Climber

This kid has no fear. And what do you suppose was worth climbing to the top shelf for? His favorite rice cakes ("cake!"), chips, crackers? Nope, raw spaghetti noodles were the goal. He'd climbed up there several times already to get just a couple at a time.

What's wrong with this picture?

Jeff got Jackson out of the tub and all ready for bed. When he went to get Lincoln's pajamas (or pajammies as he calls them) he came back to find this.

Cleaning up some love

So we have these cups full of nice things that our family had to say about us left over from the Valentine's day birthday party and I'm wondering what to do with them... they are nice to keep and treasure, but also just papers to have laying about. I decided to post them here to keep for our own memories.

Jackson:
-I love your laugh
-I love your smile
-You are always ready to share and are so sweet to think of others. I like feeding the ducks with you! Love, Grandma (he says "ma-guh")
-Happy Birthday, Love Sarah
-You are the cutest 2 year old I know
-I heart Jackson. From: Davis

Lincoln:
-Exciting
-Lincoln, I love your helping way
-Lincoln, I love playing games with you. You are very good at computer games. Love, Grandma
-I heart Lincoln. From: Davis
-Lincoln, You are bright and happy.
-Lincoln, You are fun to play with!

Jeff:
-Jeff- You do it all and keep looking for more to do! - Rose
-Jeff, I love your computer
-Compassionate and giving
-I love your humor
-You are a great dad
-I heart Jeff. From: Davis
-Jeff, I appreciate your knowledge and talents and your willingness to help everyone.
-Jeff, Thank you for all you do for me and the kids. You're awesome, Amy
-Jeff, I admire your abilities in the computer field and the progress you have made in your career. Thanks for caring for Christine and being a great son-in-law. Love, Corinne

Christine:
-I admire your multitude of talent and your dedication to your family
-You are a great mom! and have fun parties!
-I heart Christine. From: Davis
-Christine - Wonderful mother, wonderful wife, wonderful woman. Rose
-Artistic
-You are always bright and sunny
-Christine, You are a good aunt. Love, Sarah
-Christine, You are so talented and give so much of yourself. You are sharing your spirituality with your family and your seminary kids. Love, mom
-Christine, you're a good mom

Seminary Idol? DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS

For some reason I am just really into American Idol this year. It has grown on me the past couple of seasons and I enjoy watching the kids starting out unpolished and unsure of themselves... their confidence builds each time they get to stick around. It's simply fun to watch.

Unfortunately (or actually FORTUNATELY, as I'd rather put it) I don't have a lot of free time for tv watching because I have to prepare a lesson and go to bed early every night so that I can feed little hungering teenage souls in the morning. So, last night I finished up all of my scriptural reading and most of my additional resource readings and began early to splurge on some American Idol. I was muting my recording during commercials so that I could read what the OT Student manual might have to add to our lesson about the fall of King Solomon. What I found myself doing was looking up every few sentences to check and see if it was back on and not getting a whole lot out of my reading (shocking, I know). So I look again to see what I am reading about and it is "Double-Mindedness," meaning you can't serve two masters... you can't be focused on the things of the Lord if the things of the world are getting in the way.

Of note, I received a call earlier in the day letting me know that the area representative of CES would be attending my class in the morning, "not to judge me, but to get to know me." I met this man at the recent conference I wrote about and he was truly amazing. I was pleased to have him coming to visit, just to be in his presence again, but also nervous about doing a good job while he was there. It was a little added pressure in addition to just wanting to present a meaningful lesson to the students.

So, did I learn from my half-reading and turn off the show? No. Man, I love it! So I finished it and went to bed later than usual, only to have a really hard time falling asleep because 1) can't stop thinking about american idol 2) can't stop thinking about how exactly my seminary lesson was going to run... choosing which of several ideas to focus on 3) can't get rid of lingering cough from being sick - every time I was nearly asleep I'd have to cough again. 4) can't stop dreaming about american idol 5) can't stop dreaming about seminary idol

Jackson was also a frequent visitor in the night, so I didn't get much sleep. However, my seminary class went very well.... much better than I'd set it up to be actually, and I felt ok about my "performance." When I talked to this brother after class he said he was very pleased with how the class ran and said that it was "perfect" as far as including everything the way it is supposed to be done. He was very kind to me and made me feel like I was a good teacher. I got a call later in the day from another CES leader helping me with some attendance issues. She told me that he'd been impressed with our class. Yet another CES person sent me an e-mail and commented that she'd heard the same thing. So.... I guess that's three yeses. I'll be back at seminary tomorrow!

(so wrong - I know!)

Word Confusion

Lincoln is cracking me up today with using real words, but in place of the right words.

1st: Yeah mom, it's like hanggliders (this is his word for American Gladiators)

2nd: I don't want to mom, I just want to CREMATE something! Cremate?! He was trying to say create.

3rd: I told him we got "bunches" of points on our Webkinz game... He was thrilled with how many "SPONGES" we got.

4th: During evening book time dad was reading a rhyming book. He would pause a lot and let Lincoln guess what word would fill in the blank. At the end of the book he needed a word to rhyme with "clover." He read, "and now the dance is....." and I kid you not, Lincoln said, "completed."

Cracking me up!