Oh to some day be a scriptorian! I admire those who can just randomly quote scriptures and know every scripture story. My Dad is a scriptorian. You can just start reading a scripture out loud to him, and he will almost always be able to tell you what chapter and book you are reading from in the Book of Mormon. He has memorized a verse from every chapter and when he goes for daily hikes he will start from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and go through to the end reviewing in his mind. It's pretty incredible. I am not quite there yet . . . but I would love to get there!I don't know if it is genetic or what, but my children have inherited a bit of that scripture genius.
A few months ago the Stake Primary Presidency was visiting our ward and they attended Primary. During sharing time the leader was asking the children about something and asked, "Can anyone tell me an example in the scriptures of this?" Drew, knowing the answer to every question, immediately shot up his hand. When called upon he replied, "THEREFORE . . . BE NICE!" Certainly that's got to be in the scriptures somewhere right? :) All of the adults including the Stake Presidency got a kick out of that. Drew isn't the only scriptorian though.
The other day my parents were at my house and the kids were a little excited and showing off. Hayden got his scriptures out and was proudly presenting them to Grandma and Grandpa Barksdale, and he had the page turned to the picture of Moroni. My Mom asked Hayden, "Are those your scriptures? Is that a picture of Mormon . . . or is it Moroni?" I was with Mom, it took me a second and I was about to answer the question out loud but Hayden spoke up first. He said, "I know it's Moroni . . . you want to know why?" I was waiting for what funny thing he might say. And then he said, "Because Mormon did most of it . . . and then he told Moroni to hide it." Oh the pride of a parent. I love it when you realize they actually are listening! :)
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Jedi Training
Some may not know this, but I actually have two fully trained Jedi's living here who not only know how to use the force but do on a regular basis. And whatever you do, don't you dare smile like, "Oh Drew, you are so cute" after Drew gives you some Jedi wisdom because he will immediately come back at you with, "No Mom, seriously . . . that's true." The other day we were driving in the car and I was saying that we needed to ask Dad about something, and Drew said in a serious voice, "Mom, Dad said yes."
"What?"
"No really, I'm using the force. My mind can speak with his mind."
Oh boy, how can you beat this kind of entertainment?
Well tonight before bed I walked upstairs and the boys were fighting with their light sabers with their eyes closed. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. They were totally serious and apparently they were using the force to detect where to place their light sabers. I grabbed my camera but I was too late. Instead I tape recorded them giving me their light saber techniques and had them demonstrate them for me. When Lamon sees these videos he will probably wonder why in the world I was doing this instead of cleaning the messy living room pictured in the background. But you know, this is important business. If Jedi moves aren't practiced regurlarly . . . it is very possible that you could lose all of your skills. I mean honestly . . . I need a lot of practice! I didn't even hit Ada's light saber more than once the entire time. My moves were superb, but I need to work on my accuracy. I have my work cut out for me.
"What?"
"No really, I'm using the force. My mind can speak with his mind."
Oh boy, how can you beat this kind of entertainment?
Well tonight before bed I walked upstairs and the boys were fighting with their light sabers with their eyes closed. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. They were totally serious and apparently they were using the force to detect where to place their light sabers. I grabbed my camera but I was too late. Instead I tape recorded them giving me their light saber techniques and had them demonstrate them for me. When Lamon sees these videos he will probably wonder why in the world I was doing this instead of cleaning the messy living room pictured in the background. But you know, this is important business. If Jedi moves aren't practiced regurlarly . . . it is very possible that you could lose all of your skills. I mean honestly . . . I need a lot of practice! I didn't even hit Ada's light saber more than once the entire time. My moves were superb, but I need to work on my accuracy. I have my work cut out for me.
The Death Water
Some months ago my brother Dave and I were reminiscing about our childhood. Among the memories we discussed was one that is quite shameful. In this memory we both agreed that we were very comparable to Sid from the movie Toy Story. One day when we were kids we decided that we wanted to play scientist/inventors. So we put all of Dave's toys GI Joes, Hemans, cars, helicopters etc. at the bottom of his bunkbed and covered them with a blanket. Then we climbed to the top of the bunkbed and jumped off of the top bunk onto the toys below breaking some of them (sorry Mom if you are reading this). And then we found creative ways to put them back together. Terrible I know. But unlike Sid we were not evil or mean as we did this, it was all innocent I assure you. Well, the last few days I have wondered if we don't have a bit of a Sid living amongst us here in our house. None of my children torture their toys. But we have had some runins with "bug" torture. My kids are intrigued by bugs . . . spiders etc., and are not very scared of them. There has been a few times that Ada has come to me telling me that there is a spider somewhere in the house and politely asks me if she can take a shoe and kill it. Pretty brave for a three year old girl. Once when I lived at home it took me 2 hours to kill a spider in my room . . . and I was eighteen at the time.
Anyway, a swift killing of a spider is nothing to worry about. But everytime there has been an opportunity to kill a spider or an insect lately Drew will say, "No Mom! Don't kill it!" The first time he said this I thought, "Oh how sweet. He doesn't want the poor little creature to die." But then he followed by saying, "Don't kill it. I want to go put it in the 'Death Water'". I have since learned that the "Death Water" is a bucket of water in the backyard that we put under the hose spicket. I don't know how many insects/spiders have met their demise in the "Death Water" by Drew, but I'm thinking more than one.
I've killed plenty of spiders in my time, but I've always been humane. I'm just hoping that Drew, like Dave and I, has had no intended "Sid like" behavior while doing this. But just in case . . . we read a great book yesterday by Roald Dahl called the "Magic Finger." In the story there is a little girl who has a magic finger which she can't control. When she gets angry at someone her magic finger goes crazy and strange things happen. Well she hates that her neighbors love to hunt and kill animals. One day they shot a bunch of birds and ducks and she got so angry that her magic finger went to work. Unbeknownst to her while she was sleeping these neighbors transformed into Ducks while the family of the Ducks they had slaughtered became human sized. The Ducks moved into their home while they had to make do building a nest and sleeping outside in the tree etc. When they awoke they were faced with four ducks below them with guns pointing up at them in the air. The Gregg family had a change of heart, and got rid of their guns and vowed never to kill another bird. It was a really funny book, but I think it is going to be a great reference book for when Drew has these torturous tendencies! :) Of course suddenly I am recalling an incident when I was a child involving worms, plastic knives and playing surgeons/doctors . . . I had forgotten about that. We turned out alright I guess. Maybe I shouldn't worry too much about the "Death Water."
Anyway, a swift killing of a spider is nothing to worry about. But everytime there has been an opportunity to kill a spider or an insect lately Drew will say, "No Mom! Don't kill it!" The first time he said this I thought, "Oh how sweet. He doesn't want the poor little creature to die." But then he followed by saying, "Don't kill it. I want to go put it in the 'Death Water'". I have since learned that the "Death Water" is a bucket of water in the backyard that we put under the hose spicket. I don't know how many insects/spiders have met their demise in the "Death Water" by Drew, but I'm thinking more than one.
I've killed plenty of spiders in my time, but I've always been humane. I'm just hoping that Drew, like Dave and I, has had no intended "Sid like" behavior while doing this. But just in case . . . we read a great book yesterday by Roald Dahl called the "Magic Finger." In the story there is a little girl who has a magic finger which she can't control. When she gets angry at someone her magic finger goes crazy and strange things happen. Well she hates that her neighbors love to hunt and kill animals. One day they shot a bunch of birds and ducks and she got so angry that her magic finger went to work. Unbeknownst to her while she was sleeping these neighbors transformed into Ducks while the family of the Ducks they had slaughtered became human sized. The Ducks moved into their home while they had to make do building a nest and sleeping outside in the tree etc. When they awoke they were faced with four ducks below them with guns pointing up at them in the air. The Gregg family had a change of heart, and got rid of their guns and vowed never to kill another bird. It was a really funny book, but I think it is going to be a great reference book for when Drew has these torturous tendencies! :) Of course suddenly I am recalling an incident when I was a child involving worms, plastic knives and playing surgeons/doctors . . . I had forgotten about that. We turned out alright I guess. Maybe I shouldn't worry too much about the "Death Water."
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Swaddling
I love to swaddle (is that how you spell it?). There is something about swaddling that just helps a baby sleep longer and better. It is wonderful. But it is a little bit irksome to me that most baby blankets are just too small to adequately swaddle a baby for any extended period of time. After a couple months you have to give up wrapping your baby up tight because your baby has grown too big. Has anyone else experienced this same dilema? It's a sad day when swaddling is over. Well I wasn't ready to give it up yet with Tilson. Me and my magnificent brain thought . . . "Hey. I don't have to use baby blankets to wrap this bundle of joy up! I can use bigger blankets!" And I have. So at six months Tilson is still being swaddled every night, and sleeps like a dream! 
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