Visitors! and Preschool?

It is so hard to think of what we did last week.  I do remember that Wednesday night the Cooks came!  It was so fun to see them.  If only we could have spent more time with them!  Thursday we went with the all the cousins to the exploratorium.  It was really fun-again I wish it could have lasted longer.

Thursday evening Teresa came.  Friday we took it easy-walked to Target for no real reason.  That's a dangerous thing to do.  But we didn't spend too much money.

Saturday morning Dave went with the scouts to a ward service project.  The rest of us went hung out here and went to a University Village yard sale.  Dave helped a family move and did some work.  I guess those first couple of days with Teresa were kind of boring!  Sunday was a nice day at church.  I got to give a ride to a lady and her 2 kids to church.  She has met with the missionaries some and just loved church.  It was great to give her a ride and hear how happy she seemed about the feelings she had.  After church Teresa checked her blood sugar and it was really low-so that was kind of scary.  But she quickly drank some chocolate milk and pulled out of it.  Phew!  Interestingly, Dave also checked his blood sugar after church just out of curiosity and it was below normal.  Hmm.  Sunday night we had a birthday dinner for Teresa.  We had shish kabobs, caprise salad, corn on the cob, and angel food cake.  Yum!

This morning we went to a little beach for a while.  It was really nice!

Teresa went home today.  I forgot to tell Thomas that she'd be leaving during his nap, so he was looking for her when he woke up.  Thanks for visiting Teresa!

I want to add that I loved the lesson in relief society.  Lesli taught a lesson about finding/using our strengths to make a difference in the world.  This is something that has been on my mind lately.  I feel like I've been going through a process of trying to discover my strengths and what I can do with them.  Did I already write about this comment I read on Ashmae's blog?  I'm sorry I don't know who said it, but one of Ashley's friends said that she found that she discovered the things she most wanted to change about herself, both physical and spiritual, were also her greatest strengths.  This really has changed how I view myself, as well as other people.  Things that in some situations are weakness are great strengths in other situations.  So it seems in order to use your strengths, you might want to seek out situations in which your strongest character traits are beneficial.

Finally, the last thing I've been thinking about is preschool.  I've been doing a mom co-op preschool.  But what about the fall.  Do I enroll Sam in preschool, or do I keep him home for this precious last year before he heads off to school?  You can probably tell which way I'm leaning (the latter), but I worry that maybe he won't be prepared socially or educationally for school if I don't put him in preschool.  Any advice for me?

Busy nights, camping

Last week was good.  Monday we went to the West's for dinner and FHE.  It was good food and good company.  The FHE lesson was on prayer.  Sam often doesn't want to say the prayer so this was well timed.  Today his sunbeam teachers said he always volunteers to pray.  What?!  That's so funny.  He's leading a double life, that boy.

I can't remember Tuesday day.  Tuesday night I went to a baby shower for Amanda S.  It was fun!

Wednesday morning was a bit rough, but ok.  I think the afternoon was better?  Wednesday night I went to voice lessons.  I felt tired.  The lesson was on breathing.  Am I getting it?  Sometimes I'm not sure.  But I did think today that I hope Keturah doesn't hear me sing in church because she might think, "Oh man, she's not getting it!"  But we'll see what she has to say come Wednesday.

Thursday we went to Little Farm.  It was nice.  Thomas wasn't as scared this time.  He still wanted to stay in my arms when the cows were in sight, but he got down to look at the rabbits.  I almost want to get a rabbit, but cleaning a cage is just too much.  Thursday night I went to a RS training meeting.  Our president is moving this summer, but secretaries don't get automatic releases when the President and counselors do, so we shall see.  I'm not hoping for one way or the other.  I feel content how things are.

Friday morning was unplanned and nice.  Friday night we went camping.  It's so fun!  The kids just love it, and I love the peacefulness of being out in nature.  It's some work to get everything packed up, but Sam is so excited that he helps a lot.  It was a great night for camping-super warm.  And you know the last time we went camping we were next to an LDS scout troop, just like we were this time.  Funny.

Saturday-after camping we tried to go to a ward hike, but the kids were tired, we were tired, my knee was hurting (don't know why), and we wanted to get home before the hike would end so Thomas would take a long nap in his crib instead of a short nap in his car seat.  Sam did manage to bloody his knee though.  That looked pretty cool, but once the blood was cleaned up it actually looked pretty minor.

Today was nice too.  Church was good.  We went to a little celebration for someone who was baptized yesterday.

Sam said something funny today.  We were in the kitchen and he was helping/watching me cook when he said, "Holy Cow, I think I have a testimony!"  So we had a short discussion about testimony.  He also told us today that "Adam and Eve were the first people were the first people on the earth, did you know that?"  We said that we did know that (and thought to ourselves, and didn't you know that since we've talked about them before?) and he said, "They ate fruit so they could have lots of children!"  Out of the mouths of babes, you know.  Thanks to his primary teachers.

That reminds me, I was listening to a talk on the fall (by Robert J. Matthews) not too long ago and my favorite thing that was said this, "Just as surely as salvation comes because of the atonement, so also salvation comes because of the fall (that was quoting McConkie)....  The creation would have been incomplete without the fall and the atonement.  Mortality is an essential step in man's salvation.  The fall was necessary to bring mortality.  Thus god's purposes in the creation would have been unattainable without the fall and the atonement....Our Savior's terrible agony and suffering was not designed simply to restore man to the Garden of Eden.  But it was designed to enable us to become exalted and become like the Father, and that is far, far better than the Garden of Eden.

I also listened to Sister Beck's talk from last year's RS General Meeting.  She taught me something new about Mary and Martha and about women in the church.  She said this: "I hope my granddaughters will understand that Relief Society today is organized after a pattern of discipleship that existed in the ancient Church. When the Savior organized His Church in New Testament times, “women were vital participants in [His] ministry.”¹ He visited Martha and Mary, two of His most dedicated followers, in Martha’s home. As Martha listened to Him and served Him according to the custom of their time, He helped her see that she could do more than that. He helped Martha and Mary understand that they could choose “that good part,” which would not be taken from them.² This gentle comment served as an invitation to participate in the Lord’s ministry."

Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow...it's time to get ready for bed.

Basketballers

This week was a little rough again.  Just like it was 4 weeks ago.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  Biology?  Yes, I think so.

Monday-music makers and men's shelter.  The men's shelter was nice.  It was the most appreciative group yet.  And we also for some reason had tons of food leftover.

Tuesday it rained.  It was a tiresome day, so we went out to dinner.  That was nice.  Dave let me choose where to go and what to get.

Wednesday was my first voice lesson with Keturah.  She moved here a year or less ago.  I asked her if she taught voice, and she said yes.  So I put that on the back burner.  But it turns out they're moving in a couple of months (or less?) so I'm just trying to get a few lessons in before she moves.  I loved my first lesson.  What I really like about Keturah is not only her ability to sing, but her way about it.  It's beautiful and humble when I've heard her sing.  That's how I would like to sing.

Thursday morning-RS meeting.  First we took Dave to school and went to the market.  I love the market.  The longer we live here, the more I feel myself getting attached to things about this place.  I just love getting fresh fruits and veggies that are locally grown.

Friday-I think it was rainy again.  The hard thing about not feeling well when you're a mom is that sometimes you just feel like you need 30 minutes to yourself to relax and rest and maybe meditate.  But it's hard to get that time.  And maybe I miss some chances too.  We went to Costco.  After that trip I was missing the normal grocery stores that have everything you need.  I buy groceries at 3 different places.  Usually not all in one week, but last week we went to Target twice, and Costco, and the market.  It was ok b/c it was a rainy week so we needed to get out anyway, but still.  We watched Lucy-cute little Lucy.

Saturday-Dave and the scouts went to the annual pancake breakfast which raises money for scout camp.  When he got back our 5 year old neighbor boy knocked on the door.  Dave still had his scout shirt on and the boy said in his New Zealand accent, "What are you?"  I thought it was pretty funny.  That morning wasn't too bad.  One funny thing happened.  We went outside to the park and saw some friends (Dan and Denise) pull up and park.  They were going to visit the Bigelow's (Ben and Sophie), our neighbors.  So we said hello and they mentioned how nice it is that we have the park so close, and what a nice day, etc.  I agreed that it is really nice.  Then they went inside.  When Sophie and Denise came back outside a few minutes later I was carrying a crying Thomas and followed by a screaming (and I mean screaming) Sam on his bike.  So much for our lovely time at our lovely park.  Denise and Sophie helped me get the kids back.  I'm always so grateful for understanding friends when my kids are screaming.  

That reminds me on Thursday Thomas didn't want to get in his car seat.  So he screamed all the way home from the RS meeting.  Our neighbors, not the Bigelows, the Finns were outside when I walked to our door with a wiggling and screaming Thomas in my arms.  Sonne (Mrs. Finn) was so understanding.  She said, "Looks like somebody didn't get everything he wanted when he wanted it."  I explained his greivance and she said with an understanding and warm smile, "Oh yes, you are such a bad mom."  Maybe that sounds rude, but it wasn't rude how she said it.  It was perfect.  I hope I'm understanding like that.

Back to Saturday-I dunno.  We made our 2nd trip to Target for the week.  I had the quiet me-time I'd been craving and that seemed to boost my spirits.  And just having Dave home is so nice.  My sister and her husband run a business from their home and she said it is soo nice to have him home to help with the kids.  Oh well.  I'm grateful Dave is very helpful when he is home.  In fact, I think sometimes I'm lazier when he's home.

Sunday-Today was Sam's first time singing with the Primary in Sacrament meeting.  He's been wanting to do this for a long time.  He was one of the first ones up there and stood right in the front.  He looked just great. he sang, he smiled, and you couldn't even see that his shirt was untucked from where we sat.  It was fun.  Tonight we had dinner with Sariah.  She makes for great company.

Here are some great videos and pictures.  (I think they're great!)

Thomas and Sam have been playing a lot of basketball lately.  I love how Thomas points down the basket after he makes it in the first one.  That cracks me up.  Sam likes to talk about basketballers, as well as be one.  After he made a few shots in a row he said, "I'm as good as Daddy now!"

So we didn't get pictures of Easter, but luckily we didn't finish dying eggs until the Tuesday after Easter.  So we did get some pictures of that.

A couple of times this week I'd go into Thomas' room after his nap to get him out of his crib, but he'd do this instead.  He was showing me some other cool moves too, but this is a pretty good sample.

Success

Caveat:  This post is mostly for me.

So I've been thinking about what it means to be successful.  For example, what makes a parent successful?  How is it measured?  Is it measured by how smart their children are?  How impressive their children are?  How much they love you?  How cute they are?  How much they hold to the values you have taught them?  All of these are things I am tempted to use to measure my own success as a parent.

Another example, what makes a missionary successful?  Is it how many people they baptize?  Is it how well-loved they are?  Is it how often people are moved to tears or action when they teach?  I think it's not uncommon for missionaries to measure their success by these things.

What makes a person successful?  Again, is it how smart, impressive, powerful, wealthy, beautiful, athletic or talented they are?  I think on paper (or computer screen) it's easy to say no, of course not.  But I think it's not uncommon to feel pressure to be these things in order to be successful.

So I think all of these are good and worthwhile goals.  I think they frequently are correlated with a successful parent, missionary, or person.  But I don't think they always do.

Preach My Gospel says this:

Your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach,

baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church

who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost.

Avoid comparing yourself to other missionaries and measuring the outward results of

your efforts against theirs....Your responsibility is to teach clearly and powerfully so they can make a

correct choice. Some may not accept your message even when they have received a spiritual

witness that it is true. You will be saddened because you love them and desire their

salvation. You should not, however, become discouraged; discouragement will weaken

your faith. If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire

will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit.

You can know you have been a successful missionary when you:

• Feel the Spirit testify to people through you.

• Love people and desire their salvation.

• Obey with exactness.

• Live so that you can receive and know how to follow the Spirit, who will show you

where to go, what to do, and what to say.

• Develop Christlike attributes.

• Work effectively every day, do your very best to bring souls to Christ, and seek

earnestly to learn and improve.

• Help build up the Church (the ward) wherever you are assigned to work.

• Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments.

• Teach and serve other missionaries.

• Go about doing good and serving people at every opportunity, whether or not they

accept your message.

When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but

you will not be disappointed in yourself. You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased

when you feel the Spirit working through you.

Ok, that's long, and I did the bold-ing.  But I really like it.  I like it because everything it talks about is something within your personal control rather than outward results, which is sometimes out of your control.  Also, I think a lot of them transfer to being a successful parent and person.  It's so easy to measure our success by outward results.  A simple example is when the house is clean and dinner is good, I feel like I'm a good wife and mom.  But those really are not my highest priorities as a wife and mom.  I want to do them, but I think there are more important things, like teaching and loving and serving my family.  But a clean house and good food is easy to see and measure.  And perhaps more significantly, it's easy for other people to see and measure.

Anyway, I just hope that I can be more concerned with being successful as a person, a wife and mom, a member of the church, and child of God by doing the sort of things this list talks about.  I really think that's how Heavenly Father measures our success.

Rainy day

I just got out of time-out.  And I wonder why my kids (even Thomas) slam the door when they go into their room angrily.  Now I know. :)  I wouldn't say I slam it per se, just close it loudly.  The good news is Sam seems to have perked up, Thomas has a pacifier, and I just had a little chocolate.  And the best news is that Dave just got home.

Regular life

Last week was pretty regular. Monday-music makers. Tuesday we went to the zoo. Wednesday-preschool at out house, and watched Leah. Thomas and Leah were trouble-makers for the first hour, but then it got better. We watched Landon that day too for a little bit. Thursday-Library and Target. Thursday night-enrichment. Friday-no preschool (Isaac was sick), cleaned the fridge and kitchen floor. Friday night, Dave and I went on a date to Target (to buy Easter treats) and Barnes and Noble (just because). It was nice even though we hadn't planned much.

Saturday-Easter party in the village, and egg hunt with the ward at a park. Only Dave and Sam went to the latter b/c it was during nap time. Sam had soccer and he had fun there. Choir practice Saturday night. Worked on taxes....ug. Sunday-went to church early for choir practice. Had a good Easter program with great talks and music. I was distracted by trying to hand off my kids so I could join the choir. Sam was unwilling at first until I offered to let him go sit with Spencer. Thank-you Beasleys and Bigelows for taking our kids. Had a delicious dinner with the Simmons and Lymans. The kids had a lot of fun and binged on candy from the little egg hunt we did after dinner in their back yard. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! I wish I would have run back home to get it. So no Easter pictures. :(

Here are a few pics from the week.

Sam eats red peppers like an apple. I should really buy these more often.

This is what Thomas looked like after playing with sidewalk chalk the other day.
Sam and Thomas brushing their teeth. I just thought they looked cute!
These two pictures below are supposed to be of the kids pretending to sleep. I love the look on Thomas' face in the second one. He kept doing that too. Poor Lucy just wants her space I'm afraid. And Sam is just interested in some baby toy he found. :)

Some funny things Sam said last week were:

"All the pictures with Grandma B are cute!"

I told him that a friend said she wasn't feeling well and Sam said, "Maybe she feels how you feel?" I said, "Tired?" Sam said, "No, lumpy, bumpy."

"Oh my gracious! My room gets so dirty!"

Spring Break

This video records what typically happens when we listen to this song by Lex de Azevedo.

Lately Thomas has been really... unpredictable and stubborn. For example, on Sunday we were loading the car up to go to church. We put the church bags in the back hatch. Often when I put groceries in the car I let the kids climb in the back hatch first and climb over the seats into their car seats. This time, though, we were in a hurry so we didn't want Thomas go in the back and climb over. Boy was he ANGRY. He cried, screamed, and wiggled his way nearly out of his car seat on the way to church. (He knows how to get his arms out.) I climbed in back to get him secured properly, but he just screamed and fought it the whole way (13 minutes maybe). Then when we got out of the car and started walking toward the church he tried to run back to the car, presumably so he could climb in the back and over the seat. Well, again we were trying to get to church on time (and not give in to our fit-throwing child), so the answer was no. I picked him up and carried him, writhing and kicking and screaming (him, not me). A guy at the other end of the block looked back at us.

When we got to church I took him into the mother's room, which is really a lounge area leading to the women's restroom. He just kept going for the door, so then I was trying to hold him to keep him from escaping and disturbing all those peaceful worshipers. And from going back to the car which I'm pretty sure he would have. After a few minutes a lady came in, with the guise of going to the bathroom, but I think she really just heard Thomas and came to see who was being tortured in the church mother's room. She had some advice to offer, which was moderately helpful, but mostly her presence was helpful. She was standing by the door talking to me and Thomas was scared of her, so he didn't run for the door anymore. In fact, he crawled under a bench and kept crying there. It was actually kind of funny, even in the middle of it. She left after a while, feeling much more sorry for me than I think she should have. But I appreciated her kindness, and her presence!

Thomas finally calmed down enough that he let me hold him, after he ran for the door and I didn't let him to it. I made it to the hallway just in time for the sacrament. What a tantrum! He's had some other lovely ones, but that was the most dramatic-about 30 minutes. I think it may have to do with a molar coming in, and approaching the 2 year mark.

Last week was Dave's spring break. He worked from home last week and we took time to go do a few things around here. We almost made a trip to southern California, but decided in the end to stay around here.

Monday we went on a BART trip just for the sake of riding on the train. The kids loved it. It was fun just to get out and spend a little time together. We rode mostly above ground which was nice.

Tuesday we went to the Jelly Belly Factory. Sam is in a constant state of pining for jelly bellies. In fact, on the way home he came up with a great idea. "How about if I stay in my bed at night we can go to the jelly belly factory the next day!" That statement reflects how often he stays in his bed at night, as well as his love for jelly bellies. I told him I didn't want to go back for a while. I started to say that he would probably get sick of going there, but I decided that's not true. The line there was huge-apparently we weren't the only spring breakers. But we stuck it out, taking turns waiting in line and walking around with the kids. So we got our free jelly beans, and Sam even bought a couple of his own 99 cent boxes.

Tuesday night we all went to watch Dave play basketball since it was a 7:00 game (as opposed to 8 or 9). It was a fun game to watch. At first it looked like the other team wouldn't be too tough (they probably thought the same thing). But then in walked the 7-foot man. But it turns out they still weren't too tough. We were winning for quite a while. And then number 30 showed up. He was just too good. So they lost, but it was close and it was fun, and Dave scored 21 points. Not bad! Right before the buzzer he made a lovely 3-pointer which always makes a person feel good.

Wednesday we did pre-school. Wednesday evening we went to food trucks for dinner. We haven't done it before, but it was fun. Unfortunately I forgot my phone so we didn't get to meet up with the Lymans, who are regulars. Hopefully next time.

Thursday we went to the temple.

Friday was pre-school again. Friday night I went to a baby shower for Anne Lowman. I'm so happy for her. She's my visiting teacher and she is great. She is thoughtful and checks in on me in simple ways-often via email. I appreciate her.

Saturday was General Conference. I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be with things to keep the kids engaged. Next time.... But I enjoyed it nonetheless. I love the spirit of general conference. We watched it at home, which I have mixed feelings about. It takes more discipline to pay attention at home I think, but then I'd be taking the kids into the hallway if we watched it at church anyway. So maybe it's not so different.

This wasn't planned, but yesterday the boys made a home-made ball pit.

Something funny Sam said this week was, "Thomas, do you want to play with my feet?" Thomas was in time-out in the crib. Sam was in his room sticking his feet through the bars into the crib. Just trying to help his brother out. Funny boy.