Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Our Money Worries Are Over

Look carefully!  These are not $8 bills that Christian made...they are infinity dollars.  With an infinite amount per bill, I think we could have gotten by with only one, but Christian made "five times infinity" (he always phrases what he says like a math problem).

Christian had his 6th birthday on the 10th of this month.  He got to go swimming (indoors, of course) the next Saturday and have frozen yogurt "funness" at Orange Leaf afterward.  That's one of the best things about Christian - he doesn't expect much, doesn't ask for much, and is easily excited by little things that I take for granted every day.  He has added so much joy to our family.  We love you, Christian!
~Andi  (P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom!)

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Pictures: Better Late Than Never

We have a great digital camera...unfortunately it only holds about 20 pictures at a time, which limits how often I take pictures and how many I take.  Our video camera is much smaller and more convenient to use, so I end up taking more videos than still pictures.  It's fun for us to watch the videos, but I doubt they are equally amusing to everyone else.  I know that I always skip over the videos in other people's blogs unless they are family.  So I'll spare you the videos (for now) and just post a few pictures.  Another installment from my phone's camera will be coming soon though.

Here are a few from the zoo, including Christian enjoying a "frog spit" popsicle.  The next two are from the Kansas City Temple Open House and the last two are from Justin's birthday party/Memorial day.  We had fish cupcakes at his request, with scales made from M&Ms.  He ate three!  I guess he needed three since he was turning three.  I still can't believe he's that big already.

~Andi


Monday, May 21, 2012

The Power of the Pole

After reading Andi's post this morning I'd like to shed some light on this fishing subject.

Early last winter I found myself searching for many things.  During the course of this pathless wandering, I thought that purchasing a fishing and hunting license might help me find some of what I was searching for.  Six months later, I had done no hunting and no fishing.  In searching to satisfy my own desires, I'd found exactly nothing.

A couple of weeks ago, I suddenly realized how wonderful the weather was that particular day, and I decided that it was the day to go fishing.  Andi threw all the food she already had on the table into a picnic basket and we all packed into the van and headed to a local park that had a small lake.  I didn't catch a thing, but the boys had fun at the playground and Grant got a small taste of what it's like to try and catch fish with gear built for someone twice his size.  I was unhappy with the results of the evening.  I had failed to show myself and my son that I could catch a fish, and I was displeased to see him get worn out so quickly by trying to use my equipment.  But I had made the effort to GO and TRY, and that changed everything.  What I didn't know was that there were higher powers involved with my fishing interests, and until I showed the willingness to put in some effort I was going to receive no benefit.

Two days later, this message was clearly shown to me.  I was 40 miles from home installing a new movement in a customer's grandfather clock.  I knew I had my fishing gear still in the van from two nights before, and I was considering driving to a nearby public lake after finishing the job.  I am fortunate to work in a situation where I am paid for the work I do, never "on the clock," so if I choose to run an errand or go fishing in the middle of the day that is fine.  This job was a good one that paid me well, so spending some time in the sun with a rod and reel sounded like a good way to spend a couple hours alone.  I shared my plan with my customers as I was fixing their clock, and the man of the house insisted that I not waste my time driving to the public lake.  He told me that I would have better luck right there on his private pond that was well stocked with fish.  I had taken notice of his beautiful pond upon entering his driveway a few weeks earlier, but I never guessed I'd be invited to fish there.  So I accepted the invitation and was blessed with two of the most pleasing hours of my life.  I was rewarded with a little success, and a TON of positive mental energy.

To this point I had not given much thought to the timing of everything, but in the passing weeks much has become clear to me.  I'll elaborate more in the future, as I am taught more, but I will do so on my personal blog, enduringcreation.com, so that I can leave this as a place for Andi to tell her side of our family's adventures without me stealing her thunder.


Sunday, May 20, 2012

I'm Trying to Catch Up, Brian's Trying to Catch Fish

Since it took an hour to upload the new picture to our blog (slow internet?), this post will be a lot shorter than I had intended, but I'll be back with more soon.  I'm out of school for the summer which makes me feel like I have all kinds of free time...even though I have yet to see any of it.

The boys are doing great.  They are smart, healthy, and so entertaining.  Grant is almost finished with first grade.  He has been learning Aikido on Saturdays through Parks and Recreation and is enjoying it.  He takes it much more seriously than most of the other children in his class, and he also appears to have some natural abilities (I couldn't possibly be biased, could I?).  Brian got Grant his own fishing pole and has been fishing with him as an opportunity for some father/son bonding time.  I was beginning to wonder if Brian's fishing gear would ever see the light of day again.  Up until a couple weeks ago, he hadn't gone fishing since before we had children.

While Grant is counting down the days until school is done, Christian is counting down the days until he gets to start school.  He and Grant will be in summer school together for four weeks in June; then he will begin kindergarten in August (although Christian will likely go to first grade for math and reading).   Christian is my sweetest boy.  He loves to draw me pictures of hearts and flowers or pictures of me and him together.  I think he is getting bored here at home, though.  I will miss him very much when he starts school, but I am glad he will soon have some new experiences and challenges that I can't give him here at home.

Justin has been changing and growing up so fast lately.  He wants to do everything his older brothers do, and he is interested in everything they are interested in.  He is still like a combination of Grant and Christian in appearance and personality.  It's cute now (how he follows them), but I hope he will be able to find his own identity as he grows.  I can't believe he's about to turn three.  He loves to go swimming, swing, watch bugs, play sword fight with Grant, and eat cookies - among other things.  He is still talking about our trip to the St. Louis Zoo almost two months ago!  He especially loved the hippos.  I'll have to post pictures of the zoo and other happenings later this week.

~Andi


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Little Reminder

Happy New Year!  I can't believe the holidays have come and gone and the fun and cuteness of my kids have been undocumented for so long.  But away with the negative, self-deprecating thoughts...I am trying to have a more positive attitude.  What better time to get a new attitude than the start of a new year?  While it's not exactly a resolution, per se, I do expect that just looking at myself and the people/things around me with a better perspective will lead to greater happiness throughout our entire family.

For example, in the past I spent too much time thinking about how I do everything around the house and Brian does very little.  But that's not exactly true...here are some of the many reasons why I love my husband lately:
~On cold nights he gets into bed first and warms up my side so I can get into a nice, warm bed.
~He installed a new garbage disposal.
~He cleaned out the really gross drain in the bottom of the dishwasher.
~He tells me how beautiful I am, and he always makes me feel that way even though it has been a struggle my whole life to accept my appearance.
~He likes to cook, and he's good at it.
~He loves our boys with a tremendous father's love.
~He is quick to forgive me when my words are harsh.
~I watched in wonder as he dismantled an electric heater that no longer heated - that I was just going to throw away.  He took out the motor/fan and hooked it up the way he needed it to use in his forge.
~He got me a food processor for Christmas, gave it to me early enough (Grant gave away the surprise anyway) to use for making a carrot cake for Christmas dinner, and he still surprised me on Christmas morning with a gift - my newly repaired laptop!  Yay!  Now I can blog - at least when I'm not doing everything else around here (grin).

~Andi