Weekend away

For Memorial Day we were suppose to have a blast at my sister's house with her kids. The guys were going to take the boys hiking while Katy and I went to a mom's retreat.

Well, Luke came down with strep throat just before we were suppose to go. So...I just went! It was really odd to travel that far by myself. But with a little help from Michael Buble and Glenn Beck, my Itouch and I took off and arrived at Sundance just fine! Oh and Happy Birthday Katy!! hee hee hee...

my fabulous sister Katy! Happy birthday Katy!

Katy and I went to a TJed retreat for moms. TJed are the principles that I use to base our home around. You can read about it here. Or you can read this book.

The retreat was amazing. Although it was geared towards homechooling moms, it was really things that every mom would benefit from. I had some great "Ah-ha" moments and some big "saygobedo's" that I am pursuing. Woo!

One thing that I LOVED reading was this: Parenting Pyramid from the Arbiger Institute. It has some profound insights to parenting. I have read it before, but this time I learned new things from it. I recommend it to everyone!! :-)

A few more notes...
*Help things go right.
*Our first job as a mom is to heal, build and nourish relationships.
*Kids won't learn from you if they don't like you!

(I am not a very good self portrait taker...Jenn I need some lessons!!)

*Effective teaching depends on the quality of the relationship.--without a good relationshiop, you cannot teach effectively.
*Quality of the relationships in the family is largley dependant on the relationship with our spouse.
*Our personal way of "being' directly effects the rest of the family.
*It is not enough to do your best, you have to learn what to do and THEN do your best.
*Look beautiful as often as you can--men (including husbands) are very visual.
*don't expect your husband to fullfill all of your conversational needs (I am laughing that I wrote that down!! Pretty obvious I know..lol..)
***The ONLY mortal that I will make covenants with is my husband.--I liked that one! :-)
*Read to teach, write to learn.
*Are you happy with the feeling in your home?-Focus on the feeling of your home. The feeling of the moment.

view from the front door...it was lovely!

**Don't let ANYTHING bug you! It is a choice! (as I type this my 4 year old is having a royal fit over going to bed..lol..and I'm not bugged...really...not yet....well maybe a minute....one second while I get this kid to bed!!!! AAHHH!!!)
*The children in your home is sacred.
*I need to host a southern Utah TJed retreat. hahaha..no joke...I am trying to find a place to host a one night getaway for about 40 moms in late September....any one have any ideas?????? (And yes I am crazy thank you very much!!)

Anyway, I have many more notes and personal insights. One of my favorite speakers was there. You might remember me posting about a family that took in some troubled teenagers for a week for a BBC program. That family was Nicholeen Peck's family. She has given me some transformational knowledge that has truly helped my family. She has given me vision and goals for my family and I will forever be greatful to her. She has a book out now too!! So everyone who is struggling with your kids...this is the book for you!!! She also has a blog HERE and an email letter that sends out great information as well.

--this is in day two with Nicholeen...I was not looking so bouncy as day one..lol..

And since she will probably never see this, I'll divulge this information..lol.. For those of you who know me, you know that I love to do handwriting analysis--I can read quite a few things from a signature. Well, I asked to see Nicholeen's signature (not an autograph..autographs are different!). Her signature was so in line with what she taught. She didn't have any temper ticks, she thinks a lot before she speaks, her husband is the leader in her home and she if very humble. I dare say that she has a better relationship with her family (her parents etc.) than her husbands. (But don't we all..lol...) I could say more, but I don't want to bore you...if you're still reading THAT in itself if a miracle!! Love you Nicholeen!! :-)

I had such a wonderful time with my sister. I MISS my family and it was so nice to spend a couple of days with her. I love you Katy!!! :-)
I came home really refreshed for my family. I haven't really been in a happy place lately and this really jump started my batteries. I am so blessed to have a husband who will support me to go to this retreat! He had a blast with the kids and the house was even CLEAN when I came home!! Cory you are the BEST! I love you!!

It was a great weekend. Now to read the dozen books I bought!

Home-schooling James

First a little history.....

I have always home-schooled my kids. They are not part of the school system, so to judge them by the school system is counter productive. They are what they are, a work in progress...trying to learn the skills and abilities that they will need for their mission in life.

That being said......

My James has never been one who has enjoyed reading. He is 10. In the past he has declared his ultimate hatred for reading. He has said that he doesn't need to read since there is a movie for everything anyway. It has been very discouraging for me for James refuse to read. All of his friends were reading and kids said mean things to him about his lack of reading skills. It was very, very painful for me to watch James go through this. I have prayed A LOT and cried frequently over his "hate of reading."

So...what was this home-schooling mom to do?!?! I was very tempted to force it on him. "You WILL sit down and do your reading before you do anything!!" But forcing this skill upon him was not what I wanted to accomplish. I knew I could force him to SIT DOWN and DO IT OR ELSE but I didn't want him to just do it. I wanted him to realize how important reading was and to choose to read and to love reading. Whenever I am "forced" to do something, without it being my choice, I resent doing it. The scriptures even say that if we serve with an ungrateful heart that we might as well not serve at all!! In the scriptures it says that it is our choice whether or not we do something...whether we are righteous or wicked. There are consequences for whatever choice we make, but it is ultimately our decision whether or not we go to church, read our scriptures, say our prayers, and I believe that this even applies to the more worldly things such as reading, writing, playing musical instruments, even relationships that we have with others-- it must be our choice. Things forced upon us or without it really being our choice, the results are short term and a testimony is not gained. It reminds me of trying to feed a baby baby-food. I can open the jar, spoon the food, and present it to the baby but it is still up to the baby to open his mouth and even then he can spit it out.

Agency to choose to learn is agency to choose to learn. It isn't the agency to choose to learn...except when I say so. (Although that would certainly be much easier.) HOWEVER, I really do want my kids to read and learn everything that they will possibly need to succeed in life..so how do I do it?? It is a process that I could talk and talk and talk about..lol...but with James and his reading it has been a lot of me reading to him. We have read A LOT of books together. And for some reason there is always something that I need to do when we get to an exciting part. I love it when the kids just beg "One more chapter PLEASE??" (I have learned these skills through THIS book and its principles. ) Anyway, for years James and I have done our reading together. I would ask him if he would want to read and he would usually reply "no thanks mom" I would say "ok" and then I would read to him. During the last year though I have caught him secretly reading..lol..he would be reading the comics page in the newspaper or the signs on the side of the road. It gave me hope!!

About 6 weeks ago his brother checked out an A-Z book from the library. I don't think Luke was interested in reading it, it was just another book that he had grabbed. Well, James snuck it into his room when they went to go to bed and quietly began reading it. That night I didn't make them turn the lights off on time, I let them stay up and quietly read. Well, the next day James came bounding into my room..."MOM!!! I finished this book!! Can we go get another one??" And while I wanted to jump up and down and scream "YES!!" I restrained myself and said "You bet! Lets go!" Well, he kept reading and reading...finishing a book every day or two. About 2 weeks ago he came up to me and said "Mom I love reading so much!!" and again I had to restrain myself and I simply said "Me too. I love reading too!! "--then he was able to revel in that awesome moment of self-pride in what he was able to do. I was one happy mama!

Homeschooling is not easy. If I ever tell you it is, I am LYING! HOWEVER, if you ever tell me that you couldn't do it, then you are lying too. Ok I guess that sounds a little harsh..lol..but seriously, if I can do this, than anyone can. If that still small voice spoke to your heart and told you to do this, you would. Just like if that same spirit told me to put my kids in public school I would.--at least I would like to think I would.

A few days ago James finished his A-Z Mystery series. He counted up the pages that he read and it totaled at about 2040. I am so happy for James and for the love of learning he is experiencing. He is thirsty for learning and experimenting.

I know that everyone's path in life is different and that home-schooling isn't for everyone. God has a path for everyone, none of which are the same. This is just the path that he has presented to me.

Way to go James!! I love you!!

Look who's 4!!

He loves his new Tonka truck!!



We made his cake together...it was chocolate cake with oreos on top and yellow sprinkles! Ben picked it all out all by himself.


We made root beer, grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob, and had fresh watermelon. MMMMmmmmm!!

My BEN is now officially 4 !

I love you Ben! :-)

The trapezoid delema.

My sisters "lovingly" refer to me as "crafty." So when a few months ago a good friend of mine gave me a handmade washcloth. I loved it! And I wanted to make some too. How hard can it be? right?







-this is the one my friend gave me. See how nice and squarish it is!!

My mom can crochet one of these babies in just an hour or so. They are my favorite washcloths and I really wanted to make some myself. I am not an expert crochet expert, but I can chain, single chain and double chain. What else would I possibly need to know???? So, I set out to find a simple pattern. My first attempt went fairly well.














It was recognizable as a square washcloth and I was feeling pretty good about myself. :-D Pin a badge on me! Well..maybe not to fast with that pin. My second washcloth and several afterwards were..well..not exactly square.













In fact, I would classify them as a trapezoid but that would be a disservice to the adjacent angels theorem for trapezoids. With my ego freshly popped, I set out to try again...and again...and again...and again.













All of them were lacking the proper 90* angles and straight edges to have it look "squarish."














I attempted the circle washcloths and they turned out..ok...but it was the square ones that were the desire of my heart.














I thought about them incessantly, looked up patterns for hours.














After many many many more tries, I have finally made a couple that were acceptable, although still not square.



























Needless to say, I have not given any as a gift--who would want a trapezoid washcloth anyway???? Maybe my sisters??? :-D

A Comedy of Errors!!!

Oh we had so much fun!! Everyone in the cast did a superlative job! Luke really practiced hard and did great. He learned all of his lines and blocking. And a big thank you for Katy!! To have my sister drive 5 hours with her 5 kids to come see our little production really meant a lot. But I must confess, I am relived that it is done. For the past six weeks my life has been this play. I have been on the phone constantly with parents and the scholars as we did this thing. I've never directed before, so I read a whole lot of books about putting on a play. It will be nice to put my head to rest and do some things focused here at home. My reading list for the summer is really long. Shakespeare will be wrapping up and it won't start again until August. Cory isn't taking any classes this summer and so I want to camp camp camp!! Yeah summer break!

shameless plug...

For the last month I have been directing a play for my Shakespeare Conquest class. These 20 kids ages 12-14 have been studying Shakespeare since August when the class started. It is a class offered through the Washington County Commonwealth . I have been one of the two mentors for the class this last year and I am so amazed at the greatness of the scholars that I have been able to witness. Only a few of the kids had taken the class before and were familiar with Shakespeare, for the rest of them it has been their first exposer to Shakespeare. For our "final" this semester, we are performing "The Comedy of Errors." It is one of Shakespeare's first plays and it is one of my favorite. No betrayal, no murders, and a happy ending!! Luke is the part of Dromio of Syracuse and he is having so much fun.

We are doing the play as pirates and I want to invite everyone to come!! It is only $2 a person or $12 a family. Performances are April 14, 15, 16 at 7:00 pm with a matinee on Friday at 2pm. So, come dressed as a pirate and set sail with us!!



This scene is so hilarious! Luke is suppose to jump on the chair..and well...missed...to funny!!

Anyway, if anyone would like tickets, just ask!! Luke will probably be asking you anyway..lol..

Happy Easter!

May your Easter be filled with the love of our Savior. Without Easter, there would be no Christmas.