A Few Misinterpertations

Here are a few Funny things Adam has mistaken:

1. Adam brought me a picture of President Hinckley and asked me who it was. I told him it was President Hinckley. Adam said, "Oh, he died. Did he die for me?" "No, he just died because he was old, but Jesus died for you."
2. After saying his prayers Adam asked, "Did Jesus die for me." "Yes, Adam, Jesus did die for you, " I replied. "Was Jesus resurrected in water?" Adam asked. "No Adam, But he was baptized in water.
3. Another night after saying his prayers Adam asked, "Will my be resurrected?" I answered, "Yes, Adam after you die you will be resurrected." Adam, replied, "My not die because my go into water." "Are you going to get baptized?" I asked. "Yes my will and my not die."

A Simple Answer

As we walked outside I groaned, "When will it ever get warm." Johnny simply relied, "It will in March, Mom. March 21st." Thanks Johnny.

Oh the Messes

Okay, I have two toddlers and they are driving me CRAZY!!!!! Adam is 3 and Rachel is 22 months. They get into everything all of the time. They break everything and they make huge messes. Here are just a few from the last couple of days. Adam got a screw driver opened a can of paint and knocked it over onto my bathroom floor. Luckily we caught it quickly enough and avoided a real expensive disaster. Rachel and Adam got onto the table before dinner, squished a bunch of tater tots and threw them all over the dining room floor. (We made them pick those up and wash the floor). Adam and Rachel dumped out all of the crayons on the living room carpet and began stepping on them and breaking them into the carpet. Rachel took three boxes of cereal out of the pantry closet and dumped them out onto the dining room floor. Adam threw his egg onto the floor. When we told him to pick it up he began stomping on it and grinding it into the floor. Rachel threw a whole plate of sticky rice onto the floor and we had to pick it up grain by sticky grain. That has been only in the past three days.

On a regular basis Rachel plays in the toilet. Since she can open the doors and lift up the toilet seats now, we don't have many other solutions. We are officially potty training her because of this. We thought that it she spent a lot of appropriate time with the toilet she might lose interest for improper use. So far so good.

On a regular basis Rachel gets into the food pantry and dumps out food. (Today I am buying a lock for that closet.) On a regular basis Rachel gets scissors and stabs the bread which I like to keep on the counter because it keeps best. She will also stab any other food that sits out of the refrigerator.

On a regular basis Adam throws his toys at things and people. Adam and Johnny also throw big things like the Toy kitchen, doll house and little people sets at each other for a game. Luckily the rocking horse is too heavy for them. They will also throw chairs around at each other. Today they tried throwing a large speaker until John caught them.

I know it sounds like I need to play with them more. I think that is the case, too. I cannot wait for the weather to warm up so that I can take Adam and Rachel out more, or just send them out to destroy nature instead. I have been playing with them some everyday. Most of these things happen when I am helping the older kids with their homework, sleeping, writing a blog :) (something terrible might be happening at this moment), or bathing. I am buying locks for my bedroom, Ruth and Kate's bedroom, and the pantry today. We already have a lock on the storage/laundry room and that has made a difference.

I would like to say that I am a very patient mom-- that I just adore and laugh at the funny things my cute babies do. I would like to say that I never yell. But I won't lie. Often I think Adam and Rachel are the enemies and if I could only defeat them. But I have a feeling that they are undefeatable foes. The only way to escape the mess and distress is wait patiently and love them no matter how big or how constant the disaster. Maybe Adam and Rachel are just training and refining my patience for things to come. I always say that I am never going to yell or say mean things to my children ever again. Maybe Adam and Rachel are helping me to get there faster by giving me ample opportunity to learn control. I hope that is true. I want to do better and be better as much as I want my kids to do better and be better

Why the Bus was Late

Yesterday Johnny and I stood out in the cold for 20 minutes waiting for the kindergarten bus. We knew that we had not missed the bus because our neighbor picks up her morning kindergartener from the same bus Johnny gets on. Eventually we gave up and I drove Johnny to school (because Johnny complained so much about the cold). The bus driver informed Johnny that she was so late because a kid swallowed a penny, so they had to call and wait for an ambulance to come get the kid. Crazy. My response was around the affect that my kids better never do that!!! Ruth swallowed a penny once and John took her to the emergency room. Kate swallowed a penny (when she was a kindergartener, in fact) and John suspended all allowences. We are either meaner or just more experienced.

Great FHE Game

Well, we had a member of the sixth quorum of the Seventy come for our Stake Conference on Sunday. Indeed he was a great speaker that put the gospel very plainly. I believe that he even helped John and I a lot. But he also gave us a great idea for a Family Home Evening game that we tried out tonight. Apparently he had 6 boys and 2 girls. He told us to do family home evening regularly. He said he understands if we do not see the fruits of keeping this commandment now because he raised six boys. He mentioned that sometimes it was the family fight that started and ended with a prayer, and sometimes his kids listened while hanging upside down over the couches (we get that a lot). Then he said that sometimes they just played Samuel the Lamanite. We tried that tonight and absolutely loved the game. We turned our couch around. One person stood on the back of the couch telling everyone else to repent (that was Samuel the Lamanite). The rest of us stood on the floor and threw pillows at Samuel (we were the wicked Nephites and the pillows were our arrows). Everyone got knocked down as Samuel except John who caught the arrows, threw them back, and knocked over the wicked Nephites (that ended up being a fun pillow fight.). I think this is truly and inspired FHE game. We will try it again!!!!!

Dad Comes Up With A Good Solution

This morning Adam ran into our room with some of his sister's valentine candy (they give candy along with cards at school for valentines these days). Adam asked John to open the candy. John replied, "No. This is your sister's candy." Adam whiningly said, "But I want it!" John asked, "Adam, if I went into a store and there was some candy I wanted couls I just take it and eat it?" Adam in a very happy voice (maybe even a what a great idea voice) said, "Sure, Dad." Adam then ran off and came back with more candy. John said, "Adam you can not have your sister's candy. Stop getting into it. " Adam replied, "This boy candy!!" He apparently went and took candy from Johnny's Valentine bag. Of course we said, "You can not take Johnny's candy either. The problem finally got resolved when Ruth, Kate, and Johnny put their candy out of Adam's reach. John and I went back to bed.

Ruth's Math

Recently Ruth's math grade has gone down a bit, not because she doesn't understand what she is doing, but because she rushes and makes stupid mistakes. So I told her that she had to bring her homework done everyday and I would check it. I have been astonished at the math that she has to do. Ruth is in fourth grade. She is doing fractions, decimals, squares, square roots, and algebra. Some of this stuff, I didn't even see until I was in high school. In fact, problems with letters were not introduced until algebra and that was not even offered until high school where I lived. I am pleased that these concepts are being taught early now, and I am pleased that Ruth understands it so well. Here are a few sample problems:

1. One third of 84 students were being assigned to each room. How many students were assigned to each room?
2. 6742- (507 x 6)
3. 5^3/5
4. 200= 4 x B

My Complaining Session

Alright here are my complaints about being a mom. There is so much to do and see that it gets done all the time. I have to make sure that my kids eat and bathe and do their homework and learn their piano and exercise and get enough sleep and have clean clothes and beds and dishes and bathrooms etc. Of course there is the clean faces and clean teeth. I have to make sure that they are learning and developing regularly-- that often means spending time teaching them how to read or do their math problems or science problems. It also means teaching shapes and colors and working on their speech and drawing and coordination. They need to be played with and read to. There is also scripture study and prayer and church and teaching them to be nice and good and honest. But the worst part of all of this is they almost never want to do any of this. They do not want to take a bath or eat their vegetables or go on a walk everyday, or brush their teeth or do their homework, or read their books or sit for stories, or practice the piano. They do not want to clean up their messes and they don't want you to clean up their messes, but they complain when the house is a mess or their favorite outfit is not clean. They do not like coming for Family prayer or scripture study, or going to church or school. They want to be mean to each other, but to have everyone always being nice to them. All they seem to really want is to eat junk food, play video games, watch movies, and run around playing wild tackle tag. You always have to say do this and do that and your children always say no way mom or the nicer version-- do we have to?

Okay, I am done complaining. I really do like being a mother. I love my kids and I love it when they actually start to get what you are teaching them and more surprisingly why they should know or do certain things. But it is a long process. Heavenly Father must feel the same way about all of us. Yet, we are His "work" and His "glory". My children are my work and I would even say my glory most days.

Zealous for Zelda

This morning while I was posting a bunch of the previous blogs Johnny asked if he could play Zelda. I said that he could not until he took a bath. Johnny begged to take a bath in my room because the nintendo is in my room and he did not want to travel to far from it. I thought that was a bit silly, but knew that it would be silly of me to argue the point. When I finished writing the other blogs and came ino use my bathroom this is what I saw, well a litlle more than this. Astonished I said, "Johnny!!!! You did not get dressed." Johnny replied, "Mom, you only said that I had to take a bath." I'll have to tell Johnny that he only has to take a bath before he can go to school and see what happens. Or maybe when he is 16 I will inform him that he has to take a bath before he can go on his date. Oh the possibilities.

What Happens With Scissors

Before Adam played with scissors and after Adam played with scissors.

Getting Hurt

Rachel likes to climb things, especially things where food might be like the table and kitchen counters. As a result Rachel bangs her head way more than a one year old should. John always rushes to her side and puts ice on her head. The ice is usually one ice cube wrapped in a dish towel. A few nights ago while I was making pancakes Rachel put her fingers on the hot grill. I just yelled and said, "Rachel I told you not to do that. There are reasons why I tell you not to do things. You need to learn to obey me!" But John is a much better parent and rushed to get an ice cube for her fingers and gave her a hug and told her he felt sorry that she got hurt. (I still did not feel bad, and I still don't. But that is another story.) Rachel took the ice cube, wrapped it in a dish towel and put it on her forehead. John told her no. That ice was for her fingers. But Rachel insisted on putting it on her head. We let her have it on her head and that is when she stopped crying.

Kate had the yearly music presentation that most elementary school kids have. Normally these things are a bit boring. But Kate kept us entertained the whole time. Here stands Kate on the front row-- the shortest kid in the entire third grade at Maize Central Elementary. Kate gets very angry when anyone says that she is short. Well, Let me write about Kate's performance. Kate walked on stage in a line of all the other kids. When Kate saw the audience she began to wave. When Kate saw us she waved a lot more and jumped up and down. Other kids waved too, but none of them waved as enthusiastically as Kate.


Next is Kate getting ready to say her line. Kate's part was during "Do Re MI" from "The Sound of Music" she got to be the small child who said, "But it doesn't mean anything?". I am sure Kate got this part because she is short, but Kate still has the voice of a small child. (At least compared to the other speaking third graders). Kate had to use a lower microphone that she needed to bend down to pick up. All of the other kids used microphones that stood on the stage. I noticed that Kate was too short too short to be able to speak into those microphones. Kate did a lovely job with her line. She spoke very clearly and did not do an extra performance while waiting her turn to speak.

During other songs, Kate stood back with the group and did all of the hand motions and dances that all the little singers standing on the bleachers had to do. But Kate danced extra. She moved her body more and she did extra things with her hands. I think that Kate just enjoyed the songs. She was not acting out or trying to stand out from the group. I think one only noticed her extra dance if he watched Kate in particular.

The last picture is of Kate standing in a car formation while singing "Chitty Chitty, Bang, Bang". Each class got to do a special dance during one of the songs. This is Kate with some of her classmates. She is the horn of the car. She got to toot a little bike horn during the song. After the show I asked Kate if she was glad to have been the horn. She said, "Oh, yes. When I found out what we were doing I prayed to be the horn and I was!"

The best part of the whole show was the end when the music director was saying all of the thank yous. Kate and her friends were in the background laughing and taking extra bows and waving hellos to the audience. At one point Kate put her hand on her stomach and did a fake full belly laugh at something one of her friends said. But the funniest thing of all (and, yes, a bit naughty of Kate) was when she started mocking the music teacher. She looked like she was saying, "Blah, blah, blah". When we asked Kate what she was doing then Kate said, "It was the end of the show and she was just talking and talking-- blah, blah , blah."

Bolgs can be a pain

I have been trying to get this blog about Kate posted with pictures and it is just not doing what I want.

Baby John and Baby Esther

Baby John with his Dad November 1971

I did not know Grandpa kissed babies????

Esther at 4 weeks. She looks so much like John.

Esther at 3 weeks looking at her Dad. It is amazing
how much she looks like her dad. Now we will get to
see what John would have looked like if he was a girl. :)

For All Who Have Been Annoyed By John Wesley Robertson

Justice

by: Kathryn Judith Robertson

John: Stop doing that to me.

Kate: There is no one named me that I know.

Pictures of Baby Esther

I just wanted to put a few pictures of little Esther up. She is such a pretty baby, and she looks the most like her dad as far as we can tell. She has also begun smiling at us. She is so adorable when she looks at you and smiles. We like you Little Esther even though you keep mom up all night long.

The Only Family Rule

After spitting out her lettuce, Kate declared that the ONLY rule we need in this family is the you NEVER have to eat your vegetables rule!!!!!