Just wanted to capture the day to day stuff that goes on around here...the little things that get forgotten because they don't seem big ...even though its these little things that tell so much of our story.
Scott refuses to wear shoes (or clothes) and runs around half naked and barefoot as much as possible. (no matter how many times I dress him) I think he should have been born Hawaii.
Scott has a teeny speech delay. I am so thankful for our wonderful speech therapist Megan who has been coming to our house two times each month since the end of August to teach us how to pull words out of Scott and help him learn many more. When you find someone who is really really good at what they do and they seem to enjoy it, they are worth gold.
Our dishwasher is sort of wigging out...It is not even three years old yet. This is the second time we need to call a repair man. Kenmore used to be a brand you could rely on. I hate nothing more than mostly clean dishes.
I try to play with Scott every day between 9:30am-10:30 am doing whatever he wants to do. This includes going somewhere. This last week we went to story time at the library and he absolutely loved it.
Scott is the little tornado right now. He goes around tearing things apart and "exploring" more than ever before.
I just gave Jacob the best haircut of his life. Two days later I discovered that he had tried to cut his hair some more and has an almost bald spot on top of his head and his bangs are spiky strands of different lengths and practically non existent in some spots. Today we are going to try to fix this this problem.
I drive a carpool two days a week. (Jonathan's Jr High Carpool) It takes me about an hour to do it each time. I have done this for 5 years. I look forward to not driving in a carpool next year.
I spent 30 minutes rebuilding Michael's special lego set the other night, after Scott found it and "played" with it for a bit.
Jonathan loves his other brothers, Zach Kushlan and Bode Pfau and hangs out with them about every weekend as much as we will let him. He has the greatest friends and we are so grateful for that.
Joseph got up early this morning to get to school an hour early so he could do homework. He said getting to school early is "incredibly useful." He visits with teachers and studies in the library. Wow...what a difference a year can make!
We are in the middle of basketball season. It is fun to watch our boys play. Only three of them are playing right now. That is very nice. Life is more sane.
Eric is waiting to hear where he has been accepted to go to college. He is hoping for BYU or BYU-I and has the grades and the ACT scores etc to get in...so he is waiting and hoping.
The other day I found a paper on Eric's desk titled, "Instructions for Filling out Mission Paperwork." ...Wow...life moves fast. My heart skipped a beat.
Joseph is excited to get his learners permit so he can start driving.
Everyone is required to do their "jobs" each day at 5 pm after free time. After years of working at this I now only hear a few complaints, because I think mostly everyone has decided to comply with Mom's law. And I hope I make it worth their while. I know someday they will thank me...and boy do I need their help!
I struggle to keep the kitchen picked up...I feel it is nearly impossible to do. Someone is always getting a snack and no matter how much I remind these boys to clean up after themselves the kitchen still seems cluttered.
Michael loves to play with his friend Brandon. They are both so much alike. They are both so nice, quiet, kind, polite and helpful. I am so glad he has such a good friend.
Michael and Jacob both love to play with Keller the darling boy next door. Keller is another brother and hangs out with us quite a bit. They do lots of things together. They go sledding, play spy games, ride bikes, kick a soccer ball, play catch, dig in the dirt, jump on the trampoline, play video games together and I could go on and on. So glad the Wilhites moved in next door.
I would love to learn how to have a completely uncluttered house..like my grandmas had. I wish they would just get back down here (from heaven) and spend a few days with me and teach me how to do this.
We can't find our phone half the time because it gets left in odd places....like in the laundry room in a pile behind the laundry basket.
We go through atleast 6-7 gallons of milk each week and 2 gallons of orange juice and we eat atleast 1 loaf of bread each day. Right now the boys are choosing hot cocoa as their snack of choice. I am not sure how many cups we go through each day but it is a lot.
On Thursday mornings I go to Michael and Jacob's school early to direct the school's choir. This is a new experience for me this year. So far we are keeping things simple. There is wisdom in this but the Crowley girl in me wants to make this really big and amazing. I am glad I do this with another Mom who is wise enough to just keep it simple. I know I can learn a lot from her.
Our beloved Suburban has broken down 3 times in the last 6 weeks costing us a little more than a thousand dollars in repairs. What to do?
Jacob is waking up happier these days. He has woken up really grouchy since he was an infant. I am glad I have loved him through it all..... I deserve a gold medal for patience.
Michael is still such an angel boy....so good..almost too good to be here. Do you have one of those at your house? Even when he tries to act all naughty I don't really believe him..and I don't think he believes himself either. It is like he is trying it out to see how it feels because it is completely foreign experience for him.
My sister Caryn and her family stayed with us for about two days just before Christmas and I realized just how much I miss her! She lives in Hawaii and has lived away somewhere since she and her husband graduated from BYU and I don't get to see her very much anymore. I really miss her.
We are looking for a good deal on granite and tile because we are finally going to remodel our bathrooms. I apologize to anyone who has stayed with us. I know our bathrooms have needed help for a long time.
Last September, Eric was asked to help out at "Special Needs Mutual" by being a counselor. I finally went with him last night to see what he does there. I was unprepared for the strong spirit I felt there. I stood in the doorway and cried. I felt in awe of the "celestial" pure souls who were there enthusiastically singing in whatever way they could and learning about the Gospel. I will write more about this later. But, I am so glad Eric is involved in this...so grateful.
Scott sleeps with us as much as possible and as much as we will let him. Ahh well, he is the last child.
Scott's obsession right now is trains. He has several train sets and plays with them all the time. He also loves to watch any movie that includes a train. This has been going on for atleast 6 months now. Scott's other favorite toys are balls.... Because of this he received 3 of them for Christmas. I good soft nerf ball will keep him busy for awhile.
This is his Thomas Train set...
My boys all love to sleep with atleast two pillows...
Jonathan is getting a "mustache" just on around the corners of his mouth. I am thinking already?!!! He is only 14!
I love to hear my boys laughing and talking together after they have gone to bed. Sometimes they do this until late. But, I can't find it in myself to stop them...mostly. I know they will cherish those memories their whole lives.
I am madly in love with my husband Steve....so grateful that we feel more "one" with each passing year.
I exercise for 30 minutes almost every day between 8:30 am and 9:00 am. If I don't answer the phone during that time, you will know why.
I pick up legos and nerf gun darts everyday in the most unusual places.
I love how my big boys smell right after they get out of the shower. Thank You Gillette body wash and really manly smelling deodorants. My whole house and I thank you!
We have family prayer every night and it takes about 5 minutes to get everyone settled down enough to do it.
We usually read the scriptures every night before we have prayer but haven't done a very consistent job of this in the past two months. Even though our little boys sometimes complain about doing this, I know they have a place for it in their hearts. We have had a very good experience with this as a family. This is the third time we have read the Book of Mormon together. I am happy to report that we read together tonight and I know everyone felt good to have that back in the routine. It was like sitting back down into a comfortable well loved chair. We read Alma 37 tonight.
We have family counsel meeting on Sunday nights to go over the calendar for the coming week. If we didn't do this I would lose my mind and sometimes I still do. Ha Ha. Things used to be crazier in the Fall, with the school play, football and soccer oh and the usual piano lessons, scouts etc. But, things are much calmer now with basic basketball. I do like things calmer and not living every afternoon in the car driving someone somewhere. Even though I still drive a couple of places delivering someone somewhere each afternoon.
We have Family Home Evening on most Monday nights. Everyone gets to do a part...we call them vignettes. We read from "For the Strength of Youth" have a P.R.O. minute which stands for Please Remember Order, someone gets to share their favorite scripture and why and ofcourse we have a short lesson..taught by one of the boys or us. We try to have a short activity too...some game or something. Fun. And ofcourse a treat is required and this has been anything from m n m's to icecream cones at Maceys. We have to constantly try to keep Monday nights as sacred family time because it seems that everyone wants a piece of it. We have talked about doing family night at Sunday nights. The important thing is that we do it!
Eric just got home -as I type this- from Honor Choir practice that lasted all day. (It is almost 10 pm) He performs with choirs from all over Utah tomorrow at Abravanel Hall tomorrow. I can't wait to see the concert!
I missed my brothers and sisters today and wanted to talk to every one of them and just see what they have been doing lately.
Michael loves "dead" technology (old broken cameras, dead mp3's old computers etc) He has an old cell phone that he charges up and uses for all of its apps. He also has a new MP3 player that he uses for lots of reasons. His favorite one right now is the voice recorder. He uses it to record all kinds of things and sounds he can make. He and his friends and Jacob play it over his boom box and laugh and laugh.
I lay down with Scott and read him stories and then stay by him until he goes to sleep. He can't seem to go to sleep unless I do this.
The most annoying thing going on in our house right now is teasing. We have two boys who just Love to tease and torment others. It seems like I am mediating some awful little situation every hour. This is what tries my patience the most right now.
We love movie nights....this happens on either Saturday or Friday nights.
Jacob always freaks out a little the first time he sits down to practice after a piano lesson. But, then he works at it and it comes together. I have learned to just keep my distance and let him struggle it out. He is so very independent. I wish he could learn to be a little more teachable.
There are always shoes in our entry way. It has been this way for years. We want to find a solution for that problem this year.
I used to pick up dirty socks everywhere in every imaginable place. Today I noticed that I am mostly only picking up Jacob's and Scott's socks now days. Good for you boys.
I wish we did more with music. I have a secret dream that my boys will sing together often and be willing to perform in church and other places. I want my boys to experience what I experienced.
I only require that the boys beds are made and their clothes are put where they belong (not on the floor) in order to enjoy free time after school. They have to do those things before they go to school or the deals off! Sometimes I forget to enforce this, but I am working at it. My goal is to be consistent this year.
We generally try to have dinner at 6 pm everyday. I plan out menus a month at a time and follow it pretty closely. This helps me keep my sanity. We spend on average $800/ month on food.
Eric is so happy Jonathan discovered the Lightning Thief books and have loved talking about them each time Jonathan finishes reading another book. Jonathan and Eric are often seen curled up somewhere reading.
Jacob, Michael and I just finished reading Fablehaven 1 together. It was fun. They want me to read the first Lightning Thief book to them next. We try to read together at night after family prayer. I am trying to be consistent with this. I really do enjoy this time with them.
Steve works with the most wonderful people. We just had a party last week with his colleagues and their families. In our group we had people from Scotland, England, Germany, France, and Peru. During dinner it was interesting to hear the couples break into their foreign languages so we had Spanish, German and French all being spoken at random times along with English with the Scottish and English accents. I will write more about this later.
I still wish that we could live in other parts of the world. We almost took the opportunity to live in England about 10 years ago. I sometimes wonder what would have happened had we taken that opportunity.
One of our dreams is to take our boys backpacking through Bavaria, parts of Switzerland and to Salzburg Austria (where Grandpa Crowley served his mission)
I bought new shoes for Jacob yesterday and he was so excited! He had to wear them the minute we paid for them and then see how fast he could run to the car.
We talk about whether or not we should move about once a quarter. We really love where we are but there are things we would definitely change about our house. But, then we change our mind because our boys love their friends and everything is so good and settled.
The boys almost always throw their backpacks on the ground when they get home from school. We are working on fixing that problem this year. Oh, how I wish I had a mudroom!
I have the best calling at church. I teach primary, the 7-8 year olds. This is the year they get baptized, so it is a very exciting and meaningful year in their lives. I love to celebrate their birthdays with them, help them prepare for their baptism and then get to go to their baptisms. Generally, I feel that any calling I currently have is my favorite. I love how that works in the Gospel and I also love how Heavenly Father makes it so you instantly adore and love those you are assigned to work with. (Well, this happens almost every time...and that is ok) This year my class is huge...12 kids! So far, it is going great.
Steve does a great job as scout master and is excited about this year's camping schedule.
My desk is always covered with stuff. I don't like this and have been working to overcome this problem for years. I have files and labeled boxes to try to help myself but even still there are just things that get left there. I guess it is the place where the business of 8 people and a household takes place. Let me see and note what is on my desk right now:
-a netflix dvd envelope
-a small pile of nerf gun darts I have collected today
-the receipt from the last car repair
-a box of kleenex
-two samples of granite we are considering
-a program from the Forgotten Carols
-The Sunridge Ward phone directory
-my scriptures
-two projects I am working on
-the camera bag
-a picture Scott brought home from his little class
-a Deseret book bag with two books in it I would like to read.
-some random coupons
Yes..I know ..I am not proud of this... A more organized person would easily have put these things where they belong. I have the places but some things just get left on the desk for a little while. But, to be fair the things left on my desk are just a small percentage of the things that actually cross my desk!
So, there you go... now I must run to go watch "Star Trek" with the family on this Friday night. Joseph has called me to come three times now. I love that...
note the next morning: I slept through probably half of that movie.....but it seemed good. My boys laugh at me because I can rarely stay awake for movies if they start at 10 pm. (which we often have to do because the little boys have to go to bed before we watch some of the movies that the big boys like... We are very picky about our movies and super slow about getting around to watch them. We read up about every movie and then decide if we should see it or not--which results in not seeing that many movies. We love it when a truly good movie comes out and will actually go to the theater to see it!)
This morning -as I type- Steve is making french toast for the family. It is Saturday morning, and Steve has already gone to two basketball games and it is only 10:30 am. Eric woke up at about 7 am, said goodbye and left to go to his Honors Choir. We are getting ready to go watch Eric's performance today at Abravanel Hall.
Well, there's a little random look into our everyday life JANUARY 2010.
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