Happy thoughts

I have nothing nice to say.

Since I am SOOO GRUMPY, I figured the best way to blog was to post a few of my happy thoughts. I love them.

We did not forget

They do not remember the day. She wasn't born yet.

I will not teach them of fear and sadness. I will teach them of a day when evil was sure it could divide, but instead, goodness held together and strengthened beyond measure.

I will teach them the Pledge of Allegiance and what the words mean. What it means to be united. That is what today means to me.

Caldecott -Shmaldecott!

I must rant.

I can't stand not too this time. I am reading books to the princess today at the library and I grabbed this one.

It has a Caldecott award -so it MUST be good, right? WRONG!

Evidently they didn't read it before slapping the award on.

What a terrible children's story about a dead baby owl and lack of accountability. sheeesh.

Seriously what kind of lion king would let all of the jungle animals get away with not taking responsibility for their own actions?

Who are these Caldecott people and what are they thinking??? And why the weird "kirup, kirup" type words randomly placed that don't accurately describe the sounds that these animals make? Do things sound different in Africa? Is it me?

If you want a GOOD Caldecott book, stick with this one.

Oh, and I blame the snake.

Home's Cool!

I think I may actually have us back into a routine again and homeschool is finally starting to hum along smoothly -well for at least 1 day it has.

Although today I had the princess catch on to the always fun game of "find and point out contradictions to every phonics rule that you can".

Sawyer brought me his math, which showed "old coins" that someone is collecting and the math question required the dates on the coins.

Well needless to say, the reason that he was thrilled to show me was to prove that even his math book thinks I am old now.

I am UNFIT !

I have this new thing about starting a bathtub and letting it run until I see water in the hallway. I am not sure why.

I have always found the sound of running water to be calming. However, the mad dash down the stairs to put a container in "the spot" where the water drips through the floor to the basement hall -yeah NOT so calming.

One might be led to believe that I would somehow end up with clean floors out of the deal -not so much.

I have managed to do this twice so far this month. I am so proud.

ps -currently I am being scowled at by Sawyer who believes that I am not caring for him properly while his father is not here to pamper him in the way that he is accustomed too -I am telling you, UNFIT!

Jama day

I designated this Wednesday to be our lazy, do nothing, sit in our own filth "jama day"! I have needed one for ......well forever.

This meant we would stay in and have no friends over.

Then we got silly and decided to play hair -super-dee-duper FUN!

Savannah and I got on our favorite hair blog and I let her choose any style and we would do it. She chose the Barbie hair-do.

None of the photos have been edited because I am lazy today!

I told her that I wanted to take a picture of the back and this is what I got. Why would you not want her face???

silly me.

Needless to say when we suddenly realized that we did have to leave the house and run to her piano lesson (I grabbed my Jane Jetson face and pasted it on) she was impossible to teach because there is a mirror in the practice room and she couldn't stop admiring herself. :[

Sawyer and I spent the day planning Halloween costumes. I love planning ahead and the princess is all decided. He and I layed around looking at websites all morning.

AHHHH Jama Day's are the BEST!!!!

It just keeps getting better and better!

We came home from a ward picnic to find a neighbor walking into our ward saying he was going to "check for damage".

The storm had blown down a branch in the front yard and we just thought he was SO sweet to be so protective of us.

I did noticed that he looked like he had seen a ghost. I didn't know that he watched our 45ft tree sway back and forth until it finally went forth and never came back. He assumed that we already knew. I turned to look at the back yard trees and noticed that the biggest one in the backyard was GONE!?!

It still seems funny to us. It probably will until the hard work starts.

Thank you to everyone for all of the yummy meals that have been brought in.

We are taking good care of your dishes

and will return them.......soon.

Marshall Update

Sorry to be brief, but I have no time to sit still yet. Maybe I will be able to elaborate someday.
He went to get his foot rebuilt. Because of his very flat feet, the tendons, bones & heel were losing the ability to walk. It was 5 procedures in one. Surgery went 2 hrs longer than expected, they took a bone from his hip -surprise! After surgery, we had a series of very bad nurses and hospital experiences and Marshall was in agony. Then my Aunt came and whipped the staff into shape, my sis-in law called the hospital and complained. My aunt got his doc there to re-examine his foot and his was taken into late-night emergency surgery. He started to heal better but still took days to combat the extreme pain. One of the wounds was left open to allow for swelling and draining. So we have to go back to get it sewn shut. After the complaints, our staff was great. He is in a great deal of pain and can only get around hopping with a walker using a special arm attachment –due to weakness from the disc fusion in March. I assume the surgery was a success, at this point I am numb from no sleep and watching my husband struggle. I am sure time will tell. Thanks to all for the prayers, meals, help with kids, mean calls to hospitals, listening to me cry and understanding when I have failed you this past week.

I am sorry I haven't been able to answer many phone calls or questions. I have been in hospitals and running between emergencies.

The day before the surgery Sawyer fell and passed out.

As I was writing this update for everyone my daughter was bit on the face by a rottweiler -14 stitches.

I sent the boys to get her antibiotics the pharmacy gave them the run around,

so I went to chew them out

and Marshall fell as soon as I left.

sigh.

I think I may have a target on my family somewhere.

One of the perks

I was cleaning the princess chambers yesterday, (my favorite room in the world) and I just have to say that the doll house and the dress-ups are truly some of my favorite perks of having a princess!

The day that the leprechaun came....

The leprechaun left us lots of fun goodies, in his signature color, and this year a special treat! A Barney Stone!

-silly leprechaun, no kid of mine needs any help in that area!
Our mischievous leprechaun makes a terrible mess. He put things up-side-down, mixed up the chairs and stools and he leaves little tiny footprints.

He gets into our toilet paper and decorates our kid's rooms & this time the kitchen. Best of all he put one of Savannah's shoes in a different place all over the house!
See ya next year leprechaun!

My favorites

At a Time Out for Women conference, I fell in love with artist James Christensen.

Here are three of my favorites.

What are you holding onto...?

The Iron Rod

This little man has his eye on the rod, but like so many of us, he is burdened with his "stuff".
Stuff that makes us feel better, look better and feel safe. Whatever this "stuff" is to each of us, it can keep us from reaching up and grabbing hold, for fear of dropping something else. All we do is move our "stuff" (drama, clutter, pride, worries, anger) from moment to moment.
What is truly important is keeping sight of our true belief and faith, they alone will guide us through.

The Responsible Woman

This one I recently used in a YW lesson. I love the chin-up attitude on this lovely woman's face. She plays many roles in her daily life and soars above the unpleasantness (I will have to work on that one). Among her roles are:

- Mother- Pet caretaker- Chef- Housekeeper- Leader (Lighting the way with wisdom)- Scheduler

Of all of his paintings, this one has become my Favorite!

Sometimes the Spirit Touches Us Through Our Weaknesses

Here is the description that I found in the artists own words.

The hunchback is Everyman, and the hump is his burden. We all have burdens. The point is that as he sits there on that box,he may be concerned, but at the place where the angel spirit's finger touches the hump, there's a little light. It's my way of showing that most growth comes through coping with adversity. We grow by dealing with the tough stuff. If you pray for strength, God sends you a set of weights.
The hunchback is sitting on a box that says literally, in Latin,'after clouds, sun'. That's supposed to remind people to find the silver lining. My whole philosophy of life is that part of why we're here is to learn to be nice to each other, to grow and become better people. And how do we grow? We grow through adversity. We grow by triumphing over our weaknesses or using the vehicles of our weaknesses to get in touch with more important things.
For me, the, doorway was a backdrop, but it could represent the future or the unknown. The floor is the classic checkerboard, symbolizing the opposing aspects of life- the light and dark, the day and night, the yin and yang.. .'or it could be just a floor. There's also a certain opulence; it's an inlaid floor of some kind. It's all the little parts of life.

Three musketeers

Sawyer has two friends, Joey and Gage, that look just like him.

It is a little hard to tell in this photo because of.... whatever they were doing with straws in their mouths. There was a time when they all had the same haircut and at church they all wore the same blue shirt (all the moms shop at the same walmart I think) and I could never tell which kid was mine. Really the only way was to see how high they were bouncing down the halls. Some are more bouncy than others...but I will never tell which ones.

Sylvia Casteel Jackson

My Sweet Grandmother passed away today. She could not be separated from her dear love and eternal companion for long and my Grandpa had gone ahead of her last May. At his viewing, she stood there so tiny and yet so strong. Reminding us that it was alright and the Lord had taken him home.

I was so taken with her in that moment that I could not speak. I should have been comforting her and she was holding her grandchildren and seamed bigger and stronger than any of us. I believe she may have been the only sane one in the room.

She did not miss this opportunity to teach us of her testimony of The Plan of Salvation.

So much of my testimony has been gained through the teaching and loving examples of these two remarkable people. She was my escort when I received my endowment and introduced me to all of the temple workers that she worked with. My Grandpa performed our sealing 19 yrs ago. The first one of the grandkids.
My family was blessed to spend their 62nd anniversary with them in Fremont last year and Grandpa told us fun stories of their "good ol days". My heart feels full when I picture them together in paradise.

I will miss the Christmas eve talks, her super soft skin, her cute laugh and her high southern accent. She left us all with a love for the temple, a better understanding of the gospel, a huge loving family that stands together, and the "Jackson nose".