TEN

Didi turned 10! 

This is at her family party at home.  Mom did most of the pre-bday shopping, but Dad took her out on her bday for a special "pick out your favorite thing" shopping trip, and she chose two books.  This cute little patchwork dog was a special surprise for her, it was something she really wanted but wasn't expecting.  I was excited for her to open it.  Her reaction for the camera didn't disappoint : ). 

This year she got to have not just a family party, but a big "friends party" as well (our kids get them about every 4 years).  She chose "pink" as her theme, which was so easy to work with and lots of fun!  She was our original pink princess, after all.  Isn't she gorgeous!?  I love her confidence and her poise.  She's my beautiful big girl!

Take Note

What a wonderful experience I had today.  These are some good friends of mine that I sing with, as a new choral ensemble; we've named ourselves "Take Note".  Isn't that a fun name?  Just one other person in this picture is LDS, and he joined the group just temporarily-- since today Take Note provided two special musical numbers for our sacrament meeting.  It was so cool to have my friends come to our service and share their talents and beautiful music with us!

I was especially excited to have them come this week, because it was our ward's "Invitation Sunday." That is, we were all encouraged to invite our friends to our special sacrament meeting...the talks were especially prepared for our invited friends who might not yet be familiar with our faith.  The talks were perfect, it was neat to see a cute young couple be confirmed members of the church (as their baptism was yesterday), and the music turned out beautiful--as nice or better than we had ever practiced it.  We sang a local friend's composition of "The Lord's Prayer", and also a piece I snagged from our ward choir music collection, a nice arrangement of "Jesus the Very Thought of Thee."  Beautiful music, that's why I sing.  I love it.

I'm just sorry my dear hubby Jazz had to miss the whole thing, as he's returning from the Reno Jazz Festival tonight after 5 days away from home. (Can we all sing together--"I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home"?!)

A Couch Miracle

I HAD to grab my camera when I witnessed this miracle.  All four kids happened to be sharing the same love seat, watching TV, and no one was complaining about their personal space being invaded!  Not a single "he's touching me" or "I was there first" or "scoot over, PLEASE!"  I couldn't believe it!  They were all sharing space, and there was actually peace in the air.  Had to capture this moment for posterity : ).

Mom & Toot

 Here are some recent pics of Tootie 'n me.  I think about how my mom used to say how she treasured her time at home with my youngest brother, since he was her last baby at home while the big kids were at school, and they shared some good pre-school-ish times together.  They were buddies.  I think Tootie and I are that way, too.  It's just him 'n me a lot of the time.  We can be like two peas in a pod sometimes. 

I heard a quote the other day (can't remember where) that has stuck with me.  It said something like this:  "The joy of motherhood is found in moments."  I have those kinds of moments with this little guy all day long.  He really can make me laugh. 

Like when today he and Didi were talking in the car on our way home from his school.  He was talking about his upcoming birthday (which is actually about 6 months away).  Didi asked when his birthday is going to be, and he said "In six days."  She said, "your birthday is about every six days, isn't it."  "Yep," he replied, 'cause that's the way it is with him.  Half of the stuff he ever plays with, he "got it for his birthday" (in his dreams?).  No wonder he tells everyone he is sixteen--he has birthdays more often than the rest of us!

Tootie took this picture of me.

This was a "take a picture of me, Mom" moment : ).

He snuggled up next to me and then asked Dad to take a picture of us.  Awesome.

This may look worrisome, but never fear, nothing's wrong...he was just allowing the university's brain development lab researchers to chart his brain activity during some cartoons that he watched (they let him play with fun toys while they fitted him in the special "space hat"), and he didn't mind at all.  We were (paid) volunteer guinea pigs for their research project, which was pretty cool indeed.  This was the same project that involved our parenting classes and his "Brain Train" classes, that he really loved.  We gained some cool skills during this project!

I love that Tootie loves to do puzzles with me.  He can whip out 50-100 piece puzzles all on his own now, too!  Tootie is a bright, handsome, energetic, super-hero 3 1/2-year old, and I'm so grateful that he's mine.  I love ya, Toot!

Parenting Tip: Be PlanFULL

I just wanted to share something that I learned in our parenting class (put on by the university here as a research project) that I think is wonderful.  It's a way to help avoid power struggles.  They call it being PlanFULL.  The technique is this:

When you know you're very likely going to have a power struggle in an upcoming situation, plan ahead with the child.  Before the situation arises (especially just prior to it--such as right before you have to take the child grocery shopping with you, or just before time to do chores, before sitting down for Family Home Evening, etc.),

1-be clear about what behavior is expected, and

2-be clear about what consequences will occur when those expectations are not met, and

3-be clear about the reward for good behavior.

4-(this is the most helpful!)  MAKE DRAWINGS on little post-it notes as you are going over what you're discussing!  Then stick them somewhere where the child can see them during that situation.  The visual aids make all the difference in the world.

Today I decided it was time to use this method with Shark, as we approached time for him to practice the piano.  Sometimes he can get really frustrated and say things like "there's nothing left for me to practice and I still have 20 minutes left" (which is of course completely not true)... "can't we please cut my time short today?" So I was planfull with him, and we covered what needs to be done during his practice time. 

There's one more thing you need to know.  Being planfull does NOT eliminate misbehavior.  Kids will be kids, and they have to test us constantly.  BUT, the goal is to avoid the power struggle (where both parent and child are angry together).   
NO, Shark has not been an angel because of our planfull-ness, but at least ONE major goal was achieved:  MOM was much less stressed with his misbehavior. Because, I knew HE knew what was going to happen--and he was making informed decisions with his behavior.  Simple warnings do the job now, consequences are JUST, and no yelling is involved.  And Mom is not pulling her hair out.  WOOHOO!!!

Just wanted to share.

The Coolest Fire Hydrants Ever

This past year we had a great time seeing these fire hydrant works of art popping up all around our neighborhood.  Aren't they amazing?  I decided I needed pictures of all of them, they are all so unique and entertaining.  So the girls and I picked one afternoon to go exploring, and we believe we've located all but two that we've come across, and have photos of nearly 30 different hydrants.  We had so much stopping every couple of blocks to pose with the different hydrants.  Don't you wish your town's fire hydrants were as cool as ours?

Evidence

Here is yet another example of evidence that our house is inhabited by children.  I went to make some rice the other day, only to find that my rice container had been contaminated with playthings.  I had to laugh!