Once again . . .

Timothy strikes, once again! So I decided to make this all about Timothy's antics and how I perceive his actions.

Timothy is determined to be the family clown. (Especially with the extended family.)

Yesterday most of my family gathered at my dad's house for dinner. There was jell-o. The jell-o was wiggly. Everybody was fully engaged in conversation, not paying any attention to little Timothy. All of a sudden, Timothy picks up his spoon full of jell-o and starts saying, "It's alive, it's alive!" His antics are hilarious and soon all the attention is on him and he continues for as long as he can keep the attention. At least he wasn't hurting anything, right? I was deeply amused.

As the family clown he certainly gets attention. I think he is giving his Uncle Jeff a run for his money. Soon Timothy will have ousted Jeff from the coveted position of family clown! (Yes, I do hope you're reading this Jeff!) Timothy has soaked up all of Jeff's attitude and magnified it! Uh oh, we're definitely in trouble here!

Timothy is also determined to be the family con artist.

I have cupcakes at my house. Timothy knows there are cupcakes. He had two cupcakes earlier, and there were still four remaining. I made the mistake of leaving the cupcakes on the counter within Timothy's reach. We were all downstairs looking for pajamas and then the kids raced upstairs. I stayed behind to turn all the lights off. John gets up to the kitchen and immediately asks, "Who took a cupcake?" My answer, "Timothy, and he is hiding somewhere!" He had grabbed the cupcake and was hiding in the corner between the wall and the girls' bed. The cupcake was gone. I think he ate it in one bite.

Timothy also discovered that I hide treats in my dresser drawer. Until now it has been a wonderful spot. Even John leaves my dresser drawers alone. It has been the perfect hiding spot. So I hid a bag of chocolate chips in my dresser drawer. Timothy found them. He dumped out my drawer, grabbed the bag of chocolate chips and ran. Unfortunately for him the girls caught him and tattled. Unfortunately for me, by the time the girls tattled, the bag was three-fourths gone!

Timothy is determined to be the family night owl.

Timothy refused to take a nap right after lunch today. He knows if he stays up long enough that I just let him stay up. Usually this works in my favor so he falls asleep quickly at night. But today, not the case. At 5:30 I was calling him to come upstairs as he had been downstairs watching a movie. He wasn't responding. So I sent Emma down to check on him. She came back up saying he was asleep. Uh oh, this is bad for us! Bedtime is going to be a bear. Lo and behold when it came time for bed at 7:00 p.m. Timothy was not interested in going to sleep. He was the one talking and making all the noise. Note to self- do not allow Timothy to take a nap later than 2 p.m! Otherwise we have a child who will be up all hours of the night.

Things I want to remember!

Forgive my sentimentality today. My emotions are still so raw, even after six years. Because I have a lot of words, but too much emotion to fully express how I feel today, I want to just share a few things I never want to forget about my mom.

Things I will never forget:

1. The way we could laugh for hours on end. By the time we stopped laughing, we had forgotten what we started laughing about to begin with.

2. The day I came home from school and flipped my mom off, thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. My mom didn't get mad, she just left my room quietly and never mentioned it to me again. I didn't get a lecture.

3. She flew by herself, despite her serious dislike for flying, to be with me when I had my first child! On her way home she got stuck in the Chicago airport because the weather had delayed the flight from Michigan.

4. We were a dynamic duo at Skipbo and Phase 10. We could cheat like no other but we didn't cheat to win. We found ourselves in fits of giggles when we cheated.

5. She always said she enjoyed hearing me practice both the piano and flute although I knew most of the time I sounded terrible.

6. She made the most of bad situations. I made my brother mad one day and he kicked a hole in the wall. She turned that hole into a bigger hole that eventually became a closet.

7. She always knew when I had a bad day.

8. She made the best cinnamon rolls and the best snickerdoodle cookies.

This list can go on and on, but I fear the length of this post if I do. It has been said that time will erase all pain, but I seem to feel it as acutely now as I did six years ago. There is a void, replete with questions that will not have answers until we are reunited someday. So I must continue to plod along, hoping that I don't defile her name. I must keep her memory alive and give my children the opportunity to know the woman who helped shape my life!

Just a few more!

I know some of these pictures are a few months old, but I had to share anyway. This is what happens when the pictures stay on the camera for months on end! But it has been so fun to go through the pictures. Enjoy.

Micah gets to wear Daddy's hat for a few moments.

 

Emma and Micah having fun together. Is it obvious to you who put that hat on Micah?

 

My two sweet boys! Timothy does have sweet, non mischievous moments!

 

Every time Timothy wears this suit he says, "I look like the Bishop!" I love this boy!

 

Random pictures, thoughts, etc.

We signed Amber up for Fall and Spring soccer. She's such a cute soccer girl! Her favorite part: the treats at halftime and at the end of the game. She does like to wear the uniform too.

 

 

 

I can't say I'm the best soccer mom though. I don't like sitting out at the field when it is cold and rainy. My dad thought he was done with kids sports when we all grew up, ha, little did he know his grandchildren would tell him about every game! Amber is very good at the pouty face that says, "I'll be so sad, disappointed, and scarred for life if you don't come to the game!"

Here's a picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits. Okay, so I bought the outfits at Christmastime, but didn't specifically buy them for Christmas. Make sense? Anyway, I searched high and low for an outfit that was reasonably priced for Micah. And then I talked to somebody at church about pink ties for the boys. My personal mission changed. I had to find a pink tie for Micah! John just rolled his eyes at me when I told him. He didn't think I would actually do it! Then I went shopping with Cori! She saw the outfit and it was the only one at that store in Micah's size with the pink tie! Wahoo, mission accomplished. He's so darn cute in the pink tie.

 

Okay, so Micah loves my phone. My screen has scratches, evidence of Micah's obsession with my phone. So we found him his own phone, one that looks suspiciously similar to mine!

 

Of course Amber has her princess crown on. She believes she is a princess and I will not change that for her. Despite any difficulty I may have with her, she will always be my princess.

 

Look at that face. He always looks mischievous. He always looks like he's planning his next move. And that smile, he knows what he's doing! He's so darn cute it is hard not to laugh and it is hard to get mad sometimes!

 

And then there's Emma. She hides from the camera it seems because I was hard pressed to find a picture of her. But when she allows the pictures, she is my little angel.

 

Visit by the Candy Fairy

Yesterday morning my house was visited by the candy fairy! To adequately explain this occurrence, I need to back up a bit.

A couple of weeks ago I had a bag of chocolate that I took to my Young Women activity. Amber had asked if I would save her a piece of chocolate. And I had told her there probably wouldn't be any left over. Well, I got home that night, she was in bed, and I had a little bit of chocolate left. But I didn't want to wake her. So I had John put chocolate under her the girls' pillows. In the morning they found the chocolate and I told them the candy fairy had visited and left the chocolate under their pillows! I had to do some fast thinking when Timothy felt left out. So I dropped a piece of chocolate next to his bed and told him he had just knocked it off his bed when he moved his pillow during the night!

Okay, so fast forward to yesterday morning. Everybody was supposed to be getting dressed and ready for the day. I was in the kitchen making breakfast and all of a sudden Amber comes running out, "Mom, the candy fairy left smarties for Emma!" Then she ran to Timothy's room. "Timothy got some too! And there's some for Micah, and I got some too!"

At this point I thought John had been sneaky and left the smarties for everyone while they were downstairs looking for clothes. But then why was there candy under my pillow and under John's pillow? Still I thought, John was just being funny and trying to help the kids improve their moods a bit.

But my assumptions were wrong. John had not played candy fairy. I had not played candy fairy. So who did? The evidence points to Amber! I guess Amber has picked up on the fact that the candy fairy was fired recently and she took over the job! Gotta love her. She didn't tell me what she was doing, she just did it. I am in awe over how grown up Amber is becoming!

Tooth Fairy Adventures

Amber lost a tooth on Sunday. To say the least, I was not prepared for this occurrence. I knew she needed to get that tooth out as the new one had started growing behind and looked to be growing too far back. I had John work on the tooth and he eventually pulled it out!

But this created a problem. We weren't prepared for a visit from the Tooth Fairy! Oh no. What do we do? Amber wants to put her tooth under her pillow and she will be severely disappointed in the morning if she doesn't get anything from the tooth fairy that same night. So yes, I lied to my daughter. I told her the Tooth fairy doesn't work on Sunday so she might as well wait until Monday night to put her tooth under her pillow.

I think I will be forgiven for telling this lie to my daughter. I had to. I had to prevent the attitude stemming from the disappointment of not being visited by the tooth fairy.

Small (or big!) miracles

I did not realize how long it has been since I last posted. Life has a way of pulling me in so many directions and unfortunately the blog has fallen to the wayside.

At the moment I am awestruck with my eldest daughter. She has become so much more grown up and I am just noticing, I guess. She absolutely amazes me sometimes. On Saturday she received a little bit of money so she wanted to pay tithing. She found a donation slip and an envelope to put her tithing money in. As she filled out the donation slip, she noticed the line that said "Perpetual Education." She asked what that meant, what that was for. So I explained to her that in some places there are people who do not have the opportunity for an education like she has. I explained that we can donate money to the Perpetual education fund to help these people get an education. I fully expected that after hearing my explanation that she would just let it drop. I was shocked and amazed at her response. She turned to me and said, "I want to give money for that too!" Her eyes lit up and there was pure innocence on her face. How could I deny her the opportunity, in her own small way to do something for somebody else? There was no way I was going to tell her no right then. So she went to her bank where she keeps her pennies, and carefully counted out ten pennies! Ten cents is not very much, but to me at that moment, ten cents could change the world!

On Sunday morning I had told Amber to get three bowls out for the three kids who would be eating breakfast. Being insightful and observant, she realized that it was Fast Sunday and John and I would not be eating breakfast. So she turned to John and asked what it means to fast. John explained to her that we go without food or water, and that we pray for specific things and that by fasting we are more receptive to the spirit. He also told her we have the opportunity to donate the money we would have used on the meals we do not eat that day to help others who need a little extra help. Once again, I thought she would accept the answer and go eat breakfast. But she turned to us and told us she wanted to fast with us. I think my jaw hit the floor and I had to catch myself in my response. I started to say no because I didn't think she could handle it. But I stopped before I could get the word out. After all, I didn't want to discourage her. It was her decision. She wanted to participate in a fast. So why not let her try? So I told her that if she really wanted to, then she could. So, with a spring in her steps she went to the kitchen to get out two bowls instead of three.

Have I mentioned how much she amazes me? Despite the tantrums and the attitude, I really am proud of her. While we were enjoying treats after Family Home Evening today, I took the opportunity to tell her how proud I am of her and how much she has impressed me. She was positively glowing. If her smile had gotten any bigger, I think her face would have split in two!

I then took a few moments to tell Emma and Timothy why I am proud of them. Oh my, do I really not praise them enough? They soaked up the praise and were so much more willing to do what I asked after the few moments I spent telling them how wonderful they are!

Then it was time for pajamas. Amber quickly put pajamas on and asked if she could read a chapter of her book to me. So while we were waiting for the other two, I sat and listened to her read about Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion! It was actually quite amusing to hear her read the story. We stopped halfway through the story to gather for family prayer and then I told her I would come sit in bed with her while she finished reading the story to me. By this time her face was glowing and the light in her eyes was unmistakable. I think we both needed this time. I enjoyed listening to her read me a story. It was a nice change from me having to read.

Amber finished her story and switched beds. I sat with Emma for a few minutes while she read to me. When it was time to turn lights out, Emma was only halfway through the small book she was reading. So with the promise of finishing the book tomorrow, we turned the lights out and the girls got ready to go to sleep. At that point I went in to Timothy's room and sat on his bed. While I had been reading with the girls, he would sneak under John's radar and magically appear on the bed with the girls! Then with utter disappointment when I turned him away, he would shuffle back to his bed. So I sat on his bed with him. Amidst the cries of "get off my blanket" we finally got settled and he asked me to lay with him as we read a story. I read Uh Oh Max to him, which only took a few minutes. When I finished, I left a happy boy in his bed ready to go to sleep! Yay! I count tonight as a huge success.

You see, tonight was a huge success because lately I have felt extremely frustrated. I have not been able to figure out what the kids want, why they are so whiny and just plain moody. While I still don't know why, I feel as if we averted some of that moodiness for just a little bit. I am not frustrated and we weren't fighting over bedtime. Yay for small miracles in my life!