Tom Sawyer!

When I was growing up my Dad would read to us every night. Now I don't remember the little stories he would read us, I remember the on going novels. He would read us "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" followed by "Huckleberry Finn" and "Charlotte's Web".

I don't remember "Charlotte's Web" as well but I really remember Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Every night we would sit in the family room while my Dad would make the characters come alive by acting each character out. I enjoyed listening to him read and would look forward to it.

I decided that I wanted to carry that tradition on to my kids. So with much searching I was able to purchase the exact set my Dad had when we were younger which happens to be a beautiful set filled with great illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.

We started this week and I hope that my kids will enjoy it as much as I did when I was younger. I want to pass on what my dad passed on to me and hopefully build the same memories that I enjoyed as a child.

P.S. the picture above is not the same book as I mentioned in my post.

Father n' Son's

Trapped!

So I'm sitting on the couch reading a book after Kevin left for work when I here my kids yelling "help Mommy were trapped." I'm thinking how can they get trapped. Well they were playing in their bedroom and earlier this week the handle on the inside of the door had come off and we hadn't had it fixed yet. Basically they shut the door and had no knob to turn it open they were trapped.

Now as I go to the door and find them trapped I start laughing and telling them I going to leave them in there all day which I really wouldn't but it sure was tempting. They didn't find that a funny as I did. After I rescue them I decided I would show them how to get out if that happened to them again. I shut the door and went to show them how to open it only to find that I really didn't know how to open it and now all four of us are TRAPPED!

I lost it I could not stop laughing at our situation and how stupid I was in getting us all stuck. The only way out was to call Kevin and have him come home and open the door. Good thing I had my cell phone with me. So I call Kevin and I am hysterically laughing that he thought I was crying and couldn't understand what I was trying to tell him so he panicking thinking I probably broke my hand again.

Finally I get composed enough to tell him what happened and that he needs to come home and let us out and then he tells me to just use the knob sitting on their dresser DUD! Of course I start laughing again and Kevin says to me "Your weird" and I said "No I'm just turning into my Mom."
Sorry Mom but we all know you laugh hysterically at the stupidest things!

So anyways if you want to avoid being trapped with your children just don't do what they did to get trapped in the first place.

Literally...

The Definition of the word Literally:

1. strictly adhering to basic meaning: in a way based on the basic or explicit meaning of a word or text.

2. without exaggeration: used to show that a statement is actually true and not exaggerated I always find it so cute when kids take the things we say literally, when we are not meaning to be literal. For example: We were staying at my brother in laws house during one of our visits to California, my nice Kaylee asked me to do her hair. When I was about done I told her "okay I just have to tease it now, then your done." she looked at me a with a sad face asked me "Your going to make fun of my hair?" I then explained that teasing hair means to get a little volume out of it, to give a more polished, finished look. So when I finished and she was pleased with her hair she saw that I didn't literally mean to tease her hair. Another example my sister told me about was during a shopping trip her Angela was doing something that made Jennifer tell her to "put a sock in it." Well as kids do Jennifer later looked over and found her literally with her sock in her mouth. My final example is today at breakfast when we were running a little late and Parker was on his 3rd piece of french toast asked if I would cut it for him. Since he didn't have any syrup on it I told "just use your hands" so after a minute or so he announces "it's not working" I look over to find him literally using his hand like a knife to cut his toast. I guess it's hard for kids to know and understand when we mean what we actually are saying. But stories like those make life fun and interesting and I mean that literally.

I Am a Mother!

What do you do?

It's a question for many women, especially Latter-day Saint women.
We recognize the sacred calling of motherhood yet sometimes feel overwhelmed.

I know I'm a mother how could I forget with 3 crazy little boys. But there are these moments where I feel truly like a mother that sometimes it feels more profound than others. Like tonight I found my 3 year old sitting in his bed surrounded by the stuffing of a most beloved animal. As I was sitting on the couch re-stuffing and stitching his beloved animal knowing as I worked I was coming to his rescue I had one of those moments where I truly felt like a Mother. Maybe those moments come when it is quite in the house and I am able to sit and ponder what its means to be a mother.

I think Sheri Dew said it best when she said, "Satan has declared war on motherhood. He knows that those who rock the cradle have the power to rock his earthly empire. And he knows that without righteous mothers loving and leading the next generation, the kingdom of God will fail."

What do I do?

I Am a Mother

What the Future has in stored!

Funny thing I spend money buying my kids new clothes, but all of my boys around age 3 would not leave the house unless they had some sort of Super Hero costume on. Parker is now 3 and following in his brother's footsteps. I wash more Costumes for him than I do his regular clothes. I have to say though that I love my kids silly and cute imaginations. I love watching and listing to them play. So what if he is never dressed in normal clothes, it's woth it just to see what his little brain comes up with next!