Yummy Cheetos! Notice they had to have their own bags.
It's hard to describe how incredible and selfless my brother Damian is. He is always giving of everything he has to others. He is dedicated to the Lord and His kingdom. He is a humble spiritual giant. His hard work and wisdom has led my entire family here to Oregon where we live a very special kind of life, something I could dreamed would be possible--all my family working and living together, serving our community, and rearing our children together. I believe Damian was inspired to spear head this idea. Joining him was a no brainer, since he is someone you always want to be around in hopes that some of his goodness will rub off on you. I am grateful to be a part of something so heavenly on this earth.
Cameron fell asleep while manueavering through the dozens of rows in search of a spot at the ever crowded Costco parking lot. Luckily, there was a blanket in the back seat of our car. I threw it down and laid him in, where he slept the entire time.
We grabbed some pictures and a bite to eat followed by a trip to the bathrooms, of course. Upon return to our car Cameron awoke from his heavenly basket to see out of the corner of his eye a cup of lemonade. In his usual drinker style he rolled closer, leaned his head a bit and began sipping out of the straw. "Aaaah", he stated.
The kids and I laughed hysterically.
It's a good life.
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The second Aaron walks in from work Noah begs to play a game on his phone. I wish I could say it was some kind of educational one, but it's usually a sort of destroying monster game. It's a good thing I don't have one of those phones.
He hums while he plays and without looking up says, "Stop taking pictures Mom."
Ever since our deafening fire alarms went off in the middle of the night the other day (for no real reason) Mary has been afraid....afraid of every sound and noise day or night. Our fire alarms are all hard wired and it has happened before where they randomly go off, usually between 1 and 4 am. So weird. Typically Mary sleeps through them, which just blows my mind since they are everywhere and so loud.
I know we all experience some kind of fear as a child. I was afraid of the Nielsen's dog because I heard it bit a girl's face? Not sure on that fact, that's what I remember anyway. I was scared of the shadows on my walls at night, talking to strangers, seeing or touching spiders, snakes, bees, etc. (I am still afraid of some of those creepy crawlies...maybe not as much...but still afraid).
My sensitive Mary's fears worry her and weigh on her mind. She has been scared with anything earring related, any movies where the parents are separated from their children (like finding Nemo or Tangled), and any strange noises. Despite our best efforts to calm her, reassure her, and teach her about prayer it seems that her fears are getting worse.
So, the other night I looked on the church website for some ideas. There was a darling Friend article that I saw. I copied it and printed it for Mary. We talked about it and she was excited. She told me this morning that she tried one of the ideas and it worked. I was so glad. She decided to take my printed sheet and make a shortened version today that she could carry around with her.
The last few nights Cameron has been playing upstairs instead of going to sleep. I can hear him tinkering around with the toys and yesterday he came downstairs with marker all over his legs from his "little art project". Today I decided to not give him a nap to see if it would help. It was difficult keeping him awake through out the day, he kept wanting me to hold him and would rest is tired head on my shoulder. But in the end he went to sleep at 7 and stayed asleep for the night. I guess we will have to start making naps more sporadic around here.
Bedtime routines are sometimes exhausting. The teeth, floss, flouride, potty, pj's, baths, stories, prayers, etc. Aaron always jokes around that he wants to hire someone to come and do this procedure for us each day. I think the key is to go slowly--do one child at a time and it is more enjoyable. I don't know how large families do it.
Nicole usually has me put her to bed each night. She likes me to rock her and sing her to sleep. Right now she usually picks I am a Child of God or Noah was a Prophet. That part of bedtime is one of my favorite.
