Mean Mom

Sometimes my kids think I'm the "mean mom."  I want them to practice piano, clean their room, do their homework, kitchen chore and house chore before playing with friends.  It's not easy for me to have fun when my house is messy, which is almost every day.  In reality I'm not very consistent and my kids don't actually do all of this, because I'm too tired to deal with the resistance  or too busy teaching piano or running errands or going to meetings to enforce the "rules."  Then I start to feel discouraged because I'm not teaching them to be responsible (clean up after your self), or disciplined (practice piano even when its hard).  I do too much for them and not enough with them and then feel resentful about their ingratitude.

Today I overheard Alyssa playing "dentist" with her baby dolls.  Apparently a couple of them were acting up  at the dentist, so she sent them to jail for being bad.  I guess I'm not the meanest mom in the house!  Maybe she thinks going in time out is like going to jail:)

I loved the comment talk about having a Christ-centered home by Sister Reeves in General Conference 
"Some of you have heard me tell how overwhelmed my husband, Mel, and I felt as the parents of four young children. As we faced the challenges of parenting and keeping up with the demands of life, we were desperate for help. We prayed and pleaded to know what to do. The answer that came was clear: “It is OK if the house is a mess and the children are still in their pajamas and some responsibilities are left undone. The only things that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening.”

 I guess according to these standards we are doing a good job, even if our family nights are sometimes less than stellar or spiritual, we are consistent.

Pretend

Alyssa has recently become good friends with one of the neighbor girls.  I love seeing her play pretend.  Often she goes around the house calling Joshua her "husband" and stuffing a doll up her shirt to announce to me that she is expecting.  Apparently her friend agreed to be "husband" for the day and after she got the tie adjusted, they had a ball dancing around the room to the Frozen CD.

Alyssa

Alyssa Kathryn loves to play piano games with me.  She has also been loving feeding all of her new pets on abcmouse.com while she enjoys her 1 month free subscription.  I love having a child who is almost as interested as I am in learning and piano!

Big 2

Please, can I go to school?

Josh loves going places and being big like his older siblings activities.  Whenever I put a jacket on, even if I'm just cold in the house he says, "I 'nna come"  I love this stage even though he can get into a lot of trouble.  I enjoy his cute facial expressions and new vocabulary.

 We celebrated his 2nd birthday and he was delighted to get several "Speed" items.  Ever since he discovered Jacob's old toy Lightning McQueen shake-n-go car that used to say "Speed, I am Speed" (until he put it in the bathtub), Josh yells out "peed" throughout the store.  I never noticed how many Cars items there were until he started alerting me in all different areas of the store... like toothbrushes, nightlights, towels, plates, shirts and of course toys.  He especially loves his "Speed"shirt!

I was happy to find that when we took him to his 2 year checkup he is no longer technically "Failing to Thrive."   He's back on the low end of the growth charts for at least height even though he still has a petite head.  Looking at pictures of he and Dan side by side at the same age is such a contrast.

My little boys have sure grown up fast!

Garbage Mystery

Today I was home alone with Joshua working on a project in the kitchen.  I went to throw something away and discovered that my half full garbage can was empty with a new bag draped inside.  I know the older I get the more I'm losing my mind and sometimes forget things, but I knew that I didn't take out the trash within the last 5 minutes.  So I went to check the garage garbage and found that Joshua had cleverly hung the trash bag on the the end of our big garbage bin by himself and then fished out a clean garbage bag from under the sink to replace it.  This reminds me of how much our children truly do watch and imitate what we do.  Fortunately this time it was something good.  Last week he was putting my mascara on by himself!

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Compost Experiment

Honestly, I've never really been a big fan of scouting.  I don't care for all of the costly awards and uniforms, and I love the more spiritual focus of the Young Women Personal Progress program.  But lately I've really been enjoying helping Jacob with various merit badge requirements.  We planted a few rows of peas, spinach and onions in the garden and its finally warm enough they're starting to pop up.  Last week he made a compost bin from a trash can and loved using the drill.
It makes me smile seeing him in this "Underarmour"sweatshirt that he earned up the money to buy when it finally went on clearance.  He loves nice clothes and is a pleasure to shop with because he gets so delighted about "good deals" and also patiently waits for me when I am looking for things.  He is also so expressive about his gratitude when I take him places.

Worth More than Gold

Jacob has a sly sense of humor and it comes out it in his schoolwork.  His teacher says that he doesn't say much at all during school, but his creative writing is full of surprises.
It's evident they've been learning about comparisons (metaphors, similes, etc.) lately.
Here is one of his recent creative writing assignments.

What is worth more than gold?

"My brother Danny is worth more than gold because he puts a roof on my head.  He gave me an awesome cardboard box to sleep in.  He gives me really good comments on my food like he says this popcorn is saltier than a jackrabbit on Thanksgiving Day.  He plays Madden with me on Saturdays.  He also plays football with me.  One of his good qualities is his muscles are bigger than a bear.  He sacrifices so much for our room to be sort of clean.  This is why he is worth more than gold."

His essay is full of half-truths, but the truth is Jacob does sleep in a cardboard box!  When we got a new dishwasher last month and the delivery man asked me if I wanted him to discard the box for me I thought of my dad.  When he was selling office furniture occasionally he'd bring home a giant cardboard box for us to play with.  We would load it full of blankets and pillows and toys and it became our play house in the unfinished basement.  At one time I remember having multiple boxes connected like tunnels  When it got so beat up that the house walls were falling down, we'd flatten it and use it to slide down the stairs with (despite my mom's protests).  I think we even turned one into a sort of human hamster wheel to roll around the backyard in.  So of course when the flood of those memories came to my mind, I told the delivery man that I'd keep the box for my kids.  Alyssa and Emily used it in their room as a hut for a few days.  Then supposedly Jacob made a deal with Alyssa that he'd give her some money or treat if she'd give him the box.  He put it on top of his bunk bed and has been sleeping in it ever since.  Jacob also is our designated popcorn maker (and tv tech guy) when we're watching a family movie.  He takes pride in adding the perfect amount of salt and butter and figuring out how to use the remote when the rest of us are struggling.  They say that the person of least interest has the power and when it comes to keeping their room clean, Jacob has the power.  Daniel's desire to play with friends and go on outings is usually the highest in our family, so he's willing to sacrifice to do more than his share of cleaning up the room so he can earn the privilege of playing, although Jacob is close 2nd in the room cleaning department :)