Involuntary Smiles

Good gravy, it has been far too long since I visited this lovely little blog. The kids are growing like weeds and often I feel like I am missing it amidst dishes and laundry. I have recently made a goal to enjoy them more.

We have been working on being more soft spoken in our home, lately. It seems to be a constant battle. Someone or other gets angry, tempers fly, voices rise, feet stomp, and doors slam. It is an everyday occurrence. Honestly, I am heartbroken over the thought that my children will remember their childhood as a mad screaming Lord of the Flies type home, and I am trying to do everything in my power to change that.

We have been praying for the gift of unity in our home. A week or so ago I was doing my morning scripture study and came across a Conference talk by President Henry B. Eyring called Our Hearts Knit as One. In that talk, President Eyring said, “The Lord’s prophets have always called for unity. The need for that gift to be granted to us and the challenge to ma…

August 14 marked the first day of school for my 3 big kids. It is so weird to lump Beth in the "big kids" category, but since she is in all day school now, I suppose that is where she must be. She is now in 1st grade, and she is loving it. Faye told me that Beth has a talent for making friends with everyone, and that makes my heart incredibly happy. She is such a good girl, that Beth. Faye has entered the 4th grade and her teacher is one of my favorites at their school. I was so excited when she was assigned to that teacher! She is doing well. Her best friend from last year who was a very bad influence and called her cuss words all the time is in a different class, and that relieves me to no end! She has made a new friend named Emma, and that girl seems to be a nice sort of girl, without calling her names and being mean to her. Keith is now the king of the school as a 6th grader! Oh how time flies! He began at their school the very first year it was open and this makes it a…

A week ago Sunday I came home from church to discover that the toilet seat had been cracked. The story behind it is a little vague, ranging from blaming it on daddy, to the dog climbing on it, to ninjas while we were at church... the longer I listened to the reasons, the more fantastical the stories became. My children are amazing when it comes to figuring out how things came to be. They may not be very accurate, but they sure are entertaining! The fact of the matter remained, however, that we needed to buy a new toilet seat, or be brutally pinched every time anyone had a "think session" in the bathroom.

Check! Toilet seat arrived, I installed it, and we all went along our merry way. We got a fancy-schmancy potty training seat with a slam proof lid so hopefully that will prevent any future cracked seat problems. Just in case it wasn't actually done by ninjas while we were at church. I like to cover all my bases.

And so imagine my shock when just this past Sunday, as in …

I have never been much of a jewelry person. My problem was that I was always too bored. I would just get tired with it and wouldn't want to wear the same thing all the time, and couldn't imagine wearing the same ring or the same necklace all the time. The thought of a wedding that was the same ring for the rest of my life was ghastly dull to me, but I figured I would deal with it when I came to that bridge.

12 years ago the love of my life asked me to marry him. He gave me the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. It was a ring I would never get tired of wearing. I loved looking at it, because it reminded me how much he loved me. It always made me smile. I wore it daily and only took it off at night, to sleep. I had many adventures with my small family and that ring. Keith joined the family, and Faye joined that family. We moved into a friend's house while he went overseas. One night I placed that most beautiful ring on the counter and went to bed. My three year old Keith…

Last Wednesday Beth and I went for a Mommy date. She's turning 6 at the end of this month and Jeffrey thought it would be a really god idea if we spent some time bonding while she is still a little 5 year old.

We went to my favorite place to eat. It is a pupusaria disguised as a waffle place. I figured it would be a perfect place because I could have pupusas and Beth could have waffles and we could both have what we wanted. Everything went according to my cleverly thought out plan. She loved it and I got my favorite food. She chattered happily and we listened to the 60's music playing and she giggled while I sang along with the music, me proudly knowing all the words and cheesing up the head bobs and lip syncing. Because that is what you do when you are on a date with an almost 6 year old. You make them giggle their heart out and soak that music into your soul. She ordered eggs with her waffles and let me have some, and some of the yolk dripped onto my shirt.

Of course it did…

It was dark. Middle of the night dark.
It was quiet. Everyone sleeping kind of quiet.
I woke up to the sound of little feet tiptoeing across the wood hall floor, and into my room, across the room, and over to my side of the bed. A little hand reached up to find my waiting yet still mostly asleep hand, the body climbed into my bed, and we were both promptly in our dreams once again.
It was dark. Early hours of the morning dark.
It was a comfortable quiet. Everyone sleeping, and sweet gentle breathing sounds coming from Jeffrey and whichever little boy had climbed into my bed an hour or so earlier. 
I was awakened by the sounds of a door opening, little feet running across the wood hall floor, and into my room. Little feet found their way over to my side of the bed, and demanded assistance in climbing in, and then we were all asleep once more, albeit slightly more squished. But I was too tired and too much still asleep to care enough to do anything about it. I fell asleep with two litt…