So yesterday I overheard Ada talking with Aunt Lizzy on the phone. It was about 10 am in the morning and Lizzy said, "What are you guys doing?" Ada responded, ". . . Eating ice-cream!" Then Lizzy asked, "You are eating ice-cream for breakfast?" To which Ada responded by bursting out laughing and saying: "Ha ha. No!!! . . . Ha ha . . . We had Cake for breakfast!!" It was so funny that when I took the phone from Ada Liz and I proceeded to laugh for a long time. It was so funny. So then after yesterday's culinary pleasures Ada again wanted a mid morning snack of ice-cream today, and I told her, "I don't think so Ada . . . you know, ice-cream is really bad for you!" Ada replied, "It is? . . . Then why do we eat it so much?" Ha ha. Okay, That is a pretty fair question. I just said, "Well . . . it tastes so yummy! But it really isn't the best thing for our bodies." Then Ada in all seriousness turned to me and said, "Mom? . . . Did God make Ice-Cream?" Ha ha! I love her.
Oh my little Tilson is getting so big! He is turning three years old in a couple weeks, and I just can't believe it. The time has flown by!
I was actually thinking about Tilson in the middle of Sunday School today. It was about one year ago that Tilson was turning two and as we were getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to him, Lamon lit the candles and something that we had never experienced before with the older kids happened . . . Tilson freaked out. He was afraid of the candles . . . of the fire. My oldest three kids have never really been afraid of anything. It was kind of sad. Here we were trying to sing Happy Birthday, which is supposed to be fun, and Tilson was whimpering through the whole song. Then at the end of the song Lamon shoved the cake in his face saying, "Blow out the candles Tilson!" To which Tilson turned his head and scooted backwards and cried. Come on! Really? Shove the cake in his face? That is torture! So while Tilson was crying and totally afraid Lamon didn't give up. "Come on Tilson blow them out like this. . . " and he blew them out.
"Phew . . ." I thought to myself. "Thank Heavens that's over . . . poor guy. Lets cut the cake!" But no, Lamon lit the candles again. Oh boy. So then Tilson watched the candles intently as we sang again and then Lamon pushed the cake in his face again. In fear he started turning away whimpering again. I felt bad and blurted out, "Okay Daddy! That's when Dad comes to the rescue and just blows out the candles for him!" Birthdays are supposed to be fun you know and here is Tilson scared to death!!! But then Tilson suddenly got the courage to blow out the whimpiest little blow and scooted back as he did so, not knowing what would happen. And after just seeing the candle flicker a little he mustered up enough courage to blow a little harder until he finally blew one out . . . then the other. And what happened after was quite magical! He laughed, like only he can laugh, in pure joy . . . and then he wanted to do it again and again and again. Lamon kept lighting the candles . . . and he kept blowing them out while we all laughed.
So the reason I was thinking about this during Sunday school today was because we were talking about the Pre-existence when Satan presented his own plan for mankind that would ensure everyone of God's children would make it back. Only Satan's plan removed Agency from man. Satan wasn't thinking about our progression, or to glorify God, he in his selfishness wanted all of the glory for himself.
But God's plan was different. His plan required us to come to Earth to be tried and tested. And yes, we would face opposition. At Tilson's little Birthday party I was kind of like Satan(work with me here). I know it's a far stretch. Any way, I was like . . . "Oh no . . . it's too hard! Look at him . . . don't make him do it!" I didn't want to watch him struggle or be afraid . . . "Just blow it out for him!" I said. And we could have done that, and he probably would have calmed down, and eaten his cake. All is Well.
But Oh seeing the pure joy on that kids face after overcoming his fear and doing something hard . . . made me think of Heavenly Fathers glorious plan. He knew that life would present trials, hard choices, heartache, all sorts of risks . . .and that it would be HARD!And it was all by divine design! He knew that through exercising our Agency and using the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ in our lives we could overcome all . . . sadness, heartache, fear, and sin . . . become more like Him, and just like Tilson after blowing out his candles . . . experience Happiness unlike we could ever imagine.
How thankful I am for God's wonderful Plan of Happiness!!! :)
So you know that phrase, "If you can't say something nice don't say it at all?" It is really a great concept and we have tried to teach that to our kids, but up to this point they haven't really caught on very well. My kids are talkers and they tend to say whatever they are thinking, which is great except when what they are thinking is mean. I don't know how many times we have told them "If you can't say something nice don't say it at all" with out a whole lot of success.
So the other day I presented a different strategy. I told the kids, "What if when you are about to say something mean (even if it's true) you say the exact opposite instead?" I know that is not a perfect idea . . . but if they are going to be impulsive talkers . . . maybe it might help them quickly change a negative thought being expressed into something positive.
So this morning I got back from my six mile run in barely enough time to take Lamon to work. We shuffled all of the kids out the door, and got in the car . . . and as we got into the car Ada says to me with total sincerity, "Mom . . . you smell good!" Ha ha ha.
It made me laugh so hard. Oh . . . how I love my children!
Merry Christmas from the Mack Family! This year has been full of joy, fun, and a
lot of work.
Our greatest gift this year came in March when our 4th
little boy/ 5th child was born. Hunter Chase Mack is pretty much
stinkin cute. His brothers and sister can’t get enough of him. Hunter is almost
nine months old now. He eats like a champ and has cheeks to prove it. He is
sitting up and scooting backwards, but not quite crawling yet. He giggles and
laughs, and brings us a lot of joy! We love him!
Tilson has found his voice this year. He turned two years old
and finally started talking. And boy does he talk!! He loves to tell jokes,
tell stories, ask questions and play pretend. He loves playing house and
barbies with his sister, but can also be all rough and tough with his brothers
too. He is our first somewhat shy child. But at home he keeps us laughing. I
love his little voice and his laugh. His laugh is so over the top you would
think that he is faking, but he’s not. I
could listen to him laugh all day. He
loves to snuggle and possibly has the world’s biggest brown eyes you have ever
seen and knows how to work them. J We love him!
It was a big year for Ada this year. She started
Kindergarten, and has been loving it. She is probably our most social child.
She always wants to be playing with a friend. And she is pretty lucky because
she has about 5 girls to play with on our street! Ada is taking dance again
this year and is such a cute little dancer. Ada loves to draw and color and
keeps our fridge adorned with artwork. Ada is my biggest helper with the babies
at home. If I ask her to help me with something I can almost always count on
her saying, “Sure!” and then doing it. Oh how I appreciate that! She is so
Awesome!!
Hayden is just Amazing. Literally. At school Hayden ends
almost every day on “Amazing” which is the highest mark up a child can achieve.
He is a smart little guy and is constantly amazing us with his self motivation.
He loves school, and is an amazing reader and creative writer. He loves to
write stories, and for a second grader does a pretty darn good job! Hayden
started Tumbling this year and if you see him he would be more than happy to
show off his nearly perfect round offs and cart wheels! Hayden continues to keep
life fun at our house, and we love his guts!!
Drew turned 9 this year and is there anything that this child
can’t do if he puts his mind to it? Honestly. How many 9 year olds climb to the
top of Timp? Well Drew did this year along with his cousin Mack and it still
just amazes me. What a stud. He also taught himself to ride a rip stick, the
only one to master that skill in our family. I’m still working on getting on it
without falling. Drew has continued in soccer this year and was a very
impressive goalie! Drew also took swimming lessons along with Hayden and Ada
and is one awesome swimmer. I have a feeling that Drew will always keep our
lives full of excitement! We love him!
Lamon started the year off with another trip to Guatemala. It
was his second year going with Hirsche Smiles and he had a fabulous time. He
would go every year if it wasn’t so darn expensive, but we settled on every
other year! He loves it. Lamon has been hard at work. He continues to be an
amazing nurse, but has also picked up some extra work in landscaping this year!
J He worked very hard transforming our
old fashioned yard with a crappy lawn into a beautiful masterpiece. It took all
summer to finish. We are very grateful for the help he received from my brother
John and some very invaluable people in our ward. By the time it was done we
had perfect strangers passing in their cars rolling down their windows and
congratulating him on a job well done! J I have an amazing huband!!
I spent the year basically just loving my baby and enjoying
my family. A few of my favorite highlights were: Giving birth to a handsome little boy,
running a half marathon in October with Drew joining me for the last 2+ miles,
and taking Hunter to Georgia to visit my parents on their mission while Lamon
played Mommy at home (Did I mention he’s amazing?)! What a stud! Even though
the summer was full hard work in the yard, we managed to squeeze in some fun
trips to waterparks, some camping with cousins, and a very fun road trip to
Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Island Park, and Bear World. We had a blast! We
had an awesome year. And we love this Christmas Season where we can enjoy the
family we have been blest with and celebrate the life of our Savior who showed
us the way and made it possible, through His Infinite Atonement, for us to
return and live with Him again. Merry Christmas!!
Love,
The Macks (Lamon, Mary, Andrew,
Hayden, Ada, Tilson, and Hunter)
My kids love the show "America's Funniest Home Videos. They watch it all the time on Netflix. So for some time they have had every intention of someday winning AFV. They are always on the look out for funny videos that we might have on file somewhere. Either that or after doing something funny (which they do quite often) they will say, "Oh man! Too bad we didn't get that on video!" Then there is always the attempt to create a video on purpose that is funny . . . which never quite works out. I have tried to explain to them that it has to be unscripted. Well, we haven't had a good video yet . . . but this one is a bit of a step in the right direction. It brought a smile to my face! I guess we will just have to keep recording pointless videos until one of these days we will really catch something worthwhile. By the way . . .the noise in the background is Hunter blowing bubbles . . . Promise!! :)
Ha ha ha! How extremely embarrassing. That is proof that I really do need to actually pay attention to my blog. So here is my explanation for that interesting post. I have been so "busy" that I keep writing ideas for blog posts and save them to come back to later . . . but then I never actually come back to finish them. So I have a bunch of drafts that have words or a couple sentences to remind me of my thoughts. Somehow a draft was posted without me knowing it. Who knows how long that beauty of a post was actually published before I realized it!!! Sorry for anyone who actually read that Crypted, unfinished post that made absolutely zero sense. I mean . . . I really am losing my mind . . . but anyone who read that must have felt extremely sorry for me. Now I really need to dedicate an entire blog post to how cool I am just to build back up my self confidence!
Let's see . . . where was I wanting to go with this post I started a million years ago? Because now I need to finish it so people don't think I'm crazy!!! I think I started writing this after talking to a wise older mother in the ward who was talking to me about the importance of building and solidifying relationships with your children while they are young because the time will come when peers play a bigger role.
It really got me thinking. I know that right now besides all the times my kids think I'm the meanest mom in the world . . . they actually really think I'm cool. And I totally am cool! At least that's what I keep telling them all the time. :)
Anyways, so the things that I had written down were just some memory reminders of recent things that the kids and I had done together that were fun and joyful and COOL! I am so in trouble when my kids ditch me for friends . . . because I will actually have to start socializing with older people. And I just don't know who would take me on in a Headband shooting contest around here!! Anyway, for my own benefit . . . and to those who read my "crazy" post, these are some of the things that the kids and I have done recently together when Dad has been at work. :O) Thank Heavens for Dad! It's a good thing the kids have Lamon as a father or else they might have no chance at normalcy in life! J/K . . .but not really.
So here is my proof to my children (in case they forget someday) that I am so totally cool (according to me).
Belly laughing
So just to set the record straight, it is not ALWAYS laughing and singing at my house. There is actually a good share of fighting, crying, tantrums, defiance etc. that can keep my nerves on edge some nights. And that is why a long time ago I decided that no matter what kind of crazy horrible no good terrible bad day we are having at home . . . I do not want to let the kids go to bed without a little bit of silliness. That is my specialty. This idea came to me one day after a very stressful day of doing homework and trying to get kids to do things. The Mean Monster Mom had been busy all day, and I HATE it when the Mean Monster Mom is busy. So after prayers I surprised them when I made them all lay down one by one on another siblings belly and laugh and we laughed for the next 10 minutes. You know that game? It is very handy in bad mood emergencies.
Cheers
One thing that I do a lot with the kids is make up random cheers when the situation requires it. You see, my first born has always had a bit of a hard time getting motivated to do certain things. He gets distracted or puts up a fight . . . and sometimes it feels like I am his personal cheerleader, literally. One time we had to go somewhere and it was taking Drew forever to want to get his shoes on. Instead of getting mad at him I just started chanting, "Go Drew Go Drew . . . Tie Shoe . . . Tie Shoe!!" over and over until he did it. He thought it was funny. Our favorite family cheer was created on a night that Drew was doing a homework assignment that required him to decipher which punctuation mark went at the end of each sentence (period, question mark, or exclamation point) Well he was getting frustrated and to ease his frustrations and help lighten the tense mood I began to chant, "Go Drew, Go Drew . . . It's your Birthday. It's Your Birthday???? It's Your Birthday!!!!!!" And the kids all loved this cheer. They do it all of the time. I took a video of them a while back. So here it is in all of it's silly glory:
Contests and Games
I love games. I LOVE games. But I was deprived of games for a lot of years and now my kids are old enough so last year for Christmas I bought a lot and a lot of board games and we have had lots of game nights since. But I also like to make up games and contests. Obviously I can't explain all of the weird contests I come up with . . . but an example would be the day we were out playing in our front yard (which was all dirt at the time) You have to get creative in an all dirt yard (Although playing in the dirt is fun in and of itself) and Tilson came out with one of Ada's stretchy headbands and was launching it across the yard. I was pretty impressed with his launching abilities, so I challenged him to a headband shooting contest. Pretty soon all of the other children joined in. Our neighbors heard the laughing and were curious at the fun we were having and were headed on over to perhaps join us, but then Tilson accidentally shot it on the roof. By the way . . . I dominated. My headband shooting capabilities are awe inspiring. . .
I also love relay races . . . the sillier the better. Racing while giving each other Donkey Rides, Wheelbarrow Races where one person holds another person's feet. Those games are always fun, but I love to end them by letting the kids try me. It takes one kid on each leg, but they can actually push me in a wheelbarrow race. And the other day I let Drew carry me on his back all the way from his room to mine! That kid is strong. I let Hayden try and he lasted 1 second before he collapsed underneath me! :)
Joining in the Fun
Sometimes there are situations where the kids are driving me absolutely crazy or aren't listening and I am about to lose it and yell, but decide to trick them and join them instead.
For example one night we were coming home from somewhere and it was late. I wanted the kids to go to bed. I told them, "I want you guys to go inside and get in the bath, get your pajamas on and go to bed. Well they didn't even make it inside. They went straight for the huge dirt mound in the front yard and started sledding down the dirt on their sleds. I was ready to rip them a new one. If I was a consistent responsible parent I would have given them a consequence for not listening. But in all honesty I stink at that. Lamon is the enforcer parent. Some times I look at what they are doing and think, "That looks like fun. It really does." And then I join them. So I did. I went dirt mound sledding for a few minutes. And I will tell you that I am much better at head band launching.
Other times I have joined the kids instead of yelling at them have usually involved running and screaming. I never understood the thrill of this combination. You would think that the kids could get tired of this, but they never do. It is intriguing. In our house there are only two walls separating our living room kitchen and hallway. One of the kids favorite thing to do when they are little is turn on the music and run around and around and around through the living room hallway and kitchen over and over and over. Of course they yell and laugh while they do this and it can get pretty loud. Well, one day I was watching them do this wondering what the fun of it was, and then decided to join them . . . running, yelling and laughing around and around and around Ya, it really IS fun. I try to participate when the opportunity arises. But they really are outgrowing that activity.
Letting them be silly
Maybe because I love being silly I like to watch my kids play and be silly, even if it's not really that funny. I just love to hear them laugh with each other. Someone made a comment one day about how strong my kids personalities were and asked if it was crazy at home . . . and I was like, "Oh yeah! It's never boring at our house!" I love these kids.
Songs
I sing a lot! I am always singing around the house. And sometimes it turns silly. The other day hunter was having a hard day. He was really whiny. But like most babies he loves it when I sing kids songs. Sometimes though he only likes the song I am singing and will cry if I stop or try a different song. So I was singing, "How much is that doggy in the window" over and over and over while the kids were doing homework. If I stopped . . .crying . . . if I changed songs . . . crying. So I started to change the words. I started singing, "How much is that Ada in the window? . . . " and kept going making up words that applied to her. The kids joined in and we made up a verse for everyone in the family. It was fun . . . and it kept Hunter entertained for a very long time! :) I think my verse went something like, "How much is that Angel Mother in the window. The one with the beautiful voice. How much is that Angel Mother in the window. I do hope that Angel Mother's for sell. I try to refer to myself as Angel Mother as much as possible. I figure if I say it enough they might believe me. While we were playing telephone the other day it was my turn to whisper and I whispered, "I am your Angel Mother, you must obey my every command." It was fun to watch their faces as they whispered it to each other.
Prayer time
A lot of our fun comes before and after prayers. We always sing a song before we pray and who's ever day it is gets to choose the song. Well ever since Tilson decided to start talking and have a vibrant personality he objects to every song someone chooses and says, "No! I want to sing Jesus wants me for a beam!" and sometimes the kids get sick of giving in to Tilson. One time Drew was upset and I said, "Let's just sing his song first . . . and then we will sing yours. Well Drew was having a bad attitude and after doing Jesus wants me for a sunbeam (Tilson likes to sit in my lap and have me lift him up on the word beam) I had Drew come sit on my lap as we sang the song again as I attempted to lift him up on the "beam" words. We were all laughing so hard, and spent the next 15 minutes singing Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam alternating who got to sit in my lap.
I really do love prayer time though. The other night after lots of silliness (silly singing etc) I had the kids sing Silent Night to Hunter and taped them. It's a glimpse of prayer time at our house. A little silly and a little sweet. . . messy room and all!
My kids LOVE to listen to me tell stories about my childhood crushes. They just do. I don't know why, but . . . Okay I kind of know why. Crushes are fun. And when Mom sort of has a history of doing embarrassing things and just happens to have had a crush on about every boy she ever knew growing up . . . there are a lot of fun . . . and embarrassing stories to be told!!
Anyhow, I have to admit that I'm a sucker for "crush" stories myself. I keep on trying to get my kids to tell me theirs. My boys will start talking about a girl and the phrase might slip out, "So . . . you think she's cute?" or "Does she think your cute?"
I mean really, my kids are so cute! There have got to be some schoolmates that think so as well . . . and I want to find out! At least I thought I did.
So this last week Hayden came home from school one day and randomly tells me, "Rachel has a crush on me!"
"Oh really? And how do you know this Hayden?"
Hayden said, "Well . . . because she came up to me and said, 'Hayden . . . I think you are cute!'"
Well that would be a dead give away!! I thought it was kind of funny.
Then on Wednesday we were in a hurry to go somewhere, and I was trying to get Drew to listen to me and come get into the car so we wouldn't be late. He was a little distracted like he usually is, and after I yelled at him for the umpteenth time to get into the car he said, "Just a minute Mom . . . I need to get something to show you." Okay . . .
So finally he jumps in the car and hands me this folded up note. I opened it up and was quite impressed with the penmanship. It was very nice handwriting! And this is what it said,
Dear, Andrew, I love you and I think your really cute. I think your the cutest on the entire planet and please tell me you like me because I have a magor crush on you. So whenever you feel lonely I am always ther for you and don't forget that you are the Best and cutest boy on the PLANET! love, Katya
How do you react to that one? I honestly wanted to say, "Whoa!!! I hope you told her that you aren't dating until you are sixteen!!" And then I wanted to remind him about the deal we made that if he doesn't kiss a girl until he is sixteen he will get 100 bucks. But I searched my inbox of memories for anything I had read in parenting books on how to act after a disclosure like this, and something told me not to over react. They are kids! Crushes are fun, right?
So I just replied, "Wow! . . . How did that make you feel?" To which he responded,
"It warmed my heart."
I'll have you know that I didn't laugh out loud at all during this whole exchange as he went on to tell me how she had him promise not to show the note to anyone, but . . . he accidentally showed it to their arch enemy Aaron. After that she wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the day and kept running away from him. He felt pretty bad about that and wanted my advice on what he should do . . . Oh boy.
Things must have turned out okay because during our personal interviews last night I asked him about his friends at school, and he told me about how his best friends were Korbin and Katya. He and Katya spent their recesses on top of this bar on the playground talking. I guess Katya told Drew that her and Korbin had been together since preschool, but now she thought he was a jerk . . .
Oh my . . . Anyhow, during the interview Drew turns to me and says, "Mom? Why can't Katya and me play alone together?"
"Well Drew, we sort of have a rule that when you are playing with girls . . . it's got to be in a group."
Then he said, "Mom . . . we are just kids."
I thought to myself, "Maybe so Drew . . . but I'm not taking any chances."
I just asked him, "What do you think you would want to play with Katya if you COULD have a playdate alone together?"
"Oh I don't know . . . Girl things. I don't know. Whatever she wanted. She's the lady!"
I told him I liked that answer!:) . . . But . . . if they had a playdate . . . it would have to be in a group :) Anyways, I had to write about this one. This is serious business!!
