1/2 cup of rice

Tim and I have been working with the kids about being truly grateful.  We've had Family Home Evenings on the subject, but feel like the subject is not "sinking in".

A few weeks ago, a neighbor gave a talk in church about gratitude.  She told the story about a group of elementary students who were asked to gather in the school gym.  As each student entered the gym they were given a card with the number 1, 2, or 3 on it.

The "1" group sat down to a table adorned with a tablecloth, folks, napkins, glasses, pitchers of water.
The "2" group sat down to a table with just one pitcher of water (no tablecloth, forks, or napkins).
The "3" group sat down on blanket on the floor and only a blanket.

The "1" group was served a very nice dinner and were offered seconds.

The "2" group was served a half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The "3" group was served a half cup of rice to eat with their fingers.

As the "1" group was finishing their second helping of ice cream for dessert, they started to realize what the other groups didn't have.  They offered their bounties to their friends.

So tonight, the Barlow family, sat on the floor and ate a half cup of rice for dinner (with our fingers).  I retold this story.  There were many tears shed once the kids realized this was dinner and there would be no "treat" for the day.  As we explained that most people in the world live like this, our children lowered their head and their tears fell into the rice cups.

It was hard as a parent to see your child cry because they were still hungry (even though we had a pantry full of food).  How grateful I am that we have an abundant amount of food in our home and tonight's dinner was just a lesson.  When putting the kids to bed, their prayers were of humble gratitude and thankfulness (and hopes that we are having a big breakfast tomorrow).

I hope this is a lesson we will remember.

This was taken before we told the kids what our plans were for the night!

PS - The kids did have an abnormally large snack after school today...they weren't starving!

Cranberry Sauce and Other Thankfuls

One night over dinner, Abby proclaimed that "I am the cranberry sauce".  She continued to tell us that her (and Carter's) second grade class was putting on a Thanksgiving Readers Theater.  I immediately started to giggle and had visions of 2010 Thanksgiving dinner floating through my brain where Abby slurped down gallons of canned cranberry sauce.  She kept declaring, "this is my favorite part of dinner", while the rest of the family tried to contain our dinners without throwing up (canned cranberry sauce...eeeewww!!!).

Georgia and I went to support the cranberry sauce and the brother.  (That afternoon was a *hard* parenting moment.  I was supporting 2 of my 3 second graders.  Though I checked Annie out of school and took her to lunch that day, I knew she was disappointed that her class wasn't putting on a play.  Life isn't always fair).

"The Brother"

The "Cranberry Sauce"

 Last Monday, we created our annual "Thankful Trees".  Instead of doing a family tree, we had everyone do their own tree.  It was wonderful to watch everyone *think* of their own thankfuls.

This year, I am most grateful for the very small (but very large to me) miracles that occur on a daily basis.  I'm grateful for:


*For Carter teasing his sisters unto tears, then helping them up from his beat down.
*For Georgia reminding various family members that "you are naughty and Santa won't bring you any presents".
*For Annie being such a responsible and organized 7 year old
*For Abby making me laugh with her witty sense of humor
*For Tim always supporting me 100% in all my schenanagins
*For my running shoes, garmin and sewing machines
*For my Savior and for always willing to give me a clean slate.

Turkey Trotting

We ran our annual turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning!  Thankfully it was 35 degrees warmer this year than last.  Only 1 shirt and tights were required.

The main goal for the race was to have fun!  I've run enough "races" that I planned on running with my brother/sister in law Mike and Mandy and Tim. 

Carter has been bugging me for weeks about running the turkey trot.  So we finally signed him up!  We went to the track on a Saturday morning and practiced.  Our main goal was to start slow and finish strong!

Carter took off in a fast sprint trying to keep up with the first boys.  I knew we were in trouble from the start (especially racing Sasha's son!!!).  After the turnaround, I saw him start to walk and cry.  I started to walk up toward him (knowing that he had totally burned out) - I told him he needed to jog/run to the finish and not to quit. I have this internal conflict of pushing my son too hard and teaching him that we don't quit when things are hard.  It is a fine line.

 I ate two donuts on the way home...it totally negated the race!

Just so you know.....

Just in case anyone is interested, I am having a booth at the Christmas Gift and Craft Show at the Spanish Fork Fair Grounds THIS Friday and Saturday (hours 10am-8pm). I will have a booth full of little girls' clothes, purses, blankets and did I mention CLOTHES! Hope to see you there! (And it is free to get in)

Happy

Another tear jerker "running inspiration":

Funnies

**While asking Abby to please take out the trash, she promptly responded “Does anyone want to receive extra blessing by helping me?”

**One night at dinner, we asked the kids their favorite and not-favorite part of their day.  When it was Carter’s turn, he sadly told us that some boys were making fun of him at school.  I asked him why?  “The boys were laughing at me because I was telling them about the Barbie movie we watched last night”.  I promptly responded by telling him, we can still watch the movie, but we don’t have to tell all our friends about it.

**While Georgia was taking swimming lessons at the Rec Center, Abby and Carter would pass the time by walking around the pool.  They liked to watch the high school swim team practice.  Somehow, Abby convinced Carter to hold her hand while making laps.  They were quite cute!

Pumpkin Patch

I was able to help Georgia's class go to the pumpkin patch.

Time

Last week at church, our newly called bishopric spoke during sacrament meeting.  The topic that they were asked to speak on was creating more love in our homes.

I was so impressed my their comments that I wanted to write them down while they were still fresh in my mind. 

Satan is trying so hard to break up the most important “thing” on earth:  the family.  Our bishopric wants each family to create more love in our homes and families. 

They expressed that we need to strengthen our marriages.  To love our spouses and to be fiercely devoted.

They challenged us to pray together as families.  Pray for love and guidance.  They wanted us to teach our children from the scriptures.  Teach them like our lives depended on it.  They do.

Another excellence reminder was to do wholesome family activities.  Sure, teaching your children is important.  Working together is important.  But playing together is of the utmost importance.  Laughing, wrestling, “nicely” teasing is essential to an eternal family.

The last point they made, the one that stuck with me the most, was TIME.  Sacrificing things that don’t matter to be together.  The most I can give my kids is my TIME.

The Happiest Place on Earth

We took a little trip to California over fall break.  It was much needed by all members of the family.  Of course, we didn't tell all members of the family under the age of 7 that we were going!

The night before we left, we went on our annual camping trip with two other families.  It was a wonderful night filled with smores, fire and an outdoor movie.

When we got home, we told the kids that we had a very special surprise.  The quickly did their jobs and waited in anticipation of the news.  We told the kids we were leaving for Disneyland in a few hours.  The shock and excitement was priceless.

Our first night at the hotel, we spent cleaning up vomit compliments of Georgia.  She had a few too many treats in the car.  Always a good way to start a trip.

A few hours at the beach to relieve some wiggles from being in the car for hours!

We spent the first day at Lego Land (and a dream come true for 7 year old boys who love Legos).

Then, we headed to Anaheim to meet up with all of Tim's family.  It was a cousin reunion....aka...craziness!  Disney knows how to do it right!

After a long day riding rides, Carter crawled into the back of our van and crashed!  Poor guy!

There was a break dance show in California Adventure.  Carter has been really into dancing the "Robot".  So when the break dancers asked for kid volunteers to come up to join the cast, he bolted to show off his skills.  Sweet moves Carter!

Thanks Disney for a great week!