Conference and kids

I am an overzealous first time mom, who might not be a first time mom anymore since I have two kids. I have dreams of my children loving general conference. I loved general conference as a child, it meant I didn't have to sit through sacrament meeting, I got to eat through the whole thing, and play with toys, while my parents said shh. I really have few memories other than my teenage brothers using my coloring books to pass the time.
So in full filling my dreams I look for conference packets on google. I found this, its about the cutest conference packet ever. I shared it with Becky already but that wasn't enough to fulfill my joy. Anyone who is LDS and who's child likes to color should print it off.

In need

This blog is in need of some random pictures.

Experiment Night 1

A sudden relief has been lifted off my shoulders. My daughter is sleeping in the crib in her brother's room tonight. We spent the last few days visiting my husband's family, all four of us were in one room. My son seemed to do fine with his sister waking up in the middle of the night crying. The only time he woke up was unrelated to her-- he was talking in sleep, and stopped once we threw his sucking his thumb blanket on him. She successfully took a nap in the crib today, but J man was not sleeping in the room. Hopefully all goes well tonight, she still wakes up a time or two each night to eat, but since the two bedrooms share a wall, and the doors are a total of 18 inches apart it will be no big deal to get her before it bothers J man. Turns out its actually a blessing to have a 3 year old who is not potty trained at night, since they say children wet the bed, because they sleep to heavily to wake up. Even if things don't go well I think we have passed the point of no return. My daughter sleeps terribly if she can smell me, which means I don't sleep. People can have a party in the room she sleeping in and not bother her, if I quickly sneak in she is up instantly. (Sorry Laura no advice, J is a heavy sleeper. Other than go visit a sister in law and share a room with both kids.)
My children might not be good eaters, but at least they are good sleepers.
They get those traits from their dad, and probably also me.

Chatting at

My husband and I were chatting at each other day and a common topic came up. How long will we stay in this current state. I'm mean what are the odds, 1/50 well a lot higher than that, refuse to move anywhere colder than here. We often get asked this question, either by fellow residents or by people who just love us but live in different borders. Some imply you got to get out of the crazy state, others say, it sure is nice to be by family, then remember most of my family does not live here. Although I could hardly move to another state to be by family, no body is very permanent other than my parents (and they aren't really they just have lived there for 15 years). Neither my husband and I were born in this state so the point is we wouldn't be opposed to moving if my husband got a better job.
Back to the point, when people ask us if we are moving any time soon, here are our new response.
My was, "when the Lord tells me I can move, so far he hasn't let me."
My husband's response was much better, wittier and everything like that, "we'll be here until the saints get called to missouri, or we find a job somewhere else"
Overall my response is the same as my family planning method, and now you know entirely TOO much about me. But just know I never plan on having children, I just obey.

Last weeks lesson (not another one!)

Last Sunday in Relief Society our lesson was on President Uchtdorf's talk, Happiness, Your Heritage. First off I loved this talk I was in the conference center with my mom when he gave it. Plus the talk he gave in Saturday Morning Conference started where he left off. Everyone should read them.
So my lessons learned:

• The Lord knows our weariness, but happiness is our heritage, and if we accept his path we can be happy.
  
• We have a fundamental need to create. Since sunday I have thought on this point a lot. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but how true that is. I like to sew, I don't think I'm very good at it, I am embarrassed to let other sewers see what I've made but I still like to. Since the advent of a second in my posterity, I sometimes don't get to it for a few weeks. When that happens, I start to go crazy, and tell my husband you have to watch the kids, I need to go make something. Although I also do other things, right now my passion is beading bracelets for my baby. I think my husband thinks I have gone overboard. He is probably right, but a girl needs her glam.
• In RS I raised my hand, and said something to that effect. I can't really remember, but it had to do with these paragraphs,

  You might say, “I’m not the creative type. When I sing, I’m always half a tone above or below the note. I cannot draw a line without a ruler. And the only practical use for my homemade bread is as a paperweight or as a doorstop.”

  You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us....

  What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. ... Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.

  I think I said something to the effect of, I love to sew but I am terrible at it, I can't cut a straight line even with a rotary cutter, I just barely learned how to sew a straight line last year, and I've been sewing since I'm 8. I can't read a pattern for the life of me. For the longest time I thought all these things made me a bad sewer, but my mother has a different opinion. She thinks the opposite. She calls me a free spirit cutter, and is always impressed when I make something without a pattern. We need to realize that what we deem as perfection is not usually perfection, since we are viewing it with imperfect eyes.
• I also said it took me years to figure this out, I think I only realized this two years ago. Just because the girl sitting next to you is pretty does not make you ugly. I thought for the longest time it was an either or. You are either better the the person or not, but that's not the way life works. There isn't just one pretty girl in the room, or just one talented sewer or just one smart person. (Actually I might have shared that thought two weeks ago. I know I'm that annoying person that always has my hand raised.) If we measure ourselves against someone else we will always come up short.
• Last thought of the talk, I love that he says,

  Being compassionate is another great work of our Heavenly Father and a fundamental characteristic of who we are as a people. We are commanded to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” Disciples of Christ throughout all ages of the world have been distinguished by their compassion. Those who follow the Savior “mourn with those that mourn . . . and comfort those that stand in need of comfort."

  I loved that part, because I don't consider myself a compassionate person, but there is hope for me!
  
• Then he basically says work will cure all weariness. I have found that so true. The other day I was on the verge of a mommy meltdown, but I had chores to do, so I sucked it up and did them, two hours later I was happy as clam playing with my children.

Blitz

I have an on going goal to read the conference edition of the Ensign before next conference. Unfortunately I am not a full Ensign reader. I usually get the April one read before Fall conference, but I guess with Thanksgiving, Christmas and everything, I usually fail to get the October one read. I'm going for a blitz in the next two weeks. I'm going to try and finish it-- read about 90% of it in the next week and half. Hopefully I don't fall to the temptations of easy media.
Like I said I'm not very far but I want to remember this quote:

In our search to obtain relief from the stresses of life, may we earnestly seek ways to simplify our lives.

Elder L. Tom Perry - Let Him Do It with Simplicity
I have a huge goal of trying to get my house in order so we are prepared for my husband to start his MBA. Everything just feel to pieces during my pregnancy with a move, and its a huge mess. We have started to get some order, but we have a long way to go. Basically we just have to simplify, unfortunately its not always simple to simplify, to figure out what is needed and what is just fluff.

The real problem with this goal, is once I start reading the talks, I feel inspired to do other things. I start reading and I think, oh I should look this topic up, or I should call this person, or write that person, and write this thought down. It takes much longer than anticipate just to read one or two talks a day, but its worth it.

Job posting - by Brent

At work we are about to hire another engineer to provide mysql/linux medical claim support. The position has finally been approved and a co-worker of mine put it on craigslist. He sent me a link and I decided to browse around at the other jobs available and found this one:

Novell Technical Support w/ Certifications (Denver,Colorado)

JOB REQUIREMENTS:
We are currently recruiting Novell Certified Support Technicians (Engineers) for a 6 month contract-to-hire position. Candidates must be Novell Certified.
This position entails heavy phone experience, you would potentially be making 200 - 400 calls per month, and the calls typically last 2 - 4 hours.
The company is a fantastic organization located in Englewood, CO. Relocation is not provided.


At first glance this seems like a regular job. I then decided to do the math:
200 calls X 2 hours = 400 hours
400 / 24 = 16.6667 days
On a good month at this job you will only be on the phone for the equivelent of 16.66667 days. If this were done in 8 hour shifts you are looking at working 50 8 hour shifts a month, and mind you...this is on a good month.

If you happen to work a bad month:
400 calls X 4 hours = 1600 hours
1600 / 24 = 66.6667 days
On a busy month you will be on the phone for close to 67 days, or 200 8 hour shifts for the month.

All I have to say is I hope they pay extra for OT.

Lots and Lots of Thoughts

1. My son has totally hijacked my computer, and my husband usually works at home 4 days a week lately which means I am left offline. Even when my son is not on my computer I can not get on the computer because he just whines that he wants to use the computer. I only have time for bills and budgets, and photo posts. So all my random thoughts for the couple of weeks are all going to be in one post.
   
2. My son has decided he does not need naps. This is sort of true, if we were more timely family and I could get him in bed by 7:30 he would not need a nap. He is sort of out growing his naps, but since most nights two parents are trying to wrestle one three year old in bed around 9ish, he needs naps most days, but not everyday. Without the naps he screams and cries more than he ever has in his life. He tells me its day, big boys don't sleep at day. I am sick of the crying, so he is TAKING naps, even if the nap consists of only crying in his room.
   
3. My daughter almost always fusses when the heater turns on, I guess she doesn't like the change in the pressure.
4. I hate when people speed down my street.
5. I am in the process of de junking the toy piles, it is a very difficult task for me.
6. My son took his first shower by himself on saturday. He needed to be cleaned before date night, and he didn't see the purpose of that before dinner, so I conned him with a shower. He had a lot of showers with dad while the bathroom was under construction.
   
7. So far I am meeting my goal of date night with my husband once a month, this month we wandered around Barnes and Nobles then picked up snacks at the grocery store, and ate them in a park. Where phantom ghost children showed up to play on the playground (9:30 at night??!)
8. In one of my parenting/children's magazines there was in article about money. It had a picture of a piggy bank with the caption, if you are skimping on savings to take a vacation you can't afford it? That picture is haunting me. I mentioned that to my mom, she said visiting family is not vacation. Or something to that effect, I'm sure I'm misquoting her, and she feels misrepresented because that is how everyone reacts to me quoting them. If visiting family is not vacation, I have not been on vacation in four years. Not to mention my husband and I have lots of relatives and loved ones we would like to go see, we can not go see them all, we can not afford it. I am trying to decided what the most important places are to go to this year, and try to figure out how to afford them, while trying to get into a house, saving for my husband's MBA, and saving for a rainy day. As it is, I haven't even been on vacation to visit family for 16 months. Its TOO long, I need a vacation.
   
9. The article also said if you aren't saving 10% of your income you are living beyond your means. My husband also happened to read it. We have discussed it in depth. We aren't saving 10%, I hope he doesn't mind I said that. I wish we were, I wish we were saving more. He said I know we are living beyond our means, that is why we have to move. But I didn't realize that when we moved in. I won't be saving 10% for a long time, there is no way we can send my husband to get a masters and save 10%. Most financial thoughts plan on people getting car loans, student loans, other loans, and plus you save 10%. We have done it a different way, we save to get cars, then we get them without a loan, we save to go to school, then pray and pay our tithing, and hope we don't need a student loan. Which means our savings is not where we would like it to be. But our debt rate is perfect! I don't know if we have made the right choices, but yet we try and they are the choices we have decided to make. Not to mention, we had children before turning 30, and will probably have at least 3 by 30, so that also messes up the conventional planning.
10. I understand the phrase that says, "interest never sleep, it never takes a day off, it never goes on vacation", so much better when I put it into a physical sense. My laundry never sleeps, it accrues while I'm sleeping, it doesn't take Saturdays or Sundays off, usually collects quicker those days, I have no vacation from laundry with two little ones. I think it might be impossible to have everything folded and washed at the same time. The thought of a vacation scares me, the laundry is a beast I can not tame especially when we are out of the house. By the time we get home from three hours of church, three out of the four, if not all four family members, need new clean dry outfits to put on, we have at least one if not two blankets covered in spit up, and 4 dirty birp clothes.
    
11. The primary song Saturday is a special day its the day we get ready for sunday has new meaning after becoming a mom of two. I usually spent all of saturday, getting the laundry, dishes, children, house, all clean for sunday, and getting the church bags packed. This Saturday while my husband was helping someone move I thought, why don't I get a fun day, were is my day off? I want one day a week for all day fun, then I remembered the purpose of this life is not to have fun none stopped. I repented and stopped complaining, and went about having my special saturday to get ready for sunday.
    
12. The other day, I saw a poll, would you rather have more money, or more sleep? I asked my husband, he of course over analyzed it to the point, I said forget it, I didn't mentioned it. Then he saw the poll, he said oh I really did over analyzed it didn't I. I would rather have less bills. The more money you have the more bills you have. I thought about it for a second and thought ain't that the truth. LESS BILLS!! Maybe that should be my new campaign.
    
13. Food Storage?!? Older people in church keep saying, we have been promised if we prepare we need not fear. Who are they joking? The more I prepare the less prepared I realized I am. Not to mention, you can do food storage all at once, the prophets have counseled us not to go into debt for food storage. So I do as much as I can, with as little as I have. And slowly realize with each little step I go, I see five huge ones in front of me. My next purchase item would be some shortening. Plus water, can we really ever have enough water? We have some, but I never think its enough.
14. Back to these previously mentioned people, I keep hearing in church, if we are prepared we need not fear. I could be imagining it, but I swear it is said with smugness, with the underlining meaning of I'm prepared. I think how in the world can you think you are prepared? You really have a year plus food, and three months of water for everyone in your houses? You know how to cook with all of it? Brent and I was talking to a man yesterday, with this attitude. Brent said yeah, we are starting to eat wheat a few mornings, to get use to it. The man said, as long as you are eating other things too you don't need to worry about it making you sick. Really?! I have you tested this theory? What are you going to mix it with? Hard beans? Yeah, then you will really be sick.
15. Here is my take on not being afraid. I really have a hard time believing anyone can be 100% prepared. But I think the more you prepare the closer you come to your Savior, the more you realize you will never be prepared, but you were never asked to be perfect, you were just ask to try to be perfect. The more you try to be perfect, by putting things in moderation the more you understand the Atonement, and the less you fear, because the more you know the Lord is in control.
    
16. I have been cooking my family dinner most nights a week lately. I LOVE it! Its so satisfying, and I don't mean physically. Although it has been tasty. I love that I am taking care of my family, even if my three year old, always says, no dinner, just lunch, I need nachos for lunch. No you already ate nachos for lunch, its time for dinner. Eat 5 pieces off your plate. I dream of having a kid that loves to eat, although not likely knowing me and my husband. Anyway back to the cooking, I love spending less money at the grocery store, and actually cooking dinner. I love that we have something to eat, and that we all sit down and eat and have family time. I love not feeling total despair at 6:30, and not feeling guilty doing frozen foods on the CRAZY days.
17. I just finished off my first bag of onions. I have never cooked with real onions before, I always just used onion flakes.
    
18. I love holidays with a three year, they are all getting to be so FUN.
19. There is something special about having a newborn, relief being one of the chief feelings. But I love once they turn three months and can play and interact. I now know I wasn't a lazy mom the first three months of my son's life, it just that newborns are boring. Luckily my babies like to grow up fast the first couple of months. I love when I see my daughter grabbing things to put in her mouth! I get so excited, and my husband just looks at me like I'm crazy.
20. With all this said, I LOVE MY LIFE. And I have spent way too much time posting, I got to be a mom again.
    

Pathetic

I was looking at pictures yesterday and realized this is the only picture of my husband and I that someone else took, since my son was born three years ago. (From time to time, my husband will hold the camera in front of us while we are sitting on the couch, but those don't count. They look terrible.)

These are the most recent pictures of just us.

More cheek mushing, because I know how much his sisters love to see pictures like this!

Favorite Past pictures.

These are some of my favorite pictures. Really I can't find a better picture to describe my relationship with my husband.

Kitchen's up and downs

Living in an old house has it ups and downs. Right now I'm particularly happy I don't own this 20s bungalow. You maybe recall the previous bathroom pictures, the kitchen sink started leaking in the downstairs living room two nights ago, and the downstairs is made for someone much shorter than my husband and I. I'm slightly afraid, its making me into a hunchback, luckily its only the doorways. Not to mention the roof on the house looks like its melting. The shingles are no longer defined squares. I am currently falling out of love with old houses, I don't want a house that is too old, it just seems like too much money and too much work. I absolutely hate old kitchen cabinets that don't shut without a magnetic. I realize this just requires new hinges but I refuse to buy things to improve a rental. I hate my cabinet doors, I hate how none of the drawers are on rollers, but I love how old kitchens have little shelves above the sink. Here is mine right now. Every few months I redecorate it, because if you haven't noticed that's what I do.

Green for yesterday

I thought my daughter looked so cute in her green for st. patrick's day. Her dad agreed with me. I think he likes her in bows. She was jealous she didn't get to join in any of the celebrations. She even slept through both times we heard bagpipes outside. I wanted to try and find them with my son, but google didn't help. He remembered what bagpipes were from his library book.

J's drawings

My son has made his first drawings. A week or so ago, he came running to show me this. He said look mom an animal. I looked and lo and behold, I could see a figure with a head, two eyes, legs, body and arm. I could definitely see animal.

Then a few days later he added three more figures and it became our family. From left to right, his baby sister, why her limbs are all detached is beyond me, maybe because she doesn't walk, maybe he didn't know how to make a horizontal person. Next mom, why I got to be the animal is also beyond me. Then dad, and finally J himself.

I'm so proud of his pictures! On a side note, I said I think N babe is cute. He said no, I said why not, he said she only cute when she is wearing a dress. Well there you have it, he apparently like girly girls.

Strict?

I always thought I was a push over, but after going to story time today, I'm starting to think I'm strict.
Really, I think a child can go 30 minutes without eating during story time. Is that unreasonable? Shouldn't we actually should be teaching our children NOT to eat in a library?
Here apparently is where I'm really strict. I don't think my child should be allow to run around in the back of the room while the librarian tries to read a book. After 5 children were running around for a couple of minutes, the temptation was too great, my kid wanted in the action. I promptly walked over and grabbed him. Not until I took him away, did the other moms think to stop their children from running and screaming during story time. I mean yes I have a small child, so he runs around like a manic, and I'm often yelling his name as he runs away, but should we TRY to teach our children respect others?
After we left the library we had a talk in the car, about appropriate behavior in the library. Yes mind you, my child likes to run as fast as he possibly can in the library, and often screams LOOK! but at the same time when do you teach them if not now. His screams are always followed with a "please whisper." We both agreed that running around is fun, but story time is not somewhere we run around, because its rude, which means it hurts the librarian's feelings. Yes, I will admit at church parties my child is the one of the kids running around screaming, but that doesn't mean he is allow to do it on Sunday. In fact he is often the child leading the other kids running around screaming, but not on Sunday. Now he has learned also not at the library.

How to headbands

I haven't forgotten about you headbanders. I am working on it, albeit slowly. If you want to make some, now is the PERFECT time to go down to michaels, and get spring stems, they have been half off for weeks.
A piece of advice from Danna - To pick a flower for the headband, usually don't pick anything bigger than the girl's ear, if the girl doesn't have much hair. Once she has a lot of hair, you can pick something proportional to the amount of hair. I see a few babies with huge flowers, but my family just can't pull it off. Maybe its because N babe has a small head.
If you are on a budget bring the girl with you, and measure the flower to her head.
Here are the other supplies in case you want to get them to be ready for my poorly written tutorial:
Crystal Brads (found in the scrapbook section of your local craft store)
Single Prong clips (I got double, i didn't know any better, double work too) found at Sally's Beauty Supply
Grosgrain ribbon the same width of your clip (non satin, the ones with little horizontal ridges) . (Most people use matching ribbon to the flower, my daughter is practically bald so all of her clips are on a white headband, so I saved money by just using white ribbon.)
Hot glue and hot glue gun
If you are interested in a headband, you need white tights, or panty hoses, or whatever color you want, and an inch wide matching color grosgrain ribbon.
I'm going to be posting my tutorial on my new craft blog, but I'll inform you on this blog too.

Bathroom Rental

We got a new bathroom last week. It was in desperate need of a new one, not only did it look awful, it was leaking into the downstairs bathroom. Hopefully it will help the owner rent it out after we leave. I know I almost didn't rent it, because the bathroom was so old and yucky. Here are some before pictures.

That would be some hideous stenciling on the wall, and rust spots or something on the ceiling. I didn't document the cracked mildew wall in the shower, but if you ever have showered in my house, I'm sure you remember, the mold bubbles.

After: Enough said huh? So much better.

It was quite the process. Our house being 90 years old has curved walls. It was literally putting square pegs into round holes. It took two days instead of one to tile. They were really annoyed that it took so long, not at us just the project. Time is money.J was so excited when they finished. He went in, and said a new bathroom for me! A new little toilet (its the exact same toilet) for me, a new sink for me (the same as before), a new tub for me (the same as before), a new wall for me. And for his evening prayers that night, I said thank thee for, and he repeated thank thee for, then said, for a new bathroom, for new tiles, for new walls, for new toilet, for a new bathtub, for a new sink. He was very excited about the walls as the picture indicates.

Eating Green

We have been saving up christmas and birthday money for a wheat grinder. Once we got it my husband found a recipe for refried beans, made by grinding pinto beans, instead of soaking. It only took 20 minutes, and tasted way better than the store bought cans, plus we didn't have to mix it with chili.
Here is the recipe Brent found from Allrecipes:
Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dried pinto beans
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup salsa

1. Grind pinto beans until fine using a food grinder. Place in a saucepan, and whisk in salt, cumin, chili powder, and warm water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook until thick, about 15 minutes.
2. When the mixture has thickened, stir and cook for 4 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in salsa. Serve as a dip, or use as filling for burritos.

Our green eating didn't end there.
After my husband spent $100 on stainless steel thermos, we had cooked wheat for breakfast. I never had any interested in this breakfast I was just trying to be a supportive wife. We actually really liked it. J liked it so much he had 3 bowls, and kept asking for more oatmeal. I liked it too, which is surprising, because I'm not a fan of most breakfast. I like pancakes or waffles once a week, I also like muffins but other than that I don't like breakfast. Oatmeal is palatable as long as it isn't mixed with milk, but every other type of hot cereal I haven't liked. Plus I don't like cold cereal, all the healthy stuff tastes like cardboard, and all the sugar stuff is not where I want to waste my daily sugar intake, not to mention all cold cereal is SO expensive! But I actually like the cooked wheat with brown sugar. Its great to like something other than toast for breakfast. Plus its so dang cheap! And when we have to bust open our food storage it won't make us sick.
I am actually so happy and excited to feed my family cooked wheat for breakfast a few times a week. I hate feeding J sugar cereal and I hate spending $5+ on healthy cereal. I can buy a 20 gallon of wheat bucket at sam's for $18.
By the way you don't have to buy expensive thermos to eat cooked wheat, it just makes cooking it super easy. Even though its also easy, it just doesn't cook while you sleep.
We finished off our green eating by eating sandwiches, with homemade bread--we love our bread maker, and homegrown sprouts.
Plus I love that we are teaching my son how food is created. I don't want children that think all food comes in prepackaged containers from the store.

Friends

My daughter is now three months old. Which means we are out of the fourth trimester, or the out of the womb fetus stage. She has really started to wake up recently. She has even made her first friends. She has liked these guys for a few weeks. She loves to talk and laugh at them.

This is the only toy she will hold, a baby Einstein duck. She grabs his arms, she hugs him, talks to him, and eats his face. As you can see she is very excited to be playing with him.

She also has rolled over once. On Monday, I put her to bed, and the next thing I knew she had rolled over to the other side of her body. I didn't see it, but its the only way to get on the opposite side of your body.

Good news bad news

My husband told me the other day he has good and bad news. He got his letter from the university. I said oh no you didn't get in? He said no I did that's the bad news. I now have to go back to school next fall, and do a MBA programs.

A second?!

I decided to separate my blog. In the beginning it started off as a blog about me. It seems to have morphed into three separate blogs. Goodreads htmls, my family, and my crafts. I'm separating my crafts. I'm really trying to make it easier to make blog books, by deleting most of my old posts. But I use my blog to look up past crafts all the time, to remember how to recreate crafts, so I need those kept. Long story short, check out the princess and the pea. What does that have to do with my crafts I don't know. Hapilly Ever after is a story of my life with Brent and our family. But my crafts is all about me, the princess and the pea, that's at least what Brent tells me I am.
Right now all it is, is old craft posts and a few extra I love. But soon I will post what me and my sewing machine have been up to.

Sprouts

We grow sprouts in my house. My husband started doing it in the beginning of December. I was cautious, I thought he was crazy. I've converted. We stopped buying soggy store bought lettuce, we use sprouts instead. It makes burritos that much more delicious, improves sandwiches, they are crisp unlike store bought. We love them, and they're cheap! I feel like I'm saving so much money, being thrifty and resourceful.

We bought a sprout grower but it didn't work as well as our Mason Jar, with cheese cloth on the top. It is so easy to do.

I bought the sprout mix at a health food store, I don't know where all you get it. For this huge container I spent $15. I want to branch out and get a bean sprout mix to add some more protein to our lives. But this is all we have now. It has a few radishes seeds in them. Which is nice, it gives it a little tang. Plus J and I have fun picking out the purple clover sprouts and eating them. My kid eats sprouts too! He even sometimes asks for them!

So this is how we do it. We pour enough seeds to cover the bottom of the mason jar, let them soak in room temperature over night (12-24 hours). Then drain all the water through the cheese cloth. Then every twelve hours we rinse them, basically at breakfast and while I'm cooking dinner. Just turn on the faucet until all the seeds are covered, then pour the water back out. Then sort of shake the seeds around the jar so they aren't all in a big lump. Although they usually stay in a lump even after the shaking. They sort of need sun, but our kitchen is pretty dark and they do fine. Just keep rinsing for a few days, and then put them in the fridge when the are done. If you don't rinse they get fuzzy, but we found out, if you just miss one or two rinsing then just rinse them and the fuzz washes off. Gross sounding I know. But I'm sure even with rinsing the fuzz the home grown sprouts are 10 times healthier than any store bought vegetable. Not to mention I don't have to worry about the salmonella and e coli stuff that keeps happening. We love our sprouts. Plus it makes Brent happy, because now I'm looking forward to growing vegetables in a garden. I never have wanted to before. But I think wow, if it will taste this good.
(Yes, my mom did grow her own vegetables, but she never really could convince me to eat them. I only started because of my love for my husband. Plus I didn't want to look too picky in front of my inlaws. The first time I met them I eat more asparagus than I had previously in my entire life. I still don't eat tomatoes, I don't like them, and Brent's uncle always catches me giving them to my husband. I also started eating vegetables because of my son. He won't eat them unless both my husband and I eat them.)

Humility

Today in church, this older man in our ward gave a talk on Humility. He told a story about taking his grandson to the toy store, and his grandson was waited by the counter forever, being ignored not being able to make his purchase. Finally this man, the grandfather went up to his grandson so the clerk would notice him. A man behind him said, hey we have been waiting in line. This man in our ward said, at earlier points in his life he would have said hey buddy, I've watched my grandson be ignored for long enough. But instead, he apologized profusely to the man, and asked him if they were still friends. The other man said no we aren't friends. Once again the man in my ward profusely apologized, and asked if they could still be friends.
I have thought a lot about this story. At first I thought why didn't you say hey buddy. Then I thought is apologizing even if you aren't in the wrong actually humility? I've come to realize yes it is. After a half of day of thinking about this story, and my reaction to similar events. I remembered the movie before the Draper Temple open house, it first mention the Kirtland temple and how sad the saints were to leave it because of persecution. It next listed off the Nauvoo temple and said sadly the saints had to leave that too, also from persecution. It never mentioned that the mobs burned down the temple. That bothered me at first, but I quickly forgot as the movie progressed. I realized the church was showing humility. The church was not trying to settle the score, or look for sympathy, the church was trying to humbly teach why we value temples so much.
Being a younger child in a large family, I always wanted the score settled, I wanted the last word, I wanted justice. But that is not humility. Hopefully I can better in the future. Luckily I have made progress since I've been a child. Being a wife and mother has taught me a lot about humility. I do KNOW that is more important to apologize than to be right. I try to do that, but sadly I fail to often. Luckily even though the church teaches perfection, it does not demand it, only effort. Thank goodness for the atonement.

Draper Temple

My little family had the opportunity to go to the Draper temple open house. (Its still open for one week, if you haven't gone GO. If you don't have tickets park in the yellow lot.) Long story short, it was a great experience. I would totally recommend anyone with child (or without) who is planning to be in the motherland this summer to try and arrange to visit the Oquirrh Moutain Temple open house, or anyone who lives in the state. I thought J might be too young, but he wasn't it. It was a great experience. And I would hate for anyone to miss the experience. Although I would recommend a weekday morning instead of a Friday night. I didn't really know what was happening, and didn't know how to get tickets, so we ended up going the second to last week. I was a little nervous about taking my kids, but it worked out great, as the couple behind us said this is apparently kids night. We had to park at a church and take a bus to the the temple, J loved the bus ride, it helped get the excitement up. It was a great experience, but since I had N babe in a sling, I didn't get to talk to J much. It was super crowded and very hot. The temple is beautiful. It has a lot more browns in it, and less pinks. Plus amazing murals, in the ordinance rooms. J could not contain his excitement when he saw the murals of the outdoors, but other than that he did a great job of being very reverent. Except when he decided he would venture of the beaten path and start pulling cushions off the couch. There is no tour guide but it has brochure, J was looking at the brochure today and said, they have oxen in my temple, and cattails (the plant) next to the oxen, and they have .... in my temple, etc. I didn't really pay attention to it all after the first sentence, I just kept hearing, they have in my temple, they have this in my temple. I was pleased that he was so happy to have seen the temple. He loves temples, he has an eagle eye for them. He gets more excited to see a temple, than an amusement park, and that is saying something. He often tells me, you and daddy go to the temple, you, daddy, me and N go to church.
It was a great experience, and the spirit was very strong even without it being dedicated, and probably having near a half a million people in it. It made me realize a few things.1. Alisa's mom is very right - it is so nice to have a church experience without small children, even though I love my dearly, and having them makes the temple that much more important. I was glad to show J the inside of a temple, but I'd rather attend alone.
2. I wish I was able to go more often while being the mother of small children. Temple attendance and pregnancy do not go so well for me. (I almost passed out during my first pregnancy, would, if someone didn't intervene. One lady asked me if I was about to go in labor during N's pregnancy, I said I hope not I still have three months left, but I felt like I was about it, I have contractions nonstop for the first hour.) Being the sole food source for a child also does not make temple attendance much of a reality. At the moment I'm working on the eternal salvation of two mortal children instead. (It would be pretty impossible for salvation without gaining a body.) (My son can tell you all about how he has a body like Heavenly Father and Jesus.)
3. I'm starting to appreciate where I live. When we graduated from college, and an out of the state move was not going to happen. I was rather annoyed, I was not raised here, and the culture is hard to adapt to, at least it was for me. But as we pulled up to the temple in the bus I thought this is amazing. That building is gigantic, and there are least 6 other buildings like that within an hour, what an amazing blessing. I thought about my puny Dallas Temple that I grew up going to for baptisms in comparison. (Hopefully using puny as an adjective is not rude, I love the Dallas Temple, but its rather small.) I turned to my husband and said I don't think most people living around here realize how large this building this is. Once that phrase left my mouth, I thought why am I fighting this state so much? Why can't I enjoy the moment, and appreciate the blessings that are around me? Some temples are small and are a huge blessing to those members around it. Others are huge, and probably most people rarely give it a second thought. Its hard to appreciate something you have always had. I probably wouldn't have realized my blessings, if it wasn't for the movie they showed before we got on the bus to go to the temple. It gave a brief history of Temples in Latter Days, and of Draper. It started with the Kirtland Temple, and mentioned the saints were force to leave it. I have have always known that but something about that hit me. I had never really thought about what the temple means to me, and what it would have been like to leave it after all the work they put into it.
Anyway, long story short. My family loves to see the temple.

Dickens

Yesterday it finally clicked. I finally understood what Charles Dickens is saying on the first page of A Tale of Two Cities.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

Just for the record I have never read the book. But I realized he is talking about a stay at home mom. Best and worst of times all wrapped up into one. Some parts of the day, I feel like I am going to go insane. Sometimes I really feel like I can not stay home for another day. I have got to hire a nanny or something (not that I could pay nanny) anything I need some sort of break from the crying. Or the gibber gabber of a three year, sometimes so peace and quiet would be so wonderful but unimagineable. But the at other points of the day, I think I am so blessed, and I can't imagine doing anything else than taking care of these wonderful sweet kids. Today my son came up to me and showed me a picture of an animal he had drawn. He told me Mom, look an animal. And by golly it looked like one once he said that, it had a head, two eyes, and a couple of legs. Sometimes I think can anything be more idealic than being a mom? Then some mini drama happens, and I can't imagine doing this for the next 10 years.
The age of wisdom and foolishness also fits. I'm constantly amazed at all the things my son is learning and picking up on his own. But at the same time, no body is as silly as a preschooler. Back to my previous point, sometimes the stay at home mom's life seems so dark, and so full of despair, but then ten minutes later it can be so fun.
Maybe this is just me, maybe I'm just more dramatic than most stay at home moms. But I really think Dickens was describing what it is like to be a stay at home mom.

Animal Party

For some reason I made this blanket for my son. Maybe its because I love these huge soft appliqués. He only cared about the scrap of material that was about 6 inches by 8 inches.

March Winds

It has been so windy the past two days. I didn't know it was windy when I plan to go to the store yesterday. I felt terrible once I realized that my newborn was in the wind. I was also worried, my parents tell me wind makes babies sick, I don't know, but it makes me worried. As we left the store, my son cried the whole way to the car because it was so windy. Today we went out again, the DVDs were due at the library. I thought wind only effected kids, apparently not, after a few minutes of being home I ended up in a terrible mood. My son asked me why it was so windy, I said I don't know because its march?
According to Joanne the yoga teacher its hard for us to feel grounded when it is very windy. The lion pose is a way to fight the windy feeling. I guess I should get to exercising. Apparently its normal for kids to act crazy or temperamental when its windy outside. How about for moms to act crazy or temperamental? We aren't leaving again until the wind stops. Or until I get cabin fever...

Computer Junkies

My son only uses these headphones occasionally.

In the last month my son has become addicted to the computer. It has made me consider my and my husband's computer use. My husband is wondering if a computer addiction might be genetic. I said probably since things like alcohol are. My son forgets basic necessities of life if the computer is on for too long, like using the toilet, eating food and drinking fluids. Once we make him turn off the computer he is always ravishingly thirsty. We decided we needed to set up limits. He is allowed to use it until I get up in the morning, that way I can sleep while the baby is sleeping, especially since J stopped taking naps. And he is allow to use it during that last tiresome hour before dad gets home for work. I swear the last hour before dad gets home, while I'm cooking dinner is the hardest part of the day. In other limits, I've decided its time to wean my son from sippy cups. He drinks fine from a normal cup its just easier from a sippy because he can take it other place then the table. I don't want him using sippies by the time N babe is using them. I could careless about cups with straws.

Around the time I realized J was getting addicted, I read this article about moms addicted to the Internet. I tried to self analyze myself from it. I already knew we all use the computer way too much. But in moderation its fine because, we don't have a TV to waste our minds on. There was a quiz, the only ones that I answered yes to, were checking my email, etc before eating breakfast, and spending more time on the Internet than I plan to. But I don't think either of those are a problem, I also read the newspaper before eating breakfast, I hate finding breakfast for myself. Plus I always spend more time, shopping, sewing, reading, etc than I plan to too. I just seem to think things should take less time than they do. Yes, I do blog a lot, but thats because its easier to type than write. I use to obsessively write in a journal in high school before blogs were mainstream. I don't really see a difference, I have volumes upon volumes of journals from middle school and high school. Journaling is how I digest life. I would be concerned about myself if I was spending lots time on Secondlife though. Virtual communities are just weird to me. I don't understand the idea behind creating a new life to escape the current. Sure I feel stress but pretending to have a different life doesn't seem so normal to me. Then again I only hear the horror stories about people who leave their families to run away with someone they met through things like that.
My internet limits are not using the computer to surf while my son is in the room. I only use it to look up things, or email someone I've been meaning to. I don't mean I'm hiding it from him, its when he is busy reading or playing in another room I have no problem with blogging for 20 minutes. We have also decided we aren't going to use the computer during the day on Sundays, unless we are doing church related things. I didn't want J playing games all Sunday, so my husband agreed to get on board to not surfing on Sunday. Except Sunday nights, I have no problem with watching a movie with my family on Sunday nights. Or surfing once the kids are asleep. The only problem with all these limits is it makes it difficult to do things like budget. My son doesn't understand the difference between computer work, and computer fun. Well he does when his dad is using the computer but not me.

pass sis a fire

That's how my son pronounces it, spaces and all. I didn't even know he knew the word until his aunt told me he was saying it one day at her house before the babe was born. She said he didn't learn it from us, we call it a binky.
My son refused to take a pacifier. I use to force it in his mouth holding it there the entire time, when I could no longer mentally handle him wanting to nurse. Some times we just needed to go longer than 45 minutes between feedings. My daughter is totally different, she goes anywhere from 3-5-or more hours between feedings. Always has, the nurses weren't so happy in the hospital, but they got over it. She took a pacifier a few times, which made me think, she might always take it. So I gathered stuff I already had, and made her a pacifier clip. Pretty good for free. Especially better than then those Micky Mouse ones in the grocery store.

The jokes on me, she has only used the pacifier about three times since I made the clip. Whenever I try to give it to her, when she isn't hungry, she immediately loses all desire to suck. Not the intended purpose of the pacifier, but works all the same. Since she goes awhile in between feedings, I never give it to her.

I thought she was so cute with the pacifier, one day she took it for over an hour, but we were out of the house and I didn't have a camera, she hasn't really wanted it since then, so I take pictures when I can, but they aren't really as cute as I'd like. I love how big it looks on her little face.

She was pratically asleep this time.

The Day after Sunday

I have been meaning to record that my son is starting to say some of his own prayers. Yes I know his girl cousins have been doing this for about a year now, but he isn't a girl and he doesn't have older siblings. He still has us tell him what to say in the prayer. But three times how he has said his own things. I was very excited when he did this this first time. I think the secret for me is to say enough things for him to repeat that he can't remember it and he ad libs it. Unfortuantly, I can't remember the first prayer. The second time he added his own thing, we were saying bedtime prayers and he said "thank you that we could eat lunch and drink juice." My husband and I had to try very hard not to laugh at how cute he was. I figure that was pretty good because 3/5 of prayers he hears a day revolve around food. The third time was also bed prayer, and he said please bless me and Na... A.. Once again my husband and I loved it.
Speaking of love, when I tell him I love him or I love his sister. He said no just me. (As in you don't love me I love me, or you don't love her I love her.) He'll say just me love Na.. A.. and Daddy, and you and me. He finds it very important to love himself. I think that is important life skill, how can you love someone else if you don't love yourself. Really I think it just that he hears me says I love you to him a lot. If I tell him I love daddy, he'll say no just me. Just me loves daddy, and then say I love daddy, and Na... and you and me. Then I will say we can love the same people and he says oh, and laughs.