Oh Rats!

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I had to buy lawn fertilizer.

The girls came with me,

and they fell in love with baby ducks.

I didn't have my camera,

but just imagine really cute little yellow ducks.

We all got to hold them.

The begging started.

"Can we get one mom,

Please!!!???"

No, they're cute, but...

We got in the car and started talking about getting a bunny again.

Our last bunny, THUMPER, died.

Whit started to cry remembering that day.

Then out of my mouth,

"What about rats, let's get some rats during spring break."
 (my friend had told me how much fun her family had with rats)

They liked that idea.
And so,
here we are with 2 rats.
They're pretty cute.
The kids love them.
 

Little Cleaning Fairy came while I slept

It's Spring Break.

A break from

6:15 am,

hurried breakfast,

catching the bus,

getting ready to go.

 No alarm this morning.

But,

something did wake me.

The clatter of dishes.

Was someone eating breakfast?

No, I heard the dishwasher rack being pulled.

Dishes stacked.

The kitchen faucet is on, then off.

Someone is cleaning!!!

I bet it's my Whiters.

Love her.

She is my little cleaning fairy.

Can't wait until she can make a full meal!!

Snow Day

 Jeff and the kids stayed home from their duties today.It's pretty nasty outside.Frozen rain on top of snow.  I was thinking,a blanket of snow brings commonality to the world.Most weather does.I had to go out yesterday.I was trying to get around  along with everyone around me. Living still happens even when itscold,wet,icy,dangerous.I had to get help with my cart of groceries.Couldn't get them out to the van without a good Samaritan.She pulled and I pushed.I thanked her over and over again.Having something in common makes people more loving.I wish I could cover the world in my own "blanket of snow". So many commonalities are gone these days.Manners,Good language,Chastity.Living on one income.The one income thing has been on my mind.Stuff would be cheaper,if we all wanted less. Just my thoughts.So happy to be warm.So happy to be home.

    ♥

LICE!! How we finally conquered them at our house.

 There's a new naughty word at our house. Lice.

Gilles San Martin

Are you scratching your head yet?

 I can't talk about it without getting all itchy. Whitney was the lucky recipient.We found it a few days after the letter from school came."Please be aware that there is lice at school......"I read it.I didn't worry one bit.I should have.In fact.If you have a little girland she has hair,adopt the paranoia that I will share now.  1stMake her invisible. Add some tea tree oil into a squirt bottle with water.Spray your daughter's hair.Put her hair up.Get it off her shoulders.When?Everyday.Lice like humans not trees.Tea tree oil is awesome.I found my bottle at Walgreens.Should've been doing this as soon as cold weather hit.Hats.Coats.Backpacks.I'll hung close together.Perfect for Lice.Request that her coat goes in a bag on the back of her chair.    2ndTeach your daughter how to avoid it.Drill it in her sweet head.Don't throw your coat on a heap with your friend's coats.Don't share your hat.Don't share your hair brush.  3rdDon't be ignorant.If your daughter gets lice.Put your hair up.Don't snuggle her close to your head. Christmas Eve, I found lice in my hair.Not fun. Unless, you'd like your husband to spend hours and hours combing through your thick hair. Google "lice".They don't jump.
 4th Research.Read up on lice and understand them.Their life cycle,what will kill them.How to get rid of them.So much info online. The shampoo's and sprays are worthless.DO NOT use the spray on your furniture or mattresses.Its poison.I'd rather have lice than kill my family.I used Nix shampoo on Whitney's head.I picked 30 live Lice of her scalp after I used the shampoo.All over the internet it says the shampoo doesn't work.I agree.Olive oil.All over your head.Shower cap.Towel over shower cap.Sleep on it.14 hours I kept it on.Use regular shampoo,took about 4 rinses.Leave in some conditioner.Comb through hair with nit comb.over and over and overNo lice after that. 
 5thEmpty her room and the house.Soft toys.Extra blankets.Outside in garbage bags.  
Cover your couch with a mattress bed-wetting cover sheet.She sleeps on the couch.Give her new bedding everyday.(Throw bedding in the dryer for 20 minutes w/ heat.)No dirty clothes on the floor. Take clothes out of her drawers. All clothes come from a quarantined spot.My garden tub was perfect.Every towel, every pillow,every soft thinghas to be clean before use.Couch pillows outside too.Cover your car's seats with garbage bags. Do all of this until you see no evidence for 2 weeks. 

6th

Look for Lice often.

Even if you don't get a letter from school.If you do catch lice- Go through hair 3 times a day.Record your findings.How many lice, how many nits (eggs).Make sure you have somewhere to place them when you find them.a small garbage does the trick,or a bowl.Empty it outside in the big trash.Find a newly hatched lice (nymph).They're very small. 

Actual size of the three lice forms compared to a penny. (CDC Photo)

 Place it in a cereal bowl with tweezers.Pull a hair from your head.Run the strand of hair over the nymph.Be amazed and very scared.Like a magnet it clings.Be consistent.Be a bit paranoid.Work hard.Give up your all the things you did for fun.Oh, and if you think you've conquered them.think again,Give it a good 2 weeks.Before you think you're in the clear.

7thTry to stay calm.Ha. Good luck.I was plagued for a month.Getting lice flat out stinks. Going through thisI'd remember all the stories of other womens' trials.They were strong.They didn't cave to frustration.You know the stories.The ones that are told from the memory of a prophet, some noble gentleman,or a great women. "My mother was the epitome of patience and fortitude."
I cried like a baby one day.so frustrated !!!!!!!!!!!It was the first day back to school-after Christmas break.I had day of plans,the girls were happy to see friends again.I checked again,just to make sure.You guessed it!Lice.Thought we were done.Nope.Not out of the clear unless its been like 3 weeks.I haven't seen anything for 2.I'm still checking.These bitty things.These horrible pests. They broke me. At first I was confident and calm. But day after day it got to me. My daughters may never be prominentor great now. Are their stories really true?The children of those women must have selective memory. In the moment the thought was to handle it better butcrying along with them seemed like the perfect solutionalong with getting even more paranoid, more consistent,and CRAZY!Ya it hurts my pride now.But life goes on.I will say,during it all I tried to count my blessings.(In order of importance.)A little girl's prayer. Netflix Wallace and GrommetGoogle   My patient husband Clothes Dryer  Washing MachineFriends with experience Freezer Shower capsHead lampsLeather couch  
I'm gonna go check my head.
 

on the way home

 I was in a rush to get home.

Get dinner on the table.

Finish homework.

I saw the light in the trees.

I pulled over, grabbed my camera.

"Abby! skip down the sidewalk."

 ♥

Silly and Serious

Silliness

 Seriousness

When a child needs correction, you might ask yourself, “What can I say or do that would persuade him or her to choose a better way?” When giving necessary correction, do it quietly, privately, lovingly, and not publicly. If a rebuke is required, show an increase of love promptly so that seeds of resentment may not remain. To be persuasive, your love must be sincere and your teachings based on divine doctrine and correct principles.

Do not try to control your children. Instead, listen to them, help them to learn the gospel, inspire them, and lead them toward eternal life. You are God’s agents in the care of children He has entrusted to you. Let His divine influence remain in your hearts as you teach and persuade.

Elder Russell M. Nelson, "Salvation and Exaltion," Ensign May 2008

♥

I get up everyday to a job that I'll never be able to quit.

I look at my children and can't believe they are thriving despite my shortcomings.

Today as I woke them, fed them, and fixed their hair I thought about all the physical needs that I attend to for their sake.

Its important that my little girl looks like she belongs to somebody so I do her hair, usually while she protests.

Its important for them to be clean and dressed in a clothes without holes and stains.  

All through the day we tend to physical needs and some days are are full of them!!

This leads me into what I've been thinking about it.


I give great attention to all things physical, in fact some days I think I give too much attention to them. I feel like there's a HUGE imbalance. Too much physical, and not enough spiritual. 


My kids run out to catch the bus.  They're all ready-lunches made, backpacks with permission slips signed, homework usually done, hair done, faces clean.  

Then they come home- soccer practice, homework, chores.

The thing is, its how our world works.  The inner man is not seen.  We see only the clothes, the cars, the homes.  We judge a man, a child, by his stuff.  Its shallow, and I don't like it, but I feed into it. 

I feed into it because, honestly, it feeds my pride.  If my child is dressed to the nines, it makes me look like I have my act together.  


Mom's need a payoff. 

So we spend a bunch of time tending to shallow stuff.  


This morning my kids ran out to catch the bus, anyone that saw them would think they looked ready for school.  

Mostly, they were.


But I knew different.

I hadn't prayed with them.

I wish that it was easier to spend more time on the things that really mean something.  

I think I'm beginning to understand other forms of religion.
Some put aside all worldliness.  






Its no small feat to  put off pride and be humble.  


To find fulfillment in things that will not bring the attention of men is difficult for me.




As you look at the remainder of the pictures on this post, you will my sweet girl.  She is spunky and keeps me on my toes. 
Her character and personality are what I love most about her. 

I could take pictures of her all day long and post them but you can't see her, not really. 

I hope my kids are learning the worth of a soul.

I hope they feel confident without wearing all the right things.


Cause I'm still working on it.

♥

Find teaching moments

 5 more days until our date.She wants to go to Granny's.Then we'll take her to the temple.We'll sit and look at Moroni.He'll be bright against the black sky.She'll learn about the "birds and the bees"I'm getting a bit nervous, and anxious.I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up.Mom's are the best teachers.Turn off the radio and talk,let her jabber about her day,tuck her in and teach her about life.Squeeze the teaching moments in wherever, and whenever.
 ♥

Enjoy them while they're little.

 Kindergarten-September 2011  My youngest child loading the bus.

Over and over I've heard."Enjoy them when they're little."Um, yeah, rrrrrrrrright.  I used to think.What were these moms who either had no kids at home or older kids forgetting? When my kids were little,everything I did took so long to do,GROCERIESCLEANING THE HOUSEGETTING READY TO GO ANYWHERE Hassels and frustrationSleepless nightsDiapers TandrumsIt all happened and I remember it was stressful,I can't however remember the details.The days run into years.The years when they were young and home.I was their influence.I don't remember the details, why?I didn't "Enjoy them while they were little"
When a mother tells you to "enjoy them when they're little"Ask, why?Me? I'd tell you this:

Enjoy them when they're choices don't hurt your heart.Enjoy them before their agency becomes almost completely out of your control.Enjoy them when they want to tell you everything.Enjoy them before they have homework.Enjoy their small voices. Enjoy their innocence.Enjoy them before they want to be with friends more than they want to be with you.Enjoy the giggles.Enjoy the silly things that they say, because you'll forget.Enjoy the little messes.Enjoy less worry.Enjoy them while they think you're perfect.  I was a frenzied mess last week. I felt inept.I'm recouping today. Looking inward.Praying and pondering on how to change.I have to be strong.I have to remember I'm never alone. I have to realize its hard work.I have to expect that I can only do my best.Don't compare.

Progress- not perfection.

I'm growing too.

I'm learning too.

This life as mother changes everyday.

New challenges.

New moments to enjoy.

New moments that humble me and bring me to my knees.

I crave wisdom from mothers who told me,

"Enjoy them".
I'm grieving for my own mother's wisdom.

My heart is engulfed in sorrow.

I miss her terribly.

She would have the words.

She was calm in the storm of motherhood.

She would ease my troubled heart.

She would rub my head on her lap,

I'd really cry.

I'd tell her my wows.

She would say, "You're too hard on yourself."

She's in Heaven.

but maybe if I could be still,

I'd hear her.

"Kimi,

 I love you.

You are my beautiful red headed girl.

I'm proud of you.

I see all your good.

Love it all.

Every moment. 

You have a great work.

Soon you'll grieve for moments gone.

They grow up fast.

♥