January at a glance…

I can’t believe how quickly that ‘empty January month’ filled up.  A few more highlights…

Date Nights – Chris and I enjoyed our date night to Mission Impossible at the beginning of the month.  Great movie.  We also watched spent a couple nights watching the Sherlock Holmes series on BBC… just 3 episodes.  We have the next season’s 3 episodes to watch still.  It’s modern day Sherlock Holmes.  We liked it a lot.

Emily cooking classes – I spent two Thursday afternoons cooking with Emily.  She actually helped out in the kitchen more than that… but these were our planned out cooking sessions using all her new supplies – just her and I.  We made potato and onion soup the first day and then she invited over a friend, Ally to help make homemade cookies for the second day.  I love that she loves to be in the kitchen helping me.  Next, a full dinner. 

Katie photography classes – Katie and I went out once to talk about photography and take some pictures but it didn’t last long.  It’s just too cold.   More photography sessions to come.

RS groups – Our RS has a lot of groups going on and I although I don’t make it to everything I sure hate to miss out on all the fun girl time.  This month I went to Recipe Club (theme: healthy stuff – I took homemade salsa) at Yvonne’s house and chatted till 10:00.  I also went to the RS ‘get to know you’ night where we played funny games.  Oh, and I went to craft group one Wednesday morning and took my laptop with me to go through pictures.  Fun.

Secret Garden Play – I took Ryan, Katie and Emily to go see Ryan’s buddy perform in the Secret Garden musical.  It was fun to be there to support him and see so many of our friends there too. 

3 Birthday Parties – Luke went to Josh Chugg’s pirate party, Megan went to Naomi’s Jungle party and Ryan went to Abby’s 13 year old ice skating party. 

Megan’s experience with the Spirit at Brooklyn’s baptism – I took Katie, Emily, Megan and Matthew to Brooklyn’s baptism one Saturday night.  The girls sang in the program and did a great job.  After the baptism Megan said to me… “Mom, when Brooklyn got baptized I felt a very happy feeling when she went under the water even though I wasn’t even the one getting baptized.”  She was very serious and tender.  We talked about how she had just had an experience with the Spirit and she was so excited about it.  She came home excited to tell Ryan and Dad all about it.  In Sacrament meeting the next day she wrote her ‘testimony’ down on piece of paper and then went and found the Bishop after church to show him.  He was very happy about it and it just thrilled her.  I think it really makes her feel like a big girl to have had an experience like this of her own.  Love that girl.  She’s a sweetheart.

Youth Standards Night – Ryan and I drove an hour to the Stake Center for Youth Standards Night.  The focus was on the Entertainment and the Media including the Internet.  It was great.  Plus we listened to part of Gene R. Cook’s talk ‘13 lines of Defense’ which led to some great discussions.  Love that Ryan boy.  He’s a good kid.  Got to visit with Geneva for a while too – fun to be in the same stake!!

Fondant Lesson – Megan G. and I got Fondant Lessons from Emma one morning this week.  Fun to learn something new… we’ll see if and when I try it out myself.  So nice to have time with good friends.

Zumba Class – a military gal leads Zumba classes at our church a couple times a month.  I took some toys for my boys to play with in the corner and gave it a try.  Totally fun.  Must go again.  I’m trying to be good about exercising – some weeks better than others – but Chris is doing great.  Nice to be motivated together.  We went to the gym together once which was so fun!

Frankfurt Temple trip – We drove up to the temple with our friends, the Boyers.  (he’s the other bishopric member with Chris).   Fun to chat with them on the drive.   The temple has 8:00pm English sessions on the Friday night before our Stake Temple day so we took advantage.    I’m still overwhelmed by the sweet love shown to me by the German sisters who work there.  Even though we don’t speak the same language I can feel their spirit so strongly.  I love that about the Temple.   I also love that Chris and I were able to experience some parts of the session with a German speaking something and us replying in English.  Very unique.

Girls lunch – I met Geneva and Stephanie at the craft store on base to do some fun fabric shopping.  Then they came over for Tortilla Avocado Cream Soup and chatting.  So fun.  I picked up my framed Florence picture!!  Love it, now where to put it?

New calling – I’ve been released from Visiting Teaching Supervisor (which I really enjoyed) and got put into YOUNG WOMEN’s again.  Yeah!!!  I’ve probably been in the Young Women’s Program for 10 years out of my 16 years of marriage – and I love it, especially since Katie will be coming in in JULY!!   I’m the Personal Progress Leader AND Camp Director!!  So fun!

New word.

Well, I ‘borrowed’ my new WORD OF THE YEAR from someone else – just like last year.  I can’t help it – I’ve always been a good copier.  And when I saw it, I knew it was exactly what I needed… 

Last year I had a page full of worthy goals.  A serious page full, broken up into multiple categories.  I posted them by my computer.  I read them often.  And when I read over them now I really didn’t do too bad… on SOME things.  Others were somewhat neglected.   Really my goals for this year are mostly the same, but now I have a plan.

This year I’ve decided to really FOCUS on one thing each month.  A MAIN goal that I put my heart and soul into. Anything else that gets accomplished is just a bonus.   For January it was: reading the Book of Mormon every day.  I really focused on it, and I did it… EVERY DAY and hopefully it’s a solid habit I’ll continue throughout the year.  Early in our marriage Chris and I went for over three years straight without missing a day of scripture reading, but lately I have not been so consistent.

In October I mentioned to my Visiting Teacher that I struggled with prioritizing my scripture reading and wanted to be better.   At the end of our conversation she asked if I would like to be reminded with a phone call or email.  I smiled and said whichever was easier.  Every single day for over a month she emailed me an inspired quote about the importance of reading your scriptures. I was truly overwhelmed at the dedication my cute friend had, to help me get refocused.  I have them all saved in a file and printed some out to go inside my scriptures.  I got back on track.  Slowly and inconsistently, but with honest desire.

When I decided on this year’s WORD OF THE YEAR, I knew that I should start with Reading my Book of Mormon. 

For February I have another goal in mind which will take daily action.  I’m excited.  I’m hoping the beginning of each month will be a mini New Year’s Day – with all the motivation and FOCUS that goes along with it. 

Garmisch Trip

We slept in on Friday morning. Chris had a post call day and the kids didn’t have school.  Ryan had left the night before for a winter scout camp in Garmisch and we were heading in the same direction but we wanted to start our great weekend with a good ‘sleep in’.  Megan kept coming into our room saying “When are we going to Garmisch?”  We finished packing and were on the road by noon.  The kids were so excited.  The military owned Edelweiss Lodge in Bavaria has been one of our favorite vacation spots.  The area is just beautiful – and the lodge itself has a pool, outdoor hot tub, ‘free’ little kid rides, a huge open area with a big fireplace and a buffet.  Besides that the room we get has a loft. We booked this weekend back in November when we found a 25% off package with free buffet breakfasts. 

As soon as we got into our room we had our first family counsel and planned out what we would do. 

• Make a snowman
• Swim in the pool (2 times)
• Eat dinner at the buffet (2 times)
• Watch a movie in the lounge
• Play games in our room
• Eat breakfast at the buffet (2 times)
• Go sledding
• Have another family council

First on the list, make a snowman.  There was tons of snow outside and it was perfect for making a snowman.  We borrowed some snow pants from our friends, the Pattersons, and headed out into the 30 degree weather to get started.  It started getting dark as soon as we got out there.

The kids did lots of ‘angel making’…

 

 

There was a playground nearby and Matthew just wanted to go down the curly slide… over and over and over again.  He loved it.  It was tough to pull him back over to the snowman.

 

We brought our ‘portable snowman pieces’ to make our snowman but then had to leave our snowman faceless as we headed away.    We could see our snowman from our balcony windows.

   

By the time we were done it was totally dark.  We walked around front to the main entrance and went in to stand by the fire.  Matthew just loves the little rocking chairs – just his size.

 

After a great buffet dinner {check} we let the kids watch some of the movie in the lounge {check} while we checked out the gift shop and asked about places to go sledding.  Then we ran upstairs and got our swimming suits on (all except me –too much hassle for only a half hour of swimming)  We played with our new GoPro in the pool and the kids had a ball.  So much fun. 

It was 9:00 by the time we got out of the pool.  I took the little boys up for a bath and to get into jammies while Chris went and worked out.  The girls got showered in their own bathroom downstairs. (so nice to have two bathrooms).   When Chris got back the kids were all in bed.  He and I played Ticket to Ride online on his iPad all cozy in bed.  We’ve played it a lot lately and love it.  It was a fun day.

Saturday morning we headed straight to the buffet for breakfast.  We love the waffles and omelet station.  Then we got all bundled up and ready for sledding.  It was a perfect day.  We had woken up to a another layer of snow icing all the tree branches and making everything fresh white.  We wandered in the direction of a good sledding hill, parked and trekked up the hill. 

   

The kids had a great time.  The boys took turns riding with Dad on the ‘2 person’ sled and the girls rode down the hill on the circular twisty sleds.  Megan particularly liked riding on her stomach… no fear.   After a few hours of sledding, we headed back to the lodge.  We relaxed in our room for an hour,  the kids watched a movie and I took a little nap while Chris went down to meet Ryan, who was being dropped off from Scout camp. He had been worried about him because it got pretty cold during the night, but he said they had a great time and that he was warm enough.

Once Ryan was there we went swimming again.   The highlight was tiptoeing out into the FREEZING cold air and getting into the oversized hot tub with the whole family.  Boy that felt good.  Matthew was so relaxed he almost fell asleep in my arms.    Back up to the room for showers and clothes for the buffet dinner.  Delicious roast and potatoes and a RICH chocolate cake that was amazing.  I think our family ate an entire cake.  Matthew ate my whole first piece and half of my second.  Rascal kid.

We were back in our room right quite early and put on a movie for the little boys while the big four joined us for a family council.  We had the kids come up with a list of jobs that needed doing in order for our home and family to function… it was a long list.  Then we had the kids help us plan the responsibilities that each person would be in charge of in four main categories… MORNING, AFTER SCHOOL ZONES, HOMEWORK & PIANO, EVENING.  We agreed upon responsibilities and made our assignments and rewards.  Chris and I had previously read most of ‘The Entitlement Trap’ by Richard and Linda Eyre and used some of their words as a basis for our program.  I love to start a new program… especially in January, when we’re feeling ready to organize every part of our lives.  It feels nice to get this program finally ready to go.

After family council we played a big game of Ticket to Ride Europe.  Dad, Ryan, Katie, Emily, and I played and Megan was on my team.  It was really fun and EMILY won with a few strategy tips from Dad.  Megan and I lost but we decided to blame that loss on Dad because he took all the colors we wanted.  

Sunday we had one more free breakfast buffet, packed up, checked out at 11:00 and drove home.  Good weekend.

Chris put together a music video of our fun – but he’s having some trouble getting it loaded because of our music restrictions in Germany.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post it soon!

At home with the boys…

Now that the kids are back in school, it’s just me and the boys again.  Boy, do I love these little rascals.  They are so much fun.  A few things I want to remember about a typical day home with the boys…

Usually the boys are up before the big kids are off to school, although sometimes Luke wakes up first.  If he’s up before 6:45, he likes to eat breakfast with the big kids.  The two boys love to give hugs and stand at the entry way shouting goodbye as the chaos of two middle schoolers rush off for the bus at 7:19 and two elementary schoolers follow two minutes behind.  These days the opened door brings in gusts of cold wind and the boys and I are grateful we’re all still in our pajamas and not going anywhere.

Sometimes at 7:30 Grandma and Grandpa Walton skype before they go to bed.  The boys climb all over my lap, saying ‘Hi Bampa, Mamah!’ and making funny faces because they can see themselves on the screen. 

Matthew pulls me away to ‘EAT’! and Luke happily agrees to ‘second breakfast’ if he’s already had some.  Eggo waffles are a favorite, or cold cereal.  That, along with a ‘link’ (drink) and then they disappear downstairs to play Geotrax.  Sometimes I don’t see them for an hour.

Whenever the Geotrax fun wears off then Luke comes up to ask about playing Wii.    If I say YES without thinking, which definitely happens if I’m not really listening, then Luke corrects me and says, “You mean ‘yes I can, if I get dressed and clean my room’.”   Oh ya… that’s what I meant…

But first we run to the bathroom and the boys jump in the bathtub and ask for cars to play with. Sometimes they stay in there till they’re all pruney.  They like to be wrapped up and carried to their room.  Matthew doesn’t mind so much that I carry him like a baby and doesn’t say “I NOT a BABY!” near as much.   They want to stay huddled in their towels for awhile, as I pull out their clothes.   Luke has definite opinions about which underwear he should wear that day… Batman, Spiderman, Football, Soccer, or Diego.  Batman is the new favorite because he just got them for Christmas.  We put jeans and white undershirts and shirts on – but first I pretend their shirt is my hat that keeps falling off.  I love that Matthew laughs so hard he can hardly stand up straight.  No socks if we’re just staying home.  Our marble stairs are just too dangerous. 

If Matthew happens to see his backpack while we’re in his room, then he wants it on immediately.  Matt has a CARS one and Luke has a Buzz and Woody one.   Both are always filled with toys.  They just love having them on.  Every time I help Matthew put it on he turns around and says “I all ready to go!”

Luke feels motivated to clean his room, especially if I’m in there to help.  Matthew just wants to play with whatever’s already out and it frustrates Luke.  Inevitably I have to say, “just clean up everything but that.”  Sometimes they both get stuck playing and the room doesn’t get clean.  That’s ok too.  I tip toe out to get some more done.

Awhile later they come in to find me.   Sometimes I’m at the computer in my room.  They squish in as close as they can, bumping my arm or completely grabbing hold to try to ‘pull me off’.   That’s my cue.  “I know what time it is!  It’s TICKLE TIME!!”  As soon as I say it they start running and smiling… but they don’t run far, just far enough to turn around and watch in suspense as I slowly come towards them.  Matthew is sure that hiding his head into the bed will make it easier.  They love to be tickled.  Sometimes TICKLE TIME is downstairs in the living room but usually it’s on my bed.   It’s probably one of the best parts of the day.

Sometimes we bring bins of toys into Mom’s room.  They love to bring their toys somewhere new.  Lately, the cowboy playmobil, and Cars Lego – {where we build houses for all the cars} are a favorite.  Matt always likes the car mat and cars.  He also likes to put the cars into the Fisher Price farm and house.  The IKEA train set is still a hit as well.

Around 11:00 it’s snack time.  Applesauce, string cheese, vanilla wafers, or  fishy crackers and another ‘link’ (properly shaken by Mom even if it’s juice and not chocolate milk). 

The boys head downstairs for a game of Toy Story 3 or Super Smash Brothers on the Wii.  Matthew is picking up who is who and constantly tells us that he is Pikachu and informs us who we are.  Sometimes we understand him.  “Daddy, you Bowser.  Mommy, you green yoshi’.  Sometimes we have no idea what he’s saying, but he knows.  He loves being Diego too and if we call him Matthew during a time when he is Diego he corrects us… ‘No, I Diego!”  Luke is happy to follow suite and be ‘baby Jaguar’.

Lunchtime is almost always a corn dog.  It’s just one of the only things Matthew will really eat.   A sandwich will be left completely untouched.   What a rascal.

Matthew always goes down for a nap really well.  When I pick him up at that time of the afternoon (1:30 or 2:00) he knows what’s coming.  “Time for a nap, Matt.”  He whines a bit but then I ask, “Do you want to sleep in your crib or Luke’s bed?”  He perks up and answers “LUKE’S BED!!” with all kinds of enthusiasm.   He’s been enjoying nap time in Luke’s bed for a few months now – {we must be close to taking the crib down.}  He lies right down with a drink and blankets {and German blinds that shut tight and dark} and says “nigh-night, Mommy.  I lovfe you” – like a perfect angel.

Without Matt, Luke can’t think of a thing to do. Anything he starts gets boring fast.   Playing on starfall.com is always aloud, but sometimes he wants to just hang out right by me, in which case I pull out a piece of paper and he practices writing his name, or Matthew’s name, or everyone’s name, showing me letter by letter.  We did math problems for the first time last week and he thought that was pretty great.  

The door knocking at 3:04 is a wonderful sound for Lukey boy.  That means Emily and Megan are home.  He LOVES to be the one to open the door for them and give them a hug.  Then we’re all on to daily jobs, homework, piano practicing, cleaning room, making dinner and bedtime.  Busy stuff.  

I am loving having the kids back in school again, because staying home with the boys is pretty awesome.

Stake Conference

Just a few notes from Stake Conference that I don’t want to forget…

• President Allred spoke of the Parable of loaves and fishes.  If we take what little we have (our free time) and give it to the Lord – he will multiply it.  The Lord is always there.
• Josh and Holly Jones spoke about how to survive deployments with the help of Christ.  Both fascinating and enlightening talks since we’re in the process of deciding if we’ll stay in the army.
• The Temple will help us.   Give us Refreshment.  Nourishment.  Healing.  If you have a spouse deployed you can do proxy work “for the living”.  You can “go for them” so that they will receive the refreshment, nourishment and healing that they need.
• As we work and walk in the desert – we get dirty.  Part of the Refreshment is washing off the dirt and being able to recharge.
• As we go again and again we need to prepare ourselves to learn.
• The fog lifts and the way becomes clearer.  We can regain focus.  Sometimes it’s hard for us to decide what’s Good, Better, Best.  The temple helps to increase our focus.
• The wonder of the temple…. even though the words and actions do not change – our understanding changes as we go with new questions.
• “A good conference lasts past Tuesday.”  What will we do with what we hear?  We need to apply them.  We tend to trust the truths that we’ve tried but we’re reluctant to try new things.  We must BIND OURSELVES to act.  Look beyond ourselves… “Forget yourselves and go to work.”
• Stop yearning for the nuggets and appreciate the tiny flecks.
• Don’t pitch your tents at the periphery of the churches doctrinal campsite.  Camp near the fire and STAY THERE.
• We belong to an optimistic church.  We can have a wonderful life.  The church handbook states that the purpose is as a refuge from the storm.  We’ve been given a map to the refuge.

I love Stake Conference – especially the Adult Session.  It was a wonderful meeting with much good counsel.

REFOCUS.  GO TO THE TEMPLE.  LOOK BEYOND  YOURSELF.  CAMP NEAR THE FIRE.  WE CAN HAVE A WONDERFUL LIFE.

Luke at 3 1/2

I organized my desk, drawers, files and cabinets today and got everything all kinds of organized.  Happy day.  In the process I found a pile of ‘memories' and funny Lukey quotes that I had jotted down in the summer.  The sad thing is that funny stuff like this happens every day and I DON’T write down everything.  I wish I did… because this kid cracks us up.  Here he is with his classic thumbs up pose.

June 2011 – Luke

“Mom, I’m going to walk upstairs but just DON’T look at me!”  (after he accidently peed his pants)

July 2011 – Luke

Luke: “Oh, I love chicken.”

Mom: “This is fish.”

Luke: (Funny facial expression)  “Hey, there’s chicken inside this fish!”

Same meal but later…

Luke: “I don’t want to eat these yellow peas.” (corn)

July 2011 – Luke

Luke's bedtime prayer:   “Dear Heavenly Father.  Please bless that we don’t die.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Mom: “Luke, you need to say more things.”

Luke: “Sometimes we can say prayers with 1 thing or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5.”

Mom: “Well, a prayer with five things is the best.”

Luke: “OK.”   So closing his eyes he held one arm crossed on his chest and held one hand up, sticking one finger up for each new sentence.   “Dear Heavenly Father.  Please bless  we don’t die (1).  Thank you for the food (2).  Thank you for our family (3).  Please bless the food (4). In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen (5).    “There.”

August 2011 – Luke 

Luke was playing outside with Megan on the trampoline and hurt his toe.  He started to cry and then immediately folded his arms and said, “Heavenly Father please bless that my toe won’t get sick.”  When he was done, Megan said, “Luke that was a good thing to say a prayer.”  Then Luke said, “My mind told me to do that.”  Matthew looking concerned said, “otay?” and then Luke said, “ya, Matthew.  I’m OK.”

August 2011 – Luke

Luke: “I wish I had a pet monster named… angry green.  And he has green stuff on his chin.  And he has a green and black and red hat.  He likes red.  But actually he likes blue hats… small hats for little small monsters.    Another monster is all blue on his body and his bum and his belly button too.  He’s a daddy monster.  He’s nice.  And another monster is named Octopus Tiger and he’s mean.”   I don’t know where any of this came from but he was cracking me up so I had to pull out a piece of paper and take notes. 

September 2011 – Luke

“HE SCRUNCHED ME!”  I’m not sure where this came from but it has become a word around here for angrily grabbing hair, clothes or skin.  It’s not a good thing… that’s for sure.  

September 2011 – Luke

Eating his dinner at the dinner table I asked him if he liked his dinner to which he responded… “It was the best I never had!”

September 2011 – Luke

Mom: “I love you Luke.”

Luke: “I love you, Mom.”

Mom: “NO, I love YOU!”

Luke: “Mom, no, we both love ourselves.”  (He meant to say, “We both love each other.”)

and now a recent 4 year old one… January 2012

First of all the boys had starting saying “I’m going to kill you” in their play and I didn’t like it.  I told them they could say “I’m going to get you” instead and the other one could ‘faint’ instead of actually die.  Ever since that Luke has been saying “I’m going to faint you!”  It’s pretty funny.   The other day Luke was using Ryan’s iTouch on a Star Wars light saber App.  Swinging it around to make light saber sounds he approached Dad, “Dad, I’m going to faint you.” but before he could inflict any damage on Dad he hit himself in the nose with his swinging iTouch and started crying.  Sorry, Luke, but it was pretty funny. 

Geotrax Buddies

I think Ryan was just as excited about Luke and Matthew’s Geotrax presents as they were.  More tracks means more intricate railway systems and Ryan is definitely the engineer behind putting them all together.  Luke just LOVES it when Ryan has some extra time on Saturday morning to help him completely redo the whole set.   Recently Ryan said, “Mom, for my birthday… I mean, for Matthew’s birthday he really needs some more elevation pieces.”  I’m glad they have this thing to enjoy together.  Luckily we have a great big family room in the basement finished with tile.  The Geotrax stay permanently ‘downstairs’ all set up for everyday play.  The real shock about the new tracks from Santa was that they were ‘upstairs’.  How silly.  Matthew still talks about the ‘upstairs Geotrax’.

BYU jammies and hat from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson this Christmas.

3 girls

We are almost done with matching skirts.  Katie is counting down the days till Young Womens (5 months) and it just can’t come fast enough.  For the last couple years she’s been a very independent Sunday dresser but every once in a while when I help out with Emily and Megan’s clothes, she follows suite.  These cute skirts were made by Grandma Johnson and have so many layers of fabric that it’s a wonder they even stay up.  They’re adorable and coordinate without completely matching.  The girls love them.

Time to take down the Christmas cards.