade. All Levi was going to be doing was sitting on some hay on the back of a truck bed, waving. G&G. Nanny, Poppy, Amanda, Steve, Logan...they all came. While we were waiting for the parade to start I hear my Grandpa tell Brigham, "You know Brigham, I'm real proud of you getting all those Greens at your school. I know I keep telling you that, but I'm real proud of you." You see, sometimes just being there is good but sometimes saying the right things and letting someone know you are sincere is what is needed. Brigham's first 2 weeks of school was not good. His teacher goes by a color system with disciplining. Green is the best, Yellow is a verbal warning, Orange is a 10 minute time out at recess, Purple is no recess and a note to parents, and Pink is a visit to the office and calling in a parent. I was really worried about Brigham those first 2 weeks. He kept coming home with purples and nothing but negative notes from his teacher, Mrs. Goff. At first, I exploded at him, which of course just scared him and didn't help a bit. Then I started to listen to the spirit. We slowly worked a system at home going along with the system Mrs. Goff had at school. It was hard work on all our parts. It really was. Listening to your child whine because he can't play games on purple days and having to deal with a crabby child for the remainder of the evening is not fun! There were so many times I just wanted to give in and just let him get lost in some mind numbing play station game but the spirit kept whispering to me that I had to keep this up. I had to make him understand consequences. We had Family Home Evenings on choices. I had to patch things up with his teacher that seemed to really not like this hyper child of mine. I had to listen to the spirit that kept telling me that she was going through a rough time and that I needed to make my suggestions seem more like they were geared towards me changing and not her. I volunteered in his class. This may seem so silly to some but you have to have a truly hyper kid who gets distracted very easily to really understand this situation. I worked real hard on positive reinforcement and finally it payed off. He started to not only get better but actually come home with Greens! I didn't even think that was possible. I mean really, I'm not trying to be negative about Brigham but you have to understand how very hyper he is and not only that but what kid is not going to at least get one verbal warning throughout the day?! I called my family up the very first day of his improvement and my Dad said, "I'm not surprise because when Brigham puts his mind up to something...." Brigham must have overheard me telling David what my Dad said because the next day I overheard him telling one of my family members on the phone, "When I put my mind to something ......"

Pelican Festival Parade

Today Levi was in his first parade. Grove has the "Pelican Festival" every year that includes the typical parade, carnival, and all kinds of booths to buy things from. Typical, yes, but I love small town festivals. Especially the parades. David and I have been to a few city parades and after a while we just stopped going because they were so long and political and well, boring! Small town parades are not long enough to be boring! Levi was on the cub scouts float with Daddy. I love this picture because of how close he was sitting next to Daddy. David said that he stayed like that the whole time. I can see him doing that. Levi is a cautious boy. He doesn't do a lot of dangerous things. He's a smart boy.

Johnny Appleseed Day

Today I had the opportunity to spend most of the day with Levi's class celebrating Johnny Appleseed's legacy. I have to admit that I don't remember learning about him growing up and so I had to look him up on the Internet. It is kind of funny what is taught in school. When I asked Mrs. Eberle she told me of this man who is remembered as kind of a hillbilly (no shoes, wearing a pot as a hat...). That he went to Ohio and planted apple trees and in exchange from the locals they gave him food and a pot and so forth. It seemed kind of odd to me that they were making a day out of some man who planted trees but hey, who doesn't want an excuse for a party!?! So that is when I looked him up on the Internet. He really wasn't a hillbilly at all and was actually a missionary at times through his travel. He went about planting apple trees for people. He would leave and come back later to care for them, leaving others in charge while he was gone. He was a very generous man and would sometimes accept old clothes and such as payment. Sometimes he would receive "nice" things as payment but he only wore the old worn out clothes and gave away most of what he had to those who needed it more. His religious beliefs are a little odd, in my opinion, but he was truly an example of charity. Now that I know more about his man, well.... I'm really glad that I volunteered at the school today. Levi isn't the only one who is learning 1st grade material in this household!

Playing with the pressure washer