So, how do I ...

I guess I'm inept. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to change my font colors since blogger changed things around! Grrrr!
Anyone know how?

Wedding Photographer

I got to be the official wedding photographer at a wedding I attended this morning. Let me just say that weddings are a LOT of work! I feel sorta bad that I didn't take ANY video, but I hope they'll still be pleased with the results. Besides, you get what you pay for, and I did it for free.
They had quite a crowd. It was standing room only! So much love was in that room!

Now, don't judge the girl sitting on the floor too harshly. You don't know anything until you've walked a mile in her shoes, and can I just tell you that those are ballet TOE shoes. Ya, try walking a mile in those babies! You'd be sitting on the floor too, buster!

And the magical first kiss as husband and wife!

money, motivation, and mistakes

Aaaaah! So, I've been thinking that it's wrong to pay your children to obey their parents and to get along with each other. Plus, I'm listening to the book Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, by Daniel H. Pink, and now I KNOW that it's counter-productive to PAY your children to obey their parents and to get along.
In fact, I've learned that paying your children to do anything suggests to them that the task is undesirable in some way, AND once they've been paid to do something, they are FAR more unlikely to ever do it again without pay.
I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm sufficiently worried about what damage I may have already done, and thoroughly confused about how to teach my kids to handle money, and about how you get paid for what you do, etc., without messing up their internal motivation for doing things.
Parenting is hard.

2011: Luck of the Draw

Obviously, I have had a LOT of writer's block in the last, oh, 2 1/2 years. So, yesterday, when I came across a jar I received a looooong time ago I had a dash of inspiration. This jar is filled with questions or topics to get a person writing (personal history or journal stuff). I decided that I would give it a shot.
I will pull a random slip of paper from this jar, and use the words written on it as my jumping off point for my posts. I hope it works.

Slip #1: Tell about raising your children: problems, joys, sorrows, accomplishments, etc.

O.k., here goes. I have been blessed with the two most wonderful children in the world. They are smart, funny, incredibly good looking, and also challenging.
A few months ago, I had had enough of them B.E.G.G.I.N.G. for everything they saw when we would go to any store. I was disgusted, feeling like they were acting like spoiled children and knowing that they had no concept of money management, or the worth of a dollar.
As I was praying about what to do, I felt that we should give them jobs to do, and that they should earn money. So, we set things up, and let them know that they would get paid on the first of each month. They would be paid according to how well they did their jobs. And that they needed to understand that this is ALL the money they would be getting for the whole month. There was to be NO asking for anything at ANY store. If they wanted something, they needed to use their own money. If they didn't have enough, then they needed to SAVE UP! They would pay tithing first, and then they needed to put 20% into savings -- not to be touched.
Honestly, it has worked really well so far. There have been times when they have asked for something at a store, but when we say, "well, how much money do you have?" they immediately remember, and understand that it is up to them to come up with the money for things they want.
The reason that we went with once a month payment was to help them understand that when it's gone, it's gone, so they need to learn to budget. Also, it seems to be easier for them to pay tithing and put away savings when they still have enough left over to buy something.

Now, I may have set them up for failure this month. Having been REALLY frustrated with the bickering, hitting, and name-calling; the lack of obedience, and the inappropriate behavior when we are out and about, I gave them the following jobs for the month of January:
1. Get along: no hitting, yelling, name-calling. Disagreements are to be talked through - out of mommy's presence.
2. OBEY parents.
3. Behave appropriately when we go places (i.e., at the store, don't play hide and seek, tag, or any number of other games that can knock down merchandise, crash into customers, or cause mommy to panic when she can't find you; when home-teachers come over we sit on the couch and listen, instead of saying, "when are they leaving?!" and flopping all over the couch; in restaurants, sitting on the chair/bench, not crawling on the floor or turning upside in seat.)
I told my mom that I don't think I'll have to pay them this month. I'm not sure that this was the right approach, but I was feeling desperate, and money can be a good motivator sometimes.

Truly, my kids bring me joy everyday. They both have very good hearts. Brianna willingly helps people whenever she is asked and often without being asked. Ben really loves his family, and has been offering such sweet, thoughtful prayers lately. I need to focus more thoroughly on the joys that they bring me, and less on the frustrations.

I hope that my children will grow up with the skills, knowledge, faith, strength of character, understanding of consequences (good and bad), and power of discernment to help them to lead happy, successful lives, to contribute positively to their families, wards, communities, and other environments, and to have eternal life.
That is a tall order, and I hope that throughout this year, I can do things that will help them along that path.

Advice from a Snowman

Be a jolly, happy soul

Spend time outdoors

Stay cool

It's okay to be a little bottom-heavy

Avoid meltdowns

Be well-rounded

Live well, life is short

You There! Shhh!

Our Ward Christmas Party was last night. The Primary children sang a few songs for us. (You may want to enlarge this video. It was taken with my phone, so the quality is not the best.) Brianna is front and center, in the red shirt with the Christmas tree on it. Her best buddy is right next to her.

Brianna loves to sing and is pretty good. I, too, love to sing, and was mouthing the words along with the kids. If you watch closely, you'll see Brianna catch me doing this, and put me in my place! It seemed like the whole audience saw this and chuckled!

Also, you may notice Ben behind Brianna and to the right. Apparently he had quite the itch that he couldn't quite scratch!

Merry Christmas! I hope yours is as merry and bright as my fun children are!

Brianna's Aspirations

Currently, Brianna's life plan includes:

Becoming a doctor (a leg doctor).
Becoming a pilot (flying jets).
Being one of Santa's helpers (thus being able to bypass the issue of wanting to see "the Real Santa's face" without then losing out on presents for being out of bed on Christmas Eve).
Having 3 children (down from 45 children).
Living in the house we currently live in (without the rest of us). She has asked me on several occasions where James and I are going to live when she is living here with her family.

Look out world! There's no stopping this little firecracker!

It's a Wonderful Life!

I love this time of year!

I love my Savior who loved each of us enough to come to earth and live a mortal life and atone for our sins.

I love that He made it possible to be free from pain, sorrow, guilt, grief, illness, etc.

I love that Brianna still believes in Santa.

I love that Ben can't contain his Christmas secrets. (I love it, but won't trust him with any more!)

I love that James still has a little boy in him, and that I get peeks at that (mostly when he has a weapon -- bow & arrow, or gun-- in his hand.)

I love that my new dog is SO mellow.

And that he doesn't pee and poop in the house.

I love that we were able to spend Thanksgiving with James' family, and that we have a great party coming up with my side of the family as well!

I love that I love ALL of my family members! What a blessing that is!

I love that I can see. I mean I can SEE! LASIK is fabulous!

I love that Ben is LOVING third grade!

I love that I can take pictures with my phone! Afterall, it allowed me to capture these beauties!

The night Ben received his Bobcat!

Ben receiving his soccer trophy! His coach likes to give them a nickname each season. This time, he called Ben Mr. Fundamentals. :) Ben scored a goal on his last game of the season!

(Brianna did great in soccer this year as well, and she, too, received a trophy, but those pictures were on a different camera!)

Obviously, it's very difficult to get Brianna to pose for a picture!

Poor mannequin! I guess she learned too late that you NEVER mess with a 4 year old pirate!

B.I.G. News!!!

O.k., so we've told our parents, and a few of our close friends, but mostly we've kept it a secret, because we didn't want to jinx ourselves.

But, I suppose the time has come to make the announcement:

We have made an addition to our family!

His name is Rascal. He is eight years old. Completely housetrained. COMPLETELY M.E.L.L.O.W! He comes when he's called. He tolerates Brianna's intense "loving". He's cute and sweet. And, so far, I have NO complaints. I guess that's what's scaring me. I told my parents that I was waiting for "the other shoe to drop" and they replied that he's so old, he can't remember where he left the other shoe! :)

What?! You thought we were going to announce something else? Ha, ha! Don't you know us better than that by now?

If you break up your writing, does that make it poetry?

A black cat

ran across the road

in front of me

today.

I just laughed

because

he had missed his cue.

You see, it was YESTERDAY that

I backed my car

into another car

in my driveway;

destroying my back bumper

and their front bumper.

And it was earlier this morning when

I went to my scheduled pre-op appointment

for my LASIK procedure

on Monday,

that they informed me that my surgery is on

TUESDAY!

"No," I said, "I'm scheduled for MONDAY."

"No," she said, "We never do that surgery

on Mondays!

"I don't know where

You would have gotten that idea." she said.

"You wrote it on my paperwork." I said.

And I showed her the paperwork.

I still don't know

if I will or will not

be having surgery

on Monday.

When I got home

a person near and dear to my heart called

in tears.

Her burdens are heavy.

Her hope is slim.

I reminded her to breathe,

And I counted my blessings;

For they are many.

So, little black cat,

wherever you are,

thanks for the laugh.