All About the Argyles

Every once in awhile I get fed up with my children.  Mostly they are terrific kids and I would'nt trade em for the world.  But sometimes they fight, leave their stuff lying around the house, have to be asked multiple times to do stuff, say unkind things to each other or - the one I dislike the most- say, "I'm bored",  I borrowed an idea from the blog of another mother who must have this problem in her house too. She has a list of tasks that are punishments that her kids have to pull and then do when they are caught doing any of the above. It sounds so much better to say " go get a job from the oops jar" then a nagging tongue lashing.  And if they start to debate their cause, just keeping adding tasks. Here are examples of what is in my jar:   Clean out Mom's car of trash and cups Pull weeds in back yard for 10 minutes Pull weeds in front yard for 10 minutes Rub dad’s feet for 10 minutes and do, ‘this little piggy’ to him.

  "People are just as happy as they make  their minds up to be." - Abe Lincoln   As I sat at my desk this morning and paid bills, i remembered an article I read once about the correlation between happiness and contentment.    Did you know that according to a recent research study of 60,000 adults that was published in 2009, genes are responsible for only a portion of a person's sense of well being?    50% of our happiness is biologically driven.  Some people are just born prone to a happy disposition.   My hubby is this way.  Remember in a past post how he amazed DRs. when he was super sick because he was the ONLY IIH patient they had that wasn't suffering from depression and needing a rx for anti depressants?    HE ALWAYS SEES THE BRIGHT SIDE.    (Me, not so much.  I like to think of myself as the REALIST of our family, the yin to his yang- however, I digress...)   Another 10% of our happiness is connected specifically to life circums

Happy EIGHTEENTH Birthday to this gal.  Tanner refers to her as the "chosen one" that is going to lead the rest of us to Heaven.  He's only halfway joking.  She really is the most amazing girl.   How lucky are we that she was our first so that she could be a great example to her four younger siblings?  It makes our job as parents so much easier.   We celebrated her big day by eating at FUDDRUCKERS and seeing the latest James Bond movie.  It was fun.   Eighteen things we like about her:   1.  She always has a smile on her face. 2.  She has a great attitude about EVERYTHING. 3.  not a shallow bone in her body 4.  never has to be asked twice 5. uber responsible 6. the peacemaker of the family 7.  takes Tanner's teasing about her driving with a grain of salt 8.  super dependable 9.  everyone's favorite babysitter 10.  smart as a whip 11.  loves the scriptures 12.  beautiful singing voice 13.  not a respecter of persons 1

 Today, we celebrate the birth of our Beloved McKinley. She got a few presents (see em stacked in the background). She is most excited about the nickel free earrings (she claims it so hard to find cute ones that are nickel free) and the sparkly eye shadow. Twelve is a big hallmark in our house if you are a girl because you get to start wearing a touch of eye makeup.  :O)  Another fun surprise was that her friend, Caty, KIDNAPPED her bright and early for breakast before school.  Such a lucky girl to have such a sweet friend.  (Caty's mom, Cheri, is pretty sweet too -for being the brains and the driver behind it all.) Cheers to turning TWELVE.  Young Women here she comes!  Ready or not!