Is that light I see?

 pa·tience

noun

1. 1.

   the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

   "you can find bargains if you have the patience to sift through the dross"

   synonyms:

   forbearance, tolerance, restraint, self-restraint, stoicism;

   
   
2. This is one attribute I wish I had, but apparently need to work on some more...because it's missing from my life. School has been in session for FOUR WEEKS now (how has it already been that long??) and the past three days have been the BEST for Jess and the going to school issues.

Since my last blog post we have gone many rounds with her using bribery, punishments, more bribery, "You're such a big girl" language, tolerance, intolerance, and anything else we could think of to get her to happily attend school. 

Don't believe me? Here's the list: 

Idea #1:Made a chart. For every full week that she can put a happy face on the chart we get a root beer float at the end of the week. (Didn't work...yet)

Idea #2:If she doesn't cry that day she gets to choose a prize out of Miss Trammell's box. (Didn't work until about the 4th day but then we were back to crying the next day)

Idea #3: Walk to school with siblings. (worked the first couple days but then she stopped walking with them and just ran back to the house)

Idea #4: We get to eat lunch at school!! (Again, worked the first two times and then nothing)

Idea #5:If you cry at school you don't get to watch Netflix that day. (that was a long day for her)

Idea #6: Bought a pack of Hubba Bubba bubble gum and everyday she doesn't cry she gets some. The gum had to stay at school with Miss Trammell. (I'm not even sure if she got any of it--might not even be opened yet!)

Idea #7: Stay home and in your room for 3 hours and no TV/Movies/Electronics that day. Surprisingly she didn't complain about this one like I thought she would. She came out of her room three times. Twice to go to the bathroom and once to get a drink. Other than that, no crying or pounding on the door like I thought/expected. However, when I throw this option to her she doesn't want to do this one again.

Idea #8: Walk to Mrs. Sparks (Julia's amazing 1st grade teacher!) class before school (This worked one day as well because her dad took her to school. The time I did it with her she freaked out when it was time for me to leave. I ended up staying in Kindergarten that day for 2 hours looking like a slob in my "stretchy pants" and messy bun)

Idea #9:If you cry you can't ride the 4-wheelers at the Family Reunion. (This worked GREAT!! Too bad we could only use it once!)

I've been working closely with her teacher, Miss Trammell (who is so amazing!!) and the past three days have worked the best. Here's what's happening:

Idea #10: Let Jess go to the office when the bell rings so she can be calmed down by the time she gets to class. 

I have a "meeting" I have to be to in the morning so I'm unable to take Jess to school. I drop them off, in a hurry to get to my "meeting", and Julia walks Jess to the office. At the office she will find different helpers on different days. The first day it was Ms. Young who gave Jess "Five Skittles!!" The next day it was Mrs. Callahan who came and checked on her twice during the day. She even called me and asked if it was ok to take her out of her class and play a game with her next week. She's the school counselor and Jess LOVES her! I'm not too sure who's waiting for her today but I'm sure they will find someone to make Jess feel like she is a queen around the school. When the bell rings, Julia takes Jess to her kindergarten classroom and then Julia heads off to her class--probably late every day :/

Jess is looking forward to today because it will be the THIRD TIME she hasn't cried at school and that means she gets to go pick a prize out of Mrs. Sparks treasure box. Jess is being catered to left and right but honestly I'm at the point that whatever gets her to school without freaking out makes it worth it!

She will ask me the night before if I have a meeting the next morning. I asked her if it would make a difference if I didn't have a meeting and she said, "Yes! I like when you have a meeting because then I don't cry!" Hmmm....interesting child.

Every child is definitely different. Jess is making baby steps at not being my baby anymore. She's made big strides in the last four weeks at home; laying in her bed without mom sitting beside her to hold her hand, and she's getting really good at staying in her own bed all night long.

It's kind of nice to think I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Work in Progress

Don't let her fool you. This girl is trouble. Since the first day of Kindergarten we've had trouble getting her to go to school willingly. Today I needed to record the morning events before my mind loses the vivid memory. I so wish I had recorded it because it was a little wild and crazy!

Jess had been told all weekend that starting Monday morning she was going to be walking to school with Julia and Porter instead of mom. When it came time for school we said our morning prayer and then I told her goodbye. It wasn't the hug and kiss goodbye like I had imagined. She was crying and screaming that she didn't want to go. I told Porter and Julia to each take a hand and take her to school. I then shut the front door and locked it and watched the squabbling take place out the front window. (She can't see inside but I sure can see out!) She was screaming and fighting them. Then she broke loose and ran to the back of the house, which got me running to the back of the house to lock the back door. I wasn't quite as fast at getting the dog door put in place because she started putting her head through it. I pushed her head back through the dog door and put up the board to shut it. She ran to my back door screaming that she didn't want to go but was met with another locked door.

Porter was so embarrassed he didn't want to deal with it. I let Jess inside and spanked her which seemed to be what she needed to willingly go back out front with the kids. I had to threaten her with another spankin' if she didn't start walking. She made it down the steps and turned around still crying. Then she made it to the stop sign still screaming and crying on the back of Julia (She's sure got a good patient sister to even offer to piggy back her!).

Once they made it to the stop sign I shut the door and started some laundry just in time to hear my kids back at the door because Jess had run back to the house! By now Porter was done! He was soooo embarrassed to be dragging his crying bawling sister to school. Not cool, mom. I tried bribery, taking away dance but the only thing that gave her motivation is threatening to spank her again.

I watched them walk (or Julia was piggy backing Jess again) to the stop sign, turn the corner and keep walking. I decided to give them a minute and then walk to the corner to make sure they were really going to get there this time.

They had made it down the next block and Jess was walking now with her brother on one side and sister on the other. Hopefully the tears had stopped by then. In 20 minutes I go pick up my kindergarten baby and see how the day really went.

She's such a stinker because she comes out of class laughing, singing, and so happy so I know she enjoys school. She just doesn't enjoy the initial getting there part :/ 

Someday I'll have this kid figured out...just not today.

Tough Win

Porter learned a hard lesson tonight. It made his mom's heart hurt in the process. He's been playing football on the Desert Hills 3/4 grade team this year. It's his first year of tackle football and he's loving it. LOVING it!! The hard part is that the team he is on has played together before...well at least most of the team. The coach told us up front that he doesn't go deep on quarterbacks and running backs and he plays to win. Porter is not the smallest on the team but he is one of the smaller boys. Good thing about that is he's fast and he works hard. Bad thing about that is he doesn't get to play as much as the other boys (the "team" that has already been playing with each other).

Last night was a BIG game. Desert Hills vs Dixie. Neither team has lost a game all season and both teams have blown all the other teams away in scoring. In fact, I don't think either team has had another team score on them. Shut outs. All of their games.

Porter went to the game knowing he wasn't going to get to play much but he was pumped and soooo ready to play! He really is a decent player for being so small. He can even get past our own line in practice because he's so fast.

The game started and both teams had a defensive battle on their hands. In fact, I don't think the ball moved past each other's 40 yard line through the first quarter. Watching the teams play I knew there was a good chance Porter wouldn't even get to play the first half. Desert Hills had met their match and it was a battle.

First half came and went and still no Porter on the field. He wasn't the only one that got left on the side line. There were about five boys that didn't get to touch the field past that white sideline. Halftime. No score by either team. Tough game for sure.

Second half started. Dixie made a touchdown during the third quarter but it got called back due to a holding call. (thank goodness!!) It wasn't until the end of the fourth quarter with about 5 minutes to go that Desert Hills scored a touch down. They missed the extra point because of a defensive stop by Dixie. The score was 6-0 and there was 1:30 on the clock. Still none of those five boys got to play. It was Dixie's 3rd down on Desert Hill's 40 yard line. I thought for sure that the coach would throw those boys in there on defense just so they could have a chance. Nothing. 52 seconds left in the game. Dixie had just thrown away their chance to score on their fourth down. 30 seconds left in the game. I thought for sure the coach would throw those boys in there again. Again, NOTHING. Our quarterback spiked the ball and the game was over. Desert Hills won 6-0 but it was a tough win because Porter didn't even get a chance to play. I knew how ready he was for this game. I knew he was ready to play tough. I hoped that the fact they won would make him happy. I was wrong. 

When it was time to find their parents after their post game talk with their coaches Porter didn't even walk toward us. He was done. He was upset. He was ready to go home. He wouldn't talk to any of us (don't really blame him) and was headed right for the car. Julia wouldn't keep her mouth quiet about going to get ice cream because they won and everyone could feel tension about not wanting to hurt Porter's feelings any more than they already were. 

I did find that my boys can really be good brothers. The only one more upset than Porter about the game was Payton. He was fuming mad that his brother didn't even get to go in on ONE PLAY! He was outraged!! ("It's against the rules! EVERYONE HAS to play at least one play!")

I told Jul's that it was up to Porter whether he wanted to get ice cream or not and he decided whatever would shut his sister up was fine with him. I know he was fighting back tears in the back seat so we didn't talk about football.

We got our treats at Arctic Circle, came home and ate them and then got ready for bed. By then Porter had cooled down long enough to at least talk. He said it sucked he didn't even get to play at all. His coach told the boys "If you didn't get to play tonight you will get to play more in the next game than the boys that did play tonight." I sure hope that's true. He said he kept asking his coach when they were going to let him into the game and they told him after they make 2 touchdowns. I don't agree with the way the coach did things mostly because I felt like he was running this team as a HS team instead of 3/4 graders. It was the same with the Dixie coach as well. He had about 7 boys sitting on his sideline that never got to play either. It's the way the world works though. Not everyone get

s to "play" when/where they want. Just wish Porter didn't have to suffer. Broke my heart. Of course I had to tell him how proud I was of him. He works hard at practice. He's there ready to play 100%. There have been days I've seen him come in for a water break and head right back out when the boys that get all the playing time are taking their own sweet time and goofing off making their team wait for them to get back into practice. Porter is a tough kid and when he hits his growth, he's going to be amazing. Just wish his coaches could see what I see. (Every mother probably says that about their boy)

The silver lining to this story is that TODAY is Porter's birthday. At least that gave him something to look forward to when we was feeling so down last night. 

Mom Helper

Once a month I get to help in Julia's kindergarten class. I didn't go last month because of SEP's so it seemed like it's been a while since I last helped. Today I had a couple conversations with kids that made me really appreciate kindergarten teachers. They get to hear all kinds of things from kids from all kinds of back grounds. This is just a sampling of what they get every day, I'm sure.

One little girl saw my wedding ring and said,

"Oh! Are you married?"

"Yes! I am!"

"Oh. My mom's not married. She just has babies. But, she's not married."

My reponse..."Well, maybe someday?"

The next little girl told me about one of her mom's good friends and how he got arrested last week and so and so has to come over because now so and so is arrested and in jail. Hmmm.. Sounds fun.

I guess I'm ok with living the simple life of being married to one man, the same one who helps with our four kids and one dog, and hearing about the rest of the world through the mouths of cute kindergarten kids. I Love being a Mom Helper! It does make me wonder what fun facts Julia's teacher knows about our family?

Pete

We love our dog Pete. Grandpa and Grandma Turek kept him while we went to California for Christmas and he got spoiled by them. He thinks he needs to be loved and treated super nice now. The other night we let him come inside the house--usually he gets to come in to vacuum after dinner and then he's back out. The kids were in their PJ's and jumped in bed after prayers. Pete jumped in bed with Jess and Julia and snuggled right in. It was my bribe to keep the girls in bed that night. I told them if they get up for any reason I would have to put Pete back outside. They slept really good until Jess fell out of bed, Julia peed and that is when Pete went outside. I let him lay in there with the girls again last night and while everyone was sleeping I was in folding laundry. I could hear Pete dreaming and whining in his sleep. He must have really wanted to catch that bird he was chasing. He slept there all night long until Todd put him out this morning before he left to work. I hope I'm not creating a problem. The funny thing was that when Pete came out into the kitchen I went and opened the back door for him. He slunk back into the girls room and layed down. He must have known the deal too. If he's going to get out of bed, he's going outside.

Good think I like the ol' fella!

Hello 2015

For New Year's Eve we went to the Hurricane Rec Center. The night was spent by eating, dancing, playing dodge ball, eating some more, playing a wicked awesome game of hockey, running around crazy, and then finally getting into bed and settling down for a sleep over in Hurricane! As we were leaving St. George it had started to snow so I was sure that we would be hit with a white wonderland when we got to Hurricane or at least when we woke up the next morning. When we hit the off ramp toward Hurricane our white flurries had stopped and were to be seen no more. Sad to say I didn't take many pictures but it was a fun night.

We were so into our Hockey game when it hit midnight that we hurry and ran outside in the cold and then hurry and ran back in to play some more hockey. It was so fun!! I'm blaming that on the lack of pictures taken. So sad :(

Tayosha's last New Year until she comes home from her mission

Some funny memories of the night:

vThe little girls (Khloee, Emmie, Julia, Lainee and Jess) wanted to make up dances to Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" all night

Luke called out Porter's name in the nigh for some reason

Porter had to wake me up at some point to go pee

Julia woke up crying in the night because she was cold and had to come share my blanket (even though she was sleeping on top of her sleeping bag)

Jess woke up and tripped over Khloee, Payton and Traxten before she made it to me and said, "I want to go home". She laid down by me and was asleep in 20 seconds.

Payton was mad at his mom for not getting to play "Call of Duty" on the play station

Porter hit his head pretty hard on the floor as we were cleaning up to go home and came home with a souvenir to start his new year

The next day we were invited over to Grandma Julie's for a New Year Get Together. We ate yummy chips, dips, snacks and drinks and played games. It was a great way to start 2015.

House of Jump

During our Christmas Vacation time we got invited by Tiff's family to visit "House of Jump". It's a place here in St. George that has a bunch of trampolines and on Monday night's they have a family special. As much as I didn't want to, our family ended up going. And, I'm glad we did. It was really fun! Here's some pics from the night...

Not pictured is our epic dodge ball games, tag, and the basketball dunk fest by the boys.