A Soft Place to Land

Thanks Aimee for your last blog, A Soft Place to Land (if any of you haven't read it you should). I had just the experience tonight that your blog helped me get through with a good attitude and no anger toward G. Tonight was a big night for T and M. They got a belt promotion in karate and G had to work late and didn't know if he would make it. I got a little frantic of the thought of being there on my own with all 4 kids. I wanted to get mad at G's job and be irritated but the more I thought about it, it only made sense to me that he would rather be with us than slaving away at long hours without any overtime pay just to make sure he keeps a job to keep us alive. How much more I appreciated him tonight. So, we left the house at 5:30, got a pizza and sat in the parking lot of Smith's by karate eating dinner together, and watching a movie on the portable dvd (my one great hope of keeping Keiffer entertained). My mom did come and helped a lot (my saving grace). When belt promotions were done it was 8:20 pm and we were headed home, only to get a call from G, "I am still at work but should be leaving soon.", thinking again of Aimee's blog I remained calm and knew he was doing what he could to get home. I got home hoping that soon he would walk through the door to help me finish the baths and bedtime rituals, but he never came. Needless to say I began calling him at 11:00 to make sure he was still alive. He pulled up just as I had called him, he made it home. I knew then even more (and am glad there were no hard feelings of doing the home job alone) that he really wanted to be home when he disappeared into each childs room to watch them sleep for a few short moments. I think that is a tuff thing for a dad to be gone before his children are awake and to arrive when they are already sleeping. I give him more credit for the job he does. I love him, and hope he feels he has a soft place to land away from the mundane world of work.

Maren Melissa 3 Months

One of the most beautiful miracles in life,

One of the greatest joys we can ever know,

and one of the reasons why there is a little extra

sunshine, laughter, and happiness

in our world today.

Saved From a Yell

Ok so the days I work I feel kind of crazy, like I am in a whirl wind and everything has to go just so, so that I am on time for things. Keiffer is one that wants to do things on his own time frame. I find myself yelling at him a lot to "HURRY UP OR I AM GOING TO BE LATE, YOU ARE MAKING ME MAD" bless his heart I love him. Then one day I stopped to think on his level. What would I want my mom to do with me. Of course give me love and attention. So from that day on when I have to wrestle him to the ground trying to get him dressed I make a game out of it. I chew on his ears, I tickle him we laugh and take time to love and before I know it he is all dressed and I didn't yell. Now that doesn't happen all the time but most of the time now. It makes the home a happier place and a refuge from daily trials of life that we all go through.

Now back to my craziness, Tues. we rush rush rush and after the kids are where they need to be I head out for work. After work it is rush rush rush, pick the kids up from daycare, give them a granola bar to hold them over until dinner, rush them off to karate. I sometimes sit and nurse Maren in the car with Keiffer crying becuase he wants to go home while I wait for Malorie's class to finish, then we go home while Tav is at karate and get dinner. Then Gabe picks up Tav and comes home. So this one paticular Tues. I nursed Maren, waited for Malorie and then headed home. I was in a hurry to get

dinner done while Maren was happy for a few min. I was running around trying not to trip on

kids when all of a sudden I hear the spilling of cocoa pops on the kitchen floor. Keiffer had dumped a whole box on the floor. I started with a yell and then blogging came to mind and saved the day. Instead of finishing my yell I grabbed the camera and snapped a shot, kissed my boy and thanked him for a blogging moment. Then swept the pops into a pile and finished dinner.

What a difference it makes not to yell. I am a yeller and trying hard to change my ways.

Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits

As most of you know when I was about 5 my parents were divorced and my dad went back to California to live. We would spend the summers there and one of the best memories I have is being able to go to grandmas with all the family and have Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits. When my grandma was young growing up she lived in Oklahoma and had Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits everyday for breakfast. I think I would have been sick of it by then. Anyway, her dad was killed when she was a young age and she had to help take care of the kids. She made it everyday and what was left over would sit in the big cast iron pan until morning and then they would add more to it. Well, we only got it during the summer when we were there to visit. My grandma Davis has since past away and we have decided to carry on the tradition of Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits thanks to my Bro. Zac and his wife Kim. They do it every conference weekend and that is now what my family is going to do. Conference is always right around her birthday (April 4Th) so we will continue to celebrate her birthday with our favorite Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits.

This is a picture of Malorie enjoying hers with her cousins flat Stanley that came to visit.

Recipe

3 C. Sugar

8 TBS Flour

3 TBS Cocoa

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 C. Milk

Handful of Chocolate Chips

Combine sugar, cocoa and salt in pan, in a separate bowl add milk and whisk flour into it like making gravy so it doesn't lump up, then add to dry mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med./low and cook for 30 min or until it thickens up. Add vanilla and a handful of chocolate chips for fun. Stir until melted. Should be a little thick, not runny. Place a samll slab of butter in the center of a plate, pour chocolate gravy over it and mix in, then add your biscuits. Any biscuit like bisquik biscuits or whatever you like. You can tear and dip or break and mix.

Enjoy with a big glass of milk.

Grandma Davis

Old Green

Ten or so years have passed,

that it sat brand new, sold at last.

So puffy soft and smelling clean,

good care they took to keep it green.

A resting place for tired heads,

a cozy blanket, sometimes a bed.
A call from friends and family dear,

now have a place to rest their rear.

Years have past, it's doing well,

but a toddlers here and now it's hell.

There's jumping, throwing and kicking too,

and most important, don't forget the flu.

Just add three more and we've lost all count,

of pukes and pees and snot no doubt.

There's rips and tears and big old stains,

if we had a new one there would just be pain.

Until the day of no more pukes,

when we might feel like royal dukes,

old green will pad our heads, feet and rears,

and comfort when we shed some tears.

Keeping kids happy as a jungle gym,

to serve as long as it has four limbs.

Although old green has earned its pay,

I really am happy to own a couch today.

Bet you never look at my couch the same again.

PROUD DADDY

We cannot forget the proud daddy. What a wonderful little miracle to experience together as a couple. Words cannot describe the wonderful feeling that it is. I am greatful for my four beautiful children that I really do love. They mean the world to me.

SWEETHEARTED BOY

I can't forget my Tavener, he is such a soft hearted boy (most of the time) he is excited to have Maren in our family, especially since he is older now and can help a lot. He makes her laugh and loves her a lot.

DAD'S GIRLS

Here we are the three girls in Gabe's life. Malorie, Maren and myself. They look much cuter than I especially after being up all night and then all day and not showering or washing my face. I have never been up laboring all night. That is enough to wear one right out.

ALL CLEAN AND SMELLING GOOD

Here she is all clean and smelling good. Now we can love and kiss on her. There is nothing like a newborn baby to love. They are so nice, smell good, don't talk back, don't complain about their dinner, do whatever you want and are fun to cuddle with. My Keiffer liked her a lot.

MAREN'S DEBUT

November 14, 2007 we arrived at the hopital at 8:00 pm to get induced or to have a c-section we weren't sure which would happen. Little baby girl wanted to give me trouble and decided to be breech the whole pregnancy. So we decided to try and have the doctor turn her before proceeding to a c-section. Dr. Dewey arrived at the hosptial at 10:30 pm (he had been at a temple session and couldn't get there until then but didn't want to wait any longer for fear of going into labor on my own). So, they gave me lovely shot that stung like a bugger to stop my contractions. Then Dr. Dewey laid me back put a bunch of blue gel on my big belly and very carefully turned her. Now we just had to hope that she didn't turn back. He broke my water, started me on pit and soon after I got my epidural (a girls best friend).

Then we worked on sleeping and laboring. Around 4:00 am here she came. Now when they pulled her out she was covered with the vernix and when they laid her in the newborn bed to clean her off her legs flopped open like a frog from being breech. Everyone got quit a chuckle out of that.

NOVEMBER FLASHBACK

Ok, here we go back a few months. One night as I was getting things ready and together to go to the hospital Tavener decided to take a picture of my pregnant belly and wanted me to lift up my shirt, so I did it. I am bearing all.