Emmarsyn's Birthday Questions (with a bit of help from Mom)

How old are you? 2 (but I insist I am 3)

Who are your best friend(s)? Mom, Dad & the "guys" as I call them (Spencer & Matthew)

What is your favorite thing to do? Read books

What is your favorite color? Pink

What are your favorite foods? Butter - which I call peanut butter - and fruit snacks. (I eat a lot of healthy things too, but these are definitely my favorites.)

What do you like to do with your family? Wrestle

What are your favorite toys? Stroller and puzzles

What do you want to be when you grow up? 3

What makes you happy? My binki.

What makes you sad? I only get my binki when I am in bed now.

What is your favorite show to watch? Firefighter Elmo

What is your favorite book? The Very Hungry Caterpillar

What do you love to learn about? Pretty much everything right now.

What was the best part of your birthday? Getting a rolling backpack and then putting on several pair of my new underpants (over my jeans) and walking around the house. And my Elmo cake too.

Where do you like to go? Jan Riley’s house.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

Since Emmarsyn was born almost two years ago, people have periodically asked me if girls are different from boys. I really didn't see too many differences that I could easily attribute to gender. Well today Emmarsyn taught me the difference between boys and girls.

At around two all of my kids have decided that they know everything and I know nothing - at least when what I know is different from what they have decided is correct. When this happened with my boys, they would look at me like I was a moron and in a tone of disgust tell me what actually was true. I always imagined that if they knew the phrase, they would append "you idiot" on to the end of the sentence in which they explained my error.

Today when Emmarsyn decided I was a little slow-witted and erroneous on a certain subject, instead of the "moron" look, she sweetly leaned into my face, spoke very slowly for me, and used a tone of pity while explaining my mistake.

So there you go - when boys decide they are smarter than their mom, they think she is a moron. When girls decide they are smarter than their mom, they feel sorry for her.

Motivated Moms

I came across a reference to a chore chart when reading a friend of a friend's blog. (Actually they are not really friends, but my friend has mistakenly been receiving their Christmas cards for years now. Kind of a funny story that is probably Post worthy on its own.) Anyway, I clicked on the link and found something that could revolutionize the cleaning process in my home.

You see, cleaning is not my thing. I do it when I have to - particularly when I know someone is coming to my house. Other times, I do enough to get by. I don't expect to ever feel completely on top of it, after all houses - especially those with small children - just keep getting dirty. That fact alone is discouraging enough to keep me from accomplishing much.

But the Motivated Moms Chore Chart has given me a glimmer of hope. It comes in several different formats but basically has a list of daily chores as well as a few additional tasks for each day. Most are pieces of larger jobs that can sometimes be rather overwhelming. For example, one of today's tasks is to clean the toilets - not the entire bathroom. (Thanks to Bruce for taking that bullet for me. Frankly, I think that if men were responsible for cleaning toilets, toilets would be a lot less messy in the first place.)

So if you are an anxiety prone, cleaning-challenged mom like me, the Motivated Mom system might be worth checking out. (It costs $8 to download the 2009 chart.) I may not get everything done everyday, but a little direction can go a long way for me.

So, I think I'm one of those Scout people.

I was released from my calling in Relief Society a couple of months ago and had a nice week off before being called as a Cub Scout Den Leader. I have to say that I did not meet this new prospect with much enthusiasm. I had never been involved with Scouting and had a certain impression of people that were. Mainly that they were kind of zealots that lived and breathed this stuff. I planned to avoid things like Pinewood Derbies and Blue and Gold Banquets until my own boys became Cub Scouts.

After my first den meeting, my feelings had not changed much except perhaps to worsen. The meeting was at our church and I had to take my three children and ample toys to keep them busy for an hour. As this is virtually impossible, I spent half the meeting worrying about them as they wandered the church and invaded the nursery. Every 10 minutes or so, Spencer came by to reassure me that he was taking care of Emmarsyn. Of course to come inform me of his excellent "big brother" skills, he was leaving her attended only by 4 year old Matthew on the other side of the building. He was so proud of himself, I resisted pointing this out.

As soon as it was up to me, we started meeting at my house. This was the turning point. Within about 2 weeks, the boys in my den and the Cub Scout program itself started drawing me in. There are so many great things about it. After my previous calling - which was often like having a full time job on Sundays - it is wonderful to be home before and after church each Sunday. Bruce especially appreciates this aspect of my new role. Exposure to the Cubs has already had an impact on my boys (and Emmarsyn who has become quite attached to one of the Cubs). In the month and a half that I have been involved, my boys have seen a live reptile show, gone to an observatory, and learned about the flag and how to properly care for it. Spencer is looking forward to starting the Tiger Cub program when he turns 7. Although, it is a lot to take in (especially as I am doing Webelos), I love the structure and order of the Cub Scout program. And the resources that I have found on the Internet are amazing. Now instead of dreading it a bit, I am thrilled with the prospect of a long and happy career in Cub Scouts. I figure by the time my boys get to Webelos age, I should have things down pretty well.

So, I am starting to become one of "those" people. And I love it. The Cubs and I just wrote a Code of Conduct, elected a Denner, and are planning our first skit for which I am actually excited (I'm not really a skit kind of person). I even attended a POW WOW and enjoyed it.

But for now, that is where I am drawing the line. I am going to be the kind of leader that goes to POW WOWs, but not the kind that signs up to help with next year's. After all, it's important to keep a balance in life.

Must Have Accessories of the Season

Some of Matthew's many
Thanksgiving project's
from preschool.

Gratitude Turkey

My friend, Heather, has given me yet another wonderful idea. That's right - the "Gratitude Turkey". It is simple really. I made a turkey and put in on the wall. Each member of the family was given a supply of color coded feathers. We just write down something for which we are grateful and tape it to the wall behind the turkey. I introduced it at FHE a couple of weeks ago and as you can see from the photo, it has been a huge success. Spencer (red) and Matthew (green) have been counting their blessings left and right. The only thing keeping it from covering the whole wall is my inability to keep up with the demand for feathers. We ran out of construction paper at one point. (If anyone wants the patterns, I am happy to email them.)

Slacker Mom Thank You Notes

Making sure my kids get out their thank you notes after birthdays and Christmases has never been my strength. I haven't really gotten over my own dreaded thank you note writing experiences as a child. It's not because I wasn't grateful. I was. I just didn't know what to do with the three quarters of the page that remained glaringly blank after I wrote my brief thank you. This of course does not excuse my historically spotty record of getting the kids' notes out. And trust me I have beat myself up about it plenty. But no more!

I have recently discovered my thank you note salvation...fill-in-the-blank thank you notes. I kind of think of them as thank you notes with training wheels. For example, here is one I made for the boys' birthdays.

I filled in the "for" line and they each wrote their own names. I figure as they get older, I can modify the design to give them room to write a little more. But no overwhelmingly blank pages staring back at them (and me). Plus I can have them printed out and ready to go before the birthday, Christmas or whatever the occasion.

Apparently, these have been around for a while, but they are news to me. It may not be the ideal way of doing thank you notes, but it is going to save me a lot of stress and guilt. Friends and family will actually receive an expression of our gratitude, which I think is the most important thing. And as a bonus, my boys had a lot of fun filling them in and sending them off. With a bit of luck, this little discovery will spare my children and theirs from years of thank you note failures.