A Child's Prayer

For the past year or so we have had a very hard time getting Katelee to pray.  She would never say the prayer, no matter how we tried to help her.  We didn't want to push it; we felt that she would come around someday.

Well, that day is here.  It started the first night we put up her big-girl bed.  I told her that now that she was a big-girl and had a big-girl bed she needed to kneel down by her bed at night and say her prayers.  Well, she was so excited about that bed, she immediately knelt down and prayed.  

That was a month ago, and she has said every prayer in our house since then.  And I mean every prayer.  If, for some reason, someone else says the prayer (for example, the bishop who came to visit us) than Katelee has to say her own prayer when they're done.

I love it.  I love her prayers.  They are so sweet.  And they are pretty much the same thing every time, just in a different order or with slight variations.  I want to record her sweet prayer, so last night when she said her prayers, I tried to memorize what she said and write it down.  Here is her prayer:

"Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day.  Thank you for the gospel.  Thank you for my mommy and daddy.  Thank you for my big-girl bed.  Thank you for my new room and our new house.  Thank you for my princesses.  Thank you for our new apartment.  Thank you for daddy to go to school.  Thank you for my toys.  Thank you for grandma and grandpa. Thank you for my friends.  Thank you for the swimming pool.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I know she is only three, but she is teaching me so much about prayer.  For example, I should say 'thank you' more and ask for less (I can't ever get her to ask for anything - I try to get her to say "Please bless the food," and she says, "Thank you for the food, " instead.)  And I need to be more grateful for the things that I have.  I haven't exactly felt extremely grateful for 'our new apartment' or 'for daddy to go to school,' but hearing Katelee express gratitude for it now about a zillion times has made me realize what a true blessing it really is in our lives.  So, tonight when I say my prayers, I will definitely be expressing gratitue for Katelee and all she teaches me.

Camping and Callings

We have had a fun weekend, but unfortunately, I do not have any pictures to post because our camera is lost!  Do you know how many times in the past few days I have said, "Let's take a picture of thaaaa... Oh, yeah, the camera's lost."  It will probably (hopefully!) turn up soon, probably stuffed in Katelee's dress-up box or some other such place.  But until then, sorry - no pictures!

Our new ward had a camp-out this weekend, which we attended.  It was a ton of fun.  I like camping, but sometimes when just the three of us go camping we get a little bored.  After awhile we aren't sure what else to do with ourselves.  That is why camping with a big group is fun - you get to camp and be entertained the whole time!  The evening was a lot of fun, spent by the fireside with lots of s'mores, skits by the young men (very funny!), singing accompanied by a few guitarists, a comedy routine by 'Doctor Proctor' (an anesthesiologist in the ward who was seriously hilarious), and talking and visiting.  Katelee had a blast playing with the mobs of young children and Gerald and I had fun getting to know the people in our ward a lot better.  The camp-out was very well attended, so I didn't get to talk to everyone, but I am starting to know who a lot of people are!

Today in church I was given a new calling to be the ward enrichment leader.  Hee hee, remember that post about when I was debating about going to enrichment or not?  Maybe I shouldn't have gone - just kidding!  I am actually really, really excited.  But I'm also nervous and a little overwhelmed.  I don't know the sisters of this ward yet, but hopefully this calling will help me know them quickly.  At least I know the Lord knows them, so He can help me know their needs.  I am happy to have a place to serve, though.

Tonight some nice people in our ward invited us and another family over for treats and games.  The kids played nicely (mostly) together while we had a fun time laughing and visiting.  It was nice to feel like we were with friends again.  

It has been a good weekend.  I am looking forward to this coming week, which will bring the first of my new piano lessons, my order of peaches and pears for canning (wish me luck!), and the last few days of swimming.  Oh, and hopefully we'll find our camera.  :)

GRRRRRRRRR!

It's stressful having to leave my successful and growing piano business in Utah and start over out here in Colorado.  It's even more stressful knowing that the money from our house will only last so long and I need to be the main financial provider for our family by that time.  I miss my Utah students and their wonderful parents.  We had such good relationships.  I've been advertising like crazy out here.  I have posted my info on Craigslist and other advertising websites, put an ad in the paper, put fliers on over 650 doors, put fliers up in grocery stores and other public places, etc.  I have ordered vinyl to go on my car and in my window that will have my website address on it.  I've lowered my prices by half.  And now the waiting game begins.  I do have five students who will begin next week, but it's not as many as I had hoped for.  But, hey!  Five is better than nothing!  ;)  I am grateful for those five, I really am.  

But this morning something happened that made me extra frustrated with the whole situation.  A woman who had asked me to teach her son emailed me and said that she had changed her mind because she didn't want to sign my contract.  She called me "stand-offish," and "against building trusting relationships" and basically attacked me for daring to present her with a contract.  Keep in mind two things:  she has never met me in person and I had emailed her a copy of the contract.  You might wonder what is in my contract?  Wow, nothing that I haven't ever seen in any other music teacher's contract.  It says she will pay on time and that I don't refund money if they choose not to show up to a lesson, blah, blah, blah.  It protects her, too, saying that if I cancel a lesson she is guaranteed her money back, etc.  And then it simply goes through the list of books they'll need and encourages practicing.  It's straightforward.  It's useful.  It's cheerful.  It's perfectly professional!  Does this sound unreasonable to anyone?? 

She says that she has had a lot of music teachers in the past and she has never been presented with a contract before.  So my question to you is - do you sign contracts with your music teachers (if you've had experience with this)?  Is this woman just out in left field, or would you also feel put-off if your music teacher handed you a contract?  I just don't know, because my piano teachers had contracts and in Utah all my friend music teachers had contracts I just thought that was the way it was done.  I feel very misjudged, and this is particularly sensitive because I really need students.  I'd really like your opinions, because I don't want to come across as impersonal.  But I also find the contract useful for communication purposes and to protect myself - I have had rare occasions when parents didn't pay or students who rarely showed up to lessons.  At this point, I think I'm going to keep the paperwork, but stop calling it a 'contract'.  Maybe it would just be a 'policy document' or I might simply call it 'paperwork.'  Any other ideas?

Geoff & Bonnie

We were lucky enough to attend Geoff and Bonnie's open house here in Denver last weekend. Since we weren't able to get any pictures with them at the wedding reception, we made a point to get some pictures this time!  They are off to Florida, and who knows when we'll see them next, so we enjoyed getting to spend some time together this weekend! 

Oh, Yeah. The Wet Spot.

By the way, the wet spot is fixed and HOORAY we don't have to move or anything crazy like that.  I guess it was coming from the AC line, so they could somehow fix it without pulling up the floor.  They even cleaned the carpet again and got it nice and dry, and everything is good.  Sorry I didn't tell you sooner!  But believe me, if it had been BAD news, I'm sure you would have heard all about it!  Ha ha ha!

I Love Smart Friends and Cute Solutions

Problem:  I have a little girl who is tall enough for size 5 clothing but skinny enough for 24-month clothing.  I try to only buy adjustable-waist pants, but even when I do that she grows out of the length of the pants WAY before she's made it to the 2nd button on the waist.  (Or she gets holes in the knees before she's grown out of the pants - another problem that can be solved through this great idea!)

Smart Friend:  My smart friend, Lisa, gave me a brilliant suggestion for solving this problem.

Cute Solution:  You chop off the pants or way-too-short shorts that still fit around the child's waist, and make them into a new and adorable skirt!  I think this is the best idea ever!  Katelee and I went fabric shopping and chose three fabrics.  We spent less than $5 on each fabric.  Then I spent about an hour per skirt and - presto!  New clothes.  And I didn't have to do the waist-band or zipper!  She loves wearing them.  She's been wearing them with sandals this week, but I doubled the fabric and made them extra long on purpose so she can wear them with tights during the fall and winter.   

Yikes - sorry about the wetness in these pictures.  I forgot that Katelee had insisted on wearing this skirt over her wet swimming suit, and I didn't let it dry before taking pictures.

The above fabric is the third fabric we chose.  I haven't made it into the skirt yet, but I just get so excited about cute fabric that I have to show it.

Just for Fun

Today Katelee and I watched "The Sword in the Stone" that we checked out from the library, but first we made our own 'Merlin' hats to wear, using any old craft supplies we could rummage up from the art-supply bin.  We think they turned out beautifully.  What do you think?

By the way, I had forgotten that I really love that movie!

Home Sweet Home

Life here in Colorado is going well, but has been exceptionally busy! I have to say, first of all, that I love it here. I really do! We couldn't be happier with our new location; we are very close to great stores, libraries, rec centers, parks and more, and yet our apartment looks out over a large and beautiful field of quietness. We are very lucky! And the people here are so friendly. Seriously, sooooooo friendly. I can't run any errands without getting into a conversation with a stranger. But not only do I get into lots of conversations with people I didn't previously know, but these people are genuinely interested in me. It's really nice to be surrounded by happy, caring, nice, friendly people.

Katelee and I have been decorating and organizing our house this week, as well as exploring our new area. We've been to the Highlands Ranch library, which sports a really fun children's room and a preschool-aged story hour that is tons of fun! We've been swimming often. We've tried out a new park or two, found the local fabric store, Kohl's, grocery stores, and more.

Since some of you have asked, here are some pictures of our new apartment. One of my regrets when we moved from our house was that I didn't do more with it while I lived there. I always meant to put up window coverings, I just never got around to it, for example. So, I was determined to not have the regret this time around. We have had fun this week making curtains and hanging pictures and making our apartment feel a little bit more like home.

The (tiny) kitchen

Dining area

Views of the Living Room

Katelee's Room is still a work in progress; we haven't finished hanging everything on her walls, but it still looks really cute, especially her new bed.  And speaking of her new bed, she LOVES it.  In every prayer she says, she mentions, "Thank you for my big girl bed."  She sleeps so well in it too - Hooray!

The "piano studio"

The mysterious wet spot that appeared this morning.

You can't really tell in this picture, but this morning we discovered a huge wet spot on the floor in the third bedroom (piano room/office).  And it's slowly growing.  The carpet is completely saturated.  The only place the water could be coming from is below.  I am quite worried about what it could be.  I'm going to call maintenance in the morning, so hopefully we'll know what's going on tomorrow.  Gerald said it might be a broken plumbing pipe, and then he remarked (half-jokingly) that maybe they would have to tear up the floors and we would have to move into another apartment.  I teared up, even though I knew he was joking.  I just can't move again.  I can't.  And that's all there is to it.  So hopefully (cross your fingers) everything will be fixed easily.

Ha ha ha ha . . . you have to admit, there would be a humorous kind of irony in the whole situation if we did have to move again.  I just finished unpacking the last boxes yesterday . . . wouldn't that be classic timing?  ;)

Siblings

Gerald loves his siblings, and so do I.  It was lots of fun to have everyone together for the wedding.  Of the five siblings, one lives in Utah, one lives in Maryland, one lives in Arizona, we live in Colorado, and one lives in Florida.  We are really too spread out!  But when we do get together we have lots of fun!

George, Gerald and LeRita try to get a picture of the inside of their noses.  Did it work?

Gerald and LaVon

Aren't they cute?

Flashback Friday

Moving Day!  We moved out of our house a month ago - does that seem crazy to anyone else? It was July 22, 2009.  This is really the first opportunity I have had to post a few pictures I took that day.  

This picture was my attempt to take a photo through my upstairs window.  It didn't work very well, but if you strain your eyes you can tell that my piano is in that trailer that is sitting in my driveway and there are a few neighborhood kids giving an outdoor concert.  I thought that was so fun! I don't think we did a good enough of job of thanking everyone for their help with our move.  There were so many people that I don't want to name them for fear that I will leave someone out accidentally.  But there were people who helped finish the packing, those who helped clean the house, lots of manpower to move heavy furniture and boxes, people who let us use their vehicles and trailers, neighbors who made us dinner, and much, much, MUCH more.  Thank you to everyone for all you did to help us out; we couldn't have done it without you!!!

Reynolds Clan Kiddies

Looking at these pictures, I realize just how much I want a new camera and how badly I need better photography skills...but even though the pictures themselves aren't the greatest quality, the kiddos in them are still dang cute!  Here are some pictures I took of the grandkids while in Utah for the wedding.

Katelee continues her love affair with the drinking fountain.

The kids playing ball in the nursery.

Yum...Pie!

This was my favorite.  The kids found a small ramp and stair in a hallway of the church, and all of them (even the big kids) ran around it in a circle for what seemed a very long time.  Ah, the simple things that can give entertainment.

Decorating the Newlyweds' Car

We had fun decorating the newlywed's car!  They tried to hide the car, but were unsuccessful thanks to Kelly's detective skills.  But don't worry, it was decorated very tastefully and the newlyweds were happy with it!

Kelly really sacrificed his clothing to tie those cans on underneath!  But, as he said, "You only live once!"  Look at that nice toe point!

I love Relief Society

I really do love Relief Society.  I always have, I think.  My experience this evening shows one reason why I love it.  

Tonight was our ward enrichment night, and I was debating about showing up.  I mean, I've only lived here for a week and only attended church once.  Also, Gerald was gone at night class which meant I would have to take Katelee with me.  And I was grumpy from a long two days of hardly any Gerald and a disobedient three-year-old.  I hadn't showered yet at 5 p.m. and I was in the middle of a sewing project.  But I've always loved enrichment and Relief Society, so I finally jumped in the shower and brushed Katelee's hair and we went.

I felt shy and a bit nervous when I first entered the room, but the nice sister I sat next to started a conversation right up.  Then as we sang the opening song, I had the best feeling; it felt like I was home.  The night was a huge service project for a Women's Shelter in the area.  There were about five different projects going on, but I ended up sewing burp clothes together.  Immediately I was chatting with the two other sisters who were sewing as though we had been friends forever. 

Before the night was over, I had sewed about 15 burp clothes and met twice as many women, of all ages and backgrounds.  I think every person in the room came over to talk to me sometime during the evening.  They were genuinely interested in me, and were promising to tell their friends that I teach piano lessons and they knew so-and-so out in Utah, did I know them too?

This is why I love Relief Society.  This is really what Relief Society is all about.  You move to a state you've never even been in before, and you have an immediate support group of wonderful, talented, amazing women who really care about you.   And you are given instant meaningful opportunities to help serve and look out for others.  

Membership in the Relief Society is such a huge blessing; I'm really not sure where I would be without it.  I've always felt that I took a very active part in Relief Society, but tonight I feel as though I need to be even more grateful for having this in my life.

Pictures of the Wedding Reception

Curses that my camera is usually blurry!  Curses that I forgot to take it to the temple for pictures!  Curses that I can't seem to ever take a decent pictures!

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system, here are some pictures of the gorgeous couple (the pictures don't do them justice!) and their stunning reception.

What a beautiful evening.  I think it was perfect!