Favorite

Fall is my favorite season.  And apparently I've hit the jackpot here.  The colors here are awesome.  Now, some of the locals say that here, south of Atlanta, we don't have anything, and I suspect that's true--I have been farther north, up in the Ozarks in the fall, and you definitely got some bang for your buck there.  However, no nothin' here is still a lot more colorful than some years in Oklahoma, surely better than Texas fall, and absolutely more colorful than autumn in the desert (although all of those places have their own seasonal charms).  I'm in seventh heaven for a little while.

The cars aren't terribly romantic, but I love that when I drive into my parking lot at the top of the hill, I can see not only green, but also red, orange, and yellow.

These others are from my daily walk around the apartment complex.  Evergreens don't really do autumn that dramatically, but they make me feel like home in the mountains.  :)

More from Sam

Do you ever feel like you live in a zoo?

Probably not. You don't have nearly as many sibs as I do.  Or a crazy mom.

This is my favorite place to drink water.  I climb in and pull the door shut.  And Jonah slinks off somewhere else in a very long-suffering manner.  Sometimes Mommy rescues him and makes me get out.

I have a favorite lollipop color.  It's yellow.  Pick it consistently every time.  Ok, both times they were offered.  My mommy doesn't let me eat suckers every day.  Usually.

Question for you: what do you do when your mommy takes away your binky and refuses to give it back until nap time?  Answer: you use the next best thing, and walk around with a sippy cup between your teeth for hours.  Except when Mommy wants to take your picture, then you take it out and don't put it back until that sneaky camera is gone.

Trouble

Trouble these days is spelled P-I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T.  That's right, pinterest.com.  It's a virtual pin board.  You can look at others' pins and re-pin what you like to your own boards.  For example, Bob and I now have all sorts of ideas for the-house-we-hope-to-get-but-are-really-getting-tired-of-waiting.  I even have them divided into their own categories (i.e. kitchen, bathroom, laundry room).  You can also use their handy-dandy pinning tool bar, and pin stuff to your boards from other websites you are looking at.

It's really kind of addictive, and I must limit my time on it, or I could just hop from place to place to place.

Another reason that Pinterest is dangerous trouble is that the most delicious looking recipes are all over the place.  Well, we can't have me pinning recipes that I never intend to try, right?  So, I consider it my responsibility to try so many of these.

Today it's chocolate covered Oreos.  Relax!  I didn't make them just to make them.  I'm taking them to the boys' pack meeting tonight.  Got the idea from pinterest, and this is where it was originally pinned from (if you click on the pictures in pinterest, they should take you to the origination of the picture, or that's the idea anyway).

1 package regular Oreos

8 oz. Baker's white chocolate baking blocks, melted

sprinkles to match your tastes

The original recipe called for the Oreos to be entirely dunked and a to have a lollipop stick.  But alas, I was short on chocolate and lollipop sticks (unused ones, that is).  So I improvised.  I think the kids will like them, since they eat anything remotely related to sugar, and these are all sugar.

They are so-so to me, given my recent aversion to sickly sweet candy (what the what?!?! I know!).  However, I did figure out that they are 2 PointsPlus apiece for my WW thing.  Not bad ... on the other hand, I could have 3 plain Oreos for 3 PP.  Like that's gonna happen.  I go for the Double Stuff.  Bought regular Oreos for this since I figured adding chocolate and sprinkles would make up for the lack of Double Stuff.  Still, if you're going to eat Oreos plain, skip right to the Double Stuff.  That's what I say, anyway.

This Is the Way to Start a Saturday!

Hannah and I got to take Lizzi to the temple on Saturday to do baptisms for the dead.  Youth are able to participate in that when they turn 12.  Lizzi's birthday was several months ago.  Typically, the youth from church will go as a group to the temple for this.  However, because of the timing of our move during summer vacation, Lizzi was unable to go with the youth group from Oklahoma, and our new youth group in Georgia hasn't had one scheduled in the near future, either.

Since the temple is important to our family, and since it's an amazing place of peace and reverence in the middle of this crazy, fast-paced world we live in, we decided to get Lizzi to the temple as a family.  That sort of worked, but we didn't have anyone to leave our little ones with, and we needed to go on a Saturday morning, which is when Caleb's football games are....  So it ended up being just us girls.

I'm grateful I got to go with my beautiful girls.  I've taken each one of my babies with me to the temple while they were in the womb, and prayed that they would soak up some of the peace and take with them into their lives the desire to return to the temple as they grow up.  Lizzi is such a livewire that I wasn't sure this was a successful endeavor for her.  BUT, as usual, my kids prove me wrong.  We enjoyed ourselves, and she asked when she gets to go back again.

Afterwards, we strolled on the beautiful grounds in the bright morning sunlight.  I'm not too pleased with the camera on my new phone.  However, I am thrilled with these pictures of my girls together, actually looking like they might have some affection for one another (don't mind the fists in the one picture, they really don't signify, I promise).

I'm so in love with these beautiful and precious gifts to our family!  Aren't they amazing?!

Saturday Sweetie

 Fortunately, other small children readily complied with my photographic wishes during Caleb's football game.  Not that Sariah (a.k.a. The Diva) has ever not posed for my camera.

Even when she was running around.  :)  She had a rough week so it was good to see her smiling again.

She is still eyeballing the cheerleaders periodically with curiosity.  I don't know what we'll do if she decides that's what she wants to do.  Both of her older sisters have raised eyebrows over her interest in the cheerleaders.  "Not my sister," they seem to say.  Does Lizzi forget that at one point she firmly informed us that she would be a cheerleader for some Big XII team that was NOT Oklahoma?

And just so you know our priorities are correct, we will support any of our daughters if cheerleading is their passion.  But only so long as they are cheering for OU.  ;)

However, knowing Sariah, football is as likely to be in her future as cheerleading.  Wonder what the crystal ball holds?

Like Sister, Like Brother?

 I was having fun with my camera during Caleb's game, and I wanted Sam to grace me with some pictures.  No such luck.  He wasn't having anything to do with that. Sound like anyone else we know?

Awesome Athlete

This Saturday was jam-packed, enough "material" for several posts.  I'll start with Caleb.  He's playing flag football this fall.  He played tackle the last two years--you can view my favorite memory here.  My very favorite homecoming picture E.V.E.R.

I don't know how long flag will last for Caleb.  He's really enjoying playing less rough (read: getting hurt less often), and he's really enjoying the small team and getting to play a variety of positions, thanks to a good coach.

But he's just not as passionate about flag as he is about tackle.  And much as the mother in me likes the relative safety of flag, the other mother in me so wants him to be playing something he absolutely loves.

In any case, it's much easier to get pictures of him this season.

 He's a wily little flag snatcher.

 Sometimes (although I didn't catch it on camera) he looks like a viper, using his eyes to assess and evaluate and then darting in to grab that flag.

On this particular play, he opted not to flag-snatch.  He could have, but he didn't.  You could see him eyeing the position of his opponent's flags.  Yeah, that's a girl.  I was pretty proud of him for his choice.  Of course, you could argue that if you're gonna play, you gotta man up.  Haha.  After this play, the young lady was asked to readjust her flags so they rested on her hips.

 He really loves to run the ball.  Had some pretty sweet catches today.

And he still gets to QB sometimes.  Still got a great arm.

So proud of my athlete.  Who'd have thunk?  How did I end up with an athlete?  Definitely Bob's genes going on there.  I don't think I have a single athletic gene in my body.

Hot Date, Baby!

Tonight was date night!  It was exciting, let me tell you!  See?  I used exclamation points so you would know how high-flying it really was.  ;)

After spending the day with a 4-year-old who is throwing up again (2nd time in 2 weeks with a fever in between rounds), doing the neverending laundry and dishes, we debated on going out to dinner.  But a) I have no idea how much money we have left and we're only halfway through the month, and b) why waste a good dinner out if I'm only going to throw it up later, because what goes around inevitably comes around?

So, what do'y'do with that?  Well, you make dinner for you and the kids.  Get everyone dressed for bed ... okay, wait...Daddy got everyone dressed for bed so I could shower, since I hadn't gotten around to it yet.  Then you zoom away from the itty bitty yardless apartment your dream home in your literally-falling-apart-at-the-seams Corolla super hot date car.  You go to Target ... but since this is Date Night, we will use the French pronunciation ... Tar-jhay ... to go check on the wife's seriously screwed up thyroid prescription.  Then you hang out at the local froyo joint, but decide to leave because the music's too loud.  You cruise through the outdoor mall, even head into a few shops, only to come out in a hurry cuz otherwise you might spend money you don't know whether you have or not, and there are consequences to your actions (like no money for desperation chocolate later on in the week).  Then you make a run back to Target to pick up the straightened-out medication as well as Gatorade and ginger ale since it will probably be a looooong night.

That was our hot date tonight.

Man, we're getting old here.  'Specially since I really did enjoy all of that childless time with my honey.

What Sam Has Been Up To Lately

Hi, I'm Sam. (No Dr. Seuss comments, please.)

I'm really cute, really spoiled, and really good.  Yeah, my mom is feeling pretty good, too.

My favorite pastimes include sword-fighting, lining bowls/books/shoes/cars up, emptying sippy cups of their contents, and chewing erasers off of pencils.

 My dad and my brothers encourage me in some of these pursuits.

 Isn't my oldest sister pretty?  She's really nice, too, and loves me lots, even if she does hide from pictures.

 A stainless steel bowl is a pretty clever shield (but it didn't really stop me).

 My youngest older sister is apparently a hippie.  I'm not sure what that is, but my dad congratulated my mom on the look.  And my mom said, "She did that all on her own!"  I especially like the rubber band effect.  I bet it makes a nice snap when you pull it....

I'm pretty awesome!

Downer Day

Some days are like this.  Where I don't want to do anything, including my favorite things, like reading.  I might could work on my quilt, but the thought of taking out the sewing machine is a little overwhelming.  So, basically on days like today, I sit around here and there, and then force myself to get up and do a task.  Sometimes when I get going, it kickstarts me.

It's not working today.

I miss the sunshine, which we don't see too much of in a terrace-level apartment that backs up to pine trees taller than the 3-story building.  Some days I love that.  But today my endorphins need some vitamin D.  Or something.

But if I go outside, I will need to take small children with me.  And the noise-level is making my head ache.  I'm such a bad mom.

So, I think I'll go have a good cry, and then a good prayer.  Probably both together.  And then I'll make myself fold the laundry.  Again.  I feel like I'm drowning in laundry and dishes.

Awww! Aren't They Cute?!

Today is my parents' 41st wedding anniversary.  Even though I've been thinking about it for the last 3 weeks, I didn't actually mail their card until today.  I'm a bad daughter.  BUT see, I am dedicating a blog post to them.  :)  I wish I had a copy of their wedding picture, but if I do, it's in a box somewhere.  Most likely with my jeans.

Happy anniversary to my wonderful Mom and Dad!  If I called them "mother and father," they'd probably wonder if I was mad at them.  One of the things that I've always loved about my parents is that they put each other first and foremost.  I always knew as a kid that they would back each other up.  They still do...not that I've really challenged that lately.  Really.  But their united front wasn't just for us kids.  They have had a long and blessed marriage (I'm sure with its ups and downs, but happy nonetheless) because they serve one another, support one another, and love each other with their full hearts.  I think it's a conscientious choice on their parts, and I am so grateful to be a part of the blessings that have come from those decisions.

Mom, Dad, may you have another blessed 41 years.  And win the lottery.  Cuz I have six kids and our parental-care-fund is shrinking.  Oh wait.  Did we ever actually start that...?  ;)

Love you so much!

Grrrrr...eat

So, I didn't post my Wednesday weigh-in.  I generally post something on Facebook, and since I didn't blog much this past week....  Anyhow, I lost 1 pound, which brings my grand total loss up to 10.6 pounds.  Of course I am very excited about that.

However.

It's my jeans.  My very favoritest jeans; there are about 3 pairs of them that I adore.  They were tight so I quit wearing them.  So when we moved, I packed them in a box.  Yeah.  That's bad.  Because now I can't find the box.  I should be able to find the box, because it was supposed to wind up in our apartment, not the storage unit, and I was hoping to be back in them by Christmas.

The good news is that I can fit back in them MUCH sooner.  Like now.  The bad news is that I can't find them.  And it's getting colder.  And I have to do things this month like pay the phone bill, so there aren't any shopping sprees in my future.

It's not a terrible dilemma to have.  But it is a dilemma.  Especially when my pants start slipping down my hips.

Great Weekend

This weekend was General Conference for my church: 4 satellite-broadcast sessions of counsel and laughter and goodness from our church leaders.  I so enjoyed it this fall!

Dare I admit the following things?  Of course I do....  This is the first conference in years quite some time that I have heard all 4 of the general sessions of conference.  We didn't over-schedule anything too badly, and were able to catch up from what was somewhat unavoidable (Caleb's flag football game).  And--bonus!--I didn't fall asleep during the afternoon sessions either.  It's not that they are boring...it's that I have 6 kids and weekend afternoons are for napping, especially nice weekends like this one.

Anyhoo, we successfully made it through conference.  Sometimes it can be hard on the kids, who generally think it's long and boring.  However, I'm pretty sure they were listening part of the time, though definitely not when we were listening to Elder Andersen speak about how we believe in children and families while I was secretly wishing to locate the duct tape so I didn't have to hear one more fight....

This year, I spent some time preparing myself for conference.  That means I prayed and studied, and hoped to find some answers to the things I've been pondering over the last few months.  The Lord does not disappoint.  I listened to His servants as they directly answered some of my prayers.  I'm sure they didn't think, "I'm going to answer Tracy's prayer with this paragraph," but I am certain they heeded the Lord's suggestions and incorporated into their talks the words and feelings the Holy Ghost needed to communicate to me.  In so doing, these great brothers and sisters were able to help me figure out some of the things I need to do with myself, my family, and my home in the next several months.

That's some exciting stuff!

If you would like to watch some of the addresses from conference (or in about a week, read them), click here.  If you check out only one or two talks, here's what you should read (they were my faves): Ian S. Ardern's address from Saturday afternoon, and President Thomas S. Monson's address from Sunday morning.

It's Fall, and I Can Tell

Despite the relatively cool temperatures around these parts lately, and by that I mean days in the 80s & nights in the 60s with low humidity, I haven't really felt like it's fall.  I couldn't figure out why.  I mean, in Oklahoma it felt like fall when the temperatures start dropping.  And the leaves have been turning here for weeks now.  Many of the trees are still green, but we are seeing some brilliant scarlets and warm oranges and golden yellows (I've heard that fall here is gorgeous; looks like it will be so).  And football season started, both for my Sooners and my son.  I know, right?  The boys of fall, and all that jazz ... er, country?

But it still didn't feel like fall.  What's up with that?  Fall is my favorite season of all time.  How could I not be feeling it?!

And then it happened.  I was walking through the parking lot into Rex's parent-teacher conference, and I felt it.  The wind was blowing, a nice cool breeze.  It didn't have a lot of snap to it yet, but still...I'd been missing the breaths of autumn.  Awesomeness!  Now I feel like it's time for a bonfire and some trick-or-treating.

The neighbors warn me that it will be 90 again any day now.  But I'm used to that.  That's how it was in Oklahoma.

But it's good thing for that breeze.  I was contemplating letting my hair grow longer, but when I felt my hair scattered around my head like it was touching a balloon the wind on my cheeks, I remembered why I get my locks shortened frequently.  :P

Ugh

Dogs are more expensive than kids.

That's all.

Lifesavers

I know I've posted lots of churchy, religious, mushy stuff the last few weeks.  I know that's probably driving some of you nuts.  It's not like me to talk about it so much, and I certainly understand if you've chosen to ignore some of my posts.

It's just that my church has been my lifesaver as we've made this move.  Well, the Church and Facebook.  :)  Facebook has kept me in touch with old friends, people who I know love and care about me and my family.  The Church has given me new friends, the reassurance that we can get through this new adventure, and the faith that we can adapt and grow and progress and continue to find joy in the world around us.

Dropping out of my major outside-the-family commitments by moving has given me quite a bit of time to ponder and pray.  For a little bit there, Heavenly Father was the only person I could turn to when the going got rough.  So I talked to Him a lot.  I've been given the time to figure out where I'm at with my life, what matters most to me, and how I'm going to get there.

The Church's annual General Relief Society Meeting was held by broadcast on Saturday night.  Translation: it was a big meeting for the women in the church.  The 3 leaders of the Relief Society organization spoke first, and at the end, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf addressed the sisters.  He spoke so powerfully and answered so many of the prayers in my heart!  Some of my questions were answered.  And some of the things that I've been turning over in my mind for awhile now, but haven't even formulated questions for, were answered with President Uchtdorf's words.  You can see a summary of his talk here.  When the full text is published, I will try and get a link up to it.

While all of President Uchtdorf's talk resonated with me, imagine how I took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Oh!" when I heard the following:

“God wants to help us eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths, but He knows that this is a long-term goal,” President Uchtdorf said. “It is OK that you are not quite there yet. Keep working on it but stop punishing yourself. “

“Dear sisters, many of you are endlessly compassionate and patient with the weaknesses of others,” he added. “Please remember also to be compassionate and patient with yourself.”

Keep in mind that the very morning before this address, I wrote this post for my blog, wondering how on earth to make my secretly-perfectionistic self cope with getting some things done but not others.

So now I find myself telling myself, "Self, get over yourself.  Move on.  You are doing good.  Keep going.  Quit wasting time on worrying and fussing."  This is such a good thing for me.

Just remind me that I've said it every once in awhile.  ;)

Bummed

OU is playing tonight.  And I finally have my TV up on a console so I can watch the game.  And it made me sad.  Some of the shots showed areas around the stadium.  I know just what the weather feels like at this time of year during an OU game--humid yet crisp, and finally cooling off.  You can see the lights all over town, and if you're in the right place, you can hear the roar of a crimson crowd, the thunder of the Ruff Neks' noisemakers.  All roads lead to OU.  You don't drive your car near campus or on any of the main thoroughfares.  Unless you are going to Wal-Mart--it's a fabulous time to shop.  Just sayin'.  All the TVs inside the store show the game anyway.  You can feel an entire town, population 100K+, together in agony and triumph.

OK, yeah, it sounds a little much.

But man, I miss my Sooners.

It's Been a Week

That could probably be my whole post.  But just for history's sake, I will elaborate.

I've been reading my scriptures, praying, and writing in my journal every night.  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are counseled to do those things regularly.  I've always liked to journal; I just don't always do so consistently.  It's been really good for me to review and reflect, and it's been really good to read about the Savior every day.

What is so typical of me is that I just had to take it to the next level.  And make a to-do list for the next day every night.  On the up side, there are a lot of things I'm reminded to do that I don't always remember to do (like take my vitamins).  On the down side, there are a lot of things I haven't got crossed off my list (like the mopping, which has been on my list every day since Tuesday).  And being a closet perfectionist, that really bugs me, not having everything neatly crossed off at the end of the day.

So, what do I do with something that helps and hurts at the same time?  Because I'm so proud of myself for getting some things done every day.  And I'm so depressed that I can't get it all done.  Obviously, I need to psychoanalyze that, or something, so that I can move forward with life.

In the mean time, I did make it to my Wednesday weigh-in at Weight Watchers.  I lost another 1/2 lb, which was a little disappointing, but not in light of that fettucine alfredo.  I try to remember to evaluate my weight loss in terms other than the scale; sometimes that's a bit more encouraging.  My pants are falling down--yeehaw!  My muffin top is shrinking--yippee!  The scale doesn't intimidate me as much as it used to--woot! woot!  I can get up the hill to our apartment building without feeling like I will die immediately--rock on!  I'm thinking I might actually track down my "skinny"-er jeans (I'm not even close to my skinny jeans, but still...)--I'm so awesome.

See, I feel better already.  :)

Now, on to my list....

Nada

I have no bragging rights after this weekend.

I yelled at my kids yesterday, and I feel guilty (even if they really had pushed the envelope to ripping...).

I ate at Olive Garden on Thursday.  Granted, it was time well spent because I was with my Hannah-girl (she hates being called that).  My fettucine alfredo was way yummy.  Good thing I calculated the WW PointsPlus today.  I probably won't ever eat it again.  Since it was more than my daily allowance.  In one meal.  It was good.  But not that good.  Needless to say, I've been pigging out on fruits and veggies and water ever since.  And not a lot else.  Wednesday may not be pretty.

I did walk my dogs every day.  I'm even over the pooper-scooping.  But, really, does Jonah have to water every single thing he sees?

Sam's taking longer naps.  This is a veeeeeeeeeeery good thing.  Course, I had to wake him up today to go pick up Sariah, and he was cranky thereafter.

So to summarize, there are a lot of things going right in my life.  Have you ever noticed that sometimes the harder you try, the harder it gets.  I gotta find a way to relax....

Maybe I'll redesign the blog again.  That always revs things up.  ;)

Check Out My Profile

I added a new button to my blog (Lizzi picked it out, doesn't she have good taste?) because I'm on mormon.org now.  I don't really think my life is all that exciting...especially in light of some of the ads they run on TV, but still, it was fun to sit down and think through some of what I said.  For a convert, I sure can be a really Molly Mormon.  You know, the 6 kids, the staying-at-home ... oh wait, after that, I'm done.  I'm NOT sweetness and light; my house is rarely clean; cooking, cleaning and other domestic pursuits--well, not so much.  I guess you can't really call me Molly.  But do check out my profile so I feel loved.  :)