Just for fun...

So some of you know I keep very busy even though I stay at home. I love being the Young Women's President and you will often hear me talk about "My girls". We are going to the Deseret Industries assignment tomorrow morning. I think they enjoy me also. However it has been almost three years now and before that I was called as the stake pianist and organist. For me that was a very busy calling with preparing for the Christmas concert and 5 church choir concert in May. Sometimes I practised 2-3 hours a day. No joke. However beginning last September I was asked to help out with the concerts and also I am playing two difficult organ pieces this Sunday for Stake Conference. I have already been given the music to help with concert in May. I actually enjoy it but I am getting tooooo busy since I hav e to practise everyday as well as hold my other calling. I wonder if they will be calling me to be the stake organist again....
So I have decided to make a few comments about my kids...funny things they did growing up. I will start with Alyssa but actually I could write a book. Alyssa was quite sneaky when she felt like it. She could enter a classroom after the bell and never let the teacher know she was tardy, or leave and come back without the teacher knowing; She would hide her earrings in a potted plant when she didn't want to put them away; hide a video ("problem child") when she felt it was not "appropriate" for her brother and friends to see; and walk out the balcony of her room in Holland and scale the house on a skinny ledge just to geet around the traps Dan set on Christmas Eve.
Moving on to Rachelle: She was not so sneaky but when she did something wrong and get her hand slapped, she would always hold out the other hand and say "other one" and wait for that slap. (Obviously the slap was not too painful). She is my only child who ever bit someone. She would bite Alyssa when she would get frustrated on numerous times. After trying everything I could think of, I told her that if she did it again I would have to show her how it felt...yes, by biting her back. It only took one time and she never did it again.
Steve: He thinks I never knew about the naughty things he did but I just chose to close my eyes at times. He was very good at heart. He and Jeff got along quite well but sometimes they would really have it out. When the girls would run to tell me they were fighting...I would tell them to just shut the door. Steve grew up with two older sisters. Around the age of 5-6 I noticed him playing with barbies and decided it was time to get some GIJoes. I hope it didn't cause too much damage. Steve stayed out of trouble for the most part except the day before he received his eagle scout. But that's all I will say about that one.
Jeff: What can I say about Jeff. He was my sneakiest. He planned a secret capture of Sinter Klaus (the dutch santa claus) at age 5, we found a pelt from a skinned rat in his room (eeewwww...), he was trying to hatch an egg from a bird in his room, he took a video recording of himself searching and finding all the Christmas presents, and would scare me to death when he payed with fire. He also came into our bedroom (he calls it the courtroom) when he turned eighteen with a long list of freedoms he felt he now deserved and we talked for hours about them. He finally took school seriously in his junior year and has been the perfect son ever since.
Jenesee: Pretty much the perfect little girl un til Rachelle went to collage. That day she felt her life was over because she was going to be bored to death. She and I had to sit down and make lists of what she could do with her life. Unfortunately, shopping was at the top of her list even when she was 11. Shocking us all, she actually survived her sisters leaving. When Jenny was little and would misbehave, we would send her into her room until she could smile. That would take about one minute and she couldn't help smiling and came out. She was always soooo happy that she annoyed her brothers terribly. I would ask them how I could discipline her for being happy. Losing her first tooth at 5 was a traumatic experience for us all. It had a little red tag left after the tooth came out. She was on her way to Paris with a very good friend to go to Paris Disney. She wouldn't swallow because she thought that red tag was gross and wouldn't touch it. Therefore she wouldn't eat or drink and by the middle of the night was dry heaving. The mother freaked out, called me and I was on the first plane out that morning to Paris to pick her up. We took the train home and on the way I offerred her a box drink with a tiny straw. It fit perfectly in the lost tooth area and she drank it right up. After that we made a rule she had to put her tonge forward every fifteen minutes until she go used to it.
Tom: was the perfect little boy until about two and a half when he threw his first major tantrum. He wasn't getting enough attention with company in the house. That pretty much describes Tom. He likes attention. When the kids would go to school and he and I were left home alone, he always said "just the way I like it". I was Tom's playmate since he was 7 years younger than Jenny. Tom's alot of fun and keeps me laughing every day. He's well liked but doesn't like doing homework. He gets bored easily and really challenges my "knowledge in parenting. He will be going to EFY alone this summer at BYU and is really looking forward to it. We will be spending the summer in Idaho building and living in a barn. We will also be getting our first boat. Life is more fun with Tom and his favorite part of life is his neices and nephews. They adore him more than any of the rest of us. Just isn't fair since I'm the grandma.