Oh what an awesome weekend! Can anyone give me a Whoo Hoo? I attended Time Out for Women in Kansas City along with Alicia and April. We were lucky to sit next to Michelle and Sephie while we were there. They were so kind and saved us seats on both days. I came away with a determination to do better, have a more positive attitude, be more kind and to think before I speak. The highlight for me was that John Bytheway was there on Saturday because Sheri Dew couldn't make it. Oh My! Not only did he have us rolling with laughter, but so did most of the other presenters. It was a wonderful time-out for me. I have been desperately needing it. It was the first time I left Alyssa all day long. Oh, it was nice. Then I came back rejuvenated and ready to be a better Mother, wife and individual.
We carved pumpkins on Saturday night and then on Sunday evening we had Alyssa birthday party along with her cousin, Zac's. We had cake and ice cream and opened presents. I think the most fun part for the family is just being together. Having Grandma and Grandpa Cantwell there was definitely a highlight. They enjoyed watching the kids play together. I took lots of pictures to share with them and everyone else. Stay tuned for those later.
So, we are starting a new week. I have a lot to get done. I pray that Heavenly Father blesses me with all I need to accomplish all of these tasks!
On a side note, I have to thank my Father in Heaven. I had posted a while back about how I desperately needed sleep. Miraculously that night Lady Bug slept through the night and then continued that pattern for a week. Then she went right back to waking up several times. I am so thankful that when I was at the end of my rope Father in Heaven blessed me with some sleep. I know He loves me.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Letter
In the fourth grade this year the teacher has asked us to write a letter to the class about what makes our child special. Each week they spotlight a new child in the class to help get to know them a little better. This next week is Alex's turn. One of the things we had to do was write a letter. It could have funny stories, poems or anything we thought the class would like to hear. So, below is the letter that Todd and I (with some help from Todd's Mom) wrote:
To Alex’s Fourth Grade Class,
We want you to know what an awesome kid Alex is. He is a happy person who loves to make others laugh. He is a very caring person. He loves to be silly. He enjoys a good movie and loves to play pretend. He has a great imagination and he enjoys pretending that he is a Super Hero. He loves to make silly faces that make other people smile. He has 3 brothers and one sister. His favorite treat is chocolate. What kind of chocolate, you ask? Anything with chocolate is his favorite! He loves popcorn and pepperoni pizza too.
We want to share a couple of fun poems and a short story that we wrote about Alex.
There once was a boy named Alex,
who loved to explore the Dramatics.
A silly face he’d make
to cover a mistake.
He surely showed some funny antics!
By Kara and Grandma Cantwell
A boy named Alex, one day,
came home from school for to play.
His brothers were mad
His sister was sad
But Alex was a sun shiny ray.
By Grandma Cantwell
In a small town, far away, lived a golden haired boy named Alex. Alex lived with his parents, his three brothers and one little sister in a medium sized house just outside the city. He shared a bedroom, which his Dad and Papa built, with his older brother in the basement of their house. It was a fun room. The walls were painted his favorite color…Green! The green was so green it was as bright as the leaves on the trees in springtime. Alex and his big brother slept on a bunk bed; Alex had the top bunk and his brother had the bottom. At night his big soft kitty cat named Paco would climb onto his bed and snuggle into the warm blankets at Alex’s feet. Sometimes when Alex had a hard time sleeping he would carefully climb down the ladder from his bunk to the floor and tiptoe out to the family room. In the family room he would quietly turn on the TV and watch his favorite shows while curled up in a comfy chair. Sometimes at night when he got really brave, he would sneak up the stairs and find the yummy chocolate chips to have for a snack. Chocolate was his favorite food. If he could eat it for every meal he would; chocolate cereal with chocolate milk for breakfast, chocolate and peanut butter sandwiches with chocolate bars for lunch, and chocolate chip cookie casserole with melted caramel and marsh mellows for supper. Oh what a life that would be, he would dream, and he would go to sleep. By Alex’s Mom
We want you to know how much we love Alex. He is a wonderful, creative, happy, silly, funny and awesome kid! We hope you get to know him and like him just as much as we do!
***
So,we hope you enjoy this fun info that we shared! It was fun to write! Maybe I'll do it for all my kids!
To Alex’s Fourth Grade Class,
We want you to know what an awesome kid Alex is. He is a happy person who loves to make others laugh. He is a very caring person. He loves to be silly. He enjoys a good movie and loves to play pretend. He has a great imagination and he enjoys pretending that he is a Super Hero. He loves to make silly faces that make other people smile. He has 3 brothers and one sister. His favorite treat is chocolate. What kind of chocolate, you ask? Anything with chocolate is his favorite! He loves popcorn and pepperoni pizza too.
We want to share a couple of fun poems and a short story that we wrote about Alex.
There once was a boy named Alex,
who loved to explore the Dramatics.
A silly face he’d make
to cover a mistake.
He surely showed some funny antics!
By Kara and Grandma Cantwell
A boy named Alex, one day,
came home from school for to play.
His brothers were mad
His sister was sad
But Alex was a sun shiny ray.
By Grandma Cantwell
In a small town, far away, lived a golden haired boy named Alex. Alex lived with his parents, his three brothers and one little sister in a medium sized house just outside the city. He shared a bedroom, which his Dad and Papa built, with his older brother in the basement of their house. It was a fun room. The walls were painted his favorite color…Green! The green was so green it was as bright as the leaves on the trees in springtime. Alex and his big brother slept on a bunk bed; Alex had the top bunk and his brother had the bottom. At night his big soft kitty cat named Paco would climb onto his bed and snuggle into the warm blankets at Alex’s feet. Sometimes when Alex had a hard time sleeping he would carefully climb down the ladder from his bunk to the floor and tiptoe out to the family room. In the family room he would quietly turn on the TV and watch his favorite shows while curled up in a comfy chair. Sometimes at night when he got really brave, he would sneak up the stairs and find the yummy chocolate chips to have for a snack. Chocolate was his favorite food. If he could eat it for every meal he would; chocolate cereal with chocolate milk for breakfast, chocolate and peanut butter sandwiches with chocolate bars for lunch, and chocolate chip cookie casserole with melted caramel and marsh mellows for supper. Oh what a life that would be, he would dream, and he would go to sleep. By Alex’s Mom
We want you to know how much we love Alex. He is a wonderful, creative, happy, silly, funny and awesome kid! We hope you get to know him and like him just as much as we do!
***
So,we hope you enjoy this fun info that we shared! It was fun to write! Maybe I'll do it for all my kids!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Autumn
The smells of fall are in the air. A brisk breeze is blowing. Leaves skitter across the ground. The scent of the warm furnace kicking on fills the rooms of the house. The leaves are turning...yellow, gold, bronze, and brown. Here and there is a scattering of orange, red, pink, and purple. Trees with burnt orange tips dot the landscape. Green at the bottom with color gradually working its way up to the top. Deep purple, almost brown leaves stand out against the remaining green. From the bottom of the tree you see green, yet gradually it turns yellow and at the tips orange. A bright orange or red little tree catches my eye. I look around at the dull yellows and golds and browns and then...aah! A bright beauty stands out against the rest. These are the things I see as I drive along the road in Saint Joseph, Missouri.
There is nothing like the Fall. It is absolutely my favorite time of the year. The smells and the sights, the warm cozy sweaters, and rosy red cheeks are what make the world glorious at this time of year.
It can also be a time of longing. Longing to see home again. Longing for bright reds, oranges, yellows everywhere the eye can see, with only a scattering of green in between. To look across the expanse of a rippling lake and see a hillside on fire with color, that is what I long to see.
I have worked hard to find the beauty here in Missouri over the years and I have been blessed with the ability to find it. You always see what you are looking for. I still miss the sights of home. I loved the big red maple tree that stood in front of our first home. With leaves of deep purple during the spring and summer, followed by bright glorious red engulfing its branches in the fall. There is nothing like Fall in New England. I think Heaven will be filled with these wonderfully beautiful sights too!
There is nothing like the Fall. It is absolutely my favorite time of the year. The smells and the sights, the warm cozy sweaters, and rosy red cheeks are what make the world glorious at this time of year.
It can also be a time of longing. Longing to see home again. Longing for bright reds, oranges, yellows everywhere the eye can see, with only a scattering of green in between. To look across the expanse of a rippling lake and see a hillside on fire with color, that is what I long to see.
I have worked hard to find the beauty here in Missouri over the years and I have been blessed with the ability to find it. You always see what you are looking for. I still miss the sights of home. I loved the big red maple tree that stood in front of our first home. With leaves of deep purple during the spring and summer, followed by bright glorious red engulfing its branches in the fall. There is nothing like Fall in New England. I think Heaven will be filled with these wonderfully beautiful sights too!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Grease and grime galore...Oh my!
Have you ever noticed that the more kids you have the less house work gets done? I am noticing that the necessities are taken care of while the things that are less important get pushed aside. My kitchen floor happens to be one of those items that has been pushed aside. So, today I was looking at my white floor thinking, "Boy it doesn't look very white anymore". I decided it was the perfect day to change that.
I hate using chemicals, but sometimes they are a blessing. I got out the vinegar and began scrubbing. The gray grime remained on the floor. The dirt pushed around a bit, along with some cat hair and I sighed and headed to the laundry room to find something better to clean with.
Mop and Glo. I'm thinking...this has to work. I hate this nasty gray grime on my floor. It's embarrassing. I squirted some on the floor and began scrubbing......Nothing. What's the point of this stuff anyway!
Ugh! Back to the laundry room I trudge. I stared at my shelves full of cleaning supplies and checked each one off the list. Nothing was going to work. But wait...
Up the stairs I go...
This time I returned with Greased Lightening in hand. I squirted it on the floor and took a deep breath. I started scrubbing and miraculously the grime began to lift easily from the floor; like erasing a chalk board. I saw white floor!!! It was so dirty that the mop kept smearing this nasty sludge all around, like mud. So, back and forth I went to the sink to rinse out the saturated mop. And back to the floor I returned to scrub away some more gray grime. I had to do go over the spots a few times before the gray completely disappeared. Gross!
But one thing I remembered before I embarked on this mission was that Greased Lightening is potent. I opened the windows and let the breeze blow. It is pleasant and windy today. There is a nice brisk breeze in the air bringing the smells and thoughts of autumn.
If you are in a confined space, when you use this stuff, you may start gagging and coughing uncontrollably. It is nasty. But who, may I ask, wants their white floors to look gray. Not me. So, sometimes those chemicals I don't like very much are a blessing.
My floor is now clean. My mind relaxed and a little more at peace. Yes...cleaning makes me feel better! I accomplished something with my day.
I hate using chemicals, but sometimes they are a blessing. I got out the vinegar and began scrubbing. The gray grime remained on the floor. The dirt pushed around a bit, along with some cat hair and I sighed and headed to the laundry room to find something better to clean with.
Mop and Glo. I'm thinking...this has to work. I hate this nasty gray grime on my floor. It's embarrassing. I squirted some on the floor and began scrubbing......Nothing. What's the point of this stuff anyway!
Ugh! Back to the laundry room I trudge. I stared at my shelves full of cleaning supplies and checked each one off the list. Nothing was going to work. But wait...
Up the stairs I go...
This time I returned with Greased Lightening in hand. I squirted it on the floor and took a deep breath. I started scrubbing and miraculously the grime began to lift easily from the floor; like erasing a chalk board. I saw white floor!!! It was so dirty that the mop kept smearing this nasty sludge all around, like mud. So, back and forth I went to the sink to rinse out the saturated mop. And back to the floor I returned to scrub away some more gray grime. I had to do go over the spots a few times before the gray completely disappeared. Gross!
But one thing I remembered before I embarked on this mission was that Greased Lightening is potent. I opened the windows and let the breeze blow. It is pleasant and windy today. There is a nice brisk breeze in the air bringing the smells and thoughts of autumn.
If you are in a confined space, when you use this stuff, you may start gagging and coughing uncontrollably. It is nasty. But who, may I ask, wants their white floors to look gray. Not me. So, sometimes those chemicals I don't like very much are a blessing.
My floor is now clean. My mind relaxed and a little more at peace. Yes...cleaning makes me feel better! I accomplished something with my day.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Just another morning
So, it's 7:00 am on a Saturday and I can't sleep. I should be sleeping in since all the kids are, but my brain won't shut off. Could be worse I guess! Lady Bug slept through the night last night for the first time in a couple of weeks! Hallelujah! She had been leaking out of her diapers for the last four or five nights and I was getting pretty frustrated waking up just to change a diaper that wasn't even saturated.
Since she has been crawling around everywhere she has lost a bunch of baby fat. So, the leg elastics were too big around her legs. Oops! Yesterday I spent a little while adjusting a bunch of her diapers, and each time she needed a diaper change I adjusted another one. No leaks!!!
Lady Bug has a great desire to walk. She gets very frustrated when she can't get there fast enough. She has been pretty fussy this last week and I thought I was going to go nuts. Finally yesterday she was a bit happier. She is trying to stand up next to the couch, the window, and the bakers wrack. She even gets in a squatting position and just sits there with one knee on the ground. She is eleven months now and I can see those wheels spinning in her head. She wants to be mobile. She is trying to figure out how she can stand up and not fall over. Her little feet are still a bit round and it's hard for her to be steady. It makes me wonder how long it will take. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow. We had fun with the boys watching them do new things too. It just feels like it has been so long that it has become exciting again. Her first year is going by way too fast for my taste.
John and Alicia got here last night after traveling for about 3 days. They staying with us last night and will head to Mike's house for a couple of nights sometime today. It's fun to have family visiting and it's more fun to see how excited the boys get when they see them drive into the driveway. I remember feeling the same way when my Gramma would come visit from Arizona. Or when Aunt Wanda and Uncle Billy would come. It's so exciting. You get a little spoiled and you get to do things that aren't normally in your routine.
I remember when Gramma and Stan would drive out in their big blue van. We thought it was so cool. They had a bed in the back of the van to sleep in on their trip. What an awesome way to travel! Not with five kids though! I'll take a hotel any day!
I guess I better find something else to do while everyone sleeps! Happy Weekend!
Since she has been crawling around everywhere she has lost a bunch of baby fat. So, the leg elastics were too big around her legs. Oops! Yesterday I spent a little while adjusting a bunch of her diapers, and each time she needed a diaper change I adjusted another one. No leaks!!!
Lady Bug has a great desire to walk. She gets very frustrated when she can't get there fast enough. She has been pretty fussy this last week and I thought I was going to go nuts. Finally yesterday she was a bit happier. She is trying to stand up next to the couch, the window, and the bakers wrack. She even gets in a squatting position and just sits there with one knee on the ground. She is eleven months now and I can see those wheels spinning in her head. She wants to be mobile. She is trying to figure out how she can stand up and not fall over. Her little feet are still a bit round and it's hard for her to be steady. It makes me wonder how long it will take. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow. We had fun with the boys watching them do new things too. It just feels like it has been so long that it has become exciting again. Her first year is going by way too fast for my taste.
John and Alicia got here last night after traveling for about 3 days. They staying with us last night and will head to Mike's house for a couple of nights sometime today. It's fun to have family visiting and it's more fun to see how excited the boys get when they see them drive into the driveway. I remember feeling the same way when my Gramma would come visit from Arizona. Or when Aunt Wanda and Uncle Billy would come. It's so exciting. You get a little spoiled and you get to do things that aren't normally in your routine.
I remember when Gramma and Stan would drive out in their big blue van. We thought it was so cool. They had a bed in the back of the van to sleep in on their trip. What an awesome way to travel! Not with five kids though! I'll take a hotel any day!
I guess I better find something else to do while everyone sleeps! Happy Weekend!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Need a "pick-me-up" today?
Yesterday I was so tired and had been home all week with sick kids. So, I read my scriptures and folded laundry and took care of Max and Lady Bug. Then I had a prompting to read an article in the Ensign. I grabbed the September issue of the Ensign and started reading the First Presidency message....
It was wonderful. Of course I cried. I always do. But I needed it so much. I love President Uchtdorf. He always seems to know just what to say to the sisters of the church to help them to remember what great women they truly are. I needed that reminder. The best part about it is when he says...oh I am just going to copy and paste because I can't do it justice!!!
"May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. But don’t reach beyond your capacity. Don’t set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don’t feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don’t compare yourself with others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fulness of the gospel (see D&C 45:28). Wherever you have been planted on this beautiful but often troubled earth of ours, you can be the one to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5)."
"My dear sisters, as you live your daily life with all its blessings and challenges, let me assure you that the Lord loves you. He knows you. He listens to your prayers, and He answers those prayers, wherever on this world you may be. He wants you to succeed in this life and in eternity."(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Influence of Righteous Women", Ensign, Sept. 2009, 2-7).
Oh...it's just awesome. It spoke to me. I am so glad that I listened to that prompting and read that article. I need to do it more often. The only problem is that whenever I read it...I cry. I don't like to cry, but I do it a lot.
But even though it made me cry it was cleansing and I needed that and my Father in Heaven knew that I needed it too. I need to learn to let myself cry and not feel bad about it. It just frustrates me.
Today, after I got some extra sleep, I was able to exercise again. Yeah! I needed that today too! It gives me so much more energy!! Now I'm ready to take on the rest of the day! Taking care of Max still. Lady Bug is fussy today, but is taking a nap now so I am getting a break!
It was wonderful. Of course I cried. I always do. But I needed it so much. I love President Uchtdorf. He always seems to know just what to say to the sisters of the church to help them to remember what great women they truly are. I needed that reminder. The best part about it is when he says...oh I am just going to copy and paste because I can't do it justice!!!
"May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. But don’t reach beyond your capacity. Don’t set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don’t feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don’t compare yourself with others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fulness of the gospel (see D&C 45:28). Wherever you have been planted on this beautiful but often troubled earth of ours, you can be the one to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5)."
"My dear sisters, as you live your daily life with all its blessings and challenges, let me assure you that the Lord loves you. He knows you. He listens to your prayers, and He answers those prayers, wherever on this world you may be. He wants you to succeed in this life and in eternity."(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Influence of Righteous Women", Ensign, Sept. 2009, 2-7).
Oh...it's just awesome. It spoke to me. I am so glad that I listened to that prompting and read that article. I need to do it more often. The only problem is that whenever I read it...I cry. I don't like to cry, but I do it a lot.
But even though it made me cry it was cleansing and I needed that and my Father in Heaven knew that I needed it too. I need to learn to let myself cry and not feel bad about it. It just frustrates me.
Today, after I got some extra sleep, I was able to exercise again. Yeah! I needed that today too! It gives me so much more energy!! Now I'm ready to take on the rest of the day! Taking care of Max still. Lady Bug is fussy today, but is taking a nap now so I am getting a break!
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