Heather is getting married today!!!

Our internet has been down for almost two weeks so this is just a quick update on a busy day.

Heather and John are getting married today.
We are very excited for them. Pictures to follow!

New Beginings program

The new beginnings program is where the Young Women display some things they have learned and tell what the YW program is all about. The older children welcome in the younger girls and it is always very spiritual. Jordan is the Loral class Pres. so she conducted. The girls all sang a beautiful song and they explained the values they have been working on.
They made and displayed boxes to show the value. Jordan and Mariah did theirs on Knowledge both turned out very well. Mariah is younger and needed more help. Jessica did hers on service. Hers had two young children shoveling snow for an elderly man. There was a lot of detail and it turned out very nice.
I canceled Scouts for the night so I could go. We will do it Saturday instead. It worked out even better because one of the boys in our den is getting baptized so we will stay for the baptism after Scouts.
Scott has been called as the new Young Men’s Pres. last night was his first night with the youth so he just got to pop in for a minute. It is always a special program and I am so blessed to have three beautiful young women in our home with such strong goals in life.

Jessica needed an outfit for choir. It had to be a white button up blouse and black pants. Jessica is hard to find clothes for because she is so small. She had looked while she was out on a visit. She asked a few friends and got some suggestions in Carthage and even the mall in Joplin $$$. I had to take Brooklyn to the dentist so I decided to look around. I went to my favorite thrift store and found two pairs on pants and a blouse that fit her like it was tailor made. All three were less than $10 all together. When she got home from school she tried them on and they all fit. She went with the fancier black pants that were high wasted because they were more dressy for choir but she will probably wear the other pants that are "hip hiphuggers" more often because they are comfortable. I love to find what I need for the price I can afford. Scott has a good job, and we have a lot of kids. =)
My grandmother always said waste not want not, now I say it too.

This is James (8) in a mood. He has had moods in the past and they never completely went away but they have gotten worse lately.
When Jennifer gets in a mood she will usually ask for a little time alone so she can pray. She comes out happy and hugs me glad to be done with those feelings.
Saturday after the visit she was fine till bedtime. Scott and I had gone shopping but I called to check on them. It was almost 9:30 and the kids were still up. Jessica told Jennifer to go brush her teeth and get ready for bed, and Jennifer started crying. It turned into a full out screaming fit and Heather had to take over. The next morning Jennifer told me her throat hurt. I said it was probably because of all the screaming she did. She looked down, I asked her why she did that. She said she didn't know. Then she asked me if I thought she should take naps for the whole month of February? and that she thought she should. I told her that she would be taking one that day but I thought she had learned a lot. She curled up in my lap and we hugged for a long time. She has come so far, I am so proud of her progress and happy for her.
James? I am still working on it. He loves the wii and the computer and he hates to take naps but nothing I say can get him out of these moods until a consequence has already been assigned. Saturday morning he was in a mood and he had to go to bed early. Then I heard from all of the other kids that while he was with his other Mom he was worse. The other kids including Jennifer tried to talk to him but it just got worse. They said he was really mean to his Mom because she wouldn't buy him toys.
I asked him how he would feel if someone acted like that to him. Of course he said sad. He got to take a nap on Sunday and go to bed early for his day of behavior.
I reminded him that the rules of kindness and respect weren't our rules but Heavenly Fathers and that he takes those rules with him everywhere at school, church and on visits. For the first time in years he had to be taken out of Sacrament those of you who are shocked brace yourselves, it was Scott who took him out.
I think he his testing his boundaries to be sure he is well within them? We will enforce the rules consistently and spend more time one on one. We will spend more time reading together, he loves that and maybe he can help me a little more.
He is a very special boy and I love him so much. I hate to see him struggle so much.

Haylee's new dress

Haylee was tired and being really grumpy and I was trying to distract her a little till she fell a sleep. I told her if she wanted to go shopping with me in the morning she would need to go to sleep. I told her I thought she needed a new dress for Sunday and asked her what color she wanted. She forgot about being grumpy and said green.
In the morning when she woke up She said she dreamed about her new green dress.
We didn't find it when we went out in the morning but Scott found one later that night. She was asleep when we got home. This morning I woke her up and told her daddy had found her a green dress. She sat strait up and was so excited. Her eyes were so big and she said" you found it" (like it was the one in her dream) and squeezed my neck. I told her daddy picked it out and she couldn't wait to find him to hug him. I told her he was in the shower she could put it on and show him when he got out, but she was sure that hug was more important. She got him as soon as he came out of the bathroom. His hug was as big as mine. Her excitement about the dress didn't ware out all day. I love gratitude.

Breaking Dawn

What can I say? It was awesome!!!
I asked Julia if there would be more and she said possibly but not from that aspect.
That would be a book I would be there at mid-night for myself.
On to The Host.
I think I will spend more time blogging before I submerge myself again.

Attitude

Lately I have noticed a change, every time I try to tell the kids why they need to stop what they are doing they get an attitude. They are mad! I am out numbered and expect it a little but it has been in over drive for some reason.
Yesterday I reminded James that he couldn't play the wii till his home work was done and that he was grounded from it because he had hit his little sister over it.
He was really mad so I showed him a little box. I tried to get the doll in it without opening it. I tried really hard but couldn't get it in there. Then I tried with something smaller that I knew would fit, again without opening it. The smaller thing was a CTR ring. It wouldn't fit no matter how hard I tried. I asked him what he thought the problem was. Why can't I get it in there. Haylee (3) came over to help me by opening the box. It really was that simple. I explained to him that when I tried to talk to him and help him make better choices and he was mad his mind was like the box, it was closed. In order for him to understand and make better choices he had to be open and listen. I thought it was a really good analogy and it was too prefect that when I looked around for something small that I knew would fit into the box that the CTR ring was right there. He is a really good kid and so loving.
We have a close relationship and I love having the opportunity to teach him things.
Visual things that come in the back door seem to work the best.