Daily Happenings

I am not very good about keeping up or writing in a journal about our daily life. I use this blog as a record of things- but it certainly doesn't detail everything that is going on in our lives. I decided that I am am going to write something daily, and keep that in a box. I will write on an index card, that is labeled with a day, and will use that same card from year to year, so I can see and remember what is happening in our daily lives. Hopefully I will be consistent with this! I thought I better write it here, so I can hold myself accountable. :)

Oops...we did it again

When Dillon was about 3 years old, he *loved* Thomas the Tank Engine. He was obsessed with him! I am not a fan of character clothes, shoes, etc. However, we were at Target one day, looking for tennis shoes for him, and he saw a pair of Thomas shoes, and went nuts over them. He loved them so much, so I got those for him, and he wore them every day, and we had to pry them off of his little feet at night. We took him to play at McDonald's one day, and when we were ready to leave, we couldn't find his shoes anywhere. They had disappeared from the shoe rack and were gone. We left our name and number with McDonald's, but never saw those shoes again. I cannot tell you the sadness that came home with us that night. It was complete devastation for my cute little 3 year old. Since he now needed tennis shoes again, I replaced the Thomas shoes with brand new Thomas shoes. Two days later, I needed to take Logan to the doctor, so my friend Lisa took Dillon again to play at McDonald's. She brought him home and I looked at his feet and said, what happened to your shoes? They were old, torn and tattered Thomas Shoes. And they were two sizes bigger than the brand new ones we had just replaced. We started laughing, that some poor kid was probably trying to squeeze his feet into Dillon's little shoes, since they had got mixed up. We drove back to McDonald's, returned those shoes, but the other customer never returned Dillon's shoes. (Just for the record....that is two new pairs of Thomas shoes lost at McDonald's.) Oh the tears! So we were off to Target one more time, to buy the third pair of Thomas shoes in a month, and remember- I don't even like character shoes!

So remember the title of the post after that long winded remembrance? Well, it begins with Logan wearing Dillon's hand-me down coat. It was too small for him, and fit Logan just right, and was still in great shape. He came home from school and I was looking at him thinking, is Logan really that much smaller than Dillon? The coat was HUGE on him. I was sure it fit him right, didn't it? Didn't think much about it, Logan wore that coat for a week. Then I remembered, I had written his name in the coat, I go to look, and nope...no name! And it is a size 12, when the other coat was a size 8. Not sure how that happened. He doesn't know anyone with that same coat, but I'm feeling bad for the kid who is stuffed into a size 8 coat, when Logan is swimming in a size 12. Oops!

Time off

We have had the last two days of school off, because of Martin Luther King Day, and the end of term. We have spent the time having fun together. We went to "Fat Cats" and played, then played with friends, made cookies, and have had a great time together. Camden keeps asking to go back to "Yellow Cats." I said, "Fat Cats?" He answered, "I don't like fat cats, I like yellow cats!" Alrighty then- yellow cats it is! Now it is time to get back to the real world, quit playing so much, and do some work. :)

New York City

Matt and I told our kids that for their 13th birthday, one of us would take them on a trip to welcome them to the "teenage years". Morgan has been so anxious to see Wicked, so we decided on New York City. Morgan and I went last weekend and had so much fun! We never went to bed before 1:00, and we walked like there was no tomorrow. We saw Wicked, Mary Poppins,

the Titanic Exhibit,

Ellis Island,

the Statue of Liberty,

Rockefeller Center,

and Chinatown.

We shopped and ate at yummy restaurants like Serendipity 3.

We had some great mother/daughter bonding time! I am so lucky to be this young lady's mom! She is the best, and I am glad I got to share this special trip with her.

Craft room

We have had a loft in our house, which we have never really utilized.I have been envisioning my own craft/project room for quite some time. Well, after finishing Morgan's room, I really wanted to paint something else, and decided now was as good of a time as any, to put that room to use. I love it! I haven't had much of a chance yet, to do any projects, but when I do, I will have the space! I put together, the bookcase thing, and brought it upstairs by myself. That was a feat in itself, because it was HEAVY! Now if I can keep the color happy Camden out of there, I will be thrilled. Craft time anyone? :)

Picasso

Camden's coloring on the wall habit is getting out of control! Every. Single. Day. Ahhh- I don't know how much more I can take. He colored on every wall in the basement, including Morgan's new pink room, in BLACK sharpie marker. Thank goodness for the Magic Eraser. I really was amazed it worked on permanent marker. But it is still getting old. He has colored almost every day this week. I have thrown away crayons, markers, pencils, and somehow, he finds them. It is the first thing he thinks to do when he is left in a room for more than one second by himself. The other day he says in the firmest voice, "Mommy. Look into my eyes. We NEVER color on the walls. OKAY?" Apparently he was repeating word for word, in the same tone that Matt said to him. He KNOWS he shouldn't, but can't seem to help himself. He even went so far as to ask me if I knew where his purple crayon was. I asked why and he said, "I wasn't done coloring on the wall." He flat out admitted that's why he wanted the crayon! The nerve. :) I just have to keep reminding myself that this too shall pass.

Reading

Camden is so cute and expressive. He loves reading, and looking at books. I hope he will always have an interest in reading, like he does now.

(I was having problems uploading this video all day, not sure why it cut off, but you get the point!)

And yes- his pajamas are on backwards....otherwise he gets naked in his bed.

Make a difference

I have been wanting to come up with a word or phrase to start the new year, that would be my "motto" for the year. I want to use it to direct my goals, my thoughts and actions this year. It has been difficult to narrow it down, because I thought of so many great words that I could use. (In fact- I might use them in other years.) However, none of them seem to fit into what I wanted to focus on this year. After much thought I decided on the phrase:

Make a difference

I want to make a real difference in someones life. I want to make a difference in my families lives. I want to make a difference in my own home. I want to make a difference in my own life, emotionally, physically, spiritually, intellectually. I want to make a difference in my church calling. It seems like a lofty goal, but one that I hope I will be able to achieve.

Out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).