Our Trip to Nauvoo

We all had a very nice time in Nauvoo, and reguardless of what the National Weather Service stated it hardly rained at all.
The top pictures, we are dipping our feet in the beautiful, but polluted, Mississippi River. We did this just as we were leaving Nauvoo. Then of course there was the beautiful Nauvoo temple. John and I took turns taking the kids around Nauvoo and going to the Temple on Tuesday. It is such a beautiful temple. I am so glad to have been able to go into it. Nauvoo has this little kid section they call "pioneer past times" They have pioneer dress up clothes, pioneer games, a school house and a little log cabin with kitchen stuff. Our kids loved, loved, loved this best of all. And this is where we spent the majority of our time. My kids make cute pioneers. Ruth played the school teacher for all of the kids there for a long time. Rachel put blankets on the sheep to "make them comfortable." Anya liked taking care of the babies best of all. I think Johnny liked trying the games most. The door is at Carthage jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred. It was such a neat place to see and to be at. I think that our older children have really gained a new respect for Joseph Smith and the early saints. I am so glad that we had a chance to do this before we move too far away. It also seemed rather appropriate for John and I at this time. I loved all that I learned about the good saints of the early church. They were so faithful despite serious tragedy.

Very Thankful

Tonight the miamaids and laurels in our ward came over to help us clean. In less than an hour they had cleaned every cupboard in my kitchen, the shelves in every closet and bathroom, the bugs out of all of the lights, and all of the ceiling fans. They also vacuumed all of the base boards and behind all the remaining furniture. They washed my very disgusting high chair. They wiped out the oven and vacuumed our kitchen ceiling. They even weeded the front flower bed. I think they accomplished in an hour what would take me 15 hours. We are very blessed to be in this ward. I am so very grateful and amazed.

I should also mention that since Monday, we have been brought in three dinners and invited out to dinner once. One of the dinners was anonmymous and left on our door step.

Some of Johnny's First Grade Journal Entries

Here are some cute things Johnny wrote in his first grade writing journal that he just brought home from school.

1. 10/7/08 "I look most like my grandpa when he was a kid because I don't know everything."
2. 10/8/08 "I make friends by being nice and sharing."
3. 10/10/08 "A class rule we need is no kissing."
4. 10/29/08 "When I grow up I want to be a computer game programmer because my whole life I wanted to be one."
5. 11/11/08 "When I am tired I act grumpy."
6. 12/2/08 "My favorite thing about Thanksgiving was the drink."
7. 1/13/09 "If I couldn't sleep I would tell mom."
8. 1/14/08 "If I was the teacher for one day I would give 4 recesses."
9. 3/10/09 "My favorite thing that is green is the teacher in a green shirt. The thing I don't like is a cucumber."
10. 4/10/09 "Easter is fun because you get to go on a Easter hunt."
11. 5/13/09 "I am not taking anymore reading count's because you can't get pizzas anymore."
    

More Funny Things From Adam

1. Conversation at lunch--

Rachel: I want water
Me: you have milk, which you like better. That is enough.
Rachel (whining): I want water, now.
Me: Stop asking for things that you don't have when you already have something else that is just as good.
Adam: What you don't have is brains, Rachel.
Me (shocked): Adam that is mean. Don't say that.
Adam: Shaggy said that in Scooby Doo so it is funny.


2. Conversation in the car--
Me to Adam: Johnny get in the car and buckle up.
Adam: you mean, Adam.
Me: yeah, sorry Adam.
Adam: That is okay. I love you Dad. (A lot of laughing form Adam.)

Hatching

These diagrams show The First Stage of Labor Progression

I had to take Adam with me to my last ob check up. There was a diagram similar to this on the wall. Adam pointed to the first picture and said, "The egg is not cracked." Then he pointed to the next one and said, "the egg is cracking." Then the next one he said, "the egg is still cracking." Then he pointed to the fourth picture and said, "the egg is cracked." He pointed to the last picture and said, "Now the baby can come out."

Rachel's Prayers

Last night while saying her prayers, Rachel said, "Help daddy get a job, help Snow white get a job, help Cinderella get a job..."

The Yucky Store

When Ruth was 2 1/2 she named Home Depot , "The Yucky Store." That has stuck well, and has extended to Lowes and hardware stores in general. John and I have even used the phrase "the yucky store" when we are taking the kids with us to one of those stores. Yesterday, I took the three youngest kids with me to Lowes to buy some parts for a light. As we drove up, Adam said, "Ruth, Kate and Johnny call this the yucky store. But I do not think it is the yucky store. Yucky stores are stores that have only clothes."

Something Wondeful About Sleeping Children

This was after a long day out of the house. We got home, Adam grabbed the cat out of the garage, and this is where I found Adam next. I am amazed at our cat. He is so tolerant and patient with our kids. He doesn't even seem to mind being a pillow.

A Family Zoo Trip

Anya Loves the Sheep. She runs around them, pets them, hugs them, squeels with delight and says, "Baa baa," a lot.

The kids enjoyed taking pictures of the animals. Here is the lazy lion.

The Leopard was on the prowl. Adam says, "He wanted to eat us, so he is a bad guy."

Teddy Bear. He looks so cuddley and cute. But I think I will fore go the bear hug from this fellow.

"Baa baa black sheep. I love you."

We sure have enjoyed our zoo pass this year. Dad even came on this trip. We had a picnic lunch. Johnny and Kate screamed when a goose came up from behind to get some of their lunch. It was extremely nice just to take a couple hours off together with the whole family. I think we will miss living 10 minutes from the zoo.

My Mother's Day Poems

By Johnny:

M magical
O outstanding
T terrific
H honest
E everything
R real sweet
R river of love



By Kate:

Mom
mOm
Thirty three
Honest
swEet
Rules

Monkey Tail/ Monkey Power

Adam put on Rachel's Monkey backpack/kid leash. He then started making monkey noises and running round wildly. Then Adam climbed a tree and declared, "I can climb better now because I have a tail!" I sure think he is adorable with or without a tail. :>

Insight

In Genesis 3:16 it says:

"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;"

I think most people think this refers to the pain of labor and delivery. I wanted to point out that it says, "conception". Which means when that baby gets in there that is when the sorrow begins. Pregnancy is hard from the beginning to the end. It is really nine months of agony.

Step 1: Redone and Some Divine Intervention

We have signed another contract for the house. We will close no later than June 1st. But the buyers and ourselves have expressed interest in closing early if they can get the loan before then. We are packing up the truck the evening of May 20th.



I wanted to mention the help of the Lord in this matter. After the original buyers backed out, the realtor suggested we offer them less money to keep the contract. We prayed about it and felt like we definitely should not do that. Instead we dropped the price $5,000 and hired a legimate, well established house inspector. I got in touch with him last Thursday and scheduled him for this Monday. On Friday we got another offer. We decided to go through with the inspection before signing on the offer because we wanted to make sure that the buyers and ourselves knew exactly what is wrong with the house. We invited the buyers to come over at the end of the inspection to talk with the inspector. When they got here, it turned out that their realtor knows and works closely with the same inspector we had hired. So he probably would have inspected our house anyway. We left while they met with the inspector. The report was not too bad. Most of the things he found we had known about and disclosed. The buyers decided to keep their offer as is with no changes. Our realtor brought the papers over to us to sign today. This time, the people buying the house are getting a conventional loan. They have not asked us to pay any of the closing costs so while their offer price is $5,000 less than the last offer, we are only losing $700 more. If we had negotiated farther with the first people, we would have lost another $4,000 to $5,000. And it is very unlikely that these buyers will have any trouble with the loan since they have a 10% down payment and are pre- approved buyers. I really think this is it. We are very grateful and blessed to have the gift of the Holy Ghost and to have the help of the Lord in our lives.

Busy

We just have way too much to do. May is always crazy because of all of the end of the school year stuff, but this year is just insane!!!! Now my break is over and it is back to work, so I won't get too behind.