A Mini Update (since I've been a slacker...)

November was rough health-wise. Well, I suppose it all actually started the week leading up to Halloween. Allie came home with a slightly pink eye, which progressively worsened over the weekend, so much so that she had to get Vigamox eye drops and stay home from school... on the day of her first field trip, which happened to be to the pumpkin patch. A bit of a head cold developed along with the Pink Eye, but not enough to keep her home more than a day. It wasn't long after when my throat began to hurt and Sami began coughing and running a fever. We couldn't keep either one of us away from the Halloween festivities, though. Sami had been planning on being Princess Leia for months. We still had to go to the ward Trunk-or-Treat, turning our trunk into a "snowball toss" to go along with my theme of dressing up as one of Santa's elves and Kevin being Rudolf. (By the way, Allie was a witch and Drew was a darling Charlie Brown.) We put up with Sami's coughing for a week before I decided to take Sami in. When I did, the doctor in the morning clinic at the pediatrician's office said Sami's lungs sounded clear. Over that weekend the cough worsened, and I thought I heard wheezing, so I took her back to the pediatrician... and she was given a different doctor. This doctor checked her ears, said she had an ear infection and bagan to write down a prescription for an antibiotic. I mentioned the coughing at that point (since that's why I had brought her back in), and she replied, "Oh, she's coughing? I'll write her a prescription for some cough medicine." Say what?! The next day I put up with the coughing with no improvement, so the following day I skipped the pediatrician's office and went straight to the Urgent Care, since I needed to go there anyway for my own horribly sore throat. The doctor there looked at my throat and said, "Yep, that's strep," and then listened to Sami's lungs and heard wheezing. He took chest x-rays there and sent them to a radiologist, who diagnosed her with pneumonia. She had to go back to the Urgent Care the next morning to get a painful shot of Rocephin in the leg. About a week later, Kevin caught the cold (including the Pink Eye), which lingered with him for a couple weeks, and at about the same time Drew developed bronchitis and Allie developed some kind of nasty cough (for which she had to miss the PE Olympics at school). A couple weeks later, Sami came down with croup just before I caught another cold. At this point in time we're all healthy, and I just pray it stays that way so we can go caroling at the hospital on Christmas.

As for happenings of the past couple months... We went to Sea World's Halloween Spooktacular, and the girls got to triack-or-treat throughout the park. And we took Sami and Drew to the day of free admission for Brevard County residents at the Kennedy Space Center. We spent Thanksgiving at my Mom's cousin Peggy's house with her husband and daughter and my two great-aunts. Allie and Sami also had their Christmas dance recital. Sami is the youngest in the in the pre-ballet class with two other girls, and Allie is the youngest of six girls in the next level up. I would describe it more right now, but I am feeling so overwhelmed and exhausted and frustrated at all I have to do that I need to just give the basic facts at this point-- no clever descriptions, too time consuming. But a quick run-down of the program-- Sami danced as a "little swan" dressed in white to a selection from Swan Lake, and Allie danced as perhaps a little girl playing around before bedtime to some piece I hadn't heard before. Cute, very cute.

Steve brought four of his girls out here from Utah as their Christmas present last week, while a pregnant Erika stayed home with their two boys and nearly two year-old Emily. They stayed at the Church ranch with Mom and Dad Smith, and we got to spend a day at Sea World with them... in the cold rain. On Sunday they all came to one of my choir concerts (for which the church sanctuary was overflowing), and then joined us at our house for dinner afterward. Allie and Sami really enjoyed the time they had to be silly with Bri and Kayli. Caitlyn told us we needed to "move back to Utah." Although, with how much Steve was loving our Florida "winter" weather, I think we might have better luck to convince them to move here.

I can't forget about our little Drew turning one on the 7th. I made him a "BYU cake," as the girls called it. A little singing and a present and we called it good. Goodness, we love that little boy.



Oy.

Kevin came in not too long ago asking me if I'd cut his hair tonight. I sighed. So much to do, and yet my list keeps lengthening because someone in this house is always in need of something.

Well, my eyes are extremely heavy, so I had better... Oops. I just fell asleep.

It's a bird! It's a...

This afternoon, Allie and Sami heard a jet fly over the house, so they ran to the sliding glass door to peek at the sky. Allie exclaimed, "Mom! I just saw the biggest 'r-plane I've ever seen!... It was about one-hundred and fifty pounds!... But little planes are only about... one-hundred pounds."

And, yes, Allie is unable to say airplane.

Pixie Dust

Last Friday we went to the temple, Kevin staying longer with the Terrys to purchase some food storage from the cannery in Orlando. Sami tagged along, since the Terrys were bringing their girls, and I went home with Drew, so I could get home in time to pick Allie up from school.

While they waited for their 3pm cannery appointment, they spent some time at Downtown Disney, eating lunch at McDonald's and exploring the shops. With three little girls in the group, the Disney Princess store was a 'must." They walked in and, according to Kevin, a girl asked Sami if she wanted to be sprinkled with Pixie Dust. Sami agreed, and the girl dusted her head with green glitter. Sami looked expressionless at Kevin.

"Dad, what did she do to me?"

"She sprinkled you with Pixie Dust." Sami stared for a moment, letting the thought roll around in her head before she responded.

She looked up at Kevin, and in all seriousness asked, "Dad... can I fly?"

Of course, his is all second-hand, but hopefully I did the story justice.

In the Past Month

As already mentioned in the two earlier posts, Allie started Kindergarten... And Sami started preschool. Both girls practically ran into their classrooms on the first day, nearly forgetting to give me a mere "see ya, Mom." I already have piles of their art projects collecting on the dining room table, and both girls love their new friends-- Sami plays with Zoey, Cameron, and Samara on the playground, and Allie seems to have really taken a liking to Caitlin and Rori. Julia, a precious red-head, is sweet to Allie, too, having tackled Allie with a tight hug when we reached Mrs. Georgeff's classroom yesterday. Thankfully Julia has been transferred to Ms. Gregg's class with Allie, so she won't feel so alone. Arrrg. The whole situation still upsets me...

Kevin turned 33 on the 5th, over Labor Day weekend, which we spent in Miami with Kev's parents. Friday night, we put the kids to bed, and Mom and Dad sat in the hotel room with them while Kev and I went out exploring Miami's famed South Beach, with the party-crowd going full-swing-- groups of girls in slinky dresses, with their glossy lips and dark eyes, the guys reeking of cologne, and little me in my denim capris and glasses, with my hair pulled back, and no make-up. But we walked out to the empty beach, the moon reflecting off the surface of the ocean, and put our feet in the warm water. That Saturday we spent at Jungle Island (a pseudo-zoo where they throw macaws all over you and take your picture, and tease alligators as a crowd pleaser-- a bit disturbing and upsetting, but the girls had fun in spite of all that), while Mom and Dad explored The Coral Castle. We met up for dinner in our apartment-style hotel room to eat sub sandwiches, just in time to watch the Cougs' upset over Oklahoma-- an especially great birthday treat for Kev. On Sunday, we attended the nearby Spanish branch, with the nearest English-speaking ward being a thirty-minute drive away. All of us know some Spanish, but none of us is fluent, so communication was limited. By the end of the third hour I had a nasty headache from having to concentrate on comprehension for so long. But even still, it's amazing how the Church is the same everywhere-- the organization is familiar and consistent, as is the warm fellowship from the members. The branch members attempted to welcome us and introduce themselves in broken English, we introducing ourselves in Spanish. We were all especially inspired by their strong testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I mustered up the courage to share my own testimony with the Relief Society sisters in Spanish (after having chickened-out in Sacrament Meeting). For me it was terrifying, but the sisters understood me enough, responding to my sentiments with endearing murmurings of "Que lindo!" Monday morning we quickly explored the nearby lighthouse, and then made our way home, taking a short detour through the Everglades.

As for other events of the month, we attended a couple Manatees baseball games-- well, the first 45 minutes of each game, both having been free for Harris Corp. employees and their families. We have yet to actually pay to attend a game. Kevin and I woke at midnight to see the shuttle launch, and we attended the water-game-themed Primary activity at church for the girls.

A quick update on Allie's school situation... She's home now. I asked her how her day was, "Good,' she said-- the usual answer. No tears, no sadness. She's fine. Came home and asked to "play computer games," just like she does everyday. Whew! For once I wasn't annoyed with that question.

Wednesday

The “pit” returned. (See "Tuesday" post)

After dinner last night, it occurred to Allie that even though she had Ms. Gregg as her new teacher, she wouldn’t also stay with Mrs. Georgeff… and it broke her little heart. We cuddled on her bed together as she sobbed into my shoulder about how she’d be missing all the other kids’ “name days,” about how she was nervous about things being different in her new class, about not being able to play with Caitlin or Rori on the playground anymore, about her fears that her new teacher would be “hard,” and about how much she loved Mrs. Georgeff. My heart ached for her. All this I knew she would feel—I had felt it before, too. Her little face was red and splotchy by the time I had her get in the bath, telling her a bath would help her feel better. And it did—it cleared her head a bit. When we said our family prayer that evening before bed, I prayed to Heavenly Father that He would help Allie to have fun in her new class and to make new friends. In her own personal prayer in her bed she prayed for the same things, and when she finished I leaned in and whispered to her that “I knew” Heavenly Father would help her through tomorrow, that He would help her to enjoy it. She smiled at me, and squeezed her arms around my neck.

And this morning she was happy. A bit slow and sluggish, but still happy. She smiled and giggled the whole walk to school. We walked past Mrs. Georgeff’s class to see a “former” classmate waiting for the door to open. As she walked by, she said, “Hi Tyler! I’m in a new class now.” He looked after her, confused, and I repeated to him what she had said. His eyes drooped, as he watched her walk away, and he let out a small, “Aw…” He liked her and would miss her. I can’t blame him—Allie’s a pretty cool kid. Ms. Gregg opened her door, and Allie did not hesitate one bit as she walked in the door. As I turned to leave, I peered through the window to see her sitting at her desk, bouncing in her seat, an excited smile on her face.

That little girl was absolutely devastated last night—declared to me she didn’t want to go to school anymore. But through her tears, she had faith the Lord would help her to enjoy herself in spite of her sadness.
What an amazing little girl.

Tuesday

My favorite part of today so far...

As we're leaving to take Sami to school, I noticed a dime-size spider hiding under the kitchen cabinets. Since I can't leave a living arachnid in the house, I put Drew down to kill the eight-legged intruder. Knowing how quick they can be, I resorted to be usual chemical warfare, grabbing the bottle of 409 from under the kitchen sink. I sprayed it till it tried to escape, and then squished it with a paper towel in its incapacitated state. Sami was curious, though.

"Why did you spray that on the spider, Mom?"

"Because it makes the spider slow, so I can kill it faster."

"Wow, Mom-- you're a super hero!" Sadly enough, I actually did hold my head a little higher at that moment. Come on, when will my daughter ever again refer to me as a super-hero? I had to soak that in.

My least favorite part of the day...

After coming home from picking Sami up from school, I checked my voice mail to hear a new message from Allie's teacher, Mrs. Georgeff. Allie was "chosen" to switch to one of the new Kindergarten classes... starting tomorrow, after having been in Mrs. Georgeff’s class for the last 4 ½ weeks. She had apparently already spent some time with the new teacher and was "excited." Call it "mother's intuition," but I knew this would happen. When the principal mentioned the possibility at Open House last week, I had a sinking feeling in my gut-- my Allie would be one of them. I came home to mention my feeling to Kevin-- he didn't understand, probably thought I was being a bit paranoid. But I just knew. It ate at me so much because the same thing happened to me in Kindergarten-- I was always sad about having "lost" Mrs. Seaver.

So after picking Allie up from school, we walked over to her new classroom to meet the new teacher-- a tall and slender, young, cute blond named Ms. Gregg. She was darling, with a bright, colorful room that smelled of cinnamon apples. Her blue eyes twinkled as she talked with Allie, excited about the new year. And Allie really seemed to like her, too. The pit in my stomach relaxed. Allie would be fine, I knew it. Ms. Gregg would be every bit as loving as Mrs. Georgeff.

My Time to Shine!

I had to laugh at the way Sami hogged the microphone today. Meredith, their nine-year-old "big sister," stood in between Allie and Sami at the podium, Allie and Sami standing on small wooden stools Meredith's mom Sarah had brought. After situating the stools, I thought Sami was too far away from the microphone, so I moved her slightly closer to Meredith. Then I made my way to the piano.

Mistake.

I sat on the piano bench, and looked up at the girls. Sami leaned over onto Meredith, her mouth practically eating the microphone. I whispered, "Sami!" trying to get her to back up, but realized I would need to actually yell for her to hear me... which wouldn't go over well with the bishopric and stake president sitting right in front of me.

I would get fired... Well, actually, considering the shortage of pianists in the ward, I probably wouldn't have gotten fired. I probably could have yelled... if it weren't for the whole "inviting the Spirit" thing.

But I could tell people were tickled just to see them up there, so I let it go. Kevin's parents had even made the drive from the Church ranch just to hear their grandbabies sing.

I played the introduction to the song, which was "Life is O'erflowing with Beautiful Things," a song that had been printed in the July issue of The Friend. Allie and Sami sang the first verse, Meredith sang the second verse, and all three girls sang the last verse. I chuckled to myself at every crack of Sami's voice or every gasp of air mid-word-- her mouth never left that microphone. Allie and Meredith both sang purely and beautifully, too, but it was just harder to hear them.

And then they were done! We walked back to our seats, and I looked out to see smiles and wet eyes. I, too, through my soft chuckles behind the piano, had fought the tears at times.

In spite of Sami's "American Idol" moment, their sweet angel voices had truly invited the Spirit. I had felt it, and so did many people in the congregation.

I told the girls later after church in the stairwell under Dad's classroom how that's what their sweet singing had done, how that is why Heavenly Father blessed them with that musical ability-- to bless others' lives, to allow the Holy Ghost to testify to them and others that Jesus is the Christ.

But before I could say anything else, Sami hit her head on the railing.

Allie on Fashion

Rebekah Jarvis, our Primary chorister, called me this evening. Here's what went down in Primary today...

Ben, one of Allie's classmates, and Laura, his younger sister, came waltzing into Primary a little bit late. Laura was wearing a poofy, colorful, flowery dress that caught Allie's eye. As Ben wandered over to his seat, Allie turned to him.

With all the seriousness of an adult, she told him, "Ben, your sister has great fashion sense."

As I told Kev about this after I got off the phone with Rebekah, with Allie sitting there with us, she smiled, "Laura was very stylish today!"

Hate to say this, Laura, but considering some of the outfits Allie puts together for herself, that's not saying much for ya.

The Coolest T-shirt Ever

Like I said in my last post, we went to the Manatees baseball game last Saturday evening. Halfway through the game Kevin laughed to himself, and pointed out some guy's t-shirt.

Okay... I want it.

In the Past (half) Month...

In just over a week, Allie will be starting Kindergarten. We talk about it everyday-- Allie both nervous and anxious to meet her teacher and make new friends, Kevin and I terrified to "throw her to the wolves." We can't believe this time has already come. I've been trying to hide my anxieties about letting her go-- and I'm a pretty good actress, so she hasn't suspected. My own elementary school experience wasn't all that hot-- I got teased a lot, by the cool girls who felt threatened by my cute face and took advantage of my shy nature, and also by the older kids who felt threatened by my intelligence. And it's not that I was the smartest kid in the school (I was far from that), but every year I was put in a combination class, with half the class being from the grade ahead. The majority of the older kids that acknowledged my existence were just plain mean to me. I really just thought I was a dork. Me! A dork!


Okay, zip it.

I think my best memories seem to involve swinging on the swings (by myself) while singing the theme song to The Neverending Story, making up routines on the monkey bars with my friends to the theme song of Kids Incorporated, and competitive recess tether ball matches...

Huh. Just thinking about those last few good memories just made me feel better. Who'd 'a' thunk it?

Allie's a spunky girl-- much more confident and sure of herself than I was. She'll be fine. She'll be more than fine-- she'll be great. In fact, she will love it.

Allie and I spent an hour and a half on Saturday afternoon at Target, filling up a shopping cart with all the stuff she'll need-- a Tinkerbell backpack, a Barbie lunchbox, sneakers that fit her, etc. Sami was pretty upset that she didn't get to come, too. I tried to tell Sami that she didn't need all that stuff for preschool (she'll be starting the week after Allie)-- that they'd be giving her a bag to bring, and that she already had shoes. She was still mad.

Both girls are also signed up for dance later this month. Allie will move up a level, and Sami gets to start in beginning ballet. When Sami was potty training, I had promised her that she could take dance like Allie only if she could wear "big girl underwear." She did it, before she even turned three in March. So, I gotta pay up now.

Ballet shoes, tap shoes, leotards, tights... More money to spend. Eeek.

But more cute recitals to enjoy, and more great memories to make, and more fun skills to develop. Priceless.

But as for happenings within the past couple weeks (since my last update was halfway into July anyway), our ward held a Pioneer Day celebration, Pioneer Day being a Utah holiday commemorating the arrival of the Latter-Day Saint pioneers into the Salt Lake valley back in July of 1847. The party was complete with a chili cook-off, an apple pie contest, singing by the Primary children, and karaoke. I didn't win anything in the chili cook-off, but I won the gold pie tin (1st place) in the apple pie contest. Yeah, I can't believe that one either-- makes me laugh. Allie was proud, cheered for me louder than anyone, and tackled me with hugs. "Yay, Mom! You won!"

She didn't even eat any of it-- only wanted ice cream.

She did look pretty cute wearing an old pioneer-ish dress my aunt Rahn had made for me when I was about five years old. She was really excited to wear it. It's too bad I didn't have one for Sami to wear. I told her that in a couple years, she would fit the dress, while Allie would be too big for it. That made her feel better, and she got over it.

Other than that, things haven't been extremely exciting around here. Kevin steam cleaned the carpet this weekend, and I took the kids to the zoo so he could do it. Woo hoo? Umm... we went to the Manatees baseball game Saturday night, since we got in free with Kevin's Harris badge that night. We were only there for an hour, since our kids can't last longer than that. Of course, I forgot to bring the camera to both activities, so I have nothing to show for it.

Oh! I thought many of you would be proud of me on this one. I played the organ for Sacrament Meeting two weeks in a row! Nikki recently taught me how to work the organ (which is what was intimidating me about playing in the first place-- all those stops and buttons...), and Linda the ward organist was out of town. She asked me to sub for her, and instead of playing the piano, I thought I'd stretch my comfort zone and use the organ. I wasn't great or anything, and I didn't even attempt the pedals, but still... Well, I'm proud of myself anyway. Now it's not scary anymore.

Watch, now I'll get called as the ward organist... since my other two music callings aren't enough.

Patience... an update

These are comments I received after putting this post on Facebook...

“Specifically on the getting dressed issue.....when my oldest (now 20) was about 4 I had the same problem. Was still in the AF at the time and had to get the 2 children to the babysitter and get to work on time every morning, so dressing in a timely manner was crucial. Finally, one cool winter morning when he was again running around in his underwear oblivious to the need to dress, I told him when we were leaving. I told him if he wanted to stay warm and comfortable he would need to dress. He didn't. I took him to the babysitters in his underwear. I beleive he had a towel to keep the chill off for the 20 min ride. He was mortified. Never had another problem.” – Tamsey Audet
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“Krissy you totally crack me up! Patience has never been one of my greater talents so I know what you mean. This has worked with my kids. I tell them once, the second time is a warning and the third is a time-out or loss of privlege (depending on age, kid, and situation). The trick though is being 100 % consistent so they clearly understand that you are serious and they know what to expect if they don't listen. After a few days of it my kids responded by the 1st request (most of the time). Good luck, once you figure out what will work for your kids, they'll move into another stage to test your patience yet again :)” – Andrea Curtis
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“First of all you are NOT the only mom out there loosing her cool....I swear I have the patience of a saint when it comes to other people's children but put mine in a room and listen to them fight for even a second and I have lost it. I have tried a few things with my children and for a time they work. 1st attempt at teaching obedience/consequence we had a chart....Get caught doing good= a sticker, get caught not doing good=loss of sticker. At the end of the week they could go to the prize drawer and pick something based on stickers earned. 2nd one that we are using right now is the simple Green, Yellow, Red card system. It is very visual and instead of me yelling constantly and feeling terrible I change it, tell them and then they have the chance to earn back their green card. But the Red card results in a loss of privlege or a time out. Seems to be working...for now. :)” – Lori Weston Orton
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“Krissy ~ your children are wonderful! I always told Beth "if you have to choose to be good at home or away, choose away. You are loved here unconditionally." In all my years of daycare and observing children they tend to misbehave where they are most comfortable. That really should be inside the home. But on to your question: I got so aggrevated with Beth dawdling and ignoring me that I would take a random time and say get dressed. After her taking FOREVER I would say "never mind - it's to late now. I wanted to take you to the park/beach/movies/whatever". I always had a little something planned. Then occasionally she would do everything in a timely manner and we would go out for ice cream or something planned. If she asked why she had to clean up her room I would say because I asked you to. If she did it immediatly, I would say "Oh, you did that so quick. I thought it would take longer. Now we have time to read your favorite book or bake cookies or whatever I was planning... to do anyway. (I've never run out of space on a post before - I should have just sent an email). Finally - everyday, several times a day, I would pray that I would be the mother she needed and be able to teach her and guide her to best benefit her. You know your children better than anyone. If you stop and pray each time you will not only find more patience, you will know what to do for each of your children at any given moment to teach and guide them. Love you and your wonderful family.” – Jennifer Westbrook
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“well, i mostly whack mine...just kidding. I like Jennifer's post. I remember clearly one time sitting with Julia and before i spoke I prayed "Jesus, please tell me what she needs" and the next thing I said was "I love you". Her shoulders just relaxed so much and that conversation went well. I wish I had prayed more often but I don't know that the answer would have come so quickly every time. Now that Julia is 13, I should be in prayer 24/7...! Lots of arguments and struggles. And I do think that I got slack after awhile on consequences when she was younger and I am suffering for that now. Train up a child in the way she should go...Hang in there, momma! You're wonderful! Will you be my mommy?” – Allison Cobb
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“Andrea Curtis' method is how we raised our kids. It's the follow thru that wears you out - but is critical - CRITICAL.

In PMG it says patience is the capacity to endure - or delay - trouble, opposition or sufferning without becoming angry, frustrated or anxious. "Patience is related to hope and faith - you must wait for the Lord's promised blessing to be fulfilled."

So hang in there. :-)” – John A. Price
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“ok, I like what Jennifer wrote, however if I told maddy to do something and she didn't do it so I told her oh well, then we can't do what I had planned, she would throw herself into hysterics! I hate the whining and crying!! Now as for Tamsey's comment, oh goodness, do I even dare do that to maddy come school time? cause she is SO slow that we were always late for Pre k!

k, so this isn't about me but you, but you sound just like me, so I"m you, well you're me, no no, I mean we're each other or, well, not really or quite, but um....

at this point should I just try to give you advice? lol, KIDDING! my biggest tactic is to just talk softly (keeps me from raising my voice -doesn't always work) and I sometimes use the ignore tactic. I'll purposefully sit down and start doing something with my other kids and not include her. Then she does what I've asked and we all get to do 'whatever' together. Patience is my biggest struggle!!!” – Jessica McCrary Jones
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” men you have patience.I will wipp butts. no patience even if i slept night and day.no wonder why i like hitler!!!! he is a taurus too. LOL Boy i am in trouble...” – Yola Abdou
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“Patience eh?
Your patience, their training. There is a balance in there somewhere. Of course, about the time you get it all figured out they will be grown. And guess what? They will be fine.
You don't have to be perfect, just keep doing your best and the Lord will fill in the little gaps here and there.

Get off your own back. You are a very good Mom! You have a home filled with love, you honor God and you are teaching those things through word and example.” – Scott Kidwell (Dad)
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“It's good to see that I am not the only mom who looses it. Matt told me the other day I needed to stop yelling. So I yelled at him. I'm sorry, but at the end of the day - most of which I've kept my cool for - I have no patience for the whinning and dramatics as I'm now trying to make dinner. I'll go from talking nicely - which cant' be heard over their screaming, to talking firmly, which I just get given the "evil eye", to screaming at the top of my lungs just to try to be heard - and I lost MY voice! If you find the miracle way, please fill me in. As for the dressing issues - Madysen hates to get dressed in the morning for school. I've now gotten to the point where I tell her to pick out her own clothes and get dressed. Sometimes the clothes match- other times, like last week, she went it mismatched pjs. Or her shorts were on backwards. It just wasn't worth the fight. Since she wouldn't let me do her hair- it went as it was- a MESS! I'll just worry about it on special days & church” – Shawna Putt Gonzalez

Patience

It's no secret. I have very little patience. Anyone in my family will vouch for me. But I do try, honestly. I think the bad behavior from the girls that gets me the most are the acts of ignoring and outright disobedience. After asking, then directing, then commanding them to get dressed or clean up or brush their teeth, I start to fume. My voice gets deeper and louder each time. Ultimately, I end up giving an ultimatum ("You have to the count of 5 to get your tail over here and put your pants on or I'm taking your Tiger...," etc.) or carrying/dragging them, kicking and screaming, to where I need them to be. I think what gets me the most is that it's such a waste of everyone's time! And then they turn to me and say, "Stop telling me that!" If they would just listen and obey the first time, I wouldn't have to ask them over and over, and time would be used so much more efficiently!

Ahhhh!

Obviously, I'm not the perfect parent. I'm not even close. And my kids truly are good kids with good hearts. They do mean well, generally. But there's room for improvement on both sides.

So, all you parents out there, I'm looking to know what you do to maintain patience. How on earth do you keep your cool in such situations? How do you go about getting your kids to be obedient and to listen, if that's even possible at all?

Just to clarify, I'm not asking you to tell me what you think I should do with my own children. If you try to give me advice, I'll just get... well... bugged with you for sounding arrogant. And I really don't to feel that way about you. I'm just asking what you do with your own children. Does that make sense? :)

In the Past Month

I'm sitting at the dining room table with the laptop. Not my first choice of a location to type, but probably better for my back anyway. My first choice was to relax on my own bed, propped up by my pillow with the computer resting on my legs, the ceiling fan adding a tropical breeze to my "paradise." But Sami's sprawled across the bed in a deep afternoon snooze. Next choice, the guestroom. I walked in to find the girls' Disney Princess paper doll collection having taken up residence all over the bed. So, here I am-- in a hard chair... with no ceiling fan. It feels like school.

I never liked school.

But as long as you have me here, undisturbed for once, I might as well write an update. I had anticipated that summer would allow less time for keeping up with any updates or random acts of writing. And I was right. No time, I tell you! No time! But the lack of time just means that we've been partaking in mainly fun. Of course, frustration from an abundance of family togetherness has come into play many times (the kids get sick of being with mom all day... and vice versa), but honestly the activity has been a blast. Between trips to the library and the zoo and the beach, and me teaching the girls to swim in the Samuelses' pool, we've spent a lot of time with extended family.

In mid-June, Mallory (my little sis) came to visit for a week. It was fabulous having her here! We went to the zoo one day, toured Deseret Ranch with Mom and Dad Smith, spent another at Sea World's water park Aquatica, she accompanied me to our ward's annual Relief Society pool party (where we once again dominated the karaoke game... sort of), ate pizza and Mexican food. And Mal is great with the kids-- she had no problem just hanging out at the house and playing Barbies with the girls. She will be a rockin' cool momma someday.

Oh, and before I forget to mention it, the day after Mal left, Allie lost her first tooth! Well, technically it was her second, but this time it fell out, as opposed to being forced out by a very unforgiving coffee table.

A week later we left for a week-long trip to Utah. The morning we arrived, we immediately met up with Todd and Adrian Paschal and their boys Cameron and Taylor. It was strange that we hadn't seen them since they left FL over six months earlier. We sure miss them. It was a real treat for Allie and Sami to get to pal around with those cute boys again. After spending a couple hours with them, we drove down to Spanish Fork to Mom and Dad's Smith's house to stay with Rachelle and the kids and Darren, since Mom and Dad are here in FL on their mission. Kevin and I stayed in Mom and Dad's room, while Drew became a resident of their enormous walk-in closet, and the girls "slept" with their cousin Bella in her room. Since the girls have no cousins here, they adored every minute they spent with any of their cousins. But, I must say, they especially enjoyed their time with Clark (who teased them mercilessly... and they ate it up), Bella (whose cute squeals of delight are contagious), and Bri (who is the cousin closest in age to Allie... and who has a ton of Polly Pockets to play with).

We also got to spend an afternoon with Sarah and Jeremiah and their cute, chubby little Peter. Oh, I love good friends! Between the kids' crying and needing to be taken to the bathroom, and Jeremiah being bombarded with business calls, we didn't have much time to chat, but at least we got to see their faces in person! And since we couldn't get enough of friends this trip, we also had a barbecue picnic dinner at "Big Al" McFerson's house with his wife Babera and their two boys, as well as Rob and Michelle Ormsby and their three (soon-to-be four) girls. Big Al and Rob had been Kevin's roommates and best friends when we were dating. And then from there, we spent the latter part of the evening talking and eating ice cream with Vjollca Martinson her her husband and kids-- Vjollca being a friend from Albania, where Kevin served his mission over twelve years ago, who now lives just down the street from (and is in the same ward as) Kevin's parents!

Kevin's sister Erika was also able to get us tickets to attend the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan. The girls were thrilled to be able to actually walk into a temple for once! They loved the pristine, pure white of the celestial room, and it was quite special to be able to take our kids into a sealing room, with it's velvety altar and glowing chandelier, and talk about how in such a place is where eternal families begin. After leaving, we decided to take the scenic route back to the house, driving up into American Fork Canyon and coming out Provo Canyon. I do miss the majesty of those mountains!

In the middle of the week we drove to a lodge just outside of Heber City for the H.H. Smith family reunion, or all the descendants of Kevin's Smith grandparents. The reunion was pretty much rained out, but the company was great! Kevin sure has some wonderful cousins and aunts and uncles. I may not be connected by blood, but I truly love them. We were only there for a few days, but we got to play at the Alpine Slide park in Park City, participate in a fashion show of Grandma and Grandpa Smith's hat collection, and see Dad Smith's childhood home. I think Allie and Sami especially enjoyed staying up till 10:00 playing Polly Pockets with Bri.

We flew home the afternoon of the 4th. But the girls got in one dip in the kiddie pool that morning as we got everything cleaned and packed up. Between all of the activities throughout the week, Rachelle helped me make festive skirts for Allie and Sami, to match a skirt she had made for Bella. Rachelle was extremely helpful and patient throughout the process. We got a few pictures that day before we had to leave.

As for this past week... It was the week of Scout Camp, meaning Kevin was gone all week. To help break up the monotony of the week, the kids and I went to spend a couple days in The Villages with my great-aunts Ecee and Mary and Uncle Ken, Mary's husband. They took us out to the town square where the girls danced to the live country music till they were sweaty, and we took a couple trips down to the pool where the girls did a good job of clearing the pool of the morning "pool walkers." And Drew loved having attention from someone other than me.

Speaking of Drew, that little boy is growing right up. He's already seven months old, sits up and tries to eat anything he can get his hands on. He has really found his voice, too. He still hasn't gotten any teeth in, nor has he ventured into crawling, but I'm not complaining-- I'm in no hurry.

Well, perhaps I should end this. Both girls are yelling at me to take them to "do something fun" because this house is "so boring" (Are they 3 and 5, or 13 and 15?). And Sami is standing here pinching my leg and "whipping" me with her blanket. Don't worry, they won't get what they want-- I'm entirely too stubborn for that. It's just getting hard to type as Sami pulls on my arm.

I do need to make mention of the passing of my Grandma Betty Kidwell, who passed away June 30th due to complications with cancer. We loved her and do miss her, but what peace the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to me. I know she is in a better place, free from sorrow and pain.

The World Through Allie's Eyes

We got Allie a kids' camera for her birthday in March, so she would stop asking to use ours. Here are some of her shots from May.