Eastern Blog Country

20071108

Mahna mahna

So, every once in a while, I see something and wish that my kids were with me at that very moment. I had just such an experience today.

It actually made me think of a fat cat that sat on a rat while a ball fell off a wall and such.

20071107

...and so I found this video extremely helpful. After watching 60 seconds of cheap animation I completely understand the twisted plot line(s) of Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2...

...which is really important because it's changed the lives of so many people?

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS NOT NEARLY AS ENTERTAINING AS PLAYING THE VIDEO GAME UPON WHICH IT IS BASED!!!

Oh, and there's blood...

20071106

Grandma Alert!

Grandma Cindy has just arrived. Natalie has been counting down the days until her arrival (see the countdown up top, there?), and will be able to wake up, run downstairs and jump on her air mattress tomorrow morning.

Let's hope that Grandma's up for a week long visit.

As we prepared for Grandma's stay with us, we pulled the chairs out of the dining room to do some sweeping. Trevor was so excited, becuase that meant that he could play "choo-choo." He actually had Tamara and me sitting on chairs that he had arranged in a little column as we chugged along at breakneck speed.

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So, why not wind?

Really, after all the fine research that has gone into it, and the awesome products that are available, why aren't we all a little more green and using wind power?

Poke the person sitting next to you, and let's all get on board. Solar panels, wind turbines, fluorescent light bulbs, turning off the shower while you're lathering up--it doesn't matter what you do, just as long as you make the effort!

More green posts on the horizon--stay tuned...

Laundry Day

Yes, once again, today is laundry day.

My quest for today is to get my week worth of laundry for a family of seven clean and home. I don't even care if I get it folded because that's not my job. There's a reason why we have kids right? To put them to work? No really, the kids are great helpers and only grumble a little bit when they come home and see the huge piles they get to fold. It's amazing how fast the laundry gets folded when we do it together!

Be Grateful for What You Have

The saying--You don't know how good you have it until it's gone--is something I've learned all to well these past few months.

For the last 6 years I've lugged my laundry down to the laundry room at the end of my building. I think I've been a pretty good sport about it but have been known to occasionally complain and wish for my own home with my own washer and dryer. Ok, so maybe it's been more than occasional complaining. It's not so bad when the weather is nice but when I have to traipse through snow and ice it isn't so fun.

About two months ago I got a rude awakening when I lugged my laundry down the cement stairs to find a sign posted on the door. The laundry room would remain closed until further notice and I would have to use one of the other three remaining laundry facilities on the property. My day was already not getting off to a good start! The next closest laundry room was about three times as far. I was not a happy camper and my mood quickly went sour.

So, for two months now I've been lugging my laundry back and forth to the other laundry room. I've stretched laundry days out to once a week. I figure if it's going to be such a pain and hassle it's better to get it all done in one day. Why ruin any more days than I have to right? My grumblings have gotten less noticable as I've learned to accept this new situation.

The lesson I've learned is that I need to be more grateful for what I have when I have it. I'm still grateful that I have a way to do laundry but I will be more grateful when the laundry room in my building will be open once again! I didn't realize how nice it was to only have to carry it to the end of my building instead of carrying it all to the other side of the property. I can't say that I will stop wishing for my own home with my own washer and dryer but I will be more grateful for what I have now!

This is a reverent place to be

Natalie drew this picture during our church meetings. It's our ward choir performing during Sacrament meeting.

We've found that if we give the children paper, writing implements, and some encouragement to take written or pictorial notes, they will be much more focused on what is said. Natalie, in fact, did not hesitate last night when, around the dinner table, the children were asked to remember one thing that one person had said during Fast and Testimony meeting earlier that day.

"Mini missions!"

That earned her an extra cherry on her sundae.

Michaela and Anthony have improved their attentiveness as well, but are still struggling a little bit with distractions of their own creation. On the Sunday prior to Halloween, Tamara had to temporarily confiscate Anthony's pad and pencil when he repeatedly refused to stop drawing bats instead of taking notes. Yesterday, Michaela, who has graduated to completely hand-written notes, digressed to drawing what looked like stick figures in a scene from "Singin' in the Rain."

Still, Tamara and I are pleased with the improvement, and continue to encourage the children to listen and take notes. I have found that my own note taking has also improved over the past few weeks.

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Step by Step

It seems that our little Abigail is getting braver and more adventurous. The other day I left her playing on the living room floor with her toys while I made a quick potty stop. When I came out of the bathroom she was no longer there. I called to her and soon heard her little happy voice coming from upstairs. It was her first time ever crawling up the stairs and she seemed quite proud of herself. I on the other hand realize that leaving the gate off the stairs is no longer an option. She has discovered how much fun it is do go up and hopefully won't have to discover how it is not so much fun going down!