Bye-bye September!!

September was a busy month for us, but which one isn't? I have 5 kids in school and my days are full of dropping off and picking up, homework, cooking and cleaning. We survived Hyrum's birthday party, Center's Day, Culmination Day, signing up 2 kids for preschool (HOLY COW - a lot of paperwork!!), Camp Nauvoo, two fieldtrips, the cannery, 2 dentist appointments (those were really funny!! Keep reading for details!), Hyrum's first Cub Scout award, a Daddy-Daughter dinner, and some other activities, I'm sure there were more that I am forgetting!!

I can't believe that there are only 3 months left in this year! It seems like it has just flown by. I remember as kid that the years seemed soooooo long. Oh, how I long for those days again!

I got to go to the cannery - our church owns a cannery in Sacramento. We canned tomatoes. My friend Krissy and I went together. We started the evening by going to In & Out for burgers first. Yummy!! We had to be at the cannery at 9:30pm and I got to work the salt, putting one pellet of salt in each can, and then I went to the lid station where I got to make sure to have enough lids in the stack to be put onto each can. Finally I got to work at the station where the tomatoes in the cans. I don't think I have EVER been so red-orange. There were tomatoes EVERYWHERE. I survived my first cannery experience and really had a good time. For those who don't know, the cannery is run by volunteers and each ward is assigned times to go and staff the cannery. I believe that all the tomatoes that are available to the church are canned in our cannery. It sure felt good to be of service. When I got home I took a shower and ended up getting to be around 2 am. It was a long day.

Helaman and Gloria weren't going to go to preschool this year, but we decided that we would try it and see how it goes. They are having a fabulous time. They go each day from 12 to 3:30. Gloria is loving having her own friends and Helaman likes hanging out with the boys! We have started walking to school at least 3 days a week. It is a little over a mile and Helaman rides his bike while I walk and push the other 2 kids in the double jogger. We have a friend that goes with us. Helaman's friend Lorelai (apparently they are going to get married after Helaman's mission, just ask them!) and her mom and sister walk with us. It is a nice walk and I really enjoy the conversation with a friend!

Hyrum got his bobcat award in cub scouts. That was sooo cool. David and I got to go up and Hyrum got to put his bobcat pin on me. I love scouts and it is really fun to help Hyrum accomplish the things in the books.

As for the dental appointment. I took Gloria and Helaman, Nephi came along for the ride. We got in and while sitting in the waiting room, Gloria was telling a lady in there that she was going to see the dentist. Glo seemed really excited and Helaman seemed to be okay...that is until....they took us back. Gloria took one look at the room, from the doorway and ran to the other side of the hallway screaming, "No, I'm scary!" It was really hard to not laugh at her choice of words. As I approached her to try and gently coax her into the room, she bolted down the little hallway screaming all the way, "No, I'm scary!!!" So, while all this is going on Helaman is standing at the doorway to the room saying, "I'm not going first, Gloria's going first" over and over again. Don't forget, I had Nephi with me and I didn't bring the stroller because I wasn't sure if there was room. So, while I am chasing Gloria down the hall, Nephi is getting settled in the dentist's chair in the room. I'm sure it was very comical for those spectators in the office. After what felt like 20 minutes of my kids screaming, they finally took pity on me and ushered me out with the promise that they would let the insurance company know and refer us to a pediatric dentist. I bet that when we finally departed from their office, they breathed a huge sigh of relief and then had a good laugh at my expense. I hope that they enjoyed the show that we put on and I am sooo looking forward to going again to the dentist with these lovely kids of mine - NOT!!

So there it is in a nut shell...my month of September. I hope you all enjoyed your September as much as I did!!

Funny Helaman

Quick note about my silly boy. The other day Vilate pointed out the beautiful green sharpie that is decorating the hallway. I investigated and found:












So, being the mom that I am I asked Helaman, who loves to write his name on everything, if he had any idea who might have colored on the wall...coincidently his name starts with an H and has 2 A's in it. He said no with a bit of a guilty look on his face. Then when I asked if he was absolutely sure that he had nothing to do with it, I got the most awesome answer...."Well, will who did it get in trouble?" My response was something like, "I really can't say, but if they are honest, it will be a lot easier." He looked down and then said with a sad face, "I did it."



Cute, sweet little boy!!! I sure do love him. He didn't get in trouble, but he did have to scrub the wall!!!

When it rains...It totally pours!!

Well, today I took Vilate to the ENT (Ears, Nose and Throat specialist). The poor kid has had 5 positive strep cultures since December. Last week she had her 5th one and her doc said that it was time to see about removing her tonsils. I didn't mention to her that they might do that, I just said that we were meeting with a specialist to see how we can stop her from getting strep throat again. The doctor, who was amazingly nice, came in and looked at her throat. She said her tonsils don't look too big, but with that many positive tests, we should remove the darn things. Vilate FREAKED out - she started crying and jumped down from the chair and ran over and sat on my lap, begging me to tell her that we would not take her tonsils out. Then the doctor proceeded to tell us that not only did she need her stupid tonsils out but that she has nodes on her vocal chords and needs speech therapy and behavior modification so that they can go away! WHAT?!?!?!?!? All I wanted was to STOP STREP THROAT!! Then as we are leaving the doc says that she will take a picture of them while Vilate is sleeping during the surgery so that we can show them to the speech therapist. To which Vilate says, "You mean I will just be sleeping during the surgery?" The poor kid spent all that time thinking that she would have to endure them scraping out her tonsils WIDE AWAKE!!! No wonder she was so scared.

I have talked to the speech therapist at school and she said that we need to get Vilate to stop yelling...yeah, good luck with that one! She said that speech therapy is not really going to help, but the behavior modification is where we need to focus. So, Vilate has been trying sooooooo hard to not yell this afternoon and she has done a stellar job. We shall see how this progresses.....

All afternoon Vilate has been asking questions about the surgery...."What if I wake up in the middle of it?" or "How do they know how much medicine to give me to keep me asleep?" and "How will they give me more medicine while I am asleep if they need to?" The poor kid is trying to be brave and she finally came up to me and said, "Mom, why couldn't they just have told you about the surgery and then you could have told me later, when it was better for me?" GOOD QUESTION!!!!

So, now I will endure the endless questions and scenerios that her 6 year old brain will come up with until they finally call to schedule the surgery. Apparently they book 6 - 8 weeks out. Ohhhhhhhhhhh this is gonna be a long 2 months!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Happy

Ya know what? I live a great life. We don't have a house or a lot of money, but I have all I need. We have a great, safe place to live with the best yard ever...I don't have to mow, rake leaves or water. The kids can ride bikes, play on a playground, practice cheerleading, play golf, play volleyball and just be kids out in our "yard." I have six kids that are healthy and happy, most of the time. Today we got to go to the skating rink with a BUNCH of friends from 3rd grade to celebrate Hyrum's birthday (a few months late). I drive an awesome van...it seats 12 and all seats are captain. The kids don't even sit right by each other - there is an aisle in the middle of the van. I have a new computer. I get to go to school. My kids go to an amazing school that requires a lot of me, so much that I consider regularly leaving, but they learn so much and have such good friends that we are in it for the long haul. I have great friends that I LOVE!! I have an amazing husband that loves our children and me! I am healthy and learning daily how to become more so, especially with my new "stress management" class. (I really am learning a lot in that class!) I have the gospel. I know that my Father in Heaven loves me a TON and that his goal for me is to succeed. He wants me and my family to return to Him. I live really close to a temple and the last 2 times I was able to go, I got to go WITH my husband - THAT is a MAJOR blessing for me. I am sealed to my husband and children. I know about Jesus Christ and what He has done as my elder brother who loves me so that I can return to live with Him and my Father again. I am blessed beyond my comprehension.

Lately I have been feeling really blessed. No, everything has not been going my way, but I have many moments lately of what I will call love. Moments with my kids where my heart is so full that all I can do is grab them and give them a HUGE hug and tell them that I love them SOOOO much. Moments of driving down the street and just seeing the beautiful trees and homes and enjoying the time in which I live. Moments of a clean house, and I do mean moments, when I feel like I can do this...have 6 kids AND a clean house. Moments of love and happiness. I hope you can and do have moments like this. It is those moments that I am striving to look for now. I am trying to brush off the other moments and hang onto these moments!!