This week I started a “stay calm” jar for myself. It seems that my patience has been rather thin: or perhaps I’m just explosive. So in my scripture study I prayed to remember/learn tactics to help me train these sweet children and become the person I’m supposed to be. Thankfully God is merciful. Thankfully the Savior helps us change day by day. I wrote my calming tactics on my jar (next to the kitchen sink) to remind me. Every time I lose it, though, I have to put a penny in the jar. At the beginning of the week I did okay. Thursday I had five pennies. Then I cried for the rest of the evening. Poor Wes. Bless these forgiving kids. Since then, I had a day without any pennies and then just one. Small improvement is still improvement I guess. Keller asked me about the jar and I told him it is to help me not lose my temper. When I put a penny in the jar he asked, “When will you get your temper back?”

We can officially remove the gates on the stairs! Venice thinks she can walk down the stairs, but she eventually takes speed over novelty. Her new favorite toys are hair products. She digs in our cupboards then hauls the hair spray, mousse, and gel all over the house. I tried tying her hair out of her face. She looked in the mirror, cooed happily, then yanked them out. She tried to put it back in, but after 5 yank-outs, we moved on. She says, “More cheese!” loves ketchup, and feels that whenever someone gets a treat she should get one too, even if her hands and mouth are full.

Keller wrapped in his blanket tonight and said, “I’m a banana. A taco! A banana taco! No, just Keller.” He wants to take off all his clothes at all times. I found him behind our shed just preparing to pee in my work bucket. Another time he pulled off his clothes in the yard, “But he [our neighbor behind us] doesn’t wear a shirt outside!” Lincoln piped up, “Yeah, and he’s already seen us without clothes on. See? We’re naked!” Somehow, this didn’t make me feel much better! Keller is learning to spell his name and goes around changing, “K-E-LL-E-RRRRR!”

Lincoln is even more exciting when tired. Tired = tormentor. I hear, “I’m going to eat you!” and “If you don’t ________, I’m going to _________ you!” We finished an audio book where the characters go into the fairy tale world. He loves the fairy godmother. He wanted to be the fairy godmother, but decided just to be her helper instead. He has been waving magic wands, turning people into pumpkins, battling dragons, and closing inter-world portals all week. “Where do we live? Where does Grandma live?” Pause. “Well! I am going to close the portal between Arvada and Logan and Kuna and we will never, NEVER see Grandma again!” Oh, dear. It’s devastating for all of us, especially the little actor. The fairy godmother’s helper is also well equipped with weapons. He found the box of cookies, took them and Keller to hide in another room and eat them. Then he found a popsicle while I was downstairs. He cut it open and let it melt all over the crack between the stove and the counter. He left it because he remembered that he was drawing a robot car powered by a missile…Let’s not forget my favorite moment of the week: I walked into Venice’s room to get her going for the day and there he was “reading” the Book of Mormon to her and explaining the pictures.

Levi impresses me so much in his self-control. It’s so nice to know what is going on during the day and how he feels. I love hearing his stories and inventions. I love his excitement about “short surprise math tests!” Monday he brought his homework folder home, sat at the table (without prompting), and finished the week’s worth of homework in fifteen minutes. “Explain to me exactly what “setting” means, Mom.” On Friday he school hosted a “fun run” for each grade. They set up an oval track, turned music on loud, and invited parents/family to come and cheer them on for forty minutes while they ran in a circle high-fiving a darling 6^th grader dressed as an eagle (their mascot) and their P.E. teacher. The principal jogged around all day with grades K-6. Levi loved showing me and Lincoln the people he knows. And he finally started playing with a boy in his class. He’s really excited about it. His Wednesday afternoon Nature Center class makes him so excited his face flushes. This week they learned about temperature and weather. He learned a lot after he realized that his friend was already there and he didn’t have to stop the teacher or the class to wait for Xander. Loyalty is one of Levi’s amazing qualities.

When we went to the library on Friday, Levi saw advertisements for a showing of the new Cinderella. He was so excited he took one of the bookmarks and made copies of it at home. So we went. Lincoln and Levi were entranced, (Levi woke this morning grinning, “Mom, I’ve decided I’m going to marry Cinderella…” in a dreamy voice. Lincoln: “How did she turn her staff into a ice-wand? I’m going to do that!”) After about an hour into the movie Keller wanted to know why the mice hadn’t sung, “Cinderelly!” We don’t often do movies; I think it was an overall enjoyable experience. They all sat on my lap for the majority of the film—that took a while to walk off! Wes stayed home and played with Venice while he worked.

During scripture study, Wes read about the hailstorms that will destroy the crops. This inspired us to recommit to our food storage (we used it all up in preparation to move). We’re not quite up to our three-month supply, but we’ll get there. I’m so glad he wants to follow the counsel of the prophets and the promptings he receives.

In other news, we invited a family over for apple crisp. We’ve never met them and they rarely come to church—so they came and we enjoyed each other. One afternoon I started a small fire in the oven—not huge, but enough to scare us and require a nice long cleaning of the oven. We went to the temple and have decided to take time with our kids there to teach so that they know that the temple is a place of learning. They loved touching the white temple. Today we attempted our first “Sunday devotional” as a family and are pleased to announce that it went better than anticipated: Wes shared something he learned during personal study, I gave a 5 minute devotional on prayer, we sang a song, and off we went. I requested a bunch of my ancestor’s patriarchal blessings; they came in the mail this week. I feel so privileged to read them and to be part of these wonderful people. I’ve been thinking and reading about some difficult challenges others face. I feel so grateful for our current blessings and time of peace. I know that our own trials will come, but I’ve decided to not be afraid and to take Jacob’s advice and not stumble because of “over-anxieties.” If God believes we’re capable of mortal experience, I’m very willing to trust Him and hold on tight.