Special Moments

Jonathan
Last weekend was a really big weekend. We had lots and lots of family time. I felt that we all needed a break on Sunday. I decided to forgo our Family Home Evening that we normally do on Sundays. I also decided to skip our Sunday Letter project that we had started the week before. I thought that two late nights in a row should warrant a day of rest. The kids went about their business and made no mention of the abandoned activities. It should be noted that we still had an extra-special dessert that Jonathan got to choose.

Now, fast forward to last night. Jonathan looked up at me and so sweetly asked if we could have Family Home Evening. It was late and I was in no way prepared. He said, “I like it when we get to eat candy and I really like to learn new stuff.” My heart did flip-flops. I sure do love this boy. Instead of Family Home Evening, we picked out two pieces of Halloween candy and sat down to work on our Sunday Letter project. Each of the kids wrote out the little notes that they would have written on Sunday. Then we read several articles from our church magazine. I am so glad that Jonathan reminded me how important our Family Home Evenings are.

Jessica
I love to walk past Jessie’s room. She always has her CD player going with lots of uplifting music. She loves to listen to music from her favorite LDS artists. She is bombarded on a daily basis with texts, media and internet material that sometimes is not uplifting. I can’t always see what she is doing on the internet or on her phone. I am glad to know that she is  listening to good music. I am thankful for her example in our home.

Yesterday, Jess came in and sat next to me. She wanted to share something important with me. (That doesn’t happen often with this teenager, so I seized the opportunity). Jess has a friend that was in a car accident. She was very worried about this girl and had been praying for days. She had mentioned fasting and we had asked her not to. Jess was in the middle of switching medicines and I really didn’t think it was a good time to get her blood sugar out of balance. However, I know she was fasting anyway, because she was eating absolutely nothing.

Jess recounted how hard she had been praying. She told me that she had received word that her friend was okay and would be out of the hospital soon. Jessica was so sweet as we talked about how this experience had strengthened her testimony of prayer.

Parenting is such hard work, but I want to always remember these special moments.

The Family Project

Jonathan had a project due on the Jumano Indians.  He was supposed to make an artifact from the tribe.  Since I help Jonathan stay on track with book reports and most other projects, I asked Fred to assist him with this one.  Jonathan really had his heart set on making one of their weapons.  After doing research, that was quickly ruled out.  The boys decided to make a replica of their house.

Fred and Jonathan went to the library to get information on the types of houses that the tribe lived in.  I bet that was interesting.  I don't think Fred has been in a library since he was in college.  After that information was obtained, the three of us set out for Hobby Lobby.  I think it took us a good hour to decide on the tools and materials necessary to build the house.

Fred and Jonathan decided clay would be their best bet.  There was only one problem.  They didn't know how to work with clay.  Fred found a nice size plastic box to use as their form.  They placed the clay all around the form and then put it out on the back porch to harden.  Oh my, it was certainly an ugly time at our house when they opened the back door to check on their project.  As the clay dried, it also cracked.  It took two solid days to piece the house back together.

Being the man that he is, Fred went to Lowes and bought all sorts of man stuff to fix the clay house.  He bought liquid nails and spray foam.  He reattached the house with liquid nails and then sprayed the inside with the foam.  I am thankful that Jonathan's teacher didn't flip the house over and look inside it.

The project was due on Tuesday.  All three of us proudly took the house in to the school.  I drove and Fred carefully held their masterpiece.  Jonathan got a 90 on the project.  I was interested to see what she counted off 10 points for.  He had to write a paragraph about his artifact on a note card.  She deducted 10 points, because it wasn't neatly written. 

Jonathan brought his artifact home today.  He was excited and said that everyone liked his house.  He said that Mrs. Blackwell even asked him if they could display it in the library.  He told her that I would prefer that he bring it home.  Just for the record, I would prefer that it stay in the library for as long as they want it.  There is no room in our little house to display such a project.  We took lots of pictures of it tonight, so that we can take it back to the library to be displayed. 

Here he is being silly.  He is acting like he's a giant attacking their village.  Only a boy would think that is funny.

Dressing with a Voice

Jonathan's class is working on using voice (energy, personality) in writing compositions.  Today, they were invited to dress with a voice.  This means that they could dress in a way that expresses their personality.  This is what Jonathan chose to wear.  I asked him why he chose this particular shirt and he said that this shirt reflects his personality because he is funny.

(Don't pay attention to the really bad photography.  My camera has been trying to poop out on me since last March.  This morning was absolutely the last straw!  Several months ago, I researched my replacement camera and it is finally on sale!  Whoo-hoo!)

Trick-or-Treat

We celebrated Halloween in Allen with our good friends, the Garstkas and Millers.  The kids had a great time!

We discovered that it is very hard to find costumes that are appropriate for teenagers.  We finally found this witch costume.  Jess decided at the last second that she didn't want to wear the hat.  Instead, she called herself a vampire (without the teeth).

Jonathan was a Ninja Warrior.  He coughed the entire night.  Therefore, someone just had to ask if he was wearing the mask because he had the H1N1 virus.

Little Madison loves to have her picture taken.  She made sure that she was in practically every picture and she made that cute face in each shot.

The guys stayed behind and handed out candy.  Fred came prepared with his big comfy chair that we got him for Father's Day.

Here is the gang ready to start trick-or-treating.  Katy, Laura and Jessie (back row); Ally, Madison and Jonathan (front row).  They are a pretty cute group - I must say.

Our friend, Dave, dressed as The Joker.  Apparently, he had been growing his hair out in preparation.

Here is the gang hanging out with Chuckie and Jason.  Surprisingly, Jonathan could tell me all about these characters.  When asked how he knew all of this information, he said that ALL of his friends had seen the movies.  Great!  Good to know what we're learning on the playground at school.

The Older Girls - Laura, Jessie and Katy.  All three looked great!

In just a few minutes, we are going to start sorting through last night's candy.  The Pumpkin Fairy comes to our house and picks up most of the candy.  In exchange, each kid will get a prize.  I am excited, because I've heard that the prizes are awesome.  Both of the kids should be extra happy.

Happy Halloween

Buzz Lightyear and Princess Jasmine both wish you a Happy Halloween!

2002

A Week of Crazy

This week is Red Ribbon week. Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country. In honor of this week, there was a different theme each day at Jonathan's school.

Monday
Crazy Sock Day - Jonathan is wearing his dragon socks.  He wears these every year for crazy sock day.  He has just about grown out of them.  These socks aren't especially crazy.  He just really likes them.

Tuesday
Crazy Tie Day – We didn’t have a crazy tie, so Jonathan just wore an ugly one.

Wednesday
Wear Red Day

Thursday
Crazy Hair Day – There really isn’t anything crazy that you can do to Jonathan’s curly mop. Instead, he chose to wear this hat (a hat that my mother made to torture me) that looks like green hair.

Friday
Dress Like a Twin – Jonathan didn’t make plans to dress like someone else, so he just wore his usual Friday spiritwear. Surely, there were lots of kids wearing their Gunstream shirts today.  Hopefully, he found lots of twins.

Flour Baby

It is official! My future grandchildren are going to be in BIG trouble. Last Saturday, we had to drop Jess of at the church early for her Road Show. I assured her that I would take care of Baby Emma (I like to call her Flour Baby). I was entrusted with this sweet little five pound bag of flour. She was wearing a cute little onesie that both my kids had worn. She was swaddled in Jonathan’s favorite blanket as a toddler.

Fred, Jonathan and I decided to kill time before the show by hanging out in Lewisville. We went in to Walmart for about 45 minutes or so. I decided to leave Flour Baby in the car. I figured it was harmless. Who would know? Otherwise, I would end up looking like a nut case. I was afraid that security would call someone to haul me off. Think of how it would look… a grown woman walking around with a bag of flour swaddled in a baby blanket.

When we got back to the car, Fred realized what I had done. He got a big laugh. We stopped for dinner and he asked if I was going to leave the baby in the car, again. I smiled sheepishly and acknowledged that I indeed was going to leave the baby in the car. He is so silly. He cracked the window, so she would have some air. He assured me that should keep CPS from coming in to the restaurant and arresting me.

Oh, but it gets better. I decided to bring her into the church for the Road Show. I laid her across my lap. Before long, I realized that I was leaning into her with my elbows. Poor thing! I’m lucky that I didn’t bust the bag open with my elbows. Jess would have gotten failing grade for sure.

Jonathan was too short to see very well, so he kept getting on my lap. During this time, I would lay Flour Baby on his chair. That probably wasn’t the safest place for her, but she survived. His bony bottom was cutting off the circulation in my leg, so I would make him sit in his chair every so often. While we were going back and forth, we discovered that Flour Baby was absolutely in our way. So, I wrapped her up and shoved her under my chair. Again, not very safe, but she survived.

What was my biggest Flour Baby faux pas? After the show was over, I bent down to pick her up off the floor and I dropped her. She rolled across the floor (not very far – bags of flour don't really roll that well). My visiting teachers were sitting next to me. Oh, how they laughed and proclaimed that I wasn’t a very good grandmother! Thankfully, she survived.

P.S. I was wrapping Flour Baby in her blanket, when Fred asked, "Are you really going to swaddle that bag of flour?"  This intrigued Jonathan and he said, "Swaddle?  Does that mean that you are going to kill the baby?"  I never thought of it, but I guess the word swaddle does sound like it could be something violent.