Odds and ends

1. Is anyone else getting cabin fever?  Sunday before last, we were all coming out of our skin feeling cooped up in the house and waiting for our 1:00 church to roll around.  Shawn had the good idea to take a family walk around our little "backwoods" and it was such a nice time spent all together-outside!

One little Eskimo

Oh, I've got to put this one in too.  Just look at those irresistibly kissable cheeks!

The kids showing off their Tepee- I know the lighting's bad, but I had to have a picture of Abe in his marshmallow suit.

 I've never seen a rainbow like this before, straight above us in the sky and up-side-down. Rainbows usually appear after a rainstorm, and as there hadn't been one when  I took this picture, it must be an omen that the snow is over, right?

2. We finally reached the first day of spring!  Caden had heard that an egg will balance on it's end on the equinox, so while the eggs were out for breakfast, he tried it out!  (He has since decided that they'll balance any day of the year, but the secret is to wait until the egg "settles" for a moment.  And the trick only worked for him, not any of us.) Try it out if you like that sort of a thing!!

As you can see, he loves to have the camera aimed at him.

3. Shawn had to drive over to Boise to fire a very volatile PA and I was on pins and needles that the guy would punch him or come back later with a gun or something. (That happened last month to his cousin and his cousin was shot and killed.)  What is happening to this world that we have to worry about things like this?

Shawn called home after the confrontation to let me know that all went well, but he is considering getting a concealed weapon permit. 

4. I've been taking care of an extra little boy on Wednesdays because his mother really needs to work.  I realized once again today how much more complex leaving the house is when you have even just one more child to bundle up, put shoes on and buckle into a car seat.  It took fifteen extra minutes EVERY TIME we left the house to get everyone ready and into the car. I'm astounded!!

A carload of "littlies"

Last night I pondered about what to do while he was here because last week it didn't go well when we stuck around the house.  This little boy loves babies, adores Abram and has done great with him for the longest time, but lately for some reason whenever I'm not watching he pushes him down or beats him over the head with something. He has downs syndrome, so I'm not sure what he can understand as far as discipline goes.  I tell him, "No.  Don't hit the baby!" with a stern face, and he looks at me and smiles sweetly.  So, I decided to run all of my errands today. We came home here and there (lunch and later to run kids where they needed to be) and  I am now exhausted just from getting everyone in and out of the car!

I am back to square one about what to do next week.

5. Isabelle has been reading up a storm to herself, or anyone else that will listen, and would love it if I would read books like crazy to her, as well.  I have this horrible problem, though, that if I sit still long enough to read just two consecutive books to my kids, I fall asleep!  I think this may have been what precipitated Isabelle's idea to write up evaluations of Shawn and I.  The first thing on my chart says "books".  She informed me that I was to write how many books I read to them each day.  She has also evaluated some of my other activities during the day, but she ended up putting good job by all of them, and told me that she decided that she would only put good things on the chart. Phew!
 She has diligently recorded something onto our charts everyday.  It's fun to see what she views as our responsibilities.

Books, dinner, sandwiches, breakfast, getting dressed (she approved of the outfit I selected) and getting the honey (we drove to I.F. today to get more honey for our storage.)

working, school (I think from when he took them to school when they missed the bus), bed (he is the most fabulous bed-time tucker-inner), traveling, and I think Prince is her last word there.

6. Did anyone else read the article by Julie Beck in the March Ensign?  Did it strike anyone else's great interest? I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and discussing it with Shawn and my other friends.
 Lots of food for thought there.

Nothing can replace the amazing things that we can learn from being a part of a family.  This thought was brought home to me this weekend when I had a good friend (and her four boys) come up and stay a couple of days and a night with us. She noticed some parenting -type-thing that I did and surprised me by asking, "how did you know to respond to your child that way?"  It took me off guard, and I took a moment to put my finger on why, exactly, I had responded that way.  My answer was, "That's how my mother did it."  She asked the same question a couple of times about different things and I gave the same response.  It's so easy to become who our parents were, whether for good or for bad.  The influence of a good mother and father is so very real. I have so many areas that I need to work on the way it is, and I'm so thankful for the things that I DON'T have to try and change because of the example of my parents. Now if I will just parent the way that I know I am supposed to all of the time and be as consistent as I know I should...

This revelation this weekend has made me more aware of how I parent  - my kids are going to get frustrated about the same things I do and in the same ways. They're going to respond to their children the way I respond to them.  They're going to show affection in the same ways.  They're going to appreciate their spouse the same way. And on and on. Kind-of an overwhelming/scary thought about the scope of our influence.  I know I have heard that before, but really internalizing that reality this weekend brought it all home to me.