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I’ve decided that this posting from my Iphone is kind of fun, so I’ve set a goal to do it every day this month. Boy, won’t that be exciting – kind of like my chronicles from ‘the road’!! And I’ll still throw in my normal posts with pictures of events as warranted (speaking of which, I’m behind).

Had another late night last night, sewing until midnight. Wish I sewed more so it wouldn’t be a meet-and-greet session with my machine every time. After one failed attempt though my project turned out successful, which is good since it was midnight and my bed was calling for me!

Samuel cried all morning – the dog stole his banana, he spilled water on the floor, he didn’t want his diaper changed, Dora was over, he had to wear a coat — you name it, he cried about it. Poor kid NEEDS a nap!!

Speaking of which – it’s 9:10 which means I need to drive into the carpool lane to go get him.

Sitting in a dr’s office. We have the same apptmt every single Monday at 4:00. Thankfully the waiting area is very kid-friendly and we’re typically here by ourselves. I’m realizing that phone blogging might be the only way I ever get a new post up.

I’m hoping that the cold I’ve had is on its way out. Enjoyed a wonderful Gourmet Club dinner on Sat night. Had a productive PTA meeting this afternoon.
Busy baking and sewing. And have meetings galore this week on a variety of subjects – all good. Also trying to improve my homemaking skills and attentiveness to the kids.

Samuel figured out how to climb out of his crib on Saturday. He used to nap everyday. ‘Used to’ being the emphasis. I’m trying not to be over-drmatic about it but with all of the aforementioned meetings I’m feeling just a tad bit distraught and have even been heard to say out loud “my life is over!”. So much for not being over-dramatic. 🙂

Dear Abby:

I'm exhausted.  Every night around 10 pm I end my "work" and decide to go to bed.  But since I've been working all day and night, I decide I need some 'downtime'.  The house is quiet.  Derek is either on the treadmill or on the computer.  So I watch a DVR'd show.  Or read a book.  Or a magazine.  And I feel a burst of energy!  "I'm not tired" I tell myself!  And I pitter (or is it putter?) around the house.  Then when I finally settle in to bed it's 11:51 pm.  It never fails.  Always 9 minutes 'til midnight.  Always.  And I'm exhausted.  I've hit a wall.  I fall asleep a little after midnight.

But then 7 am comes (actually I usually hear the boys around 6:42 but I ignore the sounds and try to continue my slumber).  And I curse myself for not going to bed earlier.  And I swear up and down that I WILL go to bed early THIS night (cursing and swearing are all figurative of course!).  I will take care of myself in that way and recognize the NEED for a good 8 hours of sleep (because 8 hours is a definite NEED for my body). 

But then the night comes.  And it's 10 pm once again.

And…

Regretfully yours,

Sleepy in the Suburbs

Yesterday I presented a talk to our congregation on how "charity never faileth"…with an emphasis on charitable acts in the home.  I dicussed what charity is (the "love of God", the "pure love of Christ", a condition of the heart).  I talked about a moment with Samuel last week after his "incident" (see last week's post).  I was wiping him down and trying to speak softly and quietly with him (he had been crying and screaming) and I started to wipe his feet and it reminded me of the Savior washing the feet of the disciples.  Doing that was more than an act of service for Jesus – much more than just cleaning their feet – it was a display of charity…selflessness, even forgiveness (Judas was present).  And I, in my very small way, could do the same for my little Samuel as I forgave the trials of the day, lowered my self and loved him as the Savior loved his apostles. And as I did so, I was able to experience the "love of God" for him (and for me)…my heart changed.

I was set apart (given the official responsibility for and a blessing to coincide with) my new calling as 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.

Last night was the TREK fireside where Derek and I both spoke (and I sang! in a funny way, but sang nonetheless!).  We estimate that there were 400+ people there…with youth, parents and leaders attending.  It was a great success and we were thrilled.

Lots of wonderful things happening.

Can't get my house clean to save my life, but it will have to wait! 

Haven't blogged all week.  Haven't had time until today (literally). 

All of the old cliche phrases apply…

I am wearing MANY, many hats:

 

My plate is VERY, very full:

TREK is very busy…a fireside meeting with all of the youth and their parents this Sunday, a "recon" tomorrow morning, a meeting last night, a meeting next Thursday, lots and lots of e-mails and tweaking and scheduling and phone calls.  It's all coming together nicely, but is quite a lot to do.

I received a new calling at church (in addition to trek)…I'm assisting our new Relief Society President (the leader of our women's organization for our ward/congregation) as 1st counselor.  I will coordinate all the RS meetings outside of our Sunday meeting.  I LOVE her (Kimberly Enlow) and am so excited to work with her.  It is wonderful to serve with the ladies that I care so much about.  But on top of trek, it feels a little daunting.

The dog is sick.  I've managed to keep the kids healthy all winter, but my dog gets an upper respiratory infection.  Go figure.  And dogs don't use Kleenex – did you know?  Yeah…it's pretty.

Samuel's had an interesting week.  He poured baby powder all over himself, his crib, a shelf, and a boombox, one afternoon when I didn't realize he was awake.  So I put him in the tub and attempted to clean up his room while he played with his boat and shark within ear shot.  I made the mistake though of turning on the vacuum for a brief moment and after doing so saw that the carpet was appearing wet.  Samuel had taken a large cup and was shoveling water onto the tiled bathroom.  It was a 7-towel clean-up job.  I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry, so I did what all mommy-blogger's do.  I took a picture.  And I'm still doing laundry from that afternoon.

But my guys are back – after a 5-day trip to Utah.  And I'm thrilled to have them home.  More on their adventures, and me and Samuel's adventures here at home, next week.

Also, next week, Jacob's letter from the White House.  Let's just say, it made him cry.  And I don't think President Obama is on his "nice" list.

Now I'm off to work on two talks that I'll be giving on Sunday…one during our sacrament meeting and one at the Fireside.  I told you…full plate and lots of hats!!
 

You have to see this movie!  I loved it…I was floating when it was all over.  But I love these types of films – like North & South, or Emma, or Pride & Prejudice, or Wives & Daughters…it's like those.  Delightful.  Beautiful.  Intriguing.

 

Anyone have some in this same category that I should be renting??

http://www.theyoungvictoriamovie.com/  

The other night Derek walked in to get ready for bed.  I was already in bed, reading.  This is usually the time when I like to hash out all of the world's problems (or just the details of the day depending on my mood).  We joke that typically his "words" are all used up, while mine are in overtime.  But he stopped and we chatted for quite a while…

It all started with us discussing whether or not to get a pool.  We are heavily considering it…even have bids from pool builders.  But it leads us to ask questions of ourselves.  Do we want to stay in this house?  If not, where would we go?  Do we want to go live out in the country and have goats and chickens and pigs and alpacas?  I would love that really – I love the thought of the kids having to do the work of caring for animals like that. 

Then that lead to our often-discussed conversation about schooling – particularly when it comes to our Jacob.  Should he attend the public middle school here that sounds like a not-so-happy place?  Should we homeschool on our new farm?  Should we not build a pool so we could instead pay for a private christian school for him? 

Then we talked about work…Derek's work.  Does he enjoy it?  Is he happy?  Does he want to look for something else?  What does he REALLY want to do with his career?

Which then lead to the conversation of being "grown-ups".  THIS – this life, this wonderful house, these wonderful children – THIS was as far as we had dreamed.  We're there.  We've arrived.  So what's next?  

Has anyone else ever felt that way?

All of that – and we're only trying to decide if we should build a pool.

At 11:46 at night. 🙂

Many of you will remember my posts about helping Samuel "find his voice" over the last two years.  Boy, has he come a long way!  It's been a fun journey to learn and grow with him as he faced this challenge.  In December, we said goodbye to our sweet friend, Kristen…also known as his speech therapist.  She had been coming to our home either once a week or towards the end, twice a month, for 16 months.  What a neat gal – we loved her so much.  We paid for her services even when we probably could have gotten free ones elsewhere, because we loved her so much…and because of her sweet relationship with Samuel.  He progressed so much under her tutelage and patience.  And when anyone knocked on the door he would ask me if it was "Kristen?" in hopes of being able to play with his favorite friend.  We will miss this special lady!

 

But the exciting news is that with his 3-year birthday comes eligibility for school district services.  Our school district recently opened a wonderful facility called the Early Childhood School for preschool age kiddos with special needs – anything from speech to autism to learning disabilities.  After a few months of applications, meetings, and evaluations we were excited to have Samuel accepted for their "walk-in" speech services.  So every Tuesday and Thursday morning for 30 minutes he goes and gets more help "finding his voice".  We're so lucky to have such a village!!

He started last week and so far so good.  Plus I enjoy sitting in the car and reading or returning phone calls or list making or just thinking while I wait for him.  It's 30 minutes of quiet for me and that's exciting too!

 
Here he is on his first day of what he likes to call "big boy school".

Me?  An artist?

Hardly.  I'm about as left-brained as they come.

But sometimes I'm crafty.  Sometimes.  It's fleeting, but it comes.

Tha Dalebout's and Hicken's are always giving us great gifts – most of them the kind that can't be measured!  And I wanted them to get something fun and personal for Christmas.  Last Christmas, my SIL Anne got us these cute little notepads with little caricatures of us on them.  So cute!  I loved them, and thought that something like it would be SO cute embroidered.  So I put Derek to work…sketching the Hicken and Dalebout families…most importantly with accessories and personality.

Sadly, despite having the idea for months, and despite Derek doing the drawings a month before Christmas…I was pulling an late-nighter on the 22nd and 23rd of December.  But they turned out cute (at least I think so) and I had a lot of fun making them!

I completely forgot to take pictures of them.  But Dana posted one on her blog and I'm stealing it for mine.  Maybe Shelley will take a picture of hers for me! (hint, hint)

HICKEN family

EDITED TO ADD: I can always count on my girl, Shelley!  Here's a picture of their families emroidery:

 

**sidestory:  Years ago my Grandma Haymond gave me a big box of all of her old embroidery/cross stitch floss (thread) - hundreds of colors all wrapped around paper spools.  And it came in handy for this project – my color options were limitless!  And it made me feel close to her – we missed her this Christmas since she recently had hip-replacement surgery and couldn't come up from San Antonio.
 

Verona Slaugh died last week.  She was 93 years old.

I hadn't known Verona very long.  But I knew enough.  I knew I wanted to be like her someday.

Verona is the mother of my friend, Marianna.  Marianna was the 12th of 13 children.  Marianna was caring for her mom in her home in the most dignified and loving way.  The sacrifice and selflessness was so moving.

I was Verona's Visiting Teacher – asked by our women's organization to look after, befriend and love on her.  She was never able to make it to church.  Being homebound didn't seem to faze her though. 

On the Sunday before she died I felt impressed that I needed to skip our Relief Society meeting and head over to see Verona…I knew that she had experienced a rough couple of weeks physically.  So I took one of my favorite books and decided I would read to her.  And so I spent an hour reading, letting her hold my arm, rubbing her hands and visiting.  When I was getting up to leave I said, "I'll try to come later in the week and check on you…maybe read some more". 

She answered, "Oh I hope I'll be gone by then".  I giggled at the honesty and when her daughter told me she was praying to be able to "go home", I told her I would change my own prayers on her behalf as well.  After 93 amazing, wonderful years, she was ready to go reunite with her sweetheart and leave the physical body that was causing her so much anguish.

Honest, kind, funny, smart as a whip…had the scriptures memorized backwards and forewards, wise, gracious and stalwart.

Her children say they never heard her raise her voice…ever.

My children will NOT (sadly) be able to say that about me…but maybe, just maybe, I will be able to wear some of those other adjectives that best-described Verona.

I will ever be glad for my short and sweet association with this dear woman.