Brotherly Conversations

I am listening to Weston and Connor in the other room.

Weston: Connor, I never told you how Grandpa Flake died. He was walking into his room...and then (I hear Weston fall) Boom! He died. Isn't that sad?

Connor: (in a sweet voice) yes. that's sad.

Weston: You never got to see him.

Connor: (sweetly again) Oh.

Weston: I was just a little baby.

I am glad Weston is taking time to teach his brother.


And now they are off talking about something else. And probably making a mess.

 Weston and Connor get into some of the silliest arguments. Some of them are over things that make me what to yell at them for yelling at each other. Other times, all I can do is laugh. Like this morning.

We were driving home after dropping the girls off at school and we drove past a cow. Weston started moooooing.

 Connor said, "WESTON! You can't MOO!!!"

Weston said, "Yes I can" and continued to moo. Connor got more mad and said even louder, "WESTON! You CAN'T MOO!" ;)

I asked Connor if he was in charge of everyone and he said in his grouchy voice "YES! Me is in charge of everyone!" To which Weston replied, "No you're not Connor. Heavenly Father is in charge of everyone."

I told Weston that he was right and Mr. Grouchy Connor yelled, "NO! Heavenly Father NOT in charge! Me in charge of everyone!" And Weston goes, "I think Connor is just full of prunes."

Right again! lol! I am sure Connor will figure out who is in charge soon enough!

Luckily Connor doesn't usually stay grouchy for long. A cup of hot coco when we got home helped cheer everyone up!

HI!

 
I hope you all are having a Happy Fall and that you had a nice Thanksgiving too! 
I am posting for journal purposes. I have become terrible at writing in my journal or posting on the blog. But, really.....there's not a whole lot going on.

Brandon is becoming a professional interviewer! This guy is one of the smartest people I know....so I just don't get why he hasn't gotten an offer yet. Well. I do get it. I know that Heavenly Father has His time table and He has reasons for what He allows to happen. We are trying to be patient as we go through this process and to learn from it. Some days we do better than others.

The kids are doing great. They are becoming very adaptable. They are very understanding about having 95 percent of their belongings being in storage. I honestly can't relate to what they are going through. I lived in the same house from the time I was 3 until I was 18. I moved away from friends and family when I was practically an adult. They are having to make those adjustments sooner in life than I did. We seem to be taking tiny baby steps...and I am sure that is helping. We move from our house of 6 years...away from neighbors, friends and ward member...and they adjusted to a new ward a neighborhood. Now, they are in another "new" house with no neighbors to play with....but they are doing well. Luckily they love outdoors and on a good day...they will play for hours together...putting on talent shows and having fun. I don't have a way to put the video on the computer....but Monday, they raked up a huge pile of leaves (with some help from dad) and had fun jumping and falling into them...throwing up arm fulls and "swimming" through them!...As great as I feel like they are doing ... I know they will be just as relieved as Brandon and I to be settled into a house and not move again for a long time!

Speaking of moving. We are becoming professionals at that too! We had to move out Nov. 16th-25th. Luckily we were able to go stay at Brandon's mom's place in Mesa...and luckily the kids only had to miss two days of school. We will have to move out again Dec. 22nd-Jan. 1st. It isn't fun, it's still better to live here where we don't have to worry about moving furniture and beds and big items again. It still took Brandon and I six hours to get all of our things out of this house. I am sure it doesn't make sense to some people...and they'd probably have a better plan of what we should be doing for housing and work. I guess it's a good thing we don't all make decisions for each other because we'd never learn anything that way!

My pregnancy is going well. The baby is moving around a lot and growing. I feel huge. My doctor assured me yesterday that I am right on track for size. He actually told me that I am "carrying beautifully". I am going to take that as a compliment!

Well. I guess that's about all for now.

God Bless America

"Now, brothers and sisters, we must do our duty, whatever that duty might be. Peace may be denied for a season. Some of our liberties may be curtailed. We may be inconvenienced. We may even be called on to suffer in one way or another. But God our Eternal Father will watch over this nation and all of the civilized world who look to Him. He has declared, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12). Our safety lies in repentance. Our strength comes of obedience to the commandments of God.

Let us be prayerful. Let us pray for righteousness. Let us pray for the forces of good. Let us reach out to help men and women of goodwill, whatever their religious persuasion and wherever they live. Let us stand firm against evil, both at home and abroad. Let us live worthy of the blessings of heaven, reforming our lives where necessary and looking to Him, the Father of us all. He has said, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).

Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us.

May the God of heaven, the Almighty, bless us, help us, as we walk our various ways in the uncertain days that lie ahead. May we look to Him with unfailing faith. May we worthily place our reliance on His Beloved Son who is our great Redeemer, whether it be in life or in death, is my prayer in His holy name, even the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

~ (Pres. Hinckley, Oct. Conference, 2001)

LIFE

Well. I don't feel like there's anything to blog about....just our life in limbo. Feels like there's nothing to report although lots of things are going on.

Brandon is still looking for a job.....we are still in our little rental house...although we will have to move out for a week around Thanksgiving because this house is a vacation rental. We planned to pay month to month...but the owners had someone book the house for a week. They were supposed to tell us if they had someone interested so that we could let them know if we'd still be here during that time. But, the people booked online....and didn't want to trade for rooms at the B&B. SO...we are going to move out for a week-ish (let the girls miss 2 days of school) and go.....somewhere. Probably to Mesa since that's where we will be having Thanksgiving this year. When I first found out that we'd have to move out for a week, it was depressing. I have enjoyed this month of not packing and moving.

Last week we had "Fall Break". The girls got Friday off and Monday off. Not long enough of a break if you ask me. They also had half days on Thursday and Friday. I had parent teacher conferences Thursday. I don't know why, but the girls schools ask you to not bring your other kids with you....I bring them anyways and let them play on the play ground. (Sort of annoys me that they say you can't bring your kids. If they'd like to arrange babysitting, I'd be happy to leave them with someone.)

Addie is doing great. She gets a little distracted and doesn't always hear the instructions the first time (that's what her teacher told me)....but she gets 100% on everything so I am not too worried about it. With all the changes that have been going on in our lives this year, I am grateful she is doing so well. Her teacher feels like she will do fine going into another 1st grade class (wherever we move to). She's become a good little reader too!

Kaitlyn made the Super-Intendeds list for the first quarter. That means she has gotten ninety-five percent or above on her report card. (Do I sound like I am bragging?) I took the kids to Dairy Queen after school on Friday to celebrate how well they are doing. (I got a small Blizzard...those things are HUGE! I need to stick to the mini size. FYI....their pumpkin pie blizzard tastes just like pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream. YUM!) Kaitlyn's teacher Mr. Boone says she is doing great. Kaitlyn is a little worried about math...because it's getting harder. In fact, Mr. Boone showed me a math test that they had taken that day....and there was a problem on it that I thought "who cares what the answer is!"  It was complicated number sequencing stuff.

Weston didn't have a PTC. His preschool sent home a progress report and he is doing well too. They wrote a note that he needs to practice the "th" and "l" sounds. Yeah...I know. But I am not going to drive him crazy correcting him all the time. The girls correct him often enough. If he needs speech therapy, I am all for it. I couldn't pronounce the "r" sound when I was his age...I went to speech therapy in kindergarten and thought it was fun!

Connor is a cute little booger. He and Weston keep me on my toes. Connor is 2 and acts like it! He is sweet as can be one minute and then mad about not getting his way the next. He wants to do EVERYTHING the older kids do and gets very sad when he can't tag along. He loves riding his tricycle...and running. A little story and him and Weston. Yesterday morning, they had one of Adelin's baby dolls. You can feed this doll and it talks to you. Connor and Weston were feeding it "bananas" and the doll said, "Thank you momma!" and Connor goes, "I'm not your momma" to it's face. He did that every time the doll said it. I thought it was funny. It always nice when the kids make me laugh. ;)

Little baby boy Flake is still nameless. I'd like to think of a name for him before he is born. Does anyone have any names ideas they are willing to share? I like "Cameron" and "Carter" and Brandon likes "Justin" best so far. We didn't have a name for Weston until he was about 2 days old...so I guess it's okay if we don't have a name for this little guy too. Weston was going to be either Weston", "Connor", or "Dallin". I was leaning toward Dallin....but after trying out the other names on him, Weston is the one that fit the best. Anyhow. This pregnancy seems to be going well. I feel sort of like a ticking time bomb. I really would like to have a new job and be in a new house (that we wont move from for a long time!) by the beginning of the year at the latest. I have been busy and haven't taken many pictures of me pregnant. I know I will regret it later.

We are all healthy and counting our blessing!

The Debate



Brandon and I listened to the first Presidential Debate on the radio last night. We had to switch back and forth between 3 or 4 different stations to hear it all.  We were driving home from Tucson...and there was lots of static. The kids were watching....something on the DVD player...I am not sure what.

We liked the debate. Nothing too spectacular. I feel like the differences in their opinions came through. I am interested to see how the upcoming debates go. I think there are some "hot topics" like foreign policies...and what's happened in Lybia that might make the contrast between the two candidates even greater.

The quote of the night happened at our house! After we got home, we had some news channel on... listening to what they had to say about the debate. After they had showed a clip of President Obama saying something about what happened in 2001-2003 (he never did say what he was talking about)...Adelin goes, "That's mean. Why did they dress President Obama up like a monkey for the debate?" TOTALLY innocently. We are NOT prejudice AT all and NEVER use demeaning terms about our race or others. We assured her that he wasn't dressed up, that's just what he looks like.

SO! Tell me. Who are YOU voting for? I am especially interested in what those of the "Independent" party think.

Personally, I think it is a no brainer. Keep going like we have been for the past 4 years...or try something different? My vote for Mitt Romney has nothing to do with his religion...although I agree with him on that too!

I had an ultrasound today. The tech said that the baby is very wiggly....but I don't feel too much movement. He also told us that we are having another BOY! Brandon was the only one in our family who guessed right! We are excited to have our "Three Amigos" :)