Happy helpers

I love happy helpers. The other day I was fixing lunch and turned to see Lydia (age 2) unloading the dishwasher, towel in hand to dry the ones that were still wet. No one had asked her to, she just wanted to help. I stood watching her for a few minutes than went and found my camera to take a video.

The thing that is nice about having many kids is that the younger ones learn by watching the older ones. Lydia has seen her brothers do the dishes many times. Now, being short like she is she can't reach the cupboards to put the dishes away, but she was able to successfully unload the whole dishwasher and set all the dishes on the counter and put the silverware in the drawer

Then, after finishing the dishes, she and Becca wanted to help make sandwiches. The only problem with small helpers and jam is the stickiness that gets on everything.

I found this photo on my camera. Apparently the boys gathered all their toy cars and trucks together for a photo shoot.

This photo is from January when we made our surprise visit to Utah. Christmas day we decided we were missing family so much that we hopped in the car and drove non-stop to Utah from Florida (a 40+ hour trip, left on Saturday night and arrived there Monday midday). Jeremy flew back to Florida to finish the semester that ended the fourth week of January and the kids and I stayed in St George for the month.

We very much enjoyed spending time with family and friends for a whole month. The kids particularly enjoyed playing in the snow, in Pine Valley. Coming from Florida we had no snow clothing, so we bought and borrowed warm clothes. I didn't even own a jacket and had to buy one, and some sweaters.

Waking up, swords,

I read other peoples blog, have thoughts and ideas I want to remember, so I am going to make my own blog post with links to those posts I want to remember and be able to find in the future.


Scripture study. I keep a scripture study journal, and I found a blog that gives great references and resources for scripture study time. One great idea I gleaned was to format talks to print out and paste in my journal, it shows how to condense a long talk and be able to print it out on one page. This is great because I like how it puts it right there in my journal for easy reference later on, rather than trying to find it in my stack of print outs.

Learning to listen. Moss Moments is one of my favorite blogs. Today her post particularly was what I needed because I often wonder how I'm supposed to do it all and her post reminds me that I am not supposed to do it all. One child at a time, one project at a time, one moment at a time. I need to ponder and listen and then act on what I come up with.

My brother Myke is funny and quirky and I enjoy reading his posts.

One of my favorites was his post "weather go home" about winter weather in Rexburg Id. He posted lots of great pictures illustrating the ridiculous winter weather one must endure in Rexburg - the post was so funny to me because it brought back all kinds of childhood memories.

I want to remember his post about the secret of waking up the first time the alarm goes off. I had never heard of this idea, but it makes sense

- practice and train yourself to wake up when it is not the actual time, like the night before, run through the scenario a few times and after a few nights of this see if your practice doesn't pay off.


Sword Play - totally cool "toy", that allow boys to be boys without the shedding of blood.
     I love movies that have sword fights and I think it would be cool for my boys to learn how to sword fight.



Battle Swords in Action from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.