Choose To Be Happy Now

After listening to Pres. Uchtdorf's talk about the forget-me-not flowers this past week (if you didn't hear it, go to lds.org to view his address he gave at the General Relief Society Broadcast), I've kept in the back of my mind a couple of the things that he said. He talked to women all around the world, counseling them to take joy in even their "small successes". He also related the story about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (where people forgot the simple pleasure of the chocolate bar, and were only chasing after the golden ticket), and compared it to us, and how sometimes we forget to be happy NOW in our lives. Well, this stage of my life entirely revolves around my children, and it's the small, crazy, happy moments that make up my life. These girls remind me that I'm doing something right. They make my life happy. Enjoy! Hopefully this post will help you see the small things in your life that make you happy!

(This is courtesy some kind person who posted it on sugardoodle.net)


Crazy morning hair! (Apparently this is what curly hair sometimes looks like in the morning)



Playing in the Halloween costumes:


Homemade earrings (which she taped to her ears):


Paige demonstrating a stretch that she had to do for a "test" in PE:


Milk mustaches at dinner time:



Picking fall leaves in the mountains with the Johns:


Taking the round about way home from picking leaves, so we could pick acorns:


Taking the long ride home from picking leaves caused us to drive by the Cheese Factory, which is when I saw THIS. What you don't see, is that all three of them are standing on Brad behind the sign!


Watching Megan's soccer games twice a week! The season was half over, and she'd never volunteered to be the goalie. However, this particular game she shot her arm straight up in the air when her coach asked who wanted to be the goalie. That's her, wearing the "red goalie shirt":


Here are some un-photographed, but recorded moments that made the list:

When Ashlie saw her daddy getting dressed in church clothes to go Home Teaching, and she immediately stripped off what she was wearing and insisted that we dress her in tights, church shoes, and a dress.

When Paige came home from kindergarten and dropped onto the living room floor because of utter famish-ment. She was too hungry to even walk into the kitchen for lunch - I had to carry her there. Wow, it's amazing what 2 1/2 hours of grueling school work can do to someone! :)

You know how people ask for things and say "pretty please with sugar on top"? Well, Paige REALLY wanted Frosted Flakes the other day, and this is how she asked for them: "I said please with all the candy in the world...and that means a really please. It means I really want it."

Not to be forgotten was the moment this week when I had to deal with the following tantrums:
#1 - Ashlie insisted that I pour milk into her baby doll's plastic bottle. As you know, they don't open. So, after telling her over and over again that I couldn't put milk in it, I finally decided to fake it. I pretended to pour in the milk, I handed her the bottle, and she shook it next to her ear. She didn't hear any milk jiggling around in there, and she was NOT happy with me! :)

#2 - Ashlie was insistent the other day that I add sugar to her Frosted Flakes. Have you ever tried to explain to a screaming 2 year old that Frosted Flakes don't need any extra sugar? Well, after weighing over in my mind whether it was worth listening to her cry any longer, I gave in and let her add a spoonful of sugar onto her Frosted Flakes. Needless to say, she really enjoyed that bowl of extra sweet cereal.

Afraid of dogs, & of something else too!

I'm sure every one has things they see at their homes that are unique to where they live. For us, hot air balloons have been one of our most favorite things about living where we do. The kids never get tired of seeing them. In fact, we all saw one on our way to school this morning. When you see the hot air balloons, you know summer has arrived! Well, this was the first hot air balloon we'd ever seen look like this! (I know the photo's small. If you can't see it, it's a Pepsi can!)

The kids thought it was hilarious!

Yesterday I was talking with Brad in the garage. Ashlie and Paige were home with us, and I had noticed that Ashlie had walked up the front porch steps and was standing by the front door. From the garage I heard her instantly begin to cry. It wasn't a hurt cry. I recognized it immediately, because she had cried like that this past weekend while visiting family. Every time Brad's parent's dog came near her at all, the panic cry began. It was bad enough that we asked Brad's dad if he could put the dog away for a while. Well, it was the panic cry. I immediately scoped the front yard to see if there was a dog in the yard. Nope, no dog...
...a deer! A buck was just strolling past the house, causing my 2 year old to want to escape into the house as soon as possible. It was really funny, honestly. We have a love / hate relationship with deer around here. In the spring, they devour our plants just as they are beginning to grow. Come fall, we have forgiven them a little, and we're able to laugh again when we see them. We get excited to see them walking along the road, and we laugh when they creep into our girls' club house (in the field across the road). Last night our girls' friend, Trevor (who helped create the club house with them) shouted over his fence that there were two chickens in the club house! Off Paige and Megan ran to go see if they could get a glimpse. Fun stuff!

Kindergarten Begins!

Paige has waited, and waited, and waited to go to school...and finally today, she got to! Just like Christmas morning, she woke up super early, and without even being asked she made her bed & got dressed. School is only 2 1/2 hours long, but when I picked her up she said, "Mom, you said I'd only get to go half a day, but I got to go ALL day!". Of course it's hard to get too much info. out of a 5 year old, but she didn't forget to mention that she got an M&M cookie & chocolate kisses. Sounds like the year's off to a good start. Megan seemed so excited to have her little sister going to school too. Now I have a couple of hours just with little Ashlie, & I have to get in the groove of what the two of us are going to do! :) It's a good problem to have though...I'm not complaining!