To the Young Women

I am so grateful for the young women in our ward. They are exceptional! I don't know them really all that well. I don't serve in Young Womens organization, I don't teach them Sunday School. But I know that they are exceptional. I see them at church, and I watch them. They intrigue me and make me smile. But most of all, they are great examples to my girls. My girls have been drawn to them from the very first Sunday. It started out with Stephanie and Natausha. They usually sit in the pew in front of us. That first Sunday in Coutts they shared some books with the girls. That was all Tansley needed, from that day on she has referred to the both of them as her "big friends", not only that but she would much rather sit with them and their family than with us. In fact on one Sunday they had all three of my girls, Daniel was sitting on the stand playing the organ and there I sat all alone, with out a soul to distract me...it was wonderful! At one enrichment activity the young women were baby sitting at the church and Christie and Chelsie made friends with the girls, Tansley has also be know to go sit with her "other friends".

 So heres to the young women in our ward! Thank you for being the type of young women that my girls are drawn to. They look up to you. They love you. They think you are beautiful. They are inspired by you. They want to be like you. So remember that my girls and others like them, are watching you. They are learning from you and what you are doing. Be strong. Be true. Be faithful. I want my girls to be like you when they get to be your age (and I realize that wont be that long). Thank you again for who you are and for being "big friends" to my girls. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

New Fun Summer Ideas

Here are two fun ideas for summer that have worked out so fabulously for us so far this summer.
First, I subscribe to this absolutely fun website(Allrecipes.com) that sends me recipes of the day, and one of those recipes was for BBQ pizza. I was curious to see how it would work, especially because home made pizza is so easy and yummy but who wants to heat up their kitchen in the summer. So I gave it a try and it was incredible!!  We all enjoyed it so much I would recommend this recipe to anyone. Next time I would add a little more water to the dough recipe, it was a little on the tough side, and we just used what ever toppings we had on hand.

BBQ Pizzas

Second, I read in an kids craft idea book one time about making a wind sock out of old ties. My brother Garth had bought a whole tonne of ties on ebay, which inspired me to go look on ebay for a bunch of old ties. I ended up winning a lot of 50 for a penny however shipping and handling was $24.99, big deal each tie cost me a whole 50 cents. Some were even nice enough to keep for Daniel. So today Tansley and I decided to make a wind sock. I took a sour cream container and cut out the bottom, and then we stapled the thin half of the tie on to it, all though some of the ties were thin enough to use both halves. Then I wrapped the thin end of one tie around where I had stapled and hand stitched it in place to hide the staples. Tansley was absolutely thrilled with the end result. She oohed and awed about how beautiful it was.

Displaying the other side of the wind sock

displaying one side of the wind sock

The Simplest Things Can Make Me Cry.

Showing off the Koolaid

So today Kathryn came to me and asked if I could make her some KoolAid so she could have a KoolAid sale. She got some boxes out of the recycle in the garage and stacked them up at the end of our drive way. She wanted me to write on the box "Kathryn's Cold Koolaid, 10 cents", and then she drew some additional posters coping my writing and drawing pictures of Koolaid and put them on the house. She got all set up and sat out there with a jug for people to put their money in, she got out the binoculars so that she could look way down the street to see if anybody was coming. She also called out up and down the street "Koolaid! Come get your Koolaid!", "Delicious Koolaid!, come get some Koolaid!", "I've got Koolaid, 10 cents a glass!" and other such things. My heart was aching for her because there really isn't a lot of people walking around during the day, and she was so excited to make a little money to buy a new piggy bank she had seen at the dollar store. I was just about to pick up the phone and call a few people in the ward and see if they would come buy some Koolaid from her when she came running through the door all excited because a lady had stopped and bought a glass of Koolaid "MOM, I just had my first customer!". I started to tear up. The excitement and pleasure on her face was so genuine. I had to hold it back because I didn't want to confuse her with my tears. I was just so proud of her for getting her first sale, she was trying so hard. After giving me a hug she went back outside and continued trying to sell her Koolaid. No one else came by, I did go out and asked her if I could be a customer, she said "do you have a dime, that is 10 cents you know", I said I did so she agreed to sell me some koolaid. She was out there for over an hour. She never gave up, and she never got discouraged. She did get hot sitting out in the sun, so she came in and put her Koolaid in the fridge and told us all we were not allowed to drink it because she was going to set up her Koolaid stand again tomorrow. I hope she has some success tomorrow.

Calling out "Cold, Cold Koolaid! Come get it right here!"

Forty Just For Fun

Answer the following with only one word:
1. Where is your cell phone? None
2. Your significant other? Sexy
3. Your hair? Straight
4. Your mother? Amazing
5. Your father? Brilliant
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Old pictures
8. Your favorite drink? Gingerale
9. Your dream/goal? Archeologist
10. The room you're in? Livingroom  
11. Your children? Beautiful  
12. Your fear? Moths
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here  
14. Where were you last night? Home  
15. What you're not? Dumb
16. Muffins? Banana
17. One of your wish list items? Car  
18. Where you grew up? Lethbridge
19. What you read last? BofM
20. What are you wearing? Jeans
21. Your TV? Normal
22. Your pets? Murderers
23. Your computer? Basic
24. Your life? Good
25. Your mood? Pleasant
26. Missing someone? Hubby
27. Your car? Fabulous
28. Something you're not wearing? Socks
29. Favorite Store? Dollarama
30. Your summer? Camping
31. Like someone? My Kids
32. Your favorite color? Burgundy
33. Last time you laughed? Tonight
34. Last time you cried? Sunday
35. Someone you wish to know more? Savior
36. Horrible habit? Snacking
37. Future plans? Reunion
38. If money were no object? Travel
39. Life long dream? Archeologist
40. Greatest accomplishment? Kids

The Garden Project

I was so excited for spring to come. I finally was in my own house with my own yard and I would be able to plant a garden in my yard. The past two years I have planted a garden in the yard of an elderly sister in our old ward. She only lived a couple of blocks away so in theory it was convenient. But two years ago at the end of June, I had surgery to have my gall bladder taken out, and that put me out of commission for 4 weeks, the weeds got out of control because it was too much for me to walk over with the kids and weed it. Last year I was extremely pregnant and again it wasn't so easy to do the weeding. Although both years the end product was very satisfying, just not so easy.
This year we have the yard...just didn't have the garden space. Well, we had the space, it just wasn't prepared to be a garden. So began the Garden Project. First we staked out the area that we wanted to have our garden. Then we sprayed the grass with round up to kill the grass. Because of the cool rainy weather the grass took along time to die. By May 12 the grass was dead and Daniel started to dig out the grass.

He got about half way done, May long weekend, we went camping instead of working on the garden...and then it rained for a week straight. I wished for the rain to stop, but that is not a popular thing in this part of the world...farmers really need the rain. Finally the rain stopped and I continued to dig out the grass and attack the massive roots that lay beneath.

Our yard is lined on one side with huge poplars, huge poplars, oddly enough, have huge roots.

It took me about a week and a half to get the grass dug out and the tree roots removed but late yesterday after noon, despite threats of rain, I removed the last of the nasty roots(and this was no easy task, but I AM WOMAN!)

and the garden was ready to be rototilled.

After supper, Daniel borrowed a rototiller from an old friend, Paul Madge, and he commenced in rototilling.

Wow what a beautiful patch of dirt!

Once I had the kids in bed, I was back out in the garden planting my Tomato plants. Three weeks and two days after we started digging, I finally got the garden planted. It's done...it was alot of hard labour, but I know have my very own garden in my very own yard.

Tough Life Lessons For a Three Year Old

Since moving to Milk River, our two cats have become outdoor cats. Skyreach has just recently started to venture outside. He loves to be outside...as long as it is sunny, warm and dry. He wont put a foot on the snow or step in a puddle, in my opinion we is a wimpy cat. Early in the spring he once came outside and jumped off the deck, over a pile of snow and onto dry grass...but then he was stuck and he whined because he couldn't get back to the house. Ranford on the other hand has been spending much of his days and some nights(recently) out side since we moved here in January. He has no problems with the snow or rain or mud, in fact I think he loves it all. The first thing he does when he goes outside is fine a pile of dirt to roll around in (he is a white cat....well kinda brownish white these days). He once chased a deer out of our yard...I think he thought he might actually catch it. So it was no surprise to me when I started finding dead little birds in our flower beds. Either Ranford was responsible for their death or the neighbor cats were placing the dead little birds in our yard to make the new guy look good. Thus far I've been able to dispose of the dead birds with out the girls seeing them.

This morning we have been working on the garden...well I was working, Kathryn and Tansley were helping by digging in the dirt with their sand toys, they said they were helping get the tree roots out. Kathryn spotted Skyreach coming around the corner with a bird in his mouth...a not so dead bird. The bird started flapping it's wings so Skyreach put it down, the girls quickly came over to inspect, the poor bird had a large wound on its back and couldn't walk, he just flapped his wings. Skyreach toyed with the bird. Somehow this both fascinated and disturbed the girls. Tansley shooed Skyreach away and then crouched down by the bird and said she was looking over it. She started to get a sad look on her face. I could see their was nothing that could be done and the poor little bird was suffering. It was best if we just let the cat finish what he started to end the poor birdies pain. So I asked the girls if they wanted a snack and we headed inside. Tansley started to cry and was mad at Skyreach and called him a mean cat for hurting the bird. I tried to explain to them using the Lion King circle of life, But Kathryn started just talking about the movie that had nothing to do with what I was trying to say. So then I switched to Dinosaurs, how some dinosaurs eat meat (or other dinosaurs), and some ate plants. Now that our cats are outside cats, sometimes they eat mice and little birds.

After awhile I went back out side to see if Skyreach was done with the bird. He had abandoned it so, I went to retrieve a plastic bag to dispose of it, but before I got back outside the girls were at my side wondering if the bird was OK. I told them the he was dead and asked them if they wanted to bury it. They said they did, so I got a Mac and Cheese box and put the bird in it, and then dug a whole in the flower garden under a tree. I explained that the bird's spirit was now in heaven and we were just putting the body in the ground. We said a little prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the beautiful bird and prayed for his family. Tansley started crying during the prayer, so then I did too. As we walked away Tansley completely broke down, she was so sad. All I could do was just hold her because I knew she didn't really understand what had just happened. Once she settled down she asked if she could go inside and watch TV. A short time later she came out again and asked if the bird was awake yet. Kathryn drew a picture of the bird and put it on a stick to mark the spot. Tansley doesn't want to go near the grave.

I'm glad we had this experience...it likely will happen again. Daniel's Grandpa Court is 95 years old. We try to visit him often. Kathryn is really close to him. He isn't going to be around forever, he's getting visibly older each time we go to visit. One day in the not to distant future, we will be attending his funeral....and maybe, just maybe this experience with the bird will help them to understand it a little better.

Why do I?

I woke up this morning, without provocation, at 7:30am. The sun was shining through the clouds and the birds were singing sweetly. There was a scent in the air that let you know it was thinking about raining. All three girls were still sleeping, which I was glad for. We had arrived home late the night before from our two day stay in Lethbridge. The girls were all played out and exhausted. It was quiet and peaceful....it was a bit of Heaven. I got up and did a few things and had a shower, because how can you resist the peacefulness of such a beautiful spring morning. By 8:00am the girls were awake, I fed them breakfast and then put them in the tub, Daniel took over the bathing supervision while I finished feeding Kymberly, and then he bathed her too. I helped Tansley pick out her Sunday clothes and get them on, and then helped Kathryn. She was excited to where a "new" dress that Aunt Chrystal had given to us. I got it out of the closet and helped her do up the buttons. then she just stood there and pouted. "What" I asked, she said nothing. "Is something the matter?", still nothing. "OK, well, I can't just sit here and watch you pout, I need to go get Kymberly dressed and finish getting myself ready, when you are ready to tell me whats wrong you can come find me, for now brush your hair." So I went up stairs to dress Kymberly. And then I hear it, Kathryn is wailing. What in the world is going on? She's wearing the dress that she wanted to wear, what is the matter? I ignore it, if I give her attention it only gets worse. I get dressed and do my makeup, Kathryn is still crying down stairs. Dad tells her to get her shoes on and go to the van, she comes upstairs, without her hair brushed and still crying. I try to be patient and kind, "Kathryn, what is wrong?", still nothing. "Are you hurt? Are you sick? Is something wrong with the dress? Why are you sad?", still, she wont say a word. "Fine, brush your hair and go to the van please." In the mean time Tansley has gone out to the van but can't open the side door because it is locked and she is screaming and crying that she can't open the door. Daniel goes out and helps her out, but she is so upset that she wont stop screaming. Kathryn gets in the van still crying, Kymberly is sitting in her seat wondering what all the fuss is about.

By the time we get to church everyone has calmed down, that ten minute highway drive sometimes can be a fabulous thing. We go and sit down, Daniel goes to the organ to play the prelude music. Kathryn pouts on the pew. Kymberly refuses to let me put her down. Tansley happily sits with her "friend" in the pew in front of us. By the time the sacrament song is being sung, Kathryn is scratching and wiggling all over and whining in a not so quiet voice, "I'm itching, I hate being itchy" repeatedly. I keep telling her to be quiet, and she says "but I'm itchy". She continues this behavior the entire time the sacrament is being passed. I'd take her out, but I don't have anybody to pawn Kymberly off on with out her screaming, because Daniel is still sitting up on the stand. So I wait and try again and again to be quiet. When the sacrament has been passed, Daniel comes and sits with Kathryn and tries to cuddle with her. It seemed to be working, until Kymberly started fussing, she is tired after all, nap time is at 10:00am, church starts and 10:00am...but will she sleep anywhere but in a bed? nope, not unless its dad that is trying to put her to sleep. So Daniel takes Kymberly out to try to get her to go to sleep.

Tansley is laying down with her head on my lap, she's tired, it was a long weekend. Kathryn comes over and tries to sit infront of Tansley and cuddle up to me too, but Tansley doesn't like that and pushes at Kathryn which starts Kathryn crying again. So I leave Tansley in the capable hands of her "friend", and I take Kathryn out. Again, I ask her what is wrong, again she will not say anything. I'm frustrated, annoyed, angry and mad. She says she wants me to give her a hug, but at that moment I don't feel like giving her a hug....bad mom, I know. She cries even louder, I take her into a class room so that she isn't disturbing the whole congregation. After I had cooled down a bit, I softened myself and gave her a hug and then we went back into the chapel because it was almost time for the closing song and Daniel would have to give Kymberly to somebody, I had better be that somebody to avoid more screaming and crying.

During the closing song I think to myself "I can't wait to go to Sunday School and Relief Society to be uplifted and enriched and spiritually fed, because I sure didn't get that out of Fast and Testimony meeting." As I am walking out of the chapel to take my kids to blessed Primary, a sister stops me and asks if I will teach nursery because the nursery leader is sick and asked if she would do it, but her kids are just not doing well today and she needs to be with them so could I do it for her. In my mind I am saying no, but I smile a fake smile and say "sure". I want to cry. I drop Kathryn off at her class, as I walk away I hear her crying again. I ignore her, if I give her attention it only makes it worse. I head to the nursery room with Tansley, at least she has been pleasant since arriving at church. A friend of mine, who has daughters that same age as mine (and who had also been in the hall with crying children today) asked how I was doing, I teared up and said that I was just asked to teach the nursery. She said "you said no right?", "No, why would I do that?" I say half laughing half crying, that would be like saying that I wasn't strong enough to do it, that I couldn't handle everything. She asked if I wanted her to stay with me, this time I spoke what was in my mind and not what was on the tip of my tongue "yes, please!" So Nursery ended up to be not so bad, but I still missed the spiritual uplift that I was longing for.

Why do I do it to myself? I could have said no, there are others that could have taken over. I suppose it goes along with why I don't usually ask others to do things for me. I could be 5 months pregnant, sick with a nasty flew and trying to get my apartment cleaned so that we can move out in 5 days, and my husband will say before heading out to work, "phone someone to come help you today" and I say "OK, I will", but I don't, I just do it myself, and then that night a sister in the ward calls because she is in a real bind and doesn't have anyone to watch her 5 kids the next day while she works and is wondering if I could watch them, she realizes that I am trying to move, but she is really stuck. I say yes, of course. So I take my not so well self and my 2 year old over to her place at 6am the next day and watch her kids, all the time thinking about all the things that I still need to get done to move. Why do I do it?....I don't want to talk about it...it might make me look weak.