Monday, February 16, 2009

This past week contained Valentine’s day. We celebrated it a day early. It was so nice to be unconventional. The kids were dropped off at the sitter’s house while Tim and I walked around Lake Sacajewea. It was a bit chilly (43 degrees) but we dressed warm. It was nice to have a break from the kids but all we did was talk about them as we walked the lake. What can I say they are the majority of my life right now.

Saturday we took family pictures. That was an adventure that only comes once a year for a good reason. We had planned to take two sets of pictures, one in formal attire and the other in jeans. We only got the set of pictures in formal attire. It was too difficult controlling McCabe. We had to bribe him and if you look close enough in some of the pictures he has a lollipop. After an hour in a half of battling McCabe, we decided to look at the pictures and they passed our approval.

Today was an off day for me. The kid’s nagging wore me down. They always needed me at the same time for different reasons. As the work day drew to an end, I thought “success” because there was not one blow up between myself and the children during the day. But I knew something was awry when Tim informed me that I put my pears on the rice and nearly put the beef stroganoff on my cottage cheese. I was so occupied dishing up the kid’s plate that when it came to my own I was not thinking. I got a good laugh…there is always a first for everyone.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Here I am walking on the treadmill watching the snow fall outside. I thought it would be a good time to update the blog. We had a great past week. Tim took 2 days off from work. One day he spent building a chicken coop and the next day he spent recovering from his handy man efforts. We got 3 chickens. Jacinda named them carbuncle, blueberry, and bacterial. I know where she got the first two names but bacterial really surprised me. Carbuncle is a result of my endless attempts of calling her white with red spots toy dog that name. The name Blueberry was inspired from a strawberry shortcake character. It is really fun having the chickens. Jacinda feels the need to check on them every hour. She gets extremely excited when they lay eggs. We get about 1 or 2 a day. Jacinda also likes to feed them bread. I have noticed that my bread is disappearing much faster since having the chickens.

Having chickens is also great for Tim. Just a few days ago Tim played a trick on the kids. When they were not looking, he put a plastic purple candy filled egg next to the eggs that were laid. He had the kids go out and get the eggs. He followed with a camcorder. McCabe’s reaction was sheer obliviousness. Jacinda stood there for a moment thinking about a purple egg next to the brown eggs and then she caught on. When she shook the plastic egg she just laughed and said, “there is candy in here.”

Sunday, February 1, 2009

It has been about 2 weeks since my last entry. Life as a mother does not slow down. I got to talk today in Young Women’s about “finding joy in my divine potential.” I was asked to talk about my life without kids and then the life I have now. Basically I discussed events in the past 10 years and how they have helped me to realize the potential I have as a daughter of God. The events in the past 10 years that played such a pivotal role in my life include, my patriarchal blessing, my temple marriage, getting an education, the death of my mother, the birth of my children, and cancer. No matter the trial or the great experiences I have on this earth, God’s hand is always involved. No matter the circumstances I still feel very blessed and know that I am a daughter of God. He loves me and sent me here to have joy. I am having a great life and I don’t want to disappoint Him. I am trying to do my best to raise and nurture my children in righteousness by teaching them gospel principles so that we can all return to Him.

This past week the kids made cookies, got some haircuts, and had cousins from California visit. We have been very busy being creative and developing our culinary skills. Jacinda has been on a picture kick lately. She is taking pictures of everything, the chair, her family, the wall, and her toes. McCabe is big into copying mom and dad. Today he needed to put perfume on his wrists just like his mom and likes to shave (with the lid on) with his dad. It is so much fun watching these kids grow.


Shaving like daddy


McCabe gets a haircut

Picture taken by Jacinda of her feet.

Frosting cookies (Yummmm!!)

Car full of cousins.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

I am extremely tired today. I know that Sunday’s are supposed to be the day of rest but there is not rest for this mother. McCabe was active and tired all through church. He gave me a scare when he almost flipped over the pew. Fortunately I caught is legs before they went over. During the third hour I rocked him to sleep. That was precious and a monumental moment. He never falls asleep at church.

This past week was unbelievably busy. Tim took the week off and it seemed like life got busier. I did paint the downstairs bathroom. I am very happy with the results. Tim did not get to do much around the house. He did however watch the kids so I could paint which I gratefully appreciate.

We went to Portland a few times this week. Wednesday I had an oncology appointment. I had some x-rays taken and it was amazing to compare the before and after pictures of my lungs and heart. Dr. Nichols pointed out where the cancer was and the current space of where it once resided. I was amazed at the difference. It actually gave me great comfort to see a diminished circle inside my body where the cancer once resided. Yes there is some scarring on my lungs from the radiation (he pointed that out), but that is no big deal as long as the cancer is gone. I have some occasional pains internally where the scarring is located on my lungs. At the moment I am trying to see if anything triggers the pain. Last night’s trigger was Chinese food.

Friday we played in Portland. We rode the street cars (the kids loved that), played at the park, and then ate some lunch at the Lloyd Center Mall. The weather was deceptively warm (sunny but chilly). We were warm as long as we kept moving and McCabe made sure that we did not stand around for too long. I wish I had his energy.

Saturday we went to the temple. It was a joy to be there with my husband and friends (it was stake temple day). Something very strange happed while sitting in the temple, the lights went out for 10 seconds and then the generators kicked on. I assume that the wind caused the outage since it was blowing really hard. After we finished our session as we were getting into our car the lights went out again. I heard they were out for 45 minutes. I was so grateful we went when we did and not any later.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

I have a few quick stories to share. First I need to admit that life changes when kids are brought into this world. I almost forgot what it is like to be married without children. The other night I was lying with Jacinda on her bed. She likes to talk with either myself or Tim before drifting off to sleep. We got on the topic of names. She asked if her name will still be Jacinda when she is a momma. I told her that it would and that her name is not going to change. Then she tells me that we should change McCabe's name. "What should his name be?" I asked. There was a moment of silence and then with a huge smile on her face she replies, "Spongebob Squarepants." I was caught off guard and started laughing. She was bellowing with laughter making the whole bed shake. I just love these tender moments.

Now to the flip side of tender moments. I must admit, as a parent I am always learning. I learned today that I will never take McCabe and Jacinda to the store again during their nap time. I was constantly turning around telling Jacinda to hurry up and then turning in the opposite direction to chase after McCabe. I don't know if he got mad, but while strolling down the juice isle, I once again turned to tell Jacinda to keep up. The next thing I hear is a crash and liquid gushing from a container. Sure enough to my horror, McCabe had knocked over a 2 quart bottle of cranberry juice and it was spilling out all over the floor. I manage to salvage about 60% of it. In the end that was some expensive cranberry juice.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas was unbelievable. We got 10 inches of snow. We could not leave our home unless there were chains on our cars. There were big beautiful snowflakes falling from the sky as we opened our presents. Tim got a Christmas village; I got a forschner knife and a beautiful temple picture. Jacinda got slippers, the elefun game, and other goodies. McCabe got a ton of cars and trucks.

It is our family tradition to feed breakfast to the missionaries in our zone Christmas morning. We had juice, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and hash browns. Again we had 6 missionaries. This bunch was a bit more reserved than last year’s guys. Nevertheless, we still had a good time and they were extremely appreciative.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that I went to midnight mass with my friend Denise Nippert. I have always wanted to go and have the experience. It was really neat to see the similarities between Catholicism and the Latter Day Saint religion. I noticed a lot of overlapping beliefs but different methods of presentation (i.e. the sacrament, reciting prayers, talking and rejoicing in Christ). It was a nice experience and fun to be with a friend and not worry about kids (Tim was home watching over them).

Today was a hard day. Tim leaves early for church so I am left with the kids. I have to get them ready, feed them, and pack the diaper/activity bag. We made it to church on time, but McCabe was tired. He was a little fussy sitting in the pew. He entertained himself by throwing toy cars at the people in front of us. I quickly put an end to that activity. So he decides on doing something different like dumping out the crayons and putting the Tupperware container on his head and burst into song. By this time, our row was a mess and sacrament meeting was running over. I got him back to normal and kept him quiet for a little while. I thought he was resting on the floor. Next thing I know he had broken free and tried to run up to Tim who was on the stand. Other members tried to stop him which caused him to run in the other direction. I was mortified, my son was running around the chapel during sacrament meeting and I was trying to chase him. I finally caught him and then he lets out a big scream. I quickly took him out into the hall. I had been in the hall no more than 60 seconds when the choir went up to sing. Over the pulpit I heard the choir director ask if someone would watch McCabe so I could come back and sing with them. Tim showed up and I walked into the front of the room with about 400 eyes staring at me. I was really embarrassed, but I felt somewhat re-assured that other parents have had similar occurrences.

After sacrament meeting I dumped McCabe in Nursery. I wad so tired and I didn’t care if he cried the whole time in there. He did good. It is official, McCabe can attend nursery without crying.

I gave the lesson today in Relief Society. It was on Elder Bednar’s talk entitled “Pray Always.” There were a lot of good messages and reminders in his talk. Sometimes I feel like someone else would do a better job giving the discussion since I am not always perfect in what I am presenting. I guess that is why I encourage class participation so I can learn from others.

I am soooooo excited for 2009. In fact I was anticipating it since Dec. 31, 2007 the day I was diagnosed with cancer. This past year was really rough as you all know. I still have pain in my chest (underneath my sternum) which scares me, since the majority of the cancer grew there. I also have a little pressure at the base of my throat. I wonder if my scar tissue is growing. Jan 12th I see the oncologist and have a chest x-ray. The results should be good and show that I am still cancer free. I just want to obtain some of my goals with the least amount of pain possible. I guess I need to re-read proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Oh how I love the christmas season but it sure is busy. This past week was Jacinda's 4th birthday. She had a princess party. The party turned out to be really fun. The kids decorated crowns, wands, necklaces, went on a treasure hunt, banged up a pinata and then sang along with a princess video. Thanks to all who came and made the party so much fun. There were a lot of princesses. I also want to thank Jacinda for letting her dad and brother join in the fun. All week she kept telling me that no boys were allowed. In fact, she told her dad that he should be working during her party....well that did not happen for 2 resons. First, this was his little girl's birthday and second, he does not work on Saturdays.


Jacinda showing off her decorated crown and wand.


The princesses in their royal garb.

As christmas approaches there are santas everywhere. I love this picture of McCabe and Santa. It looks like McCabe has a thought about about pulling on santa's beard as he stares at it.



Unfortunately Jacinda does not look that excited to see santa. Don't let this fool you, she is containing her excitment for just the right moment.


Let is snow!! Yes you guess it, we got snow and the kids wanted to build a snowman. The snowman did not happen but the kids got the taste of cold out of their system. It has been about 33 degrees here during the day. (Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)


Hooray!! Tis the season for a gingerbread house. My daughter is shirtless becasue she has an issue with being dirty. If something spills on her shirt then she needs to take it off, but she will not go upstairs to get a new shirt. So she ended up making a gingerbread house without her shirt. Now let's see what 2 kids and a daddy can do when it comes to making a sweet creation.

Well it looks pretty good, however, the back side is slanted in because McCabe was going for a candy and accidently pushed in the back side. I did not bother taking a picture of it. However, I should tell you that the roof now has a huge gap in it. I guess it slid apart during the night and then dried with a 1/2 inch gap.

Kids you did awesome!! I love your creativity. And McCabe it is ok if you licked every piece of candy before applying it to the house.