I was downstairs, Morgan, Owen, and Lydia were upstairs. I heard the beginnings of a major kerfuffle. I made my way upstairs, not in any hurry, since the damage seemed to have been done already. On the way upstairs, I heard Lydia screaming bloody murder, and Morgan shouting at the top of his lungs, "NO! GET OFF HER, OWEN! LYDIIIAAAAAAAA!"
I rounded the corner into the boys bedroom door. Morgan saw me immediately from his post up on his bed. Owen was only two feet from me, facing the other direction. Lydia was lying down at his feet, crying. Then this happened.
Morgan: Owen pushed Lydia down! (Shouted at me, though Owen didn't know I was there.)
Owen: She's already down.
Morgan: Uuugh! No! Owen pushed Lydia down!
Owen looks down at Lydia, and then back to Morgan, and flustered, said: I already pushed her down!
It's hard not to laugh, knowing that Owen is interpreting Morgan's comment as "Owen, push Lydia down!"
Me: (grabbing Owen's shoulder for extra effect) Then you can have a timeout.
Owen jumped a foot in the air, then I guided him to the corner.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Forty-seventh Passage
Time for my top ten! I've done this for the past few years, when I recap the previous year with a top ten list. My top ten doesn't mean best ten. It means most memorable and impacting. So, here is my top ten for 2012. Finally, a good year after a succession of not so good years.
In chronological order...
1. January 13th I got a message from a cute guy on a dating website. (It's still a little bit embarrassing admitting that I was on a dating website.) I responded, and we had a bit of a conversation that night. Not one to keep excitement about something from my family, my family, whom I was living with, knew almost everything I knew about the guy I was talking to. My brother, Casey, made the prediction that I would marry him. This after just the first night of chatting.
2. January 17th was my first date with the last man I will ever go on a date with. We went to Appleebee's, played pool, air hockey and Foosball and went to a movie. It was a fantastic date, and one that I often think fondly upon.
3. On February 21st, I got engaged. David asked in a most creative and romantic manner, and I happily got much of it on video.
In chronological order...
1. January 13th I got a message from a cute guy on a dating website. (It's still a little bit embarrassing admitting that I was on a dating website.) I responded, and we had a bit of a conversation that night. Not one to keep excitement about something from my family, my family, whom I was living with, knew almost everything I knew about the guy I was talking to. My brother, Casey, made the prediction that I would marry him. This after just the first night of chatting.
2. January 17th was my first date with the last man I will ever go on a date with. We went to Appleebee's, played pool, air hockey and Foosball and went to a movie. It was a fantastic date, and one that I often think fondly upon.
3. On February 21st, I got engaged. David asked in a most creative and romantic manner, and I happily got much of it on video.
4. March 8th, I got married. Me! Married! Something I kind of thought I'd never have again, since I didn't think I'd ever be willing to settle for the kind of man I thought would settle with me; a divorcee with two kids and high expectations of behaviors and attitudes. But that's because I didn't know David existed. I didn't know anyone like David could exist. Marrying him was the best decision I ever made.
5.This goes right along with getting married, but I'm kinda scrambling for ten things, so here we go. Number five is creating a new family with David. A "six person family" as Morgan always says. It's been hectic, and crazy, and chaotic, and loud, and frustrating, at times, but it's also been perfect. Somehow it is. I love our little (big) family. We fit together as though we were made together.
6. In June David and I went to the temple for the first time together. Since the Boise temple had been closed, it took awhile before we could make the time. It was lovely, and gave us a glimpse of what we hope to get to do March 8th of this year, by being sealed.
7. Homeschooling. I was homeschooled, David was homeschooled, and we wanted our kids to be homeschooled. There were extra challenges with this, but our prayers were answered, and potential obstacles were removed, and now Morgan and William are homeschooled. It's time consuming, and my house doesn't get all the attention it needs, but it's worth it. They are learning so fast, and we are growing together. A great blessing indeed.
8. In October I got pregnant.
9. In November/December I miscarried. My third total miscarriage, which means I've had more failed pregnancies than successful ones.
10. And last, our first Christmas as a family. It was disjointed, and interrupted by necessary scheduling, but it was our first Christmas together, and it was great, and it was special.
And that was my year. A great year. Fantastic, really. My best year yet. I found my David, created a wonderful family with him, gained more family and friends through him, and lived a happy, blessed, life. I look forward to more years like this one.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Forty-sixth Passage
The Bed.
I can't brag about David too much. He is so brag worthy!
A few months ago we were talking about the boys, and beds, and Christmas. David said we should make them a triple decker bunk bed, and then his creativity went from there. This bed started as a drawing that came straight from David's head. Then he bought the materials, cut them out to perfection, and created a masterpiece. Seriously. I helped a couple days, but usually I stayed home with kids. This project took many, many, hours.
I just made a calculation, and it looks like the bed, all told, cost us $512.98. Most of that is wood and bolts and screws. But $60 of it is the cost of two mattresses I found. I went to Idaho Youth Ranch and found many twin mattresses for $30 each. We needed two, since Morgan and Owen had been in toddler beds until now, so I snatched them up. It turns out that I bought extra long twin mattresses. Who even knew there was such a thing! This made David have to do more creative thinking to get the beds to fit in the already started bed. He had to change how he made the shelves. He's brilliant. Anyway, the extra long mattresses made for a necessity to buy extra long mattress sheets, which I could only find online.
Oh, and the metal used was free to us! It would normally have cost a couple hundred bucks, but our friend, Steve, was able to get it for us from his work. Awesome!
Here are some shots of the progression.
This beast was an ordeal to set up. We had it all planned out. Scheduling to have all the boys home at Christmas time at the SAME time was tricky, but we worked it out so that Christmas Eve David and his dad would sneak away from Christmas festivities at the Poston home and take the bed over to set it up. They probably got started around 7:00 pm. They expected it to take about two hours, I think. Morgan, Lydia, and I hung out with Nana Sugar and Great Nana. We left when it was time to pick William and Owen up at 10:00. The men still were working. I drove down every street in our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights to kill time. It was fun anyway. When we got home, I told the children that since it was a special day, they could stay up and watch a movie. But don't go upstairs! When I went to see how things were going in the boys' room, I admit, I was a little dismayed. The progress seemed minimal. The frame wasn't even put together. And it was already almost 11:00 at night. So I started to help.
The boys watched a second movie. Amazingly, they all stayed awake. (I put Lydia to bed around 11:30, probably.)
Getting the heavy bed all snugly in the corner was an ordeal. Then, when we realized that because of the shelf on the top bunk, the bed wouldn't fit snugly in the corner, it was an even bigger ordeal moving the bed away from the wall, now with the added weight of mattresses and shelves. But the strong men got it. I pretended like I was helping by standing in the way and sometimes touching the bed.
It was after 1:00 when it was ready. I hastily put a bow on it, then we called the boys in. We got their reactions on video, as they first saw the bed. I think they like it. :)
I can't brag about David too much. He is so brag worthy!
A few months ago we were talking about the boys, and beds, and Christmas. David said we should make them a triple decker bunk bed, and then his creativity went from there. This bed started as a drawing that came straight from David's head. Then he bought the materials, cut them out to perfection, and created a masterpiece. Seriously. I helped a couple days, but usually I stayed home with kids. This project took many, many, hours.
I just made a calculation, and it looks like the bed, all told, cost us $512.98. Most of that is wood and bolts and screws. But $60 of it is the cost of two mattresses I found. I went to Idaho Youth Ranch and found many twin mattresses for $30 each. We needed two, since Morgan and Owen had been in toddler beds until now, so I snatched them up. It turns out that I bought extra long twin mattresses. Who even knew there was such a thing! This made David have to do more creative thinking to get the beds to fit in the already started bed. He had to change how he made the shelves. He's brilliant. Anyway, the extra long mattresses made for a necessity to buy extra long mattress sheets, which I could only find online.
Oh, and the metal used was free to us! It would normally have cost a couple hundred bucks, but our friend, Steve, was able to get it for us from his work. Awesome!
Here are some shots of the progression.
This beast was an ordeal to set up. We had it all planned out. Scheduling to have all the boys home at Christmas time at the SAME time was tricky, but we worked it out so that Christmas Eve David and his dad would sneak away from Christmas festivities at the Poston home and take the bed over to set it up. They probably got started around 7:00 pm. They expected it to take about two hours, I think. Morgan, Lydia, and I hung out with Nana Sugar and Great Nana. We left when it was time to pick William and Owen up at 10:00. The men still were working. I drove down every street in our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights to kill time. It was fun anyway. When we got home, I told the children that since it was a special day, they could stay up and watch a movie. But don't go upstairs! When I went to see how things were going in the boys' room, I admit, I was a little dismayed. The progress seemed minimal. The frame wasn't even put together. And it was already almost 11:00 at night. So I started to help.
The boys watched a second movie. Amazingly, they all stayed awake. (I put Lydia to bed around 11:30, probably.)
Getting the heavy bed all snugly in the corner was an ordeal. Then, when we realized that because of the shelf on the top bunk, the bed wouldn't fit snugly in the corner, it was an even bigger ordeal moving the bed away from the wall, now with the added weight of mattresses and shelves. But the strong men got it. I pretended like I was helping by standing in the way and sometimes touching the bed.
It was after 1:00 when it was ready. I hastily put a bow on it, then we called the boys in. We got their reactions on video, as they first saw the bed. I think they like it. :)
The boys love the bed. We chose wisely when we put Morgan on top, as he is the only one brave enough to climb up there. :) The boys love playing in their room now, and usually the play with their new Christmas toys while sitting on their beds. Oh! Another plus about having the bunk bed is that there is now room in their bedroom for the toys. I removed them from the school room. Yay.
Lydia likes to play too, and climbs all over it. I think I've seen her play at the steering wheel more than the others.
Post-it #67
David and I ordered a star for the top of our Christmas tree that arrived a few days before Christmas. David did the honors.
But...a
few days later, the week top of the tree couldn't support the weight of
the star, and this is what we had. Just adds more to the character of
our already very characteristic tree. :)
Forty-fifth Passage
A couple days before Christmas, David, William, Owen, and I, decorated gingerbread houses. Morgan and Lydia were with their dad.
William hard at work.
David and Owen, looking like father and son, remarkably enough. :)
And the finished products.
We displayed them proudly.
I think tomorrow will be the day when the kids demolish and eat them.
William hard at work.
I think tomorrow will be the day when the kids demolish and eat them.
Post-it #66
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Forty-fourth Passage
On Saturday we drove up to near Idaho City to find us a Christmas tree. A permit to chop a tree is much cheaper than buying one at a lot. And it's a fun family thing.
We learned a few things. Next year we won't take the family hiking up snowy hills. It wasn't a good experience for most of us. There were tears and choruses of complaints.
We looked around for a decent tree for awhile. Some possibilites were found to be bare on one side, or in very difficult places to chop. The kids got whinier.
Eventually we found the tree we ended up with. David chopped it down like he'd been chopping down trees his whole life.
I really wanted to get on video when the tree fell over, but my phone kept shutting off and saying it was dead, when it actually had 60% battery.
Oh well.
David dragged the tree down the mountain, as well as Owen.
When we set it up in the living room, we saw how clearly this pathetic tree was different from the trees you might buy in a lot. It has a hard time supporting the ornaments, and it's very bare, and hiding strands of lights is an impossibility, but we like our tree. It's our first as a family, and it's got character, and we found it ourselves!
Here are the kids and the decorated tree. Owen opted to go to bed early. He wasn't feeling well.
We learned a few things. Next year we won't take the family hiking up snowy hills. It wasn't a good experience for most of us. There were tears and choruses of complaints.
Eventually we found the tree we ended up with. David chopped it down like he'd been chopping down trees his whole life.
Oh well.
David dragged the tree down the mountain, as well as Owen.
And here's us with the tree.
Here are the kids and the decorated tree. Owen opted to go to bed early. He wasn't feeling well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)