Surprise Field Trip

A couple of years ago I made a decision about field trips and I told my kids I would not be able to chaperone until Jack was in school all day. It was just too hard to find childcare, especially since all my friends kids are in the same classes as mine.
The other day Anna came home from school and said that her teacher had announced I would be one of the parents going on the field trip. I knew there had to be some sort of mistake but Anna insisted she had said my name. In fact Anna was so stressed out about it that she couldn't sleep that night. At 10 pm she came out of her room and said, "mom, I really think you should email my teacher." By this point I was starting to panic so I took her advice. I kept checking my email that morning and at 9 am sharp I got a phone call from her teacher saying Yes! you are signed up and the bus leaves at 9:10. Neither Jack nor I were dressed but we were ready to go otherwise. I called Kariann and she agreed to watch Jack for me so off we went. I didn't make it until 9:25 to the school, there was just no other way. It was slightly embarassing but I tried not to let it bother me and had a great time riding the bus with Anna.



We saw a play of the Boxcar Children and it was actually pretty good. We then ate lunch and let the kids play. It was fun to see Anna in her environment and with her friends and her fun class. Sometimes a moment of spontaneity can be good.

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Happy Birthday Jason!

Wow! We are getting old. Only one more year until the big 4-0 for Mr. Jason.

So, I must say I am pretty grateful for Jason. He is the youngest of 7 kids and was born seven years after his next sibling. That would be like me giving birth right now to number 7. I think Jason's parents are pretty awesome for having him later in life. He was definitely the beneficiary of the loving nurturing of 6 older siblings and two adoring parents.

We love birthdays around here but sometimes Jason and I are so busy that we put things on the back burner for us. Luckily this has been a quiet week so I was able to pull together a fun little party for Jason.

We started the day with an early morning Saturday housecleaning and then we took the kids to laserquest for a fun game of laser tag.

ELI GOT FIRST
-Eli

. We were there so early that we had the whole place to ourselves which made it great for the little kids and not so fun for the big kids. On the bottom of our scorecards was a coupon for a free icecream at Maggie Moo's so we decided to take advantage and the kids loved it.

Eli, Jonah and Emma also had their piano recital that afternoon so we rushed there arriving five minutes late of course. All the kids did great so that was a little birthday bonus for Jason.

We celebrated in the evening by going out to dinner with Chad and Kariann to Ginger for some pretty amazing Asian food.

I gave Jason, Driven, the autobiography of Larry H. Miller. He had been reading excerpts of it in the Deseret News. He also got some new clothes and I told him to buy a new bimini top for the boat.

Things Are Not As They Appear

I generally consider myself a glass half-full kind of girl. I am usually optimistic and tend to search for the silver-lining in every situation. The other day while chatting with a friend about the many things we have to do to run a household I realized that this is one area where my glass is half empty. I spend my day reflecting on the many things I am NOT doing rather than focusing on the things I actually accomplish.

I think this stems from running a household that consists of 8 people and two cats. I am never DONE with all I want to accomplish and when I focus on that I become discouraged and frustrated and tend to take it out on my family.

After my conversation with Kariann where she mentioned all the things she had done that day I decided I needed to shift my focus and inventory the things I actually do get done and where they are taking our family.

So, here's a fun list of everything I did yesterday:

Exercised
Drove Eli to Seminary
Made Breakfast
Did two loads of laundry
Prayed
Read Scriptures
Read Scriptures with Jack
Listened to a great talk on scripture study on my ipod.
Cleaned out my side of the closet and filled two bags of donations to our YW garage sale
Had a visit from my visiting teachers
Straightened main floor of the house
Made dinner
Made homemade icecream
Went on a Relief Society Visit
Attended Eli's student led conference at the school
Volunteered with Emma at the Ronald McDonald House
Family Scripture Study
Read to the kids

For the past couple of months I've been focusing on prioritizing my daily duties. I went to a great Relief Society training meeting in SLC right before general conference and Sister Beck talked about the three ways we can prioritize our lives. She again spoke about this very thing at BYU's women's conference and I was struck by it both times. Here are the categories:

1. Things that are ESSENTIAL:
prayer, scripture study, service to others, sharing the gospel, attending the temple, etc.
2. Things that are NECESSARY:
preparing meals, smiling, showing love to children, laundry, running our households, living within our means, preparedness, family activities and family home evening.
3. Things that are FUN TO DO:
hobbies, going to lunch, shopping, movies, basically anything that doesn't save us. (I love that definition)

As I shifted my priorities I initially felt like I was getting less done because it was a huge shift for me to really do things in the right order. But now that I've been doing this daily prioritizing for about 6 weeks now I feel like things are starting to fall into place and there is a snowball effect happening and I am able to get more done each day by doing it in the right order.

It's so easy to look at the backpacks and socks on the floor or the pile of school papers on the table or the dishes on my counter and feel like I'm spinning my wheels. But I need to remember that things aren't always as they appear and the best work we do can't always be seen or measured.

The Day My Oldest and Youngest Learned To Drive

Last month Eli turned 15 and we promptly signed him up for driver's ed so that he can drive and practice and be so ready for his liscense the day he turns 16. I can't wait to have an extra driver right when I'm going to be needing it as the younger kids get older and more involved in activities.

Yesterday we headed out to the Department of Liscensing and got him all signed up and he walked out with his permit. When we got close to home I let him drive and he did great. We were both totally calm and he made it home without a problem. I was so proud of him and I think he'll be a pro by the time next year rolls around.

Ironically, earlier in the day I was out with Jack. We stopped by a friend's house so I could pick up a list of names I needed for thank you notes for our recent school fundraising auction. I had to go in really quick and grab the list. After a few minutes Jack came in the house. I was ready to go and walked out the door and my car was GONE. I walked out to the driveway and the car was against a fence across the street. Jack had somehow put the car in reverse and coasted out the driveway, across the street, over a curb and into a fence. Luckily there was no damage to the car or fence and even luckier that Jack was not hurt.

I couldn't get too mad because when I was just a bit older than Jack I backed my parent's car out of the driveway with the door open. It went from my driveway across the street to the neighbors drive way. The open door got caught on a bush and it damaged the door so it wouldn't close. Sorry mom and dad.