My New Love

I just found this website:

http://knockoffwood.blogspot.com/

I'm in love.

Now I just have to wait for it to be warm enough to set up the table saw in the garage....hmm....looks like it's my turn for the patience lessons.

John's patience...and why I have no pictures

I've been teasing John for the last couple of weeks, telling him I hope he learns his lesson in patience so the testing will cease. First, we were just about to lay the last tile in our bathroom we are remodeling when I dropped the hammer and cracked one that had already been placed. So John had to cut another one so we could fix that. A few hours later, Avery dropped the laptop and the screen turned into a colorful rainbow. It was pretty, but it rendered the laptop useless. A few days later, John was trying to multitask-take care of the kids and work on the bathroom. That ended badly. Macy went in and knocked the new sink off the new vanity resulting in a sink that was in pieces, and another cracked tile whose grout would now have to be redone. This brings me to my conclusions.
1. My husband is a very patient man. In all of those things, he responded so calmly and nicely. He didn't even get mad. For real. When the laptop broke, the first thing out of my mouth was, "Oh crap Avery! Daddy's going to be mad!" To which her eyes got all wide and she started asking why he would be mad. I tried to backtrack and say frustrated and sad, but she was very nervous to tell him about it. I was surprised when there wasn't a huge lecture or anything. He just told her she needed to be more careful and told her it was okay. Cute little girl, she told him again yesterday how sorry she was that she broke his computer :)
2. I kind of like not having a laptop. Yes, it feels inconvenient at times, but we spend less time on the computer since our desktop is downstairs. I don't know how long it will last though because John disagrees :) I thought he'd jump on the deal I offered: no electronics for the same amount of time as no sweets. He's always unhappy with the amount of sugar in the house, and I'm always unhappy with the electronic time (about 30 minutes a day for kids, but we're so exhausted by the time we can sit down late at night we turn into couch potatoes). But much to my surprise and dismay, he didn't want to do it. And here I thought I'd come up with a clever way to get what I wanted.

What it means to be a girl...

Today I was watching Macy and was overcome with emotion. It was just an ordinary day, Avery and Carston were at school that morning, Kate was sleeping, and Macy was just going about her business. She had a little dance in her step as she went along, she wanted to go play out in the backyard with Sadie, she was just so cute. And it struck me how much things might change as she gets older and feels more of the world's pressures on her. Will there be a day when she omits the dance in her step? Will there be a day when she looks in the mirror, not to confirm how beautiful she looks, but to wonder if she's beautiful at all? Will there come a day when she starts moderating her behavior because she is worried about people's opinions? The thought of those things happening just breaks my heart. I love how confident Macy is about who she is. She doesn't have any desire to be different than her strong, beautiful, little 2 year old self. And yet I wonder if it is possible for her to keep that. I look at myself, how I went through all those things, the doubting, the longing to be someone different, the desire to have the approval of other people rather than the approval of ourselves. Just the other day I found myself looking in the mirror and realized my subconscious was using the time deciding all over again if I was pretty or not. What is up with that? Of course I'm pretty. We are all beautiful. Why does it seem impossible to find a girl who has escaped this path. Why do our girls especially lose their confidence and assurance in who they are, and their determination to be who they are and find joy in it? It breaks my heart. I don't ever want to see my sweet little Macy crying because she doesn't think she is pretty like so and so. I don't want her to lose the dance in her step and have it replaced with a self-conscious huddled-shouldered walk. I don't want to ever see her thinking she isn't talented or gifted. I don't ever want her to wish that she was someone else. But I wonder if that is even possible. I see all the pressures and influences that are out there right now, and I know they will only get more intense. I feel like I've got to be actively fighting back, preparing my sweet little girls who are so young, so that hopefully when the time comes that they are assaulted on all sides, they will be strong and prepared.

Kate=Mischief

A few months ago my sister would call me and tell me all the "naughty" things her little one year old was doing. It made me laugh hearing all her stories. Well, I'm not laughing anymore because Kate is so following in her footsteps (it is going to be trouble when all these girls get together, they will be getting into some serious trouble). Anyway, so the other day, I look over to see that Kate has managed to crawl out of her highchair and is sitting on top with a big smile. Not good. Two seconds later, she has crawled onto the couch (the con of having such a tall baby). Our couch sits against the railing to our stairs. I thought she'd be okay because the bottom cushions were off. Oh no. As soon as she gets on, she grabs onto the rail with both hands and starts pulling her little body up. Not good again. Now my couch has to sit away from the railing in what seems like the middle of the room. Ten minutes after the couch episode Avery yells out, "Kate's in the toilet and it has pee pees in it!" No! I run in the bathroom, relieved at first to see that she isn't actually sitting in it. But that feeling quickly passes as I realize she is EATING THE TOILET PAPER OUT OF THE TOILET, which in actuality did have pee pees in it! SICK! Sick, Sick, Sick, Sick, SICK! So needless to say, Kate is finding herself with the nickname of mischief. Good thing she is so stinking cute to neutralize the situation :)

January Moments

Carston
*While we were opening presents at Kate's birthday party, I was so happy to hear Carston announce that "he kept farting." He then proceeded to tell his friend Tanner, "Seriously! Smell the air!" Thanks Carston :)
*When we were driving home from piano one night Carston let me know his thoughts about a teaching career. "That's why I want to be something other than a teacher or a principal because I don't want to yell at kids. Like, I don't want to raise my voice. Well, you yell in the army, but not at kids. I don't want to hurt my voice."
*It was around the age of 2 that Carston started refusing to let me do anything to his hair. If I tried to spike it up or anything, he'd get mad and smoosh it back down. I bribed him for his school picture. After 4 long years I finally heard the words I'd been longing for: "Mom, can you spike my hair?" Apparently he realized how good it looked after watching his younger self on a home video!
*Carston's prayer: "Grateful we can have family home evening and learn about the gospel and learn about the things they didn't teach us at church."
*I caught Carston helping Macy and Avery work out a situation: "Avery, you can't just take it away from her because that makes her sad. Just say 'Macy, can you please give it back.' " You wonder sometimes as a parent if things are sinking in, so it always feels good to see the evidence :)
Avery
*Macy was upset and yelling because she didn't want to take a nap. Avery tried to make her feel better by saying in her sweetest voice, "Macy...You'll dream of SANTA! I just KNOW you will!"
*"I know we like some snow because some snow sparkles. Like the flat snow. It sparkles. So at our house, I try to be careful with the flat snow. I like sparkly snow."
*"When I grow up, I STILL want to be a sister!"
*"I'm going to tell you a secret! When I grow up I want to be a mommy! And I'll do the DISHES! I'll be a really good mommy because I practice everyday!"
*I don't want to go live back in heaven. It's too fun here!"
*"When I have a baby, I'm not going to let it play with my toys because it might break them."
*What does 'carried away' mean?"
*Avery is reading really well and is in the third set of books for preschool.
*Avery lined up all her ponies and cut all their hair. She likes to get out all her barbies and do their hair using insane amounts of hair product.
Macy
*When we were driving, we passed a car accident. "Oh no! They need to put a bandaid on the car! A Scooby Doo Where Are You bandaid! (Brielle gave her one the day before)"
*Macy holds the world record for shortest prayers. If we are ever running late in the morning, John knows to call on her! It was quite the surprise when she had a marathon prayer one night before bed. She wanted to recite EVERY SINGLE DETAIL of her day. She'd run out of things to say, turn to me, and ask "what else Mommy?" When I couldn't come up with anything she'd say, "NOOOOO! What else Mommy?"
*Avery was talking about Littlest Pet Shop toys and I responded with "That's cool!" To which Macy promptly said, "NOOOO! That's not cool! It's CUTE!"
*"Hi I'm a princess!" "Oh hi Princess" "NOOO! You don't say Hi! You wave like this!"
*Macy knows all her sounds for the letters.
Kate
*Kate is officially walking, and likes to see just how fast she can go!
*Kate thinks Sadie's water is her own personal swimming pool. I caught her first putting one foot in, then the other, then splashing in it with her hands, and finally sitting down right in the bowl laughing and giggling and waving her limbs around.
*Kate says "Hi Sadie" She loves her doggie. It is funny to watch her find Sadie laying somewhere because she'll back into her and sit so she can lay back on her belly. And she seriously pets her :)
*Kate has mastered the stairs to the point that I no longer have to use the gate.