Adam TidBits

Adam went to a late, 10:25, movie with John and the older kids last Saturday. He fell very thoroughly asleep halfway through the movie. try as he might, John could not wake Adam up. The next day, Adam informed me that the movie was dumb because they only stayed for part of it.

I noticed that we were going through chocolate chips about twice as fast as we normally do this past month. At one point, I announced, "We ran out of chocolate chips too fast! Some one has been snitching, and not just one or two at a time. Some one has been eating chocolate chips by the handful!" Just then, Adam burst into loud laughter.(I can never punish this kid)

This happened a few months back. I am finally remembering to write it down.  It is just one of those little kid things I want to remember always:

Adam, Johnny, and Kate were arguing and wrestling while we were driving in our tight little minivan. 

I exclaimed, "I swear, you guys are going to be in huge trouble!" 

Adam gasped and said, "Mom you are not supposed to swear!" 

Then he said, "I can't believe my mom swears!"  

Later he told his kindergarten teacher that I swear. We tried to tell him otherwise but since I said, "I swear," well that was that. I think it is just hilarious. I don't even mind that he told his teacher that I swear. The whole thing was just too funny.

General Conference

This is not all of the loot. We have ordered our favorite chocolate donuts from Target that will be here later and we will be making cookies and rice crispy treats. We also have the rarely bought Simply Orange and a gallon of yummy chocolate milk (some things just had to be hid from greedy fingers immediately :D)Semi-annual General Conference has become our semi-annual junk food fest. We joke that we celebrate General Conference in the same way most families celebrate the super bowl.

In our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we have a conference twice a year for everyone in the church in the whole world. Our Prophet and President of the church, Thomas S. Monson, speaks to us along with his 2 counselors and the twelve apostles. I believe these men are apostles in the very same sense that Peter, James, and John were in the New Testament. What they say to us is what Jesus Christ himself would say to us if He were here. We have 4 general sessions and then a Priesthood session for the men of the church. I am excited for these next two days to hear the words of the prophets. My kids have learned to be excited for this too. General Conference has become a wonderful family tradition!

On Monday, we will download all of the talks onto our computer, and begin listening to the talks over and over again for the next 6 months. We will have lesson with our children on many of the talks. We will talk about what we need to change  to make sure we are following the Prophet. Then we will do our best to change in the way that we need to. I love listening to conference while I clean the house. It is so lovely to hear the words of the Prophet and the apostles intermingled in with the sounds of my children playing happily. General Conference makes us a happier better family. Having prophets and Apostles is definitely a reason to celebrate!

Rachel's Song

Rachel was just riding around on John's shoulders singing, "I have a dad with a head like a light bulb and ears like lollipops..."

Joseph

Joseph is at a really fun age right now. He is not so much of a terror anymore. He still gets into things. He still pulls the books off from the shelf, and he still occasionally finds his way into the toilet. But the good is now out weighing the bad. Joseph is a little joker. He loves to laugh, and laugh , and laugh. I will fake laugh and that will sending him rolling on the floor laughing and laughing. Oh, what a cutie!

Joseph always says, "thank", when you give him something that he wants. He also says sorry when I get after him for making a mess. That just melts my heart. How can I be mad at him then?

Joseph loves books. I think that is why he dumps them off the shelf 5 times a day. He will sit and just look at books for an hour. He also will bring me books on a regular basis. He somewhat knows the title to most of his books. He will hand me The Itsy Bitsy Spider and say, "I want the spider." He will hand me, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and say, "I want the cookie mouse," and so on.

Joseph is playing with his siblings a lot more now. Anya and Joseph will wrestle on Anya's bed and then play on the rocking horse in Anya's room together. This makes me a little nervous, well because I am always nervous when I can't see those two. But I am so glad that they are playing and having fun together.

Joseph is now in the "no stage". He says no to everything!! All of my kids have at some point. We usually like to tease the current "no child" by asking them to say things. Usually the kid in question just says no or uhuh. Joseph is a little different. If you say, "Joey, say cat." Joseph will say, "no, cat!" He is just so cute and fun right now. I am glad that I get a fun little boy between the get into everything and temper tantrum stages. It is a nice reprieve.

SMILES!!!!!!!!!!

I love this kid!!!!! He is such a joy!!!

Why It is Important to Know and to Act

In the October 2010 conference Boyd K. Packer said, "If we do not protect and foster the family, civilization and our liberties must needs perish." There are a lot of well funded anti-family groups that are trying to institute their agenda which is to  destroy marriage, undermine parental rights and religion, and subvert the judicial system. These same groups have also advocated profligate spending and enormous debt. While pro-family groups have had a lot of victories in a lot of states and it seems like the majority of Americans still support a moral society, the presidential election of 2008 introduced the most anti-family, pro-abortion, anti-marriage political movement in American history.  One of the most stunning anti-family advances from the current presidential administration is the announcement to no longer support the law signed in by President Clinton in 1996 that defines marriage between a man and a woman known as DOMA. In our system, the appropriate way to make changes to a law one does not agree with is to propose a bill that would repeal it. Instead our President is ignoring our constitution by simply choosing to ignore the law. When our elected officials are allowed by all checks and balances to simply ignore a law, we can be sure that better days are behind us. If we support virtue, our constitution, and a lawful, free society we must act. We must be alert of the bills that are in Congress. We must know what our local judges are doing and we must spread the word. The power to vote is the main power we have to "protect and foster the family" in our nation, states, and neighborhoods. Once we know what is going on we can send emails and make phone calls to our legislatures and we can vote out judges. We can also donate money to groups who are working to protect the family. It is important to know and it is time to act or like President Packer warns, "civilization and our liberties must needs perish."