New Years: How am I doing?

Some of my goals and dreams:

1. I want to make nearly all our food from scratch.
2. I want to have a happy, healthy, large family with 6-10 children or as many more or less as the Lord feels fit to bless me with.
   
3. I want to teach my children at home.
   
4. I want a relatively clean house, or at least an orderly house where I can find what I need when I need it.
5. I want to learn to play piano and guitar.
6. I want to plant a garden

How am I doing so far?
#1: I made whole wheat bread and tortillas from scratch although my sour dough starter molded and died, but I am progressing right along.

#2: I have a wonderful relationship with my husband along with our 4 wonderful, healthy boys (no girls yet), so we are doing great there! Now I just have to discipline them so they will fight less and listen more.

#3: Today we had "school" for about an hour. We first started with religion. I read the boys some scripture. Then I had them watch scripture stories on the computer while I read my scriptures. Then we talked about the calendar and counted some. We added up how many people there are in our family and we added up the age of Peter plus the age of Sam. Then we sang some. Will liked singing "If You're Happy and You Know It". Then we read all about mammals. Its a work in progress. We had a little break with the holidays so now we are trying to get back into it. Getting better each day!

#4: Our home has never been cleaner. We are getting better and better at keeping a clean home. Orderly? Nope! When I need something half the time I can't find it. I don't know what to do!

#5 and 6? Not much to report yet, I have found most of the materials needed, now I just need set aside some time. Better luck next year... 2009 here we come!

All in all I am better than I was last year. I still have a long way to go! I hope to exercise and take better care of my mind and body so that I can accomplish my many goals. I hope to keep up with the kids, house and balance it all. I hope to keep journaling and cherishing every (or at least most) moment. Its not easy but its worth it.

Lost and Found

Last Saturday the 27th, I got a late Christmas present. As a child, my mother showed me a picture and told me about a brother and sister from my father's previous marriage. When I was in high school my mom and I began looking for my "lost" brother and sister off and on we tried searching the internet for them. Then last week my mother lost the phone number wanted me to find one of our family friends that we have known my whole life. I looked on the internet for this friend and found her son on myspace so I created a myspace page in order to email him. Then I figured since I already had gone to all the trouble to create the myspace account that I would try to find my brother.

To my great suprize I found him! He emailed me last Saturday and it has been amazing to hear from him. As some of you may know my father died when I was just 2 years old, so I never really got to know him. As a child I often wished I could have asked my half brother and sister about Dad. I always thought since they were older that they must have had this great relationship with him that I had been denied since his passing. But now since talking to my half brother I have learned that Dad was unable to have much of a relationship with any of his children. Divorcing his first wife caused many problems with visiting his other two children so he was unable to have a relationshiip with them. And for my two brothers and I we were too young, Michael being just 5 when he died and my younger brother Earl being yet unborn.

Through this experience I have learned a valuable yet sad lesson which I pretty much already knew. Divorce is so hard on children. So many divorces end with the nearly complete separation of husband and wife leaving the children most often with the mother left to wonder in vain about thier father. A lot of kids are left only what thier hurt and angry mother tells them about their father. I wish the world were kinder, I wish divorced parents could be kinder to their children. Its so important for children to know and learn to respect both their mother and their father and the decisions they have made. I am deeply grateful to the promise my husband and I have to never divorce. Maybe we all be more sensitive and careful.

Stop and Smell the Roses

I need a journal, and I hope this blog helps. I need to make and cherish memories. I need to keep them and hold them dear. Whenever I hear old people say, “enjoy it while it lasts” the first and only thing I think of is keeping a record. Live in the moment but keep a record of it so you can look back with fondness. The only way to make a memory is to record it somehow, either by remembering in your head or recording it on paper.

I need to do things to make and keep our sacred memories. You don't have to go to Disneyland to make neat family memories. I think that you just need to spend time together and take time to notice.

One day on my church mission in South America I saw an egg salesman have an accident taking a turn too sharp and all of his eggs fell of his truck or cart. What was once a quiet street lit up with people as soon as the eggs hit the ground. People came out of nowhere to grab up any eggs still left whole that they could. I marveled at the sight and at the time it seemed comical. Then the thought came to me, I could either stop and record this event writing down the details and remember it forever or I could just walk on by and not think too much about it and not record it and I would probably forget it ever happened by tomorrow.

I realized in that small moment that in order to cherish life you have to stop and take notice and record things, either inside yourself or on paper. I don’t know if I actually wrote down the egg incident but I stopped and thought about it and recorded it inside. When they say “stop and smell the roses” I think they are meaning to stop and take notice and record some thoughts somewhere.

Jen

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas here. Sam got a remote control car and as you can tell from the picture he was quite excited. He can't wait to get the Transfomers sheet on his bed soon.


Joe got a stuffed puppy which he quickly named "Underdog." Not a big shock for us since each of the kids has a stuffed puppy that they have named the same. They really liked the movie that came out even though we don't even own it. He also got a soccer ball which means each of the kids have one now.


Peter was excited to open his stocking this year as you can see in this picture. Peter got a mountain of legos which he quickly added to the stash. We now have a huge tote filled with the toys but the kids love them and they were able to get some unique pieces as well. He also got a Transformers shirt which he was super excited to wear first thing.

We started a new tradition last year of making each other home made gifts. This year Peter and Sam made each other coloring books. Joe wanted to make candy, but I didn't get around to making it with him. Opps! Better luck later this week I hope!

Along with the coloring books I had the kids write a little note to each other. I just had to share some of what they wrote. Kids say the funniest things!

To: Joe

From: Peter

On Christmas you can have this coloring book. It’s called The Grinch Story.

To: Sam

From: Peter

You can be my friend or buddy is you like to. You can play with me if you want to. You gotta understand that when I am big I’ll sweep all by myself. I will help my mom and dad build a brick house for me to live in (in the back yard) when I am big and you can live with me. We need to get a car. You gotta understand that in our house we need to get toys and movies. You gotta understand that we gotta get light sabers in the brick house we build. And we gotta get Grandmas laptops, the kids ones (so they can work like Dad). You gotta understand we gotta buy us a TV and DVD player. You gotta make floors and make our beds into groups so we can sleep in the same room. We need the stuffed animals in our house and get books in our house too. And we need toys in there too.

To: Peter

From: Sam

I hope Santa gets you Indiana Jones Legos. (like Peter has been asking for)

To: Joe

From: Sam

I hope Santa gets you a Barbie for our girl baby. Peter said he wants a girl (he asked God for it and therefore us kids know that there is a girl baby in your tummy right now) and that’s why I decided the Barbie can be for the girl. Why does Joey have to get it? Why can’t you (Sam) get it and give it to the girl baby in Mommy’s tummy? Because I (Sam) don’t know what a Barbie is.

All of this (and many more events) has helped us realize how really blessed we are. This year has been really good for us in Houston and we definitely feel like this is the place for us, even though Texas wasn't on our places to consider moving to at first. There are too many blessings to list here in our blog but we hope everyone's Christmas was as nice as ours.

Bread the Staff of Life

I have been trying for a while now to find a nice tasting wheat bread. Visit my other blog for details: http://coppbeprepared.blogspot.com/

Yum!

Santa came to town!

We had a busy day yesterday. First we had Spanish Storytime and the kids made a cute reindeer craft. Every Thursday we go to the libary for Spanish Storytime and they give you a ticket as a way to limit how many attend. Yesterday our ticket was a "train ticket". They read the book "Polar Express" (in Spanish "El Expreso Polar"). They had to chairs set up like a little train and served hot chocolate and read the story, it was really neat! Their favorite part is the craft at the end. They made reindeer antlers and had their noses painted red.

Then in the afternoon we got to hear some local high school kids sing in Reinisance style, they even dressed the part! Very cool. They sang Christmas carols and some mideval songs as well.



Then we had the opportunity last night of having Santa come to our home. A local dance group was having a fundrasier of having Santa visit your house for a small fee. It was neat and the kids enjoyed it. Will cried when we tried to put him on Santa's lap. Peter had his list ready he has been very consistant with what he wants. Sam pretty much parrots whatever Peter says, then Joe was too scared to go on his lap so him and I sat next to Santa. Then Sam remembered what he really wanted (a Lego Dragon) instead of repeating everything Peter says. So Sam got back on Santa's lap which helped Joe warm up to him. I am still new at this blog stuff and don't know how to separate pictures and text. So at the very top are the kids wearing their reindeer antlers. Then the pictures of Santa's vist. I should have washed off their noses from earlier... opps too late!

Jen

Morning Routine

Every morning we have a hearty oatmeal breakfast, and Will is no exception. If you click on this picture it will blow up big and you can see his eye color.

Duffey Christmas Pageant

Merry Chrismas! Here is a photo of our Christmas Pageant.

Baby Shower

On Saturday, I hosted my first baby shower. I am amazed at how good it turned out. Everything went smoothly and we have the perfect amount of food, space, and seating. We did have to scoot in close because a lot of people came, but it just turned out so wonderful. Part was due to the fact that the day before, our neigbor gave us his old couches. We had really ugly couches and his old ones looked almost brand new, or at least to our eyes they looked brand new. They are a nice medium shade of blue and look fabulous in our living room. Previously we had had a loveseat and couch. With our "new" couch set, he gave us a loveseat, couch and large recliner/chair. Our living room is now full of furniture, but its nice to have so much seating when guests come over. Our living room has laminate flooring, so if we need to re-arrange it's very simple.

I wanted to buy flowers and decorate our home nice for the baby shower. So I finally put up a few pictures above the piano, and a few on top of the piano. When the couches came, we quickly rearranged our living room. As for the flowers, I made some out of origami. I think they came out pretty good for a first try. Then again, I have amazing beginners luck. I can do anything one time... after that, who knows!

Survival of the Fittest Parent

We have been battling a cough/cold. Last week Sam's started coughing at night and lost his voice. Then Monday night Sam got worse and Tuesday we had our sick day. Then Wednesday Jen started getting it and then Saturday I (Chris) started getting it.

It hasn't been that bad of a cold just long lasting. So we haven't really managed to do much this week except the kids got to watch most of their favorite Christmas movies on TV.

I am also posting a little about each of the kids as an alternative to telling about our adventures each day.

Peter -
Peter really likes anything that is a robot. He is hooked on Transformers, Voltron, and Legos. Over the year he has told us a lot of things that he wants for Christmas but he narrowed it down to 4 things now and has been consistent with those things. Here is his list:
1. Indiana Jones Legos
2. Pet dog
3. Pet turtle
4. A bunch of transformer toys including Opltimus Prime, Megatron and Bumblebee each in various sizes

He is not so entusiastic about writing but normally does well if you can give him some motivation for writing. (like writting his list for Santa). He does like tellings stories though and he will invent small stories and tell them to either us or his brothers. He loves reading books, although he can't read yet he'll read from memery. Meaning, we'll read him a book and then later he'll read it again reciting roughly the same story we read to him. So he will memorize what books say and he gets better each time you read him the same book. Sometimes Jen will read new books to him and try to encourage him to read the words. Often he'll tell what the pictures are saying and expect the words to say what he expexts them to say. He'll get frustrated and want to make up his own words. Usually if he would just read a sentence then the following sentence will say what he is looking for based on the pictures. So anyway, he is creative and the reading will come eventually.

Peter has been watching scripture stories videos while Jen studies her scriptures and is really attentive to these stories and will tell them to us sometimes. He is also very patient with Will and if he is getting into the toys will take him away and move him someplace else (most of the time it is a good thing).

Sam-
Sam likes robots right along with his brother, although he doesn't quite like Legos as much as Peter. One thing he likes a lot more is drawing and writing. He loves to draw turtles and people. He is very careful now when he colors something and tries real hard to stay within the lines. Whereas Peter colors fast and furious caring little for staying in lines, Sam takes his time and is much neater. He also really likes music and for the last few weeks has continuously sung certain songs over and over. His favorite songs have been "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized" and "Picture A Christmas". He REALLY likes to help cook dinner and wash dishes. This is really nice most of the time and so far I expect him to be the most willing to help out in the kitchen. This will be needed as we keep having more kids down the road.

Joe-
Joe likes to follow his brothers and do anything they like to. Although he copies his brothers every move he particularly pays attention to his older brother Sam. I think this is because Sam was more patient with him initially. Joe says "yes" to everything unless it involves a toy in which case it is a "no" (something his brother's often tell him) but tries to keep up with his brothers. He really likes to sing his ABC's and also "When Jesus Christ was Baptized." We are amazed at some of the things he has picked up from his brothers such as counting to 10. He is continuously improving in his speaking and will read several words at a time from the scriptures with us. His favorite songs are the Superman theme song and the song "Upside Down" from the Curious George soundtrack.

Will-
Continues to grow like a weed and likes to eat solids more and more. Every meal when everyone eats he insists on having whatever we are eating. It makes it difficult though sometimes because he wants to feed himself which is even more messy than normal. He must be going through a growth spurt because he is eating more and more lately. He has only 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom) but he uses them for everything including biting Mom and Dad at times (he prefers Mom for this but we aren't sure why - maybe Dad doesn't taste so good). He is a skilled crawler although he still crawls on his belly and uses one foot to kick off with, we thought he would eventually get to crawling on his knees but perhaps with the hard floor and no carpeting he prefers it that way. Now he has started to climb up on things which means he is sometimes Godzilla to his brother's toys. He also likes to get to his feet and has begun to try and move around things like our coffee table. I think our laminate floors downstairs makes this difficult for him at times especially if he is pajamas. With the cold winter months we usually put him in head to toe pjs and the floor is slippery. You need to be barefooted to have traction.

Well that is all for now, hopefully we all are recovered Well soon. Here is some pictures from our Zoo Trip we took the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday the Zoo is free!!).

Finally Caved In

I finally created a blog, I never really thought about it until I found out that you can now make these things private. I honestly don't want to whole world able to access this. I haven't written a weekly email letter in a month and before that it had been a while. We have been so busy. Now my goal is to write here a little bit every day and friends and family can read about our comings and goings here.

Yesterday:
I am a mother of 4 wonderful boys and we homeschool. Yesterday we went to our homeschool Co-op. Co-op is a group of homeschooling parents that get together and teach each others children. A local church has allowed us to use their building for our little “school” and we go once a week. I teach Spanish every other week and someone else teaches them Science, Show and Tell, and Art. Since I wasn’t teaching Spanish this week, I taught art instead. For the Art class, we did greeting cards with ink and stamps and also a “Thank You” card given to the church that is allowing us to use their building to hold our "school." The best part was that yesterday was the first time that my best friend Dawn got to take her kids to Co-op. She is new to homeschooling and I really hope she felt loved and included. I feel like a mother hen, I strongly desire for her and her children to feel loved and accepted. So I hope that is happening.

Then after the Co-op, the kids all fell asleep in the car and I went to pick up Chris. On the way home he revealed his plans to celebrate our 7 year anniversary! (We got married at 2:15 in the AZ temple on Nov. 30th) So yesterday afternoon we all went to the Dress Barn where the kids waited patiently taking turns telling stories with Dad while I tried on nearly 10 dresses. After having to use a camasole, which is against my moral compass just a bit, I mean why should I have to buy a dress and then after to alter it in order to wear it. But because of the special evening my husband had planned for me, I relented and got a dress with a camasole. I got a black and white dress because very nearly every dress they had was black and white (why? I don't know!!) But it all turned out great. The lady at the shop asked if I needed accessories and right then I realized that I could match the dress to the string of pearls my brother had given me a couple Christmas' ago. So all in all it turned out wonderful. Dawn was nice to take a photo when we dropped off the kids for her to babysit. So I will have to ask for the photo to show.

Well after Duffeyella got her dress and got herself all cutsified... Chris took me to Papadeux and we shared a nice seafood platter and then went to Dairy Queen for dessert. It was a nice evening. I am very thankful for my sweet husband and nice children. When we picked up the kids from Dawn's house after our date, we saw that Sam had gotten a lot worse. Dawn's daughter Hannah read Dr. Seus to him while he layed around at their house. He had had a cough and his voice had been squeeky but now he is quite sick. Fever. Cough. And the most sure sign that he is sick is the glazed over miserable look on his face. Our kids have to be pretty miserable to get that way. They could throw up and then go play! So the miserable glazed over look is a sure sign they feel rotten.

So today is a "sick day" which means that I get out the bed from our hide a bed couch and we make what Bill Cosby called the "Get Well Island". Basically they all lay on the bed all day watching PBS TV and trying to rest and recover. For me that means I get a day off to do what I want (like create this blog) and try and think of things to help them get better. I am going to make some juice and try and make some homemade soup. I have never been too successful at making soup unless I use canned broth of which I have none and have no desire to get any. I am going to try making 100% homemade. We'll see!

Jen