What a difference...

A year makes! We are officially out of school. Here are first day and last day side by side pictures.

Are you kidding me?

This morning we got about 2/3 way to school (we drive about 25 minutes to school) and Layton announced he only had on one shoe. He ate breakfast wearing only one shoe and as we were walking to the car this morning I made sure that he had it in his hand. He walked around the front of the car and got in and we left. Then came the announcement! I must admit that I totally lost my cool! I mean good grief! I forget things too but it was in his hand in the garage and then he didn't notice until we were almost there? Sure! He kept saying, "I think I might have dropped it on the floor." I went ahead and dropped Logan off to school (I mean there's no use in him getting a tardy when he did the correct thing.) Then we turned around and drove the 25 minutes home and this is what I saw as I opened the garage door.

That close to the door was the shoe!
He got it and we started our journey back. As we drove he admitted that he actually put it there on purpose and waited until we got almost to school so that he could go to kindergarten without shoes on.

Ha ha ha, I showed you!

I knew in my mind that's what he wanted so instead he had to spend an hour and a half in the car this morning and then go in to class tardy! Yes, I will now be leaving a pair of shoes in the car for times like this. (Sorry Adam, I know this will make you crazy!) Maybe I'll get some girly shoes so that if he ever does this again he will have to wear them into class! No, I won't do that. I don't have the nerve to send him to school like that. I will threaten it though.

Then in the middle of our way back to school he heard a commercial for an auto parts company on the radio. The jingle said, AAAA auto parts! Layton said, "Did they just sing about awesome farts?" I laughed and laughed. It totally got me out of my irritated mood. He is just a 6 year old after all!

Easter best

Easter

Easter

Boys camping Trip

My boys just left for their annual RA camping trip with our church. It makes me sad for them to be so far away from me but also happy that they will have such a great time. Layton says he would rather go camping than go to Disney World.

Landry's Interview

What are you great at doing?

Coloring Pictures

What are you not good at doing?

Reading

What is your favorite thing to do?

Play with Plampia

What does daddy do?

Work in the office

What does mommy do?

Bake cakes

What chore do you NOT like to do?

Clear and set the table

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A decorator

Love this little thing who is not so little anymore! When she is a decorator she says she will decorate my kitchen as her first job. Hope she does!

From Landry

Father / Daughter Date Night

Our church had a Father/Daughter Date Night this last weekend. Landry and Adam went. After she was ready and walking down the stairs, the doorbell rang. Adam was at the front door to pick her up for their date.

He brought her a corsage. It was light and dark pink roses. She was thrilled to have it.

Once they were at the banquet they did several father / daughter activities and she got a silver cross necklace. The room was decorated in all white and silver for a Winter Wonderland theme.
At the end of the night they had one dance together.

Making Valentines

I love the day that we make Valentines. I suggested making our own but they all wanted the store bought kinds. They happened to have both Rapunzel and Lego themed Valentines so that made it easy on me.

Stolen Post of lists vs. kindness

I read this post on another blog and it was taken from another one as well. I loved it so much that I want to post it for myself to go back and re-read each day. Here is the passage:

i was a young mother.

i had a 2 year old, a 1 year old and i was pregnant with Anna.

i had just finished folding baskets and baskets of laundry.

they were ready to be put away, sitting in a line at the top of my upstairs balcony.

the next thing i knew, my boys were laughing and throwing all my laundry off the balcony.

like 6 loads.

in a heap on my entryway floor.

i was devestated and SO MAD.

i was convinced that they knew better.

that they had to be taught.

i remember wanting to throw them off the balcony.

{i know, horrible mommy... they were BABIES!}

right when i was about to YELL... to TEACH them not to make MESSES... to TEACH them to respect their mother and all MY hard work... when i was just about to give it to them and feel completely justified in all my rage because what they had done was WRONG!!!...

right at that moment, i felt a still, small voice that asked me...what is more important? teaching them to be clean, or teaching them to be kind?

i wondered if my children went off to college and had no idea how to clean a bathroom, or f

old their laundry, could they still be good, functioning adults?

i remembered my college room-mates.

they were good girls.

one had a father who was a general authority.

they were messy.

they once cleaned the bathroom with windex and toilet paper.

i remember being surprised that they didn't really know how to clean.

{maybe this was just my impression...}

i KNEW at that moment, that it was NOT important to teach my kids to be clean.

i NEEDED to teach them to be KIND even when they were ANGRY.

i NEEDED to teach MYSELF to BE KIND, even when i'm ANGRY.

and... LOVE is more important.

i will always remember that moment. sitting at the steps, with my boys in my lap and the mountain of laundry strewn below us.

i hugged them and i cried.

for my weakness and their purity.

i learned that day to tell myself... love them today, you can teach them that tomorrow.

and. today, my boys are wonderful.

they don't ever throw clean, folded clothes around the house.

ever.

they have learned.

and... i have learned.

be consistent. yes.

consistently LOVING.

and, if you cannot teach cleanliness and kindness, pick kindness...

they can learn cleanliness another day.

if you cannot teach potty training and kindness.

pick kindness...

they can learn potty training another day.

if you cannot teach your grand scriptural insights and be kind.

pick kindness... they can learn scriptural wisdom another day.

because if you can't teach with love, you aren't really teaching at all.

you're just enforcing.

so, i guess i am for consistency... just depends on what your trying to be consistent in.

when it comes to most of life's tasks... i am consistently inconsistent.when it comes to teaching my kids, loving my kids, keeping calm and carrying on...

i'm pretty dang consistent.

and surprisingly, when i choose kindness... the other things happen more consistently than you would expect.

it's the loose yourself and you shall find yourself principle. give up control and you'll find control.

ahhh... the lessons i'm learning...

NOTHING teaches you more than being a mom.

"He taketh the barren woman and maketh her a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord."

{psalms something...}

I am struggling with this right now, well actually for a while now. For some reason it's hard for me when people (my family mostly) make my life harder by making mistakes. I know how harsh that sounds, believe me! I, like so many mothers, have so much housework to do along with trying to work part time and homeschool and volunteer and be a good mother, wife, etc. that when something falls out of whack I feel very frustrated. It sounds like a cliche but it's like I'm juggling and if someone as much as 'blinks' all the balls come falling down. That's when I feel mad because it then makes more work for me. I have a home business that I do mostly at night. When the kids go to bed about 4 nights a week I am up working for hours and hours until the wee hours of the night. If household tasks don't get completed during the day then there isn't time to do them at night. It's not like when people say "I don't have time for..." There actually isn't the time. Only 24 hours in a day, even though I keep wishing for more. I have customers counting on me and these are not the tasks that can be pushed aside until another day. I want to have an attitude of calmness. I want to love the "blinks". I want to be okay if a task doesn't get done that day. I want to be able to sit on the stairs and laugh at the mess. Oh how hard this is for me. I am such a task driven person. I have always measured my self-worth with how many tasks I can mark off my list for the day. I realize this needs to stop and I am working on it. This is my goal for 2012. I want to not worry about the junk that can wait till tomorrow or next week or when my kids go to college. So what if we have to sort through a pile of clean clothes for socks, right? So what if the pictures from Christmas don't get framed, so what if I don't get the thank you notes written, so what if my desk doesn't get cleaned off, so what if I don't get to hang my new plates on the wall, well that's where I draw the line. That WILL get done soon! Ha ha! I want to enjoy my babes while they are in my house. I want to enjoy having them at home during the day while we homeschool. I want to laugh at the laundry. I'll try that and let you know how it goes. Maybe the laundry will laugh back at me. I'll have to wait and see. Or, maybe I should just go to Target and have a slurpee, this always makes my babes happy!