Bring Your Wife to Work Day

Ok so not really. Back when Chad and I first met we worked together. We helped each other in our area's, we worked the same shift, car pooled, and ate lunch together. We loved it. There were times though when sometimes he had to work and I was off so I would sneak down to work and follow him around (maybe work off the clock a little to help him along). When kids started to come along that got harder to do since I wasn't working anymore. But he was able to come home for lunch breaks and sometimes I even took all the kids down for his breaks. Well since for the last 3 years he has had such a LONG commute to work those perks have pretty much disappeared. Chad is still on nights (boo) but the last few weeks have been super rough on him. He hasn't been sleeping between his shifts. So I've been driving him to work. Yup all the way to work turn around to come home then go pick him up. I would rather do this and spend the extra gas money then for him to fall asleep at the wheel. Anyway so last night I drove him to work but I didn't come straight home. Carsyn was a big help and put his brothers to bed and I got to hang out with Hubby at work. It  was fun to follow him around, watch him move pallets, and boss people around. Everyone kept asking him if I was a manager that he was training (maybe a blue shirt wasn't the best choice to wear) it was so fun.
Sometimes I miss working with him. it was a great bonding thing for us.
Love that man so much and all of the sacrifices he does for our family.

More Fall Colors

I love my fall mums

A new look

Because sometimes change is good. 

Ummm Helloooo Handsome!!!

Mama don't feel good

Ugh...I have never been an allergy sufferer at least not until about 2 summers ago. In 2011 I couldn't figure out why on earth I was now getting allergies. It started the end of July and lasted until mid Oct I tried taking Zyrtec and Claretin and those did NOTHING for me. I suffered all summer long it was horrible I scratched my eyes so bad that it tore the lining and filled up with fluid it looked so weird ha ha..Chad had taken me out to dinner for my birthday and I couldn't even taste the food I was o stuffed up. I couldn't sleep either.
The same thing last year I tried taking some off brand stuff and tried zyrtec and claretin again  but again didn't even take the edge off. But last year I figured it out. it was the smoke from the forest fires. So as this summer was getting hotter and dryer I was sooooo dredding this season. sure enough then end of July it hit. =( I did find that Benadryl  helps. It doesn't clear them completely but helps significantly. The problem though is the drowsiness I cannot function. I have no energy I haven't looked at school books for my home schoolers. I'm lacking in my chores and it shows. This morning was no exception. Carsyn has decided to go to public school again and they start at 7:40 I have to get up at 6:30. number one I have never been nor ever will be a morning person so that in itself was hard then I had to take a benadryl before 8am because my allergies were already at it. by 8:30 I was already done I gave in and turned on PBS and got my pillow and was out on the couch (yup I'm mom of the year) I finally dragged my hinney off the couch at 11:00 to make the kids lunch.

There has to be a medium. but right now it's either be so miserable I cry uncontrollably or be so sluggish and useless.

Education

Here we are again time to start school. I hate this time of year because we always have the question to answer Home school or Main Stream? We told Carsyn that we would go year by year. Well he of course wants main stream. I could go into my personal emotions around this subject but I will save that for my personal journal and my husbands shoulder because some things have a place on the internet and some don't. And I wanted to share something about Carsyn. We always knew he was special. He has always been above the game. Rewind to his 5th grade year (his first year in public school) We got a little irritated Because in Jan His math teacher said that the 5th grade book was a wash for Carsyn (we knew that) and so all he had been doing all year was accelerated math thats fine but in Jan Carsyn had mastered all the objectives available for that and his teacher said well I can't do anything else for him so create an account on Kahnacadamy.com and track your progress. Ummm Ok??? SO then at the end of the school year all the kids take a test to see where they will be with 6th grade math and if they could skip it and move ahead with math 7. His teacher said Carsyn will have no problem with it. Sure enough we got a letter that Carsyn qualified for math 7.  So my 10 year old who is already in a grade ahead is now going to be 2 grades ahead in math..Fast FWD to last night. We go down to register him for middle school She pulls up his file and said we need to see Miss White (I think she is the head of the math dpt) I said well he passed the test to be in math 7 does it not show that and she says I don't know you just need to see Miss White. So now I'm ready to put up a fight and make sure he gets into math 7. I'm thinking they probably have a problem with his age or something. Anyway we find her and told her we were supposed to see her. She got a confused look on her face and looked up his name and was looking on her screen and says...Awww Yes I see now and smiled and proceeded to talk about testing. I said "Well He already took the test at the end of last year and the letter said He qualified". She said "Yes...He BLEW that out of the park" She was talking about having him tested for math 8. Apparently he got an 89% on math 7.

So putting him in Public school this year I still hate the idea but I'm glad that this middle school saw his potential and are willing to let him go ahead. I am going to ask about his reading because I know he is well advanced in that too.

I am excited that Carsyn will be in Band. That is the one and only subject I was aloud by my parents to take and it was the most awesome experience I've ever had. He tried out for the percussion but he isn't a shoe in they will see how he does at band camp. If  it turns out He can't do percussion He has chosen to do the trumpet. And while His Dad would love to see him play the sax We're happy with that choice.

Once I get Carsyn settled in School I will turn my focus. I have 3 boys at home that I will be homeschooling. Corbyn has been doing great with what we've done. And I'm curious to see how he does this year since my 6 year old LOVES doing multiplication.

My New Adventure

For the past few months and probably longer then that I've just been board. I needed something for "me" I had thought I was going to start selling Stampin Up again because I do miss scrapbooking but I just could never bring myself to do it. My excuse was I will wait until I have a craft room. Then I got my hands on a current catalog and it kind of sealed the deal. I was NOT going to be a Stampin Up Demonstrator. I do not like their new look. I think it finally gave me closure with that company. A friend of mine posted on FB a brand new company that hadn't even launched yet. I was kind of curious. I liked the look of it so I thought Sure I will have a party when they get launched and she gets her business started up. The night before it was to launch my friend posted on her FB that there was a conference call if anyone would like to know more about the company. I've never done a conference call but it started in like 2 min and for some reason I dialed in. 2 hours later I signed up with this Company. I am so excited to be selling a new concept of Jewelry with Mialisia. My kit doesn't get here for a few more week but I'm super excited. I've been working to set up twitter accounts, blogs, instagram and others for my new adventure so I can share this new concept. once I get it all up I will let you know. Feel free to take a look at my website to start learning. I would LOVE if someone wanted to hold a Fashion Event for me this fall. I was able to see an feel some of the product and it's good stuff. It's not your $5.00 paparazzi stuff and they have a life time warranty.

I can't wait to get started.

Careys.Mialisia.com 

Check it out!

A little too much?

Ok, Ok. So my last post was a little strong. Even my Hubby was shocked that I would be so bold to share my views. Normally I refrain from making such a bold statement because my opinions are my own and from what I see on social networks when people share their opinions they get yelled at because they weren't someone else's opinions/views. (you know what I'm talking about) I've always just ignored peoples posts when it's opinions and not comment my own thoughts. But I figured this is my blog so I can. lol...ANd I will say this about it though. It felt nice to speak my thoughts even for just a moment. I can be very sarcastic, very stubborn , and I do have a mouth on me. But I learned at a very young age that it gets me in trouble A LOT so I've learned to just shut it.

Sometimes "Just shutting" it takes a lot of inner strength.

Holidays

I don't know if it's because Chad is always working on holidays or it's just the fact that we're lazy, but when it comes to holidays and our family we just aren't that in to it. When in comes to Christmas we've always been honest with the kids about the true story of Santa Claus about how he served others. We do gifts and read the true Christmas story and have a nice meal. That is our biggest holiday.
New Years well lets just say we're in bed by 12:01 and the only reason it's not at 9pm is because it's a thrill to a 10 year old to stay up until midnight.
Valentines day is a wash for us. once in a great while I might make some heart shaped cookies but it's more out of guilt not tradition. And we don't exchange valentines cards how ever the kids may draw a big heart and a cute note but again that is about it.
St. Paddy's day The only reason I dress up is to prove to Chad what happens when you wear red.....Does anyone else know?
Easter I will admit we do something on Easter. The kids like finding eggs in the yard with candy and sometimes some money. I try to have a nice dinner and we talk about Jesus Christ resurrection. I think we make this a good holiday because it's a Christ one.
Mothers Day/Fathers Day I don't need 1 day a year for my family to show me how much I mean to them. They tell me quite often.
4th of July. (the reason for this post) I just don't understand spending $100's of dollars on fireworks to watch burn in the street and pollute the air of this nation. Or showing up 2 hours early to get a good seat to watch a 15 min parade. Or seeing everyone dress like the red white and blue fairy puked on them. Last year we did try doing one of the events around the valley and it was fun I guess but it was a very Looooong day. and Chad worked today so I WILL NOT take the kids by myself for that. Don't get me wrong I am a patriotic person and I'm so grateful for our nation. But quite frankly our nation is turning into something that I don't think our Founding Fathers had envisioned.
Thanksgiving to us well.....More of a chore. Chad ALWAYS works that day and the day after so we can't ever go anywhere and we live too far away for family to come to us. It's just so much work to try and make a Thanksgiving feast for a whole bunch of picky children.

Labor Day, Memorial Day......What else did I miss?? Hug your dog day?????

I know it probably sounds like I'm a real ba hum bug. but seriously we don't conform to the social convention of spending money on every single holiday to make silly crafts, get all cutsied up, or whatever else they do. I'm really enjoying cleaning my house in the air conditioning on this hot day.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Are they strange?

After getting home from a 5 hour drive. 

Me: boys what do you want for dinner?

Boys: we can just snack on fruit all evening. 

Sorry but I'm not arguing with that. 

"Mom can we have a fruit/vegi tray and salad for lunch? I will make it myself"......SAID NO KID EVER! ......Wait.....that's what mine just said.....what the heck ???

I think it looks great and I didn't have to make it. 

Snuggles

Last weeks lazy Sunday. They sure do love their daddy

Changes

I have been a Beehive adviser  in my ward since Aug. It's bee a fun calling. Not too stressful, It keeps me busy, We have a great bunch of girls. I've really enjoyed it and I've even been doing personal progress along with the girls. And I get to go to girls camp this week and I'm super excited. However, all things come to an end at one point or another. There were lots of changes in our ward today. We got a new whole new Relief Society, Young Mens, Primary, Nursery coordinator, various teachers, wards clerks, and yes there was a change in Young Womens. I was released as Beehive Adviser. :( I got a new calling though. They asked me to be the 2nd counselor in the Young Women Presidency. I thought "great I get to pretty much the same thing yay" I've known since last Tuesday about this change and didn't really think much of it. It wasn't until I was sitting with the Presidency in front of all the Young Women today that it really dawned on me and I thought to myself "Oh crap! what did I just say yes too?"

~myheadmeetdesk~

Soooo bad but ohhhhh soooo GOOOOOD

I may not be a chef. And to be honest I really hate cooking. I'm not an over the top health nut but I've been trying to do better things for my family. One thing I have done is all but stopped buying pre packaged foods. I try to make most things from scratch. One of those things is cakes mixes and boxed brownies. It's just as easy and taste better anyway (if you have a good recipe, thanks pinterest for helping with this). A downfall about this is that most of the time I have all the ingredients to make a super moist gooey chocolate cake. It would be so much easier to say oh I forgot to buy the cake mix at the store so we can't make a cake tonight. But nope the sweet tooth was having a fit tonight and it's hard to argue its point when I have everything on hand. Needless to stay the sweet tooth won the argument and I was forced to make this

Please forgive the messy stove in the background. Below is what it's supposed to look like but I didn't have vanilla ice cream it's one of those "sometimes foods" that I don't buy every day and its too hard to keep stuff on hand to make it lol. 

Normally I'm not a chocolate fan. I would have preferred a peach crisp. However because nobody else in the family likes peach crisp (or anything the has cooked fruit) I always end up eating the whole pan myself and I certainly don't need to be doing that. This worked out good I had a small piece then gave half to the neighbor :) 

I bet you wished you were my neighbor now. 

Sleepy head

I'm not quite sure what his deal was yesterday but he rolled out of bed around 8:20 this is as far as he made it. He fell asleep after about 10 min and skipped breakfast.

Around 11:30 he had rolled off the couch so I figured he was going to be waking up soon so I picked him up and snuggled him.......for an hour! He finally woke up around 12:30

I got lunch put together around 1:30 and while he was eating I notice cooper wasn't at the table anymore. This is where I found him. 

It wasn't until evening that he finally got active but as a result he wouldnt go to sleep until 10:00. I will admit it was quite the peaceful day. 

Busted!!

Shortly after getting Jammies on while finishing up our evening routine I heard a noise coming from the bedroom. He thinks he is so sneaky. 

Clutter Piles.

Need I say more? Perhaps I do on the issue. I like to think of my house keeping skills as "not too bad" I'm pretty good at keeping up on the dishes, the kids "usually" have clean clothes in their drawers, the floor gets swept mostly every day, and the toilets get cleaned before they start growing things. I will be the first to admit I'd rather mow the lawn and pull weeds then clean the house. And it's probably not the best thing that that gets done more often then some of the inside chores. What can I say? I love being outside in the spring time weather. But as a result of not deep cleaning every room in the house every single day (who has time for that anyway?) my clutter piles grow at a slow but steady pace. If you've ever been to my house you know that there isn't a lot of room and it especially lacks closet/hiding places so because of that the piles are in plain sight. There are pros and cons for the issue that I'm faced with. Pros are I can see it growing so I usually get to it before it falls over, and I usually know where everything is. Cons are Everyone else can see it and probably labels me as a hoarder, And ....Everyone else can see it and probably labels me as a hoarder...lol.

All Jokes aside I was thinking about this the other night because I'm feeling really overwhelmed with my clutter piles. I need about a good solid 2 weeks to clear out and clean, that is a doable task But I was thinking and I asked the question "what clutter piles do I have that are holding me back spiritually?" Like my messy house, clutter piles takes away my agency to have free time, to craft, play, leave the house, to just sit quietly and ponder and not stress about my do to list. But on a spiritual level What is taking away my agency from growing? I like to think our family is doing well in most aspects but we certainly have lots to de-clutter, bad habits to break, good habits to develop etc.....So then I got to thinking "whats really holding us back?" and for me it comes back to my everyday clutter piles. I have a tendency to stress over the smallest things to the point I get physically sick. I get stressed in chaos. I can't sleep if my room is messy.

I've decided I need to get my house in order so I can focus on the more important things. I'm thinking a yard sale will be in order as well as a DI run and trash man isn't going to enjoy stopping at my house. By cleaning up my clutter piles and cleaning out my closets I'm hoping to bring peace to my home and my home will be more inviting for the spirit to dwell and possibly more friends will come hang out with me because the strange smell will be gone ;)

WoW!!

My hubby sure is handsome! 

Couldn't have said it better.

One of my friends posted this article on Facebook. I can totally relate....

I am in a season of my life right now where I feel bone-tired almost all of the time. Ragged, how-am-I-going-to-make-it-to-the-end-of-the-day, eyes burning exhausted.

I have three boys ages 5 and under. I'm not complaining about that. Well, maybe I am a little bit. But I know that there are people who would give anything for a house full of laughter and chaos. I was that person for years and years; the pain of infertility is stabbing and throbbing and constant. I remember allowing hope to rise and then seeing it crash all around me, month after month, for seven years. I am working on another post about infertility that will come at a later date.

But right now, in my actual life, I have three boys ages 5 and under. There are many moments where they are utterly delightful, like last week, when Isaac told my sister-in-law that, "My daddy has hair all over." Or when Elijah put a green washcloth over his chin and cheeks, and proudly declared, "Daddy! I have a beard just like you!" Or when Ben sneaks downstairs in the morning before the other boys do, smiles at me, and says, "Daddy and Ben time."

But there are also many moments when I have no idea how I'm going to make it until their bedtime. The constant demands, the needs and the fighting are fingernails across the chalkboard every single day.

One of my children is for sure going to be the next Steve Jobs. I now have immense empathy for his parents. He has a precise vision of what he wants -- exactly that way and no other way. Sometimes, it's the way his plate needs to be centered exactly to his chair, or how his socks go on, or exactly how the picture of the pink dolphin needs to look -- with brave eyes, not sad eyes, daddy! He is a laser beam, and he is not satisfied until it's exactly right.

I have to confess that sometimes, the sound of his screaming drives me to hide in the pantry. And I will neither confirm nor deny that while in there, I compulsively eat chips and/or dark chocolate.

There are people who say this to me:

"You should enjoy every moment now! They grow up so fast!"

I usually smile and give some sort of guffaw, but inside, I secretly want to hold them under water. Just for a minute or so. Just until they panic a little.

If you have friends with small children -- especially if your children are now teenagers or if they're grown -- please vow to me right now that you will never say this to them. Not because it's not true, but because it really, really doesn't help.

We know it's true that they grow up too fast. But feeling like I have to enjoy every moment doesn't feel like a gift, it feels like one more thing that is impossible to do, and right now, that list is way too long. Not every moment is enjoyable as a parent; it wasn't for you, and it isn't for me. You just have obviously forgotten. I can forgive you for that. But if you tell me to enjoy every moment one more time, I will need to break up with you.

If you are a parent of small children, you know that there are moments of spectacular delight, and you can't believe you get to be around these little people. But let me be the one who says the following things out loud:

You are not a terrible parent if you can't figure out a way for your children to eat as healthy as your friend's children do. She's obviously using a bizarre and probably illegal form of hypnotism.

You are not a terrible parent if you yell at your kids sometimes. You have little dictators living in your house. If someone else talked to you like that, they'd be put in prison.

You are not a terrible parent if you can't figure out how to calmly give them appropriate consequences in real time for every single act of terrorism that they so creatively devise.

You are not a terrible parent if you'd rather be at work.

You are not a terrible parent if you just can't wait for them to go to bed.

You are not a terrible parent if the sound of their voices sometimes makes you want to drink and never stop.

You're not a terrible parent.

You're an actual parent with limits. You cannot do it all. We all need to admit that one of the casualties specific to our information saturated culture is that we have sky-scraper standards for parenting, where we feel like we're failing horribly if we feed our children chicken nuggets and we let them watch TV in the morning.

One of the reasons we are so exhausted is that we are oversaturated with information about the kind of parents we should be.

So, maybe it's time to stop reading the blogs that tell you how to raise the next president who knows how to read when she's 3 and who cooks, not only eats, her vegetables. Maybe it's time to embrace being the kind of parent who says sorry when you yell. Who models what it's like to take time for yourself. Who asks God to help you to be a better version of the person that you actually are, not for more strength to be an ideal parent.

So, the next time you see your friends with small children with that foggy and desperate look in their eyes, order them a pizza and send it to their house that night. Volunteer to take their kids for a few hours so they can be alone in their own house and have sex when they're not so tired, for heaven's sake. Put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eyes, and tell them that they're doing a good job. Just don't freak out if they start weeping uncontrollably. Most of the time, we feel like we're botching the whole deal and our kids will turn into horrible criminals who hate us and will never want to be around us when they're older.

You're bone-tired. I'm not sure when it's going to get better. Today might be a good day or it might be the day that you lost it in a way that surprised even yourself.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

You're not alone.

Can I whine for just a second? It's been nearly 1 year since Chad started on nights and I just want to say...."Yup I still hate the night shift".......

Ok whining all done.

NOBODY MOVE!!!!!

You might disturb the beast! 

I'm guessing I had better keep a close eye on him later today it looks as though he is in deep thought planning out his next course if destruction.  

My child that is Cooper

Wednesday evenings are a bit crazy at our house. Carsyn has piano right after school then hurry to get dinner on the table then off to scouts and young women's. Tonight was no different. After I got chad headed off to work I changed coopers diaper and got his socks on. Then I sent him to find his shoes while I went to start clearing dishes from the table. He found his shoes and was excited that he also found the socks he had worn earlier. I told him good job but he already had socks on. He of course didnt like that answer. So while I'm standing at the sink doing dishes he pushes the trash can closer to me then tips it over. Now I know you're probably laughing about this temper fit of his but just wait it gets better. Remember I'm doing dishes and the sink with the garbage disposal is full so I was using the trash can to put all of the waist. So when he tipped it over, spaghetti sauce splattered all over the back of my legs. 

The "Bean"Cake

My kids HATE beans. Any kind of beans. Green beans, kidney beans, black beans, refried beans, I could go on. So while I was talking with Corbyn about what kind I cake he wanted for his birthday this year I offered to make him a BEAN cake. He of course protested loudly. Every day leading up to his birthday he made sure to tell me he wanted chocolate cake and not bean cake. I really didn't have a certain cake in mind to decorate. I just knew it had to be chocolate. At the last min I had a thought. JELLY BEANS!! I kept insisting to Corbyn that I was making a bean cake and so I did. I think we have finally found a kind of bean they like.

So Exciting!

For the month of April we have made 3 full amount Car Payments on my car. Oh how I love dumping debt and that we actually can now. 

Summer Job

It's going to be nice to have some help mowing this year

I need a Maid

So tonight's mess was pizza sauce all over the kitchen floor, wall, fridge, pantry door, stove, dishwasher, Corbyn, Oh and the cabinet was open. But it's ok because about an hour later Corbyn dumped the jug of water on the floor so I got to mop it all up with a towel.

My child that is Cooper

Mess number 1 corn starch. Mess number 2 fish food. Mess number 3 (not pictured) broken light bulb. Welcome to my average day.

My New Wall

One of the reasons I wanted a vinyl cutter year ago was so I could cut my own vinyl for my own home. I always wanted to put a really big saying on my bedroom wall but it had to be perfect. I liked some sayings here and there but didn't really love any of them. I heard this saying last year and that was the one for sure. But for some reason I could bring myself to put it up. I think because once it was done I thought it "permanent" we'll I had the cutter out yesterday and I thought "I'm finally going to do it" and so I did. And I absolutely love it ! This is now what I see every morning when I wake up ( it's not over my bed)

Flowers from Hubby make me smile

Peek a Boo

His 1st set of Stitches

Notice how I said "1st" ? Everyone thinks that since I have 4 boys I live in the ER well the truth is we've been pretty lucky. Don't get me wrong we have definitely seen our share of blood. We've actually only had 2 things that were bad enough to think we need to go in. And both of those times have been with this child. (See Here for the other incident) Anyway We took the training wheels off his bike and he actually picked it up really fast (even better then his older broth did but shhh don't tell him I said that). the 3rd day on his own he was out ridding and he crashed I gave my typical hug and kiss then told him to get his helmet on and sent him back out. The story is that there was a car coming so he was getting to the side of the road and hit the curb and went down. Darn it. I do have some other close up pics but decided not to post them because, well, they are kind of gross. He actually is a pretty tough kid. He only cried until he got to the bathroom with me. Then was totally fine.However He did NOT like it when she started to work on him. He cried when she gave him the shot to numb it and so then he was upset through the rest of it. Chad on the other hand had to leave the building and get some air and when he finally did come back in all the nurses thought he was in need of care and were all panicked wanting him to sit down. The Dr said she could just super glue it but because of they way it was open (more of a flap then cut) she did recommend stitches because the scar would be much better So to preserve this handsome face of his he got 3 stitches. 

Happy Day.

Today is a good day. Our Family reached a milestone. We have worked hard to correct our mistakes and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Today our Family paid off the last of our credit card debt. Chad and I have had credit card debt since we were dating. It's NOT something to be proud of. At one point in our early marriage we had 15 open credit cards all with maxed out balances. Sure it was only $500 here and $500 there. We learned  how quickly things add up but by then it was too late. over the years we would start to get really close to having one or 2 paid off but then something would happen. We knew that once Chad got promoted things would look up. And they have. 

We aren't completely out of the woods yet. My car will be the next focus. We have a plan in place and can start counting down the months. Oh what a blessing it will be when we will be able to say 

"We Are Debt Free"

A Day as a Mom of Boys

Me witnessing Cole Pick his nose then proceed to eat it I say to him 

"Cole, don't do that it's really yucky" 

He then looks at me and says with a Matter of Fact look on his face and sternness in his tone of voice 

"Mom, I do dat all duh time"

A good reminder to stop and listen sometimes.

“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people.

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”

Lets start the year with a blog post.

I don't have much to say today. Things around here have just been chugging along. We had a good Christmas. Chad has been working hard (Love that man) The boys are growing like weeds. And I've just been cleaning house. Isn't that how every family works? I do have a couple of big projects in mind to do in the next few months that involve cleaning scrubbing de-cluttering and crafting. I didn't set any "New Years Resolutions" I think those are just silly. I think every one should always have goals in the back of their mind to better themselves. So I will always be working toward those. But I am looking forward to this coming year. It will be a good one for our family.