A nice tribute

Thanks for sending this to me, Heather! I hadn't seen it yet. (I'm usually the last to see these kinds of things though.)
WARNING: This made me cry!

On My Friends Front Door!

Welcome to the (her last name) Home

This is not a museum.
It is a living, breathing laboratory of life.

It includes experimentation in human development, human potential, and the power of prayer, love, gratitude, acceptance and forgiveness, all the schools of knowledge we can get our hands on and wrap our minds around, and a huge leap of faith.

Please come in, breath deeply, and share of your experiences. Together we can learn, grow, and reach to new heights.

We hope all who reside here and enter in choose joy, love and gratitude as predominant forces of their life.

Life is such and incredible journey!

PLEASE HELP ME!

I'm looking for some blogging friend/stranger/family advice, since I'm too chicken to ask people whom I really know and talk to in person.

Hubby would like me to start earning a little extra money and I don't mind the thought of that. I would like some extra to spend on things like lessons for the kiddos, clothes, vacations, NOT food, gas and bills! So, here's the problem. What can I do? I have 6 children and no degree which means, What can I do that would make money and justify putting my kids in daycare? So, I'm trying to be creative and think of work from home or evening jobs. My creativity is very limited. Basically I know lots of mommy skills!


I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I'm just out of ideas. Here's what I've come up with. I have considered babysitting/preschool in my home, I can teach piano lessons, and I have a friend who is really pushing me to start selling Arbonne! I could even clean houses or businesses.


Problem: I HATE trying to sell myself to others! And I hate taking time away from my own children! I'm also afraid of focusing all my energy and attention on a project and then one day waking up and realizing that my children are grown and I missed it all.

Okay, so I'm really good at making excuses. I've lived a pretty sheltered life, since I grew up out in the country on a farm and I have live 27 out of 33 years in the same 50 miles of rural Idaho! So here's where I need your help! How have you seen things done were you currently live or have lived. You don't have to share all your secrets, but can you think of something I am missing? (When I ask other piano teachers about technics they use to get new students, they act all wierd, like I have violated some piano teacher code and basically they tell me nothing. I'm not trying to steal anything. I'm just really clueless about lots of stuff!)


So, if I went with the babysitting or piano lessons, how would you suggest that I "advertise" my skills?


Should I just focus on being a "great" mom and support my husbands work?


And do any of you know someone who has been successful in network marketing? I am a little skeptical! I love the products but not so much the selling part!

So, now I'm anxious to hear all your wonderful thoughts and ideas!

Thoughts on Inadequacy

Inadequacy is an inability to fulfill a given purpose.

Today A had an appointment with her counselor. After her session, her counselor had me come back to visit with her for a moment. She asked me how A was doing at home. I told her she was doing great. Then she asked me to tell her how A was really doing. I told her that A struggles with feeling like she is not in control of the situations around her. Her counselor smiled and said, "And who does that remind you of?" I told her that A was a perfectionist and that she hated to fail at things. Once again her counselor smiled and asked, "And does that remind you of anyone you know?" I said, "I'm afraid she thinks our family is broken." Her counselor replied, "And what do you think?"

It's hard to see myself in my children. I have fears and struggles, lots of them. But I want my children to be so much more than I am. Yet, I am teaching them to be just like me. But I don't know how to change me. I will find a way....!

I'm so thankful that I am a mother! I am so thankful that Heavenly Father loves me enough to send me little spirits that are so much stronger and better than me to help lift me up to higher ground. At this age, they love me unconditionally and they believe that I will lead them and teach them all that they must know and do to live with Him someday. As I do my best to teach my children to become all that God wants for them to become, I can only hope that along the way I, too, become all that He wants me to become.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

My Little Drama Queen

K has gotten into the bad habit of taking a late nap. That means that she is up late. She shares a room with the other girls but since they both have school and she likes to talk and keep them up, she has ended up in my bed for the last few nights until she gets tired of talking and we all fall asleep.

So, last night she got emotional on Hubby and I and she tells us that she missed her real mom and dad. Playing along, we asked her what their names were. She said that their names were Bob and Olivia and they were much nicer than Hubby and I. We asked her why, and she told us that they used to let her watch movies when she wanted to go to bed and they let her eat ice cream, and they never kissed on the lips because she doesn't like mom's and dad's to kiss on the lips. It's disgusting! We asked her what happened to her perfect parents. She said that one day a bad guy knocked on the door and come in a shot Bob and Olivia and took her away. We asked how she came to live with us and she said, "Remember, the bad guy brought me to you." She was so silly and she made us laugh, but she didn't laugh at all. She was very serious the whole time and even cried a couple of times in her story because she missed her real parents so much.

So, do you think I have to worry about what she will say to others when she isn't around me?

Cool Tools for your blog page!

I have this coolest tool that I use on my blog. It is called sitemeter. This tool keeps track of everyone who visits my blog page. It tells me what time you got on, how long you stayed, what pages you looked at, and tons of other information about your visit. It tracks everyone from Oregon to the Philippines and everyone in between! So welcome to my blog! It really is a fun little tool and I recommend it to everyone.

Another fun tool that I use is Bloglines. This is a tool that tracks when other people post. You just enter the addresses of the blogs that you like to view. Then each time that blog is posted to, it keeps track of the new entries. So, when I get on my computer and I want to see who has new posts, I just click onto my bloglines account and then I can view your latest and greatest posts! I love it! And using bloglines has cut my computer time in half, so my family loves it also!

So, there you go! Two new tricks that I just learned! If you haven't already tried them, you should check them out! You'll probably love them as much as I do!

What's for Dinner?

My idea of exposing my children to international foods:

Beef and Bean Chimichangas

French Cut Green Beans

German Chocolate Cake














& Hot Cocoa

Nothing but the BEST for my kids!

Want to come for dinner?

(Actually, I didn't really fix this for dinner tonight. My kids did! I just told them what to fix!)

A Perfect Match

ME

You Were Born Under:

Fierce and courageous - you are the king of every situation. You pounce and attack, until others give you want you want. Daring and magnetic, you inspire others to follow your lead. And while you're wild at heart, you have some hidden soft spots. You are most compatible with a Horse or Dog.

What Year Were You Born Under?

HUBBY

You Were Born Under:

You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest. However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are! Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk. You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood! You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse.

What Year Were You Born Under?

It must be true love.....

How well do you and your significant other match up with the Chinese Lunar Calendar?

Hey Music Lovers....

Here's a fun test to find out your personality based on your music preferences.

My sweet angel friend

Today an angel came to visit me. My daughter had an appointment this morning and then I hurried home to get her and the little neighbor boy off to school and I had just gotten home and was putting the little one's down for a nap when there was a knock at my door. I peeked out the upstairs window and there was a mini van that I had never seen before in my driveway. I was very hesitant to open the door. That time of day, it's always someone selling something. I cautiously opened the door and there stood an angel. She had her arms full of Christmas gifts for my children. She kissed me on the cheek and asked if I was allowed to talk to her. I told her to come in.

She is my not-related-in-any-way-but-we-have-a-common-relative-so-I-call-her-grandma-anyways friend. (Her son was married to my hubby's father's sister-yes, that makes them hubby's uncle and aunt. Hubby's uncle and aunt were killed in a head-on collision by a kid high on drugs 4 years ago. They left 3 young adult children, 2 unmarried at the time. They lived 1/2 block from us so we were close to them and to their children.) To avoid all the nasty details, there has been some horrible tension between her family and my in-laws, and Hubby and I have been caught in the middle. In an effort to keep peace, we have let the relationship between that family fade. When Grandma came over today she said, "I do not have as long as other people do to mend relationships so I am here today to ask for your forgiveness. I cannot die knowing that our relationship could have been mended while I was alive." She is 75 years old. I hope that she lives forever!

She took us to McDonald's and we ordered off the $1 menu. We laughed so hard together and we cried together. She had no idea how much I really needed her to come and spend the afternoon with me. She said that she was walking out the door to come when she chickened out. As she walked back inside her house, she had a strong feeling that she shouldn't put our visit off one more day, that today was a good day to come. Today was a perfect day for her to come. I'm so glad that she did. I loved being with her. When I turn 75 I want to be like her. She brings my children gifts every year, always a gingerbread house kit and some books. She reads with the kids and plays with them and makes everyone fall in love with her. Her kindness is contagious. She has the biggest heart. I wish that I could just follow her around for a while and have her teach me how to be so wonderful.

She was telling me stories from her life of the different times that other people have been there to be her angels. Some of her stories were so funny! Some were very spiritual. I was touched by everything she said. She told me about a sign that she saw on a church once that said, "There is no such thing as coincidences, just times when God chooses to remain anonymous." The other times he sends us angels and she has no idea, but today, she was my angel!

Thank you angel Grandma for one of the best afternoon dates ever!

Deja Vu

Wikipedia defines deja vu as: the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously (an individual feels as though an event has already happened or has repeated itself).

Do you remember this post?

So, yesterday, I was talking to my mom on the phone and I saw the bus drive by. I sent S down to the bus stop to walk home with A. (A goes to a different school than my other 3 go to and she gets home about 30 minutes after the other kids do.) A few minutes S comes in the door and she is mad. The day before when she had gone down to get A, they had somehow missed each other and when S got to the house, she was so worried that something had happened to A and when she saw A sitting at the table S was really mad. So when she came through the door yesterday, she thought that the same thing had happened, that they had missed each other, and she was going to chew A out. Except A wasn't home yet. S said that she had walked around the block 3 times and she had not seen her. I called down to the neighbors that A is suppose to ride the bus with, and their mother told me that her children were not home yet, that the bus had not come yet. Now I was slightly confused because I had watched the bus drive by and I had waved to some of the other neighborhood kids that were walking home. The other mother said that she would call the school and see if they were still there. She called me right back and said that the teacher had sent them all to the bus and that they had no idea where they were. She called the bus garage, and the driver said that my A and the neighbors two children, Logan and Trey, had not gotten on the bus.

Okay, so let's recap. School has been out for 45 minutes now. The teacher last saw these two kindergartners and one 2nd grader when she sent them to the bus stop 45 minutes ago! They did NOT get on the bus and when the school was contacted, they said they had no extra kids running around. SO, WHERE ARE THESE 3 CHILDREN??????

I went across the street to the little girls house from the last time this happened. She had nothing to do with this time. I called the school myself. The principal actually answered the phone and I told her my situation and she laughed and said, "I have no idea what to tell you. We have no extra kids here." Ummm....what part of this is funny? I asked her if I could talk to A's teacher. She put me on hold for a couple of minutes and then she came back on, again laughing, and said that they had found them but that she would let A's teacher explain it to me.

A and Trey's teacher had sent them to Logan's class after school. Logan was really slow at getting her stuff all together so by the time the three of them got out the door, they had missed the bus. The doors to the school were all locked so it took them a while to figure out how to get back into the school. Once inside they went back to Logan's class. Her teacher was not there so they just waited, unsure of what to do next. When I contacted the school, they paged them to see if they were there, and sure enough, they all came to the office, very scared and very hungry! A's teacher took them back to her class and fed them a snack and kept them with her until I got there to bring them home. They were very relieved to see me and very ready to go home. Logan said that she thought they would never see their home again.

It all turned out good, AGAIN, but let's have this be the last time, please!

P.S. A just walked in the door from school today! Now that all my kiddos are home for the day, I can relax! We survived another adventurous day of school!

Why I have 6 kids!

Hubby and I were grocery shopping yesterday and my cart was VERY full. We saw a man that works with my hubby. He was also shopping with his wife and son. As we visited with them for a moment, the little boy, about 8 or 9 was very amazed at how much food was in my cart. I told him that I have 6 kids to feed. He said that he had never heard of a family that big before. He knew of a big family with 4 kids but never a family with 6 kids. A few minutes later we were standing in the checkout line and the man in front of me turned around, looked at my cart and just about fell over. He asked if I was stocking up for something. I told him no, I was doing my 2 week shopping for my family. He asked how many were in my family and when I told him I that had 6 children, he laughed and said that he doubted that I had enough food to last for 2 weeks with that many mouths to feed. (Turns out he is also someone whom my husband works with. Maybe there's a pattern here....) So, in case you've ever visited my blog or know me in person and wondered why I have 6 children, this is my story.




I grew up in a family of 10 children. I was the oldest of 7 girls and 3 boys. There are 14 years between me and the youngest. We drove a big blue and white van that seated 12 people and all of my friends called it the "baby bus." My parents owned a small dairy farm so we grew up on a small income but we had lots of room to run and scream and play! We had to milk and feed the cows, feed the baby calves, we moved had lines in the summertime and we learned to hoe sugar beets, pick rock, drive tractors, stack hay, and other farm chores. (My poor dad really need 7 boys instead of girls!) My dad ran the farm and my mom ran the milking. It seemed like as the oldest child, I was always in charge of the little ones while my mom was working. I started to act out around Jr. high and it was all down hill from there. By the time I left home, I felt like I had already done my share of babysitting and cleaning and hard work and I was going to go to college and get a degree in something feminine and I would hire all the work to be done while I spent my time pampering myself, eating out in expensive restaurants and shopping for fabulous clothes. Having a big family meant work and sacrifice and I wanted nothing to do with that kind of life.



I went to college to study interior design. I was so intimidated because I the only thing I knew was how to work on a farm. I even took a career placement class and the results told me that I should be a farmer, a dairy man, or run a daycare. So, I showed them. I dropped out of school!



I met my husband the summer of '94 and we were married a week after I turned 20. From that moment on the only thing I wanted was a baby. Z was born 2 weeks before I turned 21. It only seemed natural that he needed a sibling and since I was planning out my life, I chose a brother. 18 months later J was born. PERFECT! I had my 2 boys. Now I needed a girl. S was born 25 months later while Hubby was in school. In the summer break of 2000, Hubby did an internship in CA for Smuckers so we packed up our little red grand prix and headed south. While we were there, I had a dream. I was chasing after a little blond haired boy. It was so real. I woke up and told Hubby my dream. He laughed at me and said, I just had a dream about a baby also but it was a little girl with short light brown hair. What? So, 23 months after S was born, along came A. Now I had the perfect little family, 2 boys and 2 girls and I was only 27 years old. Hubby had his degree, a job, we finally bought our first house, now it was time to pay off debt and start getting ahead. I was teaching piano lessons, homeschooling my older 2 and life was good. I told Hubby we just had to have one more to get my little boy here. In all seriousness he looked at A and said, that's not the little girl from my dream though.



I had always wondered how I would know though when I was done having kids. I didn't want to forget anyone, you know, like in the movie Saturday's Warriors! So, a few months later, I was once again pregnant! I was so sick and gaining weight so fast. I went in at 7 weeks and sure enough, I was pregnant and a little big. I was so exhausted with all that was going on, I didn't have the energy to be so wiped out. I was not really thrilled at all about being pregnant again and I was very ungrateful in my prayers. I had a really bad attitude but I knew this was the only way to get that little boy here and I knew he was coming so I would survive. Then one night it was all over. I felt so good. I went in to the doctor at 11 weeks. He couldn't find a heartbeat so he sent me over immediately to the hospital for an ultrasound to check my dates. No big deal, in fact, it kind of seemed like a waste of time. I knew this was my little boy! I had seen him many times since in my dreams. As they started the ultrasound they got really excited. I was by myself, since Hubby was working. They showed me that there were actually two babies. There they were. Perfect little baby shapes. I could see their eyes and mouths and hands and feet. They were in two separate sacks so they were not identical. I instantly felt fear. This wasn't in the plan. I was having a boy! ONE BOY! I already had 4 kids at home. I couldn't do this. As fast as all those thoughts of panic went through my head, the techs in the room suddenly became more serious. They couldn't get a heartbeat on either baby. This made no sense to me. I knew that my baby boy was coming and if another tagged along for the ride, well, the more the merrier, right? Everything became a blur after that. They did some more measurements and then sent me back over to the doctor's office for further instructions. I called Hubby from a pay phone in the hospital. I told him the news. We had lost BOTH of our babies. I cried, ALOT! My little boy was gone. What had happened? And his little sibling that was coming with him was gone also. I had lost them both! But why? Did I pray them away? Was I being punished for being so ungrateful? I had been on an IUD for the last 2 years. Was this a punishment for using birth control? I needed some answers, anything to help me make sense of this double loss.



The doctor sent me home to wait for the miscarriage to happen. I walked around feeling like I was a cemetery. I knew the babies were gone and yet they were still inside me. I was so sad! Finally after 3 weeks, the doctor scheduled a D and C. Hubby's cousin was actually scheduled to work that day in our surgery so when it was over I asked her about it. She said that they were perfect little bodies. They had died about a week apart from each other so the one was a little more decomposed than the other. For her it was probably just another surgery, but for me, she got to witness my babies existence and I wanted to know everything! During those few weeks while I tried to make sense of everything, I remember one night I was downstairs putting my other kids to bed and I was kneeling by A's bed waiting for her to fall asleep. I took advantage of this time to pour my heart out to my Heavenly Father. I had this amazing calmness come over me. I knew that my prayers were heard. I felt very strongly that the Lord was pleased with my choice to have a family and that I had done enough but that I had 2 more children that I could CHOOSE to come to my family, my baby boy and Hubby's baby girl. It was my choice. They were all my choice! At that moment I was able to get a glance into my future and I knew that it would be very hard on my body physically and emotionally. I would really struggle but that it was completely up to me to choose or NOT to choose those other 2 children. I had already seen my son so there was no doubt in my mind that I would choose him. As for the girl, well, if it worked out, then sure. She could come also.

In order to help heal my grief, I immediately was blessed to become pregnant again. Only I knew right from the beginning that this one was Hubby's baby girl. K was born 2 months after A turned 3. She was born at 40 weeks. My water broke but I never went into labor. I went to the hospital and they decided to start me. Just as they hooked me up, her heart rate dropped to 25 bpm and it was a rush to get her here alive. She was born at 5 lbs. 6 oz. by emergency c-section. She was so much smaller than all my other babies and they decided that she had quit growing that last month. I was just so thankful that she was finally here and that she was alive. One month later, I had my 10 year anniversary and I turned 30. 5 kids in 10 years and done by the time I was 30. Sounded good to me! I didn't know how much more I could handle.

We decided to try to get ahead a little so we sold our home and moved into a little trailer house to manage some storage units while we saved our money to buy a bigger home and pay off some debt. I still had one more choice to make. Could I do one more pregnancy? I wasn't sure. I was getting so tired and I struggle with depression alot so to put my family through this one more time would be a huge sacrifice. I decided that I would give baby boy one more chance to come. One month after we moved, I found out I was pregnant. The next 9 months were awful! I knew that this was definitely my last time and I was so relieved to find out he was a boy. He was born 30 months after K at 8 am c-section and I had them tie my tubes at the same time. When they held him up over the blue sheet, I was so shocked. He had blond hair! Hubby brought him over to me and I kissed his head, and then I started puking. I didn't know if I would have the energy to love this kid. I was so wiped out from the pregnancy but Heavenly Father has a plan that is far better than mine and he knew how to bond me to my baby. I didn't see him again until 6 o'clock that night because he ended up in the NICU. He had an infection in his lungs so I had to go to him instead of him coming to me. That was the first time I left the hospital after a delivery without a baby. I returned every 3 hours to feed him. I didn't want to miss one single chance to be with him. I had been dreaming of him for 7 years! 11 months later, he is still a little blondie and he toddles all over the place, just exactly like in my dreams.



So, why do I have 6 kids? It's all H's fault! He let his 2 sisters crowd in front of him. And if I had the chance to do it all over again, I would choose every single one of them, in exactly the same order! (I may choose a new body for me though!)

And that's my story!

Winter Campout

Friday was Z's first winter campout with the scouts. His dad had to work all week so it was up to me to get him packed and ready to go. I am not a huge fan of camping in the snow so I really had no idea what he needed. He packed lots of socks and jackets so he could layer up or down. Other than that, I just prayed he would be warm. They went up into the south hills to camp in snow caves. He came home very early and tired on Saturday morning. He didn't say much about it but that he had a good time and can't wait to go again. Then he slept for the rest of the day.

He showed me that the ends of his fingers were blistered but that it was only because he got a little cold. Not a big deal! I immediately woke up and went and checked his fingers. No Blisters! It was just a bad dream! This idea of camping outside in the cold snow is not good for my stress level.

PINEWOOD DERBY CHAMP

On Friday night we went to pack meeting for the pinewood derby. As I recall, this is Hubby's 8th or 9th pinewood derby that he has had to build over the last few years with two boys in cub scouts. I guess you could say he's learned a thing or two as his first couple of cars were lucky to cross the finish line. J and Hubby affectionately call this car The Blur. (What show is that from?) Afterwards the Elders raced their cars as well. As Hubby worked a lot of overtime this week, and didn't have a chance to build his own car, he raced J's car for the Elder's competition. Hubby was quite happy as he smoked his competition in that one too.

FIRST RACE

J is in the blue hooded jacket talking to the scout leader at the beginning of the race and his car is the one that was always in front. He was a really good sport though, and kept telling the boys that they were all doing a really good job! He even gave up his 1st place trip to the district race at the mall to the 2nd place winner. (I do not enjoy the race at the mall. It's too big and not fun at all for anybody! I was happy to pass the experience on to some other naive family.)

WEBELOS FINAL RACE

This is our last Pinewood Derby race for about 7 more years until H is old enough to be in scouts. It was a fun night but we are happy to have a break from making cars! (Have you seen the movie "Down and Derby"? Funny! Slightly exaggerated but not by much! Seriously, do they really expect that the boys are building those cars? It's all about the Dad's.)

THE "BLUR"

By the look on J's face, you can't tell that he is excited with his car, can you?! Good job boys!

How I spent my Saturday Night

I was so excited to put all the kids to bed early and get to bed early myself. I was anxious to be well rested for my little sunbeam class today. As Hubby crawled into bed, he asked why the bed was wet. I felt the comforter and it felt dry to me. He was still insistant that his feet were getting really wet so I pulled off the blanket and sure enough there was a really big wet spot. But where did it come from and what is it?

Upon questioning the kids, we discovered that K had taken a nap there and when she woke up she was all sweaty so the girls put her in the tub. But who in the world sweats that much when they sleep?

So Hubby sniffed it out. It was definately NOT sweat! She peed my bed!!!! It's 10 o'clock at night and I am just now discovering this. My bed is soaked! This does not make hubby happy at all. What do we do now?

Well, for the next to three hours, I washed all the bedding and Hubby shampooed our mattress. Then we laid down towels to cover the wet bed, put on very clean sheets and a fresh warm comforter, and went to bed at 1 in the morning. I'm so glad we have early morning church! I got all Sunday afternoon to take a VERY long nap!

There have been many Saturday nights that I went to bed that late but I had spent my time doing much different activities. My how my life has drastically changed. The whole time I was cleaning up I kept thinking, I am so getting to old to still be dealing with wet beds, diapers, bottles, no sleep, etc..... Then I look at how sweet they all look in there beds, sound asleep, and I fall in love all over again!

So, how was your Saturday night spent?

Excellence vs. Perfection
_____________________________

Perfection is being right.

Excellence is being willing to be wrong.
_____________________________

Perfection is fear.

Excellence is taking a risk
_____________________________

Perfection is anger and frustration.

Excellence is powerful
_____________________________

Perfection is control

Excellence is spontaneous
_____________________________

Perfection is judgement

Excellence is accepting
_____________________________

Perfection is taking

Excellence is giving
_____________________________

Perfection is doubt

Excellence is confidence
_____________________________

Perfection is pressure

Excellence is natural
_____________________________

Perfection is the destination

Excellence is the journey
_____________________________

-author unknown

I gave up on perfection a long time ago, but I'm liking this idea of excellence!

Out of the mouths of babes....

Mrs. Archibald is not my forit teacher she is one of my favorot teachers my favorot teacher is my mom but her rill name is Laurie but she is a teacher in primary she is called Mrs. M you see here my Dad he fixis hair and boy he duss such a bad job cass one day it was sunday and we have to wake up at 6:00-7:00 so win it was time to go my sister didn't have her hair dun...and so my mom was geting in the car but she was going to come back in and sow my mom sed to my dad fix her hair so my Dad did it and it looked offle so my mom haded to refixe her hair. THE END

essay written for school assignment by S-January 2008

On this date....

I know that today is NOT Pearl Harbor Day!

American Flag On The USS Arizona War Memorial In Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - January 2007

But December 7th was!

A few weeks ago, the kids and I were driving through town. All the flags were at half-staff (is that what it's called?) My kids know that when the flags are halfway down, this means something is going on that day. J asked my what had happened that day? I told him I had no idea. Then Z says "Mom, it's the day that Japan bombed us. Pearl Harbor Day! Duh!" Wow, PEARL HARBOR DAY! Why is this date not on my calendar? As a mother who "used" to homeschool, this was the kind of teaching opportunity that I would normally have taken advantage of, except I didn't know enough about it to even sound somewhat intelligent. Basically, I knew exactly what Z had just said, it was the day that many people lost their lives. Kind of as big of a deal as 9/11 is. If I want my children to be proud of our country and the freedoms that we enjoy, maybe I should be aware of some of these important dates. So today I found this cool web site Earth Calendar

Guess what today is?

Religious Freedom Day!

Each year, the President declares January 16th to be Religious Freedom Day, and calls upon Americans to "observe this day through appropriate events and activities in homes, schools, and places of worship." The day is the anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.

Kind of seems like a day worth celebrating!

(I think this date should be on my calendar also!)
There's even a study guide you can download and use. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Passing on some Blog Awards

I don't know how most of you feel about blog awards but I love them. It sure is fun when someone gives you one and I love to read who others pass them on to. So Thank-you Magirk at Laughadaisy for this very kind award.

You made my whole day! And, Magirk, I love your blog too and getting to know you so I'm glad that we are new virtual friends!

Now I get to pass it along. I want to pass it on to Jenna at Momville, Angie at My 7 Kids and Rachelle at Price Family Happenings. These are 3 of my friends from when my husband was attending BYU almost 10 years ago. We all lived in the same ward in Student Family Housing and to make it even more personal, Angie and I shared the same walls. She lived right across from us. Jenna lived at the bottom of our stairwell so we knew basically EVERYTHING about what each other was doing. Rachelle lived a little farther away in the next building so she had a little more privacy from the 3 of us but not that much privacy! Good times! I loved them then and bloggin has been so much fun for me to reconnect with them and their families so because of that their blogs truely are treasures to me!

Also a few months ago, Holly at 2 Kids and Tired gave me this award. I got caught up in the holidays and didn't get it passed on so I'll do that now also. This was fun to get this from Holly because she is one of the first friends I met through blogging and I think of her as a very close friend, all through blogging. Thanks BFF Holly!

Now, I'm going to pass this award on to Cindy at 4 for Me, Nicole at Janibraska's Daily Treasures and Ashley at 3 Little Princessess I "met" these 3 when I first started blogging and over the last few months I feel like they have become my BFF's! I love to keep up on their lives and I find myself worrying about them when they don't post and very excited when they do.

I really love this world of blogging! It's a fun way to keep up with old friends and a great way to meet new friends. So thank you to all of you who stop by and read and comment....or not comment. You all make me feel loved!

It's late....Not tired....What to do? BLOG!!!!

I am a sunbeam teacher. This means I teach the 3 year olds. I have 5 children in my class that come regularly. I am a mother to 6 children of my own and 4 of them are older than 3 so teaching this class should be a piece of cake, right? Today was my second day teaching this class. Today was also the second day that they "kicked my butt!" (Sorry Mom about the language!)
I came home from church at 12:30, changed out of my church clothes back into my pajamas, ate a slice of leftover pizza, climbed back into bed and slept for 4 HOURS! Got up with a bigger headache than when I laid down, fixed my family chocolate cake and ice cream for dinner, and then called my dear friend in the Primary Presidency and cried in her ear for the next 2 hours. I have a new plan of attack! It involves a rope, food, and a big smile! I will not be defeated....yet!

I wanted to share a little update on my "procedure" last week. The diagnosis: NOT Cancer! I have 25 cm of raw colon (sorry this is a little gross) which explains the severe bleeding. I am experimenting with some meds to find what will work and I am suppose to eliminate ALL stress from my life. Sure...Bring on the Prozac!!!

(I wanted to share a picture with this story so I went into Google and typed in "picture of stress". I found this little stress test. It's called:

THE CATTLEMAN'S STRESS TEST

The Stress-Test consists of viewing a photo of 2 Dolphins...

-The dolphins appear to be nearly identical when viewed by stress-free individuals. The test is not sufficiently accurate to detect mild stress differentials, but is very accurate on individuals with higher stress-levels.
-Deviations in appearance between the 2 dolphins are indicators of potential stress-related problems and the deviations, if any, may also indicate the source of stress.
-If you experience significant deviations, you may want to consider taking things a little easier...

Here's the image... Ha! Ha! Dad, this one was for you! How's your stress level today?)

And "Once there was a snowman tall,tall, tall?"

On Saturday, A went to a birthday party. In order to stop feeling sorry for herself because she was not invited, S went outside to play in the snow with the little neighbor girl. S came in a about an hour later, very excited about the snowman that they had built. She was very insistent that I needed to come right away and see it. She had been gone a while so I was expecting...a snowman. J was sitting at the table laughing to himself. He said, "Oh, you're going out to see Sludge." I asked him what he meant by that and he said, "It's just a pile of sludge." S was very offended by his comment. I told him to be nice. I told him I was sure that the snowman was great and "sludge" was kind of a harsh word to use on something that his sister had worked so hard on. He just continued to laugh to himself. I opened the back door and there was....

Sludge!

I think he's the cutest pile of "sludge" ever!

Cool Tip!

I just found this fun way to put a signature at the bottom of my posts. I'm checking it out to see if it works. It looks like it does. YEAH!!!!!

If you want your own signature, this is how I did it. I went to the webpage http://www.mylivesignature.com/
I clicked on the Don't want to register PROCEED button. I chose the first one, create a new signature, then the first one again, using the signature creation wizard. From there I just followed each step until I got to the Finished page. I clicked on Want to use this signature? I then clicked on generate HTML code, them the top choice, generate a choice for my handwritten signature. Then I copied the html code.

From there I came back over to my blog page, went into the settings page, then formatting. At the bottom of that page it says POST TEMPLATE. In that box paste your html code and (drum roll.....) Ta-Da! Your signature will automatically be in your post box when you are ready to post.

For all of you who already knew how to do this, SORRY! But I just get so excited when I figure something new out all on my own, I just want to share it with EVERYBODY!!!!!

So, go get your custom signatures!