Sugary Welcoming!

. . . btw, I posted a few days ago about Kolby and included pictures. However, it put it down several posts, under my Invisible one. I just wanted to give the heads up.

On Sunday the kids and I decided to make chocolate cookies. They had decided it was time to go and introduce ourselves to the new neighbors. So that is exactly what we did. We - as a family - made some chocolate cookies and then delivered them on Monday night as a family. That poor couple, here is this family with a brew of young kids, walking up to their front door, lol. Anyway, they were very nice and are glad to be in town; they just came from Japan (military). Tanner had a difficult time with the visit though,,, he kept wanting Aly or Will. He threw a huge fit when we left and I could totally tell that he just did not understand. (OGDEN FAM. - - we miss you tons!!!!)

To Sacrifice.

Donald I were talking Sunday afternoon about sacrifice. We were discussing how the early saints of the church sacrificed sooo much for the growth and progression of the church. This made us reflect upon how much WE actually do or do not sacrifice.


Well, when I sit and actually think about what SACRIFICE means to me, I think about Charity, and it being the pure love of Christ. So do I sacrifice? do I have charity? Do I exemplify the pure love of Christ? Sure I go to church for 3 hours on Sunday, getting 4 kids ready by myself and getting there before the block starts. Sure I fulfill my calling, some weeks I am more prepared than others, but I do try to do a good job. Yes we pay a full tithe, but we always have. So to me, I do not see these things as SACRIFICES in our lives, I see them more as automatics. KWIM? But if those things are automatic for us, then how and what do I sacrifice? How do I increase the charity in my heart?

To add to my pondering thought process, I reflect on what my Sunday School lesson was; the 3 kingdoms of heaven. This causes me to take a look at myself and evaluate on whether or not my focus in my life is on returning to Heavenly Father or not. How many times in a day do I ask myself if I am bettering myself to return to my Heavenly Father? ummmmmmm, well, I would have to say on some days - not at all; and then other days maybe 1-2 times! Rarely is my focus on how to return honorably to Heaven. Instead, I focus on: getting the kids off to school on time, laundry, keeping the kitchen clean, what is on tv tonight, what my friends and family are up to, will I go on an anniversary vacation this year, when will we ever move, why couldn't I have had no stretch marks and saggy skin, being tired, what to make for dinner, etc. the list could go on and on and on. But the point is --- in that list, there was NOTHING about spiritual growth. Sure I read my scriptures in the morning, I say my personal prayers, I try to follow the commandments and teach or children the gospel. But what is my FOCUS in my life???? And if my focus is not on that which will help me in returning home to Heavenly Father, than do I need to change my focus???????

So the real question needs to be: how do we progress here on Earth while maintaining a spiritual focus on Heavenly Fathers Plan??? How do we live IN the world, but not OF the world? If my routine is only 10-15% that of gospel growth, then wouldn't I need to change things? And if you were to sit back and evaluate your life, what would you discover? Are you like me? - busy trying to do that which is right, but constantly on the go and unsure how to make your life more centered in Christ? Do you have Charity in your hearts? Would you sacrifice like the early saints did if you were asked to - or needed too?

Am I really green?

So I stole this off of another blog (ummm, thanks katy, hee hee). I suppose I should be ashamed since I am becoming a THEIF of sorts, but truely,,, I feel no guilt. It is a true compliment if I have taken something off of someones blog and have chosen to share it on my blog. So thank you to all of you great bloggers out there who make my posts so easy!

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Green

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

INVISIBLE

I stole this from my friends blog (thanks Whitney). As I sat here reading it,,, I kept nodding my head in agreement to what I was reading.

Also, here are a few pictures to show what my every day life is like in a home full of kids and people recovering from being sick.

I'm Invisible

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone! One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well.It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime, because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and dresses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Quarantine us!

UPDATE:::::: UPDATE::::::UPDATE::::::::

I did not get sick! YEAH. thank you eveyone for your prayers and concerns. Donald came home from the Hospital Wednesday afternoon. He was was in pretty poor shape, but he did not HAVE to stay,,, so of course I opted to bring him him. also Wednesday morning, I took Tanner and Brooklyne into the doctor as well. Tanner was continueing to throw up and not eat well. Brooklyne would barely drink or eat and she was very very "laid back". (I honestly do not think any of us Lowes know what the LAID BACK is. lol) Brook was not dehydrated yet, but the doctor was a bit concerned. I was given the choice of her getting a shot for nausia, or she could get put in the hospital and get hooked up to an IV to pump her full of fluids. I am course chose the shot. lol We did not have Tanner get a shot because he at least was still drinking.

Anyway, it seems that our house is back on the mend. We are hoping that we will all be better in the next couple of days. Donald was doing very poorly on Thursday and was dizzy and it hurt him to eat or drink - kinda like heart burn he said. Today he is actually able to walk around and help out a bit. He has been wonderful and I am glad to have my hard working husband feeling much better.
==================================================================

If you enter our home, you are sure to walk away with something - something rather undesirable! Yup,, you would most likely get sick! I have come to this conclusion because every time I seem to turn around, someone is getting sick.

It all started on Sunday, we had to come home early from church because Tanner was running a fever. Then Sunday afternoon Brooklyne started throwing up and had some really nasty runny diapers. Then yesturday afternoon Trent came down with a fever as well. Now Donald is sick! He started throwing up constantly since early this morning. Knowing my luck, I will get sick today or tomorrow and then Kolby will be after that. So if we are all sick, who is going to make sure we are all still alive? - any takers???? (I personally would not touh us with a 10 foot pole given our current health.)

So my suggestion to anyone who thinks they might want to make a spur of the moment trip to beautiful fun filled Mississippi --- you might want to reconsider until AFTER we are all well again.

EDITTED TO ADD: Donald went to the doctors, he was give some medicine, he had an allergic reaction and was rushed to the hospital. When I went to the ER he was dillusional and not doing well. He is/was extremely dehydrated and was running a low grade fever. They ran some blood work and found that he was very low on magnizium and patasium (spelling, sorry). Anyway, because of how poorly he was doing, they kept him over night to make sure he is ok. I am hoping that he will be coming home tomorrow morning/afternoon. Unfortunately, I fear that I am now getting sick because I am feeling very queezy. YIKES!

KOLBY-KAT!

In looking at my blog, I noticed that I have not ever really said a whole lot about Kolby. He is such a great kid and is a total card. He definately has a different personality than his older brother. Kolby is more tender hearted, he pays attention to "pretty" detail more. He is a compassionate young man who is soooo sweet to his little brother and baby sister. Kolby is also very easy going. He is willing to pretty much do the things we ask him too - - or that his brothers or friends want to do. He is very creative and has a great imagination. He will pretend he is an airplane getting ready to land (only problem was, this was during his soccer game, lol), He will get all dressed up and pretend he is an army guy. Just this morning he was pretending that he was Santa Clause and that Tanner and Brooklyne were elfs.

Here are a few questions I asked Kolby:

1. favorite color: red

2. favorite food: eggs

3. favorite game to play: hockey

4. best friend: Will

5. what Kolby loves about getting up in the morning: playing with my brother when I am making my bed.

6. favorite thing to do during a day: play games with Trent and to eat lots of food.

7. favorite sport: hockey and basketball

8: What do you want to be when y ou grow up: a police man

9. why do you like being in this family: because I LOVE my family.

10. what is your favorite toy: army men and soliders.

My Funny Valentine!

I think the pictures say it all!

Tanner really does keep us on our toes. I am either laughing histaricly, shaking my head in frustration, crying my eyes out, our snuggled up to my sweet little boy. All in all, we have no idea what to expect out of the day with Tanner but we do try to enjoy all of the energy and personality that he poseses.

Our southern BEL is one years old!!!

It is amazing how one year has flown by. In some aspects it seems to have been slower than frozen snot (ok, that is Donalds little phrase, not mine) and then other times it is more like the F22 raptor fighter jet.


Brooklyne has adapted well into our family. She loves to be with her brothers, especially Tanner. If Tanner is in time out, Brooklyne goes over into the corner with him. If Tanner is in his room with the door closed, Brooklyne will come over and bang on his door until he opens it. It really is rather cute. She even likes to scavenger for food under his chair at the dinner table - oh wait, maybe that is because he is FEEDING HER!!!!


I would also say that Brooklyne has become very quick. If you leave a door open, - she is there, if you go down the stairs, boom, she is right behind you. If you open the fridge - she is already climbing inside. This past Sunday in Sacrament Meeting Nicole was holding her and doing her best at keeping Brooks hands out of the bread. Nicole was very successful until the last split second before passing the tray - and ZAP - Brooklyne nabbed a fist full of bread. She was very pleased with herself and I could tell she was eagerly awaiting for the water. This time though, she was unsuccessful at her attempt to get anything.


Anyway, Brook is a happy little girl. she is growing fast and it is alot of fun to dress her in all the cute things I get to buy for a little girl. Donald has yet to realize the differences in the clothing and excessories for boys vs girls, but I am sure he will catch on eventually. For her birthday dinner we had baked potato soup (thanks mom) and then for dessert I made a banana cream pie. I figured that since we had Triple Chocolate Cake the night before for my mom's birthday, that I needed to do something different - so pie it was - - - and she loved every bite of it!

he gets 3rd place!!!!!!

I am just so very proud of my little man, Trent. Back in September we had our schools reading fair. Trenton picked the book: Little Smudge which was a book we did not have, nor did any of the stores in town. Fortunately, Donald was on a business trip in Florida and went to 4 different book stores to find the book that Trent was DEAD SET on having. It is a very simple book, but very cute. So, I let him do a Story board for the reading fair. so the day arrives when the boards are being judged. Trenton kept talking about how he was going ot win first place. I tried to tell him how proud I was of his work and that it was ok if he did not win because he did a great job. But no, he was convinces he was going to get first place. Well, when I went and put the board in the cafeteria I saw all the other AMAZING story boards. I felt likes Trents board was about 2 inches tall and the most simple thing on the planet. The only thing I too comfort in was knowing that Trent did the board, not me and that his work reflected that of a 1st grader. Well, that afternoon he came home with his head hung low. he said "mom, there are only 3 winners for all the first grade classes." I said "Yes, I know, did you get first place?" He said "no" and then started to smile really big. "I got 3rd place out of all the 1st graders, and all 3 of us are from the same class!" Trent was so excited and proud of his work.

Well, because he placed in the top 3 in his school, that ment he went onto district. This was where all the elementry schools competed together. That competition was held today, Thursday the 7th of February and was held over at the MSU campus. After a crazy morning of running and rushing around, Donald, Grandpa and I met Trent over at the campus for the district book fair. He had his head down on the table and was so bored. He said he was tired. I asked him if any of the judges had come over and talked to him, and he said "no" (a very disappointing no, the kind where you as a mom want to go knock some judge over the head and say, "sir, will you please at least ask my little boy 2 questions so he does not think that his project is hated or forgotten?") I told Trent that the judges did not need to ask him questions because his board was perfect! Trent liked this response, and I really did mean it. His board had all the required and desired information on it, where a judge really did not have any need to ask him any questions of the book. This means that his board did a GREAT job at illistrating a STORY BOARD. Nonetheless, the award cerimony began. I tried to remind Trent that his board was great and that it is ok if he does not get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. See, the boards in this competition were even better because they were the best of all the schools in our city. Well, to my complete astonishment Trent's name was called for 3RD PLACE!!!! YAHOOOOO - - - he got 3rd place again. I was jsut so proud of him. I was so pleased because even though his board was not decked out like 99% of the others were, he still did a great job. Such a great job that he did not even need all the fancy stuff. I am just so proud of my little man my heart could burst.

the complexity of the mind of a 7 year old.

I am left all too often with my mouth wide open and my mind just blank as can be after hearing or seeing some of the things Trenton comes up with. I am not the type to try and "toot my childs horn" or think my kids are "all that and a bag of chips" or that they are these amazing beings who far surpass all others and that they must have some extraordinary talent or ability. NOPE,, I am definately not one of those moms. I actually tend to lean more to the "my kids are average" type of croud. Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of my kids and they amaze me all the time, but I just assume that every child amazes their parents.

Anyway, I digress . . . . so back on topic: Trent has done a couple things in the last few weeks that just leave me speachless -------- simply because I just have no idea how to respond to him.

1st, a couple weeks ago Trent decided to make lizard cloths. yes, you read that correctly, LIZARD cloths! Where he came up with idea is beyond my comprehension, but he felt very strongly about making these shirts. I wonder if he was worried about the lizards outside after it snowed and was so cold. maybe he felt they needed the warmth of a nice new flannel shirt??? hummmmmmm. Nonetheless, he made a few different lizard shirts and pants. he used some of my moms fabric from PJ's and taped the pieces together in lieu of sewing them. WALLA,, he now had a flannel soccer clothing line for his lizards! OH WAIT,,, HE HAS NO LIZARDS!!!! Now in his defense, he and Kolby do like to catch lizards in the back yard, but he had not had any captured creatchers in a several weeks. Well, yesturday Trenton was finally able to find his first live model to show off the new threads. This must be a very well trained lizard and it certainly was not his first gig,,, because he was very well behaved and posed beautifully for pictures.

Ok,, so in addition to the high fashion line designed for lizards, Trent has been spending a lot of time BUILDING! A few days ago Trent and grandpa were playing in the backyard and before anyone knew it - a house was being build. Now for the first two days I did not worry about this "house" that was being built - I mean come on,,, he is a 7 year old boy! Well, as I was working in the kitchen yesturday afternoon I noticed this large apparatus being lugged over to Trent's beloved abode. I guess he snatched a down spout from the side of my neighbors house for his construstion project. I Quickly told him he needed to get rid of the thing and I went back inside. He then came into the house with a sense of self-importance and asked me a series of questions. He asked me if I thought our house needed a down spout, I told him yes. Well I guess he was hoping that would me my response because he seemed to stand a bit taller and with more confidence after that. He then declared to me that it is very important for the house that he is building to have a down spout as well. He said that anyone builing a house would put one on, so he needed one too. I tried to tell him that he had no need for the drain spout since he did not have walls and a ceiling - he then got very deffensive and explained that "I am still building those!" I told him he needed to take it back to the neighbors house NOW and we could readdress the issue when he has a bunch of walls and a ceiling. He walked off a bit poignant and headed to the bathroom (or his room I really am not sure). I guess he was pretty frustrated because Donald went in and was talking to him. And this is where Trent continue to defend his reasoning for the much needed down spout. He told Don he needed it for the house because the house needs a drainage system. Don told him that it was not going to work. Trent argued Donald's statement declaring that he knew how to make it work and where to put it. He explained that he would hook up the spout to the drain pipe we have in our backyard (the one that is suppose to be completely burried, but part of it shows, - thank you previous owners!). There is a whole in the pipe in the ground (kinda like it cracked or chipped there, it is several inches of an opening) and Trent wanted to hook his new found treasure of the down spout up to the hole in our drainage pipe and therefore we would not need to worry about any water run off from his house because it would go into the pipe and directly out to the ditch.

I just want to know - - - WHERE DOES HE COME UP WITH THIS STUFF???? My mind just does not work this way and he leaves me in bewilderment. I mean how do you tell a child who is being creative and really THINKING - that his ideas are not so great?!?!? Maybe, there really is not a correct answer to that, maybe I should avoid thinking about how to tell him what he is NOT doing correctly and focus on the AWESOMENESS that he is actually a THINKER!