A month!

***This post was actually written July 23, but to keep the flow of the blog right I'm back-dating it.***

Holy moley! I don't think I've ever gone nearly an entire month without blogging before since I started! A whole lot has gone on in that month, and I don't really want to leave anything out, but catch up is a hard game to play. Let's start with a basic re-cap and then I'll go back and fill in blanks as I can.

Girl's Camp - I spent 5 days camping with the young women from our ward. It was crazy hot, we slept in cabins with mice and wasps and the occasional snake, my feet nearly fell off from all the walking on gravel - but the girls are so great, their faith and testimonies renewed my faith and testimony, and I'll always be glad I went.

Plan Change - The plan was that July 6 or so Richard, the kids and I would drive to Texas taking 3 days to get there. Then the very day that I got back from Girl's Camp (July 2), Richard bought crazy-cheap plane tickets for us to fly to Texas instead on July 4. Which was great, but a little crazy too. Suddenly I had 2 days to get us all ready to go.

Texas with Angela - The same day that we got to Texas, so did my sister Angela and her six kids. My parents house is pretty spacious, but 10 kids in pretty much any house is pretty intense. Angela and I figure we actually talk more over the phone across the country than we did some days while we inhabited the same house. But it was great anyway.

Texas without Angela - Their family stayed 10 days or so but now they've gone back home and it's just been the kids and I here. Richard has gone back home to work and travel. But we're certainly not lonely here since my Dad is home most days. We're keeping up our "Big Adventure Mondays" with a visit to the arboretum last week and a science museum this coming week.

The Future - We're here until the second week of August, then we're all heading off to a Worth family reunion in Idaho. Then we'll finally make it home mid-August. Then school starts!

So that's the very basics of an update. I'll work on filling in the blanks soon.

Kids Day 2011

This year's Kids Day we didn't take any pictures. We were too busy having fun! We went to the pool in the morning, had mac n cheese for lunch, had naptime where the kids were allowed to take their computers in their rooms, saw Cars 2, had mac n cheese for dinner, and then crashed into our beds hours after the usual bedtime. It was a great day. We didn't fit a carousel ride in, which we love to do to honor Gary, but we certainly thought of him and told the kids stories about him.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Errand Friday's

This many to-do lists can only mean one thing: busy, busy, busy. Kids Day then Girls Camp then 4th of July then trip to TX. And I feel like I need to get ready for all of them today because after that Ill be busy DOING them. So errands, here we come.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Cleaning Wednesday's

Big Adventure Monday's, Daddy Tuesday's, and Cleaning Wednesday's. So this morning I started cleaning. And the kids did their chores and helped me out, too. And by 10:30 the house was looking pretty dang good! So we headed over to a neighbor's house who has two big bounce houses set up in her yard for the day. One wet, one dry. The big kids played crazily and deliriously happily on the bounce houses with all their neighborhood friends while Sammy and I lounged on a blanket under a big shady tree nearby. Sammy was trapped on the blanket by the grass. He loves to pull the grass up with his little fists, but he won't let his bare knees or feet touch it - so he might as well have been in a cage. After about 35 minutes Sammy got super cuddly. He must have been hot and kinda tired because he just kept flopping his head into my lap or rolling over right next to my belly. If I held him, he'd just lay still and gaze at me. So the big kids played and Sammy and I had a little make-out session under a tree. It was heaven.

Big Adventue Mondays

This summer we've declared Mondays "Big Adventure Mondays". These are the days that we do things that are usually a little too far away or difficult or whatever. We had hoped to kick off this tradition with a trip to the zoo in DC, but there was too much of a chance of rain so we downgraded to painting pottery. Richard sweetly offered to keep Sammy so that made it a lot simpler. Everybody had a good time. Naomi's flower pot turned out beautifully. Ashers cupcake turned out mostly grey. And Isaiah's french fries turned out so glopped with paint that I'll be amazed if they actually fire it instead of just trashing it. But we all had a great morning! Next week we'll shoot for the zoo again and after that our adventures will all be in Texas! Splash pads, the arboretum, that famous statue of the longhorns or something... what else should we do?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

An Inheritance

#1) Richard has a sister named Nancy. The original Nancy Worth, as I always say. So when it came time for me to pick a worths email address, I chose nancy.sabina. Sabina is my Great Grandmother's name and my middle name. In my youth I thought Sabina was a terrible middle name because it was different. I wondered why there wasn't the R to make it SabRina like everybody else. In my "old" age, I think it's beautiful and I love it for it's uniqueness and it's connection to my family. Sabina was by all accounts a strong, witty, intelligent woman - all things I hope to be. When I am with the Worth family, I am now known as Nancy Sabina. They refer to me that way amongst themselves and when they are addressing me. It always catches me off guard the first couple of times, but I love it. I love the reminder of who I am.

#2) My mother has recently been reading through all the letters that my Grandfather wrote to my Grandmother while he was serving in World War II. She found intriguing things like that they had a code where the first letter of the first word in each letter told her where he was stationed without getting the attention of the censors. She also read some lovely, poetry like, love letters. This quote is especially beautiful and foretelling: Our love will be our strength though the years and far beyond our life spans. Our children will inherit from us the spirit of true love and happiness and carry it on long after we have departed.... A love like ours will always be regardless of time. I have been captivated by the thought of a love that is regardless of time. My Grandpa and Grandma have always been my example of true love. Visible true love. I am so thankful for the inheritance that I have received from them of true love and happiness that I can carry with me until, and beyond when, I am reunited with my Grandparents.

********************************
Whether it be a name or an example of love, I am who I am because of the things that my ancestors gave me. And I love who I am!

An army of goldfish

Asher says, "I created an army of goldfish. And I'm gonna eat them and then they'll march into my tummy and push my heart and it's gonna hurt. And then when they're done they'll still have more strength and they're gonna come poke you!"

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Thriving, Flourishing Life

A few months ago I clipped a little snippet from a magazine (Experience Life magazine, which we get as a part of our Lifetime Fitness gym membership) about "The Good-Life Ratio". Basically, it says that you have to have three positive experiences for every negative one in order to create a "thriving, flourishing life - as opposed to a negative, downward spiral."

What that makes me think about is Asher. He is such a fun boy, but he often asks me for things that I just can't (or won't) deliver on. For example, he'll ask me for a cookie first thing in the morning. Or he'll ask me if he can play Wii, right after we've just watched a movie. I swear he asks me things just to hear me say no sometimes. ...Because he's got to know that's the answer that's coming. So when I think about Asher and this 3:1 ratio, I have to force myself to find "good interactions" to have with Asher. When he's just sitting still watching TV, I go up behind him and hug him. When he's sitting at the table having a snack, I give him a kiss on the head and tell him I love him. It's not really hard to find ways to praise Asher, but I do have to remind myself to do it sometimes. Naomi and Isaiah, and of course sweet Sammy, just give me more opportunities that are easily spotted.

I'm going to work on this 3:1 ratio with Richard, too, I think. We don't often have "negative" interactions, but we do often have pretty neutral ones where neither of us really engages in any emotion whatsoever. So I'm going to work on putting a positive spin on those - even if it just means ending the conversation with a hug.

If you want to read more about this and even take a quiz to test your positivity, you can check out www.positivityratio.com/single.php. Or to hear Dr. Fredrickson herself talk about how positivity can help you, go to //j.mp/PosEmote

Giggles

I'm having one of those lovely days where every once in a while, when I think about where I'll be in a few hours, I giggle to myself.

Because in a few hours I'll be in a car, with one or more of my good friends (and a pack of teenagers) heading to a lake house for the weekend. There will be cookouts, water tubing, late night chatting, and down-time galore. There won't be any children under the age of 12.

I know that not everybody would happily trade 4 small children for 24 teenagers - but in this case, I will! I know that there will be still be bickering and squabbles to break up and messes to clean and feelings to mend - but they won't be the same squabbles and messes and feelings that I've been dealing with non-stop already, so they seem more manageable.

My bags are packed, my toenails are painted, my sis-in-law Kelly will be here soon to watch the kids, and Ruth will be over later this evening to take over. Thanks Kelly and Ruth!

...My mind is already floating off into a lake...

Goodbye 1st Grade

We have 1 week left of school here. The boys have been done with preschool for two weeks, so it seems like we're in a weird inbetween place where its kind of summer and kind of not. I am anxious for summer to really begin.
Just look at my big girl! She's got style, she's got an awesome sense of humor, she's gracious, she's a mini-mother. She's a BIG girl! (For a comparison of how much she's grown this year, check out her first-day-of-school photo in which she is wearing the same skirt but it goes well below her knees.)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

The Kids Pics

I took the kids to The Picture People yesterday for a portrait session. Our pics of them were way out of date.










This one is the best in my opinion:
I splurged and bought the CD so that I could share these with you - so enjoy!

Today I am...

Today I am remembering why we started calling Isaiah "Poochy". Samuel is crawling around, biting ankles (or at least crawling up them), drooling, eating food off the floor, waiting to have his tummy rubbed or head patted. He really is like a cute little puppy.

Today I am proud of Naomi for speaking clearly and loudly and right on queue in her 1st grade play, How Does Your Garden Grow. She had what I would consider to be the lead - the gardener.

Today I am wishing my husband was here to take out the garbage, but I guess I'd better break down and do it myself since it's getting pretty nasty.

Today I am happy to have three such adorable boys who I get to spend all day with all summer. But I am also missing having alone-shopping time.

Today I am plotting a secret Father's Day gift for Richard.

Today I am blogging because my mother made a semi-snarky comment about my lack of blogging.

Take A Stand

Oh boy. My life is changed forever. Sammy just pulled himself up to standing for the first time. Of course, now that he's there, he has no idea what to do with himself. But I'm sure he'll figure that out soon enough!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9