SAHM

So today, I went to my kids school no less than 4 times. Once, to drop them off in the morning. I returned at 10am to pick up my daughter S, who had a fever and a tummy ache. Then I received another call at 2:45pm (kids get out at 3pm) that my 4 year old son J had had a, well, let's call it a blow out. Bad enough that the school nurse didn't want to put him on the bus. So I figured, no problem, I've got half an hour before the school buses pull up and the school is only 5 minutes away. I gather up E & S and off we go to pick up J. Until I pull out of our subdivision and realize that there's a train blocking the road, and it's stopped. No sweat. There's another street up the road that will get me there. So I speed over there. The train, which had been previously stopped, started moving right as I was ready to cross the tracks. Okay, so now it's moving, let me head back to the first street. As I pull back onto the first street, I have to rub my eyes, because now the train is moving in the opposite direction. Okaaaaayyy... Turns out there were two trains, stopped side by side, heading in opposite directions. Really? Right then? In that crucial 10 minute window I had to get to the school to pick up my poopy son? Fine. Well I got J, headed home to a bus waiting in front of the house. Whew. All was well. I got everyone in the house, bathed poopy boy, got everyone their snack, helped E to the bathroom (did I mention my 5 year old broke her arm last week? Yep. It's been a fun "helping my daughter wipe" week), got everyone their snack, and then settled down to read an article. At 3:55pm I remember, oops, my daughter N is at school for tutoring. And off I go to pick her up. So. The point of my post? It's not to bore you with mundane details of my life. It is to say: I am so, so grateful that I get to be a SAHM. And I get to be a stay at home mom with no strings attached. I know that not everyone has that luxury. My sister being one of them. I know for a fact that there is nothing she would love more than to throw her work cellphone (or two, or three) in the trash and never have to answer another call. That's not reality for her. I am grateful that when I have a sick child, I get to pick her up. When my child needs help with homework, I get to help him. When my child forgot his homework at home, I get to take it to him. And when my child gets to sing a solo in a school choir performance, I get to go. The only boss I answer to is my husband. (And sometimes my 5 year old daughter, when she wants lunch at Subway!) My life is good, and I am so, so grateful!

My challenge

I too, have been struggling with what to write. As things have happened this past week, I have thought "was that bloggable?" When I read Meredith's Valentine Day post I was touched because I too, have thanked my Father in Heaven many, many times for having such a great sister. But I have also thanked him many times for the great women in my life in general. Today, I dropped off my youngest with my mother-in-law where I know he will be hugged and kissed and loved. He will be taught good things and he will be treated well. I just received a phone call from a dear, dear friend A who was sad and it broke my heart because she has cheered me up so many times in the past. I am excited to go visiting teaching this next week, because inevitably, I come home feeling so uplifted from the women I visit. Don't get me wrong. I love a good man just as much as the next girl :-) But thank heavens Heavenly Father saw fit to surround me with such great women.

So my challenge today (for the seven people that hopefully read this blog) is find a women who has helped you become a better person and let her know how much you appreciate her. Call her, put a letter in the mail or take her some cookies. Do something to show your gratitude.

I promise, it will make you feel great.

Happy Valentines Day!

I've been tossing ideas around in my head for the past several days, for a blog post. Should I blog about the first time I met J & A, my two adopted sons? Should I blog about Thursday and Friday when school was cancelled because of a huge snowstorm (okay, keep in mind I live in Texas....not a huge snowstorm, but huge for us!) and how it threw my whole schedule off? A myriad of other thoughts filled my mind....until I read this. I think el dia del amor (day of love!) merits a trip to this blog to read the post from today. Man, sisterly love....can there be anything greater? Of course, it made me think of my own sister Meagan. The stories I could tell! Meagan and I have resolved to write a reality show someday. There are things that we have shared that no one else in this world could ever understand....not our spouses, nor our children, nor our parents, nor our brothers! I love when I'm talking to Meagan on the phone and one of us says "remember when....?" I just know I'll end up in tears....either tears from crying, or tears from laughing so hard (it's usually the latter). And so, today, on Valentines Day, I'll just say that I am so grateful that out of ALL of the females in this world, and out of ALL of the friends that I have, the ONE that Heavenly Father chose to give me as a sister...was Meagan.

Flat on my face

When I was in high school, we lived right next to a catholic school that had a great track. My friend K and I used to go over and run. One day, the school had left the hurdles up. I thought "this can't be that hard, " tried to hurdle and proceeded to fall flat on my face. I got up and thought "I almost made it," tried again and proceeded to fall flat on my face. Now I was irritated at myself. Really! It can't be that hard. But apparently it was. The third time I tried, not only did I fall flat on my face, but I also sprained my ankle.

That is how I feel today. Try, fall, get up, try again, fall, get up, try again, fall, get up.

And it's only 9 a.m.

The TV cameras couldn't capture the chaos.....

if they tried! People often joke with me that we should have our own TV show. You know, they've seen the Duggars, and Jon & Kate and I guess it just makes sense that a family with a bunch of kids should have a show. Usually, I just shrug it off and don't think much about it. But nights like tonight....(picture me, shaking my head back and forth). Let's see how well I can describe the scene. It's about 6:30pm which is our normal sit down and eat time. Several of the kids were already sitting down. I was busy in the kitchen getting kids served up. My daughter E was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, with her legs spread eagle singing, or perhaps humming, at the top of her lungs. She was completely unconscious of anyone else around her. My son J was chasing Cosmo (our new puppy) all around the house, and by chasing, picture a Cops top speed chase. J is super fast. But Cosmo is faster. It was the kind of chase that went from the living room, to the dining room, around the kitchen island, under the kitchen table, weaved through the stools at the kitchen counter, and back to the living room to start all over again. My daughter R (11) was yapping incessantly in my ear about how Obama cut NASA, and now how was she EVER going to become an astronaut! She continued with her monologue about how amazing space, and astronomy, and the solar system is. (All wonderful to hear...just the timing thing, you know?) Right about then Oliver got home from work, and seeing the J & Cosmo fiasco (now, seriously, most Dad's would holler at their sons about the chaos & not running in the house, and calming the dog down, etc....right?) he jumps right in the middle of it and starts kicking a tennis ball around for Cosmo to chase. Above the hullabaloo (is that even a word? I'm not sure.) I could make out my sons J & A arguing at the dinner table over whose 100th day of school cheerio necklace was whose. I can just bet you that there was saliva from at least 3 kids on that necklace. At that particular moment, I just stopped. Sometimes those kinds of moments send me over the edge. But tonight, I threw my head back and laughed one of the heartiest laughs that my belly has enjoyed in a long time. Tonight...I LOVED the chaos.

Right now, my kids favorite movie is Cheaper by the Dozen. They have watched it over and over and over again. They love Steve Martin's funny antics. They love the jokes by all the kids. They've taken to calling each other "FedEx" (if you've seen the movie, you'll get it....and if not, well...watch the movie!). And they all get a little serious when FedEx goes missing and the whole family pulls together to find him.

I guess, my point is, that even though I don't consider our family extraordinary, we are extraordinary in our own way. Every family is. Everyone has their own form of chaos, and their own moments that you just want to capture in your heart and hold onto for forever. I'm just grateful for my chaos. Who'd want it any other way? (okay, let's be honest....if we were rich and I could afford a cook, a housekeeper, and maybe even a live in nanny...I might want it that way!)

Good, Better, Best

I just returned from a session of Stake Conference where one of the speakers used a quote from Elder Dallan H. Oak's talk "Good, Better, Best." I love that talk. It is such a great reminder of what we need to be focusing on.

I often feel (like this week) that thing's are going pretty well. I had a great New Beginnings program with the young women this week, My husband and I have been very kind and helpful to each other, my kids seemed to be getting along well, we are planning a little family trip. Life is good. So just this afternoon, I was looking over my sons grades for the week and realized he is totally struggling with math concepts. This is a really bright child. I know this isn't that big of a deal, but it was a little reminder tonight during Stake Conference that even though things seem good, we can make them better and even aim for the best. In all my hurrying and worrying about making it to swim on time and not missing soccer practice and making sure we had the perfect potatoes for New Beginnings, I failed to focus on what is more important than any of those things.

The great thing is my son is forgiving. And my husband is great with math. He will be back on track in no time. But I need to remember to choose wisely.

On a side note - the potatoes were awesome!! So try this.

Cottage Potatoes
4 cups of mashed potatoes (boil and mash with no butter, salt, etc).
2 cups of cottage cheese
3/4 cup of sour cream.
2 Tablespoons of grated onion
1 and 1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper

mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

I am sure there are one hundred million calories in them, but I am telling you - they rock!!
(and can you imagine a little bacon mixed in)

Weekend's here!

I don't really have much to say today, but I did just find this really cool website: The Mormon Women Project

Check it out! I already nominated someone.....who would you nominate?

Out of the mouths of babe's...

Yesterday, sitting in sacrament, my 5 year old E plopped her Book of Mormon on my lap and commanded me: "READ IT!". Well, I was trying to listen to a talk and so I ignored her. So she began on her own "and it came to pass....". That caught my attention and as I looked down I realized that by chance, that particular page had at least 10 verses that started with "and it came to pass". Since E has started to read, I started to point out to her where it did actually say that. Her eyes got wide as she realized that what she had said out loud, was actually written on the page! So then, she started reciting: "and it came to pass....that I Nephi, said unto my father..." Now it was really getting fun. I flipped in the Book of Mormon to 1 Nephi 3:7 and got out my little red scripture marker and marked that verse for her in her scriptures. As I showed her the words that matched what she had said out loud, she giggled out loud with the most pure delight in the world. I think she was tickled pink at herself. And I sat back in wonder and amazement. Amazement that my 5 year old could recite a verse of scriptures. And I realized that there is power in repetition. And not just any repetition. There is power in repeating truth over and over and over again. And not just power. It is empowering to have truth become a part of you. There is beauty when you see a young child who knows what to do with a sacrament tray, because he has attended church with his parents from the time he was a baby. He observes the ritual of partaking of bread and water and imitates the behavior until he can understand for himself the significance of what he is doing. This small experience made me grateful for modern day prophets who teach us to hold family prayer, family scripture study, to attend church together on Sundays, and to hold weekly Family Home Evening. The prophets know that there is power in repetition. It empowers children when they know what to count on.