An Important Message

From Jonathan and Mollie:

Good Night.

Sleep Tight.

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite.

The Brave Scout

Jonathan's Cub Scout pack had their Blue and Gold Banquet last night.  Dinner consisted of pancakes, orange slices, sausage, and muffins.  For some reason, my children will not eat breakfast for dinner.  I have tried it numerous times, and they just can't do it.  They end up making themselves an alternate meal.   

 Jess just didn't eat last night. Jonathan, on the other hand, tried the orange slices, chocolate muffin and THREE pieces of sausage. I guess he was in need of some protein last night.

 The Webelos were in charge of our entertainment.  They acted out a skit with very predictable 10 year old boy humor.  Jonathan played the brave scout that was bored by every attempt to scare him.  Sister Gschwend came out to present him with the a bravery award.  As you can guess, the sight of a female sent him running.  See... 10 year old boy humor at its best.

 Jonathan earned his Communications belt loop.  Way to go, Bubs!

Fishing with Dad

The Parks and Recreation folks in Frisco dumped 2300 Rainbow Trout into the pond at Frisco Commons Park on Saturday.  The boys packed their fishing gear, and some snacks for a fun day of fishing.  To my surprise, they were there until the early afternoon.

Fred wasn't happy when I loaded my old camera with a memory card and batteries. Surely, he wasn't expected to take pictures on his Father/Son fishing outing!  When I was looking at the pictures on the card, I told Jonathan that I really liked his fish.  He grinned and confided that really wasn't his fish.  He was holding his Daddy's fish.  When I inquired as to why he didn't get his picture taken with his own fish, I absolutely had to laugh at his answer.  Basically, Fred forgot to take a picture of Jonathan with one of his fish, and knew that I would be upset.  As Jonathan said, "Daddy had already whacked the heads off my fish.  So, he had me hold his fish for the picture."

P.S.  Again, I must remind you that I didn't marry my husband for his photography skills.

Mistakes Happen

After reading the Book of Mormon, I was on a scripture high.  I decided to set a new goal for myself.  I would read the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearle of Great Price by the end of February.  To my amazement, I finished both works by February 18th.  This was some serious reading folks.  I was averaging at least 5 sections a day.  Usually it was more like 10 or sometimes even 15 sections a day.  When I finished on Thursday, I felt really, really good. 

When you are striving to do good things, we all know what happens next.  Oh yes, Satan steps in with his sneaky little self.  I remember waking up a little nervous this morning.  I thought it was because of all the deadlines that we had to meet.  I went to work feeling good, and trying to make my positive attitude last throughout the day.  By noon, it was clear that I had made a big mistake at work (at least it was big to me).  It was an honest mistake, though.  My duties are shifting, and I'm still learning.  I usually ask LOTS of questions, but we were running at a crazy pace.  I didn't stop and ask.  No, Satan wasn't responsible for my mistake.  Like I said, it was an honest one.  I let him influence my reaction to the mistake.  I allowed him to slip into my thoughts.  Within seconds, I had undone 18 days of reading and feeling the Spirit.  I spent the entire day beating myself up, and berating myself for being so stupid.  In hindsight, it was a complete waste of energy, and I really wasn't stupid.  If I make the same mistake twice, then we can call me stupid.  This time was a valuable learning experience. 

I sat down in my boss' office, and told her that it was my mistake.  Told her how I made the mistake.  She just said okay.  She let it go, but I didn't.  Jokingly, I asked her if she would please fire me, so that I could go home.  I was joking, but I don't think I would have been hurt if she had taken me up on it.  But, she didn't.  Her reply was "No.  Now go back to your desk.  You have work to do." 

I hate making mistakes.  However, they are a part of life.  It is how we deal with them that matter.  Clearly, I have some work to do in that area.

Fortenberry Family Fun

We had one of our infamous Fortenberry Family Fun Days last Saturday.  Jessie's friend, Andee, spent the night on Friday.  She was supposed to go home Saturday morning.  However, we decided to let Andee stay for the day and enjoy our Fortenberry Family Fun Day.  I can't remember what we did Saturday morning.  I think we were lazy.  Lounged about, and then worked like mad to get everyone pushed through the shower and dressed. 

The Fortenberry Four + Andee met up with our friend, Angela, and her girls.  We went to see the The Lightening Thief.  Jonathan was the only one in the group that had read the book.  We were about middle of the way through the movie when Jonathan declared that he was ready to go home.  I guess there were some differences between the movie and the book that Jonathan didn't appreciate.  By the end, Jonathan decided that he liked the movie.  The other kids didn't have anything to compare it to, so they thought it was a great movie - from beginning to end.

After The Lightening Thief, we met with with our friends for my birthday dinner.  The food was wonderful.  The company was wonderful.  And, it is nice to have such great friends.

This isn't the whole group.  The kids (except for Jonathan) are missing from this shot.  I gave the camera to Fred to take some pictures.  This is what I got!  He didn't use the flash (my fault for not pointing it out to him), and he didn't take pictures of everyone.  Oh well, I didn't marry him for his photography skills!

Snow Day

We had an official snow day on Friday.  There were kids in and out of my house all day.  Each time they came inside they tracked mounds of snow.  They dropped their snowy coats, gloves and shoes in my entryway, and made drippy messes.  But, what fun they had!

My snow-filled backyard.

 The view from my front door.

The front yard - after it had been marred by footsteps, and who knows what else.

Jonathan called this his fort.  Then he straddled it, and called it his motorcycle.

Jessie hanging with some of the neighborhood kids.

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday was last Thursday, February 11th

I woke up to find that my backyard looked like this!

I went to work, and my friends had a cake for me. 

We got to leave work a little early because of the weather.  This is what my neighborhood looked like at 4:30 p.m.

Fred wanted to have a snowball fight.  Seriously, who wants to have a snowball fight with Fred.  Can you even call that huge glob a snowball?

Jonathan enjoyed scooping and playing in the snow.

I got to pull out my rubber boots.  I used to wear these things all around the UNT campus.  They kept my footsies warm and dry.

My friend from work, Donna, made me this humongous cupcake.  It was as big as my head... no lie.  Fred braved the snow, and grilled steak for my birthday dinner.  I couldn't believe it when he announced that we were having steak on a snowy day!  After dinner, we enjoyed this delicious cake.

Oh, what a wonderful birthday I had!  Thank you to everyone that helped make it a special day.

Grandmotherly Love

Me and Granny

My Granny (Jessie Belle Norman Forthman) left this earthly world on February 15, 1988... just four short days after my 16th birthday.  (Please don't do the math on that one.)   I was crushed.  I named my daughter Jessica in her honor.  I never planned to call her Jessie, though.  Somehow, Jessica emerged as a Jessie, and it worked.

As I've mentioned before, my Grandma has been ill.  She seems to be doing much better now.  So, my mom is preparing to move her from a nursing home to an assisted living arrangement.  I had asked what we could do to help.  Mom was hesitant.  Probably because the Fortenberry's bring chaos almost every time we head to Greenville.  The problem starts with Jessie.  She doesn't eat a good breakfast.  Then we leave right at lunch time.  I stop along the route to get them lunch.  Jess doesn't eat hers.  We drive along, and she does all the things you shouldn't do while riding in a car.  She lays down; she has her head hunched down texting; reads books and magazines; and battles low blood sugar from not properly eating.  What results is that Jess is not only sick, but cranky.  She is so cranky that she gets the nickname Crankella on any ride that lasts longer that 30 or 40 minutes.  Jessie's crankiness triggers some kind of radar that Jonathan has.  When she gets cranky he goes into "I must annoy my sister mode."  Needless to say we are a train wreck waiting to happen.  So, we got a call this morning letting us know that we were welcome to head toward Greenville.  We made some slight adjustments to our day, and started on the hour long trek.  I might add that the scenario above did occur!  We took the minivan instead of the car, so that seemed to help with the car sickness a little.  It did not help with the low blood sugar or crankiness.

Me and Grandma

As we started on our drive, I told my kids that today was the anniversary of Granny's death.  I thought it was quite fitting to go visit Grandma on this day.  I hope my Granny would be happy.  I couldn't visit with her today, but I was able to see my Grandma.  I'm glad that things had calmed down in Greenville, so that we could make a trip out there.

And, what a visit it was.  Grandma was filled with all kinds of feistiness.  Jess thought it was hysterically funny, and asked my mom if she was going to be this entertaining when she is older.  Jonathan's comment: "MaMaw is Grandma's daughter.  That means that Grandma can say and do whatever she wants." 

Grandma told Jess that she was the most beautiful girl in the world.  That absolutely made Jessie's day.  Jonathan was told that he was so pretty that he could be a girl.  Jonathan's reply, "Before I was born, my parents thought that I was going to be a girl."  Son, you really shouldn't tell people that the doctor told us that you were a girl at first.  This could cause laughter, plus your dad doesn't like for us to talk about it.  And, once again, Jonathan was kissed to death.  He didn't seem to mind, though.

Grandmothers are special.  I'm glad that I have one watching over me in heaven.  And, I'm especially thankful that I can have a feisty one here on this earth still. 

I Promise

I promise to take some time this week to get our blog caught up.  I can't believe that I've only posted two times this month.  I have a lot rolling around in my head that I want to get typed up. Seriously, I have composed lots of posts in my head.  Unfortunately, none of them made it to the blog.

Work has been crazy.  I have been coming home more than a little bit tired.  First, I concentrate on my family. Then, I read my scriptures.   I'm trying to read The Doctrine and Covenants along with Pearle of Great Price in a month.  I'm actually a couple of days ahead of schedule.  I get all that done, and then have great plans to post.  After being on the computer all day, I can't seem to get motivated to get back on.  This week will be different.  I WILL get caught up.  I want to capture the highlights of our trip to Hot Springs, my birthday, and playing in the snow.

Stay tuned...

Blogging from Hot Springs

The Fortenberry Four made a quick trip to Hot Springs this weekend.  We met up with Fred's family to watch our sweet cousin/nephew in a free throw tournament.  I have a soft spot for Central Arkansas (I'm sure my dad will correct me if Hot Springs is not in Central Arkansas), so when we were invited to meet everyone up here for a weekend, we jumped at the chance.

We left for Arkansas last night at 7:45 p.m.  Due to a series of calamities, we had to turn back home at 8:45 p.m.  I was frustrated that we hadn't planned better, and left something very important at home.  It turned out to be a blessing, because the cat was accidentally locked in Jessie's room.  She would have spent the weekend without food, water or a litter box.  We quickly got over the inconvenience when we realized how fortunate it was that we returned home.

We rolled into town at 1:50 p.m. last night.  We are only a little tired.  I'm sure it will hit tonight, though.  I had better run.  The kids are splashing and playing in the indoor pool, before we head out for an early dinner.  Plus, I want to take a few pictures.  It is only a couple of times a year that these boys get to hang together.

I Did It!

I did it!  I finished reading The Book of Mormon!  Oh, yes I did!  I started reading on 11/15/09, and planned to finish by 2/15/10.  And, here I am.  I finished two weeks early!  I'm pretty sure that this book mark was the key to my success.  I just love to color in a square after I've finished reading each chapter.  It is the small things for me.

This is my second time (I know, I'm a loser) to read the Book of Mormon from start to finish - all the way through.  I read my scriptures regularly, but I skip around.  I've started the Book of Mormon way more than the two times that I've finished it.  I always get stuck at Alma.  I don't know why, but that is where I get bogged down.

I am so happy to be a good example to my children.  For the last 2 1/2 months, they have seen me with my nose stuck in this book.  My co-workers have seen me on my lunch hour reading, and have asked questions. 

I'm excited to be finished, but now I'm a little lost as to what to do next.  Do I continue on with The Doctrine and Covenants.  Do I dare start The Old Testaments, since that is what we are studying this year in Sunday School?  Or, do I just start over and start reading The Book of Mormon, again.  I could also go back to my old method of studying the scriptures... by topic.  Clearly, I have some decisions to make tonight.

Moroni 10:4

I do not express my feelings very eloquently, so I'm not sure if I should even try to share my testimony in this post.  I can tell you I am so thankful to have The Book of Mormon (along with The Bible, The Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearle of Great Price).  I am thankful for the freedom to be able to read it wherever I choose - even if that happens to be in the breakroom at work.  I know that it is truly another testament of Jesus Christ.  I am thankful to those whose lives inspired me to learn more about The Book of Mormon and to invite the missionaries into my home.

See... I told you... not so eloquent.  But, hopefully, you get the idea.