Basketball...A Game in the Life of Jake

So Jake started basketball in December. This year has been quite different from last. The league did not have enough boys to do a Freshman/Sophomore team, so Jake is playing with ALL high school ages all the way up to Seniors. He is the youngest on his team and has had to struggle to get equal play time. It is hard to prove yourself when you can't get a long stretch out on the court. But he has persisted and tried his best and has learned a lot. They have won some and lost some and tied a couple of games.

Tonight they lost by 18 points, but at halftime they were down by about 36, so they worked hard to shorten the gap. Jake played the best I have seen in a long time. He was all over defense and he made two baskets, one of which he drew a foul and got to make a free throw, which he sank beautifully for a three point play! And he got many rebounds, even taking the ball down the court himself once. His coach high fived him and he turned to see if we were watching! We were! In his last game he made 3 out of 4 free throws, so his average is up there pretty high!

They lost by quite a bit, but it was one of Jake's best games. He finally has the feel of his team and knows where to be and what to do most of the time. I am very proud of him and look forward to his next game! I am so grateful he is playing. I have been very overwhelmed with studying as my first two big exams are next week and I feel very unprepared. It was nice to go watch him play and forget my troubles for a while! I'd venture to say I am still Jake's most enthusiastic fan!

Dinner Conversation...

My kids crack me up. I realize I tell lots of stories about them, many of which I find hysterical. I also understand that not all may see the humor of my kids, but my main reason for creating this blog is a history for myself and my children. I KNOW that I tend to forget things just hours after laughing so hard over them that milk comes out my nose. I have already enjoyed going back to May and June of last year to read what we were doing and what antics the kids were up to. For me, this is my reason for blogging. Oh, and to keep relatives far and away up to date on our family. Yes, I said FAR away! If you are within driving distance, then we really should keep up with each other in person rather than relying on blogs, but that is something I need to work on as well!

Tonight at the dinner table Joseph said he was finished eating, this is what came next...

Me: Joseph, you haven't eaten much of your dinner. You need to eat five more bites.

Joseph: I'm all full up Mom!!

Me: You need to eat five more bites, then you can clear your spot. Here, I will help you count. Good, that's one bite, and that's two bites...

Joseph: No, no I want to count by myself, stop counting.

Me: Fine, go ahead and count for yourself, you can start at three.

Joseph: No, I want to count all by myself.

Me: FINE, then eat five more bites if you want to!!! (Sounds a bit like reverse psychology doesn't it? No this is purely Joseph psychology)

Joseph: One....Two...Three... Is this a piece of chicken Mom?

Me: Yes Joseph, that is chicken.

Joseph: OH, One...Two...Three...Four...Hey, it's all gone, I can't count to five!

Me: Good, you finished your dinner, you can clear your plate now.

And he did clear his plate, happily and then he ran off to play. How did five bites turn into his entire meal being gone? Well, now that is the question. Could I maneuver this kind of situation again? Most likely not! KIDS!

Winter Formal

Adrienne went to winter formal tonight. Here she is in her beautiful floor length dress. Sorry about the spots on the photos, last time I took pics it was raining and some of the drops seem to have dried on the lens! Anyway, Adrienne and about 10 friends went to dinner at Red Robin then went to the dance together. She got a ride there with her friend Tim, so that is who is in this photo below. I am told someone took a photo of her with her date, so I will post that at another time. I am glad she had fun and I really like her friends!

Choose the right, when a choice is placed before you...

I've been a teacher in primary for almost four years now. This is a good thing. I feel very comfortable in primary with all the kids and the great leadership we have in the primary in our ward. But our new ward was formed two years ago, and I find myself still feeling a stranger to many of the ladies of the ward. I know their children well and I love their children. I feel I have missed out on knowing and loving them as well. This year I was given a class to teach with Melissa Brue, whom I do know and love already. Our class is small, only seven kids, so on Sunday she asked if I wanted to go to Sunday School and Relief Society for the day since she was teaching! This was heaven to me! My husband's eyes lit up when I entered Sunday School and I really enjoyed the lesson. It was also fun to get to go to RS for the first time in years! This was a break I really needed(thanks Melissa!). The lesson taught was all about me and all for me, and I am sure everyone there felt the same way(that it was about themselves, not me, hopefully everyone wasn't thinking, "wow, this lesson is all about Amy")!

You see, lately I have been having a hard time with life in general. I am overwhelmed by responsibility, worried for the future and have had deep feelings of depression that I have been unable to overcome for any great length of time. I spent the Saturday before milling about the house, not accomplishing anything, not wanting to go anywhere, but to climb in my bed, pull the covers over my head(figuratively, I am claustrophobic) and stay there. Not for the day, but forever. I was feeling on the brink of a total break from society. It may sound stupid, immature, and a little dramatic, but what can I say, that is how I was feeling! Sunday morning I awoke and told Richard I needed the day off(as if wasting Saturday was not enough). I would not be leaving the bed. He said that was fine, he would take care of getting kids to church, dressing, feeding and loving them all. He was kind and supportive of me. As he showered I thought about it, I thought of the example that would set for my kids. The gospel is so important to me, it really and truly is and if I stay home because I am having a hard time of it, am I showing my family how much the gospel means to me? No. So I got up, showered and dressed and off we went. So back to the lesson Robin Mann taught...

Our lesson was about finding joy in life. Sometimes our lives become so mundane as to feel like drudgery. Often as mothers and wives and homemakers we are made to feel that we do not make a difference, that our toil is for nothing, after all , the laundry is never really done is it, tonight's dishes covered in spaghetti will just be covered in meatloaf tomorrow! But we talked about finding joy and peace in everything we do, whether its scrubbing dishes, or the toilet, we can take pride in our achievements. No matter how great or small. I am sure I have totally mangled the message, but this is what I took from it and it made a deep impression on me. This week I found myself happily loading the dishwasher, knowing how great the counters would look when there were no dishes piled on them, rather than thinking angry thoughts about who was responsible for leaving so many dishes unrinsed on the counter! Oh, and Robin brought us all big cinnamon rolls that she had happily labored to make for us. Could a lesson end any better?

I know that when I am doing what I am supposed to be doing I am truly blessed. Just knowing that I would be teaching every other week and going to RS in my off weeks bouyed me up. The message in RS made a lasting impression on me, I really feel it has made me happier, and perhaps even a wee bit of a better person. What if I had gone with my first feeling of the day and stayed in bed? I'd have really missed out!

But it doesn't end there! I got a call on Wednesday to go meet with Steve McNeil. This told me I was getting a new calling at church. I said to Richard how much I would love to be back in Cub Scouts. It was one of my favorite callings ever. When I got to the Church, Brother McNeil sat me down and asked if I would be willing to be the Bear Den Leader. My mind was racing, of COURSE I was willing. I had never mentioned to anyone besides Richard that I wanted to be back in Cub Scouts. What does this tell me? My Heavenly Father knows me. He knows my deepest desires and he knows what is best for me. I love primary, but the longer I was a teacher, the harder it was for me to prepare lessons and to find joy in teaching(it was certainly not the calling, but my attitude that was the problem). I loved my class and all the kids in my class, so please do not misunderstand and think I hated primary, because I truly did not. But it was time for a change and I am grateful that for all the possibilities of callings I could have been given, half of which terrify me to no end, the Lord decided to put me somewhere that I could be somewhat comfortable and happy for a while.

Happy New Year!

We planned a nice quiet night at home for our New Years Eve. We got makings for won tons and had the kids all help in rolling them up. We ate and then got an invitation to the Stimpson's house for a family style party. Then we got another call inviting the older kids to a sleepover at the Dowd's house. They've got kids the same ages and they all get along great. So at 7:30 we dropped them off and headed to our party with the little ones in tow.

First off I have to say that I just adore the Stimpson family! Beth is such a sweetie. We got to team teach a class together a while back and it was so fun working with her. Plus she shared her delectable coconut bread recipe with me after bringing us some for Christmas! YUM!!! Marshall is a kind and generous man. Despite having so many projects going on at home with the home addition, he took time off to come help Richard get the Rover running a couple months ago. The guys stood out in the rain in the dark together trying to get a stuck piece off of Rover. The Stimpson's are the kind of family who will gladly sacrifice for others and I am grateful we know them!

The Stimpson's have been remodeling and adding onto their home for a while now. It is BEAUTIFUL what they have done, and a lot of it they have done themselves. We had fun touring the house with them! They have four kids, two of whom are similar ages to Joseph and Annalina and they had a bunch more kids there as well, so the kids had a blast. Several other familes arrived shortly after and we had fun playing some games and visiting. Around 10:30 Joseph needed to go potty. He still has a thing about potty's not in his own home. We tried to talk him into it, one bathroom had only been finished earlier in the day, what could be better than a brand new potty?? Donal even tried to bribe him with a dollar, but he looked at her warily and slunk away. The new carpet was far too beautiful to allow an accident on, so we took the kids home to celebrate the last hour of 2008. Joseph used his buddy the downstairs toilet and then curled up in a ball next to me and fell asleep, I mean DEEPLY asleep. Richard lined up a bunch of fun music and he slept right through it. After a while I slipped away from him and we played a fun domino game we got for Christmas. We decided to let him sleep downstairs till after midnight, then he wouldn't feel like he missed anything. Annalina loved the attention, since she was the only child home and concsious!

Shortly after midnight we all went to bed and Joseph slept in till 9 this morning! Which meant that I got to sleep until 9, and I was so tired even my earlybird bladder couldn't wake me, it just waited patiently for me to wake up! Annalina got up at 11:45. I teased her and said she was just like a teenager and she said, "no way, when I am a teenager I am going to get up early and get stuff done!" There!! I have it in writing, although I should probably get a video recording of that, huh?

It was a fun night! The older kids got home today and they had a great time last night too. The year of 2008 was a full and happy year. I am grateful my sister got me into blogging so I can so easily go back and reflect on many of the great times we have had as a family. We are truly a blessed family.

A Christmas Story

Its been a week since Christmas exploded all over our house! Since then we have experienced good times and bad. The stomach flu ripped through the family like a wildfire starting the night after Christmas. We are just lucky it did not strike a day or two earlier! I haven't posted in a while since the week has just flown by, but I wanted to add some photos for those of you far away who do not get to see the precious little ones often enough. Here is our Christmas story expressed photographically with a few comments(like I could ever keep quiet when there are photos involved)!
Christmas Eve brought the UPS guy to the door, which was good, I had goodies for him, but apparently he had some for us as well. He brought us 5 very big boxes from Grandma Peg, Grandpa Blaine and Grandma Great! We opened them and had the kids put the gifts under the tree, it pretty much doubled what was there before. It was so fun for the kids, it was like Christmas morning a day early! Annalina had tons of packages to put under the tree and you can tell she was very protective of them all!

Santa brought each child their own hot cocoa mug. This was smart since I can only find two out the dozen or so we once had. I am sure most of them were thrown away during Joseph's "clearing the table" learning phase a year or so ago! We lost the majority of our Spoons, apparently the mugs, and a few plates before I realized he was just throwing them away when he was done!!My little ones LOVE books, its something I am very grateful for. Joseph got a big package full of fun books(thank you, thank you, thank you) and he has poured over each and every one of them. It has been so much fun to read them to him!
Artist Adrienne got a wonderful art easel with supplies which she was very happy about! I can't wait to see what she creates!
Annalina got a slew of Madeline playsets which have kept her busy for hours!
Adrienne's sweet friend Mariah made her this fun monkey fleece blanket! Its so cute!
We got Jake this set of Blazers bobbleheads, Brandon Roy and Channing Frye. He LOVES them!

Richard and I already had slippers, but with the cold weather and the low thermostat, we decided to get everyone their own pair of slippers!

One last cute story about Christmas morning. The kids each got a couple of the HUGE candy bars. So after the gifts were open Annalina asked if she could have some Chocolate, then she followed up by saying, "I'll only have one!!" Turns out she could only eat a row of chocolate squares anyway! (And NO, I did not tell her she could eat the whole thing!)