I ran across this video on facebook the other day. I really think that it is a message everyone should hear and pay close attention to, so I am posting it here. Apparently I can't embed it, but that is ok. Click the link. You won't be sorry.

Does this scare anyone else? This morning while I was in the bathroom he climbed the bookshelf in the living room, which is at least five feet high, to get at a couple rubber ducks that were on the stereo on top of the shelf and fell off. Now he is doing this. Does this kid have no sense of danger???? His climbing exploits are getting a bit out of control.

It has been a VERY interesting day. It was the primary program at church. I was really nervous because the primary has sung in sacrament twice this year so far (Mother's day and Father's Day) and both times Ayanna ended up standing there wailing because she was so scared. On Father's day I had to stand right next to her and hold her hand just to get her to stay up there. The primary president is my visiting teacher and understands, I think. Her brother is autistic. So she worked specially with Ayanna. And she sat up there, sang with everyone else, and spoke her piece. Her line wasn't understandable, but she did it. Such a far cry from what happened on Father's Day. I held myself together till I spoke to the primary president, to thank her for her efforts with Ayanna. Then I started crying. I honestly didn't think I would ever see Ayanna able to stand up there singing with the rest of the kids. It was a huge breath of hope for me.

Then came tonight. The kids were in our bedroom watching a movie on the desktop computer. We heard laughing and screeching. Then we heard a crash. Robert asked the kids to come in so we could see what they were doing and they came out completely drenched, with Leland holding a 32 ounce mug in his hand. Obviously this resulted in a few alarm bells. We ran into the bedroom to check things and found that the computer table, keyboard, mouse pad, and computer chair were swimming in water. Literally. There were puddles. The monitor and cpu were splashed with water. Why the entire thing didn't short circuit and/or kill them is anyone's guess. As it is they both got spankings and time outs. And, since it was after 7:00 anyway, they were put to bed early. Once we got rid of them (ie: had them in bed) we were able to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, but it was touch and go for a bit there. Apparently they have inherited their father's ability to use creative means of getting into trouble.

Of course, there was yesterday's incident too. Bill and Mercedes' dog Chauncey found a golf-ball size wad of gum on the patio. I automatically assumed it was Ayanna since all the gum is up high and I knew she had gotten into that same cupboard the other day to steal one of my special energy bars. After yelling at her and getting nowhere I left to run some errands. While I was gone Leland woke up from his nap and Robert asked him about the incident.
"Leland, did you take Mommy's gum?"
"Yes, I take gum."
"Show Daddy."
He proceeded to scoot a chair into the kitchen, use it to climb onto the counter, and then he scaled the shelves in the cupboard like a ladder and clung to them like Spider Man while taking the packs of gum off the very top shelf. Of course then he refused to get down and ended up in time out. But now we have to find a way to keep the kids out of the kitchen because now they BOTH have records of stealing food/gum. They take after their father too much. He, too, would "mission impossible" his way to whatever treats his mother tried to hide from him. Not that I was blameless as a kid, but I wasn't like this till I was a teen. Anyway, between the two incidents, it has been an interesting weekend.

Our new family member!

So, here is the newest member of our family. A baby male guinea pig (we hope, that is what PetSmart said and I can't get him to hold still long enough to double check) who Leland has dubbed "Pickles". We asked both kids what they wanted to call him. Ayanna insisted he had to be called "Guinea Pig" because that is what he is. Leland instantly said, "Pickles". So Leland won. We have yet to get Ayanna understand why Guinea Pig wasn't an appropriate name for him. Hopefully in time. And hopefully we will also be able to give him a larger cage in time. This one is 1.5 feet by 3 feet, so it isn't tiny, but really isn't as big as he needs. All in good time, though. The cage we have was one we got off of Freecycle, so we can't complain. And having a pet has already been good for the kids. Hopefully it will continue. I am really wanting to get him tamed enough to be able to hold him, and let the kids hold him.

Welcome all!

So, I guess I am jumping on the bandwagon and switching to blogger. I have long envied the gadgets, etc., on the sidebars. That is something livejournal just doesn't have. And livejournal has lost its magic for me lately. I am hoping that this clean start will get me blogging regularly again. As of right now it is set up as a family blog, but who knows what it will turn into. You may see a bit of everything here. I may even get ambitious enough to post some of my lacework.

Till next time all!