Kindness Begins With Me

Stockton had the lesson for Family Home Evening tonight. We do our lesson on Sunday, then we have a fun activity on Monday. Stockton's lesson was on kindness. He had everyone write down something kind they could do for every member of the family on different strips of paper. Each family member had a bowl and the strips were placed in them. Then, everyone drew out one kind thing to do for each family member. We are to do the acts of kindness this week, then we get to stick them to the kitchen door when we are done. I am SO glad I didn't get the 'Play Age of Mythology with Maysen' card! That game looks so boring!!! Mike, however, was glad to get it and promptly set about crossing that off the list tonight.

The Stockings Were Hung By the Chimney With Care

We spent the day finishing our Christmas decorating. I love the way my house looks at Christmas time. I love my Santa Clauses. I love my stockings. Sharen (Mike's mom) hand made the three Santa Clauses you see on our mantle. They are beautiful.
I was so excited to get a package in the mail from Debie! Mike and Preston's stockings came! I make the Christmas stockings I want, then she puts them together for me. I am so nervous I will trip at the finish line and mess up the back. Luckily, Debie humors me and does a terriffic job. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I'm working on my felt stocking now. I couldn't get it finished in time for this Christmas. DRAT!

And since I'm showing off my stockings, here are the upstairs stockings. These are ones I have cross-stitched. Santa only fills the upstairs stockings, the felt ones are just decoration.

This is how our TV cabinet looks. Sharen use to give us a homemade Santa each year. A couple of years she helped me make them. Then I moved away. In 2001, they found a tumor in her eye. She had to have surgery and lost most of her vision in her eye. She wasn't able to make the Santas like she use to. She started buying us a nice Santa each year. Christmas always reminds my family of her. We have so many good memories. On December 6th, it will be three years since she passed away. It's hard to believe she has been gone that long. We all miss her terribly.

Sharen gave us this nativity as well. We sure were spoiled. How thankful I am that we know we can live together as a family. Our mother's deaths would have been unbearable without the knowledge we are so blessed to have. (Although even with that knowledge, it sure hasn't been a walk in the park!)

Decorating the Tree

Yesterday, after a long Thanksgiving, the boys were tuckered out. Preston even slept in a big boy bed. His very first night. It's the end of an era....well, he wouldn't sleep there tonight, so I have my little baby for a while longer. Stockton can't wait until Preston sleeps in his room every night. Stockton does have his own bed, but he can't resist the Preston.

We decorated the Christmas tree today...

Maysen

Stockton wanted to put the angel on the tree this year.

What a Porge!

Even Preston is helping! Oh, wait, he is taking the ornaments off of the tree. That's not too bad. Much better then when he took a blue crayon and colored all over the walls, mantle, fireplace, windows & window sills yesterday in a matter of minutes. That boy is fast!

Stockton, Preston, Maysen & Jorja in front of our beautiful Christmas tree. I love Christmas!

It's a Pajama Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown

Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated Thanksgiving by staying in our pajamas all day! How great is that! I wanted to take a picture of Stockton and Preston in their matching pirate jammies. Stockton has loved these jammies. I can't believe Preston already fits in them!

This is our attempt at a self timing picture of our Thanksgiving feast. Yes, Preston's feet are on the table. He also reached the vegetables during the prayer. Jorja loves turkey. She loves oranges. She is a good eater. Jorja loved Thanksgiving. The Maysen, who lived just north of Whoville DID NOT! It's probably the worst day of the year for her. She hates to eat. It is torture for all involved.


We had fun playing board games today. We played the Missionary Board game that the Roes gave to Stockton last year. He loves that game. We also played Pipeline and Stop Thief. Stop Thief is a game Mike loved when he was growing up. His brother found a copy at DI for $3.00. He was going to sell it on e-bay, but Mike was able to beg it from him.

That is all. I'm off to eat more pie.

My Father's Creation

We have been working on the Faith in God books with Maysen and Stockton. One of the goals is: Write a poem, story, or short play that teaches a principle of the gospel or is about Heavenly Father's creations. Of course, Stockton chose to write a poem. Here it is:

My Father’s Creation
I go to church on Sunday & partake of the sacrament.
I also read the scriptures with my arms folded reverent.
The project of the world, is created by my father.
He made us clothes & shelter, & gave us food & water.
He first created light, & dark separated.
Water, sky, & space, & also clouds migrated.
3rd he made the land from the river flow.
Life was coming closer, with ground from H20.
Then came plants & animals, & man, & . . . to woman.
He created all of us and now we are his children.
Families can be close together in the kingdom of Celestial.
But don’t make poor choices or...you’ll be behind in the Telestial.

Maysen also wrote a poem for this goal when she was 8. I put this in the Parry Post. Here is her poem:

It's Hard to be Like Jesus

It's hard to be like Jesus.

It's hard to learn His way.

But there's a way to learn about Jesus,

When you study, learn, and pray.

It's hard to think like Jesus

And would He choose right or wrong?

But in our hearts we know the right way

Is the way He would choose all along.

When it's time to see Jesus

You will be so happy and glad.

Your heart will leap with joy

When you see the Savior and His dad.

Stone Mountain - Take Two

Maysen and I went back to Stone Mountain today ~ just the two of us. We had a lot of fun together. We saw some shows, looked through some museums, and walked through lots of gift shops. Look at this picture of Maysen. Isn't she beautiful?
Maysen wanted to take my picture. She told me to stand by this tree.
I loved having Maysen all to myself.

Stone Mountain

We decided to head on down to Stone Mountain today. When we got there, almost everything was closed! Even the train! At least the 4-D movie was open. It was a short/less annoying version of The Polar Express. The kids loved it. My favorite was the falling snow & the smell of hot chocolate. I love this picture! This was taken right before we watched the movie. There was no one in the theater but us.
We have never been down to the Antebellum Plantation. I dragged the kids there. We had a great time! (except Stockton). The farmyard was a big hit.

Cutest boy ever! He looks just like Stockton did at that age, it's amazing!

Jorja is always so happy.

Mike and Maysen found a gigantic leaf pile. Soon everyone was playing in it.

What a great day!

We're Back from New Zealand!

My calling in the ward is the web-site specialist. I know, awesome calling! Anyway, about a week and a half ago, I couldn't log onto lds.org. It was driving me crazy. The error kept saying, "Your stake is not participating in this program". It has been so frustrating! I finally sent the stake web guru a screen shot so he could understand what was happening. He looked up the ward members for our ward, and we were missing! He said I neeeded to contact the ward clerk. That's easy. Mike! Where did our records go? He had no idea. So, Mike requested our records back and they just arrived! For the last week and a half, we were in New Zealand! We were members of the Whangarei 1st Ward in the Whangarei New Zealand Stake. I guess these are the things that happen when you're married to a Mike Smith. I only wish we got to enjoy the trip!

Alisha Is So Funny!

I moved down to Georgia with my good friend Alisha 7 years ago. (Well, not just us, our families came as well). After a year and a half, Alisha moved back to Washington. Georgia has not been the same without her.

Alisha is funny because when she likes something, she LIKES something. Right now her obsession is Twilight. Good thing she has such a great family to humor her. Check out her blog to see Alisha dragging her family through Forks, Washington.

http://mykokomo.blogspot.com/2008/11/forks-washington.html

Twilight and Harry Potter

I amaze myself sometimes. I really do. I went to see Twilight last night - opening night at the midnight showing. I managed to watch the entire movie, and drive home without being sleepy! The movie was okay, but I didn't love it as much as my friends did. But, in fairness, they liked the books way more then I did!

We just finished watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Mike, Maysen, Stockton & even Jorja all watched the movie with me. Well, I guess I slept through the movie. Everyone else stayed awake. I was so tired. I love Harry Potter though. I had to bribe Stockton to watch the movie with me. He earned 1/2 hour of Wii time by watching the movie. He also agreed to let me read him Book 3. For every chapter we read, he will earn 15 minutes of Wii time. He is going to be ticked when he realizes how long the chapters are.

Reading is a Waste

Stockton hates school. He tells me this all the time. So, I was completely surprised to find out how much he loves poetry. I have tried to get him to put his poems on his blog, with no success. But now I have a blog!

Reading is a Waste
Reading is a waste, reading is a bore.
I can’t concentrate on reading, so I drop it on the floor.
I hate reading Big books & I hate reading small.
Nor little, wide, or skinny, or boring books or tall.
Chapters lose my pages, & easy has no rich words,
I hate reading about rocks & I never read on birds.
On tips or trees or math or anything with school.
I’ve had enough frustration & barely any books are cool.
Some books flip the pages or are too much fun to read.
Like lifting up the flap books, or I have more fun with my beads.
Astromics are my thing, as long as they’re not in books.
Or any "How to" books like, "How to be the cook."
I’m through with it, I’m stressed!
I refuse to pick books up! & waste time by reading?
What’s wrong with life? Start fun up!
My mom asked me if I finished.
"Yes, trust me, no tricks"
But I crossed my fingers, cause . . .
I used it up on comics!

Shoes!

Preston found some packing material, and of course thought they would make great shoes. He put them on, found Maysen's staff from Halloween, and climbed all the way up the stairs. I was laughing so hard when I saw him. He is too cute! (I know you can only see the shoes in the left picture, but the bottom picture is darling....I just couldn't resist!)

I Need to Journal

I need to journal. I know I do. In my Patriarchal Blessing it tells me to. I have comforted myself in saying, "You do the Parry Post. That should count as your journal." I think so. But, I pulled out my blessing last night, which I haven’t done in a long time. "keep a daily journal, and in the journal you should not only record your experiences, but your feelings and thoughts and your testimony, that your posterity who will come after you may gain strength of testimony and increased faith by the things that you have experienced in your life." I have read this passage many times. I know I need to do this. But for the first time the word DAILY stood out to me. Crap! I guess the Parry Post just isn’t going to cut it!

I have been meaning to start a blog, so I guess I will kill two birds with one stone. I am nervous at putting my thoughts and feelings out in the mystical blogosphere for anyone to come across. But, I’m just going to ignore the fact that other people might find my blog and read it. So, if you don’t like my feelings, then don’t read my blog. Problem solved.

One problem about me is I’m a perfectionist. A very bad perfectionist. I guess you would call me a procrastinating perfectionist. Hopefully, I’ll just figure out this blog thing as I go and stop worrying about it being perfect. My spelling definitely won’t be.

I’m going to stop now. Apparently I need to write everyday, I don’t want to put all my thoughts down today and leave nothing for tomorrow!