Treehouse museum

This weekend ended up being a 4 day weekend for Jer because he was called in to work 6 hours on Sunday and Monday is Martin Luther King day.... so he got Friday through Monday off.  Friday we cleaned the house, Saturday we were going to go to the Hill Air Force Museum... we ended up going to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden instead.  It was cheaper than the Discovery Museum, and while it was smaller... it was still super fun. Ada, Evelyn and Emma put on plays.  Sam and Dad played chess on a giant chess board.  Jer played "chase" with the kids.  And the kids make first rate diner owners.  On our way home, we got to go to visit John and Diane's family... they've had two birthdays in the last little bit.  Anya's 7!  And Josh turned 4!  Kids grown up.

 

Yeah, the dragon ate everyone... nice.

Sam was trash talking Jer.  So funny to hear that coming from his mouth when he's only beginning to play.  Sam and Ada play checkers together... so Sam thinks he can beat Jer at chess.  Nice.

Ada was chosen to be the evil queen in their Snow White play.

Lance was chosen as one of the bandits.

Evelyn kept telling Janelle where to put her pieces on her turn.

I put him in here with all the babies and he just looked at me like, "Okay mom, what now?"

Railroading

Jer and his dad really like model railroads.  They're putting together a really neat train layout in Jim and Judy's basement.  So, we went to the Thanksgiving Point train show.  It's mostly for people that want to buy trains at a discount... but the layouts are fun.  This year there was a Hogwarts, Lego layout, old town, country with sheep herders, etc....

 

Love

Joy

I love Facebook.  Yes I spend too much time on it, but I have also come to see big advantages to it as well.  Ecuador does not have a reliable mail service.  But many of my mission people have joined Facebook and we've tried to keep as close as we can several countries and 12 years away.  Just the other day, my friend request was accepted by the sweet little boy in white in this picture.  His name is Kelvin and he turned 9 just a few days after him and his mom were baptized.  While in Santa Elena, his mom was one of my closest friends.  We saw them daily.  Even when we didn't have an appointment to teach Carmen or Kelvin, we were there to teach Mayi... their sister in law... or pick up Willy, the Ward mission leader. (Also Carmen's brother).While her husband never has been baptized, her other three boys have as they've gotten older.  Kelvin has had a little extra time on his hands this week.  He just got back from serving his two year mission to Peru for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He said that he's also helping his younger brother prepare to be a missionary starting next year. 

I cannot tell you the joy I've felt all day.  There is happy and there is pure joy.  I haven't felt this pure joy since I found out that I was pregnant for the first time and that I would indeed get to be a mom.  As we messaged back and forth on Facebook, I had several thoughts.  One was that this power house family is the reason that these two converts have stayed strong in the church.  Another was from D&C 18....

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, ho great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

I had never wanted to be a missionary.  Especially not a proselyting one... and I would do it all again... bear the rejection, learn the language, watch people that you taught fall away... even if it meant that just one would stay.  And that just one is never just one.  This 9 year old child just served a mission. Did he bear testimony to another 9 year old child?  Are that 9 year old child's 3 younger brothers going to be missionaries because of his example?  Will he have children that grow strong in the testimony of their Savior?  I didn't know 12 years ago what would happen.  I thought I knew what it was to be happy.  But, I would be a proselyting missionary all over again for just that one.  And I will work every day of my life to feel this pure joy at the day that our Savior comes again.

Evelyn

She's been asking for a year to dance like Ada... Luckily the rec center has dance classes for $30 a month... She loved it and smiled the entire time. She called it her big girl class.

The difference between girls and boys

So while listening to Ada's math story problems, Evelyn came out with this gem....

"Sam likes bananas... "
"No he doesn't! He's a boy!  Girls are Evelyns and have long hair and like bananas! "

I love babies

I have three toys hanging on baby's bouncer.  He wants to a play with the tag instead.

What a night

Running on 3 hours of sleep, I'll probably take a nap later, but I wanted to put down my thoughts from yesterday.  Evelyn started Sunbeams.  That is a hard transition for those not wanting to make it.  Ada and Sam were both excited to do it... They mostly loved Primary from the get go.  Evelyn is extreme opposite.  She would not go on her own, she insisted that the singing teacher is her Sunbeam teacher... not the two Sunbeam teachers, and yelled that she wanted to get out of there for most of sharing time. Jer and I switched taking her in to sit for a while, and even tried taking her to Sunday School with us.  What ended up working was me sitting in class with her and her blanket on my lap and playing a game on my phone. I NEVER let my kids play with my phone at church, I think it sends the wrong message.  After the first game, I told her to put it away and asked if she wanted to color with everyone.  She was fine with that.  She participated just like she usually does, but I couldn't leave without a melt down.  She's been forewarned that I'm not coming next week. 

As Primary teachers go, I'm sure that I started where her teachers did... hardest day of the hardest class transition for two young sisters that don't have toddlers at home that they regularly deal with. Shell shocked, uncertain, and unfamiliar with the students and their families. Even knowing this, I was still disappointed with the teachers though.  The teacher that was "in charge" hadn't even bothered to read the lesson, declared that the kids wouldn't understand it anyways and proceeded to let them just color and ignore any questions that she asked them instead of trying to get to know them.  I eventually interceded and I'm not sure that she'll thank me for it.  I read through the lesson and it was simple enough.  I am a Child of God.  We are spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father, and just like puppies become dogs and kitties don't become ducks.... we are destined to be Heavenly Fathers and Mothers just like our own.  I told the teacher afterwards that they do understand, they just get easily distracted.  Part of the lesson was pantomiming something that they can do when they grow up.  Most of the  kids did rocking a baby or sweeping the floor because that's what they see their adults do.  The teacher (I'm sure she was joking) said, "What about an accountant?" I was mad.  She expects three year olds to understand what an accountant is and does but doesn't expect them to understand their fundamental nature that their parents and Nursery leaders have been teaching them their whole lives? She's a nice lady, but I don't think that she fully understands the true nature of an individual.  And it's honestly something that I didn't truly understand until I was a mom... even if I did teach it over and over again as a missionary and as a Primary teacher.  We were born to be gods, gods have children as an eternal increase... we were born to be parents, parents have children to learn and grow... then they learn and grow as their children have children and they become the grandparents.... it's an eternal increase.

Even on days that our 3 year old threw up that night and couldn't sleep, our 7 year old peed her bed again, our 5 month old woke up at 6:30 and our kids had to get up at 7 to get ready for school...When I can't go back to sleep because the baby is ready for the day and I have the weekend's laundry and dishes to do, as well as all the bedding in the world to wash... I still have that knowledge that to become what I was born to be, I need to be what I am right now.  A mommy with absolutely no plans to shower in the immediate future.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are people out there who are struggling with becoming parents.  Believe me, I've been on the other end wondering if I was broken and knowing that God wanted us to have children but unsure if we would.  He has a plan for all that.  But it's Satan's big lie.  If he can sabotage a marriage, a family, an eternal increase... he's sabotaged your highest salvation.  If he can keep you from dating, from staying married, from choosing children whether you're able to or not... then you are the one that loses out.  When I die, I will not be known as accountant... I'll be known as mother, grandmother and wife eternally.

Furnace

So, we've had to fix our furnace twice in the last month and a half... Once right before Thanksgiving... once, the day after Christmas... (we got home really late from visiting Grandparents, and it was freezing in the house... we turned on our space heaters and the kids had a sleep over in the warm rooms.)  Then on New Year's Eve it died again.  Nice timing.  We decided to just replace it this time... our neighbor was able to give us a good deal and hopefully we'll last for a while.  We got a Bryant 95% efficiency one installed for $2,600.   Which is a great deal.  We were tempted though.... he was offering a digital thermostat with a 98% efficiency one installed and with rebates for about $4,500.  While that would be a fun toy, it wouldn't really add to the value of the house... so we were good.

Here are some random pictures that I don't know if I've posted up til now...

Christmas Family Party

This Christmas was Christmas Eve with Jer's family, Christmas morning with our own and Christmas afternoon with mine.  It was all so fun!  No one was sick during Christmas this time, the kids had a blast no matter what we did and I just loved chatting with everyone. 

With the Robertson's, we did a sing-along, played games, watched It's a Wonderful Life (which Sam thought he was going to die watching), let the kids play video games, read Christmas stories, made chocolate and just plain played with cousins.  (pictures posted in the last hanging out with cousins post.)

With the Wilcox's we built Legos, made Costa Vida pork, did the Nativity, watched the church's new Bible videos, did a sing-along, and played my mom's famous Christmas game.  This time we had a marshmallow gun contest, a puzzle race, a cup race (which two people finished at the same time and accidentally knocked everyone's over and the kids had a red cup fight), putting the words of a Christmas song in order, and we were going to play golf with straws but we ran out of time.  Always a fun game. 

Legos are the only great week after Thanksgiving sale item... (paid $35 for Jer's X-wing... $25 for Ada's tree house, $40 for Sam's... not a great deal, $20 for Evelyn's)

Grandpa got "tools" from Seth for Christmas... so he "built" things with Evelyn.  She had a blast figuring out  how the tools worked.



With our own family, Christmas morning... everyone one got Legos... they were so excited that it's what they wanted to do all day.  Even Seth was excited about Christmas.  He loved crinkling the paper, playing with new things, and eventually just bawled because he'd played so enthusiastically all morning.  Ada was thrilled with her new scooter and Sam played with his legos and ignored his stocking, Evelyn wanted to see what everyone got and was happy with everything she got.  I spent more than I'd intended to on people, but they enjoyed it... At least I didn't go above our $500 limit.  I was worried I'd be tempted to. I made gifts for each of the kids, but didn't finish Evelyn's yet, so I decided to give them their homemade gifts on their birthdays instead and gave everyone legos now.  They seemed to like it.

The Nativity

I love that our Nativity is us.  Ponchos and dress up left overs.  Evelyn was a sheep because she refused to be anything else.  Lance didn't want to be an angel because, "Angels are girls." Emma wanted to be Mary because she'd get to hold baby Seth... which I think she likes doing more than she admits. Sam didn't want to be Joseph because being in the Nativity took time away from working on his Lego set... I told him he still needed to be part of it, so he opted to be with Lance... so we filled in the rest.  It wasn't smooth, without interruption, or distraction. Evelyn hugged me (the angel) when I was supposed to be saying, "Fear not." I bungled my lines and Dad just read them for me. It may not have been perfect, but we declared the gospel to our children and they are beginning to understand.  And it makes me happy.

We also did a sing-along just like we used to at Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox's house.  We even used Grandma's bells for Jingle Bells.  I was very proud of Ada... I had been playing the piano, and Ada asked to play her Frosty the Snowman song, no mistakes and no music.  Very fun.  Then Evelyn insisted on playing the piano while we sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... cute 3 year old.

Coming to see the baby Jesus, our sheep was really a ham.