Fun...Crazy Weekend

Some friends of ours were moving to a bigger house so we had the pleasure of watching their boys for the day.  We took them up to Callaway Gardens in the morning.  This trip was cut short after Jacob fell into one of their fountains (a complete accident, he fell in backwards while he was running around). At home it was lots of fun playing with toys and jumping in the backyard.  After dropping them off in the evening I asked Teancum what his favorite part of the day was....his response "Everything with Jago."  Here are some pics of the fun we had.

Driving in the car...I love the goofy faces

Looking for butterflies...most of them were sleeping, but we did see a few

Here is a Blue Morpho eating...these were beautiful when they opened their wings

Eating a snack in the horticulture center

I loved the african daisies

After Jacob's little swim.  I had to strip him down completely and then since it was cold outside I bundled him in my jacket...at least the fountain was in the warmer greenhouse.

Teancum Says

Me: What movie did you watch at Annica's today?
T: One with sharks and fish
Me: Was it funny?
T:  NO....(begin maniacal laughter) but I laughed 'cause it was funny to me!

I seriously love that kid.

One of the things we like about Georgia

Friends to share a good meal with

 

Friends to play with

Friends that help out

Friends with shoulders to lean on

Need we say more?

The Anderson's are one of our favorite blessings here.

*Thank you to Jessi (and her camera) for the pictures on this post as well as our new Family pictures

discipline

We recently got preschool organized and rolling again thanks to some good friends.  When our planning meeting was over and we were getting ready to go our seperate ways the subject of discipline came up.  One of the mommies was very adament in her stand against spanking firmly declaring that she would not spank her children or anyone else's and that she didn't want anyone to spank her child.  I was momentarily stunned because the thought had never crossed my mind and it left me to ponder where she would get the notion that I would spank and this post came to mind.  So here is my disclaimer.

We love our children, we have tons of fun playing with them.  This play includes A LOT of wrestling, and sometimes gentle pats on the bum that we call paddling and spanking and even more often "eating" our children.  We do this kind of play way way WAY  more often then we do harsh discipline.

When Ryan and I first got married we were determined not to spank/paddle our children.  We have since failed in this resolve and go in spurts where we spank (for the more serious crimes, or the repeated ones).  I will often go to my room afterward and cry, this is because I know that I spank more when I am truly at wits end and upset.  I also will "tell on myself" to Ryan.  There have also been many times during our late night talks that we have decided not spank as much (and do for quite some time).  

This post is also a thank you to my friend and her obvious love for her children and for being consistent in her discipline methods.  Thank you for reminding me of our original ideals in discipline.  We had a family night this week and made No hitting/kicking/pushing/SPANKING one of our family rules complete with consequences for each family member if they break it...mine is revoked dishwasher privledges for a week.  The few times I've been tempted to paddle since were quickly squelched by the thought that I would have to wash ALL the dishes for a whole week by hand...a practice I have abandonded since moving to GA and DO NOT want to resume. 

Our home is now one filled with even more love...Oh, and naturally the kiddos are fighting less, Teancum has only hit his brother back ONCE this WEEK, we are especially proud of him for his efforts to keep the family rule.

Blessings

Just a quick post of gratitude for a loving God.  I was thinking about our week and the thought crossed my mind today, "How awesome it is that God gives us commandments so that he can bless us."  One thing that our prophets have commanded us in these days is to have a food storage and supply of water on hand.  Well this week a water pipe leading into our shed sprung a leak...so our landlords shut of the water and quickly fixed it...then our pipe to the spigot in the back yard froze...repeat the fixing process, then the shed pipe froze two more nights in a row.  So for this week we have had several days going without running water...Thank goodness we followed a commandment and so we were blessed to have fresh clean potable water on hand so we could flush the toilet, cook meals, have plenty to drink etc.

Oh, and he blessed us further today (it happened again when we got home from church) and we found an extra valve so we could shut off the water to the backyard without having to shut off the water to the house.  I love the Lord and his goodness and feel oh so blessed and loved today....Goodnight! :)

Backyard Fun

When we moved in there was a huge pile of wood gathered in the middle of our backyard, our landlords said we could build a firepit...thus

THIS BEGETS

THIS...every weekend :)

New Year, New Perspective

Hope we can keep things straight this year!  Happy New Year

Cherish little moments

I often suffer little bouts with depression...it's an ongoing battle.  Today a was battling it again (starting yesterday) when I sat down to do my scripture study.  I've been doing a program that our R.S. put together called 28 days closer to Christ and today was a themed study on Hope.  It took me a while because I kept dwelling on how I was without hope.  Near the end I broke down crying and sought for help in Prayer.  I started journaling my thoughts and feelings when I realized that every day I have moments of Joy playing with my children, all I need to do is cherish the little moments and the rest will be easier to handle...
It's amazing how the Holy Spirit works, as soon as I had journal this I knew it was true.  God answered my prayer and brought hope again into my life...can I just say I love My Savior and I love his gospel.  I know it is true, and that God answers prayer.

From now on I cherish the little moments