Life, is like football . . .

One would assume that I am blogging about our Cougars, who, by the way, are currently ranked #7 and #8 in two different polls. (Go BLUE!) However, football has come up in a completely different conversation this week with my oldest child. It went something like this.

I needed to visit a lady on my visiting teaching route a few evenings ago. I was going over the schedule with the boys for the rest of the day while they were doing homework. Ethan suggested that I could take Austin and that he could babysit while I stopped by this lady's house. OK, it would make my life incredibly EASIER if I could do such a thing. Believe me I would be letting him do it ALL of the TIME!!! While he is a very responsible and, at times, mature child--he is still that--a child! I explained to him that I was going too far of a drive for me to let him do this, etc. He, being a master debater, (I'd like to thank the Parents Curse for this because I was the same way!) continued to make all very valid points, but I held my ground and explained over and over my reasoning.

Finally, he said to me, "You're just like Parker (his friend). You don't trust your receivers!" Thank goodness I know a little about football. I said to him, "Well, you have to make sure your receivers can catch the short and fast passes, before you throw them the long ones, or even 'Hail Mary's'." I was not getting upset, which is what I think he was waiting for me to do. He couldn't really argue with me much after that and finally he said, "Mom, you're being weird!"

But just in case he comes back at me with this again I thought of a few other analogies. 1-The best way to move the ball down the field (make progress in the direction you want to go) is 10 yards at a time. You risk a lot less by throwing the short, fast passes. 2-Before anyone plays the game, they have to practice . . . alot! That is how you know what your receivers can do when they are in an actual game situation.

Am I a mom or a football coach? Who said sports doesn't teach you much?

Acts of Kindness

Today I got a phone call while running errands from the Young Women's president. She instructed me that I was to have the kids ready to leave the house tonight by 6:00. I was not to feed them dinner. I then was supposed to go in my room and get ready for a date with my husband. I could not come out of my room until 7:00, or until I was instructed to leave my room. Rob was to arrive home by 7:00.

I did exactly as I was told. The kids were ready and even bathed by 6. The Laurels showed up at our door and ushered our kids out the door and down the street to the YW president's (and very dear friend of ours) house. We are so blessed to live by her and her husband. I went in my room, tidied up a bit, then put my make-up on. Rob obediently came home when he was supposed to.

When we were released from our room, we opened the door to dim lights, candlelight, a beautifully set table, and classical music playing. Our hostesses greeted us and gave us very strict rules. We were NOT to talk about kids, church, money, the house, or work. We CAN hold hands. We had to talk about the following things: our favorite memory when we were dating, when we first realized we loved each other, what we love that our counterpart does for us, and what the perfect day would be together. THEN our hostesses left the house. We were ALONE . . . in our house . . . with each other. . . . YIKES! For 2 whole HOURS!

I have to say that so many feelings resurfaced by following the rules and talking over the things to which we were assigned. It was so romantic! We savoured it.

This is just one of so many simple acts of service that the people in our ward have done for us since Rob was called to be the Bishop. They have been so supportive and keen to recognize that we have a young family and there are many sacrifices we make so that Rob can serve in this calling. But they hardly seem like sacrifices to us, especially when the members of our ward bless our family like this. We have relied on the Lord during this time and He has been able to rely on the hands of ward members to provide our family with blessings we need. We feel so undeserving, yet are soooo grateful. The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a wonderful thing. We are learning to be Christlike by serving/teaching/loving others.

Thank you to our young women and their leaders! The kids are in bed, the dishes are done, the house is picked up . . . . so what am I doing sitting here and blogging? See ya . . . .

Oh My Ears!

Here is what happens when you blog at 2:30 in the morning. . . .

You put songs on your playlists that have SweAr WorDs in them!!! I was listening to my playlist today and the "f word" squeaked out of one of my songs. For clarification, if any of you visited my blog before I corrected this, we only played the RADIO EDIT version of this song for Lindsey, not the one with the profane word. I did not even KNOW the original version had a swear word in it! So never mind that, I've corrected the problem and you can go on and enjoy clean listening. I apologize to anyone that may have heard the explicit form of my playlist.

KidSongs

When I was pregnant with Ethan, my oldest, I had a friend who told me she had a "song" for each one of her children. These songs were contemporary songs played on the radio. So, with each of my children, I've found that I have "songs" for them. They are songs that for some reason or another remind me of that child.

I have finally added a music playlist to my blog. Four of these songs represent my four kids. "Forever Young" is Ethan's song. While I was still in the hospital after his birth, I saw the Pampers commercial with the baby animals on it and it played a section of this song. I never paid attention to the words in this song until that moment. Those words were exactly what I was feeling for my newborn. I love the line, "Whatever road you choose {CTR!!!!}, I'm right behind you, win or lose." Ethan's personality reminds me so much of the little tiger cubs in that commercial.

Gavin's song is "A New Day has Come" by Celine Dion. She wrote this song for her newborn son. The song began playing on the radio during my pregnancy with Gavin. We were preparing for a big move at the time also. I remember driving home from the airport to get Rob and this song came on the radio, reminding me of all the changes happening to our family and the most exciting thing was that we were going to have a baby boy.

Lindsey's song is "You're Beautiful." Rob, unknowingly, picked this song for Lindsey. It too became popular just as I found out we were having our first, and so far, only baby girl! Rob LOVES this song, along with several other songs by the same artist. On some of those rough nights, I often watched him rock Lindsey to sleep while he played this song over and over for her. We certainly believe that she's as beautiful as an angel.

Austin's song is new and I just discovered it. "In My Arms" is perfect for him because he is my cuddler. At 7 months old, he still will mold his little body into my chest and rest his head in the crook of my neck and I LOVE it!!!! The first line describes, "Your baby blues . . . " and Austin is my only child to have my blue eyes. I have to laugh at the line "safe, in my arms." So many times I have to come to his rescue from his older siblings.

I'm not very talented musically, but I love music. One reason . . . it triggers my memory.

"I'm Feeling Good"

If you are a Michael Buble fan you will understand the title of this blog. You know it will be a good, no great, day when you wake up and discover Michael Buble is performing live on the Today show.

Milestones and Funny Faces

Since the first day of school occurred, Lindsey and Austin have reached a few milestones of their own.



Potty trained?! We think so! I really can't take much credit for it because Linds came to me on Sunday two weeks ago and said, "Potty!" So, I took her to the potty. She went #1 AND #2 and has not worn a diaper (during the day) since. Sure, she has her occasional accidents when she gets too busy to stop, but WHO CARES!!! That's about 5-6 less diapers I have to change during the day!





Austin is a mover. He sits up on his own and maneuvers his way around with a complicated army crawl. He makes this face (as shown in the pic) ALL of the time! He wrinkles his little nose and snorts. He is the clone of Gavin and Gavin always made the SAME face when he was that age. AND as all boys do, Austin is discovering the joy of FOOD, even if it is strained.

First Day of School

Okay, okay, so school started two weeks ago. We are settling into and so grateful for a routine once again. Also, we put our house up for sale a little over two weeks ago which explains why I haven't posted in a while.

We are now parents of a third and first grader. I'm not afraid to admit that I got a lump in my throat when I took them to their classrooms on the first day. Another summer has come and gone all too quickly. It is at times like these when I count how many summers are left or how many years are left and hope that somehow we had a few memorable moments in the summer of '08. It is time for new challenges and adventures as Ethan and Gavin figure out what third and first grade are all about.