Brain Power

Alright momma, this one's for you.
So I've been getting on to Landon quite a bit lately because he keeps "forgetting" things at school, or at least trying to, which leaves me each day sitting in the parking lot going through his backpack before we leave the school. Inevitably, each day he has to run back in to retrieve some "forgotten" piece of homework. I am not quite sure why he keeps attempting this, because when he "forgets", he is made to do double homework at home that I give. I tell him that it is sheer laziness and irresponsibility (yeah, he's nine...so what!).
Anyway, after a long talk with him and even a reminder note card glued to the front of his binder, he says, "Mom, am I better today?" I said, "As a matter of fact, I'm very proud of you, you've been 100% better." He says, "You know why?" Of course I didn't, so he says, "Well, I had a talk with my brain and told him to stop being lazy and just do my work, he got mad at me, but ...that's why."
I just looked after him as he walked away. This was right before he got the flu, so I guess his brain was really mad at him, but he continues to do better and hasn't "forgotten" since.

Valentine Prep

Sickness is still raging in this house. Now Landon and Abby are on the mend while Shem and Hailey continue to decline. I have yet to get it, cross your fingers for me and baby. Well, being that we are still stuck inside, I decided my poor children could at least start making valentines before they were bored out of their minds.

Since we make homemade valentines every year, each of my kids decided they needed seperate ones. Landon wants shovel valentines, Hailey wants the melted crayon heart valentines that we did last year, and Abby (although she really doesn't have any classmates to give these to) wants butterfly valentines.

We stripped crayons of wrappers, got cardstock and pipe cleaners, and started making a big mess in the middle of the floor. After a little while, the crayons were ready for the oven, and we had even made a few butterflies for Abby (Landon will have to wait for me to find sand shovels in mid February in Colorado). I decided to let them play with the crafties that were out and went to take a little break.

I guess this is what happens when you're gone too long.

Pros and Cons

First, the good news. Landon is doing great at the new school and is so excited to be there. He says that after home school with me, everything is easy....(okay, so I may have pushed a little extra and been a little crazy about it. I was just so worried that he would be the weird, pasty, dumb kid from home school when he got back and I just didn't want that to happen...not that home school kids are weird, pasty and dumb, but lets face it...we've all met them).
The bad news is that he just happened back at the height of a flu and strep epidemic, so I wake up to an orchestra of coughing as my alarm clock, gross noses about every 20 minutes, and now with the introduction of some serious antibiotics, a whole new set of bodily functions from my beautiful children that I will not discuss here.
Again with good news. We had one snow day this week, and Friday is set for Parent/Teacher conferences, so Landon has only missed two days of school this week even though he will officially have been home for four.
Oh, the beauty of it all. These are the days I dread ...I've already talked about the unfortunate parts of this illness, but then trying to get everyone to eat, repeatedly filling cups and trying to push juices, getting medicine down everyone at set intervals and the whole bit gets a little tiring....
Well, we'll be off and kicking soon, so I guess I'll just enjoy having all of my babies around me ...sick or not.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Okay, so the latest thing my girls like to do is play with words. The other day Shem was hooking up his game system and logging on with a name and Landon says, "user one", Hailey turns around and says , "why is daddy loser one, who's loser two?" They all crack up.

Then I am saying to the girls, come downstairs and look (I can't remember what at) Daddy worked hard. Abby quickly says, "Daddy's a retard?" Seriously, I can't stop them.

Oh, it seems a little rude that my cute little girls would say such things, but nothing is off limits until I assure them it is not appropriate.

Today Shem also fell asleep (or was trying to) when the cute little children discovered him. They started whispering in his ear and laughing uncontrollably. When I ask Shem later why, he says they were quietly saying in his ear, "this is your conscience, you need to pick your nose." Then Shem would itch his nose and they thought they were little mind controlling geniuses at work. They tried a million different suggestions and were thrilled at the idea that it worked. Insert the hysterical laughing I heard here.

Then Abby starts brushing his hair and using tons of detangler spray. She says, "my daddy is the coolest." The thing is, she wasn't talking to anyone, just herself.

Why is Daddy the target of all of these little pranks? That's simple, Daddy is their whole world, and any other kids who happen to be near him. They all love him, and I say that's the best compliment any man can get. Who better to have children with. The best Dad in the world. Love you Shem, so glad we are having another wonderful child AND hitting our 10 year anniversary on Thursday..you're the best.

School and Shoes

Sing a happy song everyone, Landon has a secured spot in the Charter school and starts Monday morning. They actually even put him in the class already and so his literacy testing is later this afternoon. For those of you who don't know, I pulled him out of the public school almost two months ago after two years of him begging me to do so. He made it clear he wanted to be at school, just not the one he was at. He has been on the waiting list for the Charter for two years and with Hailey just having gotten in, his chances had increased dramatically. Anyway, he has been home schooled for two months, and despite it being ,'harder than normal school," he has been doing great and at the first news of an opening....I cried! I thought I had been waiting for this forever but realized how much I would miss him. He is so excited and I am too.....now.

One funny story about Hailey who sat next to me while I had a moment to watch Oprah. There were the most beautiful Christian Louboutin shoes I had ever seen on the show. Oprah announced that one member of the audience would be allowed to pick any pair they wanted after which she announced, "we'll be right back". I just sat waiting for my DVR to scroll through the commercials when I heard a little Hailey voice say, "I can't wait till she comes back, I'd pick the pink ones." I looked over and realized she hadn't even said it to me, she was just a thinkin' out loud. Oh, the bond of the love of shoes!

Save the shirts

Okay, now I guess I should have included my new resolution to wear a bib every single day. I don't understand how I walk around looking like I have just eaten at an all you can eat ribs buffet.
What I mean is that each and every day I get dressed and ready and before I know it I am inevitably sporting a smudge on my shirt or something every day by noon. This usually happens right at the height of my belly or worse... I don't get it, yesterday I even wore a jacket over my tank top, and when I took off the jacket there lies ANOTHER SMUDGE! What the heck is happening. Is this simply the reward of never being aware of the huge belly I am sporting or what? Man oh man I seriously need to invest in tide pens.

Resolutions

Okay, I have 5 new years resolutions, and as of day one, I am right on track. Generally I don't like resolutions, don't even like to talk about them, but this just might be my year to get myself under control. It could happen. These are all rather personal, so please judge lightly...

1. Read scriptures daily so that I can have read my entire quad by years end. My thoughts are that if I read like I did today, I will finish early.
2. Personal prayer daily. Now this may seem easy, but really I focus on FHE and family prayers so much that I have noticed I forget me. It shows.
3. Workout 6x a week. This is a little odd for a high risk preggers, but I figure now at 7 months, I can do at least 20 minutes of whatever each day and then after baby (allow for a short recovery) then go full steam.
4. New committment to tithe and ALL other offerings. This means I actually intend to sit down with my tithing slip and give more, and pay attention instead of just handing over tithing with no thought of the other areas. This may take some studying because really I don't know how familiar I really am with the other things on that thar slip.
5. This one is a little personal, and I am not happy to admit it, but.... This would be no ill speaking ...This would consist of
1. No "who would you rather?" games. Although this is fun, not really nice.
2. No irritated phone calls about my little hurt feelings
3. This may even include reducing the amount of sarcasm that seems to flow from me..(we'll see about this..old habits die hard you know)
These resolutions are made for one reason only... that is to be better for my husband and children and of course myself. If I focus on these few things each day I figure my family will be sure to reap the benefits because hopefully it will mean I will be a better person to be around, thereby affecting the attitude in my home each and every day. Much focus will be required, but it's a new year, I am hopeful.