Merritt Memories

I wanted to blog this on the Friday, but I ran out of hours in my day. I didn't want to forget what happened and how I felt though, so just pretend with me! :) Today has been a trying day for me. Dustin has been gone all week for SWAT training, so I have been really stressed. I have not felt good all week. Ryan has been the number one priority on my mind. He has been acting like a teenager lately. No surprise because he is one, but surprising to me because he has always been a good kid. He is a good kid, just annoyed by his family, I guess. Doesn't want to be with us much. It kind of hurts my feelings. I think we're a pretty cool family. He told his friend, Nathan, today that we embarrass him. Not sure how. I guess it is something I will have to get used to. I'm sick and tired of feeling yucky. I have had neck and back pain for way too long. I finally have an appointment to get checked out. Hopefully it is not too serious. It seems it gets really bad when I sta...

I have said before that I love quotes. I love them so much at one point my collection started taking over my half of the bedroom (yes, our room is equally divided). I think I love them so much because I am not an eloquent speaker. My thoughts get all jumbled in my head and they never come out of my mouth right. So, when I hear something so well spoken, I save it! One of my favorite quotes sits over our heads at the dinner table. "Be true to who you are and the family name you bear." ~ Gordon B Hinckley ~ It sits there so we see it everyday. We will continue to see it until we move. My thought in doing this was by reading it everyday, which we do, we might think twice before we choose to do something that goes against our family standards. When I first put it up there, it was the first thing out of my kids' mouths every morning and they would say it out loud at dinner time. I never told them they had to read it, they just did. Now, I just see them mouth the word...

My scheduled post for my kids was going to be on modesty, but the timing just is not right. Instead I decided to write about something a little more important. Yesterday morning, one bright Sunday, I was in the front room reading the Ensign. I had made the kids breakfast. They all got what they wanted. The boys wanted cereal, Grace and Kate wanted a sausage sandwich, and Becca wanted to try a fried egg. They were all eating happily so I figured I'd do some reading before the rat race of Sunday began. I must give you a little background before I continue. Kate has a fried egg almost every morning. They are one of her favorites, especially the runny yoke. Becca has always been a little stand-offish, so she is being brave to try something new. I'm on the couch and I hear these two girls start fighting. Becca is screaming, " I can do it! Give it back!" "You're doing it wrong! That's not how you cut it!" Kate yells. This fight continues fo...

How many of you grew up playing this game? Yeah, me too. It was one of my favorites. Today Kate let me know why this game was totally "inappropriate" for children. Kate: Mom, you know this game? Me: Yeah. Kate: These guys are all murderers. Me: No they're not. Kate:Uh-huh. Mom, all they do is kill kids! I guess I didn't teach my kids to play the game properly. I will have to have a re-cap. They are obviously playing the game wrong. I don't remember kids dying anyway!

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will – to your surprise – miss them profoundly..." It seems like yesterday: "Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of 'what if' and 'if only.' Said author Harriet Beecher Stowe, 'The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.' " Thanks Pres. Monson!! Time goes way too f...

Today as we were going to the library, Kate and Noah found a rainbow in the sky. It was beautiful! It had been along time since I have seen one, more likely I haven't noticed one. We had fun just admiring it. Absolute silence for about 1 minute. Becca chimed in, "This is my first time ever seeing a REAL rainbow!" She was so excited. After that, the questions followed. "Larae, what makes a rainbow?" "Mom, how does it get in the sky?" Good thing we were on our way to the library! "We'll get a book and read about it," I answered. Our book is on hold, so we have to wait. We will enjoy learning all about rainbows!! I love being a MOM!!

Today I was making brownies for the kids. They always like to help, so I let them. This time Kate and Bec were helping me. I had put everything in and Kate whispered, "Mom, what's the secret ingredient?" I asked, "Oh, do we need one?" She nodded her head yes. So I thought for a moment and said, "Love. Love is our secret ingredient. I'm going to put some in." I started blowing kisses into the batter and said, "Would you each like to add some love to our brownies?" They giggled with excitement and began blowing kisses too. We poured the batter into the pan and Kate said, "Mom, this is our secret. We can't let anyone know that we put love into the brownies, okay?" I agreed. I wouldn't dare spoil that surprise! I'm sure they'll be the BEST brownies ever!

My kids know how to finish this saying. Yesterday I was having a pretty awful morning. I was NOT very happy. Grace realized this right off the bat. She got a little bee in her bonnet to fix me. I went to the bathroom and returned to a nicely made bed (as good as any 7 year-old could do), and I found this note lying nicely on a pillow: If you can't read it, it says: to Mom from Grace I hope you liked that I made your bed. I'm so glad somebody knows me! That made me feel better.

I was told by my girls today that they would like coupons in their salad with a glass of root beard! They make me laugh, just thought I'd share a smile. Wishing everyone a good day! *What they really wanted was some crutons and some root beer!

Rebecca Swiper of Funnies Subject is not armed, but can drive you crazy!! Kate Hoarder of Funnies Subject is armed with many funnies While taking my older children to school, we were talking about Horton Hears a Who. The night before we were invited over to Cory and Wendy's to watch it all together. Funny movie by the way! On the way back from school, Kate and Becca were sharing their favorite funny parts of the movie. These two together, well, you never know what will happen. Kate was sharing her part, then Becca shared hers, and so forth. Well, Becca thought a part was funny that Kate had already shared. She started yelling at Becca, "That's my funny! You can't steal people's funnies! Give it back Becca!" Becca turned to her and simply said, "No Kate, sorry. It's my funny." This made Kate even more hysterical. "You give me back my funny right now!" Becca shook her head. "Fine," Kate continued, "I'm taking it bac...

The other day I was busy with the house. The girls were playing nicely together upstairs with their Polly pockets. The boys were playing the X Box of course. Becca came down and asked if I would help her put the Cinderella dress on one of the Polly dolls- sometimes it can be really hard! I struggled, but I did it! She was so happy! She said, "Thanks mom. You did your job!" She ran away so happy and content. I laughed a little and thought, "I guess that's what I'm here for, to put on Polly pocket clothes." This incident sparked this post. I asked each of my kids to tell me what they think a mother's job entails . Here are their answers. Ryan said a mother's job was to teach her kids how to be good people. She should be nice and love her kids no matter what! Aaron's answers were short. He got embarrassed and didn't want to participate. He managed to to tell me that a mom's job is to feed her kids, clean the house , and make sure they ...

Then just play with them! Lately I have been trying to play more with my kids. When Ryan and Aaron were little, I had a lot of extra time. We played all sorts of things. Once I had my girls life just got crazy. I'm sure it is because I became extremely busy just keeping up with each child we added to our family. I have learned that Kate is a lot like her dad. This is not a bad thing, but she had developed a gift to make you think she is perfectly right in all things. She manipulates the circumstance so she is always the one in the right. I have gotten a kick out of this. If we are playing and she doesn't like the way it is playing out, she has a new rule to implement. The funny thing is she acts like it was ALWAYS a rule! I will say she inherited my bossiness. I think it is just the chain of command. When Grace is there, she is in charge because she is older. If Grace is gone, then Kate becomes the dictator. I'm sure Becca is just waiting for the day she gets to reign, ...

So, I promised you a glance of the REAL family pictures. I know that in photos we usually choose the one where everybody is at their best. We rarely want to expose ourselves of anything less than perfect. Well, I'm a fan of reality. I'm not embarrassed to let you know of our little fumbles in life. Nobody likes the "perfect" people anyway. They always seem to depress us who do not fare so well. While I won't be sending these pictures out with the Christmas cards, they will sit on my dresser... FRAMED! It will be my little reminder to not take life so seriously. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff! My joy today comes from knowing my family isn't perfect and we don't claim to be. We know that we were put in families to help each other to be better. Some days we're better at it than others, the important thing is we just keep trying! Dustin having a battle with the root he tripped over. Needless to say the root won! Aaron is the only one worrying ...

We are counseled to pray each morning and night as a family. This is something I can say we are ALMOST perfect in. We are faithful in following this counsel. My joy today came from this daily event. We start of by singing Let Us Gather in a Circle . This helps set the mood( whoever knew there was such a thing, but with children I feel it needs some help setting). We hold hands and Dustin calls on someone to pray. We USUALLY have the prayer, give kisses, I love yous, and then it is of to bed. Tonight, it went something like this. We sang our song, held hands, and Becca started laughing. Her laughter was quite contagious. Soon all were laughing. Just as we composed ourselves, she would do it again, I would say it took a good five minutes to get around to praying. Most parents might get frustrated, but we just chose to laugh right along with them. It made me happy that we were able to let go of the formality and just enjoy our kids.

It is not very often that I get to lay down with Becca. The girl never holds still! I was able to read a book with her. Ten in the Meadow is one of her favorites. We read the words and played hide and seek with the cute little animals in the story. She has so much fun finding where those little critters are hiding. After the story, she rolled over and said, "Goodnight, Mom." I felt like singing her to sleep, so I did. I started with I Love to See the Temple . She then asked for Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam . Before I knew it I had sung about all the Primary songs I could remember and she had finally given up and fallen asleep. I held her hand for what seemed like forever, kissed her, and I was able to sneak in a few Zs of my own. I love it when that happens!

Today my joy came from being surprised by my husband. Grace and I were making dinner. He came in and said, "Oh, I wish you hadn't made that. I'm taking you to dinner tonight." I smiled because when I sarted dinner the thought came how much I really didn't want to cook. "We need a sitter," I told him. "I already took care of it," he replied. I was not even ready for a night out. I had sweats on and no make-up, but I hurried and got ready. I like surprises. We had a fun dinner. It was nice to have one-on-one time!

Kate loves to play pretend. We always play some sort of "let's pretend." Today she was the teenage princess and she made me queen. We lived in a castle located at the top of the playground, had pretty dresses, and talked politely. A princess always uses her manners. She squeezed my face between her tiny hands and said, "You're beautiful, mama. I love you." I am always mesmerized by her cute little smile and her genuine love for me. That is pure joy.

I decided I would journal all the things that bring me joy. It might be something my kids say or do, an event that happened, whatever. I was mopping the kitchen floor today. In doing so, I took the bar stools from the bar. Somehow Becca got up on the bar. She was standing up there dancing, having a blast. When it came time to get down she couldn't. She was too frightened. She called out, "Momma, Momma help me. I can't get down!" I let her sweat it out a little, just long enough to teach her the lesson of not climbing up in the first place. After another cry for help, I ran and got her. She cheerfully yelled out, "Oh, thank you mom. You are a super hero!" She ran around the room with arms stretched out in front of her, making flying noises. It's great to be a Super Hero. I'd definitely rescue my kids to the ends of the earth!