On My Mind Monday 18

Just a quick on my mind before you go out and vote tomorrow. Please keep in mind, "change" is all just a perspective. Do not blame the government for the current economic situation. It isn't their fault. yes, it's an easy scape goat, but blame in that direction, is blame in the wrong direction. Please keep in mind, making marriage legal for others besides a man and woman, is not progress. If we do that, we will need to make sure that cousins can marry, humans can marry goats and men can marry 10 women, because all of these sub groups will want equal rights too. In all fairness, it's only right. And on local levels, why would I want to give you money out of my property taxes, if I still have to pay an arm and a leg to get into your zoo. Last time we gave you money, you redid the entrance. Money well spent I'm sure, and very necessary. Any way, just my opinion, everyone is entitled to them. If you don't agree you are entitled to that, and I don't need people trying to convince me I'm wrong. Although, I am open to hearing your opinions. I think that is what makes us a great nation, we can disagree.

Good Ridance Halloween

There are a few reasons why I don't like Halloween. It has nothing to do with it being an "evil" holiday. It has nothing to do with scaring kids. My kids actually like the scary movie I let them watch on Halloween. One of the reasons, it is like this week long candy fest. wound up kids grumpy up too late kids. I am done by day 2. Thank goodness they are on year round, and off track for the holiday. And I am begging you. When you see a cut little girl come to your door and says "treat" Please do not hand her 2 handfuls of candy. She can barely carry the dang bucket after the first 3 houses.
Husband was making fun of me because I take the candy and ration it out. He said "my mom just let us have our candy and it lasted up until Christmas." And of course my MIL is an amazing mom, and I would love to be like her, so I think oh, I can do that. So I let them have at it after the trunk or treat on Wed. 20 minutes later, 1 of 5 has eaten more than half of it. 2 of 5 has a tooth ache and 3 of 5 has a tummy ache. And there is candy garbage ALL over my house. In couch cushions, under pillows on the bathroom counter. I bet none of it got thrown away. Good idea husband.
So I have decided this year, I am making award cards. I will put one on the beds that are made in the morning, and they can redeem them for a piece. They will go under garbage cans that need to be emptied, full dish washers, and piles of clothes that need to be put away. They can earn them. They'll need to work off all that candy anyway, right?

This was too funny. She's not sure what is going on But she does not like it

Getting ready

She still doesn't like it

And we decided to incorporate 4 of 5's black eye. She is no longer a lady bug, she is a squished bug.

Coolest Thing Ever

I heard these exsisted, but I never knew where to find it. Now... here you are. I am 6 posts away from 200. I think I will print it at the 200 mark. There you have it, a journal! HERE

Never done a slide show before, this is my attempt

Free recipe Friday 18/ Last Day

Today is the last day. Last day for my DS tidbit, last day for my Grateful moment (although you're likely to hear a lot more of that stuff out of me) last day of kids off track.
So I will start with my last DS tidbit. John 9: 2 &3
And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest.
I have heard some people say that this means people with disabilities are hear to show how great God is. Jesus heals this man, so I wonder if he meant that he was made blind so God could show his greatness when he was healed. Whatever the interpretation is, I think our kids, all kids with any sort of disabilities are here for our benefit. I think they teach us who are willing to learn, compassion, kindness, and service. I am truly grateful for 4 of 5, she has added an element to my life, that I was in need of. I am grateful to have been made steward of a perfect spirit. I hope that i can live up to what He expects of me.
I am grateful today for my life. For the opportunity to come, and be tried. I will admit I failed miserably at the trials I was given in my teenage years and early 20's. But, I am grateful for a second chance. And I am grateful for repentance and forgiveness. I do not take these things lightly, and I hope my life reflects that. I hope that I can set a good example for my kids.

And for my free recipe. I may have posted this before, but I made this soup for our ward Trunk or Treat, and it really is a good soup.
Brown 1 lb spicy sausage
add 4 cans chicken broth and 4 diced potatoes
Boil until potato is tender.
add 1 can evaporated milk
and a bunch of cleaned and stemmed spinach leaves

And, Last but not least. We are officially potty trained. I define potty trained as 1 week with out an accident, and telling me when you have to go. Even with out the verbal part, she gets her point across when it's time to go. and she has come home from school in the same pants she left the house in (knock on wood) She is even waking up dry in the morning. So, the next step. BIG potty. Now that 5 of 5 is crawling, we need to get those potty chairs outta here. I wish she balanced a little better.

New Things

This is why I love off track. It is 8:30, and the kids are down watching Curious George. I will call them up in 30 minutes to eat breakfast before I put breakfast away. Then I will go run, while they entertain 5 of 5. About 10, they will go play out side until lunch, then we will go run an errand or 2, and we will come home do a few chores before dad comes home and make dinner and eat and relax as a family. No fight to get up and dressed and fed before 8 (3 of 5) no fighting to get out of bed, because we stayed up too late playing in our bed so we are too tired (1 of 5). And no fighting to get them to make their beds so they can play after school (2 of 5). No homework at 4 pm the time husband gets home , so it's a big fiasco.
And after a month long hiatus from sleeping through the night, 5 of 5 slept for 10 hrs. And woke up with a shine new tooth.Well, more of a nub really, but it broke through.

And 4 of 5 woke up with a shiny new shiner. Don't ask. All I know is that I heard he crying, and sent husband downstairs because I was feeding the baby. He came came back upstairs 30 seconds later because she stopped. I'm assuming this is what happened, and she just got over it on her own.

I almost forgot my grateful moment...... I am gratful I can still go to the Temple in peace. My sister sent this email to me this morning.
-I did a little research on this story and found it is true, you can check the article written by the San Fransisco Chronicle... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/26/BAP113OIRD.DTL&tsp=1 . Please keep the saints in California in your prayers. Not sure if anyone has heard about this. I hadn't realized it was getting so out of control. Please keep these Saints in your prayers. Dear family and friends, I had a very disturbing experience yesterday that I would like to share with those of you that live outside of California (or outside of the San Francisco Bay Area). This weekend we have stake conference. Our stake conference always begins with a stake temple session on Friday or Thursday night. Early Friday morning I received a call from the second counselor in our bishopric to let me know that there would be numerous protesters outside the temple, and to remind everyone to stay calm and to drive carefully. The beautiful Oakland Temple is located right across the bay from San Francisco , very close to the city of Berkeley . Apparently the opposition to proposition 8, the amendment that seeks to make marriage in CA between a man and a woman again, has realized the deep involvement of the church and begun to protest right outside of the temple and harass temple patrons. The fastest way to get to the temple from our house is to take the 680 freeway, but the exit is a bit tricky. The off ramp is extremely short and straight uphill. You then make an almost blind left turn, an immediate right and another left into the parking lot. As we approached the off ramp, I realized there would be trouble. There was a backup onto the freeway from cars stalled on the off ramp. As we moved forward inches at a time, we realized this was due to a large group of loud protesters who were standing on both sides of the street, yelling, screaming and waving signs. When we got to the top of the offramp, ready to make our turn, one protester jumped out right in front of our car. It took my husband all his self control to carefully maneuver around him to the left and proceed to the temple. I tried not to listen to all they were shouting at us, but I was shaking as I got to the temple front door. Several of the sisters, especially the ones driving on their own, were crying (which made me snap out of it and go into RS President mode to comfort them). Later, as I was sitting in the perfect quiet of the chapel, I couldn't help but think of Lehi's dream, and the people who mocked the Saints from the big spacious building but 'we heeded them not.' It was a truly surreal experience, I'd never thougth that I would have to go through an angry crowd to get to the temple. As we left late at night, the protesters had dispersed, temple security (who all looked very large and Tongan) stood by the gates. I never saw a single police man. Please pray for those of us in California fighting for prop 8--it's getting kind of scary out here!

Marriage Between a Man and a Woman.

This is a post from a blog I read. I read this the other day, and a it just hit me. This is why I feel so strongly about this issue. Sometimes I can't put words to my thoughts, and this post gave my thoughts words.

Some hot issues are on state ballots this year. One of those topics is defining marriage. In both California and Arizona stakes have presented special firesides in an effort to motivate members of the LDS Church to vote for such a critical issue. In California, voters had already cast the majority of their votes to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Yet, judges overturned the voice of the people and allowed homosexual couples to marry. I don’t quite understand why or how judges would have the right to overturn the voice of the people.
What is the purpose of voting if a small group of judges can overturn it on their own whim?A well-publicized story about a school class taking a field trip to witness a homosexual marriage has spurred the debate.
States are now struggling to define marriage. Honestly, it’s a definition I never thought we actually needed, but in light of this recent field trip, it’s obvious that our society has denigrated to the point that the very fabric of our society is unraveling. I’d like to point out that if a school field trip included witnessing a Catholic marriage, we’d have the ACLU jumping up and down and screaming that the school had violated church and state and trampled on the rights of students who didn’t want to witness such an event. Interestingly enough, the ACLU has not come to the defense of the students who were offended by a homosexual marriage. It’s interesting to note also, that when the subject of polygamy is introduced, there’s quite a vehement reaction.
In my own experience, many people mock the LDS Church because of its polygamous practice that ended over 100 years ago. People today still talk about polygamy in the early days of the Church and point fingers at the leaders claiming they instituted polygamy for the sole purpose of exploitation and sexual gratification. Today, polygamists can be arrested. After all, it’s legal to have sexual relations with as many partners as possible and to create children, it’s just not legal to marry those partners. While I do not support the practice of polygamy, and those that practice polygamy are not members of the LDS Church, I find it curious that our society is quick to condemn a man if he wants to marry and care for more than one wife, but not if he wants to marry another man.
Isn’t there some sort of lop-sided reasoning to that?Marriage is ordained of God. Marriage is between one man and one woman. Once we change the definition to include a small, very vocal minority, how can we then deny it to any other minority? How can we keep polygamy illegal and allow same-sex marriage? How can we deny marriage between siblings or cousins? We cannot change the definition of marriage and expect that we won’t have to make allowances for other groups.
It’s apparent that Satan’s assault on the family continues to rage. We must fight back. We must define marriage as between one man and one woman. God commanded Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth and that commandment has never been revoked. A same-sex couple cannot keep this commandment. The whole idea of same-sex couples completely opposes God’s plan and defies nature.I do not hate people who choose to live a homosexual lifestyle, but I do not support that lifestyle. I do not think same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. Our society is only as strong as our families. Each time a family breaks down, it weakens our society. We cannot allow the definition of marriage to change because we must work to strengthen our families and our society. It’s imperative that we vote to retain the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

Today I am grateful for Lots of kids. I love that I have been blessed with 5 unique wonderful children who each bring something different and great to this family. I could not imagine life with out any one of them.
And for my DS tidbit. (can I tell you how happy I am that there are only 2 more of these. Not that I don't like talking about DS, but I am running out of stuff) 4 of 5, like most other people with, is picky. We started her on solids, and she would eat anything. I was excited that my kid with DS was not going to be one of the picky ones that I heard so much about. But, low and behold, 2 years later, if its not Cheerios, yogurt or fruit, it does not go in the mouth. No matter what, if it's on her plate between 5 and 6 in the evening, she doesn't want to look at it. I've heard its a sensory texture thing. But I don't understand why Mac and cheese has a better texture than toast. I have tries not giving her snacks. It doesn't help. She gets down from a meal, and whines about wanting crackers and milk. She would drink milk for a meal, just to fill up on something. (1 of 5 used to do this too). And way, I guess I made that more of a complaint than a tidbit.
Go and have a good day.