New Shoes

I had forgotten how a new pair of shoes could cause so much joy to one's soul. Sean reminded me. Darin took Olivia and Sean shoe shopping, and while Olivia was very pleased with her purchase, nothing could match the excitement displayed by Sean for his new shoes. He came home and announced that he had already made it around the entire cul-de-sac in 24 seconds. As he came inside he was running from one side of the house to the other...getting snacks, finding books, and sometimes just running for the sake of running. He turns to me and says, "I don't know why I love running so much in these new shoes. It's almost like they control me." As bedtime approached, his shoes decided they wanted to stay on, so he slept in them. The next day he made trips to several of the neighbors' houses to show them how fast he could run in his new shoes, and we even needed to take a special trip to Grandma and Grandpa's to demonstrate the power of the shoes. I shirked a little bit as a parent, though. The day after the new shoes were part of the family, Darin's sister came over to pick up her computer. She was in the house for less than a minute, and after she left Sean asked, "Why didn't you tell her about my new shoes?" I tried to take pictures that would do the shoes justice. Please take note of the puffy basketballs on the tongue of the shoes AND on the bottom (both of those contribute to the fast-ness of the shoes). Most of all, I want a little boy (and his mom) to remember how incredibly overjoyed he was for a simple purchase...something that seems to fade as years are added.


I tried to get Sean to pose for a photo, but it simply was not going to happen. These shoes need to RUN!

Golden Years

My parents recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (WOW!), and to celebrate we had a family par-tay with a Hawaiian theme. We wanted it to be a surprise, so I invited them to our house for a birthday party for David (we had already celebrated the night before). When they were on their way I told them theat I had been cleaning my oven and my house still smelled smoky so we were going to let the kids run around the gym of the church. When they came in we greeted them with a big ALOHA and gave them their shirts. We had Hawaiian haystacks, fruit kabobs, rolls, and lots of yummy desserts. The gym was all decked out in cheesy Hawaiian decorations (thanks to Dollar Tree). After dinner each child gave a short memory or presentation, then we watched a DVD put together by Jodi. It was great to be together celebrating this momentous occasion. My parents are such wonderful examples to me and to all of their posterity. I think the highlight of the evening was when we turned some time over to them to give a little speech. I know that their advice will bring many people joy and peace in the future (if we listen!). 50 years of marriage is a huge accomplishment, and I am proud to belong to them!

Then...

Now...(Nine kids, 39 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren later)

Don't they look amazing? I hope to look as vibrant as they do when Darin and I celebrate our 50th!!!

Here is a portion of their posterity: (in order from oldest to youngest)
(For family history's sake, and also so you won't be confused, I will color code. My parents' children will be in bold, their spouses will be in red, grandkids in blue, spouses of grandkids in green, great-grandchildren in purple.)

Kramer, Max, Laura, Victoria, Sarah, Hunter

(not pictured: Tyler (married to Sarah), Spencer, Parker (on a mission in Ohio), Chandler

Jason, Janet, Mark

Not pictured: Justin, Jessica, Emma, Jared, Jordan

Tanner, Renae, Michelle, Josh

Kelsey, Rob, Camille, Eric, Kirsten

Oliver, Doug, Heidi, Taylor, Kaden

Bridger, Harrison, Avynlee

Brad, Jeff, Jodi, Rylee,

Kamryn, Lexi,

Coleman

Not pictured: Devon, Heather, Sterling, Siri, Soren, Seth, Sawyer
Not pictured: Rich, Whitney, Ally, Erin, McKay

Darin, Deanne, David,

Warren, Olivia, Sean

The final musical number was the grandkids singing "Families Can Be Together Forever"
My mom's sister, Joanne, was also there, and was able to join in the fun!
After we had cleaned up, some spontaneous dancing broke out! (We had the Disney MOVE IT cd playing)

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! (And to us, too! Darin and I are privileged to share the special day with them, but they got all the attention this year since 50 years is kind of a big deal. It doesn't change the fact that I would say 'yes' all over again. Love you, hun!)

A Tongue Twister

Ok, I know I need a new post, but I am short on time today so I thought I would share a fun tongue twister. Thanks to Darin's friend, Gary, for this treasure!

One smart feller thought he felt smart
Two smart fellers thought they felt smart
Three smart fellers thought they felt smart

Let me know how you do!

Happy Earth Day

Ok, so there's been a lot of hype lately about going green. I have been slow to get on the bandwagon, but in honor of Earth Day, I have made a couple of small changes. First, I bought some of those re-usable bags, which I have yet to use. I asked the lady at the check-out if I could buy those first so I could put my groceries in them. She huffed and puffed (but didn't blow the house down) and commented how she "hated them things", so I ended up using the plastic ones again. I also called the city and signed up for Recycling service. I was surprised that it only costs $3 a month, and the lady said that most people find that the majority of their trash goes in the recycle bin. This conversation ended up being quite disheartening. The woman who helped me asked if it was a multiple residence. I told her that it wasn't, and she said, "Hmm." Then she proceded to tell me that we have been charged for two trash cans the ENTIRE time we've lived here (that's 10 years!!!!!!!). I have never noticed it on my statement, or I would have disputed it. She kindly took off the most she could (3 months worth), but doing the math made me sick. $10 a month for 10 years...that adds up to a big chunk of change. Learn from my bad example, and check your statements! I just hope the city has used our extra money wisely.

Another thing I have done for a long time is turning the water off while I brush my teeth; although that has more to do with the Barney song than being earth friendly. "While I"m brushing my teeth and having so much fun, I never let the water run, no, I never let the water run." That song literally goes through my mind every time I'm tempted to leave it running. I also turn off lights during the day and when we're not in that room. Next on my list is getting new lightbulbs.

So, those of you who use the re-usable bags, how is the best way to use them? Do I need to go to the self-check lanes? These changes are not huge, but I hope they will make a small difference. If you have other ideas, please share!

Tethered

I had no idea how much I would miss having a cordless phone. Ours went caput a few weeks ago, and we've been using a phone with one of these:

I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal, but every time the phone rings now I groan. I used to accomplish so much while on the phone, and now I just stand in the kitchen while I talk, and look around at all the things I could be doing. I do try to do the dishes because it's the one chore I can do within the phone's reach, but I always worry that the cord will get in the water, and more than once I've pulled the phone off the counter while I was trying to reach a cupboard. This is definitely a case of "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone". On the bright side, I've lost 5 pounds because of the extra running to get the phone! Maybe I won't get rid of it after all.

Totally kidding, of course (about the weight loss). I'm getting a cordless tomorrow.

Day of Rest?

Sundays can be a little hectic around here. Darin has meetings every Sunday morning starting at 7. I realize that with church at 11, this should still give me plenty of time to get myself and four kids ready, but we somehow manage to be in a frenzied hurry just about every week. I have learned a few tricks of the trade that have made Sunday mornings run a little more smoothly. This week I made sure to have all the kids' clothes ready for them, and made sure to turn on my "happy mom" voice before getting out of bed. It worked like a charm...for three out of the four of them. Sean was apparently less than thrilled with the clothes I had ready for him. He went upstairs to try and find something different. I knew he wouldn't find anything in his room. He is growing, and we haven't been shopping for new church clothes in a while so his options are limited, and his other clothes were dirty. I told him I was very sorry he didn't like what I had chosen for him, but that time was running out, and we were going to be leaving for church in 8 minutes--no matter what he was wearing. I had only heard of parents doing this, and wondered if I had it in me to really follow through. As time was up I called cheerfully to him that it was time to leave. The other kids went out to the van, and still no Sean. At this point I threatened to take away privileges if he wasn't downstairs by the time I got to 10 (another thing I do that I said I never would). Still no Sean. I knew that he valued the privileges I was threatening to take away, so I went upstairs to see what was going on, and I saw this:

I KNEW I didn't have it in me to take him to church naked, and he was really asleep, so I took the other kids to church, had a quick laugh with Darin and Brother Mecham and headed back home to retrieve Sean. As he woke up, I made a small change to his wardrobe (I took away the sweater vest), and he got dressed. He was still not wanting to go, and gave me every excuse he could think of: his arm hurt, his eye hurt, the kids in his class always sit by him and bug him, etc...and then we went anyway. I'm sorry to say my "happy mom" voice disappeared for a few brief seconds, and I walked into church with a child trying to recover from crying, and feeling like I had failed once again. He put the big church bag in between us so he didn't have to touch me, and gave me several looks that showed me he was less than pleased. I was forgiven after a little while when I played a game of hangman with him, and I hoped that I could someday make it so that we could be on time and happy. Keri had a similar Sunday, and came up with a great FHE object lesson that I stole. We made sundaes--a good sundae and a bad sundae. We put less than desirable toppings (mustard, ketchup, horseradish, a pickle, pepper, etc.) on the bad sundae, and talked about all the things that make a bad Sunday...including mom raising her voice, not cooperating, not having things ready, etc. Then we made a good sundae, and talked about what we could all do make our Sundays good. This sundae included strawberries, bananas, caramel, butterscotch, whipped cream, nuts, and brownies. I'm hoping it works (for them and me).

It's snowing

and it's April.