Monday, April 28, 2008

The Blankie






To say that Max love his blankie would be an understatement. Ever since he was a baby, he has slept with his blanket wrapped around his head. I would cover his face with his blanket and he was sure to go right to sleep. He also loves his binky, but I need to get rid of it soon. I only let him have it when he is sleeping and sometimes at church. But, I am quickly learning that the binky doesn't really keep him quiet anymore. He talks around it and sounds like a fool! He is such a monkey!!! We love him so much!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Friday Fun

Mark has been really busy at work this week and will be again this weekend. You see, his entire office is moving South two blocks down Main Street. He has been in charge of the entire process - meeting with the realtors, architects, designers, and anyone else that is involved. It's been his project. It is finally moving day - today and this weekend. I haven't seen much of him lately, although he did meet us tonight for dinner.

After dinner, the kids and I went on a long bike ride around our neighborhood. I kicked their butts! There is this big hill I love to do - it is great on the thighs and they were such good sports!! We have a bike trailer and Max loves to ride in it. I really want to get a new, one child bike trailer. I've hinted to Mark that I would love a new one - hopefully he gets the hint and orders me this for Mothers Day.

Will and Ben's school is right down the street, so after our bike ride, I took them and some other neighbor kids there to play. We played tag. Yes, I even played tag. We had so much fun! They are such cute little boys. I must say that we have great neighbors. I live in the best neighborhood, which will make it really hard if we ever decide to move.

I made a fellow blogger's recipe for poshdough, and it is really great play dough. The kids have been playing with it all afternoon. Even the neighbor kids commented on how soft it was. I highly recommend it - thanks Julie for the recipe!





Will and Ben have been so into Pokemon lately, that they made....Pokemon guys with their dough. I get so sick of picking up those dang cards!!!



Max decided to "cook" his - YUM!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Spring Visitors

Every spring since I can remember, these same two ducks take up residence in our neighborhood. I don't know where their nest is, but I am thankful that it isn't in our yard. The kids love feeding them bread, in fact, they are probably stuffed with bread with all the kids around. Yesterday morning they were in our front yard, and they seemed hungry, so we got out some bread and fed them. They aren't very afraid of us, this morning they followed my neighbor Brittany down the sidewalk and over to our house.





Max was having a great time throwing whole pieces of bread at them. No wonder I'm going through bread so quickly lately. (Doesn't Max have great hair?)



Max was getting a little too close for comfort, so they took off, and so did Max. Notice the large piece of bread in his hands, ready to launch!



They finally had enough, and flew away.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Will!!!




This weekend our little Will turned eight! It is so hard to believe that he is already that old. It just seems like yesterday he was born. I still remember that day and how excited we were to welcome our first child into this world.

We had a great day, which started very early with a 7:30 a.m. baseball game. We had a great time just spending the day with our little family. We took him out to lunch, Mark took Will and Ben to a movie, and we went to dinner at Bonsai Steakhouse with Mark's parents. After dinner, we had everyone over for cake and ice cream.

Today we had his baptism interview with the Bishop and he passed! So, he'll be baptized on Saturday, May 3rd. He was so cute during his interview. He did such a great job answering all of the questions the Bishop asked.

Will is such a great son and a joy to be around. He is extremely bright - always straight A's on his report cards and reading well above grade level. He is such a teaser and loves to make everyone laugh/cry. He is my early riser, and often wakes me up with his humming. He is very active and always has been. He was such a busy baby and toddler that I couldn't keep up with him. He is very social and loves his friends very much. He is so tender and has such a sweet spirit, he is so affectionate! He is such a great helper and is very obedient. We love him very, very much and are so glad that he is ours.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!!!

Will throughout the years...










I can't believe how handsome and big he's gotten. I'm having a great time looking through old pictures. I just need to scan the earlier pictures to my hard drive....someday!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

My Talk (as requested)

There will never be another role more rewarding than that of a wife and a mother. Motherhood is the noblest and greatest of all callings. I am speaking today on the Joy of Motherhood. One of our greatest joys is helping our children to learn of the Lord and his plan for our happiness. The Apostle Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Ephesians, in Chapter 6 verse 4, "…provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

When the bishop informed us of our topic and as I have been thinking about the "joys" that I have felt, many great stories of "joy" have come to mind. Unfortunately, most of the stories that immediately came to my mind are probably not appropriate to share over the pulpit. As I’ve spent the last two weeks pondering this topic, many other great stories have come to mind about my experiences with my own children.

Many of you know Mike and Kelly Solomon, who lived next door to us for several years. As a pilot for Delta Airlines, Mike was often gone overnight and Kelly made a habit of turning in as soon as the sun went down. It is worth noting at this point that their daughter, Erin, was known to walk the streets of the neighborhood with candy falling out of her pockets. The smarter kids in the neighborhood figured this out very quickly and would follow Erin wherever she went until the candy ran out.

One particular warm summer evening, a group of the neighbors was gathered outside in the street enjoying each other’s company. As usual, Kelly rounded up her children and ushered them off to bed well before anyone else was ready to call it a night.

Some time later sound asleep in her bed, Kelly was startled by the sound of rustling coming from inside her house. With Mike out of town, she was already a little uncomfortable and this noise was more than alarming as it sounded as though someone was in her kitchen.

Kelly slowly worked her way to the kitchen, on the way confirming that both of her own children were sound asleep. By the time she reached the end of the hall, she was confident that she had an intruder in the house.

She could see the pantry door was open and could hear distinct rummaging sounds coming from inside. She approached quietly until she could see the intruder quite clearly. There in her pantry was two-year-old Will Cannon foraging for some candy.

To this day, no one remembers Will going missing and no one knows how he got into her house.

As many of you know, Will and Ben are not quite fifteen months apart. Shortly after giving birth to Will, I struggled with conflicted feelings about so quickly welcoming another baby into our home. To put it bluntly, I was a wreck.

As I am sure many of you have felt, I didn’t know how I could share my love with another baby without taking any love away from Will. Once Ben arrived, those feelings quickly diminished and I was in love all over again. As time went by, the boys were so busy and I felt very overwhelmed. I felt completely outnumbered and very incapable. I hardly left the house without Mark. I am sure that once Mark arrived home from work, all he wanted to do was be home and relax. I on the other hand – had been home all day and was ready to get out of the house, I needed a change of scenery.

Looking back now, I realize how hard it really was. That I was so overwhelmed with everything I didn’t completely enjoy the moments with them. Now that my little family has gotten a bit older (and with the addition of our little Max – a little larger too) I have been able to be more relaxed even though my responsibilities as a mother have increased. I know what to expect, at least for now, and I am so much more comfortable and able to feel more joy. It seems though as the kids have gotten older, the busier our lives have become. With sports, school and church responsibilities, it is overwhelming at times. A friend of mine recently shared a story with me, and wondered to us, her friends, how to resolve her feelings of inadequacy.

Before I tell this story, it is important that you know that a "tuppance" is a UK monetary unit roughly equivalent to two pennies.

Mary Poppins told Michael & Jane about a woman who sat on the steps of the cathedral to feed the birds every day. She wondered if their father ever saw the bird woman as he bustled to and from work everyday.

Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul's

The little old bird woman comes.
In her own special way to the people she calls,
"Come, buy my bags full of crumbs.
Come feed the little birds, show them you care
And you'll be glad if you do.
Their young ones are hungry,
Their nests are so bare;
All it takes is tuppence from you."

"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag."
"Feed the birds," that's what she cries,
While overhead, her birds fill the skies.
All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares.
Although you can't see it, you know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares.

Though her words are simple and few,
Listen, listen, she's calling to you:
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag."

I don't want to miss the important moments because I'm constantly busy; I want to feed my little birds! I am sure all of us mothers feel the same way. Struggling with keeping the house clean and running the household, just keeping on top of everything……

Last weekend while listening to General Conference, I was grateful to hear the words of Elder M. Russell Ballard and his remarks on young mothers. During his talk, he asked and answered four questions regarding how to make mothers’ lives more rewarding. The questions he asked were:

What can you do, as a young mother, to reduce the pressure and enjoy your family more?
What more can a husband do to support his wife, the mother of their children?
What can children, even young children, do?
What can the Church do?

I loved his instruction to the husbands - to let your wives have time away, to play and active role in your family, to validate your wife and thank her often and to regularly talk with your wife about each child’s needs and what you can do to help.

One evening after arriving home from some "away time", I walked into our bedroom, to Ben, fast asleep, under the foot of our bed. I could only see his leg, which was extended out past the foot of the bed. I immediately noticed the paraphernalia surrounding Ben and wondered where Mark was during this time.

I pulled Ben out from under the bed and notice his new, nicely painted red toenails. He actually did a good job, for a two-year-old. I also noticed the red polish that was spilled on our carpet surrounding out bed. After trying and failing to remove the polish from our carpet, I resolved to rearrange our furniture, covering up the lovely reminder. I only look back now with laughter, and wish that I had taken a photograph for posterity.

I also loved his instruction to the children - You can pick up your toys when you are finished playing with them, and when you get a little older, you can make your bed, help with the dishes, and do other chores—without being asked.
You can say thank you more often when you finish a nice meal, when a story is read to you at bedtime, or when clean clothes are put in your drawers.
Most of all, you can put your arms around your mother often and tell her you love her.

The question directed at young mothers was what impacted me the most while thinking about this talk. He said,

"First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."

He shared these thoughts from author Anna Quindlen. "The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less"(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11)."

We need to remember that amid all of the chaos in life that our children are learning and are still trying to figure everything out.

Just last week, when I found a spare moment to jump in the shower, Max decided to help his dear old mom by "cleaning". I knew that something wasn’t right when Max wasn’t standing on the other side of the glass from me, as he always does every day. He hadn’t been around for a while, and you just know that it isn’t a good thing when a toddler is quiet. I quickly finished and rushed out to see to where he had disappeared. As I was leaving the bathroom, Max met me in my bedroom with the empty industrial sized Jet Dry from Costco in his little hands. As I stepped into the blue goo puddle on my bedroom carpet, sis reaction to me was simply put – "cleanin." I followed the drips to the kitchen, where I noticed he cleaned the walls, the rug, and a kitchen cabinet door. What a great helper! Whenever I am cleaning, he loves to help out. After all, it’s just the two of us most days, and he is my little sidekick. He has to get out all of the attachments to the vacuum, or to my steamer, and is right along side me to help me out.

Elder Ballard continued, "Second, don’t overschedule yourselves or your children. We live in a world that is filled with options. If we are not careful, we will find every minute jammed with social events, classes, exercise time, book clubs, scrapbooking, Church callings, music, sports, the Internet, and our favorite TV shows. One mother told me of a time that her children had 29 scheduled commitments every week: music lessons, Scouts, dance, Little League, day camps, soccer, art, and so forth. She felt like a taxi driver. Finally, she called a family meeting and announced, "Something has to go; we have no time to ourselves and no time for each other." Families need unstructured time when relationships can deepen and real parenting can take place. Take time to listen, to laugh, and to play together."

"Third, even as you try to cut out the extra commitments, sisters, find some time for yourself to cultivate your gifts and interests. Pick one or two things that you would like to learn or do that will enrich your life, and make time for them. Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give to others, even to your children. …Don’t allow yourself to be caught up in the time-wasting, mind-numbing things like television soap operas or surfing the Internet. Turn to the Lord in faith, and you will know what to do and how to do it."

Fourth, pray, study, and teach the gospel. Pray deeply about your children and about your role as a mother. Parents can offer a unique and wonderful kind of prayer because they are praying to the Eternal Parent of us all. There is great power in a prayer that essentially says, "We are steward-parents over Thy children, Father; please help us to raise them as Thou wouldst want them raised."

A friend of mine sent me the following poem from an unknown author:

No written word nor mortal plea
Can teach children what they should be,
Nor all the books upon the shelves
Except what parents are themselves.


I want to thank my Heavenly Father for this opportunity to stand before you this day and to also thank him for my beautiful family, whom I love with all of my heart. I am so thankful for my sweet family and the joy that they bring to my life. I hope that we can all be more mindful of the joys in our lives and take time to "feed the birds."

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

(Thanks Amy for the Mary Poppins blog post and Debbie for the poem and Elder Ballard for the GC talk! It really wasn't that bad, but I don't want to do it again any time soon. Now I can get on with my life and quit stressing about it!!!)

Let's Play Ball

Saturday was the first baseball game of the season and this year Will and Ben are on the same team. Yea!! They are in the 7-8 year old league. In our city, the priorities are Baseball, Family and God. In that order... well the second two may be the other way around. But there's no competition for #1. The league they play in has 18 teams of 7 & 8 year olds. That's 216 kids!!! All of whom have dads that think Jr. is the next Babe Ruth.


When I say it is intense, these kids play on a field with lights and games can end as late as 10:00 pm on weeknights. Who cares about school, right? Half of the games are machine pitch and the other half are kid-pitch. Did I mention that these kids are 7 & 8? Above, Will logs some time in the outfield.


Ben chose his own shoes this year and managed to choose red shoes since his team is the Reds. Lisa should know that GAP hoodies are completley unacceptable performace apparel. It needs to be Under Armour or Nike in this league. The most important thing about this picture is you'll note that Ben is wearing his pants correctly - showing the correct amount of sock. No pajama look (baggy pants, resting on shoes) for him

Will got a hit boh times up including this one with the bases loaded that drove in two runs.


Ben went 1-for-2 also driving in a run during a seven-run fourth inning that helped us tie up the game before the time limit was up.


Max loves the ballpark already too. He was very excited to watch the kids play "bay-ball."


*written by Mark*

1st Grade Program

I am a bit late in posting this, but Ben had his program at school a few weeks ago. He was so funny. The theme was about family and they sang songs about each member of a family. Ben had to have the last line of the program memorized, which he did, which was the good bye and the thank you for coming. He did such a great job! They had to dance to a few of the songs during their program. It was hilarious. I guess Ben doesn't really like to dance, so his teacher told him to do the "air guitar" instead. Well, he did, and it was so funny!





Last Sunday Mark and I were asked to speak in church and Mark's topic was the joy of fatherhood. I thought I would share with you an excerpt from his talk:

In my line of work – Investment Banking, the few days following the end of the calendar quarter is a particularly stressful and busy time. Long days are the norm and vacation time is essentially unavailable. It is not uncommon for my staff to work through their lunches and log an additional 10-20 hours of work per week each during these periods. As luck would have it, on April 3rd (just three days into our crunch time) ******** Elementary School’s First Grade scheduled its annual student program, the aptly titled, “Love Makes a Family.” Compounding the bad timing was the start time for the program - 2:30 pm – late enough in the day that by the time the program ended, there would be nearly no point in driving the 30 minutes back to the office as by the time I arrived it would likely already be after 4:00 pm.

In the days leading up to the program, I struggled to find a way to attend without shirking my responsibilities at work and without creating morale problems with my staff by cutting out on them at the worst possible time. The night before the program, I was resigned to having to miss it entirely.

As I met with some of my staff that Thursday morning, I found myself trying to find a way to bring up the program and my desire to attend. As the meeting progressed, I found myself simply beginning to relate to them the excitement Ben had been feeling as the program approached, how he’d learned his lines and how he was so hoping that I would be there. Much to my surprise, all three of them immediately insisted that I leave work early to attend the program. In turn, each of them volunteered to cover a portion of my responsibilities for the remainder of the day.

Relieved, grateful and humbled, I left the office and quickly zipped down I-15 to the school. Upon arriving at the school, I sat by Lisa and Max in the audience and began to scan the stage for Ben. As I looked over the children on stage, I could see that some were very excited and some were quite uncomfortable, but all of them seemed to be searching the audience looking for mom or dad. Finally, I found Ben sitting right on the front row. Initially he didn’t see me. I could see the apprehension on his face and I knew what he was thinking. In his mind he wondered, “Where is my dad? Why isn’t he here yet?”

As his eyes finally met mine, I could see a sense of relief wash across him, as his entire countenance changed and a smile suddenly beamed across his face. His dad had made it just in time. Suddenly the thoughts of the emails, the meetings, and the conference calls melted away. I do not remember the songs they sang or the lines they recited, but I will never forget the look on his face when I was there for him.





Each child made a portrait of their parents for them to keep. It was so sweet. Ben is such a loving, tender boy. We love him so much!!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Funny!

This is exactly what Mark sounds like when he's hurt...

Interesting...



So, now I'm throwing these away because they have a #7 on the bottom. Max's sippy cups are safe, they have a #5. What do you think?

Friday, April 4, 2008

A Friend

One of my dear childhood friends passed away years ago from cancer. She was such a great friend and I spent a lot of time at her home growing up. Although we didn't attend the same high school, we still kept in touch. I remember when she died. I remember how it was hard to see her sick and I was afraid. While watching the news tonight, they had a story about her and her close relationship with President Monson. It made me sad to see her again and see her sweet parents. President Monson spoke at her funeral and had a special relationship with her. Her story is a great one. She was such a great example to us all.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=3011363

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Take Me Out




Will and Ben started practicing for baseball a couple of weeks ago. I love baseball and watching them play. I don't know if it's because of the spring and the beautiful weather, that we finally get to be outside, or if it's because of the game. They are both going to be on the same team this year, which will be so nice for us! Last year they were on different teams, but Ben is playing up this year.

They are both funny. Their friends are extremely important to them. They had a practice game tonight against another team in their league, and it was my responsibility to get them dressed and ready to go. Easy enough, but they were playing with their friends. And, if I try to pull them away, they transform into two little boys I don't like very much. Well, I was able to get them dressed, much to their dismay, and I let their friends know that they had to leave. The friends stayed in our back yard, playing basketball. That was fine. But, Will and Ben were fighting tooth and nail with us. Saying that they hated playing, that they want to do Karate instead. EWWW! Ben is usually pretty mellow, sweet kid. Will is another story - very ornery. Every morning when I wake him up for school, he yells at me, yelling about how much he hates school. He is going to be my challenge and I've know this since he was little. Very strong willed, intelligent and talks back - I think I know someone that was just like him (me) when she was little. My mom used to say "I hope you have a child just like you", and I think I do.

They've played baseball ever since they could. I think we started Ben when he was two. They love it once they are there, but it's getting them there that is the most difficult part. They are like that with a lot of things - church, running errands. It's just they love playing and hate being ripped away. With church, I used to let them watch cartoons in the morning. Not anymore. No TV on Sunday mornings, and it has made getting ready for church more pleasant.

I thought they had left with Mark when suddenly Ben and Will appeared from the garage. Mark just got so sick of them that he just left without them. Mark had to be there because he is helping coach their team. I was mad! When baseball sign ups were upon us, they both really wanted to play. We informed them that they couldn't pull any of the "pranks" and had to take it seriously. That we were paying for them to play and if they fought with us about playing later in the season, it was wasting money.

I sent them to their rooms the entire night, only to let them out to eat dinner. While friends played outside, they sat inside, reading. I made them apologize to Mark when he got home and they both said that they would never do that again.

New rule: No playing with friends until their homework is done and they are dressed and ready for baseball.

It was so nice to have them locked up. I even made Will dust his room. Isn't parenting fun?