This Week at Our House # 11

1. John finished his last full week at his current job. He's being laid off. This coming Wednesday is his last day of work. He hates this job a whole lot, so we do not feel particularly tragic about it. But, there are not many jobs out there. He has had a a few interviews in the last two weeks. Hopefully something will come up soon. For now, John will work 3 days this next week and then begin applying for unemployment.
2. After lots of trouble with nursing the baby and not being able to get anyone to wake Adam and Rachel up for school, plus missing Saturday morning cuddling time with my kids, I've decided to quit training for the half marathon. I will still run 3 to 5 miles 3 days a week. I will still have to work out problems with my milk supply, but I will be more available to my kids. Maybe I will try again sometime when I am not nursing a baby. For now, I will work on picking up my speed for short distances. I actually do not feel too bad about this decision. After years of thinking about it, I have finally gotten myself into a good exercise routine. I will continue with short distances. 
3. Ruth turned 15. She had a lot of fun with friends rolling skating for her birthday party. I took a chance and bought her a cheap-o mp3 player. I scored. She loves it. She has learned how to download her music on it and is looking forward to having her music on her bus rides to and from school. This year Ruth will learn to drive. I need to pick up the Utah state drivers book so she can begin studying to take her permit exam. She is excited for that change. I am excited that in a little over a year from now, I can send someone else off to run errands. I think it will be wonderful!
4. As usual, Kate is my right hand man. She always makes herself available to me.  She plays with the little kids and they all adore her. She cooks, she cleans, she does her school work and enjoys it. She thinks of others before herself. Kate is just awesome! I will miss her terribly when she heads back to public school in the fall.
5. Johnny had an uneventful week. Because I have been spending so much time feeding the baby, I have not had enough time to get to his school work, so in a way, Johnny has been enjoying a nice little school break. He's been spending the majority of his time reading the Ranger's Apprentice series.
6. Adam was back to school this week and not too happy about the homework part. I am not too happy about the homework part either. I didn't like elementary school homework when I was in elementary school and I like it even less now that I am not in elementary school. Still we press forward. I tell Adam to do his homework and Adam grumbles and does it.
7. Rachel got her first, "I am an awesome student" pink slip from her teacher this week. Her reading has improved tons and she has even moved up a reading group. 
8. Since I spent a huge amount of time feeding the baby, Anya took my couch sitting time and cuddled with me a lot. I am glad that she is finally taking the initiative to get some attention from me. I worry about Anya not getting enough time with John and I because she is quiet and generally happy to just hang out in the back ground.
9. Joseph came on a shopping trip to the City Creek mall for Ruth to spend her birthday money. I had to keep a close eye on him every second. I would continue to think that Joseph is a disaster waiting to happen, except that now I am his teacher in church on Sunday. While he is at least as energetic as the rest of the boys, he actually pays a little more attention. I am glad to know that he is normal and not just a tornado that never dies down. 
10. Poor, poor little accident prone Josh. Saturday morning, Josh jumped on my bed, somersaulted off and seems to have fractured his collar bone. He has been one sad little boy the past two days. I will bring him to the doctors tomorrow for an official diagnosis. I am fairly confident, in my own diagnosis, though. You can actually wiggle the bone out of place a little. From what I have read, however, his break is not too bad because he is still using his arm and hand.
11. Arwen, spent the whole week breast feeding. She ate for 2 hours straight Friday morning before she was satisfied. I have tried solid foods on her. She just does not want them. I do want want to push her away, so like I said, I am giving up on the half marathon. 

This Weeks Pictures

 

Fifteen

Friday, March 22, 2013, Ruth turned 15! She is such a good girl. She has been easy going and fun all of her 15 years.

Ruth had a party with her friends at the Roller Skate rink on Thursday, and a family party on Friday. I noticed that Ruth is giggly and goofy with her friends, and more serious and thoughtful with her family.

I love my girl. Happy 15th, Ruth!

Now is the Time to Stand and March

Kathryn Skaggs at a Well Behaved Mormon Woman Blog wrote:    

It's almost unimaginable that a single, coherent, and reasonably mature individual in the country, could possibly be unaware that MARRIAGE has made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and from this point going forward, what can no longer be ignored by anyone is this: marriage in America is changing and if you've got something to say about it, and you've been holding out for whatever reason, now would be the time to say it...

On March 26th and 27th the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will be hearing arguments for and against DOMA (Defense of Marraige Act) and California's Proposition 8. The Supreme Court has been watching court cases and media or and state laws to see where the people stand on the issue. Do not let anyone fool you-- the Supreme Court will take into account what the people think.

Now is the time to Stand up and be counted! In Washington D.C. there will be a March for Marriage.

Why the March for Marriage? 

 On March 26th and 27th the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will hear oral arguments for and against  California's Proposition 8's case.This will determine if citizen's initiative to protect marriage is lawful in California and possibly all 50 states. The Supreme Court may also take this as an opportunity (like Roe vs Wade) to legalize gay marriage for every state in the nation. It is imperative that political leaders, the media, and the culture see that we care about protecting marriage enough to stand up and march for it.

 Who is the March for Marriage?

 The March is being organized by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) alongside a broad coalition of pro-family organizations, state partners, African-American, Latino, Catholic and Protestant leaders. Please check the Sponsors page for an up-to-date list of co-sponsoring organizations and the Speakers page for a list of confirmed speakers.

Rally Location and March Route

Click here to download the map & schedule in PDF format.

Schedule of Events for March 26, 2013

• 08:30 AM: Gather at National Mall location between 10th Street and 12th Street NW and between Madison Drive NW and Jefferson Drive SW [BOX]
• 09:30 AM: March to the Supreme Court [ARROWS] and then return to the National Mall location [BOX]
• 11:00 AM: Rally begins at National Mall location (live music, speakers and more)
• 01:00 PM: March for Marriage concludes

In Utah 

There will be a Celebration of Marriage. It is important that as many people as possible attend these events.

Like the French

On January 13th in France, hundreds of thousands of French Citizens marched through Paris in support of traditional marriage. Americans, stand up like the French did, and support marriage. Let's show the Supreme Court how we feel. Stand and March for Marriage!

This Week at Our House #10

Green Eggs and Ham for St. Patrick's Day

1. John took Kate and Johnny down to Provo High for the MyTech High show case night. Johnny and Kate displayed their Flash programs. John said that their projects compared favorably to the other students. After that, John showed Kate and Johnny his old locker from his highs school days.
2. My sister Amber came to visit this week. I had a lot of fun having her here. My kids loved her and fought over whose best friend she was. I had a great time going out to dinner with my sisters, Amy and Amber and my sister in law Marie. I don't spend much time with my own siblings. I really enjoyed getting to know them and about them a little better.
3. Ruth's  getting the meaning of "studious". I think she now realizes that when she studies, she needs to study until she knows that topic completely. I was really pleased with Ruth when she stayed home Thursday night to study for her English exam and thoroughly learned the subject matter.
4. Kate's discovered "Dr. Who". I can get her to do anything by promising her a number of "Dr. Who" episodes. John gave Ruth and Kate 6 episodes if they put all of the kids to bed and cleaned the entire downstairs. Kate even dusted and decluttered. I'll be sad when we run out of "Dr. Who" episodes.
5. Johnny played around a lot this week, mainly because my sister was here. I had a very hard time getting Johnny to be productive at all. I wonder if he was ever as unproductive in public school as he tries to be in homeschool. Why is it that smarter kids are the lazier kids?
6. Adam had a lot of fun with my sister showing her all of his gymnastic stunts on the tramp. Last night, we got home from John's brother's house at 1am. When John checked to make sure all of the kids made it into their beds, he found Adam huddled in the corner with a book light reading the Book of Mormon.
7. It's such a wonderful thing seeing your kids grow little by little and become a little more responsible. Rachel is beginning to be more reliable. Since Rachel is only the 5th child, this is a relief to me. I need her to care for herself and her things and she is slowly beginning to do that. In the last few months I have had many conversations about taking care of her things. Rachel combs her dolls hair and tries to keep her things in order. She is working on proving that she can have nice things like Ruth and Kate. I am pleased with Rachel.
8. We spent some time up in the mountains this week. Anya cried whenever we had to leave. She was just a little fairy playing in the woods near the river exploring and discovering all of the wild life.
9. Joseph, my get into everything boy, had a good week. He loved hanging out with my sister and hiking in the mountains. As a result, he got into less trouble.
10. Josh fell into the river (up to his waste) got chilled in the cool spring air and developed a fever. He may have developed that fever anyway, it just didn't seem unrelated. He spent the next two days crying and being grumpy. Ugh 2 year olds!
11. Baby Arwen was as cute and as happy as ever. We are very blessed with such a relaxed, happyy little girl.  

This Week's Pictures

 

This Week at Our House #9

1. John was sick half the week, which means he slept half the week.
2. I feel redundant by saying it was a busy week for me. Actually, I am wondering when things will calm down, and this next week is not it. I started running outside early in the morning for the first time. I ran 2 miles and walked 1 on Monday. I ran 5 miles and walked .5 on Tuesday, and I ran 3.25 miles on Thursday. I was supposed to run Saturday, but I cleaned the fridge instead. One of the biggest events of my week was my trip up to the State Capitol to see the committee meeting on the non-discrimination bill. This is what I wrote to my fellow United Families Utah friends: I have to complain about the meeting today. The author of the bill said that it only effects jobs and housing. He was deceitful in that statement.  (No one thinks that people should not get and retain jobs or get a home because of sexual orientation. There is actually no documentation of this being a problem in Utah. If there was there would be lawsuits. Gay people use judges all the time.) The fact that the other senators took him at face value made me wonder if they read the bill. I read the bill last night. The Bill also stated that employers had to allow people to use which restroom or dressing room or shower room according to the gender they feel like with maybe some medical record documentation. The bill also said that this applied to selling goods. The selling goods could mean a fertility doctor that only wants to help married heterosexual couples conceive, or wedding photographers that only want their art to support their beliefs, or t-shirt companies that don't want to print gay pride shirts.You guys know this has been a real problem in other states with these sorts of laws. It really seemed like most of the senators had their minds made up before they came and really they just want to feel like they embrace diversity and so does UT, without any serious reflection on how this will affect UT families and businesses.
3. Ruth got contact lenses this week. Yes, I skipped the whole glasses thing. I bought glasses for her 2 years ago and she lost them after a mere 3 months. She also complained about how ugly she looked in glasses. This time, I went straight for contacts, but since she is know seeing at 20/40, she will need glasses as a second choice for when she begins driving soon.
4. Kate came with me to the State Capitol. She left feeling rather unhappy. One of the people to speak for the bill declared that she is a good Mormon, the Young Women's president, and apparently one of the leaders in her chapter of Affirmation and Mormon's Building Bridges. (They are a group lobbying the church leaders into accepting gay marriage. They feel like the homosexual lifestyle fits in well with the gospel. They also participate in gay pride parades.) This is the first time Kate has been exposed to this. We've spent much of the last few days reading talks and scriptures on the matter of sexual purity.
5. Johnny has been spending a lot of time building intricate lego ships. It is nice to see him doing something creative without prompt. I am always very glad that I made the computer/wii 2 days a week rule. Johnny does a whole lot more these days.
6. Adam's enjoying reading!!!! For months, Adam has been telling me that he hates reading and it is just not his thing. Since he has been off track (3 week school vacation as part of year round school), I have been making him read an hour a day. After a week and a half of forced reading, Adam is reading on his own in the mornings and at night before he goes to sleep. Then Adam tells me about what he's reading because he's excited about it! Yay!!!!!!
7. Rachel is reading on her own too. Rachel yanked for a long time on one of her top front teeth and got it out with some of the root still part of the tooth. She really wanted a dollar. I always think it is cute to see those two front teeth missing and hear the lispy talk.
8. Anya is having a hard time right now. I think she really just needs more personal time with mom and dad. I have been trying to find ways to work in some one on one time. I think it is hard being in the middle of a large family. Hopefully, I can peacefully help her work through her little issues. She is such a sweet girl.
9. I am now Joseph's primary teacher. I am actually glad to have those two hours a week special for Joseph. I have been making Joseph spend a lot more time around me and doing chores with me and such in order to keep a better eye on him. Hopefully, we will have fewer things broken by the time he turns five.
10. Josh looked at the seams down Kate's jeans and happily declared, "A Track!" Josh LOVES cars, and trucks, and trains! He sleeps with a couple of cars every night. Josh learned how to jump out of his crib this week. Fortunately, he is still staying there long enough to fall asleep.
11. Arwen came with me to the Capitol too. She was really great the first two hours, but she fussed on and off the next two hours. Still, she's such a cutie and so friendly with everyone. I quite love bringing her along with me.