Sunday, September 28, 2008

Alyssa's Blessing Day



Alyssa finally received her baby blessing today - one day shy of her 3-month birthday! Shawn gave her a very beautiful, inspired blessing. There were many who made comments about how beautiful it was. Those who stood in the circle were: Shawn, Shawn's father, Paul Householder, his brother Trevan, brother-in-law Eric, Bishop Scott Sandberg and Stu Manning who is a good friend of ours (and his beautiful & wonderful wife Susy) from our ward. I wish my father, John, and brother, Kent and my brothers-in-law Brian and Lanny could have participated, but the travel is a bit far from Utah. :\

She was just perfect and looked so beautiful in her blessing dress! We have both been looking forward to the day and Shawn has been meditating and fasted today for the inspiration to know what things were to be said in the blessing. Susy Manning actually caught much of it word for word and gave it to me afterward. I was sooo grateful because I have a hearing loss to begin with, and Shawn's voice is so low and quiet I had a hard time hearing him and the boy holding the microphone kept moving it farther and farther away from his mouth! :( So, I was kinda sad that I didn't hear most of it very well.

Some of the things she was blessed with included:

*The gift of Charity

*A testimony of the Book of Mormon, the Resurrection, Restoration and Joseph Smith

*She will be a blessing and a light to those around her

*That she will seek after that which is good and beneficial and the guidance of the Spirit

*As we live in a troubled world, that she will have the faith of her fathers

*Strong and healthy mind and body

*Peace of the Spirit and joy

*She will go to the temple and be sealed with a choice companion

*She will serve others and bless their lives

*She was saved to come forth in these latter days (in these troubled times) for a specific reason, which the Lord would make known to her at a later time

*Blessed to be prepared to do that which is desired of the Lord and that she will have wisdom and strength to accomplish those things


I'm sure there were a few other things said, but this is most of it. We are so very grateful to have her in our family and I am soooo happy and grateful to have a daughter! She continues to be a delight and brings much happiness and joy to all of us!

We love you beautiful Alyssa!










Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Close Call

Well, living here in Arizona we really like swimming pools. My second son, McKay, is especially drawn to water...anywhere, anytime! Well, we went to my friend's swimming pool today and he didn't want to wait for me to put on his arm floaties. So, while I and my friend had our backs to the pool (and I had already asked him to stay out of the pool until I had them on him)he decided he couldn't wait.

He got in without his floaties! :(

I'm not really sure how long he was under the water, but my friend turned around first to discover him just by the edge of the pool, standing on the bottom with his head just under the water - eyes and mouth open!

You think you will always know what to do in such a situation or assume how you would react - jump in and pull him out(or in this case it would have been lifted/thrown him out since he was so close to the side of the pool). Well, we both just were bending over trying to reach down to grab his arms and pull him up and out. We couldn't reach him as quickly and easily as we thought we could. All the time, I just couldn't believe this had happened! The thought to jump in didn't even cross my mind! DUH!!!!!!!!

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

I guess this just goes to show that in such critical situations, your brain kinda shuts off or something.

Well, we finally reached him arms and pulled him out. Thank goodness he wasn't swallowing or trying to breath under the water - he didn't cough much at all - just took a really big breath once he was out. Have you heard of dry drowning? It happens when you have inhaled enough water so that it settles in your lungs and blocks the lungs ability to absorb oxygen. So, since he wasn't coughing, I hoped this wouldn't be a possibility.

I was soooo grateful that he was safe and that we found him in time. Ethan and my friend's daughter Makayla didn't even realize it had happened.

You can bet that we won't ever go near a pool without McKay having his floaties on first again!!!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

A Day In the Life of a Caterpillar

About a month ago, during a trip to the library, Ethan said he wanted to get books on caterpillars and butterflies. So, we got several and looked at a few of them. :) Every now and then we come across more pictures of caterpillars and butterflies and the joy of learning continues.

Well, today, a boy that was playing with Ethan and McKay happened to point out a little green curled up caterpillar that was laying inside the scooper of a toy bulldozer on our back patio! Oh, the joy! :) A while back, Jack In the Box was giving little bug jars in their kids meals. Usually, I just toss the toys we get in kids' meals (especially McDonalds'....we don't go there much anymore anyway...hate the food.) Well, I happened to think well enough to keep this one! Perfect opportunity to use it! We scooped it up and put it in the jar with a little leaf.

Here is Ethan with the caterpillar right after we found it.





Ethan just about didn't let it out of his sight all day. He even created this little "home" for the caterpiller and his family and named him after his friend Ethan Webb!

Here is his "house" - he is underneath it all with the leaves. :)



He took it with him in the car while we ran a few quick errands and he wanted to take it with him to bed for his nap! I told him that the little guy needed some air and he might die! So, a little while after Ethan woke up from his nap, he came in to my bedroom where I was feeding Alyssa and he said, "I've decided that my caterpillar needs to turn into a butterfly. I want him to live." So, I told him to take it outside and set him down by the tree.





I have to admit that it was such a thrill for me to watch my son become so enamored with a living thing and care for it like he did! It made me realize that although we don't get through all the books we check out, something still sticks and sinks in!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Snips & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails....

"That's what little boys are made of..." or so the saying goes. Mine seem to just be made of pure 100% boy energy!!! How do I ever keep up? Discipline has been my main focus over the last three weeks. I have realized I have many problems to "un-do" that I have created by being inconsistent among other things. Although I have heard about "Love and Logic Parenting" a lot, I had never read the book until my friend Mandy Masters loaned me hers....and JUST IN TIME! I started using the methods immediately and they have made a huge difference! Let the natural consequences teach and discipline (insofar as possible) and present choices, show empathy for sad choices and try your BEST to not show negative emotions. It's not always easy...but it has made a big difference for me.

Ethan and McKay are best friends. McKay adores his big brother and often repeats his words and actions verbatim. Ummmmmm........hoping that is just a stage since I know that McKay is definitely a different boy than Ethan. Ethan is great, but McKay isn't Ethan. :)

We have enjoyed swimming lessons and swimming in our community pool, trips to the zoo, the play yard inside the mall, the Hall of Flame Firefighting museum (we have a family membership) and just running errands. They are always saying to me, "Mom, I wanna go somewhere!" Little did I know that I was passing on my tendency to not be able to just sit still and hang out when I was toting them around to do all my errands. Errands aren't so fun anymore now that I have THREE to tag along with me. :\

Anyway....here are some fun pictures of my boys drinking in the joys of life!

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Every mother should have a little girl

This is something I have heard non-stop from old to young mothers. I must agree! I just wish she would grow a little slower!!! I don't know why this amazes me so much, since I have already seen my two boys grow so fast. I definitely am enjoying our sweet Alyssa and having lots of fun dressing her in "girly" clothes.

She is sleeping through the night and has been known to sleep up to 10 hours! (You will see from her photos that I am starving her to death by letting her sleep so long!) She was a true camper since she didn't seem the least bothered by the cold nights and slept right through her rowdy brothers' morning antics at 6:00 a.m.

We are thoroughly enjoying watching her take on her own "look" and lose the newborn look. Her eyes are becoming a beautiful deep blue and her eyelashes look like they are on their way to being just like McKay's - REALLY long! Her smile is easily shown and she loves to wake up in the morning as the videos will attest to.

We love our little girl!!!

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Annual Householder Campout on the Mogollon Rim

Just in case you didn't know, there is GREAT camping in Arizona aside from the Grand Canyon/Kaibab Forest. About 2 1/2 hours from us are beautiful forests and COOLER temperatures (YAY!). Every year for the last four years, the Householder clan has gathered to enjoy some R&R by camping on the Mogollon Rim in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. This year we went the weekend after Labor Day. I love the outdoors and camping and it has definitely been passed on through the DNA to our boys!

My only complaint? We never stay long enough to make all the preparation and set up time worth it. :\

Here's a little slideshow of the few photos I caught while we were there. (Note: you will not see me in any of them...it would be tooooooo SCARY!!!!)

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