Reading is just so fun to do.

So this is a first for my blogging...taking a picture with the only intent of putting it in a blog. As you can see the kids really cooperated with this idea at first.

The reason I took the picture is that we have reached a really cool milestone around here. Katie has become a really good reader and has to read at least 15minutes a day for school. We go to the library almost every week and one of the series that Christian and Katie really love right now is the Magic Tree House books. Not wanting to wait for me to read every night (and she doesn't like me to repeat what she has already read for Christian) she has started to read to him so she can read all the time. There was a time that Christian would not have gone for Katie to do this. However, she reads with a lot of expression now and it is fun to hear her. So she was reading and Christian was curled up next to her listening to her read. Very cute. Very fun. More like this picture below once I got them to ignore the camera.

Here is a funny video about mothering that a friend forwarded to me. It is really quite good and since I am not big on forwarding, I thought I would put it here. I hope it at least brings a smile to your face.

Picture Day

So, we had picture day not to long ago. The kids were really excited. Since Katie doesn't really like to have her hair done (she has a bit of a tender head) we did a dry run the day before. Then we got the curling iron out and the pink bows for the actual day. We also had choices for what to wear for the pictures. She had two tops that she could pick from. Then she pulled out the shirt that she wanted. There was a little of the "No, your not", "Yes, I am" going on for about 30 seconds until I informed her that unless she was ready to cough up $29 for the pictures, I got to influence what was going to be worn that day. Since she had just spent all of her Birthday money, I knew I was safe.

Christian was easy. I pulled out a blue shirt he had never seen before and he was good to go.

Now just mind you that the temperature at school was 106 or so that day, but I still wanted long sleeves. Probably because I grew up in the Northeast and we were always in long sleeves by the time picture time came around. So of course, it just doesn't look right without them. That and I just couldn't find a short sleeve shirt that looked nice enough and that wasn't worn for last year. But I sent them with a change of shirt so that they wouldn't die of heat stroke more than normal. The good thing is, if they have to do retakes for some reason, it might actually be cool enough to wear a long sleeved shirt by then.

Forty, Forty, Look who's Forty!

First of all, either Katie is trying to give her Dad bunny ears, or she doesn't realize you aren't supposed to do it to yourself.

So how do you celebrate a 40th Birthday, you ask. Let me tell you... We celebrated Mike's Birthday like a bunch of crazy people by going camping with our ward (congregation). Now this is what you call easy "camping". The ward really roughed it by going to one of the local Grand Canyon Boy Scout Council Camps and staying in the Staff cabins. Because we have a "small" connection with that said local council, our family got hooked up with the health lodge. No one but staff could stay in it, so the guilt factor was low. It was a lot of fun to go up to the mountains and be able to see the stars at night. We plan on going back this winter and actually see snow again. Of course, the kids have outgrown all of the warm Idaho clothes we had, but I am sure they will be fine in their shorts...

So did the celebration stop there? Of course not, we are talking FORTY now. On our way back to Phoenix we stopped at the local Pizza Joint (fresh and tasty) in Payson, Arizona. Video games and Pizza were on the menu. Yeah, I know, we are so upscale. But the kids had fun and felt like we were celebrating.

The really cool part of Mike's Birthday is that his Dad called him up two days before his birthday to see if he would like to come and spend the day with him in California. So we got back to the Phoenix valley and put him on the plane. When we told Katie that he was going to leave before his Birthday was over she started to ball. It was very cute. So off he went and while he was gone we made a triple layer chocolate cake for him. Birthday cakes, I have come to realize, are a big thing in our family since it was the first thing they wanted to share with him when he came back.



It was an awesome cake. We had to give chunks of it away to our neighbors because we couldn't (or knew we shouldn't) finish it all. It was fun. I know, I know, too much for a Birthday, even if it is a Fortieth. But it didn't stop there. He did get a present from us..,..a new car charger for his cell phone!...But don't worry, he IS getting his mustang restored right now. (Pictures coming, it just got painted) So I pledged to help him put it back together and make it look good (by driving it, of course).

The Gobble Bag

There has been the best discovery that our family has made in recent history. Surely it won't last, as all good things must come to an end, however, it is working for now and has been such a blessing. In fact, such a good blessing that Katie herself told me that she was grateful for it.

To begin with, for seven or so months, I have been doing an allowance with Katie. She starts out with $5.00 of allowance each month. She has to have her room clean when she goes to bed at night and she has to make her bed and put her pajamas away before she starts the rest of her day. Supposing that her room was clean the night before, her room would be spotless after putting her pajamas away. If she gets it done, she keeps her money. If she doesn't, money gets subtracted. This really worked for Katie. Getting something and then having it taken away was much more effective than not having it and still not getting it.

So this system worked well for awhile and then she didn't care. Partly because we weren't spending what she earned. We have solved that. It is gone and she needs more to buy things that she wants. The other problem was that she just didn't care anymore. She actually went negative in what she earned last month (however, I don't make her pay me, but it was an eye-opener). We have talked a lot about choices and she started to tell me, "it is my choice, moooom!" (Just a small backfire!)

Luckily, that same weekend I was flipping through my LDS Living magazine and saw an article on "The Gobble Bag". We instituted it that night. The Gobble bag is a big black garbage bag at my house. At night, I give the kids warning to pick up anything that they don't want to go in the gobble bag. I guess that I need to move onto the part where it talks about not warning them and letting the bag do the teaching....SCARY! (Now Christian has tried to abuse this and get me to clean up a giant mess because he didn't care if it was gone for a week. I told him for that big of a mess it will go straight to DI/Goodwill for some other kid to enjoy :) ). After they go to bed the gobble bag eats the stuff they didn't pick up. And it goes away until the next Family Home Evening. The first time they got it back the lesson was focused around that issue, so they got the stuff back during, but now I do it before we start and we are still getting ready. They get it back in the family room and if they don't put it away, it goes back in for another week. If it goes in 3-4 times you are supposed to talk about where you are going to give it away. Christian chose to get rid of things the very first night that we talked about it. Apparently, he did not know that this was an option. Katie, who is a bit of a pack rat, even got rid of a few things she didn't want to bother with.

So back to the beginning, I love the Gobble Bag. And because it gave another incentive to keep her room clean, that is why Katie has come to love it too. (She was pretty upset in the beginning, go figure!). The nice thing is that I don't have to worry about groveling and begging for things back. It is gone for a week, the end. There was an incident where someone didn't want to clean up one Saturday. I figured out that they thought they could hold out for a day (we do FHE on Sunday because of Mike's commute). So we revamped that and if it is obvious that they are abusing the system, it is held for an extra FHE. The Gobble Bag is actually hungry this week. WHOA WHOO!

Name Game Tag

Okay, so I was tagged for the "Name Game" by my friend Jeralee who got me started on this blog thing. I would give you a link to hers, because quite frankly it is one thing that gets me laughing more regularly than anything else, however, it is invite only to keep the sickos on the Internet away.

So Here is how it works...

1. You have to post these rules before you complete the "middle name" facts.

2. Players must list one fact (that is somehow relevant to their life) for each letter of their middle name.

3. Once tagged, write a blog post containing middle name game facts.

4. At the end of the blog post, tag one person for each letter of the middle name. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog for rules.

Now, starting off, I have to say I almost copped out of the challenge because I was not given a middle name when I was born... But, I took my maiden name as my middle name, so I won't flake...

R- Rice. I hated rice growing up. It was cheap and filled kids up. I thought it tasted like nothing. Now I love rice. Especially Jasmine Rice. It smells wonderfully and it goes great with many ethnic type dishes. I love curry with it! The kids love it with butter.

A- Athletic Training. That is what I studied in undergrad and got my masters degree in. Loved it. But I enjoy being a stay-at-home mom now, and I wouldn't trade that for anything! Even when the kids are having those days.

W- Whistle. Mike informed me the other morning as Katie was trying to whistle and we were talking about how you have to practice to get really good at it, that I am really bad at it. Apparently I need to practice.

L- License to Drive. I did not get my license to drive until I was 19. Not because I didn't want to, but because my family was hit hard by the recession. At the time insurance companies would let you drive with a permit without being insured. Unfortunately that meant I had to have an adult with me whenever I drove. Trust me, it was not a peaceful issue. One day when my mother swore at me in frustration (the only time I have ever heard her swear), I knew it was nothing she had control over and I should drop it indefinitely.

I- Indoors. Because it is so hot here in Arizona, our summers become the time that we spend a lot of time indoors. Unless you are going to go swimming. I am looking forward to it getting a little cooler so we can go biking and roller blading. But I will miss the swimming in the pool.

N- New. New is what I need in my computer as the mouse and keyboard are pretty much shot. Tonight I am enjoying typing on Mike's computer as I don't have to go back and correct the mistakes that occur because the keyboard didn't feel the stroke. Drives me batty somedays. I went and bought a plug in mouse for my laptop so I could actually have a mouse that worked. Unfortunately I do not have a plug-in for an extra keyboard too, otherwise I might be able to tweak another good two years out of it. :)

S- Seven. The number of kids that are in my family. It is also the number of kids that I will never have. Loved growing up in a big family. Having one might kill me. :)

Okay, so Brian Porter...you are the only other one that is invited to this blog that I know has a blog. You are it! I will be watching and waiting!

A Broken Wrist

Those who have been around kids enough are generally surpised when they haven't killed themselves by the tender age of 3. Katie was determined to walk down our steps before she could even walk on her own, which of course led to several tumbles down the stairs that scared me to the core several times. Amazingly she never broke a bone. Christian has always been my more cautious one. He wouldn't walk down the stairs until he was at least three. He would always scoot on his bum or slide on his stomach. Not that he doesn't do his crazy things now.

Yesterday, as he was running into his room to get dressed for swimming, he tripped on one of his stuffed animals and with an outstretched hand tried to catch himself and hit the bottom edge of his bed. He came tearing out of his room screaming and crying like I have never heard before. I used my athletic training skills and saw that it looked fine and nothing I did seemed to produce pain of a point tender break. However, a five year old has a hard time distiguishing and telling you if it is dull and achy or sharp and shooting. Today, after he woke up in pain in the night and was walking around with his right hand holding his left up, I realized that when he was patting his whole arm saying that it hurt, that the pain had been shooting up his arm from his wrist.

Since my athletic training skills are not used often I called and got an early appointment at the doctor's office, hoping I wasn't wasting money on a sprain that would go away. After waiting for the doctor for 45 minutes he confirmed that it was probably a Torus fracture which is common in kids when they fall on an outstretched hand. It is a contained break which squishes the bones together like the plates of the earth and they buckle as they hit. He gave us a splint which he said Christian didn't have to wear (but we will have to pay for as we have a deductible) and gave us an x-ray order to make sure it didn't go through the growth plate. Off to the X-ray lab we went for another hour wait and we will know for sure everything is mostly fine in a few days. Here you can see a picture of somebody else's further up the arm than Christian's is supposed to be. I saw his x-rays and there was nothing this visible as far as I could see. And you know, I'm not a radiologist, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night, so he should be fine in 3 weeks.

Christian is having fun telling everyone that he has a broken wrist. But when asked why he doesn't have his splint on he says it feels fine now. When I get the bill I will know exactly how much money was well spent. The problem is, while your kid is in school and an injury is in that gray area, you can't send them to school without checking it out. The school will call you saying "Your son says he broke his wrist, and he is holding it like it is hurt". So you might as well make an appointment and just go. And hey, it was broken!

Katie is just upset that she didn't get a sticker. If she knew how boring the whole process was, she wouldn't be coveting it that much.

Update: We got the X-ray results back and it wasn't broken after all. We have got some strong bones in this family!