Funny things and updates

Funny things kids say and do:

When introduced to Joshua's football coach:

Coach: What are you looking at?
Luke: The face I'm about to rip off!

The other day, I had had a bad morning. One spill after another, whining kids, running late, can't find shoes... you get the picture. I was not in a good mood and I was very close to losing my mind when Jon Mark walked downstairs and asked if I could cook him an egg (something I do everyday, and it's no big deal). I burst into tears and that started a flood of me chastizing the kids. In the car, none of the kids dared to speak or anything because Mom had gone crazy. After a moment or two of silence, Luke said, "spiritual thought!" I have been trying to remember to send my kids off to school with a spiritual thought every day and even put reminders on my phone to help me remember. Still, with tears running down my face, I shook my head and said, "no, not right now." Then, he said, "Mom, prayer, family prayer!" Feeling a bit humbled, I asked him to say it while I drove. He said, "Dear Heavenly Father, help us to be calm. Help us to be kind to each other." Ouch. Sometimes in moments of chaos, my kids teach me profound lessons. This one stuck with me. He noticed and recognized that we needed prayer, we needed Heavenly Father to help us correct the path we were on that morning. He (and his borthers and sisters, I might add) recognized the need for the Holy Ghost to be with us. I repented for my poor attitude that morning and made a course correction for the rest of the day. I am thankful that my kids teach me when I need to be taught. I am thankful that Heavenly Father helps us achieve our goals even when it's through our kids.

Cubby: Dinosaurs are NOT DEAD! We will buy a Batman Dinosaur at the grocery store. It will eat smoothies and sandwiches. It will be too big for the backyard, so it will have to live at the church. But they are NOT DEAD!

Cub: "Hey guys, butter butter butter! That's what it said in my show. That is a potty talk. We don't say that!"

Hannah: Hannah has been getting a lot of bloody noses this winter. The other day after gymnastics, she had a bad one in the car ride home and didn't have any tissues or anything. Fast forward a week later, after gymnastics, she ran to the bathroom and grabbed a bunch of napkins. "These are for my bloody nose in the car!"

Mercedes: Mercedes gets very excited every year on Veteran's day. The school does a very good memorial service/honor service for Vets. Mercedes always makes sure to eagerly invite Papa Mac and Mommom. After a presentation, the vets and students with the vets are served a nice breakfast. After the presentation, we couldn't find Mercedes for a couple of minutes. Soon, a lady brought her to me and Mercedes was bawling her eyes out! She thought we had forgotten about her and gone to the breakfast without her. She was in panic mode, it had only been a couple of minutes. She just gets so excited about special things like that and has such a tender heart.

Joshua: He scored in the top ten for AZ on the standardized test. At least that's what he told me his teacher told him. I believe it too, he always scores very high on those tests. He loves playing catch with Jon Mark and thoroughly loves being apart of the football team. He's a sweet boy with a big heart and a super chill attitude. I rely on him so much because he has such a sweet and loving disposition. He runs a fast mile and tells me my cheerleaders need conditioning because they are pansies right now and aren't reaching their potential.

The four pictures below we discovered from years earlier that we wanted documented digitally.

Mercedes was looking so grown up to me the other day in the car, so at every red light I took her picture.

The list of things I did to get our house ready to sell. :) And the pictures of our house are the after pictures from my labor.

Hannah, Jazmine and Shelby at Shelby's birthday party.

Caleb after playing in the puddles left by the rain.

Luke's second grade picture.

Hannah after her nose got bloodied, again...

Joshua had a run-in with some gravel.

The kids constantly take my phone and take random pictures. I kept this one so that I could remember this time in my life. 

Hannah took this picture of me before church.

Fall Break

The kids had a good fall break. We mostly spent it with the Frost's. The Larsen's were out of town the entire week. I was fortunate to be better for the most part. My last post was about how sick I was. There are a few pictures of my hives that I had gotten as a result of that illness. My entire body was covered in itchy hives for several days, I am still recovering from them though they are no longer as bad or painful. I even had hives inside my mouth and my lips had swollen up like I had done plastic surgery to them, it was really bad. But by Tuesday I was well enough to show the kids a good time. We went to a lot of parks. Cubby got to ride the train finally. When the older kids were little, we did stuff like that all the time. So, my mom convinced that we ought to show Cub what it was like to ride the little train.

Here is Hannah's kindergarten picture.

She also had her face painted by Mercedes.

The face paint turned to body paint and she and Jaz were very dirty.

Here are the scary rash pictures. Sorry!

Hannah often demands that her picture get taken and I oblige. She is a cutie.

Mercedes 3rd grade picture.

The train ride.

Joshua used to love trains. He's a little big now I suppose.

Sickness and Being a Mom

I am really sick today. It started on Wednesday with a general feeling of unwellness. I snapped a couple of pictures of me for some sympathy and sent them to Lindsay who said I didn't look sick, I looked like I was trying out to be in a hoodie advertisement. So, as the sickness progressed, I took another picture and sent it to her so she could add that to my modeling portfolio LOL! I took other really sad ones as the illness got even worse, but those aren't as funny because I am crying in them. So, I didn't post those ones, just the funny ones. 

Being a mom and being sick is hard. Jon Mark has been supportive and the kids have been much better today than they were yesterday. They helped clean the house and have taken care of the younger ones. My mom and dad have brought me medicine and soup and dinner for the kids. 

I've had a fever and chills and bad body aches for about four days now. Today I woke up with hives up and down my body that itch, a phlemy cough, and an occassional fainting spell. I had to lay down in the shower so that if I passed out, I didn't fall and hit my head. I'm feeling better in that regard so long as I don't move too quickly or stand for too long.

It's always nice to feel grateful for modern medicine and technology. I am grateful for those things. Although I have not gone to the dr yet, I know it's available for me if things get too bad. 

I have so much to be grateful for. My life has been so blessed. I have the gospel and a close relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ! I know He loves me. Everything good in my life stems from that. Aside from that, although there is not really an aside, I have a great marriage. I have an honorable man who loves me and sacrifices so much so that our family can have everything we need. I am grateful for my children and their good health. I am grateful for close family and friends who are my mortal angels. I am grateful for the structure of the church and it's constantness. I am grateful to have a comfortable, warm bed and a wonderful home that is our slice of heaven on earth. I am grateful to be born during a time of great excitement in the church. President Nelson announced today that church is going down to a two hour block so that our homes can be the primary focus of gospel learning. I am thankful for that opportunity to strive to make my home an even happier and safe abode. I am grateful for my bike. Now that I am unable to run, my dad's given me the gift of exercise in a way that isn't going to hurt my body anymore. I enjoy my time bikeriding with my dad and Cub. I have so many blessings, it's impossible to name them all. I'll conclude with one more. I am thankful for this record that I have been diligent in keeping. It has blessed my testimony often as I reflect back on spiritual experiences contained in this record I call a family blog. It has blessed my children and husband because they rather enjoy reading about our little family and how it has grown over the years. On that note: I am grateful!