Things I want to say, even though I should be snoring right now

Here I sit at midnight. The rest of the family has been asleep for quite a while, so I popped myself a bag of Movie Theater Butter popcorn. And ate the whole bag. That made me thirsty, so I drank a 20 oz. Sunkist that I bought today, "just in case" I felt like drinking it later. The kids left the Cheez-its out, so then I had to finish them off, of course. And for the life of me, I can not figure out why I'm not losing weight. Weird, huh? I mean yesterday I only had 10 double-stuffed Oreos, instead of the whole bag. That should count for something, right?

Here's a better picture of the shiner I gave Brynlie last week. Hehehe. It was great to threaten her by saying, "you'd better get your chores done, or I might have to blacken up that other eye!"

I mentioned that I got my blog printed into a couple books, and someone asked how I did it. Go to blurb.com and download "Booksmart." From there, it's really easy and fun to design your own book. It will upload your whole blog for you, and then you just decide where you want the text and pictures to go. I ordered 2 of each book, in case one gets ruined.
This old, nasty Bronco's piggy bank is getting a second chance at life. It was often used way back in Ryan's bachelor days, when his decorations consisted of Ansel Adams posters and Bronco's figurines. Since then, it has sat in the storage room, waiting for this perfect moment to be used. It now holds our "scripture money." Every time we read scriptures together as a family, we get to put $2 in the Bronco's jar. At the end of the school year, we are going to buy Rock Band and have a fondue party with the money. One night at family meeting, I asked everyone to tell me what things they really wanted, and those were the things they came up with. I think this will help us a few ways this year:
1. Stay motivated to read the scriptures together
2. Teach the kids how to save up for something they really want
3. Help the kids (and dare I say it, the husband) forgo instant gratification, and look forward to their reward at the end

We have read the Preach My Gospel manual for the past month, but starting tomorrow we will be reading the whole Book of Mormon this year. We read Monday - Friday mornings at 7:10. It works perfectly, because starting EARLY tomorrow morning, Ryan is in his second year of being the early-morning seminary teacher! He is teaching the Book of Mormon this year, and will get home at 7:05 every morning, with a lesson already put together that he can condense for us! No more late nights for him. He is teaching alone this year, unless the Bishop decides to call a co-teacher, and he has 25 kids in the class. A lot of people are surprised to hear that being a seminary teacher outside of Utah (and maybe Idaho?) is a calling in the ward, so there is no payment. I'm proud of Ryan, because it takes a lot of dedication to come up with a lesson plan every day, and get up at 5:00 to teach it!
I've decided to start a Book Club. I hear people laughing when I write that, because I have no idea how to run a Book Club. I talked to Tiffany today, though, and she gave me some good pointers. I have some friends who have expressed interest, so I'll see if this will work. Tonight when I told Ryan that I was starting a Book Club, he laughed out loud and said, "Ya, that's just what you need in your busy life right now . . .another thing to give you anxiety and take up your time!" He also may have said something about how our bathrooms will probably only be cleaned quarterly if I take on this one more project. But hey, I'm gonna give it a shot! If you've ever done a Book Club, tell me what worked!

My kids continue to make me happy and frustrated. Brynlie has recently learned to lie. I don't mean the little kids lies; I'm talking look me right in the face and "sware I'm telling the truth, Mom!" lies. Ooooh. I am not happy about it. But we have a great incentive going right now. She wants her ears pierced when she turns 8 next month, and Ryan thinks she's not old enough. After a discussion about it, he told her that if she proves that she's mature enough, he will take her to get them pierced. So anytime she lies or makes a bad choice, I don't have to get angry. I can just calmly look at her and say, "I guess you won't be getting your ears pierced, because you are definitely not acting mature." Bribery and bartering. There's just no other way to be a parent!