Motherhood is Sweet

For Mother’s Day, I woke up to a little yellow post-it note on my ceiling that said, “Happy Mother’s Day” .    Mark had left little notes all around in random places.  They were filled with praise, compliments and sweet things.  I am still finding them here and there.  Today, as I went to use my camera,  I found a note under the lens that said, “Smile!  I love you”

The Kids found these notes very intriguing and kept telling me where they were hidden throughout the day on Mother’s Day. 

When Monday morning came, I awoke to an even sweeter set of notes from my kids. 

I am such a blessed woman to be able to experience these little joys of motherhood.  And even more blessed to be able to share these joys with a very charming husband.   I love being a Mom.  

“Mom, best friends don’t yell.”

I love Mother’s Day, and I love being a mother.  One of my greatest “mothering” faults - the thing that nags me when being praised - is that sometimes I yell.   My kids really hate it, and I hate it.   So,  I’ve been trying to work on this.  I believe that having the spirit in the home is the best solution to this.  Daily Scripture study, and prayer throughout the day helps a lot.  But there are days when I could use something else.  After some discussions with the kids, we came up with something that has worked quite well.  

It’s a chart. (yay for charts)   This isn’t for the kids so much as for me.  It’s something I can do instead of yelling.  I like time-outs but as kids get older, time-outs can be very inconvenient.  I am not a fan of spanking.  It seemed the only way I could get across to my kids that what they were doing was not okay was to yell.  (and yelling “works”. They will immediately do what I say, but again, no one likes the yelling including me)    So now,  I have an outlet.   After I’ve asked my kids nicely to stop playing and get ready for bed 3 or 4 times, now I will calmly tell them to “pull their card”  instead of screaming.   

The way it works is,  the kids start out on green each day, and if they do something they should not do, they move their card to yellow, then orange, then red.   They are able to move their card up for good behavior.   If they end the day on red, they have a punishment.  

It has worked really good for me.  We’ve been doing it about a month now.   I hope to have many more days of being a soft-spoken mother. 

Wiped Out

We started off April with a great General Conference.  I love to hear the General Authorities speak.  It’s like a spiritual boot camp. 

Unfortunately by Sunday, we were all wiped out.   Gabe was so sick we ended up taking him to the Emergency Room that night.  Abigail got the same sickness on Sunday.  I think Emma and I got a little bit of the virus too because this is seriously how we fell asleep watching conference. 

Gabe’s Birthday Interview

I stole this idea from Julie MacDonald and her blog MACDONALD MADNESS.  I think it’s a cute way to remember how my kids are at different ages and the way they talk.  Gabe was full of one word answers on his birthday, But it was still fun. 

• How old are you? 6 
  • your Mom? 28 
  • your Dad? 30 
  • Emma? 7
  • Abigail? 3
• What makes you happy? “Mommy”
• What makes you sad? “When mommy yells at me”
• When do you laugh? “When Mom tickles me.  When the tickle bug comes.”
• When do you cry? “When I have to go in time-out”
• What is something mom always says to you? “Clean your room.”
• and your Dad?  “Put your shoes away.”
• What is your favorite thing to eat? "Pizza." 
• What is your favorite thing to do? "play video games.”
• What is your favorite TV show? "Star Wars 6"  (we don’t have “TV/cable” so my kids don’t know the difference between TV and movies.)
• What is your favorite story in the scriptures? "Adam." 
• What are you really good at? "Soccer."
• What is your favorite movie? "I told you already, Star Wars 6" 
• What does your mom do for her job? "Sells people houses"
  • and your Dad? "I Forget"
• Who is your best friend? "Dusty" 
• What's your favorite primary song? "I am a Child of God”
• What do you like to do with Emma? "Wrestle”
• What do you like to do with Abigail? “color”
• What do you and your mom do together? "cuddle”
• and Dad? "play video games"
• Where is your favorite place to go? "to..what’s the place like Chuck-a-Rama but better? Me: Golden Corral?  Gabe:  Yeah! Golden Corral" 
• How do you know your Mom and Dad love you? "I don’t know. Because you had me when I was a baby”
• What do you want to be when you grow up? "Artist hmm. no… A Fire Fighter!"

May the force be with you

I could have used a little bit of the force during Gabe’s birthday.  It was his first birthday party with lots of friends.   There was such a strong contrast in the home as we waited for the first guest to arrive and a few minutes later when everyone came.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 

Although the boys were quite a bit more rowdy than the “girl-parties” we are used to,  everyone had a a lot of fun.   The boys had a good time battling with light sabers, eating cake, drinking “Yoda Soda’s”, and breaking open a piñata.  (Although the piñata almost gave me a heart-attack.  Luckily no one went to hospital.) 

Happy Birthday Gabriel!

Spring Break

I had a fabulous spring break.    It started off with the 4th annual Ward Women Wild Weekend.    It is turning into my most-looked-forward-to weekend of the year.  I love it.  I get to spend time with just my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law.  No kids. No Husbands.  We all sit around, read books, and chat.  It’s heaven.  My in-laws are awesome.  They inspires me to be better.   I love them! 

The next week,  Mark took a day off work and we slept in, and played.  The kids and I followed pattern for the rest of the week.  It was a great break!! 

Some fun caught on my phone.

Hiking in Snow Canyon

 

Jumping Jacks (My Kids LOVE this place)

 

Swimming!!      

Fun, fun, fun.  It was a “staycation”.    Now it’s back to school.  We actually have gotten so off schedule, everyone woke up at 8:50 this morning. (school starts at 9)  whoopsy :) 

Happy Alphabet

I must post a new post because the title of the last one bugs me every time I see.  I really did mean it at the time.   

After soccer and gymnastics, cleaning rooms, and pulling weeds, the kids and I spent some quiet time inside today.  While I worked on primary stuff, they were busy in the corner.  This is what they made.

   

crazy kids.