8 is Great!

Elias is now eight years old.  He's the same spunky, silly, lovable guy he's always been.  He still likes to rock in the rocking chair, make everyone laugh, and dance his crazy moves!  Here are some pictures from the last two months:

 

 

He started cub scouts in December.

 

Sometimes he's soo stubborn about doing chores or homework!
This time he was being way too wild for indoors,
so I asked him to quiet down and stop jumping off the couch. 
When he responded with a "NO!" I sent him outside. 
He found this box in the yard and gave himself a time-out. 

I thought it was funny and took a picture.  He didn't want me to see him.

"Hey! Stop  taking pictures of me!"

Well fine!  I'll just dance on my box then.

Elias and Ryker getting a big squeeze from daddy at Christmas time.

Elias and cousin Jordan got baptized in December!

Papa, by request from the boys, baptized both of them.

Elias with proud Daddy.

Elias with proud Mommy!
 

He spent one day with a fever and an earache.
 He spent the day in his favorite snugly robe
 in his favorite rocking chair, with his favorite stuffed dog.

They haven't quite grown out of the park.

Something fun in Crestline: Snowballs!

The Grumpy

I woke up Grumpy.  Because I fell asleep sad.  Because I was Lonely.  Because the Overworked was exhausted and fell asleep in 10 seconds.  The Grumpy didn't want to respond to the day.

The Grumpy ignored the alarm clock.  It resisted dressing.  It balked at making lunches.  It didn't make breakfast at all, just snarled a little and told everyone to make their own oatmeal.

The Grumpy wasn't helped much by The Irritator who is constantly teasing, poking, scaring, distracting, conniving, dawdling, and irritating everyone in the house. "GRRRRR!" Humphed the Grumpy as it chewed out the Irritator for a full 10 minutes.

 The Grumpy didn't want to find shoes or brush hair or remind anyone for the umpteenth time that it was time to go.

Despite all the resisting, The Grumpy still had to do all these things because kids had piano lessons and school.  Life rolls on no matter what sort of Grumpy rages.

Piano lessons happened.  The Irritator went to school.    The Responsible, The Happy, and The Silly had a great morning and got off to school. 

But The Grumpy still felt dumpy.  And guilty for yalping at the Irritator.  And sad because The Grumpy couldn't spend time with The Overworked.  The Overworked came home to run, but the Grumpy couldn't go because The Grumpy had a grumpy-dumpy dentist appointment. 

But the Overworked gave the Grumpy some big hugs and tickled the Grumpy's neck and that made the Grumpy less grumpy.

After that the Grumpy did what it does best when it is Grumpy: it worked.  It made the dinner and set the table and cleaned the kitchen and washed the laundry and made the bed and fed the cat.  After that it even made a cake (from scratch since it had no easy dump-out-of-the-box cakes). It made homemade fudgy frosting and went to the dentist.  Then it filed some papers, cleaned up scattered junk, and looked at all it did and started to feel happier.  So it planned Family Home Evening, wrote a letter to a friend, and made a visiting teaching appointment.  Then it had to leave to take its daughter to the dentist. 

It was a full day, but when the car got back from the dentist, the Grumpy wasn't in it.  In fact the Grumpy had disappeared.  Instead of the Grumpy, the Satisfied walked into the house and awaited the return of The Silly, The Happy, The Irritator, The Responsible, and The Overworked.  The Satisfied hoped to bring some small piece of itself--satisfaction--to all the rest of its household.

The End.

Friends

Yesterday my friends Ellen and Mara came over.  We spend a day once a month together, just the three of us.  If we didn't have lives, we'd do it more often.  Of course, if that were the case, then I don't suppose we'd have anything to talk about!  As it is, we can spend from 9am until 4 pm talking and talking . . . and at 4 O-clock we wonder where the day went because we all have so much more to say!  With Mara and Ellen I laugh and cry and bare my soul more than with any other people I'm around (except Wes).  It is refreshing, healing even.  It is a wonderful feeling to have someone who loves you and listens to you.  Someone who understands you.

 And I am thankful that friendship doesn't rely on age, circumstances, or ethnicity.  Friendship is the bonding of hearts in love and trust and it doesn't matter who you are or what your story is, just that you love and understand each others' stories. You care. 

I suppose in friendship there must be some base, some commonality of thought, interest, or belief--but it must be broad.  I have met few people in my life that I could not be friends with and even fewer that I couldn't be friendly with. 


Today I had great plans to get up and be productive.  It started out that way, with me reading scriptures and making pancakes for the kids' breakfast.  But then a wave of nausea hit me and flattened me.  It was awful.  Ugh.  I'm not sure if I have a bug or if it is from the antibiotic the doctor prescribed me.  Either way, I spent most of the day resting and napping on the couch.  I studied scriptures some more, read some blogs, crocheted a little on Leah's scarf, and slept.  I felt so tired that anything more seemed beyond me. 

Wes had to work today--he had a seminary teacher training to give.  So the kids, mainly Mckay and Leah, took care of me.  They were good doctors.  Leah made me soup; she also made everyone lunch.  Mckay kept checking on me and asking me if I needed anything.  They also weeded the garden area and did their chores (all four of them).  I was pleased with their kindness.  Elias had some fits about his work . . .Ugh.  He's still learning self-control (aren't we all?).  He hates chores and is very vocal about it. 

So that's my day.  I feel bad because I am ditching Wes tonight.  We have a dinner at the church we are supposed to go to.  That's the last thing I want to do the way my stomach feels.  So he is going solo.  And I am resting with three kids here (who I will let veg. on games and TV so I can rest). 

Ryanne is going to a stake dance. She's so pretty that she doesn't miss a slow song; all the boys always ask her to dance. I'm supposed to feel good about this, right? Ahhh! It makes me so nervous. Still a year until they can take her out on dates, though, so that's some relief!

Ryanne with Dad after a choir concert.

 

With her choir friend Elena.

 

Just one day before church.

 

 

 

"Cleaning the Yard"

This is how my boys "clean the yard."
They are supposed to be pulling weeds and cleaning under the rabbit cage.