In my dream world, when my children to ask to play in the snow, I would have a mudroom as big as my kitchen with a locker for each child will all their snow "paraphenalia" where it's supposed to be. It would take all of about 3 minutes to dress every child, only after they have each gone to the bathroom, twice. Then they would prace out into the beauty of the winter wonderland and frolick and play and enjoy hour after hour of laughter filled bonding moments with their siblings. (ok, so what I really mean is get dress quick and stay outside!)
The reality is. It took us at least 2o minutes to find the other mitten. 10 minutes to get dressed, per child. 3 minutes before Anna was crying with "snow in her boots", 5 minutes before Kate was pounding on the door screaming "I need to go potty!" and then refusing to let me just pull down her pants and help her. No she had to completely undress to do her business only to redress in all her wet clothing. It is now 2 minutes later and Anna is already inside with the threat that if she really is coming inside she is staying inside. Ethan and Kate are still outside for what I bet will be about 10 more minutes... if I'm lucky.
The good news is I have cinnamon rolls in the oven and hot cocoa on standby. So all in all it isn't too bad, especially if the cinnamon rolls can count for dinner, because in that regard, I got nothin'
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A Moment of Light
Today as I was sitting in church I had what I am going to call "A moment of light". It's where I very suddenly have a feeling that all is right in the world. Like I'm in the right place at the right time, and I feel completely content. I admit that moments like these do not happen often. Not to say I'm not happy and content, but from time to time I just have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude of where I am in my life right now and the experiences I'm having.
This moment happened today as I was listening to a woman in our ward who has a beautiful voice sing "Amazing Grace". I have honestly never heard more than just the first phrase of that song, and certainly never in a "Mormon church". Right before the song a woman spoke who is a recent convert to our church. She told of how she was raised a Roman Catholic and loved God and prayed for 9 years that she could be a nun. She would awaken early every single morning and go to church to take "the sacrament" all the while praying that she would be called to serve in God's church as a nun. Fast forward many years later and she is married and has a small son who is sick. A member of our church found her on her porch crying and gave her some words of comfort and a book of Mormon. This woman who's name is Linda began to read the Book of Mormon. When her husband found out he wasn't happy and so she stopped. Many years later her son is now older and begins to investigate our church. She said, "as any good mother would", she wanted to know what it was he was learning about. It was then that she also began taking the discussions. Linda was again given a Book of Mormon and after a short time asked to pray to see whether the book was true. She was still angry and upset with God that her prayer to become a nun had never come about even after many years of devoted prayer and worship. Because of this she was very hesitant to pray again for an answer when she had not received an answer she so desperately wanted years earlier. Linda finally did pray and felt an almost immediate and overwhelming response that The Book of Mormon was in fact true. She also very distinctly felt that all those years earlier she should have been asking what the Lord's will for her was, instead of telling him what she wanted to happen. Her son was first to be baptized, and then she also recently joined the church. This is one thing that I love about living here. I love hearing from people who are in the infancy of their church membership. I also love hearing people, rich and poor, bear strong testimonies of the gospel.
It was after hearing this woman bear her testimony and then hearing the beautiful musical number that I suddenly felt overwhelmingly grateful to be right where I was to experience two things that I never would have, had I not been sitting in church in New Jersey today.
Living here is a challenge, it's not convenient, people are not always "warm", everyone is always in a rush, there are too many people and it's difficult to navigate, it's very, very expensive, and everything is old. But for right now, I couldn't be happier or feel more right about where I am right now, today.
This moment happened today as I was listening to a woman in our ward who has a beautiful voice sing "Amazing Grace". I have honestly never heard more than just the first phrase of that song, and certainly never in a "Mormon church". Right before the song a woman spoke who is a recent convert to our church. She told of how she was raised a Roman Catholic and loved God and prayed for 9 years that she could be a nun. She would awaken early every single morning and go to church to take "the sacrament" all the while praying that she would be called to serve in God's church as a nun. Fast forward many years later and she is married and has a small son who is sick. A member of our church found her on her porch crying and gave her some words of comfort and a book of Mormon. This woman who's name is Linda began to read the Book of Mormon. When her husband found out he wasn't happy and so she stopped. Many years later her son is now older and begins to investigate our church. She said, "as any good mother would", she wanted to know what it was he was learning about. It was then that she also began taking the discussions. Linda was again given a Book of Mormon and after a short time asked to pray to see whether the book was true. She was still angry and upset with God that her prayer to become a nun had never come about even after many years of devoted prayer and worship. Because of this she was very hesitant to pray again for an answer when she had not received an answer she so desperately wanted years earlier. Linda finally did pray and felt an almost immediate and overwhelming response that The Book of Mormon was in fact true. She also very distinctly felt that all those years earlier she should have been asking what the Lord's will for her was, instead of telling him what she wanted to happen. Her son was first to be baptized, and then she also recently joined the church. This is one thing that I love about living here. I love hearing from people who are in the infancy of their church membership. I also love hearing people, rich and poor, bear strong testimonies of the gospel.
It was after hearing this woman bear her testimony and then hearing the beautiful musical number that I suddenly felt overwhelmingly grateful to be right where I was to experience two things that I never would have, had I not been sitting in church in New Jersey today.
Living here is a challenge, it's not convenient, people are not always "warm", everyone is always in a rush, there are too many people and it's difficult to navigate, it's very, very expensive, and everything is old. But for right now, I couldn't be happier or feel more right about where I am right now, today.
Friday, January 21, 2011
A Momentus 9 Months!
9 months ago a darling wee babe
I'm sure glad it was 9 months ago that I looked like that! I'm huge!
And now just one of the big kids!
She had just sneezed and had this funny look, I though it was hilarious.
This was tonight eating her first little bits of pizza. It's about time isn't it. Kate was teaching her how to eat it like New Yorker :)Today our baby is 9 months old! How did that happen! How is that 9 months of pregnancy drags on and on and once that baby pops out times screams by. Our sweetie pie is still just that, so very sweet.
Some things about our Jane at 9 months:
- She is sleeping through the night :) (hurray, can I get a standing ovation?)
- She is rolling all over but not crawling, which I'm actually thrilled about. With 45 stairs in our house I'm a tad worried about her crawling and falling :(
-She wakes up a happy girl and if she wakes up a tad too early, I lay in my bed with her on my tummy and scratch her back and she is in heaven, and so am I for that matter.
-She hates baby food. Will not eat it. She's smart and knows it's gross so now we just feed her bits of what we are eating. So far she likes, cheese a lot, yogurt, applesauce, bread, cheerios, black olives, bananas, blueberries, peaches, broccoli, Cauliflower, green beans, see all the stuff that comes in a baby food jar but won't touch it unless it's cut up and on her tray to eat on her own.
- She's very smiley
-likes to jabber
- has 7 teeth and has had all 7 for over a month now
-she is very ticklish and loves to be teased and tickled
-starting to raise her arms up to pick her up
-can clap her hands
-wave bye
-is super patient, especially about being in the car since she spends too much of her life in her car seat picking up or dropping off kids.
-she is finally on a good napping schedule, can I get another hurray!
-Whenever she sneezes it totally cracks her up
I wish time would slow down even a little bit, but one thing I love about her being the 4th child is that I feel like I finally know what things are important and what things just don't matter. I hold and snuggle her when I can because I know it won't be long and she won't let me hold and squeeze her to pieces.
Miss Smartie Pants
Kate is a sweetheart to be sure, but she also is a little pill from time to time. Today for instance being "fun Friday" I told her we would make cookies together once the other kids were off to school. From past experience I know that she will snitch some dough, then more, and more every time I look away. Because of this I made her some lunch first. I asked her to eat it and a minute later with just one bite taken, I found it in the garbage. It was a brand new garbage bag with nothing but her lunch in it so I took her lunch out and told her she needed to eat it if we were going to bake. I left her at the table to finish while I put Jane to bed.
When I came back she happily told me she ate all her lunch! I'm not that stupid, so I went to the garbage to see if it was there. Not only was it not there, neither was the garbage sack. She had thrown her lunch in the garbage bag, closed it up and put in on the back porch. What a Stinker!
She probably won this battle because then I just gave her something else to eat and then of course we made our cookies, and of course she begged and pleaded for a "tiny" bite again and again and again, and of course she's just so darn cute, what am I to do but give it to her!?
When I came back she happily told me she ate all her lunch! I'm not that stupid, so I went to the garbage to see if it was there. Not only was it not there, neither was the garbage sack. She had thrown her lunch in the garbage bag, closed it up and put in on the back porch. What a Stinker!
She probably won this battle because then I just gave her something else to eat and then of course we made our cookies, and of course she begged and pleaded for a "tiny" bite again and again and again, and of course she's just so darn cute, what am I to do but give it to her!?
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Beach Boys
Yes it's cold and maybe a tad dreary in a January sort of way. But, if you just put on a little Beach Boys CD and turn it up loud you'll start feeling pretty darn good, pretty darn fast. That's what we've been doing around here. Especially when I take Ethan to school early in the morning. Upbeat music makes a good start for the day. When we were on our way to school yesterday while listening to the Beach Boys Ethan said "Mom, I really like old fashioned music!" The other things that are helping me not feel the winter blah's this year is making a list of all the fun things I want to do this Spring and Summer.
And when we start feeling like we don't really love this place I just try to remember all the things that we totally LOVED about it when we first got here. Like walking downtown in 3 minutes time for a slice of pie (that's pizza here) or a goodie from the bakery, or just for a little window shopping. And we can walk a few minutes to the park where the kids make a million friends within minutes and play all sort of games like cops and robbers. Or the fact that we can jump on the train on a Saturday when kids ride free and see the sites of NYC! I have to admit I am just dying to get myself over to central park. I've actually never been there, and can only imagine how beautiful New York will be in the Spring.
In the past I have sometimes suffered from what I refer to as "whenititis" where you think "when ____ happens I'll be happy" like when I lose weight, make more money, live in a bigger house etc. I haven't been living like that for awhile now by accepting what is and it's great. So it's January and it's cold, just think, in no time flat we'll all be eating chocolate for Valentines day and green pancakes for St. Patty's day, and all of the sudden it will be Spring!
And when we start feeling like we don't really love this place I just try to remember all the things that we totally LOVED about it when we first got here. Like walking downtown in 3 minutes time for a slice of pie (that's pizza here) or a goodie from the bakery, or just for a little window shopping. And we can walk a few minutes to the park where the kids make a million friends within minutes and play all sort of games like cops and robbers. Or the fact that we can jump on the train on a Saturday when kids ride free and see the sites of NYC! I have to admit I am just dying to get myself over to central park. I've actually never been there, and can only imagine how beautiful New York will be in the Spring.
In the past I have sometimes suffered from what I refer to as "whenititis" where you think "when ____ happens I'll be happy" like when I lose weight, make more money, live in a bigger house etc. I haven't been living like that for awhile now by accepting what is and it's great. So it's January and it's cold, just think, in no time flat we'll all be eating chocolate for Valentines day and green pancakes for St. Patty's day, and all of the sudden it will be Spring!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
A great start
Today to get started off on the right foot, we have been doing a little organizing. First we took all of the new and remaining DVD's out of their jackets and put them all together in a big DVD book. We also took all of our CD's that we never listen to and uploaded just the 1 or 2 songs we like from each CD to Itunes. Then we totally went through the basement and organized all of our storage stuff down there. So much better! It feels great to have some things that have been on the "to do" list forever to finally be crossed off. Now if we could just manage to get a little nap in I would call the day a complete success!
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