Happy Mother's Day to Me

The gift of time. A very expensive present. That's what I always want from Dan. Nothing says "I love you" more than a few hours of crossing off the to-do list. Dan wishes I asked for easy things like a spa certificate.

First steps of making our garden. The requested vegetables are potatoes, corn, cucumbers, beets, peas, carrots, tomatoes (3 different varieties), strawberries, raspberries and pumpkins.

The previous owners of the home made a doghouse out of hay bales. One neighbor was excited to see the dog and his home go, he lit the hay bales on fire. We now had a partially burnt, moldy mess to clean up. We thought about having our garden there since it had no grass. Too bad the tree gave it too much shade. But it makes a perfect spot for a sandbox.

And there you have it. The perfect Mother's day gift. This will be much funner that sitting on a plastic covered table getting my back or feet rubbed by a stranger and telling me to relax.

Ohhh, the Joys of a Mom

During lunch, Daradie is reading a Mother's Day card she made me to Koen and me:
Daradie: I love mom because she's funny.
Koen: She's not funny. She's pretty.
(Can't help but feel good inside.)
Daradie: No, she's not pretty, she's funny. Her laugh is funny.
Koen: Yea, when she laughs she sounds funny.
(Can't help but feel like there is hope, Julia Roberts has a distinct laugh and look where she's at now.)


Dan has had to start wearing his glasses again (laser surgery lasts only so long). Daradie wants glasses so bad! During breakfast this morning:
Daradie: I want to wear glasses!
Koen: Me too!
Daradie: I want to wear glasses and wear bracelets (braces) on my teeth.
Koen: Me too!
(Let's just see where that comment will take her in 6-7 years.)

Testimony on Fast Offerings

I just realized that we've been blessed a ton from fast offerings. Never imagined myself of getting a testimony from fast offerings but hey, a generous fast offering really does bless your life.

Experience 1: Last year was a bomb out year for painting. We went almost 2 months without a decent size job. We took a loan to keep the company afloat, which is relatively normal but we had to do it within the first 3 months rather in mid-summer while waiting for payment, etc. We decided to put our house up for sale "just in case" we needed the money for the company and in hopes we could build and live happily ever after. Dan was a basket case. We did not earn any money for 5 months. We were just paying bills to keep things going. A comment in Sunday School made me think, really, really hard about upping the amount of fast offerings. We needed blessings and fast! I was absolutely sick to my stomach as a I wrote a check for fast offerings that quadrupled the normal amount. We sold our house that month. We had a heart-to-heart about what we really wanted from life and decided to change states, goals and ambitions, jobs, etc. I'm glad we did. Dan enjoys the "business world" and working with numbers. Daradie was voted as Student of the Month and gets to eat lunch with the principal. She's very excited for that. Koen loves to hear the cows and feed the neighbor's chickens worms and bugs. My life is good right now.

Experience 2: Once again, we are not making any money. In fact, we are losing more money getting an insurance company up and rolling. In three months time we pay a grand total of $38. That's right. The math is correct. The biggest pay off was from selling one of our giant bean bags. Dan is once again frustrated. We both know that the move was the right choice but the particular company was not a good match for Dan. We need to make another major decision. Dan has been going around to insurance companies within a 30 mile radius asking for a job or asking who would be a good company to work for. Everyone keeps mentioning the same name and saying if you could get with them he'd be very lucky because they have integrity and play fair. Dan set his mark on that specific company. I write another fast offering check with the same quadrupled amount. Later that month he got the job with the dream company. He comes home much happier. He sees the kids on a daily basis. He works 40 hours a week instead of the 70+. He enjoys wearing a tie to work and asks if I can starch the front of his shirts (he actually wants the whole shirt done, but he settles with just the front). Sure it's still a bit scary because it's based on commission but it's still a good fit for Dan. Things are good.

It is absolutely terrifying to write the amount for fast offerings that we did. It took a lot of faith. But in the end, we've been blessed both times we took that leap. Heavenly Father doesn't joke around with blessings. A generous fast offering equals generous blessings.

AWESOME Children make AWESOME Parents!

Okay, I realize that pride is a sin, but this is amazing! I just want to go and write a self-help book on parenting....just not quite sure what we even did but I'm willing to take credit for it!

Example 1: At pack meeting, the scouts (my scouts actually) did a skit (which was excellent and my kids talked about it for days) and threw Easter eggs filled with candy out to the audience. I was hoping every child there would get at least 2 eggs and share with the others. But kids will be kids and some walked away with more than their share. Daradie got 1 and Koen 0. He started to whimper. Daradie, dear sweet Daradie, pulled through for me. Her and Koen were sitting in front of me and she tore her ONLY piece of candy in half and shared it with Koen. Daradie sharing candy is comparable to a mother grizzly sharing her cub--bloody, ruthless and possibly deadly. She (Daradie, not the bear) did it all on her own! I puffed up with pride and wanted to grab that microphone and shout out to all the scouts how great my daughter is.

Example 2: Story time here is unreal--games, free books, songs and stories crammed into 30 minutes and my children look forward to it weekly. They even have stuffed animals ("reading buddies") to snuggle up with while listening to the stories. Koen had two stuffed animals. There are a bazillion to choose from so the likely hood of someone wanting one of his was pretty slim. A 3-4 year old came toddling in and sat down. Eyed Koen. Cried. I guess he always comes to get that red bear. He was kicking and screaming. His mother told him to go and ask. He went up and asked Koen for the bear. Koen gave it to him and then patted the boy on his head (although the same age, Koen thinks all smaller boys are babies). Holy cow! I white-knuckled the chair I was sitting in waiting for an explosion. Zero sparks. Koen turned around and he got a loving thumbs-up from his prideful mom that wanted to ask all the other moms if they just saw a wonder of the world.

Example 3: Hometeaching our family can be difficult. Dan is a high priest and so the age gap is...well, gapped. Let me set the scene for you. Koen has ran downstairs, grabbed his dart gun and begins shooting darts at the walls and barely misses the companion. Daradie is flopped across the couch pretending to be asleep and demonstrates her yawning ability. So, you see how and why we were so surprised to get this comment from our home teacher during a talk. The comment went something like this: "The Peck kids are something. In all my time in this ward and in others, I've never seen children shake the bishopric's hands every Sunday (the kiddos go up to the stand and shake because the bishopric doesn't welcome you in the chapel like some wards). Those kids have their scriptures with them every week. The Peck kids even go over and shake the missionaries' hands. There's just something different about those kids."

I need a heart transplant. Mine just burst with pride.

Treasured Events

I was in need of some rocks for a border for my new flowerbed. I took Daradie to the canal. We found a lot of nice river rocks...along with some other "treasures." The pick up took home 13 rocks, 2 tired girls, 1 fish tail, 4 pop cans, 1 discussion on bloated cats, 3 feathers and 1 jawbone with about 8 teeth. After some intense investigation and some scientific reasoning, we came to the conclusion that the jawbone did not belong to a shark, crocodile, or a hippo but most likely a dog.

Koen and I went on a bike ride while the other halves where schooling and working. Along the way, we had to stop and admire the cow in the barrow pit (man, it feels good to use that word again). However, the actual cow was no longer there. Just the skin remained. Koen was fascinated. Oh how he wanted to poke it and see it move around. He has talked about it for days. Making this cow so mysteriously wonderful that Daradie has now been infected with jealousy of not witnessing the dead cow in the barrow pit. But, the wait has ended. Daradie was in charge of the activity for family night. She wanted to take a bike ride. The bike ride concluded at the dead cow in the barrow pit. What an event that brought the family closer together.

Tugs at the Heartstrings

To Mama, I am so sorry for being so bad. From Daradie. The reverse side had a face in a broken heart with tears falling from the eyes. The infamous night no strawberry shortcake was served.....

Leprachaun Traps

Daradie and Koen's idea of a little fun. I know you've heard of them before but I didn't say anything--Daradie came up with this idea all her own. She even put Lucky Charms in the box (which I'm glad I even had in the cupboard) because she's a 6 year old and learns everything from the TV, like I need a tomato plant holder that turns upside down and a snakey thing for the bathroom sink so Dan doesn't have to clean out my hair and if I get it fast then I can get another one. Wow! I was just amazed that they were excited for St. Patrick's Day--you would've thought it was Christmas. The trap did not catch anything but the leprachauns did leave a green 4 leaf clover on the kiddos when they woke up the next morning to wish them good luck.
Anyway, Koen is just funny in this picture. He has this thing with last year's Ninja Halloween costume. It's just this filmy, silky material and so not too substantial in winter. What's even funnier is that he wears it with white socks and his black church shoes--all the time. The poor costume hits him mid-calf. It's quite the sight. I realize it's a tad small. He however, does not.