Peaceful progress

That’s what I call my motherhood quest at the moment:) After a lovely and enriching conference weekend of spiritual counsel, I feel that I can take on anything. True, I did not hear all the talks that weekend, as the kids were up and running around. That’s what the DVR is for. We had some friends over with their kids, and the house was full of happy sounds, mixed in with conference playing on TV. It was nice to just get together, eat pasta, and hear the talks. One of my favorite parts of conference weekend, besides conference, is taping all the church movies that play in between the sessions. Its free Deseret Book movies, and I love it!

After the weekend, I tried to do better with mothering my dear toddler, but of course, the adversary took notice of that. I had a challenging Tuesday, followed by a much better Wednesday. A dear friend and her children spent the night at our home. In those few hours that she stayed with me, I soaked in and learned so much from her mothering example. Don’t you love when you have friends that teach you such amazing, humble lessons without even knowing it?

It was so fun for Ethan to have some kids to play with. Us moms sat in our chairs in the driveway, and let the kids drive cars and bikes all around the cul-de-sac till the sun went down. The house has been full of sounds, of little feet walking everywhere, toys scattered and being played with, kids in the sandbox, and kids jumping on the queen mattress that we pull out and plop in the living room anytime someone stays. Last night was like a slumber party, with the kids watching “Finding Nemo” on the mattress. They went home today, and I miss the business and laughter. Maybe we should start having more kids, ha ha!

I found a great link for toddler busy activities. My first thought was “Sweet! Some good stuff to do at home with Ethan, and maybe some help for sacrament” because if you have little ones, you know how wonderfully challenging that one hour at church can be! Once you go to the link, look down at all the links under the post. That’s where the gold is found. I went to Walmart and got some craft supplies to have some fun. Ethan and I will be making these sensory bottles for start.

I find that it takes just a little planning and a prayer to have the strength to get organized, because I’m finding that I just can’t do it on my own. I have all these great desires to do good, but I need extra help from above to make great things happen. One day at a time. Today, I have extra patience with helping Ethan during quiet time. Such small and simple blessings.

I need to talk about Kevin more:) He is the cutest baby ever. He’s doing sign language all the time, and its SO helpful. He is so tiny, but walks everywhere, wobbling, but walking. His favorite thing to do is bark like a dog, and make other animal sounds.

PS: HERE is a great casserole that I made this week. Couldn’t stop eating it, it was fabulous. Make sure and cook the cornbread mixture longer than what it says on the recipe, so it cooks all the way. I cooked mine about 25 minutes.