Intentional Families

So Creating an Intentional Family is the first thing on my goal list for 2010. I am reading a great book (recommended by the awesome Jenny Martin) called: The Intentional Family by William Doherty and it is incredibly helpful. The book talks about the benefits of establishing family rituals and then details different types of rituals. The first chapter talks about meal times and for one of the examples it highlights a family that ritualized dinner time by setting the table, dimming the lights and lighting candles, and requiring all family members to stay at the table until dismissed by one of the parents. We tried it tonight and it was pretty good! The lower lighting seemed to help the kids to settle and it certainly created a nice ambiance. We told the kids before they sat down what the rules would be, so they were not suprised when we stayed at the table after the food was eaten. I read a few verses in the Book of Mormon and we had family prayer before we dismissed. Max was wiggly but the other kids did great! Ernie took a picture of our first candlelit dinner:

The other thing I would mention is that today I realized that the hard labor aspect of motherhood is getting a little easier. Today we had to clean the house because Ernie's parents are coming to visit tomorrow (since I only really clean when people come over) and miracle of miracles, I was not exhausted!! I couldn't figure it out until I realized that I have finally got Ernie trained properly (love you Ernie!) and the kids are finally old enough to provide actual (instead of symbolic) help. Totally awesome! I truly never thought today would come.

One last thing. I have to brag on Ernie:) He saw my pitiful necklace/bracelet situation (i.e. they were all tangled up in a giant ball of jewelry) and so he went out to the garage and in 2 days made this for me. He mounted it in the closet tonight. Love that man!

Put Everything Away Day

So today has been somewhat stressful, but nothing I want to discuss here. Instead, I want to talk about Christmas. We had a fantastic Christmas this year and the kids were all at the perfect ages so that it was less about the gift and more about the joy of simply opening a present. Max was the most excited 2 year old I've ever seen on Christmas morning! It was seriously one of the most heart warming things I've ever seen, to see all the kids squealing and jumping up and down and hugging each other while they opened their gifts. Ernie and I really enjoyed it. Here's a pic from Christmas morning (notice the COMPLETE lack of daylight!!):



Today was my put everything away day and here is what all the Christmas stuff looks like now:



This Christmas season was a good one for me personally. I felt really close to the Savior and through strategic planning I was able to relax and enjoy Christmas as much as the kids and Ernie. I'm almost ready to do it again next year!

Quality Time

Ernie was supposed to go to work today. He got up at 6am (after hitting snooze for 30 minutes), got in the shower, got dressed, came and woke me up to say prayers and then left for work... or so I thought. An hour and a half later, at 7:48am to be exact, I woke up in a panic because I heard Max on the stairs, out of his room and I jumped out of bed. When I got to the living room I saw Ernie on the couch, in charge of the situation and he announced that he'd never made it out the door and that he decided to stay home. Best suprise ever! My love language is quality time and I really can never get enough time with Ernie.

So, that got me thinking about my kids and their love languages. Little Ernie's is Words of Affirmation, I think. Nigel's is for sure Quality Time (Nigel: Can I be with you in the kitchen while you cook, Mom?) Emmaline is definitely Words of Affirmation (Emmaline: Mom, you are the most beautiful mom in the whole world and I love you more than you love me!) Max, well it's a little too soon to tell, but at the moment it's certainly Physical Affection.

I hope I can always express my love for my kids in ways that speak to them. I can't think of anything more tragic than my kids to grow up feeling unloved and unvalued.

The Beginning

I have decided that I want to connect with myself a little more through what I guess you could call public journaling. Really what I'm looking for is a way to highlight the great things that happen each day. I am a terrible at journaling, I haven't scrapbooked in years, but I really want to find a way to document what I hope will be a year of goal achievement. Mostly I think I'm looking for a reason to be accountable to the goals and ideas that I have spinning in my head right now. Kind of like how I only clean my house when I know someone is coming over. I need for people to "come over" and check on me! Here is some of what I want to accomplish in 2010, in no particular order, and seriously lacking in specifics at this point:

1. Create an intentional family
2. Read the Book of Mormon, start to finish, by May 20, 2010
3. Meaningful daily prayer
4. Serve in the community, not just at church
5. Daily gratitude
6. Expect that the Lord will speak to me every day
7. Remember that if the Lord can tell Nephi how to build a boat, He will tell me how to get my cabin. (more on that later...)
8. Help each of my kids to develop their own testimony
9. Continue working on the amazing relationship I have with Ernie (best husband EVER!)

So, I hope that this will help me.