Our Family Project

Last night when we were doing our bedtime routine we came to a decision for our focus in 2015 in regards to our nighttime devotionals. From the time that Eliza was three-years-old we have had the same bedtime routine: read the scriptures, say the article faith of the month, sing the primary song being taught in primary that month, then pray and go to bed. (With the addition of use the bathroom, brush your teeth, and say individual prayers in there before actually getting in bed.) When it was time to say the article of faith last night, Jon started to say it in Spanish. That's when the light bulb went on, or I guess you could say inspiration hit. We decided that since we've been doing the same thing for almost 12 years (!!!!) we could change it up. Maryanne is the only one (aside from Nadine) who is still memorizing the articles of faith. So everyone else has been kind of bored.  In 2015 we are going to learn the articles of faith in Spanish! We are also going to add a hymn in S...

I know I've been really superficial with my grateful days entries.  But, for some reason, I felt like most of the entries from last year were really deep and serious.  And, this year, I wanted to include a few that were just little things that I am grateful for.  Turns out, I am grateful for A LOT of little things. Tonight it is Sardines. Jon and I had a really good discussion this evening.  Today was the second time in the last month that he has taken me with him to visit people in the ward.  Actually, to be more accurate, we went to visit two widows that are his home teaching families.  On the way home we were talking about his new schedule regarding church meetings and such.  He said that he had someone tell him to do as much as possible on Sundays and one other day during the week, and then leave the rest of the nights during the week for family. I told him that I would prefer that he let Sunday be the Sabbath Day and spend most of the time...

Today I was able to attend Time Out for Women.  It was a pretty good day.  One of the speakers talked about how we, as women, have negative thoughts about ourselves all the time.  She said that if we were to actually say to other people what we say to ourselves, we wouldn't have any friends.  At that point, I leaned over to my friend and said, "Yeah.  You're so stupid."  She laughed.  It's so true!  I almost want to count all of my negative thoughts about myself just to see how many I have all day long. For example, this morning I was thinking that the person I'd been talking to in regards to my church calling probably was rolling her eyes and complaining about my ignorance and ineptness at what I was supposed  to be doing.  But, imagine if I were to go up to someone I work with at church and say, "Okay, when are you going to finally understand how to do your calling?  You're so stupid!  Just get your act together.  It's...

Today I am reminded of how great Jon's job is.  Yesterday, a friend was asking me about how we are adjusting to Jon's calling in the church.  I love that I was able to tell her that it hasn't been too much of an adjustment for us yet.  Granted, it's only been a couple of weeks, but I haven't felt any difference in our family life.  I'm sure this is due to two reasons: 1) This week was Halloween, so all meetings were pretty much cancelled due to the Trunk-or-treat on the 30th and Halloween on the 31st.  Plus, Jon has been sick this week, so he didn't have anything scheduled for Thursday. 2) He works from home. *This, I'm sure, is the really reason I haven't felt too much of a difference.* Jon's job is so flexible and great for our family life.  I love that he will come out of his office for just five minutes, or ten minutes, to get something to eat or just take a break.  It's ideal because we are able to see him during the day for th...

In April we participated in our homeschool group's Geography Fair.  We went the easy route because we were throwing together our project at the last minute, and chose to do our project on Chile!  It was easy because that's where Jon served his mission.  So, we had a bunch of little items that showcased the culture there.  Jon and I traced the map on a long sheet of paper, and, okay, we colored it too.  We are such control freaks.  Oh well.  The children drew little pictures/icons of exports, produce, and other things that symbolized specific things we learned about Chile.  We got to the part and everything was set up trunk-or-treat style ... which was so great!  Although, our friends in the car next to us did their report on Argentina ... the sworn enemy of Chile! Then, came the presentation!  This was the fun part.  Eliza, Kate and I got together the day before the fair and wrote a rap for our presentation.  Then, we broke u...

Our Christmas was so much fun.  In the past I've been ready well before Christmas, with present wrapped at the end of October.  Not so for this year.  I was shopping for presents the Saturday before Christmas.  And, after going out there in the masses ... I will not do that again next year!  Traditionally, our children have stocking stuffers and presents from us.  We don't do the Santa thing.  Just haven't ever wanted to.  Also traditionally, all of our children get similar items.  Most of the time it's because they all want what each other wants.  But, sometimes it's not the case.  This year, they all got lapdesks to use for school when we do our science or history in the living room.  (Of course, they each got their assigned color as well.) Traditionally, we all get toothbrushes in our stockings.  This year I got them all battery-powered toothbrushes.  I've never seen so many children get excited over a toothbru...

Jon got a mysterious package in the mail the other day.  We weren't quite sure what it was.  It came from someone from work, labeled with his company name, but in a Staples box that had been beaten up quite a bit. When Jon opened the box, he started laughing.  To be honest, I wasn't really paying him much attention until he said it was the "Brain Award."  That's when I looked over.  I saw the piece of paper that was his award, but didn't see "The Brain" at first.  That's when he lifted Brain out of the box.  I thought it was brilliant!  He was given this award based on his client's satisfaction of his performance! Unfortunately, he has to pass it on to someone else on his team ... so sad, Brain would be an awesome addition to our family!  :(  I absolutely love The Animaniacs ... and wish it were more accessible for viewing.  But, for now, we get to look at Brain until it is Jon's turn to pass it along.

Last Thursday was Jon's birthday.  Happy Birthday Jon! I was thinking about all of his friends who wished him a happy birthday on Facebook.  That is kind of a trend ... saying happy birthday to friends who you may or may not really care about, but feel obligated to say something just because they are on your friends list.  For the record ... I care deeply about Jon, even though I didn't write anything about his birthday on his Facebook wall (or mine). Instead, I told him several times throughout the day, "Happy Birthday!"  Probably the best time for him though, was when I leaned over and whispered "Happy Birthday" in his ear while we were at a football game. He was fortunate enough to know a guy, who knew a guy, who had tickets for the Cardinals vs. Broncos football game that night.  And, my mom was so wonderful to come and stay with our children while we went to the game.  We got tickets from someone who goes to our church, who was given a plethora o...

Our first science experiment last week was about camouflage, specifically why animals have/use camouflage and how it keeps them alive.  In our science book there is this experiment that my children really enjoyed.  In fact, they asked if they could do it for our next Family Home Evening activity when we invite another family to participate with us. Step One: Dump out some M&Ms onto a paper towel and sort them into groups by color.  Count the smallest group and then take away as many as you need from the other colors to make them all equal.  (So, most of my children had groups of 9.) Step Two: Pick three colors of construction paper that match three of the colors of M&Ms.  Take seven papers from each of the three colors and tear them into six pieces.  Crumple those pieces and throw them into a laundry basket.  Line the sides of the laundry basket with six pieces of construction paper, two of each of the three colors. Step Three: Dump all ...

Recently, Jon and I spent some time watching the PBS broadcast of the 25th Anniversary performance of Les Miserables, the Musical.  And, let me tell you, it was phenomenal (even with Nick Jonas's less than stellar performance ... don't get me started).  It was so inspiring that Jon decided to actually read the book the musical was based on. The summer before my senior year in high school I received a letter from my forthcoming AP English teacher explaining that each entering senior enrolled in her class was to read the entire unabridged English translation of Les Miserables before school began in August.  Or, perhaps it was that only a specific length of the book was to be finished.  I don't remember exactly. However, I do remember seeing my friends during summer break and we were constantly asking each other, "Where are you in the book ?"  At one point, one of my guy friends told me to skip pages 830-886 (or some random number like that).  He explained...

Our Heavenly Father is so merciful and wonderful.  He has given me challenges to help me grow and in return he has given everything I could ever hope for: everything I need.  When we first considered moving to Arizona, we had an "ideal" expectation for what it would be like here.  The last nine months have not been in the shape of that conjecture, and have been much more work than we thought.  But, we have learned quite a bit.  We learned that although we would not be able to get the house, or yard we thought, or live right next to the office, that we would be okay.  And, so our expectations changed. I am grateful for a house.  We finally have a house!  And, the circumstances regarding this house are so much more involved than I expected.  For months we have been looking for a house.  This is the fifth house we've made on offer on (and the fifth accepted).  We truly believe we were not supposed to buy the previous four hous...

Jon has a new job.  Just in case some of you haven't heard.  He got a new job a few weeks ago.  It is an awesome job!  He gets to work from home presenting for clients over the Internet.  It's still with the same company, and right now his old manager is letting him use his office space from his old job until we move into a house with a home office. It is amazing how different Jon's attitude has been the last two weeks.  Last week he had training, and this has been his first week really "on the job."  And, he has been home later in the morning, and come home earlier in the evening than ever!  Seriously!  Yesterday he called around 3:30 or 4 and said that he was done for the day.  He feels guilty not working eight hours a day, but sometimes the work is done before the eight hours! Jon's stress level has decreased by, oh, about 95%.  His previous job was a sales job, so his stress was pretty high.  I am so grateful he has a n...

Today is a good day to be grateful for my marriage.  Over the last several years we have witnessed more than a handful of marriages (both our friends' and some in our family) fall apart, or disintegrate.  Jon and I have been third party, or a listening ear, for some of the people in those marriages; and each time, I am more and more grateful for the marriage we have.  It is not perfect.  It is not from a storybook.  It is NOT easy.  But, it's something we have worked on from day one.  We have had our trials and uphill battles ... and they will never go away ... but, the one thing that we agreed on when we got married was that divorce would never be an option. When I met my in-laws for the first time, I could almost feel their hesitancy about me because my parents are divorced.  It was almost like they were afraid for Jon ... thinking that because my parents divorced, that it would be more likely that I would want a divorce (as compared to someo...

I have six reasons to feel grateful today.  Originally, I was going to give each person their own day.  But, then I thought about it and realized that if I give each person in my immediate family their own day of gratitude (not that it's not deserved), there would be five days for which I could have expressed gratitude for something else.  Thereby, feeling even more gratitude and seeing even more of my blessings.  So, my six reasons to feel gratitude today: Jon I've told him many times before that he is the best-suited person for me.  He understands me in ways that I don't understand myself.  He always picks up the pieces for me when I fall short (which has been happening a lot recently).  I am so grateful that he is able to recognize a need and fill it.  Especially those needs that I do not realize are unfulfilled.  Sometimes I feel like he is my Emma ... and I am Mr. Knightly: I'm frequently trying to "help" him become a better person, a...

For Jon's birthday this year, I decided to do something a little different.  I'd read on a blog about a couple who would give each other a children's book instead of a birthday card.  On that blog, she even suggested a book to give as the first one ... which was so hilariously funny, and perfect for Jon, that I chose to give him that book even if I don't make it a tradition.  Yes, it might be a little abnormal, but if you are familiar with Jon's childhood, you'll know it is absolutely applicable and appropriate.  When he opened this present, he sat there silently laughing for a full 3 minutes.  The children, who hadn't seen the book yet, were all jumping on top of each other to see what the book was. And, my mom also gave Jon a most appropriate gift this year.  Something that I've been hearing about for quite a while now.  I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about a birthday present ... well, except for the time I got him a high-power dr...

Jon was in charge of the activity for Family Night.  He's always pulling out the most ingenious and original activities.  One time, he brought home a few pieces of bubblewrap that they had at work.  Yes.  Bubble.  Wrap.  He gave each of the children a piece and that's what we did ... pop the bubbles.  And, it was a blast. Another time, he pulled out a penny and we played "Who has the penny?"  (Which the children then tried to replicate another day one on one ... um, didn't work so well.)  Or, there was the time when he said, "The activity is going to bed!"  And, we all proceeded to  pile onto our queen-size bed and just snuggle for a while before we forgot that the littlest of us all was under the blankets and gasping for breath. We used to have a Family Home Evening wheel that had all our names on it (minus Maryanne) that was mounted on a circle divided into six categories (lesson, activity, opening prayer, closing prayer, music,...