Carving Pumpkins

For family night last night we carved our pumpkins into Jack-o-lanterns. It was so fun. The girls thought cleaning out the inside was really gross. It took Nikki a long time to put her spoon down and just go for those seeds with her fingers. I thought their faces in the pictures were great. I don't remember making jack-o-lanterns very much as a kid, but I'm so glad we have made it a tradition with our girls. It really is fun. Hannah and Nikki even decided I carved a better face than Nate! Since he is the artist in the family that was surprising. Nikki was working with me, and when she saw his nose, she said, "Don't make one like that, Mom." We got a good laugh out of it.

Quotes About Family Stress

My current lesson for school is about sources of stress in our families. Here are a couple of quotes that I really appreciated.

From the discussion material written by my professors: "We would like to be perfect parents for our children, but we must remember that parenting is a sanctifying process and that our Father knew that we would make mistakes. His plan did not require that parents act perfectly in order to rear righteous children, but it did require that we work hard to improve our situations, that we love our children, that we serve them, and that we apologize when we make mistakes." -- I really liked the "parenting is a sanctifying process" part. I know when I became a parent it seemed like all of my character flaws were just magnified, and all of a sudden I could see so many of my weaknesses so clearly. A little overwhelming, but I am so grateful for all I have learned in the 6 short years I've been a mother.

Neal A. Maxwell: "When in situations of stress we wonder if there is any more in us to give, we can be comforted to know that God, who knows our capacity perfectly, placed us here to succeed. No one was foreordained to fail or to be wicked. When we have been weighed and found wanting, let us remember that we were measured before and we were found equal to our tasks; and, therefore, let us continue, but with a more determined discipleship. When we feel overwhelmed, let us recall the assurance that God will not overprogram us; he will not press upon us more than we can bear (Doctrine and Covenants 50:40)." (Maxwell, N. A. (1978). Meeting the challenges of today. In Devotional speeches of the year. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University)

And then there are these two quotes by Elder Orson F. Whitney that offer comfort to parents of wayward children. I hope I never have to cling to these promises in regards to my own children, but I'm grateful Heavenly Father is so merciful.

"The Prophet Joseph Smith declared -- and he never taught more comforting doctrine -- that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of the Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father's heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God." (Pehrson, K. L., Thursby, J. S., & Olson, T. D. (2000). Gospel ideals and adversity in family life. In D. C. Dollahite (Ed.), Strengthening our families: An in-depth look at the proclamation on the family. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft. p. 250)

"You parents of the willful and the wayward! Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours -- long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them. They have but strayed in ignorance from the Path of Right, and God is merciful to ignorance. Only the fullness of knowledge brings the fullness of accountability. Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the Everlasting Gospel is mightier in power to save than our narrow finite minds can comprehend." (Pehrson, 2000, p. 249)

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch today with Nikki's preschool. It rained on us, but it was a good outing anyway. It was actually really nice to see some rain.
These mums were incredibly huge. I don't remember us growing any quite this big. Very pretty.

Social worries

About a month after school started I began to worry about Hannah because she would come home everyday telling me that she didn't like playing on the playground. She said she ususally just hopped and skipped on the side all by herself. She is naturally shy, but to still call her classmates strangers after that much time I thought might be a problem. Then after reading for my class about how parents can help their children develop social skills, I thought I had failed and was a terrible mother. I suppose we all overreact to some things sometimes. So I have been paying more attention for the past little while every time she interacts with kids at church, neighbors, cousins, even Nikki, and then I had lunch with her on Monday at school. And not only do I think she is okay, I'm very proud of how well she can stand for what she wants. She is not swayed by what others are doing, and I think that is most of the reason why she often does her own thing. A few nights ago, a bunch of neighbor girls were playing with Nikki in the yard, and she came in to get Hannah to come play with them. After a while Hannah came back in and said they were all fighting over a ball and they were going to pop it. I assured her it wouldn't pop, and instead of going back out she decided she wanted to play a computer game. I know she was uncomfortable with their bickering, so she just removed herself. She is very unconfrontational and noncompetitive. She would rather leave than argue over what game to play. I also saw at school that several of the kids at lunch did talk to her, and she added to the conversation as well, so I know she can and does participate in social interactions. I think this ability to walk away will be great when she is a teenager! I hope it lasts.

Odds and ends

My sister sent this link of a mother's version of the William Tell Overture to me and I thought it was so funny. Our internet filter actually blocks Youtube, but this was worth overriding it for a few minutes.

I wanted to sign Hannah up for a Brownie Girl Scout Troop, but there weren't enough parent volunteers to get a group started in our part of the county, so I get to be a troop leader. I just jumped in and said sure I'll do it, but now I'm getting nervous. I would so much prefer just to be an assistant leader, but I guess everyone else feels that way, too. I get to go to training next week, and I'm sure I'll be more excited about it after that. I think this will be really good for Hannah, and I know it will be a lot of fun being with the girls.

The other day Nikki had been grumpy all day, and I was just tired of it. I just wrote a stinking paper on how to get your kids to stop whining, but she doesn't appreciate that fact. I keep trying to figure out what I'm doing to perpetuate it. I'm sure there are a lot of things. So, at dinner I asked what I could do to help her be happier and stop complaining so much. Her response: "You can just give me everything I want right when I ask for it." Well, in a way, she's right. I might complain less if I got my way all the time, too. I just need to get her to understand that that would turn her into a monster. I was so proud of Hannah when she popped in and said, "Nikki, you can't get what you want all the time." Maybe Hannah will be able to reach her better than I can.

Choir practice started up again last night after a break of a couple of weeks. I think it went pretty well. I still feel out of place up there, and I'm actually kind of glad everyone had their nose stuck in the music rather than looking up because I'm really not coordinated enough to sing and listen to the choir and wave my arm in the right pattern all at the same time. That's alright because I'm being stretched out of my comfort zone.

The marker did it all by itself

That's what she told me when I asked her what happened to her hand.

Glasses

Hannah went to the eye doctor today. A couple of weeks ago I got a note from the school nurse saying that Hannah had not passed her eye screening. Her teacher told me she sits very close to the front and has trouble seeing the board. I was feeling like a lousy parent for not noticing she was having a problem, but the doctor told me today that she has probably only needed glasses for a few months. That made me feel better. I tried to show her some pictures of when I was little and got glasses, but that was a BIG mistake. My first glasses were these hideous gargantuan stop-sign glasses. Hannah told me yesterday that she was not afraid of going to the doctor, but she was afraid that her glasses would look weird. She was pleasantly surprised when they had some cute pink frames that didn't cover her whole face. I think she looks cute, but it keeps taking me by surprise every time I look at her.

County Fair

Last night we went to the fair and had so much fun. A lot of my pictures came out blurry since I'm not very technologically savvy and don't really know how to use my camera to get a picture when something is moving. But I did get some really cute ones.

We all loved the Ferris wheel. As we were sitting on it we watched these really heavy clouds get closer and closer. We thought for sure we would get rained on, but we lucked out. We got the first sprinkles in the car on the way home.


Nikki doesn't look very excited here, but she really was happy to ride the merry-go-round.
After we had used up all of our ride tickets we got some cotton candy and went to see the animals and a couple of shows. One show was about farm animals, and the other one was called the Hogway Speedway Pig Races. That's where they got the pig ears hats. It was really funny. They had a little track that these little pigs ran around to get to a plate of cheese puffs at the end. They also raced goats and ducks. The girls thought that was fun.