Menu

What's on your menu this week? I only plan formal meals for dinner. Lunches are usually tortilla roll-ups, oatmeal (porridge if you ask Phillip because he likes Goldilocks and the Three Bears...yes he even "goes for a walk" while it cools), sandwiches or leftovers. And breakfast...well I'm more of a breakfast for dinner gal so the kids are stuck with cold cereal.

I thought I'd post our menu because even though I know exactly where the menu is, right before lunch time I try to get my mind set for making dinner and what I need to be getting out for it. And, right before lunch I am on the computer with Samuel doing school. What better place to put it so I can just click!

This week we are having:
Monday: Ham and Cheese bars with Tomato Soup....the local bakery makes these and how hard can they really be?
Tuesday: Breakfast Sandwiches and fruit
Wednesday: Cowboy Casserole (THANKS Valerie!)
Thursday: Beans, Cheese and Rice possibly with Chicken (depending on how I'm feeling)
Friday: Chicken Breast Sandwiches on English Muffin Bread with Potato Salad
Saturday: And, the healthiest meal of all.....Macaroni and Cheese. Stuart won't be home this night if you can't tell or it wouldn't be on the menu.
Sunday: Fried Chicken, potatoes, etc.

Equal Partnership

Sometimes I think that I have the better "half" of our marriage. I get to stay home with the kids. Yes I also get more of the cleaning responsibilities, but a lot of the time I get to play with the kids which I think is the best job in the world!

My husband goes to work every morning and deals with other people's kids and high schoolers at that. My kids may back talk, but I can do something about it. When his "kids" during the day back talk there isn't a whole lot he can do...well in the sense that I can anyway.

I am grateful everyday for our partnership. I hesitate to say that everything is equal in our marriage. To be honest I don't think they are ever quite equal. But by saying we have an equal partnership I like to think that it means we have agreed upon what our "equal share" is.

There are many things I really don't like to do and things he doesn't. I am in charge of the money because we save more when I do it. He takes the responsibility of home maintenance. Not that I can't do it I just really don't like to do it! We've agreed upon these things and many more. I love that we have the ability to do that.

I have a friend whos marriage is not based upon anything that involves a partnership and it makes me sad that they are both so frustrated all the time because they have never taken the time to discuss things that govern their everyday lives. Our responsibilities do govern our lives, if one of us doesn't make dinner none of us eat (and the children turn into Monsters). If we don't know who is going to pay the bills they don't get paid and something gets turned off. Being in a partnership doesn't mean that I've given up anything. It means we both know what is going on.

My mom and I joke that we run our homes. In essence we do. However, it's usually because my husband and my father don't typically care what happens. And, if they do happen to care about something they tell us and then a discussion occurs as to deciding what should be done.

I love my husband dearly and I'm so glad that we can have an "equal" partnership!

If you'd like to see more Wordfull Wednesdays go to Chocolate on My Cranium!

KatieJo's Baptism

KatieJo was baptized last weekend. I didn't manage to take a whole lot of pictures...I should have because we had a lot of family in town. Stuart's parents were here, his brother Mark and family and his brother William and family. My friend Melanie and Brandon Cleverley and their family came as well. No, she wasn't baptized in her dress, she did put a jumpsuit on I just didn't post a picture of that.It was a fantastic day and KatieJo is so proud to be baptized (she even told the nurse at Shriners this last week about her baptism AND her dress that Grandma Mobley so kindly made for her).

KatieJo chose her dad to baptize her and her Grandpa Mobley to confirm her.

Here she is newly baptized.

After her baptism we had a luncheon at the Church and then we all went swimming. It was a wonderful day!

Elsewhere

I'm at Or So She says today...go check it out! Click HERE!

A mothers role.....

I'm a mom, and more often than not I feel inadequate in the job I do every day. The only reason my house is spotless right now is because we are trying to sell it. Typically my 1 and 3 year-olds have toys strewn EVERY where, and I'm too busy trying to get our 6 year-olds lessons done for the day that I don't bother to help them pick up the toys until almost before my husband gets home from work. I struggle to think that I am a good mom, but I heard a song at a Time Out for Women a few years ago that touched me. Michael McLean has a way of doing that though, and this song really struck me. How often are we so busy that we can't see what we really are? We are fabulous mothers in whatever role we may be playing that day, and we need to give ourselves more credit than we do.

She doesn't Know

Quarter to seven on a Thursday night
She’s running late again
She gets a ticket ‘cause she ran the light
Racing to help a friend
Then she remembers a promise made
A couple of weeks before
She’d bake the brownies for the PTA
But she’s run out of time
So she gets hers from the store

Quarter to seven on a Friday night
She’s running late again
What can she wear that’s gonna look just right
At the party she’s throwing for him?
Living on rice cakes and Diet Coke
She hasn’t lost that much
Her dress is too tight and her hair’s a joke
But the party’s a hit
‘Cause it had her magic touch

And she doesn’t know
That she’s an angel in disguise
And she doesn’t know
That we see heaven in her eyes
And she doesn’t know that she’s all right
She might have been blinded by the light
Of all the good that she does
That she doesn’t know

She’s been worried ‘bout the kids next door
Since the breakup last fall
Got them some T-shirts from a Hard Rock store
That they haven’t worn at all
Reading the paper about some plight
Plaguing a distant shore
Pulls out her checkbook and starts to write
And feels guilty she doesn’t send more

She doesn’t focus on the good she does
All she sees is where she’s failed her part
Can’t she see that we think she’s a saint
Because she’s givin’ all she has straight from her heart

Quarter to seven on a Sunday morn
She’s on her knees again
Aching for all who’ve been bruised and torn
She’s pleading for help for them
She has a rather extensive list
Of those she’s been praying for
But then she remembers the ones she missed
How sorry she feels once more

‘Cause she doesn’t know
That she’s an angel in disguise
And she doesn’t know that we see
Heaven in her eyes
And she doesn’t know that she’s all right
She might have been blinded by the light
Of all the good that she does
But she doesn’t see it because

She hits a traffic jam on a carpool morn
And feels guilty what she’s thinkin’
When she honks her horn
She wrote a sympathy note for her dear friend, Grace
But got it lost somewhere in cyberspace
And at the charity auction when she wanted to help
She raised her hands so many times she sort of bid against herself
She got the casserole made for her friend who was sick
But then apologized because the crust was too thick
She’s runnin’ to the soccer and the baseball games
She cheers for the teams but forgets their names
She doesn’t know that she’s a miracle
She doesn’t know her love is lyrical
She doesn’t know this song’s for her to hear
She doesn’t know that we are so sincere
She doesn’t know that she’s the best
She doesn’t know she’s passed the test
She doesn’t know, she doesn’t know
She doesn’t know

Our children love us regardless of the mistakes we make and the silly things we do, and I'm grateful for that. I love them regardless of the mistakes they make and the things they do, so I'm not sure why I hold myself to a different standard. I'm so glad I get to be a mom!

To see more posts or to do Wordful Wednesday click HERE.

It's Great to be 8!

I finally have the right computer to do this...the one with the pictures on it!

KatieJo turned 8 on Wednesday. Oh was she excited!! I woke her up at midnight and asked if she wanted to do a "birthday dance". She smiled at me and told me no.

Her birthday present from Auntie Cori was flowers being delivered to school. She thought that was just awesome, and felt very special! She also got a sewing machine for her birthday which she's been wanting for a while...bring on the sewing lessons!Phillip kept wanting to eat her flowers. He was pretty convinced that it was ice cream. At one point KatieJo was concerned he was actually going to eat her flowers. She also took chocolate chip cookies to school instead of cupcakes. I've packed up all of my cake decorating supplies so she also got the rest of the cookies for her birthday desert.
Because she turned 8 this year and will be baptized on the 17th she got her very own scriptures. She's excited because they have her name engraved on them. I asked her a while back if she wanted KatieJo or KathleenJo on them. She decided on KathleenJo and thinks it's just fantastic that they are her's!
I'm having a hard time realizing she's 8! It feels like just yesterday that she walked into our lives! I'm so glad to be able to call her my daughter! What a wonderful girl she is!

Here our our 8 most favorite things about KatieJo:

1. She is a very happy girl.

2. She is such a big helper!

3. She has the best "real" laugh. (I say real because you can tell when she REALLY finds something funny)

4. She is a caring person, and is always concerned about other people.

5. She strives to do what is right

6. KatieJo is very smart and loves to read...Oh and she's an AWESOME speller!

7. She is a great listener

8. She is a hard worker and most of the time really enjoys doing whatever her chore is.

Easter

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny went easy on "baskets" this year. He left each of the kids a present at their spot at the dinner table, and a bag of jelly beans. We had warned them that we had talked to the Easter Bunny and that they weren't going to get a whole lot...especially candy!

It was Conference this weekend, and although we didn't have them dress up yesterday we did today. The girls wore their Easter dresses with the flower hair bows I made this weekend, and the boys just put their normal Church clothes on.

Typically I make Easter dresses for the girls and bow ties for the boys. However, since we were in the process of getting our house ready to sell and looking for a new job we nixed the sewing. I was sad about it, but somethings just had to give.

Both Phillip and Samuel got Doodle Pro's (Samuel's is a Superman design....the "S" stands for Samuel according to him just so you know :0) and Phillip's is Buzz Lightyear). KatieJo got the Princess and the Frog and Maija got the Veggie Tales Jonah movie. They were THRILLED! We have other Doodle Pro's, but both Samuel and Phillip used theirs all day. In fact Samuel was writing out what he wanted to say instead of talking.

Well, here are the pictures from today....
This isn't the best picture, but cute nonetheless.
Phillip studying one of the new movies, and eating Bear Claws Stuart made this morning.
Maija struggling to make it through the first session.
KatieJo & Samuel "watching" conference. If you are wondering about Samuel's nose...he had a fight one night last week with the railings on his bunk bed. He lost that fight! He went to bed with nothing on his nose...and woke up with what looks like road rash all the way up his nose and forehead.
Maija SERIOUSLY enjoyed the jello salad at dinner! We couldn't get her to eat anything else. And when we pulled her out there was jello running down the high chair...WHAT A MESS!
Watching the Princess and the Frog. If you can't tell Maija likes to sit "with" people!

Hope you had a Fabulous Easter!