catching up

Wow, time flies when your having fun (or even if your not having fun). My kids are growing up. This picture was taken the day after Christmas so it is kind of old. Since I last wrote on my blog Robert not only graduated from high school but got a local scholarship for $1,500. This was a big surprise to me as well as to him. He hadn't bothered to even open, let alone give me, the letter that told me he would be receiving an award. Consequently he wasn't at the senior awards night and I didn't even know about it. Fortunately for text messaging he found out quickly that he had received a scholarship and that he better rush down and get it or he loses it. He made it down there and we are very grateful as the scholarship motivated him to stay up all night and finish what he needed to do graduate with his class. It was a great tender mercy which I acknowledge as such.

Joanna asked "How do you get a sholarship for not doing anything?" Once again I had to give my "I don't know?" answer. I am preparing her now to not expect a scholarship even with her 4.0 gpa and reminding her that life really isn't fair. Joanna is off to girls camp right now. We are hoping it doesn't snow on her or have a bear break in to their camp and eat their food which is what happened in years past. She is very excited to have a break from school and I am excited for her as it was painful watching her do so much homework.

James is swimming on a swim team this summer and is amazing. He will be in good shape for football which is what he lives for. He is off to deacons camp next week and is going to try and get around 13 merit badges while there. Wow! He has 3 full time lawns that he mows each week besides Grandpas which keeps him busy. He is a hard worker and everyone is jealous of the amount of money he is earning. He wants to buy an ipad with it.

Taylor has now taken over mowing our big back yard. He was so excited for exactly one week. I was pretty depresse dwhen he already moaned about doing it the second week. It was bad weather (surprise, surprise). Taylor is also swimming on the bronze team and also trying to get in shape for tackle football. Lynn and I tried bribing him to doing flag football one more year and he won't have anything to do with it. We are afraid he is going to get smeared by big kids but I do have to say he is tough and I can't say no just because I am afraid for him. It will be interesting what he thinks about it. He has braces and glasses now which makes he look older.

Dallin is doing coach pitch and loves it. He is so excited to be out of school and loves to play computer games and the wii. He is an amazing reader and can hold his own during family scriptures now.

Kyle is enjoying everyone being home. He is into playing with his best friend Skyler and could spend every day with him. He already has many scrapes and bruises from playing.

We planted our first garden and all the kids are loving helping take care of it.

Graduations!

It was a weird experience to have my youngest graduate from preschool and my oldest graduate from high school. I am definitely feeling my age lately. I can't believe I will have a college student and all my kids in school. I know getting my kids to this point has taken its toll on my body and brain. One way I know this is because after Robert's graduation we walked to the car and to my horror discovered that it was still running. I not only left the keys in the car but left the car running during the two hour graduation. (Luckily no one took off with the car). I have a few explanations as to how I could get to this point in my life. I let you decide which explanation you like the best.



A) I was SO excited to see Robert graduate that I forgot to turn off the car in haste to get there.

B) I was SO exhausted in helping Robert get to the point of graduation that I was too tired to turn off the car.

C) I was scatterbrained with all that a mother does with six children and don't even remember driving to the graduation let alone that I am supposed to turn off the car.

D) I was a complete spaz OR

E) All of the above



In all seriousness though it was a good day and I was so proud of Robert. Both Lynn and I have given our all in helping this come to pass and we are glad that Robert decided that he wanted to have it come to pass as well. He also graduate from Seminary which was awesome.

Robert's graduation happened to be on the 11th anniversary of the day my dad passed away so I was thinking about him a lot and had no doubt that he had a part in helping Robert get through his rough times last year so that he could graduate.



The plan now is for him to go part time to UVU in the fall. He will move to Orem with some buddies. He is excited and we are excited for him.

summer?

It's June 14th. I'm in long pants and long sleeve shirt and very confused as to what season this is. I do know from the chaos going on at my house that school is out, but it doesn't feel like summer yet. As I lost my temper about all the messes the other day Joanna reminded me to give the kids a break as it was only the first day of summer!

I know it has been too long since I've posted on my blog because I had a Christmas background. Because it had been so long it took me awhile to remember how to change my background. Then I tried to remember how to post a picture and 30 minutes later I am giving up and waiting for Robert to come home and help me. Lynn and Joanna are off to girls camp, James and Taylor are at a space camp overnight and Dallin and Kyle are in bed. Robert is who knows where?

Oh, how I wish he could find a job somewhere. Wow, it is tough to get a job right now.

"I don't know?"

Ever since Taylor was a baby he has been a "thinker". He didn't learn to talk for a long time. I remember he used to call Robert, Joanna, and James the same name which didn't sound like any of their names. I remember one day he all of a sudden said all three names as clear as can be. I think he just didn't want to say them before. He was such a good baby sitting in his high chair for hours "thinking" that I used to tell Lynn that it was too good to be true how good he was.

Taylor continues to be a deep thinker but now that he can talk he asks questions about what he is thinking. I can't tell you how many times I have answered his questions with an honest, "I don't know?" I try to change my intonation a little everytime I answer him so it doesn't sound like a broken record. A few times I have attempted to say ,"we should research and find the answer huh?" He knows that means I am actually interested in finding out the answer to that question and wish he would research it and tell me.

One question I remember Taylor asking as a toddler was ,"how do birds go to the bathroom?" Now his questions are more like, "do you think this is what Hitler looks like now?" as he is holding a scary Halloween skeleton? The other day I finally got the question that I have been dreading since Taylor began asking questions. "Mom, if you have been to school and graduated from college, how come you don't know the questions that I ask when I'm in 4th grade?" I of course laughed and replied with, "I DON'T KNOW!"

dog training

As if training 6 kids isn't enough Lynn and I are now going to dog training classes! We decided if we take the time to train the dog correctly the dividends will be very worth it. As we have been learning things and watching the dog respond so quickly to treats and praise , I can't help but correlate everything to training kids. I am realizing more and more how true that statement is with kids as well. I wish I were better at immediate treats and praise with my wonderful kids.

I've read a lot of parenting books lately and I have to recommend Glenn Latham's "power of positive parenting" as one of my favorite. It really is a powerful method to be positive and praise. I wish it were as easy as it sounds. I could relate to one of the moms in the book when she said there was a time when the only praise she could think of for her teenage son was that he was breathing really well! I love that!

I am learning a lot about life, marriage, and parenting and hopefully I will get some of it down before my Kyle turns into a teenager. I had to laugh at Lynn's prayer this morning when he blessed that we could learn to challenge Kyle's stubborness into the right direction.

Right now I am taking one day at a time and trying not to say everything I think like, "do I have to pay for this cap and gown right now or can we wait until it is closer to graduation to see if he is really going to graduate?"

Back to teaching

I realized my last blog was the night before I ran the half marathon. I'm sure I left you all hanging as to whether I finished the race which I was I haven't written for two months! Well, to diffuse all rumor, I did finish the race and actually had an enjoyable time. It didn't take me quite two months to recover. As to why I haven't written for so long there are lots of excuses but let's sum it up into one word of STRESS. Raising kids is stressful. I'm sure you already know that so I won't elaborate more than that.

I will say that one excuse is that I have started teaching preschool on M, W, and F mornings which has complicated my life even more. I now feel proud of myself if I get breakfast dishes done before dinner time let alone make dinner . I'm not proud of this next story but I will say I am proud of my husband for being so understanding. The other night Lynn got home just in time for the two of us to go to dog training class. I said to him "please tell me you had a late lunch because I don't have anything for dinner?" Unfortunately, the answer was that he didn't have any lunch. I decided to rummage through the fridge and find some leftovers, heat them up and drive so he could eat. As he was trying to eat he finally said "what is this?" to which I responded "chili". I then looked more closely and realized I had heated up plain spaghetti sauce (with meat mind you). So, there is probably one of the worst things I have offered Lynn. I won't open this up for anyone to remind me of the other bad dinners I have offered. Dinner isn't my strong point but I am really good at breakfasts! Too bad Lynn doesn't eat breakfast very often.

Back to teaching. A few weeks into teaching 11 four year olds by myself for 2 1/2 hours I wondered what in the heck I had gotten myself into! Fortunately, I remembered that the beginning of the year is always hard and I am happy to report that things are getting better. I do have a good class but the boys like to challenge me in every way. Kyle goes to the class that starts just before mine. He loves it and it makes it worth it.

Don't tell the kids

I'm not sure what to think of my parenting skills when my 4 yr. old sees me get ice cream out of the fridge during lunch when everyone else is at school and he says, "good idea, we won't tell the other kids that we had some because they will all start begging and bugging us!"

Can you believe that I can actually get a treat out of the freezer and only share with one child? I may be gaining a lot of weight soon so keep an eye on me.