Gratitude in tribulation

This week I realized that it is often when something bad happens, that my blessings pop out at me the most. Take my car, for example. The driver's side window wouldn't roll down anymore, which is a huge pain since, living on post, I'm required to show my ID every time I come in the gate. I hate dealing with car issues!! So anyway, I had scheduled to take it down to the dealership to get fixed and (blessing #1) Natalie had graciously agreed to drive down with me so I wouldn't be stuck at the dealership all day. While driving down, I accidently passed the dealership. So I pulled over and jumped out of the car to let Natalie know we needed to turn around. Then I went to get back in the car and realized that I had locked my keys in the car with the car still running and Kate inside - PANIC! We got a locksmith to come and (blessing #2) he didn't even charge me for it because my baby was inside. There are still good samaritans out there! We eventually got my car to the dealership and (blessing #3) they did have my part in stock and were able to fix it that same day so that I didn't need to come back another day. I am so grateful for true friends, kind strangers, and Heavenly Father watching out for me.

Luckily the rest of my week wasn't nearly as traumatic. I spent a lot of time getting stuff ready for Aly's birthday, to include rearranging and going through the playroom, partly for Aly's party, and partly as a pre-birthday/christmas toy thinning. I was actually in the middle of this huge sef-induced project when I had Natalie and her kids over for dinner. I was totally not prepared and a frazzled space cadet for most of the evening. Natalie ended up unloading my dishwasher and cleaning up my kitchen for me so that we could eat. I am in deep gratitude towards Natalie this week. Did I mention how much I like having her at Fort Polk?

Oh, and the playroom turned out awesome! Here is a picture of the girls testing it out. Aly had stayed up with me until 10:30 pm on Friday getting it set up for her party the next day. She's a great helper.

Aly, the High School Musical Gal

Aly turned 7 this week. And what was the theme of the festivities, you may ask? Why, High School Musical, of course! Originally I was going to take Aly and a couple of friends to see HSM3 in the theaters, but, what do you know, Thursday was the last day it was showing in the Leesville theater and Aly's birthday/party was on Saturday. Not to be deterred, Aly, cool as a cucumber said, "No problem. I'll just let my friends come over to my house and vote on whether they'd rather watch HSM1 or HSM2." It was the best b-day party I've ever thrown. Aly's friends came over, we did presents (Aly even got a HSM poster, which she and her friends promptly hung up), and then the gals watched HSM2, singing along with all the songs and having a great time, I ordered pizza for them to eat with the movie, and then they went home. Aly loved it and it was totally low stress for me. Thanks Aly. You know how to make any party fun.

I also brought Aly's favorite cookie, pumpkin chocolate chip, to her school class on Friday and sat with her at lunch. Good times. Chris surprised Aly with a dozen roses on her birthday too. What a cute dad. All in all I'd say Aly's birthday was - what else? - FABULOUS.


A - Athletic and Adored by your sisters
L - Loyal, true Friend
Y - You're an awesome helper
S - Smart and Creative
O - Outgoing and Obedient
N -Never a dull moment

More about food and our happenings.

This week was busy, but in a good way. I was able to do a lot of my favorite thing - spending time with people! Whether it was taking my girls and their friends on a Slurpee run (it was my girls first Slurpee ever!), visiting teaching, enrichment, play dates, dinner with friends, or a lunch date with my hubby, it was a good time. I also made some more progress in the Christmas shopping arena, so over all, a successful week.
This week the girls were their normal hilarious selves. Aly had a loose tooth that she let me pull out (using pliers nonetheless) because she "needed the money" from the tooth fairy. Also, going along with Aly's teeth, ever since the dentist told Aly she couldn't bite on suckers anymore because of her sealants, she's been dipping suckers into water and then sucking on them. . . I don't even ask.
Lise asked me this week, "Mom, why don't skeletons have ears?" That sprang into a very interesting conversation about whether skeletons could hear or not.
Kate contracted a horrible skin disease this week called "I got a hold of a red marker while my mom wasn't looking and decided to color myself." I also have a few things to add to the list of what Kate is willing to eat: glue sticks, play-doh, and wet wipes. Luckily everything is "non-toxic" that we've caught her with. Also, she loves eating grapefruit for breakfast. What sort of 17 month old does that? And finally, there's a few words Kate has added to her vocabulary: sit, stuck, please, and Dora (ola). She has also started trying to figure out the TV/DVD player to put Dora on for herself. Aye, aye, aye. What are we going to do with that kid? Hopefully she lives to adulthood.

The Dining Practices of the O'Gwin Family

Over the past few weeks I have observed something. Even though our family does a fairly decent job at acting "normal" when we have company over for dinner, there is nothing normal about the dining practices of the O'Gwin family. Let me elaborate. First of all, Kate has this thing with putting her feet on the table. I caught her one morning eating her dry bowl of cereal in this position. Comfy, huh? Secondly, Chris seems to feel that dinner time is the perfect time to teach our kids how to contort their bodies, faces, and various body parts to learn all sorts of spiffy (and very useful, I might add) tricks, like the raccoon face trick, shown here, or how to hold up 1/2 of a finger to show that you are four and a half or six and a half. Thirdly, there's Aly, who is usually hanging upside-down off her chair or doing some other sort of gymnastics thingy while simultaneously trying to eat. Fourthly, there's Lise, who is constantly entertaining us all with her awesome songs (usually the ABC song belted at the top of her lungs), knock-knock jokes (Knock, Knock. Who's there? Cup. Cup who? Cup Plate - Ha, ha, ha, ha.), or sharing movie quotes (see video). Fifthly, there's me, the human jumping bean, who am not able to sit through an entire meal without having to get up at least three or four times to get children milk, seconds, the rag for spills, etc. I am like the mom in "A Christmas Story". Yeah, pretty much I'd say meal time at our house is more like a circus, or - dare I say it? - a zoo. Yes indeed. Staceroo and her mealtime zoo.

Things I Learned This Week

- No matter how many times you redo the same plot in a movie, if it's High School Musical, it will be awesome because the music and dancing rock! (We went to see it as a family and it was a huge hit. Kate was even content with her popcorn and drink for 2/3 of the movie, a personal best. Chris stayed in with Aly and Lise while I took Kate out when she got too wiggly. I think he's in denial about how much he likes HSM.)

- Christmas shopping in November (since you have a daughter who's birthday is in November, and you're out shopping anyway) is a good thing and will reduce your stress for later (you hope).

- Serving others really does make you happy and is possible in any stage of life (having friends over for dinner, welcoming new neighbors, and watching others children are my current venues.)

- I LOVE libraries. I love books. I love children's story time. I like that they're quiet and a great place for study and meditation. I love that everything is so alphabetized and organized. They're better than bookstores in that you can read books for free. (The upside of bookstores, though, is that you can get a strawberry smoothie while you're there.) At any rate, I think I would like to work/volunteer in a library sometime before I die.

- Although I realize that accidents happen and, having children, they are inevitable, they are still no fun. Aly sprained her ankle jumping on the trampoline early this week. Then, another day this week, we had Aly's friend Amanda over, and while they were playing Amanda got hit in the head with a golf club. While both are recovering well, there were some not fun times at our house this week.

- I LOVE nature. Nature makes exercising so much more enjoyable - walking in the crisp, cool mornings and seeing the beautiful autumn leaves - it can't be beat. (Oh, and I also learned that the leaves here do change color - just in November instead of September.) I was able to go on a walk with Aly to her school this week (before the sprained ankle) and it was fabulous. Living just outside a small town also allows us an exquisite view of the stars. I love it!

- There is so much to be grateful for, even in trying circumstances, and yet there is a constant tug of war going on inside between Gratitude and Murmuring. Like Faith and Fear, the two cannot coexist, and I choose which one will dominate my life.

Analise FHE

Okay, so this week was Analise's Family Home Evening and she chose to do it on Prayer (remember this, it becomes important later on.) Once again we got some cute ideas from the new Nursery Manual, Behold Your Little Ones, (thanks Rebecca, for introducing it to us!) First of all, Lise showed us a picture of Jesus learning to pray to his Heavenly Father as a child and told us that we learn to pray the same way Jesus did. Then Lise told us about the four parts of a prayer using her flip chart she'd colored. Finally, she had an activity using two groceries sacks. One said "We thank Thee" and had items inside that represented things we were grateful for, and the other said, "We ask Thee" and had items that represented blessings we pray for. It went really well and the girls were very involved and so I'm thinking "Yes! Another successful FHE. Mission accomplished." So then, that night, during family scriptures we read a verse about prayer and this is how the conversation went . . .

Chris - This verse talks about what we talked about in FHE tonight. Did anybody hear it?

- Blank stares.

Stacy - Do you remember what we learned about tonight?

Aly - Oh, I know! We learned about things we're grateful for!

Stacy - Close, but not quite. Lise, what did you give your lesson on? (mind you, Lise and I had been practicing her lesson for a couple of days.)

Lise - Sharing our toys and being nice.

Alrighty, then. So, there was a My Little Pony to represent "toys" in the grateful sack and a picture of our family to represent "a happy family" in the blessings we ask for sack, but where in the world did that come from? At least the girls got some positive ideas out of FHE, even if they weren't the ones we were trying to teach. :)

And along those same lines, we were reading in the scriptures the other day about how we need to "preach the gospel unto every creature" and Aly thought that meant we needed to send missionaries to teach the animals too. Another time I was asking the girls if they knew who Joseph Smith was and Aly said, "I do! He's the one who went into the peaceful and quiet grave and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus." So we had a discussion on what a grove of trees are, versus a grave. Kids sure keep you on your toes!

I'm Weird.

-I'm weird.
-No. You're quirky. Weird and quirky are two very different things.
(Quote from the movie Runaway Bride)

So, I saw on another blog a post where you have to list six of your quirks and I thought that fit me perfectly. So I copied it. Oh, and I drug Chris into the mess too and thought of 6 of his quirks to share (which he is absolutely thrilled about, by the way.)

STACY
1. I'm obsessed with smells in general, but mainly smelling food. For instance, if I'm having a salad, I can't decide which salad dressing I want until I've opened up the dressings and smelled them. I might also open up leftover containers in the fridge for a whiff before deciding what to eat. The aroma lets me know what my tummy wants.

2. After watching a movie a couple of times I can have nearly the whole thing memorized, and will often quote movies as they relate to the circumstances in my life (as demonstrated by the intro to this post!)

3. I am one of the most organized people I know - I'm like the list Nazi. Anyone who knows me can attest to (and usually comments on, upon entering my house) the number of lists just on my fridge: grocery list, meal idea list, Wal-mart to buy list, etc. And that's not even scratching the surface. There's also the "potential gift ideas list" for each member of my family, "songs I like to download list", "books to read list", "things I want in my someday dream home list", my "getting ready for Christmas to-do list", "packing for a vacation list", "possible baby names list", not to mention my regular to-do long term and short term lists. I can't function until I've written something down. Chris and I have a rule in our house that you are not allowed to cross something off of the other person's to do list. That is for their personal satisfaction. Oh, and back to the organized thing, I've actually had movers tell me how much they enjoyed packing my house because it was so organized - a couple of times, actually. Sad, but true. I do not stress myself over the organization, it just is me and I love doing it. I know I'm weird (I mean, quirky.)

4. I will make up my own song lyrics to fit my current scenario and am constantly singing at random times - like in the middle of the supermarket. My kids are always saying "oh mom!" when I change the High School Musical lyrics to "What time is it? Time to wake up. Get out of Bed!" or "You look Fabulous! You're gonna have a great day. Fabulous! No clouds in your way." Etc., etc.

5. Chris told me that I had to put one of my quirks as picking garment wedgies. (Of course he would know, as he's always staring at my behind. See Chris quirk #3.)

6. And finally, I talk to myself. Mostly in my head, sometimes out loud, and sometimes, if I really need to work something out, I'll have the conversation in the mirror. When I was growing up my mom would think I was talking on the phone or had called her and then when she'd come to my room she'd find I was really just talking to myself. And it was a private conversation - sheesh!
("Next time you're talking to yourself, tell yourself you're single, and end the conversation." --While You Were Sleeping.)

CHRIS
1. Chris is the only grown man I know that still orders sprinkles on his ice cream when we go out.

2. Chris loves teasing the girls about their girly stuff by renaming everything. At our house we've got "My Little Phonies", "High School Poosical", "Manna Hontana", "Smolly Rockets", and "Stinkersmell".

3. Chris is obsessed with my bum. There has been a continuous game of bum pinching tag going on (yes, I take part in it as well, it is not one-sided) since we got married over 8 years ago. And it is not confined to the privacy of our own home by any means. Chris has no problem pinching my bum at family functions, out on a date, or even at church.

4. Chris has a great love for books, and especially book stores. He was the one who introduced me to the joy of spending a Friday evening at a Bookstore and has definitely rubbed off on me in this respect. We love reading books together and he likes to read books from almost any genre you can think of. He's usually in the middle of four or five different books at a time.

5. Chris can eat a whole pound of bacon (16 oz.) in one sitting. When we have bacon and tomato sandwhiches, Chris generously lets me pick my 3-5 pieces for my sandwhich and then he divides whatever is left between his two sandwhiches. He LOVES bacon!

6. Chris is in love with the whole GPS (Global Positioning System) technology thing. When we were first married he got his first handheld GPS unit and tracked our latitude and longitude as we drove to the movie theater (I had to drive so that he could track.) This has expanded to a worldwide treasure hunt called "geocaching" where you use your GPS to find caches around the world full of odds and ends and you can take stuff and leave stuff. Of course we had to buy another "kid friendly" GPS for the kids to use. The girls love going with Daddy on their "treasure hunts". And lastly, we have recently acquired our third GPS unit, one for the car, which I have nicknamed Chris' mistress "Lucy". He insits he loves me better, but he's stuck by Lucy through thick and thin, even when she led us off roading on our way home from a temple trip.

Well, that's it. Now you know a little more than you wanted to about the O'Gwin's unique eccentricities. The sad part about this is, that as I've read over my quirks, I realize that these are the very things I blog about my children doing every week. What have I done to my kids? Oh well. So, if you'd like to join in and share your quirks, I'd love to hear them. If not, no worries; I'm not going to tag anyone. I believe in creating the least amount of stress in people's lives as I possibly can. :)

Trunk or Treating and other such festivities

So, for Halloween this year I ended up with a Princess, "Tinkerbell with her wings down" (Lise was supposed to be a fairy princess but decided not to wear her wings or her crown), and a Jack-o-Lantern. At our ward's Trunk-or-Treat there was face painting and Chris took Kate -hence the mustache on Kate's face.













Chris also got into the action by getting the bobbing for apples going.









As for the Jack-o-Lantern carving this year, we ended up with Aly's "happy pumpkin", My "scary, horned bat", Chris' "upside-down face", and Lise drew a "sleeping face" and a "thinking face" on her's and Kate's pumpkins.
All in all a very fun, successful Halloween!!

Aly's Family Home Evening

So, Chris thought Aly was old enough to give a lesson for Family Home Evening. We asked her if she would like to be in charge of an FHE and she said "yes" (she loved being able to pick who gave the prayers!) Topic of choice? "Picking up Garbage." We looked in the new LDS nursery manual, Behold Your Little Ones, and expanded it to "Jesus Christ created the world for me" and how we need to take care of it. So Aly told us about the creation and then wanted to do a "play" (see video below).

For the activity Aly chose to trash our playroom and play a game of "who can pick up the most trash in the least amount of time." It was a GREAT and very entertaining family home evening. Good Job, Aly! Lise is having her turn next week . . .