Kids are funny

the kids saw this and called it a "pearl necklace for the tree."

Home is Where the Heart is...

"Where are you from?"  "What's your hometown?"  Two of the toughest questions I've ever had continuously in my life.  What's the litany?

I was born in Charleston, SC.
I lived in New York for a while, Schenectady, I think? Oh boy, I think I spelled that wrong.
Then we moved to Welch, MN.
Then it was on to the place I grew up, which in itself is confusing. It used to be one of my great pleasures to recite the following list quickly and without taking a breath:

Our address was Goodhue, our phone number was White Rock, I went to school in Cannon Falls, we actually lived near Vasa, and I went to a Red Wing church which was actually in Wisconsin. Got all that? Uh-huh. And all that, I was never really fond of calling Minnesota home. Sorry, Minnesotan friends. It's just not for everyone.

Then I went to college, in Rexburg, Idaho.

Then just before I got married the next year, my parents sold our house and moved to Arizona. Can't really claim that as home either, though I love my parents, and visiting them, and living with them has been great.  It still didn't feel like home (I'd never actually lived there until several years later!)

We bounced around Rexburg for several years.  We tried a University Ward. Nope. Then it was Rigby. Nope. Then it was Rexburg 4th ward. Then it was Rexburg 9th ward. Nope.

Then we moved down here to Vail, AZ for a couple years.  I love the people in my ward, but it wasn't home.

Then we moved back to Rexburg, and into the Rexburg 15th ward.  I got along with people, they seemed to like me, and appreciate me. I wasn't lost in a sea of other young married families.  People knew who I was, I had a calling I loved (choir accompanist) under the best director (Steve Dresen, he's awesome) I'd ever had, outside my own family. We had friends. Then we were moving again so Matt could do an internship in Disneyland, and for the first time, I was sad to leave.  We even arranged for us to be able to move back into the ward again when we came back.

And now, through an unforeseen set of circumstances, that dream may not come true.  And it made me realize today, that for the first time in my life, I'd found someplace I could call home.  Only, I may not get to go back. Oh sure, I'll be in Rexburg.  But for those of you who don't know, in Rexburg, it's really hard sometimes to keep social ties outside your ward boundaries.  You just get too busy, and if you aren't forced to see people every week, you tend to forget them, or set them aside.  We've all done it, LDS or not.

And that makes me really sad.

But I'll never forget that I found home. Thank you.

Taking a Break

Hi, my name is Arienne. And I'm an internet-a-holic.

But today, it stops.

Now, I think it's unrealistic to stop competely, but I'm putting up some STRICT limits for myself, indeed, even sacrifices. I have to. My kids need me.

I want to be a good mom, I truly do. And I've tried my best. But there's that saying, Maya Angelou, I think? "When you know better, do better." Well, that's what I'm going to do.

I realize now that a lot of the problems I have with my kids are cries for attention. But I didn't always know what to DO with my kids. I admitted to my mom the other day, "I don't know HOW to play with my kids!" She's given me some suggestions, and I've come up with some of my own. I've been doing a little better with my avoidance over the past few days, but stricter measures must be taken, at least at first.

What are my new rules? No computer when the kids are awake. That means I need to get up earlier than the first kid (before 6am? Really? I think not), or wait until they go to bed, around 7pm. Yup. Yee haw. Packing all my me time into 2-3 hours a night, for about a week and a half. That's how long until my dad comes back. (and when Dad says it's bad, it's BAD.)

That still allows me a little time to check on things with friends, update my blog a little here an a little there. I won't be planting any short term crops in FarmVille, or cooking short order food in CafeWorld, or even playing any computer games, unless I'm really stressed, and even then I might just use that time to take a soak in the hot tub or something. And I have books I want to read... so really, I'm just doing the bare minimum online until I've shown my kids through my actions that I love them, I care about them, and I'm not going to put up with any more crappy behavior. Harsh words, I know, but drastic times call for drastic measures, and sometimes, a little drastic vocabulary.

Aside from that, I NEED HELP! Truly, I don't have a lot of ideas of what to do with my kids. Sad, I know. So please comment on this post with suggestions, PLEASE! Or I may just go crazy.


P. S. I will be using a lot of disciplinary ideas from this book:

A Happy Halloween After All!

So Rhydon brought home a flu last week, and it's pretty much knocked us all out of commission, in turn. He was first, of course. Then Tristan, me, Mom, Kael, and finally Elizabeth. I kept hoping we would get better quickly, but it was not to be. The kids were SO sad that they couldn't go to the ward Halloween party, trunk-or-treating, or trick-or-treating. And we had their costumes planned and everything... so I thought, what can I do? I'm not sure how it came to me, but it occurred to me that trick-or-treating is just going door-to-door, and we have lots of doors in this house, and three people to help... So we trick-or-treated in the house!

So I dressed up the kids. Elizabeth was the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio. Doesn't she just LOOK the part? I think she loved wearing makeup best of all. I'm going to have quite a challenge on my hands when she grows up I think! Talk about beautiful!

I took the easy route with Tristan. We've had these jammas since Kael was that big. They even have a little cape that attaches with velcro at the shoulders, though I didn't do a great job getting a picture of that. Tristan was happy though. He's only 2!

Kael was Michaelangelo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle! Mom made this costume 18 years ago for Rhydon! Rhydon wore it 3 years in a row, ages 3, 4, and 5. I thought it was great that Rhydon's namesake be wearing the same costume at the same age. We let Kael watch the first TMNT movie to get him excited about it. He pretty much thought it was the coolest costume EVER and wanted to wear it to bed. But it's not Potty friendly, so we had to say no. :)

We had our home teachers over earlier in the day to give blessings, and one of them came back with his wife, bringing plastic jack-o-lantern buckets full of goodies, so they were already off to a good start. Then we got some bags of candy from the store, and filled up a couple of big bowls. Then we all got behind a door, and had the kids trick-or-treat! Luckily, Elizabeth knew how, and was able to lead the others. They even said "thank you" unprompted!! They came away with quite a haul, and thought it was a great Halloween!

So while it looked a little bleak at first, I managed to pull off a fun and memorable Halloween anyway! I hope it turns into one of those memories the kids look back fondly on years down the road. I know I certainly will!