Thanksgiving

I have the privilege of being a citizen of two countries and today we celebrate in Canada. 

Today I'm grateful for:(in no particular order)

-freedom

-healthy children

-agency

-peace that only comes through striving to follow the Savior by living His commandments 

-personal revelation

-amazing family legacy on both sides, the I was born into and the one I married into. 

-material blessings such as food, clothing, shelter and beyond

-a healthy body and mind

-ability to gain knowledge 

-local libraries which provide so many resources that I can borrow and return 

-church leaders, general and local

-the challenge of raising children

-husband who loves me unconditionally and works too hard so I can be home with our little ones

-the many people who love and help us raise our children

-4 seasons, I'm loving fall

-the ability to have a clean home-while children are gone or sleeping. 

Service FHE

We were grateful for Brynn's brilliant idea to rake the leaves in Shirley Hirsche's backyard. It's fun to serve. The kids worked hard and they were happy. 

General conference

The counsel I received from conference:

-be worthy to have the spirit to guide me, don't live life without it, too hard to do it on my own

-the atonement helps me be the person I want to be and the person Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

-ponderizing scriptures is brilliant.  I struggle to memorize and remember so I got discouraged with memorizing but now I don't have to and effect this will have on my life will be great. Love the idea of doing it as a family or at least sharing together. Groups on Facebook/Instagram will be great too

I love Macy's Lego creation of the choir, the speaker and the congregation at the conference centre. 

I have to admit I was disappointed that my two oldest seemed to lose their excitement about conference. They usually take amazing notes. This year, they barely paid attention but at least they were with me. 

A new tooth

It's hard to get one of her cute little tooth but we do see her tongue like this a lot now. She has been miserable, even though this picture shows otherwise. And now she has a cold too, double miserable. Nights have been sad and there is a lot of crying unless someone is holding her and lots of times it needs to be me. But...time keeps moving along like it always does. We have more happy times than sad ones. 

A new family tradition

We decided to go to the temple each month as a family. Our plan is to do baptisms with kids old enough to do that and then I would participate in a different ordinance. The idea behind this new tradition is to give our kids the opportunity to be near the temple, and to want to live in a way that they will want to go inside someday. We love the temple and have received so many blessings by going often. 

Since it was our first time taking everybody, we made a weekend of fun out of the trip. We stayed overnight and spent the next day in Waterton. We hiked summit lake, which was new for us and it was awesome! We remembered how much we love being in nature and how fun it is to hike. 

Awkward bliss

It has been cool and rainy for a little while. Yesterday all the kids went outside. A few moments after the last of you exited, mom said to me "isn't this silence blissful"? I agreed that it was wonderful. We sat in silence together for just a half minute until Joel burst through the door, saw us sitting in silence and said "awkward silence?" We laughed. What you thought was awkward Joel, was blissful to mom and me. It's so good to be still and enjoy peace and tranquility. 

(Stan's entry dated late August or early September. )

His favourite game

This kid loves this game. 

Joel's first band performance. The video was too big to put on here. Not sure how to make it work. He brought the trombone home and drove everyone crazy  because he didn't know any notes. He hasn't brought it home since. He says he's good enough that he doesn't need to practice. 

A challenge

A recently returned missionary shared a challenge given to her on the mission from Wendy Watson Nelson. It is this:

Each day, ask a question, then read your scriptures to find the answer. 

I'm accepting this challenge. It will add meaning to my short reading sessions. 

Today's question:

What does Molly need during the night, why isn't she sleeping?

As I read President Uchtdorf's message in the July Ensign this was the answer(s) I received. 

Waking up in the night with Molly, as well as her sporadic and short naps, is strengthening my character. I'm relying on the power of the atonement to get me through each day. I'm learning compassion for others who are awake every night.  I'm learning that my priorities really are spiritual health, family relationships, and homemaking. I feel it a great day when something is done in all three of those areas and it does happen. 

-It is possible that it's allowing us to be more flexible. If she was completely on a schedule, I would have a harder time leaving the house and doing things with the kids/family. 

This is Molly in her swing. She was placed a little awkwardly but she had a good nap there. 

Those pictures are deceiving. They make our grass look green!

Learning from Molly

Having children is a humbling experience. Something you can't really completely figure out because each child is different and they are always changing. 

My first baby didn't like sleeping and it was really hard getting her to sleep. I read several sleep books and tried lots of tricks with very little luck. 

Children 2,3,4 were a cinch for sleeping. I was able to figure out early on what worked and it worked most of the time. They slept well during the day and at night. With this sweet girl #5 everyday is new and different. Sometimes she is easy to get to sleep, sometimes not. Sometimes she sleeps well at night, even a 7 hour stretch and lots of times it is 3-4 hours. By now 3 of my 4 other children were sleeping through the night. Somehow I'm being blessed with extra patience, an ability to function on little sleep, an especially I haven't come undone over her not sleeping. Having 5 kids I don't want to be trapped at home during the day with a sleeping baby, there's fun to be had. And Molly has a happy temperament and she likes our attention and we love to give it. After all these ramblings... This is what I'm learning

-life must go on even when you function most days on little sleep

-having older kids in the home is a huge blessing and they need to be part of my game plan. Most of the time they are happy to help

-it's ok to live life not on a schedule(even though I love structure and order)

-the relationships with my family are the most important part of my life and each day should be spent strengthening them. 

-babies grow into kids and kids into teenagers faster than I realized. I'm ok with it but you can't turn back time

-slowing down and simplifying life is a really good idea. Focusing on the basics is really all that matters

-although I can't imagine ever having all my kids in school, it WILL happen one day and I'll have time to do other things I can't do now. 

Baptism/blessing weekend

We tried to keep the parties somewhat separate since Macy really wanted her own special day and Molly didn't care.

So the baptism happened on Saturday, May 16 in the afternoon.

It was a special weekend for us as a family.  We are so happy that Macy chose to be baptized and that Molly was sent to our family!

Mother's Day

These are my Mother's Day cards this year. I always fund the things they write about me entertaining.  

Top three pics are Macy's. 

Faces of Molly

Haircuts, food, and more

I've finally decided to pay for the boys' haircuts too. I can do a buzz but my skills stop there. Spencer has patiently sat through my haircuts for the past 18 months, wondering if he would get a turn in the chair. The day came and he was SO excited!

Lunch date at Cora. Spencer's crepe with half a jar of Nutella on it. He was great lunch entertainment. 

His tricycle served as a grocery transport. He was so happy to help. 

Molly dislikes the bath. She's 6 weeks old and has only had a handful of them. I decided to try putting her in with the big kids. She was good for the picture but then cried. It was so much easier to wash her while Macy held her. Always good to learn a new trick. 

Story time...

We visited Costco yesterday. Sleeping baby, happy spencer with a full tummy, the crepe, smallish list, confident mom. 

15 minutes in, baby wakes and starts to fuss, then she poops and I'm almost positive it leaks out. Baby starts screaming. I still have several items to get. We get them quickly (except for the one item I forgot-which happened to be the main reason I went there) and proceed to checkout. I take baby out of car seat in hopes she'll stop screaming. No such luck. We check out. I'm holding baby in one arm, trying to manage the cart with the other, the huge and heavy Costco cart, with spencer pushing too. Baby still screaming. Trying to hurry to the van. A saint of a lady comes to the rescue as we exit. She pushes my cart, unloads my groceries while I attend to Molly's diaper and messy clothes. God bless that woman.

Molly needs to be fed so I start nursing. Spencer informs me that he has to go to the bathroom NOW. I satisfy Molly with one side, she's half dressed and we go back into Costco. The end. It was funny, even during the process. Good thing it was warm and sunny outside. 

What we do for fun in a small town

We visit this store too often. But it's usually fun. The kids are sad if I go without them. 

The newborn passport photo. It only took a few tries. She was pretty cooperative. 

Spencer's favorite thing to do to Molly is touch her cheek with his. He says it makes her feel better. 

His first haircut outside the home. She does so much better than we do. He's been begging to sit in her chair and have his turn. 

Two handsome boys with new haircuts. 

Potty training update

This post was from November or late October, not sure what happened. 

This seat has been a trick for his success. After two weeks of him choosing not to use the toilet and changing and cleaning himself, HE decided it was a good idea to begin the process. Since that decision only he could make, there have only been the normal ups and downs of the process. I'm so grateful he finally decided to do it and is doing so well. 

Life savers

Living in town has had some huge benefits!  One of them is this sweet cousin of Spencer's and his mom. Since the birth of Molly, they have had him over to play so many times. This has given me the opportunity to have a nap and not have to exert all my strength to keep him happy. 

You know you have a newborn if...

You get excited when the poo stays in the diaper and hasn't saturated the whole outfit

You sleep for more than two hours at a time

You have a shower but best of all, you actually do your hair(mostly only on Sundays for me, of the day I got my haircut because she did it for me)

Going to the grocery store feels like an accomplishment

Staying up past 10 o clock feels impossible

You wonder if you'll ever have alone time with your husband again

Anxious to exercise again but not knowing how that will fit into your life

You really enjoy the simple things in life; going to the park with the kids, fixing a meal for your family, a little time to yourself, getting your scriptures read...

It sure is a unique experience, precious but short lived. Grateful for Molly for joining us and for the other kids trying to adapt and being patient as I go through so much change. 

(They are laying on the heat vent)

Kub Kar Rally

This picture was the one that was taken that day. 

This was taken yesterday. 

Joel's Preparation for this year was quick. He had decided he wasn't going to participate then changed his mind at the last minute. The Saturday before the Tuesday event they haphazardly threw the car together. Some over zealous handiwork killed the car and they had to start again. But they didn't have another car. They got the new car Sunday and worked like crazy Monday night after family home evening. I was hoping he would learn a lesson about procrastination. But he didn't. He won 2nd place!! After he had been throwing up all night, due to stress. I didn't go. I was in early labor and not feeling well.