TTA: Giving Thanks

This post may end up being a jumble of my thoughts, but I hope it will have a theme of gratitude. I could do a top ten list like Shannon or a daily theme of what I'm grateful for like Leslie or a 100 things I'm grateful for like Brandi. But while I have been touched by each of theirs, I wanted to do my own thing.

On Sunday, the talks at church were on gratitude. One was based on President Monson's talk "Joy in the Journey." He talked about not getting caught up in life and stopping to enjoy the ride. One thing he said was to never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. I've reflected on that a lot over the past couple of weeks. I am so grateful for people in my life who have taken the time to love me. I hope that I show my love and keep my focus on people, not problems or tasks or to-do lists.

I am grateful for my family. I adore my children. There are days, though, when I get aggravated or annoyed or frustrated by the endless tasks associated with being a parent. This quote from President Monson reminded me how fleeting these years are:

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly." (I don't think I will ever miss the laundry though!!LOL)

Said one well-known author, Sarah Ban Breathnach: “Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend … when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.”

During college, I read Sarah Ban Breathnach's book, Simple Abundance and I kept a gratitude journal. Every day I would record 5 things I was grateful for. She says that you won't be the same person if you take time to express gratitude for the abundance in your life daily for at least a month. I found that to be true. Gratitude changes our outlook, our attitude, our thoughts for others. Which "secret garden" do I tend?

I wish I could find the exact statistics but a year ago I read something that was along this vein. If you live in a house with more than one room and something else (I don't recall what) you are wealthier than something like 50% of the world's population. If you have flooring (carpet, wood, etc.--not dirt) and glass in your windows, you are among the top 20% of the world's population in wealth. (or perhaps it was the other way around, but you get the picture.) Again I'm not sure of the exact statistics, but this hit me profoundly when I read it a year ago. It is easy to want more and more or to focus on what we don't have. But we are so blessed! 80% of the world has less than we do when it comes to material goods.

And then you add to that the fact that we live in a free country where we are educated, we have the right to vote, we can choose what church to attend (or not to attend at all), we can read what we choose, choose what profession to have, choose who to marry and how many children we will have and on and on. And most of us come from loving families and have never been abused. Most of us have the problem of deciding what to cook for dinner, not how to find food to eat. We live in a country that is (relatively) peaceful where no war has occurred on our soil in a very long time. Where we can change leadership (president, etc.) without any major uprisings or difficulties.

I'm not saying life is easy. We all have our challenges. But we are so lucky to live here and to live now! I know I need to be careful to not take these and many other things for granted.

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Dear Tooth Fairy,
Please come and visit our house tonight. My tooth has been loose for at least a month now and finally tonight, I let Janene pull it out for me. For the last week or two, I have gotten out of bed each night to ask my daddy to pull it. He keeps saying that it isn't quite ready and to go back to bed.
Today Janene offered and after some convincing, I finally decided to let her try. And she pulled it right out. It only bled a little bit and I didn't cry at all.

Tooth fairy, I am wondering: Where do you live? What do you do with all those teeth? Do you like collecting teeth? How much money will you give me? Do you get paid to collect teeth? What do you look like?

Sincerely,
Michelle

our new family member

We adopted a new family member from Alfredo's boss yesterday. His name is Chester and he is a borador (border collie and black labrador mix). His mom is a border collie; his dad a lab. He is 7 months old. Alfredo's boss' son has asthma/allergies and the dog was exacerbating the problem, so they needed to pass him on to a new family. Alfredo has been trying to talk me into taking him for a week or so now. He originally told me that his boss had emailed me and to read the email and tell him what I thought. So I checked my email and it says that they have a dog that they need to give away. Attached is a picture of a 4 year old boy playing in the snow. I went to Alfredo and said, "I don't get it. Is it some kind of joke? Because I don't understand." He came and saw the email and said there must have been a mistake made, but that his boss wanted to give away his dog and was I interested in getting it? I must admit that I was surprised. Alfredo has always said we wouldn't get a dog... and if we did it would definitely not be until the girls were older and could help take care of it. Now he was trying to talk me into a dog?!

My main thoughts on the matter were that a dog would provide one more mouth to feed, one more living thing to clean up after, one more thing to train and teach. Almost like having another child. With a full time job and 3 kids (one a newborn), I'm still not sure if I'm up to having a dog. But the girls and Alfredo fell in love with Chester and last night he made our home his own. He'll be a (mostly? entirely?) outdoor dog. And he seems very nice. He needs more training but I think he'll be a nice dog. But I'm still filled with mixed feelings, I must admit. So all of you dog lovers, reassure me. Tell me how much I'll grow to love this dog and how good it will be for my kids and such. (Don't lie and say it won't be more work or anything, just tell me all the good parts of having a dog! Please!) He is cute.

Gobble, Gobble

A teacher at my school did a really cute Thanksgiving turkey project. I decided to do it with the girls and their friends yesterday. I must admit that the ones done at my school were more professionally looking, but I think Michelle, Ella, Bryce, Sylas and Kodi did a nice job.

We had to improvise a little. I thought I had brown construction paper, but I didn't. So they had to color the construction paper brown (or blue, as Brycie did, or multi-colored like Michelle). I didn't have a pattern for the turkey's head and my hand drawn ones didn't look very much like a turkey's head. (Sylas informed me that it looked more like "that red thing they have" --the waddle). But the kids had fun and each of their turkeys has personality!

tres meses

Gabrielle is now 3 months old (yesterday). She is getting so big and strong. I can't believe how fast time is going. She is now trying very hard to sit up on her own. She can't yet, but if you put her in her car seat without the buckles, she sure tries to pull herself up. Here's a couple of shots of her efforts to sit up.

Look how far she is able to pull herself up! She is so strong.

At three months, she smiles and coos all the time. If you say "hola" slowly she imitates the shape of your mouth like she will echo it back to you. She laughs more and more often. She still laughs the most for Alfredo, but I have some success at getting her to laugh now. She loves her hands. She loves to suck on her fingers and just stare at her hands. She still sleeps curled on her side.

We love our sweet Gabrielle! She brings so much joy to our home!

(Funny side note: Since Ella was sick on Monday, I stayed home from work yesterday. I took Ella and Gabrielle with me to take Michelle to school and then we stopped at my school to finish up lesson plans for my sub. One of the teachers saw Gabrielle and told me how beautiful my girls are. She said I'm so good at making babies that I should have at least a dozen more. :) She said, "Anyone who can have a baby on a couch should have a housefull." LOL!)

kindergarten drama

Michelle talks a lot about all of her friends at school. (I'm thrilled because that was one of my concerns about not sending her to the neighborhood school. Would she make friends? Would she be happy?) She has mentioned her friends from after school program quite a bit: Sergio, Brenda and Donna. Yesterday her after school teacher told me that Michelle thinks Sergio is cute. Brenda overheard and said that Michelle always sits by Sergio and that they like each other.

Today I asked Michelle about Sergio. She said, "He is SOO mean. He is not my friend any more. He is not cute." I asked what he did. She said that he said something mean about Brenda and Donna's mom (they are sisters). So Brenda was sad. Michelle told the teacher and told Sergio not to be mean. So her 5 year old crush is over. . . . At least for today.

TTA: Flat Stanley and Lottery

This week's TTA is to write about your latest reads. I haven't done TTA for awhile, but I have a few minutes tonight and as you all know I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read. So this TTA appealed to me. So I thought I would share two.

The first one is Flat Stanley. I just read this to my class at school. It is a clever little book about a boy who has a bulletin board fall on him. He isn't hurt but he is flattened. So he has several adventures while flat. Including being mailed to California in an envelope to go on a vacation with his friend. My class really enjoyed this book. Now we are doing a Flat Stanley project. Each child has drawn a Flat Stanley. Now they are writing a letter about what happened to him and how he wants to travel around the world and have some adventures. We will mail their Flat Stanleys to various people around the country/world and ask them to send a postcard back telling briefly what Stanley does there. My class is very excited. We will post these postcards on a bulletin board with a map and track where he goes. It will help them learn letter writing as well as a little about geography and different places.

If any of my friends out there in other locales would be interested in participating, let me know. I'd love to send a Flat Stanley off to you. All you have to do is send a postcard back. Also, for my several friends that homeschool, this might be a fun project for you to do with your kids. There is even an official Flat Stanley Project that you can participate in. I'm not doing the official one, but it looks cool too.

For myself, the book I finished most recently was Lottery. It is about a man who is slow. He wins the lottery and his selfish extended family wants his money. They are trying to figure out how to take it from him. While he is slow intellectually, he is wise in many ways. He knows what is really important. And he becomes partner in a business and has many great ideas that help the business become more successful. There are some really touching moments. Small warning: There is profanity in this book. The main character's best friend swears a lot and the main character tells you about his swearing. Yet because of the way it is written, in the rambling mind of someone who is slow, the swearing didn't seem as offensive as it usually would.

Right now I am reading an autobiography for my book club. It is called German Boy by Wolfgang W.E. Samuel. I'm only about 50 pages in, but I like his writing style. I think I will really enjoy this book.

Celebrating What's Right with the World

On Sunday evening I had a meeting at the church for leaders of the youth in our stake. As part of the training, we watched a video put out by National Geographic called "Celebrating What's Right with the World." It was so inspiring! Apparently that is National Geographic's motto. The narrator of the film said that working as a photographer for N.G. he learned "I won't see it until I believe it." In other words if he believed he'd find beautiful landscapes and wonderful people they would be there.

He said, "Vision controls our perception and perception becomes our reality.... When the vision is clear then passion and creativity are there."

There were a million cool things he said. I'm going to share a few of my favorites in as close to his exact words as I can. My thoughts are in parentheses.

Speaking of meeting and photographing people: "I would see the light. Not the light that shines on us but that shines from within us." (Do we stop and see that light in others? in ourselves? do we recognize all the good around us? the media focusses so heavily on the negative that it is easy to forget how much GOOD there is).

"It [what is right in the world] was always there if I was open enough to see it."

"What's here [right in front of me] to celebrate?... By celebrating what's right we find answers to solve what is wrong."

(I often dislike change. It feels scary so these next thoughts resounded in my heart.) "A change curve is a possibility curve. The times of most change always hold the most possibility."

"Don't be the best in the world...but the best for the world."

"The power of vision is extraordinary."

(This video reminded me that despite the poor economy, the crime in the world, the uncertainty, the negativity all around us, there is much to be grateful for. It is a beautiful world we live in and there is so much that is good. We CHOOSE what to pay attention to and what to notice. We can choose to see the bad or the good. It is both there for us. But whatever we believe in, that is what we will see. If we believe it, we will see it. I am going to try to remember to see the good, the uplifting, the inspiring. Like my beautiful children. Like the growth that my students make and NOT some of their low test scores. Like the smiles that greet me each day from children that have come from all over the world to Salt Lake and are in my classroom. Like the fact that I have a roof over my head, sufficient food to eat, clothing to wear. It is enough. It is more than enough. We are so blessed!)

****** This video was far more inspiring than just my few clips can do justice. I was thinking, "I have to buy this video. Unfortunately, they told us that it costs $800. But the good news is that you can see it online. It is about 20 minutes but I hope that won't dissuade you from going to watch it. (I know it probably would me if I hadn't already seen it, but I promise that if you ever need a lift or want to be inspired this will do it!) Anyway, check it out. If you want to. http://www.celebratetraining.com/

silly things my kids say

10/20: This morning when I asked Ella what she wanted for breakfast, her response was "mocos" (Spanish word for boogers... I don't know if I spelled it right.)

10/20: My girls were obviously being silly this morning because when I asked Michelle what she wanted for breakfast (I don't usually ask, but I'm off and there was no hurry to go anywhere this morning), Michelle, who is totally into spelling right now and who spells real words and made up words said," I want to eat h - e - l. What is that Mommy?" I said, "What do you think it spells?" She said she didn't know and I said it was just a made up word, but it made me laugh.

8/11: When Michelle came to the hospital to see me, she climbed on the bed and asked if there was another baby in my tummy. I said no. She said, "Then why is your tummy so big still?"

8/11: (This one was told to me by Janene): As they drove to the hospital, Ella kept saying to herself...We're going to see Gabielle, no Danielle. i think we named her Gabielle or was it Danielle. Danielle? Gabielle? ... (By the way, this isn't a spelling error...it's how Ella pronounces Gabrielle, without the r.)

8/31: My sister asked Michelle, "Why don't you give me a kiss?" Michelle did and then responded, "Why don't you give me money?"

September and October Reads

Before I Wake ...good book, this book reminded me a lot of Keeping Faith, lots of connections between the two

Blue Bloods by Melissa Delacruz ...vampire book, fun read

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali ... a book for my book club. I didn't always agree with her opinions but it was an interesting insight into Somali and Islamic culture and her own life experiences. It led to a great discussion in my book club.

It's a Mall World After All (children's, cute for tweens) kind of cheesy but quick and fun

Keeping Faith by Jodi Piccoult

Masquerade by Melissa Delacruz ...sequel to Blue Bloods

Surprise Packages

The Zookeeper's Wife...story about a zookeeper and his wife in Warsaw during WWII who hid Jews and others in the zoo to protect them from the Nazi's

Whatever You Do, Don't Run .... a safari guide in Botswana shares some of his adventures living in Africa and leading safaris. I couldn't put this one down

Don't Cry Wolf by Clair Poulson... I read a fair amount of LDS fiction (mostly suspense and mysteries) as my fun, stress relieving reads in between my more serious reads

**I probably read a couple of others books too. But as I didn't have my computer working for awhile, I probably forgot to record them.

cute bows

I try to do my girls' hair at least some of the time. (I at least brush it everyday, but it doesn't always get a "style".) And I think bows are super cute. But I'm not talented enough to make them...nor do I really have the time. And the ones I've seen for sale seem to be too costly in my opinion. But I found on a hair blog a link to a blog that sells hair bows and barrettes for very reasonable prices ($1-$3). I ordered six and got all of them for $12.25 (including shipping). They are adorable. My girls love them. I plan to order from her again. So if you're interested, her website link is to the left. It is www.ohsogirly.blogspot.com. Just thought I'd share my great find.

I have fingers and toes and I know how to use them...

well, sort of. Gabrielle has discovered her hands. She loves to grab onto her toes and feel them. And she loves to suck on her fingers. And she LOVES to stare at her hands as they wave in front of her face. She doesn't have real control over her hands' movements yet, but whenever they cross her line of vision, she will stare at them and track them with her eyes and just smile.


grabbing her toes

reaching for those toes

wow, look at those fingers in front of my face... I wonder if I can get them in my mouth?

Those are so interesting. I could watch them all day.

our kitchen floor

Alfredo has finished our kitchen floor except for putting the molding on. Doesn't it look great!?! He worked so hard. But it looks fabulous now, especially when compared with the before pictures down below.

It's beautiful and it is nice to have it done. Alfredo is so smart (in my opinion) to be able to figure these things out. He gets help when he needs it, but he has done lots of home improvement projects himself. I wouldn't know the first thing about building a deck or laying down flooring or taking out part of a wall. I'd have to pay someone to do all of these kinds of things if it were just me.

Ghost of Halloween Past

Halloween this year was fun, but there isn't anything that special to blog about. ... We carved pumpkins, dressed up, trick or treated, ate candy. So I decided to post pictures of the past four years of Halloween for your viewing pleasure. Look how much the girls have grown. And do you think Ella and Gabrielle look alike, or not? Michelle as a fairy at 17 months old... her first time trick or treating. October 2004

Ella as a turtle at 6 months old... October 2005

Ella, Michelle (as a giraffe) and I... October 2005

Ella as a giraffe and Michelle as Snow White... October 2007 (I can't find any pictures of Halloween 2006 at the moment... Ella was a poodle and Michelle was a lion)

Ella as a pirate princess... Rock on me, hearties! Rock on. Ahoy there, matey, let's go. Halloween 2008

Michelle as Hannah Montana this year... She was happy with her haul.

Ella, me, Gabrielle and Michelle (Hannah Montana)