blog
today
- Two hours of genealogy
- Brown rice, almonds, flax, and raisins
- Morning Devotional
- Gobs of dishes
- Even more gobs of laundry
- Cleaning the school room
- Cleaning the bedrooms
- The metric system
- Fisher’s baptism invitations
- Putting together Make It For Maggie
- Annesley’s love letter to me
- Rumplestiltskin
- Fisher’s airplane rebuild…now with bombs
- Exponents
- PB & J
- Goldielocks and the Three Bears
- Vacuuming
- Multiplication
- Bug removal
- Frog rescue
- Frog water clean-up
- More vacuuming
- The Civil War
- Taking vacuum apart and giving up after three failed attempts to put it back together again
- Popcorn to make it through the afternoon
- Family Home Evening with Jessica’s family to teach them how to do genealogy
- Singing God Bless The U.S.A. at the top of our lungs
baffled
That is where I am at.
After a long summer of healing, my hip is doing worse. I am back to moaning, ice packing, wincing, and needing to lie down a lot. I am back to searing pain shooting through the tear. I am back to holding on for dear life as we drive down my bumpy road. I am back to the tears. I am back to the pain.
I am not happy about it and I am so confused. I thought I was on the right path. I was doing so well! For heaven’s sake, I was able to kayak and jump and skip and do a forward roll.
Now all of that seems like a world away and I don’t know why.
Once again I am to the place of learning I can’t solve this.
mothering a-ha
Yeah, I have been at this mothering gig for awhile. But I am still learning things. ALL. THE. TIME.
This week have had some a-ha moments for me.
Lesson #1: Ask them to work for it
Yesterday we ran into Deseret Industries for a ten-minute shopping trip. Keziah needed new Sunday shoes and I was hoping to score an awesome deal on newish Scriptures for Fisher’s baptism present. Annesley saw a pencil bag with a giant rainbow on it and a matching ruler, eraser, and pencil sharpener all for the fabulous price of $1.00. She asked if she could have it and I said “No, you already have a pencil bag.” She asked again and I said “No, you don’t need it.” Then she said, “Mom, I love it so much! My other bag doesn’t have a rainbow or a ruler or an eraser or a pencil sharpener with a rainbow on it! I love it. Please let me have it.” I admit, I was pretty swayed by her logic. Her other bag doesn’t have a rainbow or a matching ruler, eraser, or pencil sharpener. It is a super adorable Jessica made pencil bag with her very own initial on it, but it is missing that rainbow. So I said, “Well, how many jobs will you do for me?” Annes responded, “One!” I said, “Hmmm, I think it is worth more than one job. How about five?” All of a sudden the desire of her heart wasn’t so desirable anymore and she put it back on the shelf and said “I’ll keep my pencil bag, I don’t need rainbows.”
I about died laughing.
Lesson #2: Leave them alone
Remember that Lego set we found at DI for $6? Well, it is missing some pieces. Some key pieces. Fisher fell apart this morning because he couldn’t build an airplane without those pieces. The crying and moaning and gnashing of teeth that ensued was surely a sight to behold. He kept saying, “Someone messed up. The pieces aren’t in their plastic bags. There isn’t a set of directions. The pieces are missing! I can’t build an airplane. I can’t build anything!” But, somehow, I kept my cool and told him over and over and over again that I am sorry he is missing some pieces, no we can’t take it back and get a set that works, no, you can’t call papa and tell him to call the store to fix it, and yes, I absolutely believe you can figure out how to build something amazing with the pieces you have. More crying. More gnashing of teeth. More patience on my part.
It has now been about six hours and he just came and showed me a nifty airplane with retractable landing wheels, descent lights, a pilot, and an awesome set of wings. Pretty much a starfighter’s dream plane. He says “Look at what I made mom! Look at the wheels. See I had to design them this way so they won’t move sideways when they land. And look at the nose. Isn’t that cool how pointy it is. And look at these lights. They will help the pilot to land safely. Aren’t they cool!”
Way to go, buddy (and way to go, mama!)
I am so grateful to be a mother and that I get to learn patience and love and wisdom on a regular basis. It is just what I need.
a broken heart
Soon my world is going to dramatically shift. I can’t handle it. Last night we had the loveliest Relief Society (women’s organization) Retreat. It fed my soul and spoke truth to my heart. But ever since I have been crying because I am pretty sure it will be the last activity I will be at with the dear sisters in my ward. I know I need to put my big girl pants on and get a grip. Or maybe I need to fall to my knees and plead for peace and calm and love and faith. But right now all I can do is cry.
My giant ward is being split. We have about 800 members right now and are busting at the seams and have been for a long, long time. We have already been split twice in the very recent past, but in those splits little chunks of houses at the edges were cut off and put into new wards or new stakes. This time, we are really being split and my heart is breaking right in half.
LDS wards are a geographic area with set boundaries and while boundaries don’t at all define friendship, they do define when and where you attend church. They do define who you serve with in your church callings. They do define who you fall in love with as you fellowship and worship together.
I LOVE our ward. We have something special here. So much love. So much support. So much service. So much everything. My two dear friends, Amy and Jessica, live in my ward. Hundreds of other wonderful friends are here as well. But they are all over there. There being the subdivisions where pretty much everyone lives. Our ward boundaries are L-shaped. We live on the bottom-end tip of the L and the subdivisions are at the top end-tip. So, we will no longer be with the people in the subdivisions. There is no way around it, at least that I can see, because we are as far away as one can get from the subdivisions.
My children are so loved in this ward, by both their leaders and their classmates. They are asked to speak and sing and contribute in meaningful ways. They are valued. They are not seen as weird homeschoolers, but as the lovely, talented individuals they are.
My ward loves me. They love my loudness and my tears and my big ideas. They laugh with me and give me hugs and listen to me and love me in a very tangible, here-is-my-heart kind of way. Every week as I stand in the back of the chapel my heart wells up with love for the wonderful people in this ward.
And soon we will be split. I don’t want to be told to have faith or stop crying or buck up or anything else. I just want to cry for awhile at the loss of what has been the best ward I could ever ask for.
I know God will help each of us adjust and grow and love and serve. I know He has a plan for this ward division. I know in the end it will be okay, even wonderful. I know I will start again to build deep and abiding relationships and build the body of Christ in my part of the vineyard. But not today. Today is a day of tears.
fiar: down down the mountain
What a sweet story! Hette and Hank want some shoes, some special shoes that go creaky-squeaky-creaky-squeaky, but Papa and Mama say there is not one single cent to buy shoes. They don’t give up though and ask Grandma who tells them to plant and grow turnips and then sell them down the mountain in the village.
The two children work hard all summer and grow the biggest turnips anyone has ever seen. At harvest time they make the long journey to the village. Along the way they run into people who are hungry and need some of their turnips. They end up giving all of them away except for one giant turnip. Now they can’t buy their special shoes! Hette and Hank are determined and find another way.
I love the gumption of these two kids and how they are willing to work hard for their dreams. The illustrations are top notch and make the story come alive. I love that my children are learning how much they have and what it has been like living in other time periods and in other places. Such a wonderful story of family life, courage, and hard work!
eight
Mr. Fisher turns eight today. Wowsers! I can’t believe that it has been so long since his miraculous birth. I will never forget the joy that filled my whole being as I pulled him up out the water and held him in my arms for the first time. All the pain and agony of getting him here were totally worth it in that moment and he is still worth it. Absolutely!
Eight is a pretty big deal in our religion because it is when children are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He will be baptized in ten days by his papa and it is pretty much all he talks about. He is so excited!
At the age of eight, Fisher has only lost his two bottom teeth (his top two are just barely hanging on and everyday for over a month I have thought, “surely this is the day they will fall out,” but somehow they keep hanging on) and is wearing size 7 pants. He is a pretty skinny kiddo and I have to buy him slim pants and cinch up the waist band. He is now 48 3/4″ tall and I hope he is not destined to be the shortest one in his circle of friends forever.
His favorite books are Curious George, Summer of The Monkeys, One, and The Chronicles of Narnia.
His favorite things to do are building with legos, working with his dad, going fishing (and catching some big trout), tracking and catching bugs (and keeping them in bug jars all over our house), hunting for frogs (he currently has two that he caught at Bear Lake with his Uncle Scott), kayaking, and playing with Annesley. They are best buddies and play for hours on end in their land of make believe.
Eight also means the beginning of Cub Scouts. Fisher is so excited to join his friends in their scouting adventures and can’t wait to get in his uniform for his first den meeting. He has been working on passing off his Bobcat and thinks the whole idea of scouting is the coolest thing ever.
In other news, he just got his first pair of glasses on Saturday. They are bright green and look great with his red hair. We discovered he was far-sighted just like the older girls and we had a fun date picking out his new specs. Now that they are here, he won’t take them off!
Cool glasses and a big space in his mouth…but not from a lost tooth, those front ones are just shifted over and hanging by a thread.
This morning we got up at 6:00 to open presents with Richard before he left for work. One of our birthday traditions is hiding presents all around the family room and the birthday kid gets to search for them. Here he is trying to follow our hot-cold directions.
New legos! The best part is Richard found this huge box months ago at DI (thrift store) for six bucks! Can’t beat that price on a $100 set of legos!
His new birthday book is Who Is This Jesus? I can’t even tell you how much I adore this book! He has been asking for a book about Jesus for months and when I saw this one, I knew it was it. Each page tells about a different attribute or role of Jesus with a beautiful drawing of Jesus in that role. Then, hidden within the artwork are things to find. You can’t see them when you glance at the picture, you really have to search. For example, in the illustration titled Lost and Found we read, “He is the Savior who rescues the one; He will not rest til His work is all done.” The picture depicts Jesus searching for His lost sheep, and hidden within the picture are twenty-six lambs that need to be found. It is a lovely book about the tender mercies of Jesus with just the right amount of puzzle fun to go with it.
His new knife. He has proven himself to be responsible and safe, so he has earned his first official knife. He couldn’t be happier!
Check out the green on those glasses. His love for loud colors cracks me up. He doesn’t ever want anyone to notice him, but they always do because of his red hair and bright green clothes…and now, bright green glasses.
I am so grateful for this boy. He is kind and earnest and full of quirky ideas that crack us up. He loves his papa and wishes he could spend every minute of every day with him. It pretty much breaks his heart on a daily basis when Richard is gone to work again. Fisher still loves to snuggle with me and lets me rub his back…I’m sure some day that will change, but for now, I’m enjoying his cuddles.
oxes and meese
I am working on cleaning out my email box (started with 25,000+ emails) in an attempt to save my computer from dying and I found this hilarious poem on the crazy English language. I can’t wait to read it to Blythe and Keziah – they will die laughing!
ONLY THE ENGLISH COULD HAVE INVENTED THIS LANGUAGE
We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing,
grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns
down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother’s not Mop?
(I would like to add that if people from Poland are called Poles, then people from Holland should be Holes and the Germans, Germs.)
enfp
This is hilarious! Last night for Amy’s birthday party she had us take a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Test. I haven’t taken one for quite a while and couldn’t really remember much about my type. So, we took our tests and read the results and then laughed ourselves silly.
Mine was spot on. SPOT ON. Anyone who knows me will see me loud and clear in the description below.
The Inspirer/Mentor:
ENFPs are both “idea”-people and “people”-people, who see everyone and everything as part of a cosmic whole. They want to both help and to be liked and admired by other people, on both an individual and a humanitarian level. This is rarely a problem for the ENFP, as they are outgoing and warm, and genuinely like people. Some ENFPs have a great deal of zany charm, which can ingratiate them to more stodgy types in spite of their unconventionality.
ENFPs often have strong, if sometimes surprising, values and viewpoints. They tend to try to use their social skills and contacts to persuade others gently (though enthusiastically) of the rightness of these views; this sometimes results in the ENFP neglecting their nearest and dearest while caught up in their efforts to change the world.
ENFPs can be the warmest, kindest, and most sympathetic of mates; affectionate, demonstrative, and spontaneous. Many in relationships with an ENFP literally say, “They light up my life.” But there is usually a trade-off: the partner must be willing to deal with the practical and financial aspects of the relationship, and the ENFP must be allowed the freedom to follow their latest path, whatever that entails.
As an ENFP, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you take things in primarily via your intuition. Your secondary mode is internal, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit in with your personal value system.
ENFPs are warm, enthusiastic people, typically very bright and full of potential. They live in the world of possibilities, and can become very passionate and excited about things. Their enthusiasm lends them the ability to inspire and motivate others, more so than we see in other types. They can talk their way in or out of anything. They love life, seeing it as a special gift, and strive to make the most out of it.
ENFPs have an unusually broad range of skills and talents. They are good at most things which interest them. Project-oriented, they may go through several different careers during their lifetime. To onlookers, the ENFP may seem directionless and without purpose, but ENFPs are actually quite consistent, in that they have a strong sense of values which they live with throughout their lives. Everything that they do must be in line with their values. An ENFP needs to feel that they are living their lives as their true Self, walking in step with what they believe is right. They see meaning in everything, and are on a continuous quest to adapt their lives and values to achieve inner peace. They’re constantly aware and somewhat fearful of losing touch with themselves. Since emotional excitement is usually an important part of the ENFP’s life, and because they are focused on keeping “centered”, the ENFP is usually an intense individual, with highly evolved values.
An ENFP needs to focus on following through with their projects. This can be a problem area for some of these individuals. Unlike other Extraverted types, ENFPs need time alone to center themselves, and make sure they are moving in a direction which is in sync with their values. ENFPs who remain centered will usually be quite successful at their endeavors. Others may fall into the habit of dropping a project when they become excited about a new possibility, and thus they never achieve the great accomplishments which they are capable of achieving.
Most ENFPs have great people skills. They are genuinely warm and interested in people, and place great importance on their inter-personal relationships. ENFPs almost always have a strong need to be liked. Sometimes, especially at a younger age, an ENFP will tend to be “gushy” and insincere, and generally “overdo” in an effort to win acceptance. However, once an ENFP has learned to balance their need to be true to themselves with their need for acceptance, they excel at bringing out the best in others, and are typically well-liked. They have an exceptional ability to intuitively understand a person after a very short period of time, and use their intuition and flexibility to relate to others on their own level.
Because ENFPs live in the world of exciting possibilities, the details of everyday life are seen as trivial drudgery. They place no importance on detailed, maintenance-type tasks, and will frequently remain oblivous to these types of concerns. When they do have to perform these tasks, they do not enjoy themselves. This is a challenging area of life for most ENFPs, and can be frustrating for ENFP’s family members.
An ENFP who has “gone wrong” may be quite manipulative – and very good it. The gift of gab which they are blessed with makes it naturally easy for them to get what they want. Most ENFPs will not abuse their abilities, because that would not jive with their value systems.
ENFPs sometimes make serious errors in judgment. They have an amazing ability to intuitively perceive the truth about a person or situation, but when they apply judgment to their perception, they may jump to the wrong conclusions.
ENFPs are basically happy people. They may become unhappy when they are confined to strict schedules or mundane tasks. Consequently, ENFPs work best in situations where they have a lot of flexibility, and where they can work with people and ideas. Many go into business for themselves. They have the ability to be quite productive with little supervision, as long as they are excited about what they’re doing.
Because they are so alert and sensitive, constantly scanning their environments, ENFPs often suffer from muscle tension. They have a strong need to be independent, and resist being controlled or labelled. They need to maintain control over themselves, but they do not believe in controlling others. Their dislike of dependence and suppression extends to others as well as to themselves.
ENFPs are charming, ingenuous, risk-taking, sensitive, people-oriented individuals with capabilities ranging across a broad spectrum. They have many gifts which they will use to fulfill themselves and those near them, if they are able to remain centered and master the ability of following through.
Oh my good heck! How many times have I been told I see patterns and connections that others don’t see? See everything as part of a cosmic whole, yes, ma’am, that is me. How many times have I decided I need to save the world? How many times have I NOT finished a project? How many times have I said “I don’t understand how to make myself do mundane, maintenance-type work, it makes no sense to me!” How many times have I said “But what does it mean? I can’t move forward until I know everything about what the meaning of this is!” How many times have I rebelled from a schedule? Schedules of any kind make me feel as though I have a 400 lb. gorilla sitting on top of me holding a pillow over my face. World full of possibilities and going after all of those possibilities with passion and spontaneity? Yes, yes, and yes.
So funny! I am not as unique as I thought!
first dates
Yes, Blythe has now had two dates! Her first date was with her papa. He needed to pamper his girlie and show her exactly what to expect of all future dates before we would allow anyone else to take her out.
Because we homeschool and don’t participate in the local school activities much, if at all, we had no idea she would be asked to Homecoming. So we had to squish her Papa-Date into our schedule in the days leading up to the dance. A little bit of craziness, but it all worked out. We rented her dress from Sweet Prom which is a little mom-n-pop (more mom than pop) shop in Idaho Falls with more than 100 beautiful gowns to rent (if you rent from there and give Blythe as your referral, she will earn a $10 credit towards her next rental) for only $50 +$15 cleaning fee. We actually want to buy this dress since it fits her so well and great fitting formals are hard nearly impossible to find, but I doubt the owner will be swayed by my pleading. We will see on Wednesday when we take it back.
Jessica came over and made Blythe’s hair into some fancy-schmancy amazingness AND did her make-up AND reminded us to get a boutonnière, which we had completely spaced! Richard rushed out and bought one in the nick of time. Thank goodness for a good friend who knows about these things and has the beauty skills I sorely lack!
Isn’t she lovely?
Pinning on the boutonnière
The cute couple (just ignore the horrid lighting and the glare on their faces…they looked much better off camera!)
Blythe had a ton of fun and I am thrilled her first date(s) were such great experiences! The young man who took her out is one of our favorite boys from church and he treated her like a queen.
slip-n-slide
My friend Robin made a huge slip-n-slide out of a billboard and some of their friends made one out of viqueen. She raved about how fabulous it was and I decided I wanted to do it for our iFamily Opening Social, but because it was injection week I didn’t really do much about it except think.
On Wednesday, during iFamily, I checked the weather for the next 10 days and figured out that Friday was going to be the only day we could do it. So I hurriedly conducted a poll of the eight or so mothers who were nearby the couch I was lying on and we decided we should go for it. Jennifer volunteered to buy the $36 of visqeen, I called the city to arrange for rental of the spigot, and another Jennifer ran over to Parks & Rec to sign all the paperwork.
The weather was perfect, the kids had a blast, and I think we will make it an annual event. I can’t wait to do it when I can actually slide with all the kids (this time I was a very good girl and laid down and watched, yes, watched!). Next time we will have even more visqueen and I think we should make a super steep slide for the big kids and adults who are mega-adventurous.
So. much. fun.
If you want to make your own slip-n-slide, buy at least 4 mil visqueen (plastic sheeting) in whatever length you want. Ours was 8 ft. x 100 ft. I think 200 ft. would be perfect and possibly 10 ft. wide would have been better, but ours was wonderful and totally got the job done. Our 4 mil. did rip in one spot, so maybe 6 mil. would be a better choice, but all of that starts getting real expensive, so I guess you just have to decide what it is worth to you. We had hoses dumping water at three spots down the 100 feet and that seemed to work pretty well. About an hour into it, we put some baby shampoo all over the place to make it more slippery. It was too slippery for our youngest sliders, but perfect for anyone ten and up.
I'm Tracy, a mama with big dreams, crazy ideas, loads of laughter, an insatiable desire to learn, and enormous piles of laundry.
