For those of you who will be new mothers, or those who are already mothers and either haven’t discovered the trick or have forgotten about it… The late afternoon and evening hours are often the most difficult with a baby, and having food bubbling away in the crock pot (prepared in the morning hours) is a huge boon to the peace of mind. 

The challenge of having three kids has been mostly manageable so far, although we had a small glitch this morning.  Degen has learned to lock the car door before he closes it, and he decided to be helpful and close the doors to the car.  With my keys inside!  Luckily, Heidi and Maggie were already out and the only things stuck inside were my keys, diaper bag, and phone.  Also luckily, we were already home with the garage door open, so we had no trouble getting inside.  But I can’t find my spare car key.  So I’m simply not answering my phone today until Colin gets home from work with his keys to open the door.  Could have been much worse.

A couple of things I want to record for future reference:

1) Maggie currently calls polka dots “purple ducks”

2) Degen likes to start his conversations with “Mom, I’ve got my big idea!”

One is at Mikarose, for a $60 gift certificate.  You go to the Mikarose site and pick your favorite, post a comment on the Ponytail Challenge blog about your favorite, and then post a comment joining the challenge for the week to enter the drawing.

The second is for a free handmade item from Apostrophe Designs.  You go through the same process to enter that drawing.

Neat, no?  And we could all stand to improve our posture.

Once during college I “made” a thunderstorm in the hallway of my apartment when I was missing the good ol’ Arizona monsoons.  Yes, I had very understanding, fun-loving, cooperative roommates.  I cut out raindrops from blue construction paper, clouds from black or gray paper, and lightning bolts from yellow paper.  Then I punched holes in each piece, tied a string through the hole, and attached the other end of the string to the ceiling with pins and thumbtacks so that they hung just above our heads.  The storm was lovely and creative and seemed to help at the time.  Maybe I’ll do that here.  Maybe just in the kids room, so that it doesn’t bother anyone else in the house.  Or maybe I’m too tired to do anything so energetic.  It’s a lovely memory, anyway, and much less expensive and uncomfortable than driving to Phoenix or Seattle.

I think I have a CD from the Grand Canyon that includes the sound of rain in it.  I might be able to find it…

Tell the children that you are going to pretend that a special visitor is coming to your house. His name is Jesus. Ask them to think how excited they would feel to have Jesus come to visit them.

• • What should we do to get ready? (Clean the house. Dress in nice clothes.)
• • How will we act when Jesus comes?

The children could act out the things they would do.

Explain to the children that if Jesus were here they would have a good feeling. They would know he loves them.

Tell the children that if Jesus were in your home they would want to try very hard to be good and to show their love for one another.

Explain that each day they can have that good feeling in their home by sharing, by not fighting, and by being kind to one another.

Sing “A Happy Family” (Children’s Songbook, p. 198).

• • What does the song say we all do in our family? (Love each other.)
• • How do you think mother knows you love her? (Help the children name some things they do that show love.)
• • How does father know you love him? How does sister? How does brother?

You might use pictures from books and magazines to illustrate some of the things you talk about that show love.

Explain that you always want to have love in your home so that a good spirit can be there.

Little children can also participate in helping with the chart entitled “Love One Another.” Explain that when they see someone who is showing love in the family they can come and tell you. You will write that person’s name on the chart for them. You could also help them color in a part of the chart.

Explain to the children that they can also be a good example in showing their love throughout the week.

Show your family the chart entitled “Love One Another.” Explain that each time they see a family member showing love to someone in the family, they are to color in one of the rays around the heart. They are also to write that person’s name down on the chart. Each family member could have his name on the chart several times.

Put the chart up in a place where all the family members can easily see, read, and color it, such as on the refrigerator or a bulletin board.

Challenge each family member to show love in your home throughout the coming week so that all the rays of the heart will be filled in before your next home evening. Challenge them to feel the spirit of love in your home.

For an activity we could play “spin the bottle,” only when the bottle lands on the person everyone says something they like about that person.

For dessert, I’m thinking it would be fun to make a heart-shaped cake, or maybe heart-shaped cookies like these.

7/14 Bastille Day, Love at Home

7/21 Pioneer Day (7/24), Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

7/28 The Commandments

8/4 First Presidency Message from Ensign

8/11 Nature

8/18 Prayer

8/25 Choices

9/1 Labor Day, First Presidency Message from Ensign

9/8 The Savior

9/15 Jesus is My Example

9/22 The Sacrament

9/29 Rosh Hashanah, Learning to Recognize the Spirit

While I’m at it, I thought I’d list some ideas for future lessons (next quarterish).

Preparing for a new baby (November/December)

Gratitude (Thanksgiving time)

Reverence at Church (maybe do this earlier than later)

Going to Primary (December, to get Degen ready for January transition)

Talents and Gifts

1. Playtime, then clean up

2. Opening (prayer, catch up on kids’ news, quick review of previous lesson, intro to today’s lesson)

3. Walk (outside or in building)

4. Lesson

5. Singing Time

6. Snack

7. Activity

8. Playtime

9. Cleanup, closing prayer, bubbles until parents arrive

So, my job was to be in charge of steps 2, 3, 4, and 7. Here’s how I did it.

2. For the Opening, we had a child say the opening prayer, then reviewed last week’s lesson about ears by asking them where their ears are and what things they heard during Sacrament Meeting that morning.  Then I told them we’d be talking about how we’re thankful for our eyes today.  I asked them where their eyes were, and had them look at each others’ eyes.  Then we made glasses with our hands to sing “Popcorn” and I asked them if we went outside if they thought we’d see popcorn.  I told them we were going for a walk and we’d look around and see what our eyes can do.

3. We have a rope in our Nursery that the kids hold on to when we go for a walk to keep them all together.  We went outside and sat on a bench, had them use their hands as “glasses” like in the Popcorn song, and I asked them what they could see.  I asked them if they could see anything green, then blue, then gray, etc.  Then I asked if they could see things of different shapes.  Then we went for a little run in circles to let them see what’s on the ground and to get some energy out.  Then we walked back inside, holding on to the rope.

4. We sat down in the Nursery room, I asked them what they could remember seeing outside with their wonderful eyes, and we sang “Two Little Eyes That See.”  I told the children that some people can’t see very well and have to wear glasses or contacts to help them see better.  I showed them which of the Nursery workers wore glasses, then asked them to raise their hands if their moms or dads wear glasses or contacts.  Then I told them some people can’t see at all with their eyes and got a volunteer to let me blindfold him and I pretended to be a guide dog and lead him around the room.

(At this point our Primary Chorister came in and we did Singing Time, then returned to the lesson)

I let a couple more kids be “blind” or the “guide dog.”  We talked about how hard it is to do things without our eyes, and how our eyes are a blessing.

Then I pulled out the Jesus Healing the Blind Man picture and told the story very simply.  I told them that Jesus spat on the dirt and made mud.  We talked about who likes mud and who doesn’t like mud (that conversation was a hit).  Then Jesus put the mud on the blind man’s eyes (I showed them the picture up close then, and asked if they could see Jesus putting mud on his eyes).  Then Jesus told him to go wash his eyes off.  The blind man was obedient and did what Jesus said, and then he could see again!  I asked the kids if they think Jesus showed he loved the blind man because he made his eyes work again.  Then I told them that Jesus loves them too, and their eyes are one way they can tell that Jesus and Heavenly Father love them.  I bore my testimony of how the Lord loves us, and how I’m thankful for my eyes.

7. For our activity, I prepared paper bag puppets with open and closing eyes for the kids to color as illustrated at the end of the lesson.  On the back of the bag I wrote “I am thankful for my EYES” and then as the kids colored we wrote their names on the bags.  The older kids especially liked opening the eyes and closing them again with the puppets.

This rendition of the lesson worked quite well.  I think it helped a LOT that we had a predictable schedule that we’d been using for a few weeks and the kids were used to it.  They were attentive and interested almost the whole time.  They were pretty afraid of the blindfold during the guide dog activity, so I think that one might have been too much for the little ones.  They were very interested in the part of the lesson that talked about Jesus.  They liked opening and closing their eyes and showing me their eyes.  I had prepared another “just in case” activity that we didn’t use–the one in the manual where you “hide” a small object and have them look around for it.  I brought a little rainbow colored stuffed animal to use for that.

As I mentioned, I spent much of my childhood abroad, but since then haven’t spent much of my time exploring.  I got a degree in International Studies, planning to spend my life as a travelling diplomat, but marrying and having kids slowed that aspiration down.  I rearranged my furniture often, quelling my restlessness.  I read travel magazines when I can get my hands on them and watch the Travel Channel on TV.  It’s a little pathetic, but it’s how I deal with my travel bug when I can’t go anywhere.  I take any chance I get to visit my local airport, and have been known to say that I wouldn’t mind living in an airport.  I admit that I’ve been jealous at times of my more mobile relatives, and anxiously watch for opportunities to go on trips close to home.

I found a National Geographic Expeditions magazine in my in-laws stash today and flipped through the pages of exotic trips to see gorillas in their natural habitat with gorilla experts, to see Sicily by boat with a local guide and archaeologist, and to visit Antarctica with some of the famous explorers of our time.  To my surprise, I wasn’t even tempted to wish I could come up with the $7000+ it would cost to go on one of those trips.  The thought of amazing, educational safaris through jungles didn’t make my mouth water as usual.  In fact, the only thing I felt was a wave of exhaustion at the idea.  And a little nausea, but I always feel a little nauseous right now.

So, the cure (temporary though it is) for the travel bug is pregnancy!  Whenever I’m pregnant, I have no desire to leave home.  I want to stay put.  I avoid stuffed suitcases and unfamiliar food at all costs.  Although one of the few medicine-less things I’ve found that decreases my nausea is air travel, I do not want to face my normally-beloved airport.  I don’t want to deal with cultural customs that aren’t part of my culture.  I get impatient with jokes I’d normally enjoy, because I don’t want to use the energy to process the subtleties of the banter.  Imagine how I’d feel about dealing with communicating in another language!  Nope, travel takes energy and pregnancy takes security and predictability, and never the twain shall meet…pleasantly, anyway.

In the past, I’ve checked my spam queue to make sure that it wasn’t filtering out real comments, and occassionally I’d find one and I’d be glad I skimmed through them.  However, now that I’m getting so many (and some of them are really nasty!), I think I’m going to stop that.  So, if you don’t see your comment published within a day or two of posting it, it’s probably because my spam filter thought you were one of the bad guys.  Don’t be mad, it’s just a computer.   One sure way to get caught in the spam filter is to put lots of links in your comments, so avoid doing that unless you’ve made a lot of comments under that name before.

I love all your “real” comments, so keep ‘em coming!

Yesterday I worked on a new draft of a budget for our little family.  Budgeting has been an overwhelming challenge for me, but probably not for the reason you think.  I don’t have difficulty following a budget that covers all the basics (electricity, gas, insurance, etc.) every month even if there is little-to-no wiggle room, but when I have to start juggling bills I get paralyzed and don’t do well at all.  Since we’ve moved, we’re in a much better financial situation and as I drafted our budget I found that we’ll not only have enough to cover the basics consistently, but we’ll be able to actually SAVE money AND have something left over for incidentals.  That means I can buy my kids a boogie board for $10 without feeling guilty because it really should be going toward the ten bills that I haven’t paid yet because there’s not enough to go around.  YAY!

I can’t express what a relief it is to be going in the right direction financially.  I am grateful.

Yesterday afternoonwe went to a play group organized by some ladies in my new ward.  I’ve never been to a swimming pool playgroup before, but apparently someone in the ward volunteered their backyard pool and once a week a bunch of women and their kids get together to go swimming!

I LOVE swimming.  Not that I do much actual swimming with two non-swimming toddlers in the pool with me, but I got to be in the water for a while and it was great.  I’ve never done any competitive swimming, except I once won a trophy in a water ballet competition when I was a teenager, and I’m not an impressively strong swimmer, but it just feels good to be light in the cool water and stretch my limbs as I move.

We almost didn’t make it to the play group.  There’s always a lot of uncertainty about whether I’ll feel well enough to go anywhere at any time, especially if I have to be the only adult in charge of both kids, so the whole outing was tentative in the first place.  As Colin left for work, he said “Go swimming at all costs!”  Sounds a little extreme, but it was strangely encouraging for me as I thought about it all day every time I came up with an excuse to not go.  By the time it was time to leave, I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to get everyone in the car and give it a try.

The official word was that the activity was to go from 2-4, and at 2:06 I had gotten me, the kids, three towels, three sets of swim suits and sandals, and two blow-up floating toys in the car.  As I drove away from the house, I realized that none of us had eaten in a couple of hours.  I didn’t want to have my kids asking the hostess for a snack, and I don’t do well when I get hungry, so I decided to drop by Taco Bell on my way to the pool.  Almost to Taco Bell, I realized that I’d forgotten to take my anti-nausea medicine at noon, and if I waited any longer I’d be in big trouble that evening.  So, we stopped at Taco Bell for a snack, then turned around to go back to the house for my medicine.  When I finally got us back on the road, it was 2:45, but I figured we could still get a good 45 minutes of swimming in even though we’d be late.

When we finally arrived at the correct house, I took the kids to the front door and let Degen ring the bell.  No answer.  I wondered if the party was over.  Luckily, I had the phone number of the woman who’d invited me and called her up on my cell phone that was nearly out of batteries (that reminds me, I need to charge my phone)–and she answered!  She said that it wasn’t too late to come, and that no one was in the house and to come around the side of the house and down to the pool.  Just then, another mom with a bunch of kids drove up and showed me where to go.

But, I had to go back to the car for the swimming gear.  As I pulled it out of the trunk, Degen accidentally pushed Maggie off the sidewalk and into the gutter, resulting in a skinned knee and hurt feelings.  So, I held Maggie, my purse, a bag of swimming suits, three towels, and Degen’s hand as we walked down the steep steps to the pool.  Degen held the two floating toys and was an awesome helper.  We made it!

When we finally got in the pool, both Degen and Maggie insisted that they wanted to get out.  I insisted that they stay in!  After a couple of minutes of getting used to the temperature of the water, I let Degen get out so he could observe what the other kids were doing in the water–he’s always had a tough time with swimming pools and I thought that if he got to watch for a while he’d warm up to the idea.  Maggie generally loves the water, so when she said she wanted out I just told her no and let her cling to me.  Degen later found someone’s small boogie-board thingy and suddenly loved the water!  He let me float him around the pool as he kicked as long as he got to hold on to the boogie board.  I think that might be the magical tool to get him to be willing to practice swimming, and one of the ladies said they’re really cheap at Target, so I think I’m going to pick one up.  Maggie pretty much relaxed and enjoyed herself, though I was surprised that she never really wanted to splash in the water and wanted me to hold her the whole time. Oh well, it’ll just take some time to get used to.

Swimming was great, but meeting some other women and beginning the process of making friends was really good for me.  Pretty much everyone was friendly, and we began exchanging “life stories.”  It’d been at least a month since I’d spent any time casually with anyone my own age outside my family, and I think I needed that.  You think that’s why Colin wanted me to go “at all costs”?  Hmmm…