Does anyone have any peanut butter for this?

I have to say that I have the most adorable child. Well all of them are adorable, but Marc got quote of the day at dinner. We were having a gourmet dinner of grilled cheese and oranges and Marcus says, "Does anyone have any peanut butter for this?" and he started to giggle. It was so funny.
Unfortunately, he hasn't learned how to go out on a high note because he proceeded to ask for pee pee as well. It is so much fun to see how our kid's sense of humor develop. My boys are seem to dwell a lot on potty humor and violence, but sometimes they hit it right.
Kevin and the boys got going on the Pinewood Derby cars today. Jeremy's is red and Marcus's(since they don't have to follow the rules) will be turquoise and little strips of steel. They spent time filing down axles and wheels and spray painting the bodies. Life is good when you feel like you have accomplished things when you have worked on Pinewood Derby cars, done some laundry and gotten 20 bags of tumbleweeds to the city dumpster and you feel like you have a productive day.
My parents and brother LaMont left this morning. They were in town for Jonathan's graduation. He has gotten his master's in mechanical engineering. I went to the convocation on Friday. It was great, but I felt like I wanted to go back to school. I know it would be different trying to fit in studying time with the kids and getting babysitters, but I think I would love it as well. If I only knew what major to do. Oh well, for today I will design wedding invitations and writing books and having lovely lazy days with my family.
Abundance to all,
Becky

Preparation and Doing

I have been pondering preparation that last little while. I have been trying to get prepared for a summer schedule that doesn't include tons of free time for hours of playing on the computer or the Wii. I have been trying to get prepared in case of emergencies by getting my food storage, water storage and emergency supplies together and ready. I am preparing menus and shopping lists so I am prepared to make dinner at 4pm and not scrambling for ingredients. I am trying to prepare myself to be a good mother, wife and person by practicing the habits I think will lead me to a happy life. I have been so busy preparing that I haven't been DOING enough doing with other things in my life. I would much rather make a list of the fun things that we are going to do as a family and put off doing the taxes.
So is my preparing my doing? I know I have been neglecting the odd thing (you don't get in that much trouble if you don't pay taxes...right? It's not like I am not going to do them. They just might get submitted on April 15.)
Last night I was preparing for what I wanted to teach my children spiritually. I would like to spend the week focusing on having an attitude of gratitude. My 9 and 5 year old boys have been saying increasingly more silly prayers. My 5 year old has been thankful for the Wii, games, computer games and new Wii game with alarming frequency and while I think we should be grateful for the things we have (because who doesn't appreciate things?), I think we should be focusing our appreciation in additional ways. So last night I found a bunch of quotes for us to discuss and a couple of stories that we can explore to help develop an attitude of gratitude. I want them to be prepared to be grateful even when things aren't going great to be grateful for what they do have. I think one of my favorite quotes was this one:

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. - Buddha

So that is the goal for the week to help increase all of our attitudes of gratitude. I have decided to add two keys to my 8 keys of excellence. (Bobbi DePorter's 8 keys) I am adding Attitude of Gratitude and Look for God in all things. I hope I am prepared :) and if not I am grateful for the journey. Have a great day of thanks.