Primary Program

I love that in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we let our kids run the meeting once a year.  There was no way that I was missing any of that meeting!  My Dad, Mom, Mother-in-law and two sisters came to see our 4 kids show what they have learned this year.  Emma said her part amazingly well-about James and John who were mending their nets, but left them to follow Jesus.  Ben gave a talk about the Plan of Salvation.  He talked about Adam and Eve coming to earth and choosing to take of the fruit of good and evil because of the serpent (dun dun dun), so they knew good from evil and how Jesus had to die for us, so we can repent of our sins.  He then brought up when we die and go to the spirit world and can go to Celestial the best, telestial [it's really terrestrial] the second best and terrestrial [telestial] the third best and then there was outer darkness for the really bad people.  I'm so proud!  He made people laugh, but he really did a fantastic job telling about the plan of salvation, and that was without a written talk!  A lot of people were talking about it afterwards!  Now people know me at church, because of my awesome son!  Anyway, Kira was next talking about the importance of families.  I was so incredibly proud of her, because she had the shortest part of all of my kids, and she still did her part without complaining (even though she totally wanted to)!  Leah was next and she did a great job talking about our current prophet, Thomas S Monson, who speaks to us at General Conference.  In between the many speakers (we filled up the the whole podium area, plus two risers), the kids sang beautiful songs!  Ben even sang "Families Can Be Together Forever!"  It's his favorite song, and it was the first time I could see him during a song!  Leah sang all of the songs so happy!  Emma got over her stage fright to tell her part.  Kira did a fantastic job looking at the music leader.  I'm one proud momma!  This was the perfect way to start off a new week.  Last week stunk, but this week is going to be amazing!
So the bad news is that we didn't get the amazing house right next to where I work, but the good news is that a kiddo in my class' mom is!  We still don't have a working dryer, but my mom is going to buy us a used one as an early Christmas present!  Our cars are both having problems, but they both technically work.  Our ceiling is still down, but the roofer fixed the huge hole where the water was pouring in.  So, although we may have bad things, we're still doing okay!  I even made cinnamon rolls yesterday!  I'm exhausted, but we're all healthy!  I found out that there are some people who think my pictures are horrible, so I made all of the albums I could only able to be seen by me.  I don't want someone to have to see low quality pictures.  I know that I don't always take amazing pictures, but I'm getting better all of the time!  So, life is good!

Kiddos

My kiddos have been so spoiled!  On Wednesday my littles got to be with their Aunt Kim, Aunt Mandy and Mamaw, so they were thrilled!
On Friday they didn't have school, so they got to watch movies and play games all day, until their Mamaw and Papaw came and brought Anthony's pizza and a ton of groceries!  They had picked up Josh to go with them, and he picked a ton of food!  Super awesome!
On Saturday, we headed to my parents' house to work on the house right before my brother and his family moved in for the next month (or so).  We got a ton done!  They fed us Burger King for lunch and then got us Chinese for dinner!  The kiddos were so excited to go that they worked hard!  I hardly ever see them work so hard!  Of course, it didn't hurt that their beloved Aunt Kim was bossing them! My kids are such a crack up!  We left after the kids had a few minutes to play with their newly arrived cousins, and then we came home!
Three thirty or so this morning Kira was sick.  She had eaten way too much junk, and we really don't usually have that opportunity (not a bad thing), so she was sick.  She felt better immediately after, so I knew she wasn't actually sick.  Poor kiddo though!
Ben wrote his Plan of Salvation talk for the Primary Program.  It's pretty great!  I especially like the Dun-dun-dun part!
We took pictures after church, so the kiddo pictures are updated on the sidebar!

I am of worth

Since I know hardly anyone reads this and I rarely have commenters, I'm going to put some stuff out there that I usually wouldn't.  I'm a mom of 7.  I love my kids, but they're not always perfectly behaved.  Actually I think the only people that see perfect behavior from my kids are their teachers, because I've taught them respect and the importance of education.  For the most part, my kids are a mess.  They're adorable, but lazy.  They're super artistic and my walls and floors can attest to that.  I'm not that great (at all) at keeping my house clean.  I hardly ever get a good night's sleep, because I come home from work to eat dinner, do dishes (sometimes before the kids go to bed but usually not), make some kind of dessert for the next day (usually jello), and try to spend some time with my kids (for the most part doing homework and just snuggling).  I do a lot of breastfeeding, since I can't all day long and I desperately need that quiet time with my baby to decompress and remember what's important.  My family is super important to me and my kids know they're loved, but they also hear me yell at them.  I get angry when they fight.  I get upset when they don't follow instructions.  I'm able to use my classroom management skills for so long before it just spills out.  I used to be a super happy, overly optimistic person, but I've let my complaints get the better of me and went along with negative talk that I really shouldn't have.  My husband's home with the three smallest all day and considers each day a success when he gets anything done and I agree!  Sometimes I let the world's views make me upset that more isn't done.  I need to do more to be a better person and I know that.
 It doesn't matter that my bipolar ADD husband with an addiction is making bad choices, I can still make good choices.
It doesn't matter that my oldest son has Autism and has already ripped the zipper off his new backpack, because he's a paper hoarder and takes at least three notebooks full of his creatures and multiple books that he's reading, plus a spare outfit, in case he has an accident, which happens more frequently than I'd like to admit to.  And that he's constantly making explosions and mind-reading as long as he's awake, plus destroying whatever shirt he's wearing by chewing and sucking on it.  Right now he's bouncing off the walls and his mattress and scaring me half to death.
It doesn't matter that my five-year-old daughter refuses to take a bath, so I have to block her punches, pinches, and claws and come out of it soaking wet.  Or that she draws on the tile floors, or refuses to eat at the table with us and is super picky about what she eats.  (Don't worry. I'm working on getting her screened)
It doesn't matter that our 4th bedroom is now completely on lockdown due to the pouring rain and the ceiling coming down and that it's a mess, because I'm afraid to go in there.  And now my 3-year-old is desperately afraid to go to sleep if there's a storm and worries that we'll be safe.  It was in her room that the ceiling came down, so now all of the girls are back in one room.
It doesn't matter that our dryer is broke, so we have a mountain of laundry that's slowly getting washed and taken to the laundromat to dry.
It doesn't matter that our cars both have huge issues-radiator leak, back brakes, huge crack in the windshield, 2 tires going out...
It doesn't matter that we found the perfect place to rent, right down the street from the school I'm working at and we'd have to pull $1600 out of our make-believe hats.
It doesn't matter that we can't afford food, because we spend so much money on gas, so we've been eating a ton of rice and pasta and pbjs.  I really wish I liked Ramen.
It doesn't matter that my dad has ALS and I really don't want to lose the only righteous Priesthood holder in my close family.  I love my Dad!
It doesn't matter that my kids have way too much clothes and I can't figure out how to sell it to try to recoup some of the money from buying it.
None of these trials should be the downfall of a beloved daughter of God whose life has meaning, purpose and direction.  None of these things should affect my ability to do service, or pray, or read my scriptures, or strive to become a better person.  I can still be a good person, even if my life isn't perfect.  It's okay if my kiddos do their own hair sometimes.  It's okay if someone has an accident and has to take a shower and makes us run a little late.  It's okay if I have to leave at 4 in the morning to go to a day conference, so I don't have to leave my kids overnight.  It's okay if my husband is suffering from an addiction that may take him away from us for awhile.  It's okay if sometimes I fail to keep obligations, because I just can't handle one more thing.  It's okay!  Heavenly Father still loves me!  Jesus still died for me!  I can still repent!  I'm so blessed to have an amazing family!  I'm so blessed to have a stable job teaching amazing children!  I'm so blessed and this week I'm going to work hard to remember that!  I will be happy again!  I will work harder to be a better mom!  I will!  I am of worth, of infinite worth!  I'll be what He wants me to be!

Great times

We had picture day and I was super excited to do my girls' hair, because I saw an awesome tutorial the night before!
We're enjoying time with family right now, which is great!  My brother and his family were up from Louisiana and are moving back at the end of this month.  We got to celebrate one of my niece's birthday at Chuck E Cheese's.  It's changed though, and I really don't like it.  They got rid of the awesome slide and "playground" that were free and replaced it with a tiny bumper cars place.  So now when your kids run out of tokens, there's nothing for them to do.  Bummer!  We won't be doing birthdays there anymore!  I was exhausted and had a headache when we left.  It's been fun spending time with family though!
We had a little girls' night out on Friday and watched the Maze Runner.  That was pretty good, a lot like the book (that I read a long time ago).  They changed the made up bad words in the book to real bad words.  Stink!  We came home to find the boys watching Transformers.  We've enjoyed listening to Conference!
I also had the opportunity to take pictures of a friend's family and new baby.  He's so sweet!  Fantastic family!