Punishment

I tossed and turned a lot last night, so when my alarm went off this morning, I had a hard time getting up.  I finally rolled out of bed at the last possible moment to be able to get ready on time to take Logan to school.  As soon as I got in the shower, Logan knocked on the bathroom door.  (This is the really fun part about having only one bathroom.)  So, he came to get ready ready for school.  (He can be very talkative in the morning.  Another fun part about sharing a bathroom.  He's really cute thought.  He always asks me how I slept and tells me good morning.) 

OK, for the rest of this we need a quick Backstory:  Logan got an alarm clock for Christmas.  (A Perry the Platypus Awakinator, to be exact.)  It's been really nice, because it's made my mornings easier.  He does a good job getting up when his alarm goes off.  It's been much nicer in the mornings.  Except those ones where he gets up when the alarm clock goes off and then sits in his room and reads for half an hour instead of getting ready for school.  But....   Now that he has an alarm clock, he knows what time it is.  He will tell me that he was up until 10:53 and that he woke up at 6:04.  He really pays attention to the time now.  He even knows that when I push the snooze button on my alarm, it takes 7 minutes for it to ring again. 

So, this morning, when he came into the bathroom, we says, "Mom, your late.  You only got in the shower 4 minutes before my alarm clock went off.   I woke up at 7:08."  Then, he tells me that I should have a punishment because I got up late.  I asked him what he thought my punishment should be.  He told me that I should be banned from his Nintendo.  So, I told him that if I was late, he could ban me from his Nintendo today.  But, as we walked up to the school, I pointed out to Logan that we were on time.  He told he thought I should be punished any way.  So, I haven't played the Nintendo today. 

I don't know how he knows that I stay up too late at night playing that game.    But I do know that I better get up on time tomorrow.  I don't want any more punishments.

Hello, Is Dad There?

Guess what?!!  I talked to my dad on the phone today!!!!  OK, I can guess that I'm getting the same, "big deal", stare that I got from my preschool kids when I told them this this morning.  But, it really is a big deal.  You see, I don't think I've ever talked to my dad on the phone.  I was pretending that I have, but as I thought about it more, I realized that I probably just stole that memory from Lynn because she's talked about it enough that it felt familiar to me. 

My dad is hearing impaired.  So, he's always had trouble hearing, but over the years his hearing has gotten worse.  He can read our lips sometimes, and we write a lot of notes, but those things don't work over the phone.  Lynn says that dad used to call form work and ask to talk to mom.  Then he got to where, when someone answered the phone, he would just give them the message to give to mom.  I remember taking messages from the guys at work, because dad started having them call for him.  In the days before caller ID, telemarketers would call and ask for Mr. Breinholt.  We would tell them he couldn't hear on the phone.  Then they would say, "OK, we'll try back later."  And we would say, "he won't be able to hear then either."   So, as far as I remember, I have never talked to my dad on the phone.

Today, my mom and dad got a new phone.  When we talk, it types out what we say, then my dad can read it, and talk to us.  So, mom and dad called Lynn's this morning to test it out, and I got to talk to my dad on the phone!  It was super cool. 

Logan Gets Baptized

Logan turned 8 last month.  I can't believe he's so old.  So, he got to get baptized today.  We've been talking about this for a year now.  Asking him if he wants to gets baptized and trying to see what he really understands about it.  I've been impressed.  He understands a lot more about it than I did when I got baptized at 8.  (I don't think my parents did a bad job teaching me.  I think that in this day and age, kids have to be stronger and know more at a younger age than I did.  I believe Heavenly Father knows this and sends children who can live up to this challenge.)  I think I got baptized because I knew I was supposed to.  I tried to make sure that Logan felt like he had a choice, and I'm confident that he made his choice for the right reason. 

Logan had been excited and nervous about getting baptized.  This morning I could tell that because he never stopped talking.  He just jabbered on and on and on and on and on......  And he couldn't just sit at the table and eat his breakfast.  He kept getting up wandering as he told me stories about anything and everything.  And then when it was time to go to the church he got really quiet and serious looking.  He commented to his dad this morning, "Finally, I get to be a member of the church."   Him and his dad practiced a couple of times, and we left for the church.

We had some wonderful talks given to the children to be baptized.  I was taken back to my time living at home while mom played a musical number on the piano.  I remember when we would watch her play the organ in church.  We would watch for her make a mistake.  No one else ever knew that she had messed up.  We did, because we would see her shake her head in disgust.  I remembered that today, as I watched my mom pull faces as she played "I Am a Child of God".  It made me smile.  I thought the song was beautiful, and I'm glad she was willing to it.  I think it will make a special memory for Logan.

Then Logan got to be baptized.  The first time, his knee came up, so he had to do it again.  He made sure that he got it right the second time.  Then, the part he was excited for.  He got to be confirmed and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Matt gave a wonderful blessing.  Then the Bishop called on me bear my testimony.  He thinks he can pick on me because I'm the Young Women's President.  I told him it wasn't fair to make me talk today.  Logan and Matt just laughed because they knew I couldn't talk without crying.  Every time I looked at Logan, he rolled his eyes at me.  But, I finally choked out a few words.  After Sister Delaney, the Primary President, bore her testimony, the Bishop made some comments.  He always says such perfect things. 

It was a good day.  Wonderful to be able to feel the spirit and be to be reminded of the constant companionship we can have.  And, it's always wonderful to be able to spend time with family.  I love my family, on both sides, and am grateful for the love and support they give to us.  I'm glad they were there to share this special day with us. 

Nintendo

I've taken a little time off from blogging.  I really had days that I wanted to blog during Christmas, but I was so busy with other things that there were days that I never even saw the computer.  So, that didn't get done.  I think I will start trying this again, and maybe you'll hear about my Christmas, but right now, I'm going to go wrestle Logan's Nintendo DS away from Matt because I think it's my turn to play.  Logan got a DS for his birthday.  It helped me get many things done at Christmas time because he was busy with something besides bugging me.  Now, I don't usually get into video games.  I'm not good at  them.  And I don't really want to take the time to try to get good them, because I have so many other things I feel like I should be spending my time doing.  But puzzle games are my weakness.  And so I am slightly addicted to Logan's I Spy game that has a puzzle on it.  And it's easy for me.  No confusing controls, just tap the things that match.  I can handle that!  Unfortunately, I'm also addicted.