I'm not boring!

I'd posted previously about my Sunday school class full of teenage boys (since the New Year I now have 1 girl as well). As I'm walking out of sacrament meeting this morning the mother of a young man in my class stopped me. She told me that her teenage son had confessed to her that he really liked his new Sunday school teacher. My jaw dropped. She said that he'd told her he liked the way I taught and that "She's not boring at all". Good, I've overcome that obstacle. Now that I'm entertaining enough to keep their attention, what on earth do I do with it?

Christmas

Christmas came suddenly and without much enthusiasm for me. I've been so preoccupied with school that I forgot how much I enjoy this season.

As Christmas neared and the pile of presents under the tree grew larger, it seemed the children became naughtier. On Christmas Eve morning I'd finally had enough of the fighting and carrying on by the children that I told them Christmas was canceled. Logan sobbed and the girls screamed at me, still I would not relent. I told them that their presents would all be taken back to the store and I was phoning Santa to make sure he had them on the naughty list. (I know, feel free to gasp in horror.)

Well, I was relating this story to my friend Andrea just a few hours ago and her children were in the room. Her son looked at me with shock and fear in his eyes and asked in an awed whisper "You canceled Christmas?" Yes I did, I told him. His older sister replied with "You're the Grinch". Yes, I said ashamed, I am. Obviously Christmas was not canceled (Brent talked me out of it) and the children smell worse than they did before (they're spoiled, get it? Ha, ha, ha).

My New Year's resolution (among others) is to take the time to remember Christmas next year, and learn patience in the meantime so I won't be the Grinch anymore. My heart will grow three sizes by this time next year!

Marie

My niece, Marie, passed away this week. She was such a wonderful, happy girl. She loved to sing, she loved purple, and she loved to smile. I'm so grateful to have had her in my life.

Marie was handicapped both physically and mentally. Heavenly Father didn't need to put her sweet spirit into a perfect body. She's such a faithful soul that He knew she could live with limitations and still shine through.

I know her time on this earth was finished; she was ready to move on. It's difficult to be left without her, though. I'm grateful to my God and his infinite wisdom in sending her to touch so many peoples' hearts. I can hardly wait to see her again, what a beautiful angel she is.

Reading

I love to read. I can get so absorbed in a book that the world around me disappears and my children can tear the house down without me knowing. I love to read in the bathtub, don't know why, I think it's because it's a soothing environment and most of the time free of distraction.

Today Logan came home from school with a book in his hands. He didn't put it down until he was finished. I'm so excited about this new development. Logan's been reading for a while, and he reads very well, but he's never shown such an interest until now. I've been waiting so long to share chapter books with him. Books I think he'd really enjoy because of his fabulous imagination. He told me his teacher let him borrow the book.

I'm thankful for teachers that inspire and allow a mother to experience the joy of a child who is quietly reading, and loving it.

Sunday School Miracles

I was finally released as Primary Chorister after three long years and they called me instead to teach the 14-15 yr old Sunday School class. As it turns out, the 16-17 yr olds don't have a teacher so I get them too. This was okay until the first day when I saw that my class was all teenage boys, about 8 of them, and they're all taller than me. Nevertheless, I have waded right in and done my best not to make a fool of myself. I gave them a disclaimer that first day and let them know I was learning right along with them and told them to speak up as often as they felt like it to prove me wrong (one of them has taken this to heart).

Anyway, this Sunday our lesson covered miracles and how they continue today, not just when Jesus was on the earth. So the discussion went something like this:

Me: What are some miracles we know of?
Boy #1: Anything Jesus did in the New Testament. (Nice broad answer, but I'm not going to let them off that easy)
Me: Okay, New Testament, what else?
Boy #2: The earth.
Me: Absolutely.
Boy #3: Food.
Me: Yeah, I like food.
Boy #4: Girls.
Me: (Chuckle) Yep, girls are a miracle.

Funny Things

My mother told me to write down the funny things my kids do and say, but did I, no. Here are the few I've remembered thus far; not everyone will think these are funny, but I do.

Avery was teasing Logan the other day by singing a song about he and his friend...
Avery: Logan and Jacob sitting in a tree, l-m-t-p-e-e-g (we're working on spelling)
Logan: Avery and Christina sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g
Mom: Cut it out, both of you
Sometime later...
Ellie: Logan and Jacob sitting in a tree, m-l-m-l-n-n-p (she's three)
Mom: Ellie, I asked Logan and Avery to stop that, now you stop it too. That is not a nice song.
Ellie: (still singing) Logan and Jacob are NOT sitting in a tree...

Out of the blue...
Ellie: Dad, I don't think you're stupid.
Dad: Uh, thanks, Ellie.

Avery: Logan, do you think I'm weird?
Logan: Yes you are.
Avery: That's okay, I think you're stupid.


In reference to something he finds amazing...
Logan: It's changing my mind!

Long story short, Avery had a primary lesson about sins and the teacher gave each child a bag of rocks to represent sins. Upon arriving home from church Logan swiped the bag and Avery exclaimed...
Avery: Give me my sins back!!

Funny Story...This actually happened about 3 years ago, but I'm still laughing about it.
I'm watching television in my room and I hear a commotion coming from the kitchen. I look down the hallway to see tiny Avery with a terrified/gleeful expression on her face running/waddling down the hallway at her top speed. In her chubby fist is the last Reese's Peanut Butter cup from the refrigerator. Now, close on her tail is Logan, crawling on hands and knees because he sprained his ankle playing at the mall. He has tears streaming down his face as he tries to catch up, something he's normally able to do within seconds. I am laughing so hard at this scene that I can't even stand up. Avery runs to me for safety and Logan sobs out the story. He had crawled off the couch and into the kitchen. He'd opened the fridge and was about to get the candy when little Avery, seeing the only chance she would ever have in her life to beat Logan, hurried around him and snatched the candy from the shelf before he could. Then it hit her what she'd done and she fled for her life. Triumph battled with extreme fear as the impossible happened and she outran her brother. In the end Logan got the candy, Avery got a hug, and I got blackmail material.

Halloween

Halloween is a big deal for our kids, as I'm sure it is for most. Logan wanted to decorate the house so much, but there just never seemed to be any time. I did manage to put a plastic orange pumpkin on our porch light and hang a bat on Halloween morning, but that was it.

Avery was determined to be a princess this year, again, so she was picking out all the princess costumes at the store. I told her if she wanted to be a princess we had the costumes at home already. But it's not fun if you can't get a NEW costume. So, Ellie chose to wear the Snow White costume we had at home and Avery bought Snow White's wicked Step-Mother's costume and went as that. Logan was discouraged that I wouldn't let him be a Power Ranger for a third time (he'd already been the red one and the blue one), but he happily settled for a ninja costume we found.

As far as costumes go, last year was awesome for our family. Logan was a Ninja Turtle, Avery was a fairy, Ellie was a Care Bear, I was a chicken, and Brent wore a T-shirt that says, "I Don't Do Costumes".

Someday I dream of our entire family dressing up with the same theme. We did it once, before the kids were old enough to complain, but I'm all to aware of how individual they are. It's not a bad thing, in fact it's one of my favorite things about them.