Sabbath Ideals

I think I've always been an idealist. I like reading inspiring books with happy endings. As a child and college student, I envisioned the perfectly organized home I'd run some day... children wake up and quickly and happily complete their chores, get ready for school, then sit down to some nice peaceful family scripture study and prayer before heading off for the day. Then they come home to a happy mom who is just waiting to hear about their day while eating the milk and cookies I've made for them...etc. I have my ideas about the ideal Sunday too... after attending church, everyone comes home for a peaceful afternoon of scripture stories, gospel discussions, church magazine stories, scripture videos, with hymns and primary songs playing in the background. Of course there wouldn't be any fighting or arguing or kids running outside in the mud:0) But I've found that parenthood is more like the "train ride" analogy that President Hinckley gave once. There are some beautiful vistas to enjoy along the way, but plenty of rough or boring terrain in between. The trick is to enjoy the ride. Reaching ideals is a whole lot harder than thinking about them.
A few weeks ago I revisited "The Friend" website on www.lds.org and discovered the "Mormon Radio" link as well. I am loving these resources for Sundays- especially when I am so ready for nap. I love the music playing in the background while the kids play matching games with the prophets or put together scripture picture puzzles.
Last week when I was heading for a nap I found the "Mormon Messages" link on Youtube. It was so inspiring to watch some of the humanitarian aid videos, I never could pull myself away for the nap and my kids all started gathering around to watch it too. I love days like that!
Sunday still doesn't reach my "ideal" expectations most weeks... but I'm going to keep on trying. It's better to try and fail then to have never have tried at all.
Just writing about this makes me appreciate my mom and the efforts she made to make the Sabbath a special day in our home growing up. I have fond memories playing "Zion" "LDS Sketch Charades" & "Know Your Gospel" with my brother Matt. And thanks to the dramatized version of the scriptures that we listened to over and over I think we can all quote with a lot of feeling the words from 3 Nephi 8:25 "O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah."
We usually had a pretty nice meal on Sundays too. I haven't quite reached that ideal yet as I'd rather "rest" from preparing meals on Sunday since cooking isn't my favorite thing - but I guess I better go throw a little something together.

Easter 2010

The kids enjoyed coloring eggs and going on an indoor Easter egg hunt despite the snow on Saturday. It was fun to see the boys determination to catch the Easter bunny this year. I love hearing their discussions - "Is the Easter bunny small like a bunny or big like someone dressed up as a bunny?" "Maybe its a whole bunch of bunnies because one bunny couldn't hold everything." Daniel put some Jingle bells on the front doorknob in hopes of hearing the Easter bunny enter. He also tied a carrot to his finger with some string, but when he woke up, 2 ends of the carrot were bitten off, the middle was still intact. Jacob was just enthralled with the "video game" he got which he was sure must have cost at least $25. (He guessed just veinte cuatro too much:)
It was so nice to enjoy General Conference on Easter weekend. Our tv didn't get reception, the radio was pretty fuzzy, so when we finally got hooked up with the internet I was so grateful we upgraded from dialup this year and were able to watch it and pause where necessary so we didn't miss a thing. I loved Elder Bednar's talk.

Being Happy All Day Long

This morning while I was discovering some new piano websites to prepare for an upcoming group lesson, Daniel & Emily played happily together in the next room with a train set. I was pretty amazed they were doing so well for so long. I snapped a few pictures of them as I smiled at all of their "Let's pretend..." comments. A few minutes later they started to argue about riding trains on each others tracks. I said, "You guys were playing so nicely, I was hoping you'd play happily all day." Daniel asked, "Well, how can you be happy all day?" The words of a Primary song went through my mind about being happy all day but I couldn't think of the whole song so instead I said, "You could just sing this song... I'm Trying to be like Jesus..." and then you could be happy all day. Daniel retorted, "Well, that's just because Jesus didn't have any brothers or sisters!" I don't know where he comes up with these things.

Emily

Emily loves dressing up fancy and having her hair fixed. It seems like she changes clothes 4 or 5 times a day and most of the outfits are skirts or dresses even in the middle of the winter. If she had her way, she'd wear her fancy slip everyday:) I love this picture of her by the piano. She seems to really enjoy practicing the piano & learning new piano concepts. I hope her enthusiasm sticks! I'd love for all of my kids to learn to play the piano well - but I don't make them. I just provide lots of incentives like late night lessons, Piano Candy Bingo, and Music Money.

Fun with Cousins

My sister Melinda came up for a couple of days during Spring Break in March to visit. Emily is lucky to have a cousin so close to her age. Emily and Dessie had a lot of fun although it was hard getting them both to smile for the camera at the same time.
Mel's baby Andrew is so adorable. He looks like a Gerber baby. After reading my sister's blog post I just had to add this bit of insight Daniel gave after he watched Andrew spitting up.
"While we were eating lunch Andrew was spitting, so Dan who is 5 took the opportunity to enlighten us on the stages of child development:

"This is what babies gotta do. First they gotta learn to walk. Then they gotta learn ta' talk. Then they gotta learn to not spit. Then they gotta learn to ski. And then they gotta learn to dig holes to build character."

... In that order. Once you've mastered those skills, you've arrived; what more is there to life, really?"

Who Knew Painting Could Be This Fun?

In March we finished up a room in the basement for the girls to make room for baby Alyssa when she is born. Daniel and Emily were really excited about "helping" with the painting so Jared let them roll some paint on the walls. I just love Emily's expression of delight while working in these pictures.

St. Patrick's Day Fun with Family

Before St. Patricks Day we went down to visit my parents (and for Jared to go to the Mitt Romney speech). My mom had tons of fun activities planned for the kids including a gold hunt, musical shamrocks, decorating rainbow cupcakes. The kids also loved the green pancake breakfast and rainbow jello. Thanks mom for creating some fun memories for us all! Emily also had a great time riding "horsey" Grandpa. Just watching them brings back memories of me having fun doing the same thing when I was a kid.