Another school year over

This year I volunteered to be a room mom for Ellen's classroom. Two other moms also volunteered, so we worked together. We helped with the Fall Fest fundraiser, Christmas and Valentine's Day parties, field trips, and field day. It was fun to get to know other parents and kids in Ellen's class.

Ellen and Jack both started out the year reading well, but they didn't do much independent voluntary reading. I started checking out chapter books and reading Ellen a chapter each night in bed. After a few chapters she asked if she could just finish it on her own because she couldn't wait another night to hear what would happen.

Ellen's self portrait

It worked so well with Ellen that I started looking for books to read with Jack. I read all the Sarah, Plain and Tall books, several Zach Nebulon books, and a few others. A couple of times I read a chapter and then said, "Jack, don't read ahead without me, okay?" I could tell which stories he really got into, because he read ahead anyway (which was the idea, of course). By the end of the year he was reading Magic Tree House books on his own in bed.

Jack's self portrait

Now that it's summer, there is enough light outside when the kids go to bed that they don't even need more than a light on in the hall. When it gets too dark to read, it's time to go to sleep. Summer reading is in full swing currently. One local library requires 20 hours, and another library has the kids read ten books at a time and lets them pick a prize or coupon. So we're doing both, and it has been really fun to read and see what the kids like to read. Ellen checks out Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew books. Jack likes Magic Tree House. Rose loves princesses and Pinkalicious, and Elijah will read/look at anything about vehicles, boys, animals and machines.

I love reading!

My own little happiness project

Last year my book group read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I started out 2014 reading her follow up book, Happier at Home. I really, really like reading this kind of book. The whole time I am reading, I feel like I have little aha moments and epiphanies and "I'm definitely going to do that!" And then I put the book down and realized that (1) I could not accomplish in a few hours or a few days what Ms. Rubin spent a year doing full-time, and (2) the things that made her happy did not necessarily make me happy.

I realized that rather than read the books as self-help books, I should have been reading them like I read novels: invested while I read, able to walk away when I'm done. But I love the premise of the books, that recognizing what makes us happy in the long term and making small changes in the short term really can make us feel happier now and later. So I decided that rather than embark on a year long self-improvement project, I would just recognize what makes me happy and do those things (but not too much, because going overboard does not make me happy).

So here are a few things that make me happy.

Walking my kids to and from school everyday. We have made new friends, honed our biking skills, had funny conversations, worked up a sweat, looked for the moon, and saved money. And it turns out that all those plants at the edge of the school grounds that I thought were weeds all year long actually bloom and attract migrating monarch butterflies. Who doesn't love a butterfly garden?


A rainbow in my closet. I while back I started doing a load of laundry every single morning, just to keep up with six people's dirty clothes. Since my washer and dryer are in the garage, once the laundry comes out of the dryer, I try to get it folded and put away as quickly as possible. I figure if I have to do laundry every day, I might as well see a rainbow every time I walk into my closet. It makes me smile every. time.


Oatmeal for breakfast. When I was growing up, I hated oatmeal mornings. I have been making oatmeal for breakfast regularly for the past five and a half years, and I am still surprised at how much my kids like it. Part of the attraction for them is the "make your own" process. I always use old-fashioned oats cooked in water and an assortment of add-ins: milk, frozen peaches, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries (all the frozen fruit cools off the hot cereal), cinnamon, maple syrup, shredded coconut, craisins, crystallized ginger, almonds or pecans. They pick what goes in, and sometimes they even ask for seconds.


Exercising at home in my pajamas. (I own an assortment of exercise DVDs, and YouTube is free.)
Reading scriptures in the morning. (Colored pencils, mini composition book, actual paper books of scripture)
Letting the kids watch a show so I can get chores done.
Kids helping with the after dinner chores (or the any time chores. There will be more of that this summer.)
Early to bed, early to rise.

And so many other things.

“So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment. We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude.” President Thomas S. Monson

The Artist

Ellen brought a note home in her folder that said her artwork had been chosen for a display at the Hewitt Community Center. She didn't know anything about it.

So one day after school we went over to take a look and find her artwork.

I was super impressed. Ellen is always saying she wants to be an artist when she grows up. After we got home, we were talking about college, and she asked me what you do at college. I was telling her you take classes, and if you want to be a scientist you take science classes, and if you want to be a teacher, you take classes about teaching. She caught on really quickly, and got very excited about taking art classes. Then we started talking about different jobs artists can do. "What? Do you get paid to be an artist?!? I can't wait." Haha. Fortunately, there are lots of professions that an extremely creative person can do and not be a starving artist. I love seeing her creative work, and all she wants for her birthday and Christmas are more art and craft supplies.

The boss and the baby

So when I wrote the title, I was thinking Elijah was the boss and Rose the baby in these pictures.

Sometimes Rose is the boss and Elijah is the baby.

Most of the time, though, the baby is the boss. And he wants it his way, even though he doesn't always get it.

He keeps on trying though. Everyday he tells me, "I not take a nap today." He tells me every time I change his diaper, every time we have a drink, and every time I sit down to read him a book or pick him up. In other words, at any moment when he thinks it's possible that I might be getting ready to take him into his room and put him in his crib. He still takes a nap almost every day, and he still cries every time. What can I say? He is definitely my child. I was always worried about missing out on something good. So I tell him all the fun things we will do after he wakes up from his nap, sing him a song, get him a drink, and tell him I love him. Then he cries and screams as I shut the door, and then he falls asleep.

Thanks for pushing the stroller down that hill. Now if you'd just grow tall enough to sit on the toilet by yourself!

The world is quiet here.

On my blog, I mean. And in my head, and at night when everyone is sleeping. But in the world where I'm a wife and mom and friend, teacher, primary leader and room mom, the world is a loud, chaotic, relentless perpetual motion machine.

How did we get from full on summer water fun to three weeks of school under our belt?

Again, I LOVE the summer reading program and reading in general. Both Ellen and Jack are starting out the year reading beyond what they were able to do at the beginning of the summer. In all truthfulness, I credit their reading ability to our continual work on reading the Book of Mormon together as a family. There are enough easy words to keep them motivated and enough hard words (Maher-shalal-hash-baz??) to challenge them. I recommend it.

Remember how Jack told me he wasn't taking any time off this summer? We ended up taking two (2!!) trips to the beach anyway in August and September. Maybe I'll blog about it. Corpus Christi/Padre Island and Galveston. So much fun, so much drama.

We had a Relief Society meeting about exercise and health. I did the high intensity interval workout and thought I was going to die about 3 minutes in. And I love it, love it, love it. Definitely will  keep this up.


In the middle of completing a list of errands requiring short visits to several places (laminate for primary, register the car, pay the late water bill, get the other car inspected, pay a ticket because the car registration was late, . . . ) I stopped at Walmart to get aspirin for Elijah and returned to the car with Rose and Elijah to find it locked.

And running.

And I had just told a friend I'd be home soon, and sure she could drop her kids off for me to babysit for an hour while she went up to the school for a meeting. Um. Fortunately, Jack could take an early lunch and come rescue me and my absent brain.


"You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." I'm not quite sure how this applies to me, since I've never been a country girl, but I do love riding horses. I convinced the kids to try it, despite their fear of animals, and they loved it, too. Oh, and we got to celebrate our friends leaving for college and going on a mission soon.


This girl's hair is finally growing out a little, and swimming, speech, and preschool may be in her future. She's super excited about all of it.

Captain America. Oh, Captain America, how far you have come. Potty training. Need I say more?

Probably not, but I'm going to anyway. I can't believe how much harder it has been since my older kids are in school to find three days in a row in my schedule that I can stay home, fill Elijah with fluids, ply him with salty snacks, and praise, praise, praise him for being a big boy. To his credit, he has been amazing, and I am even more aware this time around of just how many different skills are necessary for eliminating human waste in a sanitary manner. I am also grateful for the unexpected opportunity to focus completely on my baby boy and get to know him better. I'm glad for a chance to slow down and be quiet. When the world in my head and heart is quiet and calm, I'm such a better wife, mother, friend, teacher, and leader.

Ellen's teacher

Ellen's wonderful first grade teacher had emergency open heart surgery the week after school was out. We love her so much and have had many conversations with her about Elijah and her own heart problems, so we were sad to hear about her surgery. She wrote to me that her doctors have deemed her a "walking miracle" and that she is very fortunate that she and her doctors realized something was wrong and were able to act so quickly to help her get better. Happily, she is recovering well, and we hope to have her and her husband over for dinner soon. In the meantime, the kids and I made get well cards to send to her.



We would appreciate your prayers for her.

Kindergarten graduation

I have really got to get a hold of my emotions here. I started tearing up just walking my kids to school on Wednesday, the last day of school. We hadn't even gotten to the Kindergarten graduation, which I find a little ridiculous in theory, but so sweet and cute as a parent in reality. We hadn't gotten to saying goodbye to our favorite two teachers, and to cleaning out back packs and lunch boxes.

Ellen begged me to make bread for her teacher, so I made two little loaves and let Ellen and Jack make thank you notes for their teachers and carry them to school that morning. I stopped by Ellen's class before going on to the cafetorium for the big Kinder program because the room moms had emailed that they were presenting Ellen's teacher with a gift from the class, and since I had contributed, I was interested to know what it was. 

Ellen's teacher was even more emotional as she repeated that she is really going to miss this class, and that they have been one of her best in all her years of teaching. As a mom, my only wish in sending my kids off to spend seven hours a day at school was that they would have teachers who would love them, and I feel very blessed in the teachers they've been spending all their time with for the past nine months.

At the kindergarten graduation, all the kids marched in in a little cap and gown. The kid next to Jack was standing right in front of him on the risers, so it was a little hard to see him, but then they closed the curtains, showed a slideshow of all the kids and their classes, and reopened the curtains to the kinder program "What Makes a Rainbow?" Then we couldn't see Jack at all, and I had to stand up and walk up the side to find him. I was very, very excited to see him sitting on the floor with three other kids, playing a xylophone. This was the accompaniment to the singing, in addition to the music teacher's keyboard. Playing instruments is something I want to encourage long-term in my kids. 

After each child had an individual curtain call and exit to the classroom, the parents were all released to the classrooms to pick up kids. We took Jack home, ran a few errands, ate lunch, and headed back to the school at noon to get Ellen. Her class spent their last day of school having their teacher spray paint their hair. Appropriately, Ellen's hair was rainbow colored.

Seeing Jack Jack on that stage that morning and feeling like if I blinked I'd be sitting at his high school graduation instead was a little unsettling. The good news is, I still have two more kindergarten graduations to sit through. The bad news is, my last K program will also be the year I have a daughter in middle school. I wonder if my mom ever felt like this... my kids are running on ahead of me, not even looking back to wave, and I can't keep up. Sigh.

Teacher Appreciation Day

My kids have loved their first year of school.

I love these women and how much they have taught, loved, and believed in Ellen and Jack.

Jack's teacher was named Teacher of the Year for the entire school district. We are so grateful and appreciate all they do!

Groundhogs, Presidents, and Birthdays; February at a glance

Rose celebrated her birthday in style this year. Our family's traditional birthday breakfast:

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse:

A shopping spree with Daddy to spend some birthday money (thank you, Grandparents!!):


Jack also had a birthday, complete with birthday pancakes with candles for breakfast, a new hero action figure:

And a repeat performance at Texas Roadhouse. Jack and I have been trying to convince the kids to get on that sawhorse for ages. Fearless Rose went to town and they all saw how fun it was. Except for Elijah. Now he starts crying when the clapping starts, no matter where in the restaurant we are.


Apparently reaching the 100th day of school is a major milestone which requires a party and counting to 100 several times throughout the day. You can see our 100 wall from our year of homeschooling in the first picture of this post.

Ellen's 100th day party resulted in considerably more loot and lots of envy, tears, and gnashing of teeth.


Ellen brought this project home from school. We can all dream...

**spoiler** Of course I cried.

A couple of years before Ellen was old enough to start kindergarten, I had several good friends with children beginning school for the first time. Since they anticipated the first day of school being a very emotional experience for them, they cancelled or refrained from scheduling meetings of any kind. After the first day of school, they reported that they had indeed spent plenty of time crying.

I couldn't really understand at the time, but I do remember thinking that if sending a child to school was such a traumatic experience, that there must be some way around it. I'm not a big fan of institutional preschools because I like my kids and want to spend time with them, and since I can stay home, who better to sing the ABCs with them than me? Also, attending kindergarten is not required in Texas. It's just traditional, and even convenient for working parents since all public schools I'm familiar with only offer full-day kindergarten classes.

So when Ellen was five and eligible for kindergarten, I wasn't really ready to part with her. I feel like I lost a lot of time with my other kids when Elijah was going through his medically dependent entry into the world and subsequent surgeries. For that reason (and many, many others) I kept her home, found reading and math curricula I liked, and logged a weekly record of how we spent our 180 days/36 weeks/9 months of "doing school." 

This year Jack and I came to a different conclusion about what would be best for our family and our children and decided to send Ellen and Jack Jack to our local public elementary school for 1st grade and kindergarten. Again, several of my mom friends expressed great sadness and anxiety over sending their oldest or only children away for school all day.

I wasn't losing any sleep, but I really was trying not to think about it too much. I know what educating children at home can be like, and I know what it's like to go to school. There are great aspects of both systems, and a few challenges I can think of as well. Jack asked me if I was going to cry all the way home from walking the kids the two blocks to the school and dropping them off. I rolled my eyes at him.

I'm not going to lie, though. Ellen walked into her classroom and didn't even turn back to say goodbye. She was so excited to be going to school. Jack needed a little help finding where to put his things, so I pointed him in the right direction and gave him a hug. I walked out of his classroom and found myself blinking back tears all the way home. And so I've basically resigned myself to the fact that it's inevitable, and I'll be crying about my kids growing up for the next 19+ years and beyond. 

Jack Jack asked me if I just stayed and waited for them outside the school all day. He was completely serious. Nope. I had a big day scheduled and had no time for nostalgic tears. Potting training for Rose all day. Different kind of tears.

Just a few masterpieces from school 2011-2012

Some of these lovelies didn't make the cut when we moved to our new home.


So I took pictures so I (and the kids) could see what we'd done,


what we'd learned about,


and how far we have come in one year


of reading, writing, and 'rithmatic.


And science.


And Spanish.


To the stars and beyond.


Over the course of several seasons.


Loving the memories of it all.

(Because I'd be lyin' if I told you we loved every minute of it.)