President Gordon B. Hinckley

I was more affected by our dear Prophet's death than I have been in the past. President Hinckley did so much to forward the work of the Lord across the whole earth. I have not heard from anyone who was not just saddened by his death. We owe him a great deal. I wanted to mention a couple of ways President Hinckley helped me personally. First, I suffered from depression a lot as a child and into my early adulthood. I was cured through the mercy of our Savior, but still some days I feel the heaviness return. Whenever I have felt that way I have just thought what would President HInckley do if he woke up and didn't want to face the day. Then I would just get to work because I knew that is what our prophet did. It helped me every time and my life has been better because of it. Second, President Hinckley brought the temple to us. While I was growing up my parents had to drive twelve hours and spend hundreds of dollars to attend the temple. Plus, they had to find some one to stay over night with their children. My parents could not go to the temple very often. Because of President Hinckley no one in America has to travel very far any more. That has meant a lot for my marriage and how I function as a parent. Regular temple attendance has helped me have the spirit more often. I am more forgiving and less quick to anger. Third, I carried a picture of President Hinckley in my wallet next to my credit card for years. It helped me remember to follow the prophet and not to gain unnecessary debt. Fourth, growing up I felt like the pioneers were boring or had nothing to do with me because they were not my ancestors. President Hinck;ey helped me to understand that as a member of the church the pioneer legacy too. I learned to love the pioneers and pioneer stories and they have helped me. Thank you for all that you have done, President Hinckley.

Why Me?

When I was 8 1/2 months pregnant Ruth said, "Mom, when you are pregnant you get really big." Them she patted my stomach and said, "And I don't mean just here." She slapped my thighs and said, "You get big here," then she pinched my back and said, "you get big here," and then Ruth spread her arms wide apart and said, "And your bottom is this big." Okay, so I know that I gain weight and excess fat when I am pregnant. Well, today Adam looked at me and said, "Mom you have a big bum and a big belly." Then he looked at me some more and said, "You do not have a baby in your tummy and more, huh mom?" AUGHHH!!!! So I haven't lost the weight as quickly as I would like too. But I didn't think a three year old would notice. Tonight while after I told John this new story Ruth and Kate and Johnny burst into laughter. Then Kate said, "I will tell you the truth Mom. You have a really big bottom. But your stomach is not really big. You just have a really Big Bottom." John, my husband, is always asking me why women obsess about our bodies. So now what I want to know is: Do I obsess about my body so my kids clue and and do too, or do I obsess about my body because my size is brought to my attention too often? It is hard to be happy and chunky. I guess I will quit on chocolate now instead of waiting to see if nursing the baby will strip off those extra pounds. The only problem is chocolate happen to be comforting in times like these.

I Am A Parrot

Ruth and Kate take really long baths. Sometimes they will be in the tub for more than an hour. Ruth and Kate needed a bath last night, but it had gotten pretty late. I decided to still have them take a bath, but to pop into the bathroom often and tell them to hurry up and get out. The girls got into the bathtub and immediately got into the play-in-the-tub mode. I popped my head in the bathroom door fairly early into their bath and said, "Hurry up, Ruth, Hurry up, Kate!" Then I left. About five minutes later and came into the bathroom and asked if they had washed yet. Ruth said she had, but that Kate had not. I said, "Hurry up, Kate. It is your night to stay up." (The four oldest kids take turns staying up with mom and dad one night a week. Last night was Kate's turn.) I left the bathroom and then heard, "Awk, Hurry up, Kate. Awk, Hurry up Kate, Awk, Hurry up, Kate." That was repeated again and again by Ruth. Then there was a whole lot of giggling followed by more parrot imitations. So, I must be a parrot. I have often thought that being a mother is the same as being a nag, but a I guess a parrot could be considered a pretty accurate imitation too.

Mmmm

Mmmm, warm brownies. If only I hadn't accidently sprinkled flour on top instead of powdered sugar. -John

Winning

Ruth is really good at the game cube Mario Kart. John and I were not able to beat her. We have always let the kids win out of the goodness of our hearts, but it was not until now that we found that we just could not win when we played Mario Kart against Ruth. There was no question about letting her win. We were the absolute losers!!!! So we decided that we should get in a little more practice. It is not nice to be in your thirties and to be legitimately beaten by a nine year old. So John and I started playing together at night on days that Ruth is not allowed to use the game cube (snicker, snicker). Now John can play as well as Ruth can and I am good competition for her. When we beat Ruth she is the frustrated one, and still. We don't feel obligated to let Ruth win either-- at least on Mario Kart.

Of Eggs and Drugs

Kate hates eggs. A few days ago Kate made a humorous poster that mocks the anti-drug poster they always have to make at school. It said Kids against eggs. Tell parents the truth about evil eggs.

She definitely has her father's sense of humor. Good Job Kate!!!! Unfortunately Johnny ripped up the poster because he and Ruth did not find a campaign against eggs very humorous. "Eggs are good," Johnny said. But in practice Johnny never eats more than one bite of eggs before he says that he is full.

Baby and Dinky

Rachel has had mixed feelings about her new sister, Esther. Rachel loves babies. She rocks and sings to her dolls, changes their diapers, strolls them around and just carries them everywhere. But A real live baby taking up her attention has been hard on little Rachel. She has thrown a lot of temper tantrums and sometimes has just bursted out in tears for no apparent reason since Esther came home. We have tried to be more patient with her, but Rachel has spent a lot more time in time out in the past ten days. Poor Little Raerae. We except she will forgive us in time.

Since before Esther came Rachel has been taking off her diapers and asking to use the toilet. Since Esther came Rachel has been taking off her diapers and telling us they are "Dinky" (Stinky). She has even been very insistent about it recently, so yesterday I took her to Target and let her pick out some underwear. (She chose Curious George). I put them on her when I got home, but I was so swamped with making dinner, cleaning up and nursing that I did not do much else with it. After I put Rachel to bed and was cleaning up the bathrooms I checked the potty chair and to my surprise she had used it. After church today Rachel asked me to take her diaper off. She then went potty again. About an hour later Rachel pooped on the floor. So we are two for three and she is very independent about the whole thing. I think I will take this slowly, but I bet Rachel will be potty trained in the next three months.

One more note of interest about Little Rachel. She keeps getting into the baby's diapers putting them on her dolls, taking them off and saying they are dinky and then disposing of them with real poopy diapers. It is adorable, but expensive. We have moved the diapers out of her reach. Now every time she sees Esther she points to her and says, "Dinky". Unfortunately, Rachel is almost always right.

Sunbeam

Adam has now been in Sunbeams for three weeks. Well, actually he has only gone twice. He skipped last week and went to priesthood instead. The first week I asked him how he liked Sunbeams and he said that it was bad. This week John asked him how he liked sunbeams and he said that it was boring. Later, I asked Adam how he liked sunbeams and he told me that it is bad again. I asked him if he liked the singing part and he said that he did not, but that he got to throw a sticky ball. So Adam at the beginning already thinks primary is boring. I think that I liked primary until I was eleven, but I have been in primary as a teacher or a leader for the past 9 1/2 years and I would have to agree with Adam-- primary is BORING!!!!!!!!

Esther

Esther was born January 9, 2008. I could not believe how pretty she was when the doctor placed her on my stomach. I love all of her hair and her chubby round cheeks. She is so calm too. With how much she wiggled in the womb, I felt certain that I would be having a rambunctious boy. I was surprised when we spread those little legs open and I had a girl laying on me. I was even more surprised that first night in the hospital when she just laid there so peacefully. The night nurse said that she would leave all of the other babies, but that she would take this one. Esther didn't seem to mind being checked or changed and she only grunted when she was hungry. Esther also squeaks like a little mouse. When she is awake or asleep, Esther makes a lot of little squeaky noises.

Esther has now been with us for 11 days. She cries when she is hungry if I am not right there, and she cries when she is lonely. But she is still just as calm as can be. Esther is happy to have her brothers and sisters hold her and talk to her. She seems to come to life when you sing to her. But mostly, Esther is sleepy. She sleeps a lot right now. We suspect that she will wake up around 6 weeks like Ruth did. But she is another little Joy.

We have had a lot of Drama about her name. I did not want to call her Esther and John insisted in his most insistent way that she was meant to be called Esther. I thought she was too pretty for such an ugly name, even though the bible Esther must have been beautiful. I did not come to terms with the name until John apologized for forcing me to name my daughter a name that I disliked. (Although John would like everyone who reads this to know that he did not mean to force me into the name). Another thing that went wrong with the name is that we did not have enough time to talk about it together. We were only in the hospital for 24 hours after she was born and John was only there with me for about 3 hours and so were the other kids who took all of my attention. The birth certificate lady was also very forceful and pushy with the timing. If we have more children we are going to have to find out the gender and choose a name ahead of time. Apparently the law has changed and you have to mail in the birth certificate information 24 hours after a baby is born. Now, I still might change her middle name or her first name to Estherann. I am waiting to hear back from the Kansas birth registrar. But after John apologized I found that I didn't mind the name so much, and I felt tired from all of the drama over the name. I almost always give in when things go on long enough. At least she will always be the only Esther where ever she goes. I had said that I did not want to name this child a common name. I did at least get my wish that way.

Finally Caught

John, my wonderful husband, always sticks his tongue out when he is thinking about something or working hard on something. I think that it is really cute, but still I have been trying for ten and a half years to catch his tongue. I have tried grabbing it while it is sticking out, but he is like a fly and can always see my hand coming. Well now I have officially caught him. This is even better than catching that tongue with my finger, and I didn't even know about it until I downloaded the pictures. So ha ha ha John you are caught. By the way what were you thinking about, John?

More Christmas

More Christmas morning pictures.

Christmas Vacation

We had a lovely Christmas in Utah with the Robertson Family and Seth and Amber Pardon. Our kids loved playing with their cousins, Aunts, and Uncles, the game cube, and the Nintendo Wii. We ate a lot of junk food. I suspect that John and I gained a good ten pounds each. Fortunately, John will never have to know. We do not have a scale and Gramma's scale weighed us each about 25 pounds less upon arrival at their house. We are sure that that is not just the change in altitude. I get to find out on Monday. But I have to diet in two weeks when I am not pregnant anymore anyway so why not enjoy all of the chocolate? It was great. Our kids liked all of their Christmas presents and even got to take a game cube home which they bought used from Aunt Amber with their Christmas money. We all had such a wonderful time visiting and getting to know some of our relatives better. Some of the highlights were sledding and having pizza and hot cocoa at Jon and Amy's house;Kate and John going out to eat with Jeremy and Roseanne; Ruth, Kate, and Johnny playing the Nintendo Wii with Uncle James Clary and Uncle Jay; easy access to the temple for John and I; my kids jumping all over my brother Seth; Adam getting to run and wrestle with cousin James; and of course just being there and talking and having fun with a bunch of wonderful people. We really did have a wonderful vacation.

Kate Quotes

Here are two funny things that Kate said while we were in Utah for Christmas Break.

1. When I told her that we would like to take them sledding. She said, "Please don't take me sledding in the mountains." I told her we were sledding in the mountains and that was called skiing. Kate responded, "That must be against the law."
2. When we drove back up to Gramma's house after shopping with Gramma, Gramma said,"I hope Grampa won't be mad at me." Kate asked why. Gramma said that she spent too much money and Kate said,"Is Grampa like my Dad?"

Note: John does not want to be known as a cheap-skate. He only wants to stay in our squeezed tight budget and is generally upset that he can't spend a lot of money on computers and ice cream whenever he wants to.

Letter to Jesus

While we were away we went to church one week in Laramie, WY with our cousins there and one week in Orem, UT. The week in Laramie the primary kids had to write a letter to Jesus for sharing time. When I got out of relief society, Kate handed me an envelope and said, "take this. This is so stupid. We had to write a letter to Jesus." I looked at the envelope and saw : "to Jesus Christ from Kate Robertson" with a drawn on US flag stamp on one side and "mail to hevin" on the other side. In the car I opened it up and this is what it said:

Dear Jesus
I know it is crazy
to rite to you
when I cood
jest pray to you.
I know your a very
very very very very
inportined man and
I don't know what
to say besieds that.
Love Kate

I thought exactly the same thing when they told me they had to write a letter to Jesus. It is funny how John and I have passed down our distaste for cutsie things. But sometimes rather pleasing.