A Daily Dose of Mischief

We have a lot of interesting conversations with the boys while we are driving places. A while back we were on our way somewhere and we were talking about my Grandma and I told them the story about how I had felt like my Grandmother was there at my wedding. (She died when I was 14). I really love my Grandma and when I married D I felt like she was standing behind me and like I could feel her hand resting on my shoulder. #3 was pretty interested in this story and was asking about it, and he wanted to know why Heavenly Father would make it okay for my Grandma to be there at my wedding. I told him that it was probably because it was a special occasion. He thought about it for a while and then said, "Heavenly Father is a lot like Dad. He doesn't do special occasions very often."

This weekend we hooked up the computer to the TV/Stereo and watched, via the Internet, the World-wide General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Adults soak up the five spiritual, inspiring two-hour sessions of listening to the President of the Church, other living Apostles, and other Church leaders (and listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). However, for young kids its like sitting in church for two days watching older people stand in front of a microphone talking about 'boring' things all day long. Although they will eventually learn to treasure this twice-per-year event for the spirit that is felt, for now we are hoping the kids will at least recognize the good feelings they get when the leaders of Jesus Christ's restored church speak. I was pleasantly surprised when my middle son gave hints that he was actually listening more closely than I would ever have imagined: T noticed the speakers said the word 'quote' frequently and start...

I was very impressed with my sister-in-law who got married this last weekend. Often times the bride and groom are so focused on each other and all the attention thrown at them, that its hard to watch out for others. In particular, kids seem to get overlooked when it comes to weddings. (By everyone except the parents who walk around with a look of horror on their face the whole time.) Everything about weddings is so formal, and kids are not. My middle son was looking and pointing at the wedding cake, when a concerned adult, worried he was going to touch it, warned him not to touch it. T is very sensitive. Especially when he interprets that he is being yelled at for something he didn't do or wasn't going to do. To cool down, he went outside the building, which prompted more well-meaning adult attention. It took him a while to get over his hurt and frustration. About an hour later, when the bride found out what happened, she demonstrated that her love of people overshadows high-an...

Our son, K's (age 6) insights on Eternal Marriage (pronounced: Etuhno Mehwudge ). Note: Marriage and Sealing ceremonies in a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can seal a husband, wife, parents and their children together as a family unit for eternity (including after death). This doctrine is a key component of the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ...and one of the founding principles for the great interest/resources in Family History research. For more detailed information about LDS temples, please visit the official church website about temples :

Babies are so cute and innocent.... ....or so they lead us to believe. Here's lookin ' at you, baby! (If you look closely you can see the gears turning in her mind as she calculates her master plan of future mischief.) Babies are brilliant...we think they are fresh to the world, trying to figure how to use their new bodies and soaking in all the wonders of the world; but really, the first two years of a baby's life are spent calculating and planning out their 'Terrible Two" reign of terror. Here, baby B sits in deep concentration as she plans out her seizure and control of the house and everyone in it. Stealthy, undercover behavior executed to perfection as unsuspecting parents find joy in simple 'innocent' reactions. Its all part of the plan! ----------------------------------- Baby B is now 15 weeks old (pictures taken a week earlier.) She smiles a lot now which is really fun. She loves music and dancing. She already turns towards the TV in a glazed tr...

I was at the store today with our eleven year old son #1 today. We ended up in the cosmetics section because I needed some nail polish. While I was looking for the clear polish he was standing next to me reading the names of some of the lipstick colors. He commented on how weird some of the names for lipstick colors were and said, "I wouldn't want to kiss a girl with lipstick that is named Fatal Red." I replied, "Would you want to kiss a girl at all?" "Well NO, but if I HAD to kiss a girl I wouldn't want to kiss one wearing Fatal Red lipstick." As for me, I was just happy to hear that he wasn't interested in kissing any girls yet.

#4, who enjoyed the first day of school quite a bit, came home even more excited by the second day of school. In his words: "School was great today! The corn dogs made it even MORE exciting!" Ah, school lunches...

"I know a good law..." T (3rd grade) introduced his bill after a serious, but brief discussion about the government and why someone would want to be President of the United States. "If someone has a lot of wall balls,.... " ...they should give one to me." I see what was important to him on his first day of school today.

School doesn't start until tomorrow, but my oldest already has math and vocabulary homework from meeting his teacher the other day. He did really well, but there was one question he answered that jumped out at me (the boxes with 'x' represent his answers): Applying Meanings Directions: Circle the letter of each correct answer to the question below. A question may have more than one correct answer: 4. Which of the following usually learn obedience ? [ x ] (a) dogs [ x ] (b) soldiers [ ] (c) cats [ ] (d) children No wonder parenting is such an up-hill battle.

"Just because Ice Cream takes your tastebuds on a trip to Heaven with a side trip to paradise doesn't mean it fills you up. Sadly, it doesn't fill you up at all." Today's quote courtesy of #1...

D was holding Baby B on Sunday at Church and #5 said "Baby B looks just like you only smaller! (pause) And with different clothes (pause) and CUTER!"

The other day my eight-year-old, tell-it-how-he-sees-it, son got a Mr. Incredible sticker from his older brother who was rewarded for letting the nurse stick him with four immunization shots... Mr. Incredible © 2004 Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. All Rights Reserved. ...after looking down at at the picture for a little bit, he ran to me and said, "Dad...your as fat as Mr. Incredible...you can be him!" On the one hand, I'm not really flattered with sudden reminders of the obvious in this regard, but on the other hand, Mr. Incredible is a buff, strong super hero.

Baby B is two months old already! The other day her big brother T aka #3 was making faces at her to get her to smile. He told #1 what face to make, and when #1 tried it B did not smile. #3 casually said, "It only works when her favorite brother does it."

I've been waiting for weeks to catch this with the camera...

I have been collecting papercrafts on the computer for a while. Some of them are quite complicated and I may never get around to making them, but its nice to know I have them on file if I need them. If your kids are bored this summer, here are a few of my favorite papercrafting sites. Canon 3D Papercraft has a wide variety of paper models to download for free. You can even build a paper town complete with roads, train tracks, people, vehicles and buildings. PaperToys .com has vehicles, animals, and several famous buildings. One thing I really like about this site is that many of their models can be downloaded in black and white so that you can color them yourself and don't have to use precious printer ink. Making Friends is great for younger kids. There is a huge variety of paper doll patterns to be downloaded with various themes. You can download them in color or color them yourself. There are even cub scout and girl scout paper doll clothes and holiday clothes as well as dif...

In my quest for ways to beat the summertime blues, I went to the website for Family Fun Magazine and looked up some crafts to do with the boys. This project was one of the first ones to catch my eye so I bought the supplies I needed and we made some today. You can follow the link to the project, or you can follow this tutorial. For each beanbag/juggling ball you need the following: A funnel, three balloons, (they say 11" balloons, but I used 12" and they turned out fine. I imagine that 9" balloons would work as well), and the filling of your choice. Their website called for lentils, but I used brown rice, and I have heard of people using birdseed or just dry beans as well. Rice is what I had, and it worked fine. Take the first balloon and blow it up about halfway. Hold it closed like that for about 30 seconds and then let the air out. Using the funnel, fill the balloon with your filling. I found it helpful to squeeze the balloon to compact the filling inside so that I ...

#5 aka C just turned five. His teacher at church gives each kid in class a paper wrist band after each lesson in order to help the young kids in his class talk to their parents about what they learn on Sunday. Every night at dinner D asks the boys about what they learned or did that day. When it came to #5's turn we asked him if he had a different teacher today. He said "Sammy's Mom taught, but she didn't give me a wrist band, so I don't remember what I learned about today."

Today our daughter had her baby blessing! In recognition of this very special occasion, her aunt made her a beautiful blessing dress. She looked like an angel: Angels can bring a feeling of peace and comfort! Angel Smile Singing with the Heavenly Hosts...or do I just feel tired all of a sudden.

Sweet baby boy... One year old On his second Birthday Three years and enthusiastic Four years old...so cute I can't believe my baby boy is going to be in Kindergarten this fall!

Yesterday we noticed a red mark on our four-year-old son's forehead. Mom: "Did you bump your head?" Our son promptly put on his ' pouty -face' complete with wide-pseudo-sad eyes and protruding bottom lip: "Yes." Mom: "What happened?" Son: "I was jumping on T's [bunk] bed and kept bumping my head [on the ceiling.] " Then, without breaking his ' pouty -face', the corners of his mouth curved up into a sheepish smile and he added, "...it was kind of fun."