Oh the joy! Oh the beauty! Oh the Wonder! To wake in the morning and see billions of large, unique flakes falling outside my window, and everything blanketed in snow...still and quiet. Lots of snow (for Portland). It snowed almost all day and we now have almost 2 inches! That's a lot more than we got last year, folks! Guess what that means?? SNOW DAY!! Everything is out of commission here when it snows, so yes that means church was canceled. It was so nice to lay in bed extra long watching the snow fall, then when they boys woke up they jumped in bed with us. We took a quick barefoot run around the backyard to leave fresh tracks. We had a short fireside devotional where Joshua read to us from the illustrated Doctrine and Covenants. (That boy is so smart and he hungers after more knowledge.) Then we unpacked the old snow clothes. We found stuff that fit both of them , miraculously. The little boys had a ultimate day of joy playing out there. They would have played all day if they could have stayed warm enough.
So we received this book as a Christmas gift last year from the Jefferies cousins (thanks you guys). The boys absolutely love it. Toby has every word memorized. They read it all year long, just anticipating the arrival of snow (which we can only hope for here). The book starts out "Snow day, school closed...Snow is white, half my height, somewhere out there snowball fight!" The boys were reciting these words as they were getting ready to go outside. Joshua even tried to sneak outside without eating breakfast. When I caught him he quoted the book "No time for breakfast, running late, pretend I don't hear when mom yells ''WAIT!'"
Here is a classic video clip of the boys playing in the snow, trying to have a snowball fight and making snow angels!
Well, now the boys are tucked into bed and dreaming of playing in the snow, no doubt. The wind is howling and it is colder here than it has ever been. School has already been canceled tomorrow. It finally feels like Christmas (lights and decorations seem odd in the absence of snow and green grass everywhere). And tomorrow we are going for SNOWMAN vs. last years snowboy.
I am really happy for this snow storm, but I am so glad that it isn't this cold all winter.
I love my kids. They are so sweet and smart and most of all they WANT to do good. Why is it then, that at certain times they act TOTALLY CRAZY in front of people...and then these people think that my kids are horrible?
Take, for example Tithing Settlement: we get into the Bishop's Office and the kids can't sit still, they can't keep their hands to themselves, they touch EVERYTHING, and they don't listen to us when we ask and tell them to stop. (For you people who are totally confused: the Bishop is the leader of our Church congregation or ward, and tithing settlement is a meeting between our family and the Bishop where we declare that we have offered 10% of our earnings for the calendar year). Our dear Bishop is so sweet and kind, but every time we have brought our kids to his office for a meeting they go berserk!! I am afraid that this is all that some people see of our kids and it is making me frustrated. So, every time I talk to the Bishop he tries to comfort me and tell me how the crazy times will be over someday (I actually LOVE these days...most of the time)...and tries to console me. Nice, but it makes me feel frustrated all the same. My kids are ALWAYS good in sacrament meeting. Does anybody notice that? I wonder.
Another example, is when we took our kids over to see one of the families in our ward that Brent home teaches: they are this really cool young family that we wanted to get to know better and guess what? Our kids were berserk! I don't blame that family for never wanting to invite us over again. I wouldn't invite us over again if I thought that the kids always behaved like that!
The problem is, I think that word gets around. We had a really tough year with both of the boys last year (and it was our first year here), so I didn't feel very social, and now I feel kind of like I am branded as the mom with the out-of-control children that I don't discipline and that I can't handle. Well, the news is that I do discipline my kids. I think that I often discipline them too hard. I wish that I were less coercive as a parent and that my kids would obey me because I elicit their love and respect (I know my kids love me very much). And here's another news flash: I CAN"T CONTROL MY KIDS! They have free agency, as I believe is part of the GREAT plan of Salvation. And sometimes I don't want to control them...if they're not endangering themselves or others....really!
The really hard part is that Joshua has a disability, but it is not very apparent. So he gets berserk when he is over stimulated, but people don't know about his disability (or maybe they think it's an excuse?), so they don't understand why he acts that way. They just think that I don't handle my kids very well...ooo it is FRUSTRATING! As Joshua grows older he is doing better so that's good, but I still feel like we can't rid ourselves of this scarlet letter unless we move (but I really don't want to move). And Toby is great, a little stubborn, but great. I don't see him having the same problems that Joshua has...but you combine his stubbornness with the terrible two's and that made for a tough year. It wouldn't have been so bad if Joshua wasn't also struggling.
And don't get me wrong. I KNOW that I am not a perfect parent. But I have tried so hard to improve and be the best that I can be.
I just feel like the only friends I have are either the ones who knew me and loved me before I had kids (so they know that by nature I try my very hardest all the time or they overlook the silly things my kids do), or ones who are totally kind and understanding. The latter have come to love me and appreciate my kids...both their struggles and their goodness.
My conclusion at this time is to ask you not to draw conclusions when you see parents and kids struggling. You don't know what's really going on and how hard they ALL are really trying. Maybe you SHOULD jump to the conclusion that this family could use your friendship, understanding, charity and unconditional love.
I enjoy keeping it real here every once in a while. I feel so much better getting that off my chest, and Nobody's life is perfect...not even in bloggerland!
Hunting for a Christmas Tree at the neighborhood Christmas Tree Farm
Did I employ some really funky effects in Picasa, or are the pictures off of a cell phone? I'll let you decide.
Cutting down the "perfect" tree
What a fun new family tradition. We get a fun activity with free cookies and cocoa, we support a local farmer (you can't beat $20 for any size tree), and we get the fresh smell of pine. Mmmm. Plus the farmer plants 3 trees for every one cut down! How fun to romp among acres of trees. I think we decided that we want to own a Christmas Tree Farm someday.
Decorating Gingerbread Houses-
Alright, so I really only made one this year. The rest of the dough Toby made into gingerbread men and ate them all!
As you can see, if you look really closely...this gingerbread house was collapsing as soon as we decorated it! I am guessing that it was the change in altitude that made the gingerbread less firm after it was baked. Next time I will compensate by adding more flour. But don't get me wrong, we're not complaining...it was the softest, yummiest gingerbread EVER! And we got to dig in right away instead of waiting for weeks. Awesome!
Finally...THE TREE
The boys had a great time trimming the tree! It's been a really fun and festive Christmas season so far.
Merry Christmas to all!
Tricky
12/14/2008
| Author:
jefferies
We're practicing an act for the traveling circus!
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Yep. This is us, canoing on the Willamette Rive at dusk/nightfall. Yep. We are crazy. Yep. We survived.
This is Willamette Falls framed by the old Oregon City Bridge
Joshua's class did a very cute Christmas concert. I wouldn't even blog about it except I was elated by the fact that Joshua stayed where he was supposed to, he sang all of the words to the songs and he did the actions when he was supposed to. That is GREAT improvement for him and I am so proud!! Way to go Joshy! You did great!
Brent has been dying to get out and do some canoing. The weather has been pretty good, so we snuck it in before the winter hit. These pictures are at LaCamas Lake in Camas, Washington, just across the border from Portland, OR.
The little boys love to help paddling and they're getting pretty good. We also had a short lesson on the environment and habitats.
We soaked in a very pretty sunset on the lake
I haven't had any time to blog over the last two
weeks because so much has been going on. Here are some of the highlights:
*We went on a double date with our friends The
Mansius Family to see Twilight the movie. My friend Tara and I have been reading and discussing these books together for months, so it was fun to go together. Unfortunately, most of the fun was in the excitement leading up to the event. The movie was OK, but I had hoped that I would like it as much as I liked Harry Potter on film. I think that the next film will be better because the actors will have more time to get into character and hopefully there will be a bigger budget since the movie made so much money. I totally LOVED the Cullens though! Especially Esme and Alice. I can't wait to see more of them!
*Joshua does a small job every day. One particular day, he got tired of waiting for me to think of a job for him so he took things into his own hands and cleaned off the table. I am super proud of him that he took the initiative and found something that needed to be done by himself (even though the books and magazines were rather precariously placed...oh well).
* I reached 125 friends on facebook! I have friends that I didn't even know that I had before facebook (!?).
* My older sister Annika and her husband Nathan sold their house in Draper, Utah and moved up to Beaverton, Oregon!
* They brought along my mom and her husband Marvin for Thanksgiving so that we could spend the holiday with my two other sisters that now live in Oregon and I.
* My kids actually behaved somewhat decent for having guests in town.
* I spent the week before Thanksgiving planning, buying food, preparing and cooking for 14 guest. It was my first time ever hosting Thanksgiving (big deal!). Thankfully I had my mom there to help me!
* The Great Cous Cous disaster of 2008! Toby spilled 10 pounds of cous cous (Moraccan pasta) in the back of the car on the way home from Bob's Red Mill. As I was checking out at the store I was thinking that I would do my greenie part to help the environment and refuse the grocery bag. But the real mistake was leaving the exposed cous cous bag within reach of a hungry kid that's been shopping for Thanksgiving groceries for hours at 5 different stores. When we got home, the back seat was a foot deep in cous cous! Thankfully I was able to skim enough off the top to use in my Thanksgiving recipe.
This was after most of it was picked up
This is Toby helping to vacuum
* The night before Thanksgiving Brent told everyone at dinner that he had a surprise for all of us for Thanksgiving that he would have to go out and pick up. He left and was gone almost 2 hours. After he was back, there was a ring at the doorbell...it was my little sister Heather who flew in from New York to surprise us all for Thanksgiving! The best reaction of all was my oldest sister Lara. When she saw Heather, she was speechless for 5 whole minutes with her jaw hanging to her collar bone.
* I hosted guests at my house for a week and a half!
* We had a great Thanksgiving feast! I got all of my recipes from Sunset Magazine. They ranged from OK to FANTASTIC. We had a lot of wonderful guests!
* My mom and all my sisters and I got to be together for a holiday! It's been a while since that has happened and it will probably be a long while before it happens again.
That's my poser sister from NY in the front :-)
The sister right next to me is the one that just moved up to Oregon
* I got to sing in church 3 times. 1 trio with my friend Tara and another lady "Come thou Font", 1 time in the choir, and 1 duet with Tara (I know! But we blend really well together) at enrichment "Noel Nouvelet," a French carol.
* I was in charge of our chruch's ward Relief Society Women's Enrichment Christmas dinner and party! It was Christmas around the World. Lots of fun. Glad it's over.
*Right after we took NY sister to the airport we picked up a Christmas tree at the tree farm across the street and decorated for Christmas. Oh yeah, we're so on top of things this year!
I am sorry for being missing in action. I am in the middle of a crazy couple of weeks. What from having family in town for a week and a half, planning and preparing Thanksgiving dinner for 15 people at my house, fighting off a cold, and being in charge of and planning for our church Relief Society Christmas dinner and program this week...I am beat! I will be back Wednesday and thereafter. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for all of you who care enough about me to read my blog. Peace.
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