Learning...

Right now, I’m in the process of reading 3 parenting books. Can you tell what is constantly pressing on my mind?

So far all of them are pretty good reads:

“Hold on to Your kids: Why parents need to matter more than peers.”

“Unconditional Parenting: moving from rewards and punishments to love and reason.”

“Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”

Its not like my kids are extremely terrible, awful, misbehaving children. Days when I “think” they are atrocious, I just have to watch an episode of Super nanny to bring me back to reality and how good they are.

I know.  I am a terrible person. I make myself feel better about my parenting skills (or lack thereof), by watching other people’s children yell expletives at their parents and beat the crud out of their siblings. And I take comfort? Yes, yes I do, realizing  that  Benjamin’s offenses of “not listening” seem so minor. 

                                                        

The thing that I stress most about is making sure that I do the best that I can with raising the kids that the Lord has given me.  That I will do all in my power, to teach them correct principles, both temporal and spiritual while they are on my watch.

I have wonderful kids… they are not easy, but they are wonderful.

Being a parent is the hardest job out there.

“You think” lots of things before you actually have kids. 

“You think“ you know what kind of parent you will be when you have kids.  How easy it will be to have weekly family home evenings--- that the children will sit reverently, quietly and hang on your every word.

“You think” your kids will love the same things you do.

 “You think” you will be so patient and speak in soft, kind, soothing tones when your kids are driving you bananas.

Like I said, “you think” lots of things.

The reality is, being a parent is one big lesson of  humility and rolling with the punches. Things never quite turn out how “you think” they will. But that is what makes life interesting and how we gain experience.

I really believe that parenting was the Lords way of refining us. Aspects of parenting truly test every virtue  “you thought” you possessed. Only to make you really work for those virtues and refine every part of you.

Parenting brings incredible moments as well. “Family fun nights.” Watching your kid over come difficulties. Watching them learn new things. Ailments that can only be fixed with a kiss from you. Little glimpses of what your kids are becoming, and who they really are.  

Sometimes I contemplate how I devote so much time to the taking care, the nurturing, mundane tasks of the feeding,the cleaning,ect, the *teaching* (educational/ and spiritual) of them, and how much work they really are. And even then, after all that I do, I know I could be doing more.

When I start to feel like my efforts are in vain, I often think about how patient our Heavenly Father is with us. How much He loves us, and that His greatest work is to bring to pass the eternal life and immortality of His children.

It is then, that I am reminded of  what a blessing it is for me to be apart of that process. 

And I am grateful.

Boot camp and other things.....

Boot camp

Rob and I both signed up for a Bootcamp Exercise class at Rice University. The thing I love about this bootcamp, is that the past 3 years it is usually the same 7 people who take the class. Every time I’ve done the class Rob watches the kids, but this time we thought it might be fun to do it together.

It had been months, five to be exact, since I had even worked out, never-the-less attended bootcamp. Come to find out the class had a new instructor (who is also a  trainer for the Houston Dynamos).

This guy knows no limits when it comes to the term “ultimate workout” and demands 90 % each circuit. You can’t even complain, because the guy runs just about every circuit with each group. He is insane. I am pretty sure he works out multiple times a day.

With his workouts, I never thought, nor ever imagined that I would ever try to do some of the things we have. Like sprinting up a ramp carrying 50 lbs in weights, multiple times—but I have. Let’s just say I have never worked out so hard in my life until now.

The first day back I almost died--really.

I shamefully had to skip out the last 10 mins of class because I felt so sick and my head was pounding.

I think the instructor thought I wasn’t going to come back.

I could tell my peers felt bad for me.

Because I couldn’t finish the circuit in time, they had to do extra push-ups in my behalf while I skipped out.

Talk about taking a hit to my pride.

This past year and a half, my body struggled to even be able to do a jumping jack. Bed rest about killed my muscle capacity and strength, and I struggled, I mean struggled to even keep up with my peers in the class. Its like I had lost any atheltic abilities that I might have ever had. It had been like this all last year when I was doing bootcamp.

However, now, after 6weeks of intense training, amazing workouts and an awesome trainer, its like my body has woken up. I finally feel like I am where I was before my pregnancy with vera.

Nostalgic

A couple of weeks ago our work out was to run a timed 3 mile. It sounds so lame, but I was nearvous… Who really cares right? I mean its boot camp --- not for a grade, no glory, not a real race… just a work out class. Still, the runner in me always gets those butterfiles before running.  It had been years, and I mean years, since I had gone out for a real “run”, never-the-less ran 3 miles.  I was determined to not walk, and not end with a pathedic time.  I was determined not to embarrass myself. I honestly believe that half the battle when it comes to running is all mental.  The entire time I was running , I treated it like I was running in an old cross country meet. Picking off runnings, one at a time.  I didn’t have a running buddy to help me keep time or pace. Just myself and the other joggers on the loop.  I kept telling myself, “ You were a runner for 11 years… its like ridding a bike, you don’t forget how to run..”

I am proud to say that I ran the entire loop, and was very happy with my 8-8.5 min miles—not bad considering I hadn’t run 3 miles for a very long time.

Two weeks ago we ran a timed mile, and I was happy about my 7:15 min mile. I felt awesome! Afterward, I felt like I could have run another  mile. I know its not amazingly fast, especially compared to what I ran in higschool, but its improvement… and for me I am happy with that, especially since a year ago, I could barely run a lap around the soccer field for warm-up.

What I love about this bootcamp instructor is that he makes us do some kind of running every workout. Whether its sprinting ramps, running around a field-- our workouts always include running. 

I can’t lie. I love running---even before running became cool. 

There is something so nostalgic about it for me.

For an energetic 8 year old little girl, this was the perfect outlet for me and it stuck. Remembering former days of  track practices, relays, the 800m run (my favoriate race), long Cross Country meets, and passing the time with team mates and good friends.

I think one of the most rewarding parts of running is the knowledge that you have the mental discipline to work through any discomfort or pain. That if you endure just for a little bit longer,  you body will comply and it will soon be finished. 

Running really makes me happy. I mean really, really happy--- like painting. I feel like there are certain things in life that we were meant to do. Its not like I’m amazing at any of these things, but I feel deep down inside it was what I was made to do.  What I truly beileive is that everyone has something like that in there life~

Benjamin

You are your mothers son. Sometimes I see the things that you do, and remember doing the exact same thing.

Sometimes it drives me crazy how alike we are!

I am trying so hard to enjoy you more and stress less. You are the first, which sometimes means you end up being the guinea pig while your parents try to figure out parenting. Yet, you are so patient with our humanity and seem to understand that we sincerely love you and are trying our best. Thank you for being so very patient with us---especially me!

You have such a bright, happy, spirit and such the contagious smile. I love hearing your mischievous giggle, and when you tell Vera that you love her so much because she is your best friend.You mean everything to her.

I love how you truly believe that your mother and father can make anything from paper-- from the millennium falcon to gloves for your hands. You have such a creative spirit and an appreciation for beautiful things.

You are an amazing soul, and I love you more than you will every know! Every day you tell me that you are getting bigger--- and you are! I love you so much my dear sweet little boy!I love you so very much!

Vera

You are my little princess. You are so very much a "girl"--- from your dramatic fits, to your shoe fetish, to your incredible ability to love everyone around you, especially your big brother Benjamin. I hope you know how beautiful you truly are--- how incredible and vibrant your spirit is and what an honor it is to be your mother.

Halloween

I love Halloween!

Not in the "blood and gore" creepy kind of way, but the "fun, innocent, dressing up" kind of way... It could also be because the first time I met Rob was at a singles ward Halloween dance at BYU... Who knows. Heck, any excuse to have a party kind makes me love anything!


Rob and I were talking about how Halloween is kind of a strange tradition. I mean if you were coming from a country or a culture that does not celebrate it, the concept of hanging ghosts from a tree, cobwebs all over your house and dressing up in the most tackiest costumes might seem a little strange. So, I'll admit, I am kind of nerd and like to look up useless information. I looked up where these traditions came from and I think I'll just ignore that part of history and just enjoy the innocent "pin the nose on the pumpkin" parties that I like to put on for my kids.

Anyway, my original idea for a costume was to dress up as  kate middleton-- I can not lie, I was seriously excited about that. But, I ran out of time because of the move, so I thought I would just blow it off for another year.


The kids had a lot of fun this year. We had a little halloween party (last min), we went to Isacc and Haileys Halloween/birthday party, and then Halloween night. By the end, I was done with halloween :)

The kids loved trick or treating!It was a fun night. They were so wiped out by the end of it. Having kids makes holidays that much more magical! I just love the both of them so much!

The princess receiving the royal treatment! mosquitoes were so bad this year!

I think I have the cutest little boy ever!

Updating....

Part of me wants to keep putting off updating--- because its been a couple of months since my last post, but i guess with everything you have to start somewhere eh?


Buying a House!?!?

While Rob was in vietnam, I started passing the time looking at Har.Com--- real-estate listings for the city of houston. Rob and I always go back and forth: should be buy? Or should we still keep renting? Finally, we reached a point where is didn't look so bad to buy-- interest rates were super low-- like all time historic low, rob had been working for almost two years, we were starting to grow out of our 2 bdrm apartment-- I was really sick of sharing a room with Vera, etc. So we decided to get more serious about looking.

The thing is, we feel strongly about Rob not having a huge commute (aka: hardly any). Houston traffic is a nightmare at rush hour, and having had to commute out to Katy while I was teaching in Houston, I don't blame Rob at all. Also, we didn't want a car payment, and the cost of gas can get a bit pricey on the budget. So the challenge was finding something that was in our price range, not in a flood zone (which is like impossible) and close to work.

Houston is a big city-- I think maybe the 5th largest in the USA. So finding a region of the city of where we would want to live is hard.

Anyway, here is a condensed version  of our "trying to buy a house" adventure which basically consumed our lives from the month of July to Oct:

House #1. "The Rat-a-tat House"


We found this great neighbourhood-- beautiful! 20 min bus ride to work, closer to the temple, near family= PERFECT House right!?!?! Not so, after a very stressful negotiating experiences, we finally got to the inspection... Everything looked great, except when we got to the attic... Apparently the house had a major rat infestation-- not mice, but RAT! Crazy right? I mean this house was a NICE house, in a nice neighbourhood. Our inspector can't tell us legally not buy a house, but the fact that he kept on repeating, "make sure you check the health department websites, and other info on stuff like that on rat infestations." Kind of was a red flag. After we decided NOT to buy the rat-a-tat house, our inspector later told us that "It was the worst rat infestation that he had seen in his 30 years of work." What!?!?!? Sick right? And this guy worked in industrial buildings as well.


** So we found another house in the neighbourhood in a better location with a bigger yard-- perfect right? Not so, after a source told us to google this neighbourhood using the term "oil refinery", after some hard searching we discovered that this whole neighbourhood use to be an oil refinery/dumping ground for toxins ect, and that there were reports of oil seepage and other nasty stuff.... 

So our search started again...

House #2. "Put a crack in that!"

So, we decided to look closer in the city-- more expensive but manageable if we lived outside of the loop. So the search started again, and then we found this great neighborhood, great schools. The thing is, alot of these homes were 3 bdrms, smaller---- like less than 2000 square feet, and the ones in our price range would be like "1950's Original!" As in: Original plumbing, original electric, original carpet"-- which wouldn't be too bad i guess, but rob and I don't really have any experience with dealing with a total remodel--- inside and out, and I don't think we could afford it since homes in the city are way way more expensive--- like 50-100 grand more than the homes we were looking at in the burbs.


But, we found this foreclosure that had almost everything done.... it was beautiful... probably the most beautiful house I've seen-- the previous owners did not spare any expense. The finest cabinets, the finests granite (Rob, the geologist was enamored with it). Rob loved this house. I liked it, but was hesitant because of the massive cracks in some of the walls and that all the fancy appliances were taken out of the house. But, apparently with homes this old you will have some settling/movement. Inspection went great--- in fact our inspector was impressed with the work that had been done. We just needed to find out how much the foundation repair would cost....  the bank provided an estimate, but we wanted a real estimate how bad things really were...

Since we live in Houston, and because of the drought, the foundation repair companies were booked solid till November. We wanted to get an estimate before our option period was over, but no one was available to come out. Finally, we were able to get a hold of the guy who did the estimate.  Its like a conference talk. In a nut shell: "walk away from that house!" What!?!?!? Apparently, all the work that had been done was done with the broken foundation, cabinets were not square, ect---- and if you were to fix it? The house would fall apart.


** sad story: so while we were tick or treating last monday, we met this nice young couple who had just bought a house. You could just see it on their faces... the nightmare it had been. apparently they had done a ton of work on it-- only to experiences a ton of problems-- topping it off with their ceiling falling through... I felt so bad for them...


So, with a week before our lease was up, we decided to rent a house (for 6 months) barely outside of the loop. Its a great little  neighbourhood-- will be buy? Hmmm... I don't know.... part of me never wants to buy a house in Houston. But for now, as crazy as this is, if you are going to live in the city where we are living, its still cheaper to rent... And rob is only a 7 min drive from work and still can bike to work. Who knows what we will do next....


Lessons learned:

1. Rob and I know how to pick em! Honestly, I just don't think, for whatever reason, we are not supposed to be buying a house right now.... even though logically it does, for some reason we're not. I mean Houston is great place to live, and lots of people find great homes, I think just for us, we just need to sit tight and trust in being patient! And from my limited experience, there is a reason... if we don't know what it is just yet.

2. I know way to much-- more than I ever wanted to about what could be wrong with a house... to make the process of buying a house a "magical experience."


3. Homes in houston may be cheap --- but weather, environment is hard on them-- We met a guy a few weeks ago, who was telling us not to buy a house here-- why? In the past year his house has been hit by lightening, and his foundation cracked. How old is his house? 6 years old, and looking at a 20 grand or more repair.

3. Our home inspector has our business for life! our inspector was amazing! He is so thorough. He spent so much time-- almost a whole day on each house. I can not stress enough, how important it is to have a great inspector!!!!


4. How much I loathe HAR.com -- I almost want to puke just thinking about looking at it! I think Rob and I learned that next time we decide to look for a house, we need to have better balance and not let it consumer so much of our time and lives.

Most importantly:

5. A House is just that, a House: We can basically live anywhere and be happy. A house is just a structure/covering. What makes a home is the people who live in it! As fun as it is to decorate, buy things for it, dream about it, fix it up ect, it is not the most important thing in this life.

the end.

B is wanting school time, so I better run, but I will post less sarcastic and more happier things later :)

the month of July

This is a bit of a binge post... I'm so behind on a lot of things (like vera's first year of life journal...) So, this post is just clumping stuff together, so I don't forget when I am catching up journals.

So here's the month of july:

Single parenting 101

Rob had a awesome work experience come up. He was asked to have a rotation as a rig geologist out in Vietnam. We were told that it would probably be a 2-3 week kind of deal, but with those kinds of projects you never know. He ended up being gone for 33 (from june 13th- july 12th) days. We survived non the less-- threw in a nice little trip to visit my sister, which helped with killing time :) Communication with Rob was a little spotty, since an oil rig isn't really a 4 star hotel. After a while we figured out times when we could skype. Rob would work insane hours. On average I think he would get 4 hours of sleep, especially when the rig was drilling. Rob said that it was kind of crazy, because you are trapped in the middle of the ocean. This Rig didn't have any extra amenities like a work out gym or anything, so rob would walk along the helicopter pad for his daily exercise. Apparently the food was really good. We were glad once he was safe and home and grateful that he got such a neat opportunity!




Anyway, all I can say is kudos to single parents! Things went super well, but I was so exhausted by the time Rob got home!











Happy Anniversary

July 16th was our 6 year anniversary!!!

Its crazy to think that 6 years have flown by! A lot has happened in those 6 years-- and I am just so grateful that I have gotten to share them with my best friend! Since Rob had just gotten home from Nam, we had a bit of a low key date. We went to Harry potter 7, and had dinner at this great Thai restaurant! Thanks for 6 wonderful years babe! I still can't believe how YOUNG we look...

Weight Family Reunion July 21 -29th 2011

On the 21st (Vera's Birthday) we flew from Houston into Great Falls, Montana. Once we got there, we rented a car and drove 3 hours to the motherland. Rob's parents moved from Calgary to Raymond, Alberta, Canada a couple of years ago. So, flying into great falls was such a great idea! It was much faster and cheaper than flying into calgary.

Benjamin and Rob riding the lawn mower. Rob took all the younger kids out for a "drive"

Vera and her Aunt Julie and Aunt Brita

Vera and her cousin Ren. Kiersta got some matching outfits for them to wear. Cute eh?

Cousins: (left to right) Benjamin Weight, Ella Sal, Errson Bailey, Isacc Sal, Faryn Bailey.

Vera downing the coveted Tigers eye ice cream-- only in canada!

All I can say is that I miss southern Alberta! The sky is so clear, and the fields are beautiful! I think both Rob and I realized how much we do miss Canada. Maybe someday we will move back!

Vera and Benjamin having fun with cousin Errson and Faryn!

Mom and Vera!

The Thibodeau’s
While we were up in Canada, we were also able to visit with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins Mark and Jackie. This was the first time they met Vera. Vera was interested in their dog Sam, however, she didn’t want to be to close to him. During one of our visits with them, Sam was trying to sniff and follow Vera around. She did not like this very much at all. Benjamin liked Sam, but at times was also a bit hesitant around him. However, on this night Benjamin came to Vera’s aide. Benjamin would pick Vera up off the floor and run as fast as he could to get her to safety (mom’s arms) and then he himself would jump on the couch to get away. It was pretty cute to watch him save his sister, time and time again



It was a wonderful, well needed vacation with family. As always, with the Weights--- the food was incredible and the company even better!

(wish I had pictures to document this... maybe Auntie J will send some my way?:)
 


Vera's First Birthday July 21st, 2011

Vera celebrated her first birthday in Raymond, Alberta, Canada. We spent most of the day traveling from Houston to Alberta for a Weight family reunion. This was the second time Vera’s been on a plane. She did a great job on the flight. There was another women on the plane who had the same birthday too. At the end of the flight, the stewardess announced it was Vera’s birthday, and everyone cheered and clapped for Vera and the other women. Vera even clapped along! We then drove 3 hours to the border. Once we were there, Grandma Weight had a made a special birthday cake—a spice cake with butterscotch frosting and (homemade) raspberry jam as filling.

Vera and her cake!

Just a glimpse of the birthday crowd

Vera enjoying her cake.

Random/Other things...

Here is a picture of Benjamin and mommy painting out on the porch! Benjamin is becoming quite the Artist!

One Saturday morning while I was painting, Benjamin decided that he wanted to join me. He def got more work done than I did that day!

"The Dolpin"

He even drew a "dolphin" on 3 separatepieces of paper. Pretty good for a little boy who use to hate drawing!





Well, that's basically the month of July. Now, I'm just trying to catch up with other things around the house. Our lease is up in October, so we are looking for a new place to live, so that's eaten a lot of our time, and just getting back into routine of life! Hope this find you all well!
love the Weights

Adventures in Fargo

June 18th-29th
While Rob was in Vietnam, We decided that I would go up to Fargo, North Dakota, to visit my sister and her family.

The kids and I left on Saturday morning. We took a direct flight into Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was little nervous to fly by myself with the kids, especially when I didn't know where I was going. Overall, the trip was a success! The kids were pretty good, and since it was a direct flight, that made it so much easier. Once we landed, I got our rental car and we were on the road. I made the four hour drive to fargo 3hours. We made it there in a bout 3 hours. I might have been going a bit over the speed limit...






my sad attempt of trying to take a picture of the scenery...

The drive was beautiful! Rolling, lush hills. Lakes and tress everywhere. There were little towns along the way, with little old churches within. Living in Houston, you don't really see nature like this. I had forgotten how much I missed nature, and my homeland Canada. For some reason, Fargo reminded me a lot of home. Maybe because there are parries, and the same foliage as Canada. The summer weather reminded me of Canadian summer. It was perfect. I feel like during the summer, we live inside all day long. I don't feel like venturing out in the 101 plus weather, strapping my kids in a hot car, to drive to a park. SO, being in fargo, sitting on the front step, enjoying the cool summer weather was refreshing. I was in heaven!


We had so much fun visiting my sister. I just love my sister! Everyone should have an older sister! We are so much alike-- our voice's are almost exactly the same and we have the same mannerism. There were even some days when we dressed the same, which was totally unplanned! We are both nerds, however, I must say my sister is definitely the more nerdy one :)

I admire my sister. She is such a intelligent, beautiful individual. She amazes me in so many ways. She works so hard at being a wonderful wife, mother and writer!!! I am also secretly hoping some day she will dedicate one of her books to me.

It was fun for our kids to get together! Benjamin maybe see's Joshua and Whitney once a year. So, it was a treat to be around them for 11 days!
Benjamin loved playing with his cousins. Benjamin is a bit older now, so it was fun to see him and whitney play pretend. They both have vivid imaginations. Whitney and Benjamin have a very hot and cold relationship. Maybe because they are similar in a lot of ways. One min they would be holding hands and the other giving each other long hard stares of annoyance.



Either they were best friends, or worst enemies...




Whitney is definitely the party girl! Can't you tell? If you are looking for someone to plan your next venue, give her a call. Don't let this 6 year old fool you, she has quite the knowledge base and resources for planning the ultimate party! (I've seen her notes,sketches, and menus)



The two of them playing "butterflies." As much as I would like to say, Benjamin was roped into this game... I would be lying. I think enjoyed himself.




Whitney and Benjamin with their paper-made lizards (it was a project I helped them with)



Vera looks a little unloved in this picture... don't be fooled though.
Joshua loved Vera. He even asked to feed her, and would often give her kisses! Joshua and I had a running joke about "alphabet soup." I love that kid! He is really quite funny! I love that he loves to sing, especially primary songs! He's quite the little singer!





Fun on the Trampoline was a daily activity!





Vera loved watching the kids on the trampoline, partly because she wanted to be out there with them!















Baskin Robbins!









My Real Birthday Celebration!

Sarah and checked out downtown fargo and the local art shops! For my birthday they bought me an awesome oil stick that I am excited to try out in some of my painting! Later that evening, Sarah and Steve took us to a little Mexican restaurant for my birthday dinner, and then we came home for cake! Sarah made me this divine chocolate cake. It was a fun day!


Out for dinner



the cake was divine!


TO SUM IT UP: Sarah and I had so much fun! We worked super hard, finishing up projects but we also played super hard! It was very much a successful trip!!! And we all still love each other so that's always nice, especially after a long visit.

Thanks again Becks! Thanks steve for putting up with me:)




*How is it that I went the entire trip without taking a picture of me and my sister!?!?!
I also apologize for the the iphone pictures.

Cousins

Vera and her cousin Ren. They are 7 weeks apart... Aren't they so cute? I think they will be good friends some day.

My Birthday!

(Rob informed me that Benjamin drew this picture... He is the face, and I am the smaller oval with scribbles all over it... hmmm).



Since Rob was going to be away for my birthday, he surprised me by celebrating it early! Benjamin was beyond excited that it was my birthday. The video is hilarious. I will post later!

We had cupcakes as a family and then Rob surprised me by taking me down to "Keyma"for a Murder Mystery Dinner cruise. I had never heard of this but Rob found it online.
In Robert's words, "since he knew that I loved Castle so much, he thought I would think a murder mystery dinner would be fun."

---nerd alert---- I love the t.v. show Castle. LOVE it. Maybe because (thanks to my father's influence)as a child, I grew up watching and loving the television series of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremey Brett. (Might I add Jermeny Brett will forever be the best Sherlock Holmes. Ever).



It was a fun evening in that we were able to go out and really do something different. Rob and I were probably the most introverted people on that boat (we are both kind of shy in some ways), but it was somewhat entertaining to watch everyone else.










rob was asked to pretend to play in the band. I couldn't stop laughing.


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