Trying to Stay Cool (a.k.a. Water and more Water

Our week was spent trying to stay cool. We had three 100 degree plus days here this week. It was like walking into an oven when you went outside. So we spent nearly every day at the splash park in Kennewick or the wading pool in Richland or, the big treat of the week, the Surf n' Splash Water Park in Lake Moses. We went there on Saturday and it probably would have been worth the 1 1/2 hour drive if our kids were older. But they were happy just playing in the wading pool or floating in the lazy river. Next time we will go over to Hermiston (only 40 minutes away) and play there.

I also got our first utility bill this week and opened it with hesitant fingers. I imagined huge charges since we are running two to three air conditioning units, ceiling and floor fans nearly twenty-four-seven. But it wasn't so bad. Actually around $60 less than what we had budgeted for. Can I get a whoot-whoot!

To top off the week we had a water incident at home. This time in the bathroom. Adam was gone home teaching after church and I was home with the boys preparing dinner. As I finished feeding the baby, I noticed that Phin was extremely quiet. BAD SIGN. So I went upstairs just in time to see the toilet overflowing onto the floor. I rushed to turn off the water and realized that Phin had proceeded to flush an ENTIRE ROLL of toilet paper down the toilet. Our last roll of toilet paper, might I add. So I'm digging wet toilet paper out of the toilet and plunging the rest. I got the toilet to flush and then proceeded to get out five towels to mop up the floor. Phin was to help me with this project as it was his mess. He proceeded to cry. I left him to do what he could and went downstairs to check on dinner and start the grill. When I went back upstairs, George had messed his pants and was crying because his bum was also wet as he was sitting on the recently overflowed toilet. And here I was at a loss as to what to use to wipe his little bottom. So Phin and George crying in the bathroom, baby crying downstairs (because he thinks he is starving and must have cereal RIGHT THIS INSTANT!), mom nearly crying all over the place. But I kept my cool, improvised with some tissues, sent George to get dressed and went downstairs to get a laundry basket for all the wet towels. And in the basement, I find another flood. There is something wrong with our drain (could it be the roll of toilet paper, hmm?). So now I have a flooded basement, three crying children, a wet bathroom floor, no toilet paper and a possibly burnt dinner. Did I mention that Adam was home teaching? Yeah, always happens when you are trying to be righteous. I think it's a test of faith.

Luckily the rest of the night went off without a hitch, unless you consider Phin whining through dinner and eventually being put to bed at a quarter to seven a hitch. I personally see an early bed time as a blessing. Then, as I was cleaning up dinner (did I mention that Adam also had a priesthood meeting tonight?) I saw this:

This is George reading to Spencer from the Friend. He was having a regular singing time with Spencer. It was so great! George helped his teacher out today during sharing time by reading 3 Nephi 18:21 "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed." He only needed help with a couple of the words. What a smart kid. See the Lord does bless you, you just have to endure to the end.

My 24 Obsession and My Husband

So I've spent a lot of time this week watching 24. Jack Bauer is THE MAN. Every time I think, "There is no way for Jack to get out of this one," he does. Like when he killed a guy by biting into his jugular. Not pretty, but effective. George watches with me sometimes, although we usually watch after the boys have gone to bed. So this week, George has switched off between being Harry Potter and being Jack Bauer. The only difference is Jack doesn't have glasses and carries a plastic gun from the dollar store and Harry wears glasses and carries a purple pen for a wand. (Sorry to those of you who bought him the nice wands for Christmas, the pen still wins out every time.)

The ritual has been put the boys to bed, pop popcorn or make up some yummy chocolate milk, then sit and watch Jack while Adam rubs my feet. Does life get any better? Adam stayed up until after midnight on Thursday night watching 3 episodes in a row. He was really sad when Phin came in at 5:50 the next morning. We are currently watching season six and are more than half way through. It becomes almost like the Twilight books, I just can't stop until I'm finished. So hopefully we can finish this week and start talking to each other again at night.

Speaking of not talking to your spouse, Adam took me out on a date on Friday night. We went to this great Italian restaurant set up in a 1940's dining car. The atmosphere was great and the food spectacular. It's called Montorosso's and is hidden behind the Chapala's Express on Lee if you are interested. Anyway, while we were there I noticed a couple sitting a couple of tables away from us. The wife had actually pulled out a book and was reading during dessert! I thought how terrible that must make her husband feel. It's like she is saying, "You are so boring, I had to bring a book. I'm really just here for the free food." Adam and I saw another couple like this when we were engaged. This was at the Rodizio's Grill in Salt Lake. This married couple sat together for over 30 minutes and didn't even make eye contact. How sad! I wonder if this is a syndrome of empty nesters - the kids are gone, so we have nothing more to talk about.

Adam and I are determined not to become like this. We keep up on current events and try to read interesting things so that we can talk about them later. If all else fails we go to the old back ups, like, if you could have one super power, what would it be? Goofy things like that. But, hey, it keeps us talking, and not always about the kids. If anyone has other suggestions, send 'em our way.

On another topic, we went to the wading pool on Saturday. This isn't a small plastic wading pool from Wal-mart. This thing is about 50 feet across and 18" deep, perfect for the little ones who can't swim. It was the first time we had been there and decided it was a must since just walking outside made you sweat buckets. Adam played with the boys in the water while I soaked my feet with Spencer cradled between my knees. Pretty soon Adam had a whole slew of kids playing with him. Boys and girls splashing him, trying to tackle him, throwing beach balls at each other. It was so cool to watch. Adam was having as good of a time as the kids. When I told him it was almost time to go home, it was like he was one of the kids, begging for fifteen more minutes. One woman there, a single mom, really appreciated what Adam did. Her 8 year old twins and nine year old daughter don't get much time with their father and just having Adam play with them for that hour really meant a lot. She said they would be there again in two weeks and would love to see us there. It's nice to be married to a man who makes a difference just because it is in his nature to love people. He's a great example to our kids. And to me.

Cowboys

Yeehaw! Last weekend we went to Boise for Alix's wedding. It was so nice and Alix and A.J. looked great. I'm totally jealous that they went to Disney World for their honeymoon.

Prior to our trip, the boys and I had been talking about cowboys, what they wear, what they do and singing cowboy songs. So it was a big treat when the boys got to ride Grandmom and Poppop's new horses.

Adam and I took advantage of the grandparents to go on a date to see Transformers 2. It was so lame! Please don't waste your money. It was long and there wasn't enough story to string all the explosions together.

As always, our travel turned into more of an adventure than we had counted on when the truck almost blew a tire outside of Hermiston, OR. The spare was bad too, so we dropped it at the local Wal-mart and made it home only 2 hours later than scheduled. Monday, we went back to Hermiston, hung out at the McDonalds with a bomp playplace while the truck got fixed and then came back home. Did I mention that Adam's Corolla had broken down on Thursday? So with a new timing belt, water pump and four new truck tires we spent over $1000 in one day on crappy car repairs. I wasn't the happiest buckaroo, but I have recovered and convinced Adam to repost the truck on Craig's list. Anyone looking for a new rig? I have to recover my $1000 somehow.

Love and Logic?

So I checked out Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood from the library. I'm always looking for ways to improve my parenting skills. A friend had recommended this series and said it worked wonders with her daughter who was always dawdling in the mornings. The philosophy is really about letting our children experience the natural consequences of their choices. You climb on slippery rocks, you fall in the river and get wet. It sounds good enough, and I believe I practice this most of the time. The book also talks about giving your children choices, or "making deposits" in their "feel confident about myself" account so that later you can make "withdrawals" when they don't get a choice and, according to the authors, they will pretty much do as you ask because you have made so many "deposits" throughout the day. So I tried it -- "Do you want juice or milk for breakfast?" "Do you want your sneakers or sandals?" "Do you want to set the plates or the silverware?" Feeling I had been generous throughout the day I assumed my children would do as I asked them when I told them it was time for a bath. Even in this I gave them a choice, "Do you want to get undressed in your room or in the bathroom?" "Our room!" they chorused together and then proceeded to run all over the house, giggling, and not getting undressed. So I followed the book -- "If you don't get undressed for a bath, you'll have to go straight to bed, no stories or songs." Okay, so maybe not a natural consequence, but the best I could come up with after a long day. Looking back, the best natural consequence would be to have put them in the tub fully clothed, which I have done before. But on with the results of my experiment.

They didn't get undressed, so we said prayers and they were put to bed at 7:30 fully clothed, no bath, no teeth brushing, stories or songs. I went downstairs and made a phone call or two, then went back up around 9:00 after putting Spencer to bed to check on the sweet things. George had proceeded to tear down and break the blackout shade we have in their room (because the sun insists on coming up at 4:30 am). I was so angry, but I followed the book, staying calm and saying "That is a bummer. Now you are going to have to pay for that with chores or with your favorite toy, Mr. Bear." "I'll do chores mom, I'm sorry." I jimmy rigged the shade to make it through the night and left thinking, this just might work. The next day, it was like pulling teeth to get George to do the chores to pay for the shade. Those things are $30! First was laundry. George knows how to fold his clothes, but apparently this was just too much. He cried and pouted, and yelled "I need help" for about an hour. Finally I said, "If you don't want to do chores, then you will have to pay with Mr. Bear." And he did, handed him over and then went about his day. I was the one that felt awful. I took away his lovey! All for a shade - what a terrible mom. For the rest of the morning, I continued to try the Love and Logic way, but I found I wasn't able to make any "withdrawals". Obviously my children had not read the book.

"Great," I thought, "my children are going to end up kicking dogs or mass murderers just like the little boy in the book whose mom didn't use Love and Logic (pg. 41-42)." I ended up following the hate and frustration way for early childhood. So I quit. I went back to the old ways of time outs and lots of praise for good behavior. And I realized that sometimes the "natural consequence" of bad behavior is a grouchy mom who isn't very much fun to be around.

I love my kids. Sometimes I don't like them - and that's okay. But for the most part I get to enjoy sweet things like this.

And this, where I need to ask George what his name is - Harry, George, or some other name, like Tom.

Or when Phin says "Hi, mom!" ten times at the dinner table. I love it.

I figure the best way to be a parent is to listen to the Spirit, fill your own spiritual reservoir and love them as much as you can. And take a break when you need to. Even just going to Wal-mart without children can be a rejuvenating experience.

Happy Fourth of July!! We had a great day yesterday starting with spending the day with our neighbors. They are such a great family. They invited us to Fishhook park, a nice place on the river with lots of shade and a nice inlet where the kids can play in the water and swim. It reminded me a little of Black Canyon Dam. The boys had a blast. They really enjoyed playing with all of the kids there. In addition to our neighbor's children, her sister, brother and nephew were there with their kids. It was a party. They were so kind, sharing their food with us (those Ukranians sure can cook). Natasha, the mom, watched Spencer while we played in the water with all the bigger kids. It felt like family. Later we drove home and watched some 24 (season 6) and then I took the older boys to see the "River of Fire" while Adam stayed home with Spencer; actually while Adam watched 24 without me and Spencer slept.

This is before the action. Can't you feel the brotherly love?

Pretty good, but not as good as Idaho Falls I think.

I've been reading "The 5000 Year Leap" (thank you Glenn Beck) and it has really helped me to develop a greater appreciation for this country and all of our blessings of freedom. I had an idea before how amazing the Constitution is, but reading this book has brought a whole new perspective on just what a miracle this country is. I really am grateful for the liberty we enjoy and thankful for the men and women who have fought and are still fighting to protect that freedom everyday. God bless you.