It is Wednesday night and I am sitting in front of the TV trying to fix our BYU satellite while waiting for Ruby who is on a "girls night out" with my sisters. I have just finished getting all of the boys to bed and reading to them and now have some quiet time alone (quite a rare occasion in this house). Today I had a tooth pulled or rather a crown removed and the tooth and root area cleaned out with a return appointment for Friday to re-drill and replace the crown. Not my most comfortable day today.

Monday night we had our Family Home Evening and discussed the troubles the people in Japan are having and what we need to do to prepare for emergency situations. It was really quite sobering to see the level of destruction wrought by a wave caused by a "small" shift in the crust of the earth. I can just imagine the kind of mayhem that will occur if and when there is a really big movement in the crust, something that will last for hours instead of seconds... scary stuff.

After our FHE finished, Ruby and I were in the office / study after getting the children bathed and dressed discussing options with regard to my salary changes (our structures in the office are changing) and planning our way forward. Ruby had told Kyle to make sure the little guys didn't go outside after the bath because it was really wet after a heavy downpour. As Ruby and I were talking, Jesse comes walking in literally dripping wet so Ruby calls out to Kyle (just before this Kyle is heard asking his brothers why there are wet patches on the floor - he thought Jesse had taken off his nappy and left a puddle) and asks why his little brother is wet. Kyle's reply was that he had no idea. Ruby asked if Jesse had been outside and Kyle again replies that he has no idea. When he eventually decides to get up he sees a trail from the door to the study and says that yes his brother was outside....
Jesse literally walked past Kyle and slid out under the security door! Really alert son we have here.
I suppose we sometimes expect too much from Kyle because he is just so grown up and mature in so many ways. It is easy to forget that he is still a thirteen year old who "zones out" and is selfish on occasion because he is mostly not like your typical garden variety teenager at all.

Just another reason to be grateful for what we have in our lives.

Sunday Evening

Well it is that sort of time again and as I wait here for two of my boys to finish eating bread-rolls I will type a little...

The past little while has been really busy at work and I am struggling to keep up. I definitely need to be more organised and keep to the plans made so that I can increase my effectiveness. It seems that at the end of the day I do not have much to show for my time spent in the office. I have had a couple of ideas but it probably all comes back to concentrating on one task, completing it and only then moving to the next, something I am finding difficult to do. My manager is really helpful with this and is always trying to assist with the planning thing so I guess I should just practice and keep practicing until I am competent.

I just had a short break to read to my boys (Aidan and Orin) for bedtime but am now back at the keyboard - I can't believe how long it takes to read a chapter of Harry Potter! I started here at 8pm and now continue at 8:48 which means I was reading for at least a half hour. Aidan in particular really seems to enjoy it though and will go to just about any lengths to insure he gets a chapter every night. We have gone through the first two books in the series and are now into the third which is relatively dark so it is interesting seeing the reactions to things as we go along. He really gobbles this stuff up and can give me a rundown of the previous chapter when I ask so there is definitely stuff going in. It is nice to be able to spend some time with them doing this sort of thing and to see the passion for books and stories grow (both Ruby and I have a thing for reading which has been passed to Kyle but we were a little concerned that Aidan would not take to the "book thing" very well). Now when it is bedtime, Aidan and Orin will climb happily into bed if I am going to read and Orin will even take his own book to hold while we read but he inevitable passes out after the first few paragraphs. Jesse has taken to carrying a book around with him and crying out "book, book" until someone sits with him and reads for a while. He also wants one (a book) when he goes to bed now and will happily "read" for a little while before sleeping or deciding that someone needs to rescue him from the cot.

I guess I have a pretty great family here and I am really thankful for all that I am blessed with. This is in no small measure due to the efforts of an amazing woman who has sacrificed many hours of sleep, possessions and comfort to raise a herd of wild animals in her home. Thanks for the great family we enjoy Ruby!






No I am not in trouble with my wife or trying to score brownie points. Just a little "shout out" to the best mommy and wife out there!