School Laptop

Zoe brought home her laptop from school for the first time yesterday. She worked on her essay "What freedom means to me" in the car as we drove home from Young Women's.
Noah wasn't about to let a photo opportunity pass him by!

Oops!

I was so busy yesterday taking Kate & Noah to the children's museum, taking them to Burger King for lunch, stopping at the grocery store, stopping at home to pick up Zoe's soccer uniform for her to turn in at her soccer pizza party after school, picking up the kids from school, making a bean dip for our Relief Society International cooking night, and putting together my cub scout meeting (we talked about taking care of a minor cut and we played a game of marbles) that I completely forgot about my parent/teacher conference with Eleanor's teacher, Mrs. Gail Wight. Usually if something is on the calendar, which this conference was, then it gets scheduled into my day. I never looked at the calendar yesterday, I thought I had everything covered. Wrong! We rescheduled for today and I will remember today. I will also remember to bring Zoe to Young Women's tonight. The kids and I are going to play in the gym while we wait for her. That is all for today and I know that because I looked at the calendar. I guess that needs to become a morning habit for me now!

Here are a few pictures from the museum. Kate & Noah painted, which they loved! They used glow in the dark paint, but they mixed it in with the regular paint, so it doesn't show up very well. The spot that Noah used with just glow in the dark paint shows up very well.



The museum is changing their 3rd floor to a fitness theme. Kate & Noah practiced jumping at this station.

First, you get your fingertips wet.

Then you jump and touch the paper and see where your mark is. The kids jumped and jumped and jumped.

There is also a snowboarding station. None of us are good at it!

There is also a hang glider station, but it isn't open yet.

We were hungry after all that exercising! Here is Kate looking cute and silly at Burger King.

Jack 'O Lanterns

For Family Home Evening last night, we carved pumpkins, listened to John Bytheway, and ate donuts with apple cider. :-) Lots of fun!
Kate did very well for someone who HATES to be messy.




Eleanor made her own paw print. Impressive!

Eleanor's paw print, Zach's dragon, Zoe's bird on a branch, Emily's chihuahua, & Matt, Kate, & Noah's vampire.

House Progress

Looking into the Mudroom, Living Room, Kitchen
Looking into our tiny kitchen.
Taking a picture of the Kitchen from the Living Room. Utility Closet will be to the left of the Kitchen and the Dining Room is beyond the Kitchen.
Matt is standing in the Kitchen while I take a picture from the Dining Room.
Utility Closet & Bathroom space

Choose to Become

I had an amazing weekend away, but I am happy to be home now. I came down with a cold yesterday. I am so grateful that I was healthy during my trip and now I can rest at home. Our original plan was to go to the Palmyra Temple on Friday, but we ended up going to the Boston Temple Thursday evening. We made it to the temple and that is what matters.

Time Out For Women was awesome as always! When we were waiting for the doors to open Friday night, I was sitting on a bench in the lobby with my Aunt Tonia & my Grandmother. After telling Tonia how I'd love to take Zoe to see John Bytheway somewhere next year, in walked John Bytheway!

I had a feeling that John Bytheway was there instead of Sheri Dew and I was right. We joked about that because Sheri Dew didn't make it to last year's Time Out For Women either. Here are a few notes that I took from John Bytheway's talk Friday night. He talked about the yummy chicken that his wife had made that week. It was so yummy because she had marinated it in barbeque sauce. So the theme of his talk was What are we marinating in? He read a quote by President Boyd K. Packer, "We are raising our children in enemy territory." Isn't that the truth! This makes me think of another thing that was brought up (not sure by which presenter) during the event. It used to be that evil things were hidden and you really had to search for them if you wanted to participate in them. Now good things are hidden and need to be searched for among the evil. We need to be careful about what we are marinating in.
*We get to choose our response to everything.
*A sister in the ward said this..."I'm going to stop telling God how big my problems are and start telling my problems how big my God is." Isn't that great?!

Dallyn Vail Bayles

An amazing singer! He is also grateful and it was sweet to hear him talk about his wife.

Saturday's program was filled with more wonderful music and talks.
Mary Ellen Edmunds

She reminded us that we are all unique. We are children of God. When we pray, we should take time to listen. Love is the most magical power in the universe.

Hilary Weeks

I could listen to Hilary Weeks sing and talk all day long. I just love her personality and stories! She encouraged us to focus on our positive thoughts rather than our negative thoughts. It will change you! She also mentioned this, which I had never thought about before. "We will spend eternity knowing our children as adults. What a privilege it is to spend this time here on earth with them as children."
In our morning prayers, ask Heavenly Father what is most important for us to do that day.

DeAnne Flynn

The littlest things matter most. Offer our time, talents, and good example.
What can we do to make the lives of our loved ones better? Be Aware. Make eye contact, Listen, Pay attention to the Spirit. Hurry less. Speak less. Expect less. Be more aware. Become less complicated...simplify our lives. We can start over any time. It is never too late to change. Be our best self at home.

Anthony Sweat

Concept of fairness.
1) God tests everyone uniquely & equally.
The purpose of God's plan is To Become Like God
Trials are not synonymous with tragedy.
2) To be fair, don't compare
Doctrine & Covenants 7:4...Key words ~ What is that to thee?
Don't compare yourself to others
3) The atonement of Jesus Christ is the great equalizer
Power of the Atonement
A. Redeeming Power
B. Changing Power
C. Strengthening Power
D. Understanding Power
E. Equalizing Power
Genesis 30:22 ~ God remembered Rachael ~ God remembers ALL of us

Wendy Ulrich

Be Happy (Taught in a humorous way)
1) Stop worrying about your weaknesses
2) Don't try to get motivated to exercise
*Motivation comes after action (applies to everything) ~ Take little steps such as putting on exercise clothes even if you don't feel like exercising.
3) Stop trying to find friends
*Instead, develop the skills of friendship
*Respond to others as they reach out to you
*Have one meaningful conversation daily
*Celebrate others' successes
4) Don't try to feel happy
*Try to feel grateful
*Write down 3 good things that happen each day and why they happened.
5) Celebrate failure
*We grow, stretch, learn, & serve as we fail
*It's better to do something badly than not at all
*Ask yourself & kids...What was your best failure today? Helps you & your children to learn resilience. Helps you learn.
6) Don't get help with your problems
*Instead, help someone else
7) Don't endure to the end
*Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured
*Savor every day delights

Kris Belcher

Funny! Kris has an amazing story. She became blind 8 years ago due to cancer. She testified that trials and tragedies will get better and that Heavenly Father will help us. We can feel Heavenly Father's love during our trials. We can live happily with the light of Christ. Live looking to God. Are we earnestly seeking for light in our lives?

Time Out For Women always goes by way too fast. It was such an uplifting weekend. Not only did we listen to wonderful music and talks at TOFW, but we also listened to music and talks in the car. We were edified for 3 days non-stop. It was absolutely wonderful!

The reception I received when I walked into my parents' house on Sunday was wonderful as well! There were hugs from all the kids, which turned into one big group hug. I felt loved and I want to remember that moment always. :-)

I'll Be Back

Kate, Noah, & I went to Walmart yesterday to pick up a few things, including a pair of jeans for Noah. Noah is following in his siblings' footsteps when it comes to clothes. ALL of my kids at the age of 2 decide that they are going to wear what they want to wear. It's not a battle I need to fight, so they wear what they want to wear most of the time. It doesn't bother me to be out in public with a mismatched child or a child with shoes on the wrong feet. They are happy, my clothes match and my shoes are on the right feet, and from experience, I know that their style will improve (although mismatched socks are IN right now) and they will figure out the shoes. Noah has 2 pairs of jeans that he LOVES. He has a drawer full of pants, but he will only wear these 2 pairs of jeans. Well, the "little jeans" (these are a size smaller than the "big jeans") developed holes in both of the knees, so I got rid of them. Noah was happy to wear the "big jeans" every day, but they were a bit too big and they were known to fall down to his ankles in public. Not acceptable. Plus, they were getting a hole in the knee. It was time to buy new jeans for Noah and get rid of every other pair of pants that he owns because he is not going to wear them. Walmart had tons of elastic waist jeans, which I was willing to buy, but that was not okay with Noah. Those are baby jeans. He wanted big kid jeans with a button on the front. I do believe I was close to becoming a teenager before I was super picky about the clothes I wore! I found one pair of jeans with a button and thanks to the adjustable waist, they fit. :-) Noah is happy with his new pair of jeans and after we find him another pair, I will get rid of his "big jeans". Most of his other pants are now at Goodwill.
Kate wanted to get something as well, so she picked out this super cute hat.


We went to the park and picked up my parents from the airport after our shopping trip. We are happy to have them home again. :-)

Noah helped me in the garden yesterday afternoon. He was a great helper and he loved it! We pulled up the carrots. We have tons of carrots! This picture shows half of what we have.

This is the best carrot crop we have ever had. Noah wanted to work in the garden today, but we didn't have time. We'll get back out there next week.

I am heading to Rochester, NY tomorrow afternoon with Patti, my Aunt Tonia, and my Grandmother for Time Out For Women. We are all so excited! We are staying in Worcester tomorrow night, then we're going to the Palmyra Temple early Friday afternoon and then we'll drive to Rochester after that. We are staying downtown, right close to where TOFW will be, so that should be an adventure! We'll head back to Worcester Saturday evening to spend the night and then we'll go to Sacrament meeting in Worcester Sunday morning before heading home. I am looking forward to this time out!

Matt will have his own adventure at home with the kids. Sunday is Branch Conference, but he'll have my parents here to help him. They will also help him on Saturday, so he can work on the house.

I met with Zach's teacher yesterday. Zach is doing great in 1st grade and Ms. Murauckas thinks he is wonderful! I was impressed with Zach the other day because while Eleanor was reading out loud for her homework, Zach went and got a book to read himself. This is the second time that I have seen Zach show an interest in reading. The first time was last week at Cub Scouts when he brought "Harold and the Purple Crayon" into the church because he discovered in the car that he could read it. It was cute to see Zach reading to President Dauk that night. He was so proud of the reading he did and he should be because he is doing great! He does great stretching words and sounding them out. He has never liked being read to, but maybe he will love to read by himself.

I am grateful that Zach & I were not involved in an accident this afternoon. A bus stopped to let us cross the street in the crosswalk when a young man in a car passed the bus and went speeding past us. We were just about to step past the bus when the car went by. I am so grateful we are watched over!

I met with Zoe's teachers this afternoon. It was my first time meeting with 3 teachers at once instead of one. Zoe is doing great as well! Her teachers say that she is a hard worker, she understands the class work and if she doesn't then she asks about it, and she is a pleasure to be around. She likes to get as much of her homework done at school that she can, which is nice. She hasn't had too much homework yet because of testing, but I'm sure that will change soon.

Zoe & I went to our meetings at church this evening. In Young Women's, they played games. For Cub Scouts, we had our pack meeting. Awards were given out and then the boys carved pumpkins. They had fun!

Zoe & I were hoping to eat dinner at Friendly's, but they have closed! Matt had told us that Friendly's went bankrupt, but I was hoping to make it there one more time before they closed. It was so sad to drive by and see the restaurant dark, empty, and abandoned. So, so sad. We went to Denny's instead. I now know what NOT to get at Denny's. I miss Friendly's.

I'll write again on Monday. TOFW...here I come! Matt, Zoe, Emily, Eleanor, Zach, Kate, & Noah...I will miss you!

Having Fun & Getting Work Done

I took Kate & Noah to the "dinosaur pool" yesterday. They love going there! I never take any pictures there because I am always in the water with them. They had fun jumping in the pool and looking for rings. They also played at the park near the pool before we went in to swim.

Zoe had her last game yesterday. She does a great job as a defender.






Matt, Zoe, Emily, & I put the living room wall up last night. It was fun to talk about where we are going to put things in the living room since now it is closed in and looks more like a living room. The room still needs a few more walls, but it is getting there. :-)

Matt looking out our living room window.




We are loving our Wii Fit Plus! It is fun and it gets us up and moving!

Cute pictures

Zoe has taught herself how to do french braids, so her sisters have had cute hairdos lately. :-)


Here are Eleanor & Emily's cute soccer pictures. :-)