Inspirational minute and half

I love this clip entitled Create----it will inspire you and make you feel good about spending time 'creating'----blogs, scrapbooking, writing, caring for your family, pursuing your talents.....it's great. Here's the link:
http://broadcast.lds.org/video/create/RS_2009_02_00_Create_HD_eng_.wmv

Prelude to Spring Break

Well, all I have to say about this week is WOW----we made it through! Hallelujah! There were a few days there when I thought everything might fall apart, but thankfully, we made it to Spring Break and here we are, recovering!

Joseph finished his play-----thank you, thank you to Grandmother and Papa Joe for trekking all the way back up here just to see him perform. He did a great job! He had yet ANOTHER orchestra concert the next night----I think he's a little over orchestra at the moment and needs a BIG BREAK! He's been out running and trying to get back into shape for Track and Soccer.

(We could really use some DRY days around here so that everyone could stay OUTSIDE for awhile and get some exercise! But, I'm sure we'll be grateful for the moisture when it's the middle of July!)

Samuel presented his Congressional Hearing program on Wednesday---he did a great job on his speech and answered the questions very confidently. Plus he looked very handsome. I'd post a picture if I'd remembered my camera that night----where was my brain!?!

I was very late to Samuel's program because I'd been to Pocatello that day for an eye appointment for Jacob and we had some car problems on the way back. Actually, I'd convinced my Mother-in-law to come with me to Pocatello, because I didn't want to go alone with both little boys. At the last minute, she called and asked if Scott could come with since he was going stir crazy in the house (it was snowing it's head off outside). Well, I think Scott was very inspired to go stir crazy at just that minute, because if he hadn't been with us in Pocatello, I probably wouldn't have made it home and I would have had a really awful day instead of just a kind of little terrible couple of minutes. Thank you so much for going with us and saving the day!

We found out this week at the Eye doctor's that Jacob is going to need to start wearing glasses. His far-sightedness is getting a little worse, plus his eyes are starting to cross because of this. So Friday we took him in to see what kind of glasses we are going to have to try and keep on our cute little bug---this should be fun! There was a big whopping one choice of frames----but they were plastic and the lenses are also plastic and they are strapped together around the head----this is good. Only, Jacob looks like a superhero in a mask with them on----they were little white round frames. When I asked if they came in any other colors, the lady suggested blue or pink----wow, just what I would pick! I actually thought going with the white would probably be the best option from these choices, but she convinced me to try the blues, saying they were "so cute." We'll see---I have her word that she'll swap me out the white frames if I absolutely hate the blue! (I'm prepared to hate the blue!)

Here's cute little Jacob in his favorite 'ducky' tub chewing on the scrubber! I wonder if he'll have to wear glasses in the tub? This could be interesting!

Benjamin did a great job on his "Flubber" science project. He was very excited about it and enjoyed putting the whole thing together. The 3rd grade teachers are getting smarter, though. They required that the science projects be at the school a full day before they were displayed. There went my usual plan of last minute preparations and Benjamin was sad that I didn't keep him home the day before his project, like I did with Samuel. So, even if the teachers are getting sneakier, it was nice to have it finished early!

Benjamin testing out his "Flubber"

David took a bunch of AR tests at school and was quite impressed that we finally made it through "Junie B, First Grader...." Me too! since I kept falling asleep everytime I was reading it to him. Even though he usually reads the books himself, when I'm there to help him take the AR tests, he insists that I read the book again before he takes the test. So, at top speed, I race through the book and hope that Mrs. Clark, his teacher, doesn't think I'm over there helping David 'cheat' on his test. I'll be SO GLAD when he can take his own AR tests!

We've decided that Jonathan is addicted to videos----this is a bitter sweet dilemma. It's nice that I can entertain him so easily some days when things are hectic, but I don't know if it's worth the drama when I make him turn off the TV or I 'break' the TV (unplug the VCR from it) so he can't watch it. Poor kid----he's been having some serious withdrawal pains today! Oh, please HURRY Spring! Where ARE YOU!?!

I learned a lesson of my own today. I have been trying to get my Sunday morning routine down so that I can quit being the last one to church. Thank heavens Scott, my father-in-law, picks up the older boys 30 minutes before church starts so that I have a few minutes to get ready and get Jacob in the car. Well, since we went to the Temple yesterday and got back pretty late last night, there were some missing items as far as clothing goes this morning and a missing bottle----the worst crisis of all! So as I hunted for the bottle and Jacob's pants, tearing the house apart in my wake, I was getting pretty stressed that I was missing part of Sacrament meeting. So after awhile of fruitless searching I just decided, what the heck, I was already late, I'd just take my time getting there. Well.......the Jepsen's were speaking today and I absolutely love hearing them speak and one of my voice students was singing on the program. So, I missed the song and a lot of the talks. I could have kicked myself! That is it, I think I wil just put everyone to bed in their clothes, myself included, on Saturday night and then I will make sure that I am ready FIRST so that I can dash out the door and throw the boys in the car without waking them up. Well, I've got to at least try.....! But I don't want to miss a program like that again!

Alternative Potty Training amongst other things......

I have been thinking about writing this post for the past week----mostly because I don't want to forget how funny or messed up life is----it just depends on how you look at it.

Jonathan has been 'potty trained' for at least 3 months. He seemed quite impressed with himself and his new found status as a 'big boy.' But lately, it seems, that being a 'big boy' just doesn't have quite enough perks.

I first noticed this when I had a rash of 3 or 4 days together after Christmas when Jonathan would wet or mess his pants immediately after putting them back on after using the 'potty.' So we went back to treats, books, heavy praise and finally some cold wash offs (since he was enjoying his warm baths way too much----and 5 a day was getting a little expensive!).

After doing a 'diaper' shopping trip, I noticed that Jonathan had opened all of the Huggies size 4 diapers (that I was saving) in Jacob's room and filled his drawers with them. I guess he just couldn't resist the Tigger images stamped on each one and figured Jacob could spare a few. The next week when some diapers came that I had ordered with Mickey Mouse stamped on each diaper, he about had a nervous breakdown trying to figure out how to hide them in his room.

So, I humored Jonathan for a few days, thinking that he was just having a 'big boy' crisis and wanted to be babied for a bit. I let him put the diapers on, but still made him make regular trips to the 'potty.' He had somewhat of a problem trying to figure out how to put the diaper back on by himself. But, all was solved when he discovered that Mom also had some Pull-ups stashed away in Jacob's closet.

So, here we are-----Jonathan's alternative potty routine: He hops out of bed in the morning and immediately changes the pull-up himself before I know he's awake, so that I don't force him to put on 'underwear'. As soon as he takes off the pull-up he comes upstairs for a sack, asks me to 'knot it' and takes it out to the trash. If by chance he has an 'accident' in his pull-ups, he locks himself in the bathroom and uses about 50 wipes to clean himself up and then asks for a sack to put the mess in and promptly dumps it in the trash can outside.

So.......what's a Mom to do? I can either accept his 'alternative potty training' method or keep fighting him with the 'real' underwear----which means more screaming, fit throwing, baths, and clean-up for me. It's a hard decision----especially for one as lazy as me----choosing the path of least resistance definitely brings more peace. I just hope he decides to go with underwear before he gets to Junior High....that could be interesting-----I wonder if they make Tigger Huggies in size XXXL?

Here is a brief update on the rest of us:

****Joseph is finishing up his play this week----Oliver was great and the pit orchestra was amazing, it really filled out the play! Great job guys! Joseph also passed his Eagle Board of Review after much drilling-----more then Joseph or his friend Jake counted on, I'm sure-----Congratulations, Joseph! He's trying to fit Track practice into his driving schedule now---with the play over soon, he should have more time to be at practice.

****Samuel passed off all of his swimming requirements for his First Class Scout rank and is now working on his Swimming merit badge requirements. He quite enjoyed the part of making his clothes into flotation devices and his scout leaders were amazed at his endurance in the water! Samuel is also presenting a 5th Grade Program this month that is patterned after the Congressional Hearings and is entitled "We the people...." He's also been invited to play his Bass with the High School Orchestra when they present a suite of "Star Wars" music.

*****Benjamin is getting ready to present his 3rd Grade Science Project this Friday. We tried and tried all weekend to get his project to work. It sounded easy----make an electrical zapper by creating static electricity-----but do you think we could get that thing to work? We even followed 2 different experiments that should have created the same effect and neither worked! I told him to just have someone drag their feet across the carpet and touch the door handle and they'd for sure get a spark. But Ben's sure that the project is a lame duck and he wants a new one. Samuel told him that if he'd have just done the "Flubber" project that Samuel did for his 3rd grade Science Project, he wouldn't have run in to such problems. (Samuel's remarks went a bit like this: "You're just not very creative....my science project was marked so high because it was just so creative.") So, there you go, Benjamin's sure that 'Flubber' is the answer. I'm just cringing remembering all the 'Flubber' I had to get out of my carpet when Samuel did his project! Oh well, here we go again!

*****David has discovered that he can, indeed, read! Wahoo! This was discovered last week on Thursday as we were getting ready to go to Logan for lessons after school. David was doing his usual disgruntled routine of, "Oh well, you just hate me, noone likes me,......etc, etc....." because I hadn't brought the right snacks, or said the right thing, or whatever sets him off------I wish I knew and I'd definitely work at not setting him off! So, I could see a disaster coming with him annoying us all the way to Logan and carrying on this dialogue with his teacher, so we made a detour to the library. We picked up 3 packs of AR books and I told him to get reading. Of course, he started on his usual, "I can't read, noone thinks I can read, you just hate me, noone likes me" serenade. But after offering a few death threats if he didn't open up the packs and start reading, he opened one and pulled out a book and said "I already took an AR test on this." Dig deeper! He finally found a stack that he hadn't taken AR tests on and eventually started 'reading'----which meant he would ask me every word while I was trying to drive. Finally, after swerving past a few cars, I told him that he would just have to wait until I stopped the car at Samuel's bass lesson. Well, Mr. Patience, wasn't going to wait for that, so FINALLY he started reading himself-----of course, every word was punctuated with "I can't read....what's this word?" etc. But after awhile, he quit complaining so much and his voice seemed calmer and more sure as he tried to sound out words. He finally did it! Tonight, he had the FHE lesson, so I had him select an object out of the FHE bucket (Thank you, thank you Mary!) and look at the companion lesson. He was pretty sure he couldn't read it, but after he realized I wasn't going to be able to sit still and help him with every word, he took over and read clearly to the end of the lesson! Way to go David----you are awesome!

*****Jonathan's potty training antics have already been discussed. He's had an eventful week:
**pouring a bottle of oil in the cookie dough without Mom noticing until she was baking cookies that were sailing off the pan in their own grease
**Pouring a whole bottle of seasoning salt in the taco meat just before we sat down to eat it-----yuck!
**Opening all the red jello in the house while Mom was gone and mixing it up with water to paint the house with
**Insisting on slicing his own pickles with a very sharp knife and then dropping the bottle on his foot and slicing his toe open.
These are just a few of Jonathan's antics. Of course, we're still working on the 'naughty words' that he loves to shout at the top of his lungs to get our attention also-----the soap doesn't seem to be doing much, the hot pepper seemed to make a little more of an impression, but was forgotten in a day or two. I'm open for suggestions---obviously my methods are not very successful!

*****Jacob is trying to learn to crawl but really doesn't like being on his tummy at all! He will hold up his arms and legs when he's placed on his tummy and rock back and forth on his tummy. Maybe he likes that feeling of being on an ocean rather then crawling around on the hard floor! He has reached an all time high weight of 21.5 pounds-----he is growing and trying to catch up with his brothers. He loves to clap when he's 'all done' and when he wants to play patty cake. He loves books and will gaze at them for long periods of time and protest loudly if they're taken away. He is still a cute little bug and we love him to death!

*****Jeff and Me----we are just hanging on for the ride! What an adventure every day is----not too many do-nothing, calm days. Saturday was wonderful with all of the beautiful sunshine and warmth-----can't wait for Spring to stay around! I've also been trying a nutritional program called 'Isagenix'. It is quite amazing! It is based on 'nutritional cleansing' which I thought was sort of like yoga and all those things that I don't think I have time for. But I have never felt so much energy and calm----they don't seem like they go together, but I feel like I have enough energy to get some things done (definitely not close to all, but more then before) and I feel much calmer and less up tight with myself and the kids. Plus, I don't have scales, but I did lose a total of 17 inches in 8 days, which seemed quite amazing since I wasn't starving and or doing a lot of extra exercising other then some heavy duty Spring Cleaning. We'll see how things go, but for the moment, I am impressed and feeling better then I've felt in quite awhile!

Happy Spring!

March Ramblings

Where are you Spring?

Wow, I can't believe tomorrow is the 15th of March---the days are flying by! And that's okay, as long as we get to have SPRING soon and then I'd like time to slow down for awhile so I can enjoy it. I forgot how very much I DO NOT LIKE this time of year in Mink Creek-----everything is mud colored---mud on the snow, mud on the roads, mud in the gravel, mud on my porch, mud on my car, mud on my carpet-----everything is tinged with a lovely brown color! Of course, those 'spring' tulips may have to have their 'spring' in July by the time the 7 feet of snow melt off my flower beds! I guess we might have to go out there and help the snow melt or move or something so that we can see if there is actually life under there!

We had a wonderful trip to Cedar City at the beginning of the month. The purpose of the trip was to attend the Southern Utah String Festival (yes, my kids were thinking....another one!?!) In my efforts to consolidate trips, schedules, etc., I thought it would be great if we started our trip at 6:30 in the morning so that we could drop Joseph off at Driver's Ed for an hour, proceed to Logan to do violin/bass/viola lessons, tour the Draper Temple, visit my sister, and get to Cedar City in time for dinner. You'd think I'd learn that things do not just fall into place and that there has to be a catch to it if it does seem that things are working out!

The first 'catch' was that I was absolutely dead on Thursday night and then Jacob had a very bad cold and wouldn't sleep, so I held and rocked him until about 12:30 that night. Then I thought I'd put in a load of wash before I took a 2 hour nap and realized that I'd forgotten to wash everyone's Sunday clothes and that we'd need them washed and pressed for the Temple Open House and the String Festival. So, the 2 hour nap was scatched and instead marathon washing, ironing and packing went into effect.

The second 'catch' came when I started loading things in the car. I was quite impressed with my 'compact' packing of everyone's stuff in their backpacks. But......I forgot one very important thing! We had to take the Bass with us to Cedar City.....argh! Why did I let Samuel play this instrument anyway? So we got to repack the car, and cram everybody into the left over space. Ben had to sit with his neck crooked to one side so it didn't hit the Bass scroll and I think Samuel had to hold my suitcase on his lap all the way to Cedar City.......but I kept reminding him when he protested------'You could be holding that Bass on your lap, ya know!'

The third 'catch' came when my two darling boys let their violin/viola teacher's dog out of the house to play with him----that is, until they lost interest and got back in the car as the dog ran away. So....instead of a well-timed exit from lessons, we spent 30 minutes looking for the dog, which ended up being in the backyard-----go figure!

So, the fourth 'catch' came when we realized we weren't going to make it to the Open House at the time we had tickets for. A quick phone call to my sister assured us that we'd probably be okay to change our clothes at her house first and then head over to the temple. It did work out okay----yey! The only catch came when we boarded the buses at the chapel to go to the temple---somehow Jeff, Jacob and Joseph did not make it on the bus, so we had to wait for them at the entrance to the Temple. This would have been al well and good, except for the fact that there were a couple of picketers right on the entrance that we had to stand next to in order to watch for Jeff and his crowd. Benjamin, Samuel and David were coming a little unraveled when they read the 'classy' signs of the picketers, such as "josephlied.com." It was all I could do to hold them back from belting them one. The nice usher handing out brochures, could see my predicament as I held on to them and came to my rescue when he asked the boys to pass out the brochures as everyone entered the tent. David was quite ecstatic! Our little group finally got together and we preceded into the Temple. As I looked at the brochure, I noticed it said, 'silent tour.' I winced and wondered how 'silent' we could keep everyone. Actually it turned out better then expected and the boys were quite taken with the beauty and peace of the Temple. Joseph echoed our thoughts as he said on the ride back to Mary's, "I think that was worth the time and effort it took to go." (He'd kept remarking on the way down that it wasn't worth the time and effort it was taking.)

The fifth 'catch' came as we hit Fillmore on the way down to Cedar City in the form of a Spring blizzard..........what?!? I thought there were a few 'snow flurries' predicted for Friday night. I tried to help poor Jeff out with the driving, but at this point I was having a hard time just staying awake from my 36 hour marathon of no sleep for the past 2 days! The lovely white sheets of snow lasted into Cedar City. When we called Mom to see if she needed anything she said, "I'm not sure if it's snowing on the mountain---maybe a little." Well, as we drove down the drive to her house and looked down at her driveway-----it had definitely snowed more then 'a little'. In fact, it snowed so much that we were snowed in the next morning and had to cancel our times to perform at the String Festival. Fortunately, they were kind enough to let us come in the afternoon, AFTER the snow plow dug us out!

Despite all the 'catches' in our well-laid plan, we had a great trip----the boys played great for Grandmother and Papa Joe and at the Festival, Grandmother spoiled us with wonderful food and Easter treats, the boys had a great time shoveling snow (even though we broke the Snow Blower....again!!!.....sorry, papa Joe!), Joseph watched non-stop soccer on TV and we had a wonderful Sunday meal prepared by Grandmother and Papa Joe (assisted by David, Samuel, Benjamin and Joseph) before heading back to Idaho. And, of course, we timed the trip perfectly so that we had a 'white-out' storm on the way back home as well. We've definitely needed the week to recover!

Just a couple of other events of Feb-March that I haven't covered were Samuel and Benjamin's amazing Basketball playoff games. Each boys' team won the 'title' for their age division. Benjamin's team even went undefeated all season-----go Ben and Sam---you were awesome! Benjamin has also reached 515 AR points and earned his Honors reader jewel---way to go Ben! David got his 25 AR point goal and Samuel is reading up a storm as well. Ben also received his Bear in Cub Scouting this month and Samuel received his Second-Class rank in Scouting.

Joseph, by some miracle, was able to finally get into Driver's Ed and so he is enjoying getting up at 5:00 every morning so he can be in for the 7:00 class. This wouldn't be so bad except for he has driver training after school and is in the middle of intense Play rehearsals every night until 7:00-8:00. He had to perform at District Solo Festival 2 weeks ago and this past week he was involved in the Bridgerland Honor Festival Orchestra that rehearsed intensely for 3 days in Logan (Joseph was the Concertmaster----whoo hoo!). In the midst of this craziness, track has started, and he is in deep depression that he can't attend the first meet because there is NO TIME to even go to practice. He's had Ballroom dance performances and this week he has his Board of Review for his Eagle (yey!! he's finally getting this done!). I really hope this last month is not a preview of Joseph's life for the rest of his High School days----I think this is what they call being a bit OVERSCHEDULED!

Musings on an ASTA Festival

Last Saturday 'the boys' went to Logan to play in the ASTA Festival. Although we have gone to several years of these festivals since we have lived in this area, I still can't quite figure out the point of it all.

The Festival consists of several 30 minute concerts where 5-7 kids play a piece of music in front of 2 judges or critiquers, whatever you'd like to call them. This concept is fine, except for the fact that it appears students are randomly thrown together in different rooms at different times and the poor teacher tries to sprint to all of his/her student's performances.

Here's an example: Joseph, (the most experienced at this Festival thing of 'the boys), was scheduled to play on a 10:30 recital. Here is a sampling of what pieces were played on that recital: Allegro, Andantino, Long, Long Ago, Seitz Concerto, 1st mvmnt., Two Grenadiers and then Joseph's piece, Mozart Concerto in G, 1st mvmnt. Anyone knowing anything about Suzuki can see that this is a very strange 'recital' program or matching of pieces----Book 1 30 second pieces matched with Joseph's 11 minute concerto. It just seemed a little lopsided.

Immediately after Joseph's 10:30 recital, David and Benjamin were scheduled to play in the 11:00 recital. Now, of course, David and Benjamin had been sitting through all of the 10:30 recital, ready to play. We had a program of the 11:00 recital and David was psyched that he was first----I was psyched because David was coming a little unraveled having had to sit through the first recital. But, unexpectedly, just as David was ready to go up and play, his teacher requested the hostess of the recital to put David toward the end so she can run and catch another student in another room.

David did not get this at all. All he could ascertain was that he had been sitting in a hot room, holding on to a program that said he was first on the next recital. I tried to explain the change in plans as another girl got up to play and I held David firmly in his seat. Well, David was having none of it------he started making rude sounds during the girls' piece and then he tried to wriggle out of my arm around his shoulder and kick the chairs and basically made a huge nuisance of himself. Finally, I escorted him right out the door into the hallway. I sat on a bench and tried to again explain to David why he couldn't act like an out of control 2 year old, which did little good. Finally in desperation, I took him into the bathroom and told him I was going to put soap in his mouth if he didn't stop yelling-----this was one threat I followed through on! Coughing and sputtering David finally stopped yelling long enough to say, "Why'd you do that?" After a few more moments of rinsing his mouth out, he calmed down enough to go back out in the hall. We finally went back into the room just in time for Benjamin to play and then this same lovely hostess who wrecked the recital got up and said "Well that's the end of the recital." Someone pointed out another child in the room and said they had not yet played. The child played and then the hostess again got up and tried to end the recital, another child got up and played, etc., until finally David was the only one left. He did play, miraculously, without throwing the violin or bow, and did a pretty good job----for which I was very grateful!

Anyway, at our next lesson, our teacher gave the boys their certificates and critique sheets. On the lower left hand corner of each sheet was a box for a 'score.' As she discussed each boys critique's and comments, of course, David wanted to know, so what is the 'score?" What was a good score, what was the best score, what does it mean? Our teacher replied that the score didn't really mean anything but that the comments were more valuable. I was thinking....."If the score doesn't mean anything, then get rid of it!" Because now we were going to have to deal with which boy got the 'best' score, etc. Thankfully, David received a score somewhere in the middle, which seemed to satisfy him. Thank heavens!

Anyway, at the time I thought, so if none of this really means anything, score wise---we're not working for something, we're not earning anything with the points, we're not trying to achieve any level with the 'points', then what is the point? I think our teacher was trying to get us to enjoy playing at the Festival just for the enjoyment of participation and the experience. Of course, this made me realize, uncomfortably, what type of person I am.

I had a hard time with just letting my kids have 'an experience' and enjoying whatever level they were on. I wanted them to be the best, to earn the most points, to be 'chosen'-----maybe I didn't want it for them, maybe I wanted it for me-----scary thought! Anyway, it made me think about a lot of the ways I run my life. Am I doing things to 'win the prize?', to 'have the most points', to be 'the high-scorer'? Am I perturbed and not easily placated when I can't be 'first?" Do I have a hard time being 'flexible' when I'm kicked out of the number 1 seat to hang out somewhere in the 'obscure' middle? When things don't go the way I planned, do I murmur and kick the chair? Do I need to have my mouth washed out sometimes because I can't stop complaining about the 'unfairness' of the situation? Hmmmmmmm, I am beginning to realize that some of these lovely personality traits of mine are being picked up quite easily by my children. As much as David's behavior was appalling to me at the moment, I have to say unfortunately that he's probably picked up some of his impatience and intolerance from his mother----poor child!

So why do we do ASTA? If it's not for the score, not for the 'win', not for the prestige of being number 1........can we be content with doing our best, giving our all, just enjoying the experience? Hopefully, that's what my boys will gain----to be happy with their best, be flexible with others, and love the experience! I'm proud of you guys! You did great!