January in Review

We started the new Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families curriculum.  The first Sunday of the year, I taught the kids the parable of the sower.  We did this (it's summarized for sharing on the ward Facebook page):

• Read Matthew 13:1-3 to the start of the parable while displaying this picture from lds.org and having kids pretend to be on the shore listening. Explain that a parable is a story that means something more.
• Read Matthew 13:3-8 and draw a picture of each type of ground as the kids read. I used a whiteboard and marker.
• Read Matthew 13:9 and tell them it's time to put on their "Disciple Ears" so they can understand what Jesus really wants to teach them.
• Read Matthew 13:18-23, use your picture to explain what each of the things mean and relate it to your children using examples from their life.
• Post pictures of each kind of ground where you will be studying scriptures as a family every day. I'm hoping now when our scripture studies start falling apart (daily occurrence), I'll be able to just ask "What kind of ground are you being?" instead of nagging everyone to be quiet and pay attention and put away toys. 

I'd say we're being 50% successful with our scripture study.  I think anything over 0 is a win for us, though.

I had to give a training for the Stake Priesthood and Auxiliary Meeting on finding joy and confidence in our ability to move forward with implementing Come Follow Me, especially if our family doesn't fit the mold.  I likened scripture study unto clothing.  Here are the points:

• You wear clothes every day to protect you (from cold, UV rays, scratchy plants), to help you focus on a function (work out clothes for working out, uniform for work, power suit for a job interview), and to help you feel a certain way (sweats to feel relaxed, cute clothes to help you feel flirty and fun on your date, business clothes to help you feel competent and respectful).  Scripture study does similar things when we do it every day: protects us (from sin and idleness), helps us perform a specific function (to be more like Christ), and helps us feel certain ways (hopeful, repentant, comforted, inspired).  
• But, it doesn't matter how great the clothes are, if they don't fit you, you'll be miserable.  You will be having to worry all day about sucking in your stomach to keep your gut from spilling over your waistband, or pulling up a shoulder on a shirt that's too big and keeps sliding off.  And if they don't fit your situation, you will feel miserable as well.  Scripture study is the same--if you are trying to do a scripture study that doesn't fit your life, it will just make you feel guilty all day that you can't do it.  And if you are trying to get away with a scripture study that doesn't fit your situation (you are the gospel doctrine teacher and never crack the scriptures), you will feel as exposed as you would if you wore a swimming suit to the temple.  
• Come Follow Me is designed to help lots of different people find a good fit (personally and situationally).  
• If you never study the scriptures, it's a place to start.  When I started my new job, I had some scrubs from before that I wore on the first day because that's what I had and didn't have time to get new ones.  Now that I've been working for awhile, I have a better idea of what kind of scrubs I need to do my job really well (I need a pocket for my scanner, for my phone, for my alcohol swabs, for my saline flushes, for my pens, for my paper brain, a pocket that's accessible in an isolation room, pants that allow me to bend over without them falling down, etc.).  Our scripture study had fallen off before the year started.  We decided to just crack open the Come Follow Me manual the first day and read what was there.  Now that we've been doing it awhile, I know I need to read a little before and take the bits I can explain understandably to the kids to our daily family scripture study after dinner.  
• If you are already in the habit of daily scripture study, Come Follow Me is like the wedding colors of your family member's wedding who is giving you the choice of finding your own outfit instead of buying the same dress.  Find an outfit you like that fits you in the chosen colors, then when you come to the wedding, you feel like you're part of the wedding party and you contribute to the look of the pictures.  The theme this year is New Testament.  Use the Come Follow Me as much or as little as you like, but know that when you come to church on Sunday that's what they'll be talking about and if you've chosen your own scripture study to fit those "colors" you'll be able to participate in and contribute to the lessons.  
• If you already had scripture study goals (maybe you're in seminary where you're studying D&C, or maybe you had a goal to read the Book of Mormon before your mission this year), you get to choose how to incorporate New Testament into your study.  Maybe you are like me and have to wear 3 different outfits a day, one to work out, one to take kids to school, one to kick around the house in.  Or maybe you use the Come Follow Me manual once a week for family night, like when you put on a dress once a week to go to church.  
• Don't get discouraged when your fit changes.  I brought my golden dress that I made for myself when I was a 16 year old swimmer to wear to dances and at church to look so beautiful, and I brought a full, calf-length, wrap skirt I made for myself last year when I had to be able to get down on the ground in nursery and sit cross-legged in a fabric that cold hold up to the demands of caring for small children but that was an adjustable size to keep up with all the different shapes my body goes through in these child-bearing years.  I love both of those items of clothing and they served me well.  I can't fit in my gold dress anymore, and that's ok.  I can fit in my skirt, which I also love.  I know returned missionaries who are disgusted with themselves for studying so well on their missions and having a hard time keeping up now.  Your fit is different now!  Find a scripture study that meets your current needs and don't beat yourself up for not fitting something that belonged to a different stage of life.  
• Finding a good fit is important, because if we are trying to do something that doesn't fit, we're going to fail, and then we have to battle through feelings of guilt, helplessness, and disgust to actually make any changes in our life.  If you start with a scripture study that you can do, you're in the right head and heart space to grow.  
• We have a personal tailor who would love to help us get a perfect fit for our scripture study.  The Spirit is ready and waiting to give us direction, but he can't fit our scripture study clothes to us unless we put them on our body.  We just have to start.

And now for something completely different!

 

Do you know how great Drew is?  You can't possibly, so I will give you a few examples.  He helps me to get the kids ready to go in the morning, then takes them to school on his way to work, even though he hates mornings with his whole soul and has to wake up earlier than he would have to otherwise. 

 He reads to the kids when I have too much going on and puts them to bed alone when I am working every weekend.  He covers dinner on the weekends too.

 He looks awesome in the 3D glasses they have at the Natural History Museum.

 He will snuggle on the couch with me when I am cold.

He put up this fun playground in our side yard for the kids this weekend by himself (which the kids have managed to litter already).  I just think he's pretty great.  

Here is beautiful Vivs, who is getting so grown up and started Activity Days this year.  

 Can you see her?

 She is here.

Here she is at Puesta's winter show with some school friends, Galilea, Iliana, and Natalia.

She performed with no tears!  Progress is being made!

 A recent quote: "Will you come and company me? I don't have any company to be with."
And another, after Rafe found Vivien's marker that was missing in the car. "Rafe...is a fabulous man!"
Also, here is a video of her monologue-ing (while I was a captive audience on the pot...)

Here's a video of Rafe:

And a sample of his daily scowl.

 Here he is with his class at Puesta's winter show.  I don't know what that face is, but it's funny.

And some quotes.

"A date is when you spend time together without your children."

Rafe: I am going to beat you to rhythms!

Drew: Rhythms?

Rafe: I mean smithereens.

Vivien and Rafe made an antique shop. "Who wants an antique marble frog pie?!"

"I don't like eating Ramen noodles because they make me burp and pee after."

Here is Annie and her wispy hair.

Some Annie quotes

"Do you know what my favorite balloon is?  All the balloons!!"

"That looks like fundow!"

"outside my mouth" = out loud

"What are we going to have for lunch also-ly?"

Singing to herself: "I'm never goin' back...the quest is oooverrrrr...Let it go!"

Here is Annie going through all the words she knows to find out if they are ok to say (there is only one that's not ok to say; I would like her to say bum instead of butt).  It started with her asking me, "Is it ok if you say oims?"  "Yes it's ok to say arms."  Then it went on so long I had to tape it.  

 Here she is after dutifully telling me in advance she had to go potty at the zoo.  She is not always so great at this.

 Here they are in their animal hats at the zoo.  Don't worry, they're faux fur...

 And here she is crying after the zoo.  I can't remember why.  But it lasted a long time.

  Here is a cute Merrick on the playground at the zoo.

And closer.

Here is Merrick taking his date to Story Time at the library for a spin.

She looks like she's maybe had better dates...

Here are Annie and Merrick languishing in self-imposed imprisonment.

 Here are 4 separate Annie-sized teeth marks on Merrick's arm (3 forearm, one shoulder). These earned her a bite from Mom.

 Here is Merrick climbing out of his high chair.  He can almost just be a regular member of the table.

 Here is snuggly Merrick ready for bed.

 Here is snuggly Merrick asleep on the couch on a Sunday afternoon.

Here is Merrick being a tiny Spider-Man.

  

Here is Merrick being a tiny drag queen.

Here is Merrick smashing his face on mine.  He is too strong and persistent to resist.

Gotta love the double photo bomb.

Here are Annie and Merrick at the park.

Merrick quotes:

He likes to say "Yay-Yay-Yay!"

"Moomies!" is Milk, please

He is starting to be able to tell me words for most of the things he wants.
He loves to close the garage door, even when he is half asleep after picking up the kids from school.

Now, for the business at hand.  We got another dog, because we were sick of Pip sitting forlornly at the door whenever he was let outside, and because he was kind of antisocial with other dogs.  I talked to a lot of other dog-people who had had both one and two dogs and they all said they preferred having two.  So, I went to the Albuquerque animal shelter in search of a Sheltie mix I had seen on the internet that sounded promising.  They had moved him to Lucky Paws at the mall, so I went there and was first in line when they opened the door.  They let me meet him, and he snuggled up his huge fluffy body into a circle on my lap and I felt like that was a good sign.  I filled out the hold paperwork, then went to pick up the kids and Pip to come meet him and see if they'd all get along ok. 

 They did, so we brought him home.  I wish sooooo much this was a live photo, because Rafe is just getting up from getting knocked clean off his feat by an excited Bo rushing by.  He is much heavier than Pip.

 His name at the shelter was Beau Bear.  We just call him Bo.  But sometimes we say Beau Bear like Little John says, "Rob? Robin? Rober?"  I think there is something Robin Hoodish about Bo. 

 He loves to lay his big fluffy body down at your feet. 

 This is especially nice when I am working at the computer, because my body temperature tends to drop drastically when I sit at the computer for long periods of time. 

 Pip definitely has an attentive companion.  They are seldom apart. 

 Though there is much competition.  See how Bo eyes Pip's chew toy.

And they play so very aggressively.  I love to see how different they are.  Pip is stocky and solid and does the most elegant down-dog and up-dog I have ever seen when he wakes up (like, nose to sky, chest raised, shoulders down, weight on the tops of his feet, legs fully extended...it's gorgeous).  Bo sometimes feels like he's part pill-bug to me--he rounds his spine and curls up so easily, does somersaults all the time when he wrestles, prefers to stretch one leg out straight behind him at a time when he wakes up instead of going for a full-body extension.  They are fun to watch.   

 Annie loves to give the doggies hugs.  They usually tolerate her pretty well, though Bo does snap at her sometimes and has drawn blood once.  I'm hoping he'll chill out a little when he's not a puppy anymore.  He is 8 months old.  His jaws were definitely a shock to get used to, being twice as long as Pip's.  All of our children's dog related fear (especially Rafe's) seems to be cured. 

And I don't think Pip feels replaced.  

  

Bo is house-trained, so the in-house pottying is about the same as it was before.  It took FOREVER to get Bo to poop in the place we want them to poop.  He seemed to only be able to poop on the go and would just drop wherever he was wandering and plant little piles indiscriminately.  I tried giving him tons of food and only letting him out of his crate to go to the poop place, but he hated it and didn't poop all day.  I finally had to just walk him until I saw him assume the position, then suddenly run him to where I wanted him to actually go before he had a chance to drop anything.  He will now go poop in the right place when I take him out of his cage and directly to the poop place, but I haven't seen him be playing in the yard and then go to the poop place of his own volition yet.  We'll keep trying.  Here he is when I was trying to just keep him there until he'd poop.  He is trying to claw his way out to Pip.

 The other in-house stuff has gotten easier in some ways.  Pip's hardly gotten into anything he shouldn't have since Bo came.  Bo loves chew toys, so Pip is sort of starting to love them too.  At least, he loves to take them away from Bo so Bo will chase him.  They keep each other busy wrestling, too.   They are, however, both terrible beggars, so dinners are a little more complicated.  Bo can reach all the table and counter-tops, so we are working hard on "off."  I swear they act like I never feed them, when I feel like I never stop stuffing their Kongs.  Bo is also 80% louder than Pip.  He barks at strangers, he barks when he doesn't like what you're doing or when he wants you to do something, he barks at the neighbor's dogs, he barks at Pip to egg him on, he barked at Allen the entire first day they had together (so now Allen cries every time his mommy drops him off because he's very sensitive to loud noises...), and he absolutely LOATHES our neighbor boy down the street who comes to play with my kids sometimes and will bark and growl incessantly the moment he hears his voice or sees his face.  It is definitely not my favorite thing.

They are highly convenient to have around after dinner though.  They will happily mop up the floor after Merrick, and they willingly obliged me in cleaning out the roasting pan the other day as well. 

I took them on a hike this week.  My friend snapped this picture and I feel like it's an accurate representation of how my life feels right now.  "I'm barely functioning.  Let's add two dogs!" They both need a lot of individual leash-work.  They are terrible strainers, which was convenient for the way up, but on the way down on a snowy, slippery trail where I can't see my feet because Merrick's on my chest and my center of gravity is all weird and high, it caused a lot of falls.  So many bruises.  "Oh my, we're having some fun now."