We spent quite a while studying the Articles of Faith during our family scripture study and we finally finished! We learned all of them. I was so impressed with how fast the kids learned them. Natalie wanted me to video her one day and we got a bunch of video of her saying them (well, singing them since we learned them all by learning the songs). I'll just post this one, the 5th Article of Faith, because I think it's hilarious how she says it...
And here is a cute picture of her taken recently for a preschool project...
Some more funny happenings... -Tonight we were watching Newshour on PBS and left the TV on for "This Old House" which came on after. The girls came in and were quite entranced by it. After it was over they both said how much they loved that show. Then, as they were brushing their teeth in the bathroom I overheard them both take turns showcasing things around them, i.e., "Here you have some beautiful flowers on the wall," and "Here is a wonderful mirror that you can look in after your mom does your hair". Perhaps we have some future interior designers on our hands. (There would have to be some crazy rogue genes at work when you consider the design skills of their parents.) -MLK Jr. Day resulted in yet another funny conversation in our home this year (here was last year's). Elizabeth was explaining to Natalie what she learned in school about how people used to be mean to people who were black. Actually she got confused and said "gray" first. Anyway, then she turned to me and said, "If you lived back then, Mom, you wouldn't have been able to sit by Daddy on the bus. The people with dark skin had to sit in the back and the people with light skin sat in the front." So, there you go. She thinks of her dad as being black. The terms "black" and "white" must seem so meaningless to kids who only think about skin color when they are determining which crayon to use to draw somebody and no one is actually black or white, more like pinkish or orange-ish or brownish.
Also, here is another interesting Wall Street Journal article. This one is on having a "tech detox" to improve family relationships. I am considering this myself. I don't know. Going a week without checking my e-mail might kill me. :) (By the way, that last article I posted generated a ton of responses, too; here is one.) Have you seen this article, too? It's about some of the popular "Mormon mommy bloggers" and the non-Mormon followings they have.
Just for fun, here's another link to a poster I love. Ah, so true...
Here are some things I'm thankful for today: -That my kids love each other. Watching Elizabeth dance with Nate. Watching Natalie crack Nate up with her "Peekaboo class". Watching the girls give each other huge hugs before bed. -A nice, sunny day. -A husband who changes dirty diapers every night. :)
Well, I need to blog about something. I have been in a rut again and I just want to get something out of me. Who knows what will be the result?
I have some goals for the New Year that I have been working hard at lately. Well, I was working hard until I got sick this week. That has made things more difficult so I haven't done as well lately but I am cutting myself some slack. Another problem is that Joe's new schedule means he has class until late on Monday and Wednesday and with cub scouts for me on Tuesday night, we don't see each other much except late at night, so we keep staying up late so we can actually talk. The combination of these factors has made getting up early very difficult. Anyway, I guess I should say what my goals actually are:
-Read from the scriptures in the morning before the kids wake up. -Exercise 4x a week -No free computer time (except checking e-mail) until my "jobs" are done. (Basically I'm holding myself to the same standard that the kids are held to--no media time until chores are done.) -Be more grateful and record (either here or in my journal) the small blessings in my daily life.
So, the first two require rising early. Not a strength of mine but I feel so much better when I do. The third one helps me be so much more productive. I do not want my children to learn from my example to spend a majority of their time staring at a computer screen.
Sidenote: That actually reminds me of a funny segment the kids and I saw on Sesame Street. I was laughing so hard and I don't think the kids got it at all. Telly (one of my favorites!) traded in his regular pogo stick for an "iPogo" but learned that he didn't enjoy the new technology. He missed doing the work to make it jump himself. It was just a hilarious little skit about the fact that technological advances that attempt to make our lives easier are not always better for us. The only video I could find of it is a song they sang during part of it called "There's An App For That":
Yes, I realize that my main form of entertainment right now is a television program for children. Such is my life.
That leads me to the other theme dominating my thoughts lately: motherhood. What else, right?
My dad forwarded me this article. It's called "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior". I thought it was really interesting. Joe and I had some good discussion from it. One thing I have certainly learned since becoming a parent is that successful, compassionate, responsible, awesome kids come from all different kinds of parenting styles. Great kids even come from terrible parents and great parents produce children that completely disregard what they've been taught and go another way. But, I'm not getting into all that. My point is that I don't believe there is one right way to be a parent. I believe there are principles that we can follow to be best parents we can be (go here for some important ones to me). But, I think there are many different ways of going about it.
I think that different parents have different priorities when it comes to the values they want to teach their children. For some, teaching their children to be self-sufficient and to work hard to contribute to society are paramount. Others focus on teaching their children compassion and to be aware of those less fortunate than themselves. Still others focus on teaching their children social skills to allow them to get along easily with others. I could go on and on. Of course we can teach our children many different values but we all have our priorities (probably because of the way we were raised or because of our life experiences).
I think if you focus too hard on some areas, it may be easy to lose sight of other important values you could be working to instill in your kids. Of course that's fine, too, and I don't think people that do that are bad parents in any way. I just feel that for me, balance is important. I think of the children in the article. Yes, they learned well the lesson that with hard work, anything is possible. Yes, I'm sure they will be successful adults. But, what did they miss out on? As every parent learns, and as I am just starting to learn, there are only so many hours in the day of a child's life. Only so many activities that can fit into those hours. If 3 hours are taken up in the study of an instrument, for instance, those are 3 less hours available for other worthy pursuits.
“Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will." (Elder Richard L. Evans from this Conference address)
That is true not only in our personal lives but in our roles as parents. The time we have with our children while they are young is a gift. How will I spend that time?
One thing I am forever grateful for is my understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This gives me knowledge, direction, strength, and also reassurance and peace when I mess up as a mother.
I am also so grateful for my own mother who is the perfect example to me. I got to take a vacation day last week. Joe took care of the kids all day. I went down to my mom's and got to spend the afternoon with her. It was wonderful to just talk and be together. If I am even half the mother she has always been to me, I will consider myself a success. I am so thankful for all of my grandmothers and also for Joe's mother and grandmothers. These women were and are not perfect but they dedicated their lives to mothering. We, their children, have been immensely blessed by their sacrifice.
My mom lent me a book which I finished today and I liked this quote. A woman was asked if she loved her mother who had passed away:
"The easy answer is yes. But it's too easy just to say that when you're talking about your mother. It's so much more than love--it's, it's everything, isn't it?...When someone asks you where you come from, the answer is your mother... When your mother's gone, you've lost your past. It's so much more than love. Even when there's no love, it's so much more than anything else in your life. I did love my mother, but I didn't know how much until she was gone." (Anna Quindlen, One True Thing).
Whew. I guess I needed to "get my words out," as my mom would say.
I am going to end this interminable blog post with some things I was grateful for today: -Washing a tiny little baby back in the bath. -Reading There Is a Bird on Your Head! with the girls and laughing together at the end of it.
It was nice having a whole week off before Christmas this year. We got to do some fun stuff.
Monday night we had our annual gathering at my parents' with a visit from Santa. Here are the kids' shots with Santa:
Nate did really well. He mostly just sucked his thumb to get through the ordeal.... Natalie requested her "pony box"--the big box of my little ponies she saw at Target. Elizabeth asked for rollerblades and a winter dress....
(My brother or sister-in-law--not sure which--took that last picture and you can see the difference. I am either a terrible photographer or they have a way better camera.)
I had to include this one because of the scowling kids:
A little bit better:
My baby Nate
Tuesday night we got to go to a Kings/Warriors game with the Keys. It was a lot of fun. I hadn't been to one in forever (I went all the time in high school). It was a little disappointing to see how far the Kings have fallen but at least it was a good game. Unfortunately they blew a double digit 4th quarter lead and fell apart during OT. One upside: I caught a little basketball they threw into the audience! The biggest upside: hanging out with Justin and Whitney. They have now left us and moved to Utah. We are sure going to miss the late night talks over bowls of ice cream!
Wednesday we drove up to the mountains to stay with my brother and his family. We just stayed one night but it was a lot of fun. The kids had fun playing with their cousins Andrew and Ivy. They also loved seeing snow again and played for quite awhile. They built a snowman with Daddy and enjoyed sledding down a little track behind the cabin.
Of course they loved eating snow most of all:
This guy had fun, too:
We stayed the night there. The adults had fun playing hand and foot that night. That is an Allen family game that I had not played in far too long. It was a lot of fun.
We played a little bit the next morning and then headed home. Thanks for letting us come visit with you, Matt & Melissa!
Now, on to Christmas Day...
The tree:
(Notice the half-decorated tree common in homes with curious toddlers.)
What Santa brought:
We actually had to wake the kids up at 7 since we had a busy day ahead. We read the Christmas story and then they got to check out their stockings and open presents...
Lizzie was thrilled with her winter dress:
Natalie loved her pony box:
Nate couldn't care less about the huge stuffed dog Santa got him. I thought for sure that would be a hit since he loves dogs. I could just picture him tackling and snuggling it but he barely looked at it.
He did love the golf clubs that his sisters got him
(and Daddy loved teaching him):
After we opened presents, we hurried to get ready so we could go down to my parents'. Matt and Melissa made some yummy pancakes for us and we had fun spending some time there. Then, they watched the kids for us while Joe and I headed to the wedding of some friends of ours. Yes, a Christmas Day wedding. It wasn't necessarily my first choice in how to spend the day but it ended up being a good day. Busy but good. Anyway, so we went to the ceremony and then drove back down to get the kids for the reception. I even got a quick plate of some of my dad's yummy prime rib when we picked them up.
The kids actually loved the reception. We were serenaded by a mariachi band, stuffed full of food, and they loved the dancing.
Well, mostly just Natalie...
She was fearless. Elizabeth and I talked each other into going out to dance for a little bit, too. Nate also got some good dancing in....
We stuck around so Joe could give the toast. He gave it in Spanish, which was very gutsy since his Spanish is limited and it was an almost 100% Spanish-speaking audience. He did a great job (from what we could tell :). It was a fun night.
I even got to still have my turkey dinner on Sunday night when we had some friends over. That was another fun night.
