Random Catching Up

--The other day the kids were watching Tom and Jerry. Brynlee said, "Aww...poor Jerry." Tyler quickly jumped in, "It's actually poor Tom! He's just doing what he does. Cats eat mice, and he's hungry! Plus the humans are always mean to him. It's not his fault, he just needs to eat!"

--Madison wanted a cheese tortilla for lunch. Since I was feeding the baby I told her to get the stuff out of the fridge, put the tortilla on the plate and put the cheese on it. Then I would come and put it in the microwave in just a minute. She did it all splendidly. When I needed to make another one for Kelsey I asked Madi where she put the tortillas. She said, "I hid them! Somewhere you'll never find them!" (quoting Tangled) I laughed and asked her again. She was sticking to her secret and really wouldn't tell me where they were. Then I saw the bag in the trash and said "oh you must have eaten the last one and threw the bag away! Thanks Mads!" and she just kind of looked at me and kept eating. A little while later I found three tortillas folded/crumpled up and stuffed back behind the vitamix and the knife block. They were drying out and all smushed and gross. It wasn't very funny to me at the time, but it is now a few days later. It was just so random. She's never done something like that and it makes me laugh to remember it.

--Kelsey has been having some more needy behavior issues. I am sure it's just wanting more attention since so much of my time goes to the baby. So I'm trying to be sensitive to that and spend time with her. Kelsey can't say her "S" sound, which leads to some funny sentences. She talks so dang cute. She always says "Mom!" like it's urgent. When I answer, "What?" She smiles and says "Well...." Only her L's are like W's and then she has to think of something to say. She'll do it over and over. She's also a very fast runner! Like surprisingly quick. She puts her little hands up in the air and just powers through her legs and takes short, choppy steps and it's so funny how fast she can go while looking so cute.

--Briggs is huge. He's a big boy and absolutely has my heart. All the kids love to just sit there talking to him to see how many times he will smile at them. Of course they have to brag to each other and make it into a competition, like all things with siblings. But a smile from that babe can cheer anybody up! We all love how he tries to "talk" back to us and he's just the sweetest. I'm taking a probiotic, and giving him one too. Hoping it will help with his reflux. So far it's not helping. I'm going to talk to our nurse practitioner tomorrow and see if she will give us something after all for his reflux. I was trying other options first, but nothing is helping. It disrupts his ability to sleep, which only heightens his fussiness. The kids will often say "please help Briggs to not cry so much" in their prayers. Something's got to change.

--I got called as the primary pianist at church. Not sure how it happened, but in the last 5 1/2 months that we've been in this ward I've managed to get the two callings I've always dreaded the most. Nursery, and now pianist. First of all, I'm horrible at the piano. I stopped taking lessons in like 5th or 6th grade. It's an embarrassing source of guilt that now I have to face. Anyway, I'm not trying to complain it's just that piano practicing is now one more thing to throw into my already very busy days. Our primary program is in 2 weeks and I'm praying a lot for help. It's humiliating to play so horribly and I just hope I can not distract from the spirit. What's funny is Tyler's reaction to it all. When I'm practicing he will holler out things that I say to him when he's practicing his songs. "You're getting better Mom!" "Good job! That one sounded pretty good!" or my favorite, "Just work on that one a little bit more". It's great to have a coach around :).

--I'm going to do a whole post on homeschooling soon (or at least I intend to...) but I want to just say how much I am really loving it! Much more than I ever expected to. When I first got into it, I thought I would do it because we felt like it was the best thing for our family. But I sort of took it on as this great sacrifice I was willing to make or burden to me. And yes of course it is more work than just shipping them off on the bus every morning. But I never thought I would be so happy to be with my kids all day. Really I am loving it and they are too. It's been such a great situation for us. I know that when we can get Briggs happy more often and on a more consistent schedule, things will be even better.

--Back in September (this is horrible that I can't remember the date) I got the privilege of attending the sealing of sweet Alina to the rest of the Sponseller family. Kenny was kind enough to sit in the parking lot with the kids while I attended because I didn't feel good about leaving all 5 kids with anyone. Briggs was like 3 or 4 weeks old. Anyway it was such a sweet experience and made me once again so grateful for this gospel and for the priesthood power that seals us as families through eternity. What an incredible concept.

I'm sure there's more I wanted to write about. Hopefully it won't be so long before my next post.