Are they really listening?

So, you know when you have little kids and you wonder if they are listening when you are trying to have serious conversations with them . . . I assume I am not the only one that wonders that.

Anyway, we were invited to our neighbors' house for dinner last night. She mentioned that she was going to have two young men to teach our boys a lesson. I didn't really know what she was talking about nor did I ask. I didn't really make the connection that it could be Family Home Evening - it was Monday night after all.

So, we go down there and there are two young men from our ward. Our boys know one really well becasue he's their FAVORITE babysitter. He's probably our favorite too; he's really great with them and doesn't leave the house a disaster. Anyway, they weren't sure who the guests were, they were asked to give some little kids lesson on baptism. They thought they were going to teach non members; guess they didn't ask any questions either. They were dressed in Sunday best and all. Kind of funny.

So, we go and eat a good dinner - ate too much bread, but man it was yummy. I love bread with real butter! After dinner, we retire to the living room for the lesson about baptism. The young men did a really good job. They talked about the Holy Ghost and each shared a time when the Holy Ghost helped them in their lives. The boys (my little ones, not the young men) were getting a little squirmy, as they do after about 2 minutes. So, we wrapped up and ended the night.

This morning Paden woke up early AGAIN - like before 6:30am - not sure what that's all about. Because it was so early, I let him break my own rule about no computer before school. So, after I got up and started to find clothes for everyone, Paden comes into my room with two little fists full of cocoa puffs. He stated that the Holy Ghost helped him with his cereal. I asked him in what way did the Holy Ghost help him. He said that the Holy Ghost helped him pick cocoa puffs (as opposed to fruity pebbles). He was totally serious and I was trying not to laugh because he was so cute! Really, he probably could not reach the fruity pebbles without climbing and the cocoa puffs are within reach. However, the Holy Ghost could have very well told Paden not to climb the pantry and just go for the cocoa puffs instead!

So, he really was listening and I am very grateful to those two young men in our ward for being so willing to go out on a limb, as they did.

New Site to Post Crafts

I like several features of Scrapbook.com. That is where I have been posting my crafty stuff. The last several times that I have posted cards on it, it's been slow. Today was so slow that I pretty much lost patience (which doesn't really take long, since I don't have an over abundance). I tried to upload two cards and it wouldn't even get through them before it froze. So, I am giving up on that site. I debated whether to start a second blog to put them one. After contemplating, oh for about 2 minutes, I decided to put them on Shutterfly. They can be in albums by type and the uploading is pretty dang quick. Not that many people really look at my crafy creations, but I do like to have them out there in case anyone wants to. Scrapbook.com gets A LOT of traffic, but too much I think now. I will have to spend some more time scanning some more of the boys' scrapbook layouts. I haven't kept up with that part of it! So, if anyone is interested in seeing what I've done, the new link is at the top of my blog. Happy Crafting!

Check this out!

Found this at Costco. While I am hemming and hawing over whether or not to buy it, my husband throws it in the cart. Such a sweetheart! I don't really need 300 sheets of double-sided, designer cardstock. However, the price was outstanding for what you gets. $29.99. Yep, you do the math - just for the paper, that's an outstanding deal. But then count in the carrying case. It's fabulous!

Happy Day

We don't always have to bribe our kids, but sometimes "rewards" work well. At the start of the new quarter, we were trying to think of a way to motivate Gunnar to get his reading done. He reads just fine, he just gets distracted when it comes to taking the tests for the books. We told him that if he was the first one to reach his goal for the quarter, he could get a reward. We talked about what he would want. So, we kind of put a dollar value on the reward. $15 for making it 1st, $10 for making it 2nd, and $5 for making it 3rd. Well, he was a little discouraged because there is one boy in his class that was ahead of him when we made this little deal. That boy also had a higher goal, so we told Gunnar he could still do it. Well, he did make it third. He was tied with a couple other of kids who finished today too, but that works for me! So, Saturday, we'll be off to my most despised store to get his reward - he thinks he wants a new Ben 10 toy.

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Paden had a great day today, too. Until today, he had been crying and crying every time he has to go to the babysitter. He had even most recently started screaming bloody murder when I left him there. It was really hard. I felt bad for the babysitter. Sometimes when I dropped him there it was nap time and of course, he would wake up sleeping babies. He's one of the older kids there, so that doesn't always work for him. Sometimes, he can run in our friend Myles, but not everyday. Anyway, so this morning kind of started, well last night even, started like most others. Paden was crying about having to go to the babysitter's house. I pretty much just ignore him, I usually just say that we aren't discussing it now. So, we get dressed and he stopped thinking about the babysitter's house. I got them to school went to work. When I went back to pick up Paden I always expect the worst. Yesterday when I picked him up, the preschool teacher had said that he had a rough day emotionally. He was kind of sobbing when I picked him up because he didn't want to go to the babysitter. So, today, I expected the same. Amazingly, he was not at all near tears. We went home to have lunch. He had about 5 minutes of computer play time before his chicken nuggets were ready. He and I ate lunch. When he was done, he started to get down and said, "let's go." I asked him where he was going and he said, "Sarah's, remember?" So, I took my last couple of bites and picked up the mess and we got on our way. I was really surprized and did not want to ask any questions that might make him change his mind. He was great on the way over there - told me to go straight to get there faster. Strange, I thought, but I rolled with it. When I opened his door to get him out, he kind of had a little sob, no tears, but started to get red. He was so cute, he said, "I am just going to wave and be sad." I said that it was ok. He walked right in, no crying, no fussing. He was GREAT. I asked him if he was going to give me a kiss before I left. He gave me three because he "missed my lips" the first two times. Silly boy. So, I left. That was such a marvelous day compared to EVERY other time I have dropped him off. I SOOOOOO hope that it's the dawn of a new attitude and behavior for him when it comes to going to the sitter. He's got to get used to it. From mid-march to end of May, he'll be going there every day. An occassional play date may get him out of it here and there. I just really hope he keeps it up. For his reward, he has to make it the rest of this week, then he can pick out something on Saturday too. Last time we "rewarded" him after a half-decent day, he freaked out the next day, so this time he's got to go a couple of more days.

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After a pretty good day for both of those two, I am pretty tired. Amazed that my eyes are still open, I will be ending for tonight. I was almost asleep about 7:30pm, but was engrossed in Clean House. Have you seen that show? Gunnar likes to watch it with me. It's a good show. Luckily, the episode that is now on is a re-run, so I can hit the hay.

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Blogger is being dumb today and does not seem to like putting spaces in between my very lengthy paragraphs! But, HA, I will show it - squiggly lines!!! Take that, Blogger!

Another Year Down - A New One Begins

I am happy to report that the dilemma of whether to put four or five candles on Paden's birthday cake was resolved about a week ago. We thought that the story of how Paden was skipping four and was going to turn five was so funny that we had him tell everyone himself. Well, about a week ago, I asked him and he said that he was going to be four. I asked him why he said that when for the last 6 months he's been "skipping four". He said that Gunnar told him that he didn't skip four, so he was not going to either. He changed his mind. So, four it is!

Paden wanted to have his birthday party at Grandpa Livingston's house, which worked out pretty well for us. About a month ago, he wanted to have his party at Garth & Deborah's house in Salt Lake City, so I am glad he changed his mind on that one too!

Aunt Ann has some pictures of all the cousins, but I was a little too lazy or something to get up and get my camera. So, I only have pictures of the birthday boy. We add a good time with all the family here.

Paden got to open his present from Grandma & Grandpa first thing in the morning, he was pretty excited to get a new Ben 10 watch, even though he already has one just like it. Loco!

PS - I uploaded some photos from the fall onto Shutterfly - from the "fossil trip."

Sweet Luxury

When was the last time you purchased new sheets? It's is one of the most wonderful joys, I have found recently. We bought a new mattress set several years ago, but we didn't buy new sheets at the time. The new mattress has the pillow top thing and our old sheets weren't made for those fat mattresses. So, for the last several years, we've been fighting the old sheets staying on the bed night after night. We've tried the elastic deals that keep your sheets on. They kind of work. Kind of.

Why would it take so long to buy new new sheets? Well, price for one. Somehow I can't seem to fathom the cost of sheets. So, we went to Kohl's yesterday before we went to the hockey game. That is a great store!!! Their normal prices are pretty good, but wow they have some fantastic sales. I don't really know much about sheets and thread count, but these are 400 thread count and we got them for $17.99!!!! Under $20!! The original price says $119.99. Crazy. The BEST PART is they have EXTRA DEEP pockets and they stay ON THE BED!!! YEAH!!! It's one of the most exciting things!

Now I just need a new bed skirt, since we kind of changed color schemes - which we were going to do anyway.

Simple pleasure. Sweet luxury.

What to blog about . . .

I have had the urge to blog, but haven't been inspired on any topic worthy to take the time to record. So, I guess I will just start throwing out the thoughts in my head in an attempt to move on to something more productive. * I have tried about 5 times to put in spacing after paragraphs and blogger just isn't cooperating! Sorry for the scruched up reading. *

As I sit and listen to the President talk about his stimulus plan or whatever he is calling it, I am thinking that at this time I am not enjoying my job. I am not enjoying it for the mere fact that we will see some people in our plant having to deal with reduced hours. I've had a couple of people (three today actually) ask if we could try to distribute the reduced hours around evenly rather than use seniority to determine who gets reduced. It's a good thought and I will have to consider it. People are trying to look out for one another, yet some are looking out for themselves. The next several weeks are going to be a challenge for us at work. I am sure I have only started to hear about people's concerns. Not the fun part of my job. There's a pretty long story that could go along with that, but I'll just leave it at that. I should say that the place is not in any financial danger, just need to make sure we stay at or below budget - don't need to spend more than we are making.

The Sunday before last, we had a really good lesson in Relief Society about adversity. The resource was an article from the January Ensign entitled, "Putting My Hand in the Lord's". It is quite the amazing article. I took many notes on that day and was really inspired to evaluate my own life and how much or how little I trust the Lord to take care of me. How much faith do I really have? How difficult is it to have faith when things aren't going as expected? A couple of notes in no particular order:

• Don't ask WHY. Ask HOW can I get through this tough time? Answer: with the help of the Lord, of course. It is counterproductive to have a "why-me" attitude.
• Having Faith is NOT about having all the answers.
• Both of those two first bullet points are very difficult for me because I have to know why and I need to have answers. That's just how I've always been. Usually, I think of it in a different context. For example, if you want me to buy into something, support something, etc. I need to know the WHY behind it. I don't need to agree, just understand. My husband would say it's because I have to be right all the time. Again, I think of it in a different context! :)
• It would be great to decide NOW how I will react to "the big one" - whatever big news (usually of not-so-good nature) may come to my life, it would be good to have the reaction all settled now. Does that make sense? It's kind of like how we teach the youth to decide NOW what their answer will be to peer pressure (drinking, drugs, modesty, etc.). If you decide when you are a child that you aren't going to participate in inappropriate activities, when you are faced by someone asking you years later, you already know the answer.
• Turning to the Lord immediately when there is a problem is a best practice. Why wait?
• Live worthy to receive assistance. That doesn't seem to be too difficult, but I am usually in a strange place where I feel like I am not breaking any major rules, but I am not doing everything I have been asked to do, nor is my attitude always Christ-like.
• Attitude affects adversity. I am usually one who tries to see the positive light. I hope it's working for me! I did have a guy (hourly worker at the plant, one who was talking about reduced hours) tell me today that from the first time he talked to me, he knew that I believed in the word of God. That made me feel good. I am usually pretty reserved about religion at work just because of my position, but I do always try to do what is right for employees and balance that with the needs of the Company. I guess there's some people that recognize that.
• Adversity is only bad if we don't learn from it. Wow. I think that is true. Sure is tough to make it through something before we learn - kind of a catch 22 there! Do you see it?
• A couple of scriptures that I found very comforting: Doctrine & Covenants 78:17-19. That basically says that the Lord knows that we can't bear everything at once, but be of good cheer because He will help us along. He knows what we can handle and wouldn't expect us to deal with something more than He knows we can. Also: D&C 6:20 - the second part of that verse says, "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love."

So, moving on from Adversity - kind of . . . one day last week, Gunnar was reading his book for school to me and one of the characters in the book had "brown" skin. He said to me that he didn't like people with brown skin. I was so shocked and really caught off guard. There's plenty of people around here with "brown" skin. In fact, Gunnar is one of about 4 or 5 kids that doesn't have "brown" skin in his class. So, we discussed and I think I don't need to be too worried about his comment, but I think that a follow up discussion might not be a bad idea since this is obviously still on my mind. Another incident occured today with Gunnar. I got an email about Gunnar and his friend were bothering a girl on the playground. Turned out to be not a huge deal or problem, which is great. Both of those things made me think about how much I like toddlers! I know why people say "enjoy them while they are little!" The difficulty of raising kids sure comes quicker than I expected.

So, speaking of kids, I should feed the ones I have and get some homework going for Gunnar. Paden has been munching on graham cracker for the last hour. He just "stole" a chocolate snack pack from Neil's night stand and with pudding on his chin asks Neil if he could please have it. Nice!