Thornton Mom

My wonderful daughter Elizabeth is doing so great in school.  She has a 4.0.  Friday she received 3 awards at their quarterly award ceremony: High Honor Roll for having a 4.0, Outstanding Participation in her computer class, and the SPLASH award: S - Self Control, P - Pride, L - Leadership, A - Attitude, S - Safety, H - Honesty.  What a great girl I have.  I am so proud of her.  She is a great daughter, she helps me so much.  I could not be the mom I am today without her help.

First day of school!!  Eveyone was so excited.  Especially little Maddie.  Since March she has been asking me when she would get to go to kindergarten.  She was tired of preschool and wanted to be a big girl.  We told her she would have to wait until after swim team.  For about the last month she has asked everday when swim team would be over.  Finally we had our last swim even, the weekend, and school. For Kindergarten the first week back the kids only come one day so that the teachers can evaluate them and put the classes together.  Maddie's day was Monday which worked out perfect so that everyone could start on the same day. As Maddie got ready she and Samantha were suck like glue.  Samantha being the doting big sister and helping her out with lunch, backpack, and clothes.  We all walked into school and everyone was eager to help drop Maddie off.  When we got to the room the teacher looked at her and said, "Maddie! are you su...

Elizabeth made a mosaic for her World History Class.  She was very proud.  She has to do one project every week and has fed her class well.  From brownies to cookies to rice crispy treats, they really enjoy when she shows up with food. Maddie made this poster at the beginning of the year.  It is fun to see what is important to her. For FHE we had to color a picture.  John Derek was very proud of how patient he was in working on this picture and how careful he was. Samantha is so cute.  JD is behind her on the wake board.  This is when we went to the Lake for General Conference. "President Henry D. Moyle suggested that when someone speaks we ought to get three things out of the message. First and least important (but still very important), we ought to get what is said. Second, and more important, we ought to have a spiritual experience. Third, and most important, we should keep the commitments we make to ourse...

I wanted to share this experience to help me remember who is in charge and that it will all work out. Yesterday Derek and I went out while Elizabeth took some friends to a Church dance.  As we talked Derek again voiced his concern about Elizabeth and her testimony.  I championed Elizabeth and reminded him about how she knows the right answers, how nice she is becoming, and how when she was younger and we were worried about her testimony I played a song for her, Blessings , and how we both were in tears by the end of the song.  (As the song finished I felt that I should stop worrying about Elizabeth gaining a testimony.  That Heavenly Father knows her heart, that He has a plan and that someday she will know the truth for herself.)  With this reminder Derek was somewhat pacified and we went on with the evening. After getting home Derek went to bed and I waited for Elizabeth's friends to be picked up.  I began to clean the kitchen and wanted to turn on ...

It has been 3 months since we had our TV Fast.  Here is what I learned: I am dependent on electronics for babysitting and entertaining my children.  The fast was not only hard for the kids but hard for me.  I also missed sitting together as a family and watching something on a low key night. My kids are more creative without electronics.  Elizabeth wrote more songs, Samantha and Maddie did more crafts, John Derek even worked on a few projects. My kids are nicer without electronics.  There were not so many fights.  They were more willing to be around each other and got along.  We still had fights and so forth but overall things were more harmonious.   My kids interacted more.  Elizabeth especially spent more time with us.  She was not always up in her room or somewhere watching her phone but was playing with the kids and asking how she could help.  Samantha also was more interactive and not so sedentary. We played ...

This week has been harder than last week was.  Elizabeth put it planely “We’re board!”  They have played all their games, learned all their songs on the piano and ukulele and they are board.  They don’t know how to occupy their time.  So we are all driving each other a little crazy.  I am more uptight, Michael is very clinginy and is constantly asking me, and anyone who comes in contact with him, “can you play with me?” On the positive side Hope has been on lots and lots of walks.  Samantha and John Derek are often outside playing wall ball together.  Elizabeth spends less time in her room and more time with the family.  

Yesterday in the October 2017 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Nelson asked 3 questions: 1. What would your life be like without the Book of  Mormon? 2. What would you not know? 3. What would you not have? I would like to answer those questions for myself. 1. What would my life be like without the Book of Mormon? Without the Book of Mormon my life would be much more confused, much more empty, I would have much more doubt and question more.  I would only be able to rely on the Bible and would have a lot more doubt because of stories and situations that I do not understand.  That seem unclear and questionable.  I would not feel the amazing love I feel from my Savior.  I know I would know He loves me but I wouldn't realize how completely. 2. What would I not know without it? My favorite part of the Book of Mormon is when Jesus Christ comes to the Americas .  I love His compassion for the people. ...

For a Family Home Evening we decided that we would present the idea of fasting from electronics.  We opened a discussion by reading from an article titled  A Question of Time , by Elder F. Burton Howard.  In the article he asks a series of questions about television watching.  Some of the questions I liked were:  Does the television have its own room? Do you like it better than your brother?  Does it come with you to dinner?  etc.  We asked the questions to the kids and listened to what they collectively said.  When I asked the questions:  Do your parents spend more time with it than they do with you? Do they spend more money on it than they do on you?  I was amazed to hear them answer "Yes!"  I realized that it is not just the kids who are too preoccupied with electronics that Derek and I need to cut them out too. One of the questions Elder Burton asked was: Could you live without TV for a week? Ho...

Derek and I needed to come up with the rules: Until the end of the school year (5 weeks) we would not have any electronics for entertainment purposes. We would allow school work to be done on the computer as well as email and such. This rule includes all electronic devices. Computers and phones would shut down at 10:00. Phones would still be plugged into the parents bedroom at night. To help us live by these rules we did the following: Derek and I deleted all our games on our phones. Derek also took away all the power cords to the televisions so that they could not be used while mom and dad were gone. Derek and I would also adhere to the rules and refrain from being on our phones too much during family time. We also obtained a Parent Control Software that we put on all the devices and computers that mom can control. We also put a time limit on the amount of social media that could be used. Up next: The Presentation

We actually began by not talking about electronics.  The kids had asked to learn time management so for 2 Family Home Evenings we studied time management from the Self-Reliance My Foundations Manuel.  This helped them get into their minds the ideas of priorities, that there is a certain amount of  time in our lives and we have to decide how to use that time. Don't they look so excited as they watch television?   I was particularly touched by a chapter in President Eyring's book: Because He First Loved Us .  In the chapter titled Child of Promise Pres. Eyring quotes Pres. Brigham Young: With regard to our property, as I have told you many times, the property which we inherit from our Heavenly Father is our time, and the power to choose in the disposition of the same. This is the real capital that is bequeathed unto us by our Heavenly Father; all the rest is what he may be pleased to add unto us. To direct, to counsel and to advise ...

In December 2016 I felt a growing desire to increase the love in our family; to make the "family central" to our plan as it is to the Lord's. ( The Family: A Proclamation to the World ) I knew that the only way to change how I felt about my family would be to study the words of God.  On several occasions I had studied about the family and had tried to implement things but couldn't ever feel like my heart was being changed.  I decided that this time would be different that this time I would study the Book of Mormon and read the entire thing looking for examples and scriptures and anything that could be applied to the family. I found a blue Book of Mormon on our shelf that my Grandparents had given me years ago, opened it up and wrote the following words: Today I begin a serious study of the family.  We are told that "the family is central to the creator's plan for His children."  I do not feel that I am making my family central to my life.  My g...

Maddie's family who came to the baptism.  Maddison was baptized on Saturday!! We are so proud of her and the choice that she made to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Her daddy baptized her.  The water was very cold but she was very brave.  After being put under the water she jumped back up and left the font.  She was so cold.  There were two other kids who also go baptized.  One of the speakers afterwards said that he truly saw the children of the latter days "springing" out of the water. Michael wanted to be part of the pictures.  He was a little/lot jealous of the attention Maddie was receiving. 4 kids of ours ahve been baptized.  We only have one to go in about 3 years.  Wow, am I really that old? Samantha is so happy for Maddie and wanted to make sure Maddie felt loved! Maddie and Daddy Our Family (notice that Samantha does not have her shoes on.  If ...

 Maddie Celebrated her 8th Birthday on Friday!  She had a Shopkin Party and had so much fun!! Elizabeth Made the Cute Cupcake Ice Cream Cones Daddy helped with the Pinjata, photography, and mom's sanity. Elizabeth also made a punch out box for the girls to punch and then get prizes.  It was a huge hit. Samantha painted a "Pin the Sprinkle on the Shopkin." Mommy Made a Strawberry Shopkin Pinjata.  It reminded me of when my mom would make us pinjatas at almost every party. Samantha instructed the girls on painting a letter.  They all wore garbage bag smocks and had a delightful time. Elizabeth and Samantha really put the party on.  We got the house decorated and then the girls took over.  What amazing daughters I have. On Monday for Family Home Evening we talked about the 5 Love Languages.  I had us all take a test so that we could discover what our love language is and be able to help each other feel loved. ...

Derek took me for a hike Saturday.  It was a wonderful date.  So nice to be in nature, get some exercise, and talk to my best friend.  He is the best!!  I am so grateful to be his wife. This morning was one of those mornings where I had so much I wanted to accomplish and no way to get it all done.  But I was on track getting dressed to go Visiting Teaching when I had the prompting that I really needed to prepare a lesson.  I couldn't just wing it.  I had been prompted to do this all day yesterday and kept putting it off.  So I looked at the clock and realized I had an extra 5 min. and decided that would be enough time.  I prayed and then found my Ensign and began to read. Now I had read this message at least twice and had it read to me by my visiting teachers but it wasn't until I sat down and tried to focus and tried to see what the Lord wanted me to learn that I was truly taught. Elder D. Todd Christofferson  of the Quorum of ...

Today I am not as calm as I was a few days ago.  I still feel the blessing of peace in my soul but the rest of me is getting agitated and anxious.  I don't know if it is the medication.  I have not been the best at taking it on a consistent basis in the hopes that maybe I could stop taking it but as soon as I started to feel this uneasiness come upon me I took it. I also am frustrated with my period.  It is two weeks late.  I took another pregnancy test today and was relieved that it was negative.  I just would like to know what is going on with my body. I also want to start a diet but don't know where to start.  I feel that I need a program but don't know what program to use.  I fell lost. I feel busy and stressed, that I can't get anything done.  The laundry is piling up, there are piles of stuff all over the house.  My cleaning lady came today and that usually helps but seeing all the piles that she could not clean up got me fee...