This Week at Our House #3

Heihachi, the love of Kate's life

1. John hates his job, a lot! But he goes and does it every single week. I am grateful that he does. I am certain that if he wasn't married and had a bunch of  kids, he would have quit this job a long time ago. John helped a neighbor remove 200 pounds of icicles dangerously hanging over her central air unit. He just saw them and offered to take them down.
2. My schedule worked. If I make it so I have to exercise before cleaning, I exercise and clean. The other way around is not a guarantee. I just can't let my house go for anything. I never have. I do not even remember a week since well before I got married that I did not deep clean the bathroom. 
3. There is this guy, Rob, that Ruth goes to school with. (Or should I be grammatically correct and say, with whom Ruth goes to school?) He is in at least two of her classes. She says that he does not have very many friends; he constantly makes off the wall comments and makes fun of people. He likes Ruth. She can't stand him. Ruth's science teacher has assigned Ruth to be his lab partner, and Ruth's seminary teacher has assigned him to work on a project with her. I asked Ruth if she is ever mean to him. She said no. Aha, I think I know what is going on. Not many kids will work with Rob so Ruth who is nice gets saddled with him. Ruth's not too happy about this, so she and I agreed that she would try really hard to be nice to him, work well with him, and make it her Young Woman's Value Project for good works. Ruth's a good girl.
4. I have a lot I could say about Kate. She is in that transition from kid to young adult--aka teenager. First, Kate is feeling desperate for friends. At the beginning of the month, I had to force Kate to try out for the school musical. This week, musical practice was cancelled and Kate cried. She is feeling lonely. I am so glad that It have already insisted she goes back to school next year. I don't think she would have made that decision on her own. Second, while, I exercise, I have been watching an anime series called Samurai Seven. Since, Kate was nine, she said that she was in love with one of the characters, Hayashida Heihachi. While they were watching it, Anya pointed to a picture of him and said, "He's cute. He's mine". Kate pulled her aside and in no uncertain terms told Anya no way, he is Kate's and she is not going to share. She was serious too. John even made her do a chore because she would not settle down. Eventually John just said, "He's a cartoon. I'll just give you both a photocopy. That's as good as it ever gets. I have always wondered if Ruth and Kate would like the same guy and have hard feelings over it. I never imagined Kate and Anya would like the same cartoon character guy and have hard feelings over it.
5. I made the rule of no computer or videos games at all Sunday through Thursday. Johnny got back to writing a book, he started last summer. He made a whole ton of stuff with legos. He helped me clear ice off the driveway, he played board games and card games with Adam and Kate. Johnny played tag and hide and seek and had friends over plenty. It's like he has woken up and found out that life has some fun things to offer. 
6. Adam woke up too. My mother bought Adam Skylanders Wii game for his birthday. It is a video game that you buy physical characters for. Adam is obsessed. He has spent every penny he has earned or been gifted on Skylanders. He has spent every free moment on this game. I have had enough and made the rule that began last Friday. Adam is back into life again. I was really surprised that when Friday and Saturday came Adam didn't spend every waking moment playing SkyLanders. Sometimes I feel mean taking away things the kids love, but not this time.
7. I heard Rachel saying to Adam, "I promise I will never tell on you again, if you don't tell on me now."
8. I asked Anya if I could help her get dressed. She said. "I can do it myself". After she got dressed, she came over to me and said, "See, I can do it. I am 5 now. I am all growed up."
9. Again this week, Joseph didn't whine as much. It is nice to know that Joseph has a voice that isn't just high pitched and weepy. Joseph still won't write his name, but just from playing on Starfall, Joseph knows about half the alphabet. That just makes me happy. I love Starfall because it teaches my children things that I find painful to teach, and my kids just think it is fun and games.
10. Joshua woke up screaming at 7am this morning and didn't stop until about 10am. I guess he has decided to be a terrible two. 
11. Arwen is six months old today and has begun fake coughing and sneezing to get attention. She is just darling and delightful. I love the baby stage.

This Weeks Pictures

Arwen sad because she dropped her toy

 

This Week at Our House #2

1. John bought this new game that can take up to 4 hours to play. The older kids are all really enjoying playing it with him. He loves all of these nerdy board games, but I think he also gets them to have games besides video games to play as a family. I am not a big board game fan. If I want to show love to John, I can play a board game.
2. I have not been good at exercising. I completely failed this week. Thus, the new schedule. I am trying to figure out how to get everything in, but really, I'd be happy to just sit and read.  I have also thought that my kids have been using screens for entertainment entirely too much. I first tried having then sign in and out when they began and ended any sort of game or social media. That was too hard to enforce, so I made the rule that they could only use video games on Friday and Saturday and Facebook only on the weekdays. I am hoping these rules will help me control all of the screen time madness that comes with modern family life.
3. I totally biffed it with Ruth this week. She planned a surprise birthday party for her friend at the Rec Center on Friday. She asked if I could pick everyone up and take them there. I said I could. Friday afternoon I thought it would be good to get to the Temple for an hour before taking Ruth and her friends. Well, the Temple took over 2 hours, and Ruth and I had some misunderstanding about times. Some other friends mom took all of the girls. I felt horrible. I really failed Ruth. She trusted me to be there for her and I was not. Fortunately, Ruth had a great time with her friends at the party and really enjoyed her first time ice skating.
4. We've had a busy weekend and when I had not written anything on my blog by 8:30 tonight, Kate pulled up my blog to remind me. I think she is curious to see what I will write about her this week. Kate decided not to compete in Mock Trial this year. She really likes learning about court procedures and the laws, but her team is very different from last year's team and that alone made it not worth it for her.
5. Johnny has been doing really well with his piano practice. He is picking it up again with ease and even seems to be enjoying it. Johnny started writing a fantasy novel. He won't let me look at it while he is near, but I can read it when he is not around. Now that he can't play video games expect on Fridays and Saturdays, I am hoping he will spend more time on creative hobbies.
6. I got to do an art project in Adam's class this week. It is fun to see him in his school environment. His teacher told me what a good kid he is, so I asked if he was still behaving really well. She started to say yes, paused and then said, "Every now and then he does a couple of flips through the classroom." I am not surprised. Adam cannot stay right side up.
7.  On Wednesday, Rachel found a coupon for a buy one get one free ice cream. She decided that was to be used for a date with Dad that night. Then she found out that Dad was not home. She began singing, "Dad come home. I am singing my Dad home." Dad then called and said he was taking the kids he had with him out. Fortunately, Dad listened to Mom, came home and took Rachel and Anya out on a little date. Oh, and Rachel is reading a lot better now. Hurrah!
8. I saw Anya sitting on the couch pretending to read my book. I love it when your little kids imitate the good things you do. On the whole, however, Anya had a pretty naughty week. She cut up part of Rachel's brave wig, she stole Johnny's brand new SkyLanders guy and hid it under her bed, she called my sister in law, Marie, fat, she cried every time she needed to be buckled in the car, and she hurt Joseph during a fight over toys. Hopefully next week will be better for Anya.
9. Joseph whined less this week. I am hoping this is the beginning of a new trend. I have not been able to get Joseph to write out his name. He almost seems afraid to do it, kind of like he was about potty training. What does that mean?
10. Josh, of course, turned two. He was absolutely adorable during his birthday. He loves, loves, loves cars and plays with them all day long. If we cannot find Josh, he is guaranteed to be in the toy room playing with cars. He pretty much always has a toy car in his hand. Josh is talking up a storm now too. I think I am going to have another big talker in the house.
11. Arwen is just as sweet as can be. She loves to have a pile of toys put in front of her. I can usually put her down with some toys and she will play for a good hour. She's an easy going baby. The only real difficulty I have with her is that she takes a very long time to nurse. She'll be 6 months old next week, and I could start her on solid food. She even seems ready, but with all of the RSV and such going around, I plan to have her nurse exclusively through the winter.

This Weeks Pictures

I actually kind of regret having the boys do the snow removal They did a horrible job and since it has been so frozen, we have a pretty slippery driveway and walkway.

Rachel made this card for Josh

 

Happy Birthday Joshua

Little Josh turned 2 on Thursday! Can't believe it. They grow up so fast!

I'd have to say, Joshy had a good birthday. We just did a little family party at home, but Josh only cared about two things: blowing out his candles and his presents.

Knowing that it would take some time to get through homework and making dinner and such, I bought Josh 10 helium balloons. He spent the afternoon very happily chasing his balloons around the house.

Dinner began a little late, because we tried making a cake that was shaped like a car. We had dinner. After dinner, we sang 'Happy Birthday' and opened presents. Josh got 6 new cars, a $10 car track and an electric Thomas set (Thank you after Christmas clearance.).

We set up both the car track and train set while I did the chores. When things were reasonably cleaned up, we Josh over for his cake. He was unhappy until he saw the candles. He immediately started huffing and puffing and had the candles successfully blown out before the song ended.

I served Josh a piece of cake and ice cream. He pushed it away and went back to play with his toys while the rest of us dug into the cake and ice cream.

The next morning Josh immediately started playing with his new toys. I asked him if he wanted his cake for breakfast. He said, "Yes, cake!" hopped right up and got into his high chair.

Josh really loved his birthday. He just seemed to soak it all up.

Schedule

My mother in law said that after she dies we are going to find lots and lots of papers with hand written schedules for the perfect day that she never managed to follow.

I need a new schedule. I am not getting in enough each day.

7:00am Read to Ruth and kiss her goodbye
7:20am Nurse Arwen and read scriptures
7:50am Wake up Adam and Rachel, get laundry started and dish washer cleared
8:10am Breakfast, hair, and teeth for Adam and Rachel
8:25am Wake up other kids and gather for family prayer
8:30am drive Adam and Rachel to school
8:45am breakfast for everyone else
9:00am get diapers changed and kids dressed and nurse baby
9:30am exercise
10:30am read stories
11:00am math for Kate and Johnny
11:45am nurse baby
12:15pm reading and phonics with Anya and Joseph
1:00pm  lunch and pick up
1:45pm nurse baby
2:15pm rest time for little kids while mom cleans and scrubs
3:45pm nurse baby/snack time
4:00pm elementary school homework/ music (blah)
5:30pm nurse baby (man this takes a lot of my time!!!)
6:00pm make dinner
7:00pm family dinner
7:30pm nurse baby
8:00pm family chore time and baths
8:30pm family scripture and prayer
9:00pm little ones go to bed/ read to all school age kids/nurse baby
10:00pm public school kids go to bed
11:00pm home schooled kids go to bed/ begin mom and dad time
12:30pm go to sleep

This Week at Our House

1.  Ruth made a New Years Resolution to take her grades seriously. She has brought a lot of her grades up since the new year and is spending more time studying. (Her grades were not bad. She has made up her mind to go for that 4.0) Ruth is not happy with her part in the school musical, Annie, because she is an orphan and not in with her friends who are all servants and street people. This week we realized that Ruth will be 30 before Arwen can date. That made Ruth feel old, even though she can't date yet. 
2. Kate as ever is my right hand man. I will miss her a ton when she goes back to school in August. Kate is enjoying her part as an orphan in the school musical and is making friends in her grade. Yay! I didn't want to send her to school all alone feeling like she doesn't know anyone. Because Kate home schools she never goes to bed. Kate gets upset if I send her to bed before 11:30! I doubt that will change next year when she has to wake up early. I think she will just start taking naps.
3. Johnny is just Johnny. He is as smart as ever and yet still always trying to get out of his school work. Johnny makes me happy because he is always willing to play with the little kids. It melts my heart to see him sitting with a book or laptop and holding baby Arwen. Those little moments are some of the best parts of big families. Johnny has also become to the self appointed bedtime police officer. He makes a point to get out of bed and tell Kate what time it is and that she should be in bed too.
4. Adam has spent this last week either on the wii or tormenting Rachel and Anya. Yesterday. Anya was playing on starfall on a laptop that has the usb plug of a wireless mouse plugged in. Adam got the mouse, hid and started using it to annoy Anya. I heard Anya yelling at Adam to stop it. I told Anya to quit it because Adam wasn't anywhere near her. After some more screams, Anya finally said, "The mouse". Then I knew what the little stinker was up to. He is really, really good at bugging his sisters.
5. Rachel is my little social butterfly. She loves school. She loves having friends over. She can talk your ears off. Rachel has been back to the endocrinologist and has grown an amazing 2 inches in four months. Last year, she only grew 2 inches total.That is good news. Rachel is 6yrs and 9months and weighs 33 pounds. She is always worried that she is fat-- CRAZY! So, I tell her to eat right and exercise. But, honestly, what does eating right mean for a 6 year old who is seeing a specialist for lack of growth?
6. Anya, had her 5th birthday! Anya is adorable as ever. Anya likes her presents quite a bit and has asked me to spend a lot of time with her coloring and helping her with her sticker book. Anya is making leaps and bounds in learning all of her preschool stuff which is a relief to me. Anya, from the suggestion of Rachel, has decided she wants to go to kindergarten at school instead of doing it at home with me. We will see. I kind of feel like she will have her whole life to leave home and socialize. I may regret it if I give in and send her away before I feel ready.  I will consider it. There is a lot of social pressure to send your kids to pre-school and I am thinking of keeping her home for kindergarten.
7. Joseph is funny. Joseph isn't quite 3.5, but he is very articulate. Because he talks so much and expresses himself more like a 5 year old, I tend to expect more out of him-- better behavior, better at cleaning up, etc. I have to remind myself that he is already doing more chore wise than most of his siblings did at 3. I guess that makes him a pretty mature little guy, even though I feel like, "kid, you are too old to whine and cry. Oh yeah" He skipped the terrible twos and opted for the terrible threes. Most of the stuff he says comes out in a high pitched whine -- ick.
8. Joshua is talking!!!! Did I really type that. He has been babbling at us forever. In less than a month that babble has turned into sentences. I had him tested for speech. He started talking that day. Every time the kid opens his mouth, we are all astonished. "Did Josh just say that?"He will turn 2 on Thursday. I wonder if he will opt for terrible 2 or terrible 3?
9. Arwen has two teeth! That would make her the youngest of my kids to pop their first teeth. She is about 5.5 months. She likes toys and will play happily on the floor if she has some toys to hold. If no toys can be found, Arwen will be happy with just a piece of paper to crumple. Arwen is a sweet, calm, really amazingly easy going, good sleeping, excellent nursing, big smiling, perfect little ball of sunshine. What would I do without my amazing number 9!
   
   

   This Weeks Pictures

   

   Rachel singing along with her Brave CD.

   
   

   

    The sign Kate taped to our door to tell Jer and Rosanne not to bother knocking
   

   

   Ruth studying and Johnny doing anything but studying

   
   

   

   We got his kitten in October when we noticed our cat disappeared. She hasn't adapted to our home and I have decided with our cat loss we need to just have indoor cats and she has been miserable. So I gave her to a family with one teenage son. I think she will be much happier. The surprising thing is not one of my kids thought we should keep her. All of them said, she will be happier in a different family. We are now owners of one indoor orange fluffy boy cat named Kedo. I think we will just keep it that way for a while.

   
   

Feeling Overwhelmed and My Blog

We all love reading back in time on my blog. There are so many funny, cute, interesting details of our lives that I wrote about and forgot. My whole family is happy about all of the little stories we have collected over the past 5.5 years. (Wow, have I really been on blogger that long?)

Recently, I haven't had as much time for my blog as I would like. I feel like there have been little parts of my family life and the lives of my kids that I have just missed. I am feeling overwhelmed trying to find of balance of all of things  I need to be doing in my life right now.

Currently, I am trying to get in 3 to 4 hours of exercise each week and as June 8th and the impending half marathon approaches that exercise time is going to seriously increase. Ugh, I am terrified. But, alas, onward I'll go.

I also am trying to get music lessons in with 5 to 6 of my kids. I nurse a baby. That takes 2.5 to 3 hours a day. I am trying to make sure I am cooking healthy meals. Healthy means more time in the kitchen. I have around 5 and 6 loads of laundry a day and I have to spend about 2 to 3 hours on house work a day just to keep things from completely falling apart. I am in charge of and teaching Kate and Johnny as 7th and 8th graders. That takes an hour or two a day. Ruth often needs help with her English and Math and some time being quizzed for tests. Rachel is still struggling to learn to read and needs me to spend between 45 minutes and 2 hours each school day with her. I also take that same time to help Adam with homework. And now, the time has come to start Anya on reading. (I swear reading and potty training are the two biggest milestones of childhood.)

I am also trying to get my kids working on learning musical instruments. I am trying to keep that down to 45 minutes for me and have them practice independently. Then there is writing and research for UFI. I cannot write if I do not spend about 45 minutes a day on reading news that has to do with family law. Mock Trial and the school musical are beginning which means a lot of time spent as the chauffeur. Then there are the usual church callings and personal scripture study, regular Temple attendance and dates and time spent with my husband.

So, there it is, my busy life-- every part of it necessary-- every part of it directly related to the happiness of myself, my husband, and my children.

Back to my blog. I do not want to miss recording this part of my life. I am deep in the trenches of motherhood. I have children of every stage except adult. Soooo, I am going to sit down every Sunday and write a list-blog of something about each of my kids each week. I will still get in other posts and articles when I can, but until the dreaded half marathon is joyfully behind me. Sunday is my day, to write a boring list of things my kids say, do, etc.

Happy Birthday, Anya Bunny

My little Anya has turned 5! She is my quiet little bunny. We just had a small family party with her cousin Ada's family. Anya said it was a fun party. I was glad to keep it simple, yet happy.
Anya, loves horses, so that is what she got. She got a horse book, a horse coloring book, a horse sticker book, a horse puzzle, little horses and little cats. I spent some time this morning helping Anya put her stickers in the right spot of her sticker book. Anya has a bit of a problem with "screen addiction". She always wants to be playing some sort of video game or watching a movie. We wanted to steer her away from that, so we opted for more books and crafty things to do. I think Anya is happy with them, and they should give her an alternative to games for a while.

Anya has always been independent. She likes to do things for herself like getting dressed, and all of her toileting things. She is now even bathing herself and doing a good job. She has also taught herself the alphabet and alphabet sounds by using starfall.

Anya loves to play with Baby Arwen and even changes her diaper for me. But that is the only chore Anya likes to do. Anya says that when she grows up she is NEVER going to clean. I offered to show her an episode of Hoarders, but she declined.

Other kids tend to like Anya because she is easy going and will do what they want. In some ways that makes Anya an easy prey, but in other ways it is nice to have this little gentle girl around that gets along with everyone all of the time.

I tried this great new recipe, for Anya's cake. It was a pineapple cocnut cake and was delicious! Anya enjoyed decorating it with her animals. I was just going to put horses on it, but Anya thought other animals were appropriate too. This is the first birthday cake that was not chocolate. Anya said it was better than chocolate and it was only mildly sweet so win/win with the cake!

Here is my Gentle Anya Bunny as she has grown

Jan 2008

Jan 2009

Jan 2010

Jan 2011

Jan 2012

Some Thoughts and Things

1. In Heaven kids must get everything thing they want in the correct color all of the time. My kids sure expect everything to be their favorite color and they scream if it is not. I didn't teach them this. They were born this way.
2. Rachel took a short walk to the neighbor's with John tonight. I guess the cold has made things a bit echoey outside and Rachel in her cute little kid way said, "When I say something loudly, it says it back to me."
3. A few weeks ago and at exactly 23 months, I had Joshua tested for speech. He only had about 5 words and was not combining words together at all. If he needed speech therapy, I wanted to get it started. The day, he was tested, the teachers asked him words and he said them back to them. I hadn't been able to get him to do that before. Since that time, Josh has been repeating a lot of words and he has even begun speaking in short sentences. Tonight when Ruth would not let him grab the cat, Josh hit her several times saying, "Bad Ruth, bad girl." It is hard to punish that behavior when it is done so cutely.
4. Over Christmas, we had 2 large bowls filled with candy that just sat on the counter practically untouched. I knew that my kids were feeling better the day the bowls went from overflowing to nearly empty.

Resolutions

It's that time again-- time to renew and make decisions about what needs to be changed. I like to keep it simple. If I make it too hard for me, I won't even try. This year, I have only one goal: music lessons. The 6 oldest  kids are to work on music lessons and I am to enforce this and make it happen. This has become a particular weak point for me. I gave up enforcing it over a year ago when I got pregnant with Arwen. I was just too tired.

Since Arwen's birth I have felt guilty about the lack of music in our home. I know how to read music, and I know how to play the piano some. This knowledge has been a blessing in my life, and I know I need to impart this knowledge to my children.

We do not have the money for music lessons, so I have to be the teacher. I started this past week. The kids got two days of practice in. I am going to shoot for four days a week of music practice.

Ruth is working on learning the guitar and violin. We are using the internet for guitar lessons.
Kate is back on the piano.
Johnny chose piano.
Adam is learning the Ukele. He wants to do the the guitar, but he needs something smaller than what we've got, so ukele it is. He may also try out the violin.
Rachel is doing piano. She loves it and practices really hard. I think she will be my little musician. She reminds me to teach her piano and asks me to help her practice.
Anya is starting out on piano too. She is mostly going to just work on posture and how to move her fingers up and down the piano.