Okay, so I just read my last blog, and HELLO it was long. Sorry about that to those of you who read it (Yaya). I'm still new at this and have yet to perfect the art of blogging. Here are my thoughts (hopefully brief) for today:
First, my children are a mystery to me. They are each like Jekyll and Hyde, and each in their own way. This means that while I only have 3 children, in reality I'm dealing with 6. And I never know which of those 6 I'm dealing with.
For example, the Andrea I had yesterday - the one who prayed for our new president, Arock Obama, the one who prayed that our family could be together forever, the one who yesterday could buckle her seatbelt all by herself - was not the Andrea that I had tonight - the one who collapsed on the floor in hysterics because she could not have fruit snacks before going to bed, the one who couldn't take her socks off by herself, the one who wanted a hot dog for dinner and then broke down when I gave her a hot dog.
My Natalie yesterday is the one who declared that she really likes blue, when she realized that Andrea wanted Natalie's pink bowl for dinner and not the blue one that was in front of Andrea. My Natalie today is the one that screamed bloody murder when Ethan began crawing towards the general vicinity of her Cinderella glass slipper.
And Ethan. Sometimes he is a delight. Other times he is such a stinker. There is no happy medium with him.
Okay, on to my second thought: Sometimes, there just aren't enough Magic Erasers.
And this brings me to my final thought: I have to say that even though I didn't vote for Barack Obama, I am cautiously optimistic about what he will bring to the table. That' all I have to say about it.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Life is good...for now
Alright, I'm renewing my efforts as a blogger. Initially, this blog was meant to keep Anders up to date on what was going on with our little family; this was during our extended visit to Idaho last summer - Anders stayed in Virginia to work while I had the kids at Mom and Dad's house for a couple of months. But now that has passed, and while I always swore I'd never have a blog, I find myself thinking that maybe it isn't such a bad idea. We'll see. This may be the last entry I make for a couple months :)
Anyway, life is good right now. We're all healthy; Anders' job is going well (meaning his commute is 15 minutes and he's only putting in 8 hours a day); Anders has a job; we have a comfortable house; we have good friends; we love our family; we're somehow able to manage our 3 kids with some success; and I was able to get the laundry mostly done today. Also, the fridge is clean. Life is good.
But I do realize how quickly that can all change. The economy isn't doing well right now. So far we've been immune to unemployment and some of the other problems, but we also know that can quickly change. Our house has dropped almost 25% in value in the 2 years that we've owned it. The fridge could get dirty again at any time. Ethan could get pink eye. Again. Anders' car is...struggling, to say the least. We just spent a lot - and I mean A LOT - of money fixing it, only to have it continue to struggle. After replacing the transmission (that had fallen off it's support blocks and cracked the radiator), the car decided that it wouldn't start when the temperature got below about 40 degrees. And so we returned it to the auto shop, where it took the mechanic one month to learn that if you turn the key in a very specific way, it will start, regardless of the temperature. Except that yesterday, when the temperature was 3 (yes, 3), it didn't. So now our question is, do we go into debt to buy a new car? Do we dip into savings to keep our debt down to buy a new car? Or do we hope that this car will last us, and that the leaking green and red fluids we see every morning from the car aren't that important? It's things like this that make me realize how fragile the balance is between a life that is going well, and a life that is going not so well.
On a different note, Anders and I went out tonight with some friends for some sushi. Actually, it was just the guys that ate the sushi. We women ate mostly chicken. Why anyone would want to eat raw fish and baby octopus is beyond me. But we had a very nice time. We ended up talking about our children, and I just have to say it is so encouraging to know that there are people out there who have the same struggles that we have. It gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, we are doing okay in raising our kids.
Right now Anders is at a friend's house playing Guitar Hero; it's almost 10:00 pm, and Ethan and Andrea are fast asleep. Natalie, on the other hand, comes in to my room every 10 minutes or so to tell me that she's scared, or to ask me a question, or to tell me something, or to get something. I can tell that she is exhausted, but she just doesn't want to go to sleep tonight. She's so funny because she always has her own little agenda, and if you try to distract her from it, she completely ignores you. If she is trying to tell you something, and you change the subject by telling her to go to bed, for example, she has this amazing ability to completely disregard anything that you were saying, and will proceed with her original story/statement/whatever, as if you'd never even spoken. She doesn't even acknowledge that you've said anything. Andrea will argue with you, and I have to hand it to her - she's a pretty good little negotiator. But Natalie is smarter - she just doesn't even engage with you in a conversation that she doesn't want to have. How clever!
Anyway, life is good right now. We're all healthy; Anders' job is going well (meaning his commute is 15 minutes and he's only putting in 8 hours a day); Anders has a job; we have a comfortable house; we have good friends; we love our family; we're somehow able to manage our 3 kids with some success; and I was able to get the laundry mostly done today. Also, the fridge is clean. Life is good.
But I do realize how quickly that can all change. The economy isn't doing well right now. So far we've been immune to unemployment and some of the other problems, but we also know that can quickly change. Our house has dropped almost 25% in value in the 2 years that we've owned it. The fridge could get dirty again at any time. Ethan could get pink eye. Again. Anders' car is...struggling, to say the least. We just spent a lot - and I mean A LOT - of money fixing it, only to have it continue to struggle. After replacing the transmission (that had fallen off it's support blocks and cracked the radiator), the car decided that it wouldn't start when the temperature got below about 40 degrees. And so we returned it to the auto shop, where it took the mechanic one month to learn that if you turn the key in a very specific way, it will start, regardless of the temperature. Except that yesterday, when the temperature was 3 (yes, 3), it didn't. So now our question is, do we go into debt to buy a new car? Do we dip into savings to keep our debt down to buy a new car? Or do we hope that this car will last us, and that the leaking green and red fluids we see every morning from the car aren't that important? It's things like this that make me realize how fragile the balance is between a life that is going well, and a life that is going not so well.
On a different note, Anders and I went out tonight with some friends for some sushi. Actually, it was just the guys that ate the sushi. We women ate mostly chicken. Why anyone would want to eat raw fish and baby octopus is beyond me. But we had a very nice time. We ended up talking about our children, and I just have to say it is so encouraging to know that there are people out there who have the same struggles that we have. It gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, we are doing okay in raising our kids.
Right now Anders is at a friend's house playing Guitar Hero; it's almost 10:00 pm, and Ethan and Andrea are fast asleep. Natalie, on the other hand, comes in to my room every 10 minutes or so to tell me that she's scared, or to ask me a question, or to tell me something, or to get something. I can tell that she is exhausted, but she just doesn't want to go to sleep tonight. She's so funny because she always has her own little agenda, and if you try to distract her from it, she completely ignores you. If she is trying to tell you something, and you change the subject by telling her to go to bed, for example, she has this amazing ability to completely disregard anything that you were saying, and will proceed with her original story/statement/whatever, as if you'd never even spoken. She doesn't even acknowledge that you've said anything. Andrea will argue with you, and I have to hand it to her - she's a pretty good little negotiator. But Natalie is smarter - she just doesn't even engage with you in a conversation that she doesn't want to have. How clever!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A Few Thoughts...
I read Elder Holland's talk regarding our children. There are several sections that stuck out to me, and so I'll just go through and comment briefly on them:
Paragraph 6:
If the Savior felt so much worry over the children and the evil influences they face, then we need to feel at least a portion of that. I think we can be too complacent; we can be more vigilant and earnest in protecting and strengthening our kids against the bad influences that are/will come to them. We especially need to be praying for them every day.
Paragraph 10:
This reminds me of Bishop Haws' counsel to our ward, to bear our testimony to our children every day. You do a much better job at this than I do. But we both can do better; let's try to do this every day, focusing on these areas that Elder Holland mentions: our devotion the Christ, the Restoration, the reality of living prophets and apostles.
Paragraph 12:
Wow. This one really hit me. It's the one that starts off "I think some parents..." I feel like he is describing me here. I am active and go to meetings, but do I "convey powerful heartfelt convictions" to my kids? The remedy for the situation he describes in this paragraph is found in paragraph 17 and 18.
Paragraph 17/18: I love there paragraphs because they tell us exactly what we can do. I especially was struck by a few of the suggestions he makes:
1-Priesthood blessings. I think we have some opportunities coming up to teach our kids about this (Andrea's surgery and the upcoming school year).
2-Ask ourselves what out children know from us personally-find areas that we could be better about mentioning in everyday life (I'm thinking of things like tithing, Word of Wisdom, answers to prayers, etc.)
3-He asks if our children know that we love the scriptures and if they see us reading and marking and clinging to them daily. I was thinking it is hard to get scripture study in without the girls around, so maybe I need to do it when they are around, so they can see that it is important to me.
4-Have they heard us pray for them "out of nothing more than sheer parental love?" I think this is huge. I think we should try to include the kids, individually, in every single prayer that we offer, both family, personal, and couple. I think this will help them know that we love them, but also help us love them more.
And finally, Elder Holland says, "God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child - and to the parent of a child." Let's always remember this. I can't believe the help that I receive as I pray about specific problems relating to the kids.
Anyway, great talk. I'm excited to hear what you have to say about it!
Paragraph 6:
If the Savior felt so much worry over the children and the evil influences they face, then we need to feel at least a portion of that. I think we can be too complacent; we can be more vigilant and earnest in protecting and strengthening our kids against the bad influences that are/will come to them. We especially need to be praying for them every day.
Paragraph 10:
This reminds me of Bishop Haws' counsel to our ward, to bear our testimony to our children every day. You do a much better job at this than I do. But we both can do better; let's try to do this every day, focusing on these areas that Elder Holland mentions: our devotion the Christ, the Restoration, the reality of living prophets and apostles.
Paragraph 12:
Wow. This one really hit me. It's the one that starts off "I think some parents..." I feel like he is describing me here. I am active and go to meetings, but do I "convey powerful heartfelt convictions" to my kids? The remedy for the situation he describes in this paragraph is found in paragraph 17 and 18.
Paragraph 17/18: I love there paragraphs because they tell us exactly what we can do. I especially was struck by a few of the suggestions he makes:
1-Priesthood blessings. I think we have some opportunities coming up to teach our kids about this (Andrea's surgery and the upcoming school year).
2-Ask ourselves what out children know from us personally-find areas that we could be better about mentioning in everyday life (I'm thinking of things like tithing, Word of Wisdom, answers to prayers, etc.)
3-He asks if our children know that we love the scriptures and if they see us reading and marking and clinging to them daily. I was thinking it is hard to get scripture study in without the girls around, so maybe I need to do it when they are around, so they can see that it is important to me.
4-Have they heard us pray for them "out of nothing more than sheer parental love?" I think this is huge. I think we should try to include the kids, individually, in every single prayer that we offer, both family, personal, and couple. I think this will help them know that we love them, but also help us love them more.
And finally, Elder Holland says, "God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child - and to the parent of a child." Let's always remember this. I can't believe the help that I receive as I pray about specific problems relating to the kids.
Anyway, great talk. I'm excited to hear what you have to say about it!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
General Conference Talks
As I mentioned on the phone earlier today, Brother Seneca gave a great talk today and quoted from the following two talks:
- Dark Friday, Bright Sunday, by Elder Wirthin
- A Prayer for the Children, by Elder Holland
They both sound really good. Let's read through them over the next few days and post any comments or impressions from our reading.
I sure missed you today. Church is difficult without you because everywhere I go there are things that remind me of you and the kinds. Even though it was no fun without you, I got a lot of Elders Quorum work done this afternoon. Hopefully I'll find some time for a nap. I hope you have a nice, relaxing Sunday. I love you and miss you very much.
Anders
Saturday, July 26, 2008
I'm an exercising fiend!!
So I work up at 6:00 this morning and remembered that Nina was planning to go run around Burke Lake at 6. So, I call Nina and she picked me up on the way. We ran around Burke Lake, which is 5 miles. We came back to mom and dad's house and I was still in the mood to exercise, so I got on Liisa's rowing machine and rowed for 20 minutes. I feel great! Nina and I are going to go running Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week. It feels so good to run. I hope to keep it up.
I've got some work I need to do today (Saturday). Specifically, I've got some training I need to do in preparation for promotion to Manager. I anticipate that it will be pretty boring stuff. I have a bunch of financial worksheets I need to complete to ensure I'm sufficiently independent from the firm's audit clients. I'm sorry I have to complete this stuff before you come home. It would be so fun to sit down and work on it together. :-)
It sounds like Mom and Dad had a great time in Alaska. They were talking about taking the whole family there next summer. I reminded them that we can just as easily go to Ireland or Italy. We'll see.
I hope things are going well for you. Have a great day.
I sure love and miss you all,
Anders
I've got some work I need to do today (Saturday). Specifically, I've got some training I need to do in preparation for promotion to Manager. I anticipate that it will be pretty boring stuff. I have a bunch of financial worksheets I need to complete to ensure I'm sufficiently independent from the firm's audit clients. I'm sorry I have to complete this stuff before you come home. It would be so fun to sit down and work on it together. :-)
It sounds like Mom and Dad had a great time in Alaska. They were talking about taking the whole family there next summer. I reminded them that we can just as easily go to Ireland or Italy. We'll see.
I hope things are going well for you. Have a great day.
I sure love and miss you all,
Anders
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Crazy Weather in VA
The storm last night was crazy. I haven't heard of any destruction in the areas, but there was a lot of rain that came down. I woke up at 5:00 this morning to take Liisa to the airport, and it was really cold outside. I had put on shorts and a T-shirt thinking it would be warm, but the rain brought along some unseasonably cool weather. And it's still pretty nice outside, even though the sun is up.
As I mentioned, Liisa is now gone, so Heidi and I are left to take care of Todd. A person doesn't really gain a good appreciation for what mom and dad and Liisa do with Todd until they spend a morning getting him ready for school. He can be a handful, and I'm not going to miss changing his diapers. I can see why my dad gets frustrated.
I watched a little bit of West Wing with my sisters last night. I'm not getting hooked, but it was pretty entertaining. The dialog and the acting is really good. I think you would like it. Maybe we can borrow an episode or two when we get back and enjoy a relaxing evening watching TV together. That sounds really nice right now.
I'm in love with my new phone. Don't worry, it's nothing that will come between us (except if I get a call while we are on a date). This phone is really cool. I can't wait to show it to you. I'm sure you'll love it too. Well, I better get back to work. I love you very much.
Anders
As I mentioned, Liisa is now gone, so Heidi and I are left to take care of Todd. A person doesn't really gain a good appreciation for what mom and dad and Liisa do with Todd until they spend a morning getting him ready for school. He can be a handful, and I'm not going to miss changing his diapers. I can see why my dad gets frustrated.
I watched a little bit of West Wing with my sisters last night. I'm not getting hooked, but it was pretty entertaining. The dialog and the acting is really good. I think you would like it. Maybe we can borrow an episode or two when we get back and enjoy a relaxing evening watching TV together. That sounds really nice right now.
I'm in love with my new phone. Don't worry, it's nothing that will come between us (except if I get a call while we are on a date). This phone is really cool. I can't wait to show it to you. I'm sure you'll love it too. Well, I better get back to work. I love you very much.
Anders
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
I should havejust stayed in bed...
Okay, this is going to be a whining and complaining entry, so you may want to just skip to the bottom and look at the pictures. Anyway, yesterday started off okay, and got progressively worse until, well, right now.
I think I told you about our movie mishaps - we took the girls to see a movie that turned out to be scary, and so we tried another movie and it turned out to be "boring," according to Andrea. So we went to the park, where we played for a few minutes before a huge thunder/hail storm blew through. Then there was the trip to the library, the lame kids' meal coupons for Sizzler, and the 45 minute drive home that cause Greg and Eric to have to reschedule their dentist appointments. So for dinner, I thought I would help by making oven-roasted potatoes, which I have done successfully at home many times. Not so this time. I won't go into the many ways they were a disaster, but they were. I don't know how you can mess up potatoes. I mean, really.
SO Melinda saw that I was struggling a bit to make it through the day in one piece, so she asked mom if she could take me out after the kids went down. Sounds great. The kids even went down without a fuss. We went to see Wall-E at Greg's recommendation. It was...not good. It was okay and it had funny parts, but it was weird, and the beginning was creepy, and it had a very trendy 'save the earth' moral to it (which you know annoys me to no end), and I half expected Al Gore to appear at the end of it and lecture us in that conceitedly humble way of his.
So the movie was a bust, but we got home, and the kids were asleep, and so I got ready for a good night's sleep. I went to bed at midnught. At 12:30, Natalie came into my room, climbed into bed with me, and started talking. Afraid that she would wake up Ethan, I took her back into her room and laid down on the floor next to her. I was waiting for her to fall asleep so that I could go back into my room. She didn't go to sleep until 4:30. Ethan woke up at 2:30, and thanks to Natalie, he thought it was time to play.
I brought them both into my room, turned on the light, laid down on the floor, and let them play. At one point, Natalie left the room 'to check on everybody.' She came back about 10 minutes later to announce that everyone was 'o-tay.' Another time, she stepped on my toe and it really hurt, so she went downstairs and got me a curious george bandaid, applied it to my foot. Very sweet. I think she knew that was upset, because she periodically would apologize to me and offer to rub my back and sing me songs. I also started crying at one point, and she said, "I will say a prayer for you, Mommy." Then, "Well, just a little one." Then, "How 'bout you do it, Mommy." Thanks for the thought, Natalie.
I finally got Ethan to sleep at 4:30, at which point I turned off the light in my room, and Natalie and I fell asleep until 7:30.
I'm in a bad mood today.
I need to go tend to Ethan right now, but I will post some pictures later. I love you and miss you desparately :)
I think I told you about our movie mishaps - we took the girls to see a movie that turned out to be scary, and so we tried another movie and it turned out to be "boring," according to Andrea. So we went to the park, where we played for a few minutes before a huge thunder/hail storm blew through. Then there was the trip to the library, the lame kids' meal coupons for Sizzler, and the 45 minute drive home that cause Greg and Eric to have to reschedule their dentist appointments. So for dinner, I thought I would help by making oven-roasted potatoes, which I have done successfully at home many times. Not so this time. I won't go into the many ways they were a disaster, but they were. I don't know how you can mess up potatoes. I mean, really.
SO Melinda saw that I was struggling a bit to make it through the day in one piece, so she asked mom if she could take me out after the kids went down. Sounds great. The kids even went down without a fuss. We went to see Wall-E at Greg's recommendation. It was...not good. It was okay and it had funny parts, but it was weird, and the beginning was creepy, and it had a very trendy 'save the earth' moral to it (which you know annoys me to no end), and I half expected Al Gore to appear at the end of it and lecture us in that conceitedly humble way of his.
So the movie was a bust, but we got home, and the kids were asleep, and so I got ready for a good night's sleep. I went to bed at midnught. At 12:30, Natalie came into my room, climbed into bed with me, and started talking. Afraid that she would wake up Ethan, I took her back into her room and laid down on the floor next to her. I was waiting for her to fall asleep so that I could go back into my room. She didn't go to sleep until 4:30. Ethan woke up at 2:30, and thanks to Natalie, he thought it was time to play.
I brought them both into my room, turned on the light, laid down on the floor, and let them play. At one point, Natalie left the room 'to check on everybody.' She came back about 10 minutes later to announce that everyone was 'o-tay.' Another time, she stepped on my toe and it really hurt, so she went downstairs and got me a curious george bandaid, applied it to my foot. Very sweet. I think she knew that was upset, because she periodically would apologize to me and offer to rub my back and sing me songs. I also started crying at one point, and she said, "I will say a prayer for you, Mommy." Then, "Well, just a little one." Then, "How 'bout you do it, Mommy." Thanks for the thought, Natalie.
I finally got Ethan to sleep at 4:30, at which point I turned off the light in my room, and Natalie and I fell asleep until 7:30.
I'm in a bad mood today.
I need to go tend to Ethan right now, but I will post some pictures later. I love you and miss you desparately :)
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