So Far Behind

It is already July?  How did that happen?  I realize I am so far behind in not only my blogging, but laundry, yard care (like months), cleaning, really pretty much anything that used to get done before I had a 8-5 job away from my home.  Life is just not the same when you work full time.  However, I am not complaining.  Yes, I have days when I just want to stay home and get stuff done, but I am grateful for my job that I have and for the opportunities that my family has.  For those of you who don't know,  Brian is returning to school, not for a degree, for a second degree.  We are hoping and praying that he will get into nursing school for January and we will be off and running.  No, he does not want to be a nurse.  He wants to be a Nurse Anesthetist.  It is a long and lengthy goal but we can do hard things.  We can do it.  So he is going to school, I am working and the kids are being kids, mostly.  It makes it hard to keep up on things.

So here are like the last four months or something like that.  Reagan's birthday, flooding on the river, running a 40 mile relay and other life happenings.  I would share Brian's wound, but I don't want anyone passing out while blogging.  Happy Day. 

Quick

Life is quick.  Here are a few quick pictures of the kids.  I will update the happenings or lack of later.

No longer a Baby

Last September, I planned at some point in the near future to put Jaxon in a big bed.  So I got it all ready in his room, made him a comforter, arranged and rearranged all the furniture.  His room has been a pile room.  He had an extra dresser, a rocking chair, crib, full size bed, another dresser, and a mini rocking chair.  Anyway,  I couldn't bring myself to put him in the big bed.  Not because he is my baby blah. But because I knew it would be hard and change and different.  Same with potty training.  I am fully aware that he could be potty trained but am just not ready to deal with the hardness. 

Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago.  Reagan informed Jaxon that he is a big boy now and he needs to stop peeing in his diaper.  Forget about the fact that she still wears a pullup at night and has accidents during the day.  Yes, I did potty train her 2 years ago and continually since that point. (hence the hard part from earlier)  So we decided to go for it.  It worked for a little while and then I went to work, we took him to Grandma's and he had lots of accidents.  So no go on that for awhile.  He does go number 2 regularly in the toilet though and I am hoping that is the hardest part to get through. 

On Tuesday night as we were getting ready for bed.  Jaxon informed me in these exact words" I a big boy now, I sleep in  big boy bed" and then said to me like he is 13 " I worried I fall off the big boy bed, it would hurt really bad".  And he did.  I put him in told him not to get out and he didn't.  It did take him awhile to go to sleep on Tuesday night and last night.  On Wednesday morning when he woke up he hollered at me, "Momma?" "Can I get out now?"  And then last night, I went to check on him cause I thought he was asleep and he is in his bed sitting up straightening his covers and looks at me and says "I lay down now".  He thought he was in trouble and I thought he was asleep. So far so good.  He doesn't get out without permission.  I am sure that will end soon but I will take it while it lasts.  This is so very different from when Reagan did the whole bed thing but that is okay.  They are very different kids in very different ways and I love both to pieces.

So my boy has grown up and is now longer a baby and tells me regularly.  I don't know if it is because he is older and bigger or if all of the other mothers around are having babies since I have had Jaxon but I have had several people ask me if I am pregnant.  I am not and I would like to say.."For once just let me be fat".  Just cause I have a little belly (okay and backside and thigh problem) that doesn't mean I am pregnant.  When the first person asked I laughed it off and when a few more starting asking it became not nearly as funny.  

Good Things.

1.  Tax refunds
2.  Big boys and girls
3.  Opportunities to grow and learn and do hard things.  It only makes you stronger.

Forever and a Day

I know that is has been so long since I have blogged.  There is a mostly good reason for it though.  Are you ready for it?  Brian is in school and is taking online classes and so he is occupying our main computer most of the day and the night.  Our laptop (which I have learned is a pile) hinges were broken.  So the screen would not even hold itself up unless it was supported by something.  After I looked around and realized that it was going to cost about 150 dollars to fix our barely year old computer, I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix it myself.  I ordered the hinges off of ebay, downloaded about a 100 page diagram of how to replace the hinges and went to town.  They day I did this, I had parts of laptop laying all over my bed, Brian came in and turned around and left.   It did not look good.  Well, after I took the whole laptop apart and replaced the hinges and then put everything back together, my poor keyboard wouldn't work.  I took it back apart probably 4 more times.  On the last time, the letters, a,k,d, enter and backspace worked but nothing else.  After some research, I ordered a new keyboard and fixed it again.  I am a computer repair genius.   At least I think, and no I will not repair anyone else's computer.  Although, I now know how to dissemble and assemble my computer, I do not plan on doing it again.  It did however save a lot of money by doing it myself.

That wasn't really what I wanted to blog about today, but I am so excited with my genius status right now.  On to better things, and this is way better than using the onscreen keyboard.  Although it works, it is slow.

I love it when I lose half of my post.  It is great.


Christmas 2010. 

Christmas was great this year.  I think it may have been the most meaningful Christmas yet since we have been married.  I made tons of dress up clothes for the kids and they love them.  Reagan is Snow White most days and has recently changed to Minnie.  I surprised Brian with a snowblower.  I had that up my sleeve for awhile.  It was fun.  I love surprises.  It keeps life fun and unexpected.  The sewer drain line backing up not such a great surprise however.  Back to Christmas,  This year we decided to not have Santa come to our house.  It started out by the kids never mentioning him and me never bothering to fill them in on the details.  Instead, we opted to tell them the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  As we put the nativity out and we talked about each figurine and what they meant and the baby Jesus coming to earth, I felt like our kids were young but they might get it.  As Christmas got closer, Santa still never came up and so we went with it.  I do not in any way condone any of you who choose to do the Santa thing, we just felt right about our family doing it this way.  For me, I felt like teaching my children about the Savior, helped me to be more aware of his life and his love for use.  It turned out great and when I ask Reagan why we celebrate Christmas, she tells me because baby Jesus was born.  On Christmas day,  my Grandma B. asked Reagan what Santa had brought her and she told her that Santa didn't come to our house.  My Grandma looked puzzled and my mom explained.  And it made me feel great that I was not emphasizing the commercial aspect of Christmas but the spiritual side and the real reason we celebrate.

Goals?

I think that we all make goals to one degree or another.  Many make resolutions but a goal and a resolution to me are really one in the same.  I make goals every year, probably every day.  My every day goal list really is called a to-do list but I jot down the things I would like to accomplish that day.

Last year about spring time, I made this full page, typed out list of things I would like or needed to get done on the yard and house.  Some were little things like clean furnace room and some were very large like finish house.  Some got done (like furnace room once upon a time) and some didn't (like the house).  But it is really a list of goals I would like to work on to accomplish.  I hung that list upon the fridge and kept it there for about 6 months.  In that time period, a lot of those things did get done.  When I took it off the fridge not nearly as many go done because I no longer saw everyday, every time I opened the fridge.  When I saw that list, I wanted to cross off as many things as I could.  Deep down, to be able to cross one item off the list just felt so good.

Since I am a list person and you all know I make lists, it feels good to be able to write those things down.  I make lists in my head all day long but then I forget about them and they get filed away somewhere up there most likely never to be found again.

The whole point of this rambling story:
It is good to have goals or things you would like to accomplish, even if it is just for the day.  This way, I think I stay focused on the project at hand and am less likely to let the ADD in my brain take over.

So for 2011, I want you all to pick one word that is going to sum up the year 2011 for you.  Think hard and it can be whatever you want it to be.  Leave it as a comment and then attach that word to the top of your goal list and put that goal list somewhere you can see it everyday, several times maybe.

My word:  FOCUS

Reminds of a story that President Uchtdorf told in a talk about a plane crashing into the Everglades and killing all those on it.  It going something like this:

There was a plane flying over Florida area when the pilot notices a red light started flashing.  They (him and copilots) were so focused on why this red light was flashing that they did not realize that the plane was slowly descending.  They did not realize how much they had descended until it was too late and crashed into the Everglades.  Sad story but the parallel to our lives is that we tend to focus on so many little things that we may not think are little that we miss the big picture of what is really happening.

For me, I am so busy doing all of my little things (primary, work, dinner, managing life) that I miss what I need to be focusing on (my kids, my family).  Get it?

Anyway.   My list of goals for 2010.  Not listing them all because you probably all don't need to know.  But keep me accountable on the ones I do list.

1.  Give my kids the gift of me
2.  Exercise and eat healthier for my family
3.  Read and study scriptures daily
4.  Attend temple regularly
5.  Be okay with who I am

That is good for right now.  I could add a million things onto that but start small and simple and add later.  And I know I have said this before, but everyone really should read "the Happiness Project".  Great book, I am not saying that you all are not happy but she really does have some great insights on a lot of things.

Good Things:
1.  Goals
2.  Health
3.  Family who helps a lot
4.  Love

Reagan

Reagan is such a great example.  About a year or a year and a half ago she expressed interest in wanting a Book of Mormon.  I had a blue one so I gave it to her and then she wanted a church bag so I made her and she has been pretty consistent about taking it to church.  We have read on and off from the Book of Mormon stories book and from The Book of Mormon.  A couple of weeks ago she has started carrying it all over.  She wants to take it to school, in the car, to church, and really wants to read from it every night.  Sometime I give resistance to her taking it everywhere and reading it because it takes longer and I think she doesn't understand it. 

Today as I was heading to drop the kids off to Brian, she said she wanted to take her book with her.  I told her she did not need to take it everywhere she went and to not take it.  She insisted.  When we got to the house Brian was working on she got out with her Book of Mormon and walked into the house.  Tonight before bed she asked me to read from it.

As I was pondering this today, I realized that is what I should want her to do.  Take her Book of Mormon everywhere, stand up for what you believe in and be okay with carrying it all over.  I should be the example to her to read from it each day but instead she is the example to me.  I am so proud of her for wanting to carry it all over even if it may be inconvenient and wanting to read from it each day even though it takes longer.  She is such a sweet and caring girl and knows what is best for all of us not just her.  We love her.

Good things:
1.  Reagan for being the example
2.  Knowing what is right
3.  Good Kids

Here is some Halloween pictures and such.

And YES I do need camera help.

A budding photographer...

Reagan informed me matter of factly that she was taking pictures today.  These are the results...

 

Now you may think that is not too bad, however I spared you of the 10 wall pictures 5 feet pictures and a few others.  

Today was a pretty good day.  Other than the migraine, I did get a few things done.  My house looks like a tornado hit it but oh well.  I was home on Thursday due to sick kids and really got a lot done that day.  Today was kind of a play day for me.  I sewed a lot of things like Halloween costumes, booties, organized my fabric with Reagan's help, threaded my serger and rethreaded it, overall it was a great day.  The kids were pretty good.  They are in bed now.  I am relaxing, watching the game, blogging, should be doing something but this is so much better.  

Once the Halloween sewing is done, I need to start on the Christmas sewing.  Dress up clothes to make.  Lots of dresses for her, vests for him.  Oh yeah, I made a cute fall garland today too.  Check it out on my other blog here.

Good Things
1.  Being able to stay home even though it was with sick kids

2.  Getting lots done

3.  Doing things I love to do