Teaching Them How to Read


It’s Backwards Works for Me Wednesday ~ so instead of me telling you what works for me I’m asking you to tell me what works for you on a question I have…..

My son Jayden is 6 and in kindergarten and is showing interests in learning how to read. What do you find as the best methods in helping your child learn how to read? Are there special websites that really help with this? He loves the internet, so something that’s fun and teaches how to read would be great. But I also want something that him and I can do together.

Go check out Rocks in my dryer for other people who need your help!!

Got Purpose?

A friend of mine and I were talking today and she was saying that she saw a bumper sticker that said “Got Purpose?” If you really think about those 2 words they really are amazing. You can’t really be happy unless you have purpose. I know my purpose. My purpose is to be the best mom I can be to my kids. To be the best wife I can be to my husband. And to live my life according to the gospel. That’s my purpose, and since I know that and strive to do my best at these things I’m happy.

Get rid of that icky sponge!


It’s another case of Kitchen Tip Tuesday Last week I asked for advice on cleaning my oven and I’m proud to say that I have been back to baking w/out starting fires!! What I did was soak the burnt apple drip on the bottom of the over w/White Vinegar and then scraped the bottom w/a metal spatula.. then I got the remaining off just by cleaning it w/a White Vinegar & water solution. Thank you everyone for all of your advice. And Tammy, thank you for the recent tip on using baking soda to put the fire out next time (but there won’t be a next time LOL) Okay! Now on to this week’s tip:

Do you have that icky sponge in your sink still? The one that seems to reek of mildew… well, then you need to go to the baby section and buy this! It has a suction cup on the bottom and so the water drips down and it doesn’t get that mildew smell. If you have a baby – you can color code it. Pink for baby, blue for dishes. Or however you want to do it.

For other great kitchen tips visit Tammy’s Recipes

My Cardiac Baby

Every night I lay down and I look at Ella and rub her cheek and I thank God that she is still with me. Every time I think of what happened to her my stomach just flips upside down. Today I felt so bad, because she had to get shots. She was so happy and just cooing at the nurse and then she stuck her and Ella screamed her head off. And of course I’ve spent the majority of today listening to her heart over and over again. We’ve almost gone 3 months w/out Ella having to be rushed off to the hospital and I couldn’t be more thankful for all of the prayers that have gone Ella’s way.

The thought that runs through my mind the most is what made Ella’s doctor want to see her the day after I had brought her in? I have never had a doctor do that. I’ve brought Jayden to the doctors when he was sick and after the doctor checked him over they didn’t call me the next day and say “We just want to check him out since it’s Friday and the weekend’s coming up.” When Ella’s doctor’s office called and said this I almost hesitated to be honest, but thought might as well, she’s still sick. Little did I know that my daughter’s organs were starting to shut down. Little did I know that her heart rate was at 280. Little did I know that in a couple more hours I’d be holding a baby that stopped breathing. Little did I know that my whole world was going to be flipped upside down and forever changed at that moment. Little did I know that I would learn just how much I loved this little girl. I thought she was going to die. To see her laying there lifeless was a feeling I can’t even describe. To have tubes breathing for her was the most horrible sight I’ve ever seen in my life. To have to drive 4 long hours in the middle of the night to Portland while she was being mediflighted there. Not knowing if she made it. Yet, getting that phone call and having the best sigh of relief I’ve ever had – the plane has landed and they’re on their way to the hospital.

One thing that always sticks out in my mind is that next morning – 7am shift change. We’d barely had any sleep since we had arrived there at 4am. But I heard the nurse walk in to the room and say, “This one’s awake in here.” Gino and I jumped up so quick and ran to her side. She just looked at us w/her big beautiful eyes and tried to move her mouth like she wanted to tell us everything that had happened to her and even tried to cry, but there was a tube going down her throat. My little precious, 7 week old, newborn baby.

I cannot express how thankful I am for every prayer that was said for her. For God carrying her in his arms.

Even though she’s had no episodes, she still has her heart problem. I still give her medication every 8 hours. On that ECHO her WPW will still be there. So please pray if you pray that Ella stays healthy.

Thank you.

Monday Goals

This is my first official goal setting week for 2008. I am going to try something different. I have picked the 5 most important things in my life. I am going to set small goals for each of these things.

Faith: Read through 1 Nephi Chapter 17 in the BOM and write about these chapters on my BOM BLOG

Parenting:
Get Jayden back to a structured schedule for after he comes home from school

Marriage: Compliment my husband at least once a day

Home:
Not go to bed w/out a clean kitchen and finish ALL laundry

Work: Get new filing cabinet put together and all my files organized in it. Get default notices out.

EDITING TO ADD MYSELF: I will do at least 20 mintues of exercise/day Monday-Friday

It’s Christmas Again!!

My dear husband opened the door tonight for Jayden to see the ground covered in snow. Jayden got more excited than I think I’ve ever seen him before. He started jumping up and down saying “It’s Christmas again! Oh yeah, baby!!” While I find this just downright adorable it also just melts my heart into purple puddles. Watching my son’s face light up gets me every time. Maybe I should invest in one of those snow makers so I can see his face light up like this every day. Oh the joys of snow. Well, unfortunately there’s not going to be any excitement in the morning when I drag him out of bed moaning and groaning to make him go back to school instead of running down the stairs to see what Santa has brought him.

Now for my moan! I do not want to have to get up early tomorrow! I have gotten so used to not having to wake up prior to 8:30am with this whole Christmas break thing and I’ve really enjoyed not having to leave my house @ 12:15 while I’m in the middle of some very intense work to pick up Jayden from school. But then again….. YAY! He’s going back to school ~ I’ll actually get to get some work done if Ella cooperates!!! Maybe I can get my husband to take him tomorrow. I really don’t feel like walking in snow – I don’t even have snow boots yet….. and snow is cold!

7 Random Thing About ME – ENJOY

Playful Professional tagged me for a fun little Meme. Here are the rules:

  1. Link to the person who tagged you;
  2. Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours;
  3. Post the rules on your blog;
  4. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog;
  5. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post;
  6. Include links to their blogs;
  7. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My 7 Random/Weird Facts about ME!

1. I have to smell everything…. soda, water, food before it enters my mouth
2. I have a hard time drinking after anybody that isn’t my husband (even my own child)
3. I’d rather wear flip flops even in the pouring rain
4. I take at least 2 baths a day – not including my shower
5. I like to dip my grilled ham & cheese in ketchup and ranch
6. I have a Pipi Longstocking dance
7. I have a hard time eating food that I know doesn’t have a brand name label on it

I am going to tag: Kimberlee, Becky, Mrs. Mordecai, Kimi Harris, Tammy, Tia Berry & Jenna Lee

She has a tooth & He lost one!!

We have had quite the busy couple of weeks w/Ella. On 12/22/07 she rolled over, on 12/28/07 she sat by herself. Somewhere along these lines she held her own bottle and today I felt a tooth that broke through!!! I will get pics up of her sitting oh so proud by herself and of her first tooth!!!!

Jayden lost his first tooth on 12/30/07 and the Tooth Fairy was so nice to him… she gave him a whole $5.00! He bought himself a smoothie at the mall and a big sucker. Well, last night lo and behold I hear Jayden in his room saying MY TOOTH FELL OUT!!! CRAP! How is the tooth fairy supposed to come when I have no car since my husband is at work. So I ran to the calendar w/Jayden and said “OH MAN! The Tooth Fairy is on vacation until tomorrow night.” He bought it! Thank you, Lord! So, we set his tooth on his head board and tonight we’ll be putting it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy…. so many wonderful events happening in these parts :0)

So, now I’m going to prepare myself for Jayden’s friend that’s coming over…. boys together are CRAZY! So, then I’ll come back and edit this post with pictures… hope everyone has a blessed day!

Goals – 1/4/08-1/6/08

So since one of my resolutions was to make weekly goals I’ve decided that every Monday I will post my goals for the week. Since this week I didn’t make this resolution on a Monday I’m going to list a couple goals now that I’d like to see done by Sunday…..

1) Read through Chapter 12 of 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon – I didn’t accomplish this…I would have but I restarted and am now using a study guide – CLICK HERE

2) Christmas Tree taken down (UGH I hate this part of Christmas)

3) Finish laundry ~ didn’t even get close on this 🙁

4) Spend 30-45 minutes every night teaching Jayden how to read

Okay, so those are simple, little goals. But I want to accomplish my goals so that’s how it’s gonna be :0) Great thing is I’ve already read 3 Chapters of 1Nephi today so I’m a 1/4 way done on my first goal!!

You get to a point in life where you look back at the life you’ve lived and think WOW. It’s amazing how much things have changed for me. It’s amazing that 2 years ago I was a person I didn’t like. You go through life and you go through stages and I guess each stage makes you who you are. But I must admit, there are phases I wish I never went through. Friends I wish I never had. Decisions I made I wish I never made. But because of those friends, because of those decision I am who I am… right? Looking at my happy life, with positive people, positive friends, a happy marriage, Church and I just can’t believe I ever had the complete opposite of what my life is right now. I’m glad I changed. I’m glad my husband changed. I’m so happy I moved away from the most negative, chaotic place. I miss my mom, my sister, my brother. I do, but I know that marriage would not have survived had we stayed. And my marriage and my babies are the most important thing to me. You know what’s sad? A part of me honestly has no desire to ever go back there.