Brainstorming and Retail Therapy

Hallelujah!

Mylie WANTS to do her chores!

It all started with her REFUSING to help.  With pretty much anything.  I thought to myself, "THIS has GOT to change!!!"  So I started brainstorming.  Like on Imagine Movers.

"We need good ideas and we need them now!

So put your heads together and we'll write them down.

There's no bad ideas when we're brainstorming!"

You better believe I sang that song before I got started.  And I included a little retail therapy with that as well.

Hobby Lobby.  Who doesn't love that place?  (Besides my husband.)  So I'm doing what we all like to do, wandering around drooling over everything, and wishing my home looked like this and that and so-and-so's.  Then what to my wandering eyes should appear but a pink-tutued, sparkly-tiared, rosy-cheeked, white, fat and shiny, ballerina PIGGY BANK.   (This is really the one).

And what kid doesn't love a piggy bank chuck full of change?  And what's more, it MATCHED Mylie's room.  So of course I did what any smart-thinking mother would do.  I bought it with my 40% off coupon.  

I know you know what's next.  I bribe my daughter to work for MONEY.  That's right.  I BRIBE.  I learned it from my mom, who learned it from her mom, who probably learned it from her mom and so on.  It can turn into a bad habit.  So if you're not a briber, I suggest you don't get started.

Okay but my daughter is going to be 4 in July, she still doesn't quite grasp money.  On top of that she doesn't see it much.  I'm one of those debit/credit card mom's whose kids will never learn nuthin' 'bout money cuz she never has cash on hand.  No fear, remember what I said earlier.  Kids LOVE piggy banks.  Putting clanking, clinking money in them gives them a great, big, happy thrill.  

But there has to be more.  I can't just say, "Hey, clean up your toys and you can put this nickel in your piggy bank."  So I turned to Google, one of my best friends.  This is all I said to him, "a house of order fhe lesson".  He knew exactly what I was talking about and where to direct me.  Isn't that amazing?!  So this is what I used.  Go ahead.  Click on it.  Best lesson I ever taught.  By the end of it I very literally had squealing, smiles and "I love you, Mommy."

I followed it pretty well, although I moved the "family chore walk" to the beginning of the lesson so we'd have something to work with.  Mylie enjoyed every bit of the lesson.  She loved putting the puzzle together, putting the "can" chores into a bag and trying to lift it, and listening to the story of the "The Little Red Hen."  I told the story and Richie was the voices of the goose, cat and dog.  Mylie got to hold the animals when they talked.  And whaddya know, she answered questions well, she LISTENED, and best of all, she learned!

Next, I surprised her with her very own chore chart.  I didn't use the chart the lesson provided however.  I borrowed a princess potty chart from the internet and created a chore chart from it.  I couldn't live my life without Photoshop anymore.  Here they are:

I told her princesses did chores, then talked in princess voices telling her the 5 chores these particular princesses liked to do.  You know she was smiling.  Three-year olds love princesses and Mylie is no exception.

I laminated her chart and stuck small magnets to the empty boxes. I printed out tiaras, laminated and magnetized them as well.  

Then we surprised her, and boy was she excited, with her PIGGY BANK!  I  wish I had this on video!  It was like I just told her we would be going to Disneyland every day for the rest of her life.  She jumped up and squealed.  She said, "This is SOOOOOO cute!  It's what I've always wanted!"  She hugged it.  And hugged it some more.  

That's when we did a "practice" round of Monday.  We talked each chore through as though she did it.  She got to place a tiara in each square and got a nickel for each chore she completed.  She gleefully put them in her piggy bank, then we counted how many nickels she got.  We also counted together how many nickels she would get if she did all her chores all week.  

Mylie got to bed late.  And guess what she did when we left her room?  She turned on her light and picked up her toys.  She came out and said, "Mommy!  Come look at my room!"  I almost scolded her for being awake still, but instead I went in to see the toys picked up off the floor, ALL on her dresser.  LOL.  Guess we'll have to leave the lesson of "putting toys where they belong" for another day.  Until then, I'M excited about my CHILD being excited about doing her chores.  All for a quarter a day.  And I sincerely hope the excitement lasts longer than a day as well.

My Little Buddy

I feel like I posted so much about Mylie and have totally neglected my sweet little boy.  What a meanie I am.  So I'm taking a minute to highlight what I love about my little Michael!

Michael is truly sweet.  He loves to cuddle with me, which is something Mylie really never liked.  Even though sometimes I want to put him down to get some things done around the house, I also cherish the moments when we are sitting together and cuddling.

Michael is learning to walk.  It's the cutest thing!  Every time he takes some steps, he's giggling so much it makes him tip over.  But he gets right back up and does it again.  So determined!

He's so smiley.  All I have to do is look at him and he bursts into a great, big, happy grin.  Couldn't make a mommy happier.

Michael loves to climb.  The other day we had a barbecue with some friends at our park.  I got a little distracted and forgot to watch Michael.  (See, awesome mom).  In the meantime he climbed up the playground equipment and helped himself down the slide on his tummy.  He JUST turned one!  It cracked us up!

Michael has almost 10 teeth.  He LOVES to eat.  But not baby food.  He never has liked it.  His favorite food right now?  Corn dogs!  He chomps those things down in like 60 seconds flat.  He also likes peas, strawberries, bananas, grapes, cereal, toast, cookies, spaghetti, and pretty much anything else I allow him to attempt to eat.

Michael loves dancing with his daddy.  Daddy is a music lover.  Almost every day after work he comes home, turns on some tunes and dances with the kids.  They love it, and I'm pretty sure he does too.

Michael adores his sister Mylie.  Although he often flinches when she gets too close, (ha ha!) she can make him laugh pretty dang hard.  Crazy faces and sounds, silly dancing, running up to him quickly, shouting boo, etc.  She also likes to share her suckers with him, blow bubbles at him, push him in his stroller, "help" him walk, cuddle with him and hold his hand.  She's a pretty sweet girl too.

Michael loves bottles.  Milk, water and air are drinks of his choice!  Neither of my kids got attached to a binky, but sweet Michael might die without his bottle.

He also couldn't live without his blankies.  Aiden and Anais blankies that is.  I am glad they are easily replaceable because I can see those things turning to rags the way my boy loves them.  I often see him spot a blanket on the ground, quickly get over to it and bury his face in it while giggling and kicking his legs with joy.  He sleeps with a couple close to his face, holding his bottle in one hand and his blanky in the other.  Other times he likes to find a sweet spot and just suck on the blanket.  Silly boy!

Michael loves his sleep.  Ah, just what a momma dreams of.  He certainly lets me know when he's ready for a nap or bed time.  I can read him like a book.  Super grumpy, whiney and clingy.  Oh!  Bed time!!!

I am feeling a bit guilty about having baby number 3 so close in age to Michael because I feel like Michael will totally be gypped on his time with me.  He will be 18 months when baby comes, sad!  But for some reason it was right to have this baby when we are, so I'm sure Michael will be fine.  All is well.  All is well.

My Grandpa

This is my sweet Grandpa, Don Black, with my lovely Grandmother, Wanda Hunt Black, aka Wannie.  My Grandpa passed away two Novembers ago.  November of 2010.  Lucky for me, I got to visit him a month or two before he passed away.  And even luckier for me, I got to take this beautiful picture of my Grandparents to keep and treasure forever.

They same time heals your heart--which I believe to an extent.  I have had close loved ones pass away.  My wonderful Aunt Heidi, my sweet Nephew Kolby, my adventurous and crazy Great Grandma Pete (Peterson), my Great Grandma Graves, my Great Grandma Black to name the ones I remember.  But there's something different about losing a Grandparent.  One who I have zillions of memories of and with.     One who has shared so much of his life with me.  It still hurts.  I miss him dearly and honestly think of him almost every day.  I dread the day I lose my other grandparents, my parents, my siblings, my husband, my children--who knows the order of who goes when.  But I don't look forward to it in the least.

My Grandfather was a fountain of knowledge.  He loved politics, reading the newspaper, watching the news (The O'Reilly Factor and Glen Beck are people who really sticks out to me right now), and reading biographies and historical books.

My Grandfather was a fabulous advice giver.  But only when you asked for it.  He didn't push, he didn't insert his own opinions until permissions was granted.  He gave me my first loan.  It was for a $2000 car and charged me 1% interest rate to teach me how it all worked.  What a great teacher he was!

My Grandfather was a lover of Southern Utah--the red rock country, rock hunting and collecting, four-wheeling, exploring, boating, hiking, climbing, discovering and camping.

My Grandfather loved to play cards.  Hand and Foot and Crazy Sevens were his latest card playing games, and I LOVED playing with him.

My Grandpa knew every nook and cranny on Lake Powell.  I have so many memories of Lake Powell trips with my grandparents.  Our day trips involved hiking up beautiful canyons.  Some dry, some filled with water and occasional small waterfalls.  Dark Canyon was my favorite.  I don't even know if it exists anymore.  We also hiked to an arch, and another time to an Indian ruin.  I caught tiny little frogs in cups, built sand castles, slid down slippery rocks on my bare bum, and looked for the "tiny people" whose clothes we found washed up on the beach!  We cliff jumped, we skied, we tubed, and we even banana boated (I believe my parents broke ribs on that thing!) We would park the boat in shady coves on hot summer days and eat sandwiches, grapes, chips and soda, then play cards (of course!) And don't forget the Pecan Sandies and Fig Newtons for dessert!  We kids would swim in the cove.  I loved to put on my goggles and look at all the wonderful things you can see in a lake (ha!).  I liked to blow up the floating devices and play on those.  I also liked to tie a hook on a shoe string, attach cheese to the hook and catch those carp.  (Ewwww!)  Grandpa let me drive the boat.  I thought he must really trust me to let me drive it!  He and Wannie would sleep on the boat and the rest of us would set up beds on the beach.  Luckily I never met any scorpions.  I do remember occasional times when they let me sleep on the boat with them.   And in the mornings I'd take a cool bath in the lake.  Oh how I miss the old Lake Powell.  It has changed so much since I was young.  I know my Grandparents felt the same way.

Being a native from Blanding, Utah, my Grandfather was very well-versed in that country.  He knew the way to every Indian ruin.  In fact, he even discovered a few on his own before they were ever made known to the public.  When Richie and I first got married, my Grandparents took us on an amazing trip to  Blanding.  We spent two or three full days four wheeling all over the place--seeing arches, ruins, and beautiful red rock country.  Richie had never done anything like that so he thought it was super cool.  I was so proud of my Grandpa for knowing so much--where to go, what to see...

With my Grandpa's passing I feel like I have lost the opportunities of experiencing south-eastern Utah and Lake Powell the way I did with my Grandpa.  I don't think there is anyone else who knows as much about that area as he did.  I'm incredibly grateful and happy that I have the memories I do with him.  I'm also very sad that my children will never taste it the way I did.

Now I'm going to include some pictures of my Grandfather's childhood and growing up.  I can't tell you how many stories my Grandpa told me about his childhood.  He usually told the funny stories of things that happened to him, or naughty things he did.  He was laugh so hard--I loved it!

Like I said, I miss my Grandpa "Pop Pop" dearly, and get teary-eyed often over him not being in my life anymore.  For now anyways.  I do believe that his spirit lives on and that I will be able to see him and be reunited with him again someday.  I know this because of my belief in my Heavenly Father's Plan of Happines.  Click on that link to learn what I believe.  It is explained very well.

Number 3

It may be a little crazy that I'm pregnant with baby #3, with my #2 baby only being 10 months old.  But for some reason the timing for #3 is supposed to be now, not later.  And I'm okay with that.  I'd love for this baby to be a boy so he and  little Michael could be best buddies.  But at the same time, we've got a girl name picked out.  (I know you're wondering--Emmy Lucille.)  Boys names are MUCH harder for us.  Well, especially for Richie.  I had a list of names I liked for Michael.  Richie's list consisted of Rockwell and...well I can't remember the other name, but let's just say I didn't approve.  Back to this baby, he/she will be just 18 months younger than Michael, which sounds really hard to me.  I just hope he/she is as easy a baby as Michael has been.

We took the kids out to a field last weekend and I had high hopes in getting some adorable shots of them.  Well I did get a few but not as many as I had wanted.  And I didn't get ANY good pics of Mylie by herself.  Michael made up for that though, he was cute as can be, and Mylie was as stinker-ish as can be.

Living Nativity

Last night our stake put on a live reenactment of the Nativity.  Everything about it was fantastic.  A strong spirit, wonderful actors, beautiful music and narration, superb lighting, warming hot cocoa and delicious cookies!  The only thing missing was the live animals for petting.  The company we hired just didn't show!?  I hope there wasn't an accident or something.  I know it was disappointing to the children, but we hope they show up tonight and tomorrow night.

I think this Mary and Joseph are the most beautiful of any I've ever seen.  And what's cool about this year is that Mary is actually pregnant with her first child!

Mormons are CRAZY!?

Somebody tell me WHY people are so afraid of Mormons?  Tell me WHY people assume what others say about the religion to be truth, when in reality what they say is false?  Tell me WHY some people disown their own family member from joining the Mormon religion?  Tell me WHY people don't just go learn about the religion before making crazy assumptions and believing absolute lies?  Tell me WHY some people flat out refuse to learn anything about the religion when really they know nothing about it?  Tell me WHY, if this religion is so false and crazy, is it one of the fastest growing religions in the entire world?  Why, why, why?  I can guarantee the majority of non-Mormons have heard strange things and have completely skewed views about the beliefs of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints--aka Mormons.

The older I get, the more hurt I become about issues surrounding my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints  (nickname: Mormons).  I'm fully aware that the church is not well-liked in the United States and other countries. (eg.  Did you know that the opposition to voting for a Mormon President is among the most common voting biases?  Just look HERE).  And I'm not trying to persuade you to vote for Mitt Romney.  I'm not even positive I'm going to.  My point here is that people are opposed to Mitt Romney based SOLELY on the fact that he is Mormon.  That is wrong.  So would it be if somebody was not voting for a candidate based on that fact that he/she was Catholic, Baptist, Non-Denominational, Jewish, Black, Hispanic, Gay/Lesbian, etc.

I'm also fully aware of anti-Mormon literature which may portray part-truths, or truths that are twisted or altered to sound crazy, or even blatant lies.  Wouldn't it make more sense to learn about the church from official Mormon sources (www.lds.org or mormon.org) or active members themselves?

I also know of other Christian religions teaching anti-Mormon topics.  Why don't they focus on learning about their own beliefs rather than trying to "disprove" the Mormons?  We don't have classes on any other religions and their accused "wacky" beliefs and are never learning ways to disprove anyone.  That's simply not Christian, would you agree?

But let's get to the real issue here.  The issue that is bothering me today is the issue that people are saying that we do not believe in Jesus Christ--that we are not Christian.

Do those accusers know anything about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?  Do they even know the name of our church?  Have they studied what we believe?  Are they associated with active members of the Mormon faith?

Let me tell you just a glimpse of what we do believe.

1.  We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.  (First Article of Faith)
2.  We believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that He atoned for the sins of this world.
3.  We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.  (Third Article of Faith)

The whole purpose in writing this is in hopes that my friends who may have skewed views about the Mormon religion will look to find fact rather than fiction about what I and millions of other Mormons believe.  The reality is though, they probably aren't going to be reading this OR responding to anything that I say.  But there, I said it, and it feels good.  I am a MORMON and by golly I'm stickin' to it.  And I'm not crazy, or brainwashed or cult-like.  I'm a follower of my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I always will be.

Halloween

Just a few pics to get started, I still need to get more off my point-and-shoot.

We went to the "Pumpkin Patch" which was actually a mini (very mini) carnival with pre-picked pumpkins sitting all around on haystacks and the ground.  They were waiting eagerly for someone to pick them.  Unfortunately for them, the pumpkins at the grocery store were only $3 while these were like $20+ for the same size.  You can bet where we got ours!
It was Michael's bedtime so he was tired and a little cranky.  But he tagged along anyways, and eventually took a little snooze.  This little guy melts my heart.  I can't get enough of him.  
Mylie enjoyed the little rides.  She also liked the jumping castle for like 45 seconds.  Seriously!?  What a waste of money Mylie!  Oh the animals were a hit too.  Richie took her to pet them while I stood outside the fence and snapped a few pics.  If you know me well, you may also know that I'm not a huge fan of animals.  More specifically actually, not a huge fan of touching and smelling animals.  I really do enjoy looking and learning about them and visiting zoos and such though.  Enough blabbing.  Here's our night on the town!

No

Notice the sexy bandaid on Mylie's lip?  She peeled some skin off it earlier and insisted on wearing a bandaid on it all night.  We tried pretty hard to get her to take it off, but her stubborn nature won the battle.  At least we can have a good laugh over it!

Family Pics

 

Thanks to one of my BFF's Liz for taking our family pictures while she was here visiting from Gilbert, Arizona.  We adore them!