Such a failure

This afternoon I realized that maybe my parenting isn't going as well as I had hoped.

My 7 year old informed me she would rather watch "Smurfs and the Magic Flute" over "The Lion King."

Where did I go wrong? Even if you don't like the Lion King all that much, come on, Smurfs? Blech.


Of course showing up to my Dr's appointment on the wrong day didn't help my failure complex much either.

Happy moments

Here are a few of the happy moments from my day as a mom.

I set up the "pool" for Phebe. A nice little wading pool since Caleb and Naomi got to go on an adventure with the neighbor and she felt left out. Silly me thought she would actually play in the water. She spent most of her time collecting random centipede like creatures and putting them on a Frisbee that she then floated in the water and called a boat I am sure they loved it. I suspect there were several casualties. I would like to interject here that I am grateful to live in an area with so many kid friendly bugs. Centipedes, pill bugs, ants, grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas, best of all lightning bugs/ fireflies. Very few insects actually hurt people around here. I am glad.

Victor and Naomi worked on duct taping training wheels to a car booster seat and then tied it to the back of the scooter. I would not label it a great success. It is still in the development stage.

Phebe raced several cars and buses down the street. She is completely convinced that she won every race.

I love that they are creative and entertaining.

Sunday listening

On the way home from church today we encountered this song. Chanticleer performing "Loch Lomand."

We have listened to this several times now. It is so peaceful and meditative. I hope you enjoy it.

No thought required

• I am pregnant.
• I had to take a 3 hour glucose test this morning. (That means getting up early, not eating any good food. Then you get pumped full of sugar and left to sit for 3 hours without any thing else to eat or drink but water while they occasionally take a vial of blood. It doesn't leave you feeling great.
• I am "severely" anemic apparently. 

All of these things together leave me finding the crackers in the measuring cup drawer where I know for a fact I am the one that put them there. 

I hope tomorrow is a bit better in the energy and coherent thoughts department. 

* I did pass the glucose test. I am not a diabetic.

Cuteness and the dentist.

Collection of randomness today.

I took a carpet scrubber to the beds today. I also washed all the bedding. Then I made kids wash their feet before going to bed. I had this silly idea that any of it would matter to them and they would rest peacefully. You would think after being a mom for 9 years I would be over such ridiculous notions. Pretty sure I can still hear them thumping around "sleeping".

I went to the dentist today for the first time in 3 over three years. I took four kids with me. It is pretty awesome having them be amazed that my teeth were in such good shape for having not been to the dentist in a long time. It also makes the visit more memorable when your 3 year old sits on your lap through the visit and watches with great interest everything they do in your mouth. She asks so many questions but I can't really answer them with other peoples hands in my mouth. It kind of reminded me of this video-

Last of all I think you should know that we had a serious emergency this evening. Ethan went up to check on the girls and had this conversation-

Phebe sitting there crying.
Ethan: Why are you crying Phebe?
Phebe: I need mom.
Ethan :Why do you need mom?
Phebe: Because she is cute.

It was hard to resist that logic and I had to go fill the cute quota of my little girl. It was serious.

Recommended reading

I have read/ listened to some books recently that I would highly recommend.

First up- The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood.

I have to admit that the intro to this book was seriously making me nervous. It starts with him learning how to survive a helicopter crash into the ocean. Being strapped in somewhere underwater is literally one of my biggest nightmares. He has to unbuckle and figure out how to escape. It was intense. 

This book goes into all kinds of crazy or common scenarios that people have dealt with. Some people are survivors and others aren't. So they try to figure out what makes a survivor and how you can improve your own odds. One of the points of the book is to acknowledge that at some point something bad WILL happen to you and you will have to fight to survive be it physical, emotional, medical etc. I learned a lot from this book. Plus it is full of stories that you are simply shocked that they have actually happened to people. Like the lady who had a can of sulfuric acid thrown through the window of her car while driving down the highway  and was only saved because of the shoes she had worn that day. Maybe you would appreciate the story of the fighter pilot that had to eject from his plane moments before his plane hit the ocean while traveling faster than the speed of sound. It is full of astounding experiences. 

Second- Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

This is the story of James A Garfield, once president of the United States. I have to admit that I honestly did not know ANYTHING about President Garfield. This was an incredibly enlightening and dramatic account of the time period. Surprisingly I learned a lot about Alexander Graham Bell.

If you get the audio recording the narrator is a lot of fun to listen to. 

Third- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

-

This was an incredibly fascinating book. It delves into the science of habits. Why your brain develops them in the first place. How to change your behavior and encourage the behavior you are looking for in others. If nothing else you can find out some of the history of Fabreeze and what sodium laureth sulfate is used for. Plus this book made me respect Tony Dungee (current Indianapolis Colts coach) even more. Things you had no idea were remotely associated were pulled together for this book. Truly fantastic. 

As a random bonus let me present- Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz

A kind friend mentioned this book to me on the grounds that it seemed to be something my kids would enjoy. They did. It is well written in verse. The illustrations are impressive. The concept and execution are quite charming and funny. This book makes me smile and I am willing to read it over and over. 

Happy reading!

Lift off!

Driving home from church Naomi shared this train of thought with us-

" We should get a jump pad for the car. And put rocket boosters and a parachute on it. Then think of how fast we could get places!"



And as a random bonus during primary at church they sang " if you're happy and you know it". One verse was changed to " act like a ninja". They had a whole row of three and four year olds sneaking under the chairs.

The older kids opted for " do the conga" and did a conga line around the room.

Kids aren't that dumb

I just wanted to share a random memory from my childhood that has definitely affected the way I deal with children.

We lived in a very small duplex from the time I was 3-11 years old. The landlords lived in the other half of the duplex. They were, at least in my childhood memory,very old. The husband smoked constantly and was never the picture of health in the time we knew him. We called him Joe.

My parents decided they wanted to plant a garden and got permission from Joe. Joe thought he was brilliant for enlisting my 3 siblings and I to help remove the rocks from the soon to be garden. It was a good idea. He even offered and incentive which is also a great idea when dealing with kids. He said he would pay us each a penny for each rock we removed. I think I was 9 years old at the time.

I distinctly remember how I thought I was going to make a ton of money on this deal.

I removed 500 rocks.

Oh man, $5! This is ultra awesome since there was a store literally less than a block that sold penny candy. Think of how much candy you could have for that much!

In the end we all reported in.

Vanessa- 500
Margaret- 300
Roger-100
Alan- didn't even go near the garden.

And the grand pay out was.....

$0.25 each.

Are you serious? I might not be in college but a penny a rock for 500 rocks is not a stinking twenty-five cents. And you gave us all the same amount when we obviously did not do anywhere near equal amounts of work!

So now in my dealings with children, mine or anyone else's, I know not to ever offer a reward that I don't intend to deliver on. They aren't stupid. They will remember. And good luck getting them to do much labor for you later.

Some birdies

The local park here offers free family activities through the summer. Last night was "That guy with the birds."
If you have a chance to see him, I would recommend it. The kids were utterly enthralled and the adults were pretty amazed too.

He has a bunch of parrots that he brings, I guess he takes care of 132 birds. He teaches them to do tricks and teaches everybody about them. Who wouldn't love parrot dancing? It was pretty awesome.

Ethan and I left to go watch a movie in the middle of the show. Yes, we did leave someone to supervise our children and get them home. The babysitter was kind enough to take pictures from after the show when our kids got to have birds sit on them. Phebe, Caleb and Victor all have great pictures with a little parrot on top of their head. Naomi managed to be the special volunteer who wound up with one on her head, one on each shoulder and one more on her finger for a grand total of 4 parrots at once. She looks incredibly happy and nervous at the same time.

I am glad that there is free stuff like this available around here. Next week we get to learn about "herptiles". I guess that means amphibians and reptiles. The kids are quite excited.

So look around your area, maybe there are some cool summer programs going on around you.

The End

So off and on I have considered getting off of Facebook. This morning I was an emotional wreck and just decided to do it.

It felt great. Yes, I wasn't exactly rational when I made that decision. However it isn't the first time I have considered it and I am rational right now and happy that I did.

I can't say that I have any one fantastic reason to be done. I honestly think it just boils down to I spend too much time there and am missing out on too many more important things.

I am done missing out.

I don't want my kids to think that Facebook is more important than them.

I don't want my husband to feel like he is less important.

I don't want God to be pushed aside so that I can sit and hope I have some new notification.

I am sure that most of you are perfectly good at balancing your time there. I have had some really good experiences. It has been fun to keep in touch with people I wouldn't otherwise be in contact with. I hope I have been an influence for good. Sadly I know I have typed and posted things that I later regretted. I will probably continue to do that sometimes. I hope I will get over saying stupid things someday.

I don't want to completely cut off contact with those of you I am friends with on Facebook. I will continue to keep this blog going and sincerely hope that you will keep reading it. I love it when you comment and encourage you to do so.

I also hope you might decide to write a blog so that I can see what you have to say outside of the addictive world of Facebook.

***

And to end on a silly note -

This evening while reading scriptures Ethan asked Phebe if she would like a turn to "read" a verse.
Phebe: I'm a crocodile.
Ethan : Yes or no Phebe.
Phebe: No.... said the crocodile.