Father's boy

So I dropped Masaru off at school today and some of his classmates were out the front.
Masaru stepped out of the car and his mates go "Wow look at Masaru's truck"
To which Masaru promptly replied "IT'S NOT A TRUCK, IT'S A LANDCRUISER!"
Then ran into class.

On another note, I've started putting Takeshi into the same time out spot as the older kids.
He sits there.  It's amazing.
Anyway we get home and he's mucking around in the bathroom and I tell him to get out.
Then when I'm gone he sneaks back in and Yuki screams to tell me he's back in.  I go to find Takeshi and he looks at me then backs away slowly towards the time out spot and sits himself down.
I had to turn away to hide my laughter.
He amazes me with how much he knows at such a young age.
He might not be talking...................but this kid is taking it all in baby.

Now I don't care who you are.
That's funny.

Slipping standards

I consider myself a pretty tolerant person.  I don't think I'm 'over the top' or 'self righteous' but in the last couple of days I've seen a couple of things that make me cringe for my kids.

So the kids were watching this movie 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'
It's a PG so I was like 'whatever' then decided to watch it with them yesterday.
I couldn't believe it...............
There's this part in it where they're performing on stage and there's women with next to NO CLOTHES ON dancing around on the stage and out in the crowd.
I was stunned.
And here was Masaru and Yuki sitting here watching it.
Now one might say they didn't notice, and they probably didn't, but I don't care, that's just rude and wrong.
The last thing I need is for Masaru and Yuki to think that's normal.....................
She is not going out of this house wearing anything close to what this PG movie showed girls wearing at these chipmunks concert and Masaru needs to learn that the girls he'll be interested in will be covered up and the ones who aren't need extra morality help.
I told them they're not watching it again.
It's their mates DVD and it won't be back in this house and I won't be purchasing it..............ever.
Who are these people?
They know little kids are watching this?
Don't they have kids?
It's so upsetting.
Ok so fast forward to tonight at the supermarket.
Dru and I were checking out our food and we walk past the check out stands and there .................. right in front of us was a magazine cover of a woman who was showing us HALF OF HER BOOBS.
I mean the cut of her 'v' front dress went down to her navel and sliced through half of her boobs.
I was stunned.
AND ....................... the words SEX and NAKED were in bold letters on the front of this magazine.
It was down on Takeshi's level.
I almost fell over.
I walked up to the manager who was standing around and said "Listen mate is there anything you could do about that magazine showing the world a pair of boobs?  I'd apprecaite it if my kids weren't exposed to that in your store"
He had a guy beside him and they looked at it and the other guy goes 'Wow she really is showing quite a lot of boob isn't she?'
Then I saw the same magazine in our check out so promptly turned it around.
What chance do my kids have when this kinda smutt is just hanging around for all eyes to see?
It's enough to keep one up at nights.
We already pray and read scriptures daily, have chores, go to church have FHE, spend time together do family outtings................................I dunno man, it makes me think about how important our roles are in these childrens lives you know.
I heard Masaru telling his mate today 'We can't watch Alvin and the chipmunks'
His mate goes "Why not?" and he answered 'Cause my mum thinks it's rude'
So they played the old school super Mario brothers instead.
I'm not sure if Masaru knows WHY I thought it was rude and if I need to talk to him about it.
He's never said anything about girls, their body parts, naked stories, girls underpants.........nothing.
I dunno, it's a tough balance cause by talking to him I don't wanna EXPOSE him to it if he's not noticing it you know, but then I DO wanna talk to him about it just in case he IS noticing it.
Maybe I'll open by asking him why he thinks mum thinks the movie is rude and see where that gets us.

As mothers we gotta pull together man and keep this bullcrap out of our kids faces to the best of our abilities without being overly abusive or offensive.

It just stuns  me, honestly.

Random kid facts

Fact #1
My son, Masaru, can eat a pound of cottage cheese in around 4 days.
He LOVES this stuff.
I eat it as part of a protein rich, low fat, healthy food to help me.
What five year old cares about that?
None, so he obviously just LOVES this stuff.
That's so weird to me right?
Or do ALL YOUR KIDS (readers) love to eat cottage cheese as well.
He doesn't have it on anything.  He just scoops it out into a rice bowl and eats it with a spoon until it's gone.
Plain, heaped cottage cheese..............
I love it.

Fact #2
My other son, Takeshi, can drink straight from a cup now.  No sippy and no spills.  It's awesome.
He's been practicing for a while and he's finally got it.
He can officially drink from a cup and not spill.
I love this as well and he thinks he's pretty awesome cause now he's like his older siblings.

Fact #3
Yuki has started to write letters.
She has done this on her own as well.  I haven't worked with her at all.  She sees me working with Masaru, however and I guess has just picked it up.
Yesterday she wrote half of Masaru's name.
I'm trying to get her to write her own name.
I guess I need to start working with her since she's interested.

Journal Entry TwentyThree

Write about how your parents were converted to the church. 

 

My Dad kept journals throughout his life.

It is because of this that I have this information.

It's very close to my heart and I've never opened his journals.

When he passed Mum copied his journals seven times and gave them to us to keep and treasure.

Almost all my siblings have read them.

I haven't.

It's been 13 years and I still can't do it.

I don't fully understand why...............too much emotion maybe?

I dunno.

Each sibling has told me to read them, that they're a great in site to Dad's life and feelings and testimonies.

I dunno, one day....................one day.

For now I opened up his first journal and read his conversion story and typed it out on Word.

Maybe I got my mad journalling skills from my father ;)

Thanks Dad.

Click HERE to read both his and my mothers versions.

Class photo

 So Masaru got his class picture yesterday and here it is.
It's nice to put faces to the kids he talks about at school.
His hair is sticking up, which is a pity cause we actually did it that morning.  Oh well.
He doesn't look too excited to be getting his class picture does he?
I guess the face could be worse.

 

And to complete the post I decided to put up this sweet pic of Takeshi 'watching' a movie on Sunday.

Can I just say that this past Sunday was the WORST my kids have been in a VERY LONG TIME in sacrament?

Whatever Yuki and Masaru could fight about, they did.

Takeshi, who usually does fine in nursery, wasn't having a bar of it.

I could hear him screaming with two doors closed, the nursery door and the Sunday school class door.  So Dru and I tag teamed for the 2 hour stint.

In Takeshi's defense however, he didn't have his pacifier OR a nap before church.

So I guess I've learned my lesson.

Now the other two's behaviour in church? Hmmmmmmmmm must of been the full moon the night before.

The Journey Takers

So this was my last book club book that I read.
I must admit that I went into it thinking it was going to be boring, but had signed up to be the discussion leader (without knowing which book we were going to discuss) and so HAD to read the book, no matter what.
I mean you can't be a good discussion leader if you haven't read the book.
So I had a week to read it and made the deadline.

"Leslie Albrecht Huber's ancestors were journey takers, leaving their homes in Germany, Sweden, and England behind to sail to the US and start new lives here. Huber sets out to trace these journeys and to understand her family - who they were and what mattered to them. As she follows in their footsteps, walking the paths they walked and looking over the land they farmed, she finds herself on a journey she hadn't expected. Based on thousands of hours of research, Huber recreates the immigration experience in a way that captures both its sweeping historical breadth and its intimately personal consequences." 

This book was surprisingly good.
It was fascinating to me.  The lives of these people and how they lived hundreds of years ago, what they had to put up with and work with, was so interesting.
It was easy to read, I wouldn't say it was a 'page turner' but it was interesting enough to keep me hooked.
She's hooked on genealogy and you can't help but start wondering about your ancestors after reading this book and the kinds of things they must've went through as well.
It's not a long read, but if you get the chance I'd say pick this book up and give it a go.
It's not a topic I thought I'd be interested in but this is why I belong to a book club, so I can read stories that I wouldn't normally read for myself and surprise myself with what I love.
She has lectures around the local states about her work and she has a blog as well.
If you google her name everything will come up.

Christchurch info.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/

That's the best link, my Auntie said,  to view information about the earthquake.
Turns out all my family are fine with minimal damage to their places.
It's a disaster down there though.
75 deaths, dozens still missing.
My bro told me they're cutting the limbs off of people to just get them out.
1000 rescuers have been flown in to help.
People are texting their locations and to say they're alive and stuck.
They can hear people yelling and making noises so someone can hear them and help them escape being trapped.
What a mess.
I hope it's as successful as it can be.

Earthquake

Here's a before and after shot of the Cathedral.  What a tragedy.

So Christchurch got hit AGAIN yesterday lunch time with a 6.3 earthquake.
My Auntie told me that the after shocks of the FIRST one were still ongoing till a few weeks ago.

She emailed me to let me know that the damage for her place was less than the first one but the damage to the city and people were far worse.

This time there's a death count of 65 people.
Just horrible.
I asked her if my other Auntie and Uncle are alright and hopefully will hear from her today.
Three of my mothers siblings live in Christchurch, 2 sisters and a brother and most of their kids.

I just hope they're alright.
My heart goes out to these 65 families that are mourning today.  Horrible, just horrible.

More snow?

 So it snowed in Boise.  It was gone the next day though, so that was nice.
It was enough for the kids to play for a couple of hours and that was bliss for me.
Got the house tidy, it was quiet, loving it.

 I went outside to take a few shots and turns out that I need to add a bit more snow to the kids diet.
Apparently they're not getting enough.
Here's the poor, hard done by, starving kids eating snow in the shots above and below.

 Masaru even went as far as making these huge blocks for them to eat later on.

 

Not to self: Add more snow in kids diet.

Is that even healthy? 

Journal Entry Twentytwo

What have you changed in comparison to the way your parents raised you? 

Click HERE to read mine. 

“Journal writing is a voyage to the interior”

Christina Baldwin

Warning: TMI

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Alright, for those of you brave enough to continue on, here's my gripe this morning.
So since exercising and getting fitter my metabolism has been working better and how it should.
What I'm trying to say is that I'm 'regular' more often now.

Here's what I wanna know IS THERE ANY MOTHERS OUT THERE THAT GET TO GO POOP WITHOUT THEIR KIDS WATCHING?

Honestly...............it's so hard to concentrate when you have a baby trying to get into your lap (gross) and the other two talking to me about various things.
I don't have a door on my bathroom in the bedroom but I try to 'sneak' off while they're busy.
It's like they KNOW mum is MIA and start hunting around the house for where I am.

I swear if you want your children's attention all you do is sit down and look comfortable, it'll work every single time.
You MAY have 2 mins TOPS to relax and then they'll find you and it's over.

I think maybe they realize 'Alright mum's on the toilet, she's not going anywhere, this is my time to talk to her about all my concerns'
Which is fine, I guess...................

All I'm saying is maybe one out of three #2's I'd like some alone time to concentrate on the task at hand without getting distracted by my children's stories etc.
Sometimes I've told them "Listen mum's trying to go potty and wants some time to herself, please leave"
Oh they'll leave, for like 20 seconds, then something pressing comes up and they're all back in.
Then I'll ask them again, same thing happens.
I dunno man.

To put it bluntly..................I'd like to poop in peace.
I honestly think this is one thing I WON'T miss when the kids are grown up and gone.
Who knows though, maybe my kids will keep coming in to talk about things while I'm on the toilet and I'd rather them talk to me no matter what than not.
MOTHERS OF TEENS..................does your teen still talk to you while you're on the toilet?
Maybe I need to prep myself for the long haul.......................

Yuki

 So my kids have been stealing my camera to take 'candid' shots.
I told them off a couple of days ago and so hopefully we'll have no more random shots on my camera when I open it up.
Here's a couple of Yuki.
I think Masaru captured her quite well in this top one, don't you?

 Here she is 'sleeping'
This girl is so scared of the dark.
Can that be hereditary?  Does anyone know?
We got her a night light and that worked for a while, but lately she's been back in our room.
Dru makes her a bed on the ground and that goes over maybe 50% of the time.
Sometimes we don't notice her till we wake up in the morning and she's just there.
Poor Yuki, it sucks being scared of the dark.

I enjoy my time with her alone in the afternoons when we either play a game or read books together.
She likes to snuggle while we read. 
She loves her brothers which is nice.
She's still struggles here and there with potty training but for the most part is doing well.
I'm glad I have a girl, I love doing her hair and loves what she brings to this family............most of the time ;)

I give up

'If I can just stand on my tipee toes then I'll be able to reach almost everything.'

'Almost there, almost there, just a little bit more...............'

'Alright, no one saw that right?  I'm safe from a 'time out' right?  As far as anyone knows I was sitting innocently like this the whole time.'

I give up!
I'm just waiting for him to seriously hurt himself.

"Muuuuuuum Takeshi's in the bath"

 Mum "That's great Masaru"
Masaru "No mum he's in the bath with his clothes on"
Mum "What?"
Masaru "He just got in there was nothing I could do about it"
Mum "Sure, sure Masaru, you make sure he doesn't drown and I'll grab the camera"

If I've said it once I'll say it again, lucky this kid is cute, or I'd be grey right now.
I'm not sure if it's HIM though or HIM plus EVERYTHING ELSE you know.
Maybe he's just normal, and not THAT much of a tutu.
Or maybe he IS.
I dunno, I'd have to really sit down and think about how my kids were at his age, and quite frankly I dunno if I've got the time or the memory to pull up.
LOL

I love.........

On this special Valentines Day I'd like to announce to the world how much I love skype.
Skype and I were meant for each other.
Skype helps me to be closer to loved ones.
Skype let's me see loved ones.
Skype helps me cheat playing canasta with my brother.
Skype is selfless in the fact that it's FREE.................easy to instal and use.
All the things that skype has provided for me limitless and astounding.
Happy Valentines Skype, Love your BFF
Milz xx

Journal Entry Twentyone

How did your parents discipline you?

Click HERE to read mine.

Are you working hard or hardly working?
Shrek 2

Sugar cookies

 We invited our mates over and made sugar cookies together.
I gave each of the kids their own dough and they cut them out and we baked them.
Then they iced them and chose the colour they wanted.
I put a bit much of the colour in and they turned out super bright and potent.
Oh well.
Now I've got stains everywhere.
Good one mum.
Anyway they loved it and had a great time.

 They even have the stained teeth to show for it.
It was suppose to be Valentines sugar cookies and they're hearts and strawberry shapes.
But I dunno if you can tell.
We gave a plateful each to our neighbours.
I wonder if their teeth will be stained for the next few days?

Help

I like one and Dru likes the other.
We can't decide.
So we're putting it out there to the blogging world.
Let me know which one you like.
I'd appreciate some imput.

Auntie Dwisdin

This is just for Auntie Kristin or Dwisdin as Yuki will call her.

The hat.
Sooooooooo what do you think?
I can knit nicer BUT it still works don't you think?

Takeshi and Loom Hat

 Alright so here's more shots of Takeshi wiping his hands off in his hair.
This morning it was porridge.
So gross man.
I might just shave his head to be honest, I just can't be bothered with it all.

 He also has an obsession with Yuki's pink shoes.
He LOVES her pink boots and will often be found with them on his feet or hands.  Right before I grabbed the camera he had both her boots on his feet and her pink crocs on his hands.  Of course I didn't get a shot of that, maybe he knew he didn't want it recorded for future mocking sessions.
Although that shot of him eating her boot is pretty 'mock' worthy I think.
As if he doesn't eat enough already.

 

Then last night we had a Young Women's activity (Youth in church) where this lady brought looms to church and a ton of wool and we sat there and learned how to make hats.

I wasn't going to do one cause I already know how to knit and crochet and it was all just beneath me.

Then I decided to get over myself and try it.

So I did.

I whipped out this bad boy in about an hour.

Check me out knitting for hours like a sucka when all I had to do why get a loom and it be the easiest thing EVER IN THE HISTORY OF KNITTING.

Honestly if you're even interested in an EASY way to make cute things.

The loom is it baby.

I just crochet a flower on the front and BOOM a hat for Yuki.

This'd be great for making hats for kids in the hospital or for the humanitarian services.

I could watch TV while making these.

Primary kids could do this.

It opened a whole new door for me.

Extended Family

 Remember I've talked about my favourite Auntie?  My mothers sister?  She's the only one that was interested in us when Mum and Dad joined the church and started having an abundance of children?
Well her eldest son (our cuzzie) turned 40 and decided to have a birthday bash.
So my brother (pictured above) my mother and my sister all decided to go down and help celebrate with him.
Look how beautiful my Aunty and Uncles house is?
All this green you see is their yard. 
It's beautiful.
No family hang out is complete without a backyard game of cricket.
I've had a lot of fun over the years with this game, and whenever we play it here people love it.
Above is my brother who introduced me to Dru and was comps with him on the mission.

 Here's three of my nieces playing in their Aunty and Uncles pool.
How sweet would that be right?
It's summer back home and the weather is really warm at the moment.
Perfect for deep pool diving.

 Here's some of the family together. 
My bro reading his daughter and nieces a book, looks like our brother in law is interested as well.  It IS a good story.  One of my favourites.
Then here's my sisters family and our cousin who turned 40 beside them.
Then my mum and her husband with the birthday boy.

 

Here's my Auntie not knowing that Pete is ready to catch her out with a tip off of her bat.

I wonder if he made it?

The determination on his face was sure funny enough.

Oh how I would've loved to of been there, enjoy the fun, play some cricket, trash talk some people, laugh and let the cuzzies all play together.

When I was skyping my niece yesterday she asked me why we didn't come.

I said "Well it would've cost us more than 5 K to have come over and we simply don't have that money"

Sometimes it's hard being away.

Skype helps and so does email, phone etc and I'm grateful for those.

But sometimes I just don't wanna be missing out on all the fun all the time.

That's all.

Happy birthday to my cuzzie and I'm glad it was a great time and wish I could've been there.

Head band

 

My mate had a headband.

I asked her if I could see it so I could figure out how to make it.

She brought it to me with some yarn and asked me to make one for her sister.

It had to be done by this weekend so it was perfect for me.

I wanted to learn how to make these AND I had motivation and a deadline.  The three things that work to get me to craft.

So I sat and started, wrong stitch, so unraveled it and started again, different stitch.

BINGO it worked.  I continued to knit and measure against hers, then knit and measure, then I crochet the outside and did a flower.

I think it turned out great for my first try.

The problem is..............................I didn't write down the pattern, so now I'm back to square one.

LOL

Typical Melissa style.

Oh well.

Mr. Dirty

 I was raised reading these 'Mr. Men' books. (There's 'Mrs' books as well but not as many characters)
They're simple and I loved them.
I don't think there's a Mr. Dirty but now there is.
It's my son.

 Honestly, this kid is never clean.
Maybe he should bunk up with Mr. Clean.
Now that'd make for a good story.

Journal Entry Twenty

Tell of a time when you were frightened and you prayed

Click HERE to read mine. 

“Your journal should contain your true self rather than a picture of you when you are ‘made up’ for a public performance. … The truth should be told, but we should not emphasize the negative.”
(“The Angels,” New Era, Oct. 1975, p. 5.)

'We're not worthy....................'

What movie is that title from?

So the other day was a bad day for me.  Things didn't work out how I'd liked and I was just in a bad mood.
I was pretty grumpy.
But despite that my kids were awesome.
It was amazing.
They played together, Masaru looked after Takeshi, gave him some food, took him out of the highchair.
They helped me tidy the house, ate all their dinner, shared toys, laughed, helped each other.
Dad wasn't going to be home till they were in bed so I was on my own, always tough, but they pretty much looked after themselves so I could mope around in my own misery.

I realized this after I decided to capture one moment of them playing together later on in the afternoon.
I started realizing how much they help me and how awesome my kids are.
They helped me with dinner, they helped me clean up, they helped me vacuum as well as put their washed clothes away.
Even Takeshi helped, in his own cute way.  He can put his own bibs away and shoes and the occasional toy, that's about the extent of it.  But he sees the others and wants to help as well.
Yuki cleaned my mirrors and the toilet!!

After I put them in bed I started feeling guilty about how I'd behaved this day.
I know I'd raised my voice to them more than once, just because I was being a grump.
I sware, I've never felt so much guilt as what I have since being a mother!
I know that Heavenly Father doesn't want it that way, but sometimes it's a good motivator for repentance, humility and change.
Who better to help you see your 'unperfect' self than innocent children, especially when they step up to the plate like my kids did that day.

My kids are awesome, and time and time again I wonder how I was so blessed to have them in my life.
I FOR SURE know I'm not worthy of them, yet know this is right and what Heavenly Father wants in my AND their lives.
I know we'll continue to learn from each other as we grow older together.
As I said my prayers that night I was overcome with emotion at how I'd treated his children and begged for his forgiveness with a promise that I'd try harder the next day.
Just because I'm not in a good mood doesn't mean I shouldn't hug my kids, tell them I love them and show them affection.
I just need to get over myself, take their lead and 'become as a child'. The more and more I'm around them the more and more that scripture makes sense.
Children are awesome, and mine are the best and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cozy Hh

 Takeshi woke up in a bad mood this morning.
He recently acquired two back molars on his bottom jaw.  That might have something to do with it.
His teeth are never ending man.
I'm talking about months of swelling but nothing, then all of a sudden like 6 teeth.
Poor guy.
I think he's done pretty well considering.
But this morning he'd had enough.
He was in a foul mood.
So I wrapped him up on Yuki's bed and put on a baby Einstein....................haven't heard from him since.
Yeah you can all judge if you'd like but he's happy, snugly and quiet.
Sometimes you just gotta turn on the TV to get things done LOL
All you 'better' mothers can email me with other suggestions when your kid is throwing a fit and you're looking at a whole day ahead of you of chores, other kids necessities and your husband has the car all day and won't be back till late.

So at Masaru's Kindy the kids each have a turn at bringing a snack for the class.
There's a kid in there with a 'severe' nut allergy so NO NUTS. 
It makes it a bit more difficult but I don't wanna create havoc for this 'nut' kid, so you comply, as any mother would.
The difficult thing is that the snack has to be a certain LETTER.
So today is Masaru's snack day.  The letter is 'H'.  I google 'H' foods for some ideas.  Sometimes I'll walk down the isles of the store looking for my letter for his snack.
I, personally think she's damn lucky we parents do this.  I had ZERO parent help at my school so giving parents assignments would NEVER of occurred to me.  Just having them at parent/teacher conference was a big enough hassle and some of them didn't even come to that.
Alright, back to topic.......................So here's my 'H' snacks.
I'm quite proud of myself.
I'd love this snack.
So we'll see how it goes over with the children.
She also says (the teacher) no sweets.
So 'Hershey's' bars are OUT.
Does anyone else think this woman is pushing her luck with us?
Maybe it's just me.
I'm a good mum though and do it.
Masaru will bring a little cooler to school today for his cheese and ham.  I've included ritz crackers to put this stuff on.
Should be good, I mean I cut it up for them.  All they have to do is make the crackers up.

I wish they'd focus less on the snacks and more on the reading.