12/21/15 The Park with Friends

     Heidi took the kids to the park today. I had a client meeting so I couldn't go. The picture above shows Sarah and her friends, 2 Connolly girls. Notice the matching paterns on their shirts. That was unplanned. 

     Here Peter and Joseph share a swing. 

    Bradley joined the fun. 

     At home Peter seemed suddenly a lot taller (with a little help from David). 

     This afternoon and evening the kids baked and decorated cookies to give to the neighbors. This evening we delivered some of them and sang jingle bells. We borrowed an idea from our friends the Hallsted's and had the kids use bells from our music box. It was super fun. We have some great neighbors. 

12/20/15 Creative Play

     After church today I went outside to find that the kids had made a "river" in the yard. So grateful to be in AZ where you can be outside in short sleeves playing with water in December. 

     At church today I had been asked to share 2 of my favorite scriptures from the New Testament. It wasn't easy picking 2. There are so many good choices. I felt impressed to go with James 1:5 and John 3:16. James teaches us that we can all receive direct answers to our prayers from Heavenly Father personally. We don't have to live in doubt. We can know for ourselves that the Gospel is true. John teaches us what's at stake, Eternal Life. We are not mortal beings in the complete sense of the word. We will live forever. Whatever may be wrong in our relationships or with our habits is worth fixing. After I decided to commit to sharing those verses I felt the Spirit helping me know what to say. I knew that what I was saying is true and I didn't trip over my words. As a bonus Peter fell asleep in my arms and stayed asleep until after I helped teach Primary. Heavenly Father does help us, even with the seemingly simplest things. 

     Other fun things from today: we got the new RAM and Harddrives installed at the Adobe Family History Center, Pierre and I home taught Sister Teeting for the first time. She has done some very interesting things. She talked about meeting President Hinckley and taking 44 years to join the church. 

     This evening we visited the Keifers. They kindly loaned us some fun movies for the kids to watch. We are blessed to have loving friends. It has been a good day. 

12/18/15 Rocking Before Christmas

     Heidi took this picture of Peter on the rocking horse. He played on it for about 10 minutes. For him that's a really long time. It was long enough that Heidi was able to get some laundry hung on the line without having him on her hip. 

      My highlight of the day was going to the new Star Wars movie with Gram, Papa and Becca B. It is well done although I hope it's not a spoiler that it is sad in a couple of places. It also has many awesome and fun parts. I can't wait to see it with Heidi and for the next one to come out to see what happens next. 

     All I lost for Christmas is one front tooth. TJ lost his first tooth today. He is so excited and feeling so grown up. He  has such a fun positive outlook on life. He helps brighten people' day with his sweet smile. 

       Character Coin - David was given an award today for helping out a 4th grader. Apparently a boy from David's 6th grade class was picking on a younger kid when David went to the bathroom. David told the older kid to stop it. The 4th grader was so grateful that he nominated David for a Character Coin for respect. He was awarded it at an assembly for the whole school. We are proud of David for having courage to stand up to a bully. 

12/17/15 Christmas House

     Rebecca made this graham

cracker Christmas house today at school. It is fun to see her use her creativity. We have it hidden in our room so that Joseph won't eat it. At this point when we say things like "don't eat Rebecca's house or TJ's advent calendar" it's as though he considers it like a suggestion. If it makes sense to him, he does it, if not, he disregards it. It would not be fair to say that he does not listen to us. When I ask him "to be my  big helper" and take something to the trash can he usually does it right away with a smile. It forces Heidi and I to practice our teaching more. Saying "do this because that is how I like it" does not work with him. When he understands why something is important he can be as much on board as he older kids with some things. 

    This evening Heidi and I needed a quiet moment to talk, away from the older kids, so we slipped into the downstairs bathroom. Peter still loves to sit in the sink and feel the water on his feet and legs. He cried when it was time to dry him off and take him out. 

     This morning I took the three boys back to the three church buildings to get her RAM chips that turned out to be the wrong size. Time to send them back. The ram, not the boys. 

     TJ now appears to be better after his relapse. Heidi and David also appear to be mended. Everyone should be able to make it to the last day of school tomorrow. 

     Heather kindly loaned  us her van and a charger to jump our van. The battery has been acting up since it got colder. Notice I didn't say cold. We wouldn't want our Utah and Idaho friends to think we felt a little bit of frost on the car windows meant it was cold. 😉

      This afternoon I met with a client about possibly doing more work for them. We got the green light so it feels like it was a good meeting.  

12/16/15 Think Tank, Clone Drives

    Today Sarah came home with a poster she made at Think Tank. She explained that it is like a mini gifted and talented program for second graders. We are proud of Sarah Mei for studying so hard. 

     Today TJ was not feeling well so we kept him home from school. Before long he started feeling better so we held on to him for a while to make sure he was really ok. He and TJ and Joseph went with me to the three buildings in our stake to work on my technology calling. Joseph absolutley refused to wear pants so I had to take him as he was. They were both big helpers. Joseph relented and let me put pants on him when I told him he couldn't go to preschool without pants on. 

     This afternoon David helped me create clones of older hard drives onto the newer solid state drives. This will allow the older machines to perform better. David is getting to be pretty savvy around a computer. 

      Sadly, this evening TJ relapsed and Heidi and David both started feeling ill. That completes he circle. Now everyone in our family has had a turn. Hopefully now we can move on to feeling better.   

12/15/15 Ten days 'til Christmas

     That's what TJ told me today. The picture is from a couple of weeks ago at the Riverview Park. He's about do go on the zip line. 

     Sarah and Rebecca started feeling better today. I did too. I didn't throw up but I didn't eat dinner either. Today no one threw up. That is a blessing. 

     Heidi's mom stopped by for a visit. Her car needed a repair and she took advantage of the time and spent it with Heidi and the rest of us. 

     We got some good work done. I moved the ball forward for a client. We ordered business cards and several other small projects. There seems to always be more to do than time. 

       We played the compliment game tonight. David did his homework without help, Rebecca helped with Peter so Heidi and I could work, Sarah was first to practice her instrument. TJ had a good attitude, Joseph helped pick up trash and Peter had many moments where he was happy today. Heidi made surprisingly yummy, to her, hash browns from scratch. The rest of us were not surprised. 

12/14/15 Monday

     I took this photo at sunset a few days ago. I don't think I've shared it. It was even more beautiful in person. It is nice to stop once in a while to notice the beauty that surrounds us. 

      Today I met with a client in the morning. I've thought that if I could pick whatever I wanted to do with my time it might be to meet with small business owners and help them learn how to run their businesses better. It helps them and it helps them serve their customers better. It feels like a win. 

     Rebecca and Sarah are both sick and throwing up today. They are being so brave about it. Tonight some of our friends (Michael and Jessica Hallsted and the kids) came carolling. They brought treats and invited us to see the Mesa Temple lights. What a great FHE idea. For ours we watched some Christmas videos on the Church website.