Wanted to share some good ideas I've stolen from friends recently.

Yes, Friday - My friend, Shelly, says yes to everything (everything reasonable, at least) on Friday.
Mom, I want ice cream for breakfast - Sure.
Mom, I want a late night with Jaxon - His house or ours?
Mom, I don't want to make my bed or shower this morning - Fine. Just don't expect me to hug your stinky body!
I think it's a cute idea. We have to say no so often. It'd be nice to have a positive day. I'm just not going to tell my kids that it's Yes, Friday. They'd take advantage of me.

Chores - My friend, Sara, gives her children a free day from jobs, if they do their chores without complaining. For chores she has a list of options and they have to choose two off the list - in addition to making bed, picking up toys, putting away laundry, emptying dishwasher, etc. Then if they happily perform their chores, they earn the free day.
I'm afraid my kids would lose their free day on Monday, then I'd have nothing to threaten them with the rest of the week.

Potty Training - We're starting the nightmare with my twenty-month old, Stockton. The thing is, I'm not the one initiating the potty training. My boys stole an idea from our friend, Janna. If Stockton goes to the potty, he gets a piece of bubble gum and so do they. You should see the parties in the potty at our house!

That's all the good ideas I have at the moment. In a few months, maybe I'll have some more.
Have a great day - Cami

http://www.camichecketts.com

Okay, it's pathetic how poorly I maintain this blog. I'd say I'll do better, but I might not so I won't make any promises!

I wanted to share some thoughts on a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in the October general conference. It was entitled, "Good, better, best." Basically he talks about the limitless choices there are competing for our time. A lot of these things are good like cleaning the house, exercising, working, running errands, etc. Some are better like reading a good book, volunteering at our children's schools, spending time with good friends. The best thing are: spending quality time with our families, going to the temple, attending church, serving in and out of the home, scripture study, prayer, etc.

I hope throughout the day that I'm choosing the better and the best things. It's so easy to get caught up in laundry, cleaning up Stockton's latest disaster, checking my e-mail, reading magazines, etc. I hate it when my time slips away and I realize I haven't played a board game with my kids that day or we rush through scripture study because mom had to have dinner cleaned up first.

Cutting off three of my fingers this summer really did help me get my brain in order. I no longer care if the floor is clean and I know I have an amazing husband and wonderful boys. Even my writing has taken a far back seat to my family. I absolutely will not write unless the boys are asleep or at school. Someday I'll be sixty and there'll be time to watch an occasional "Cash Cab" or sit at my computer for hours, but right now the most important thing is loving my boys and my honey and serving others.
Now if I could just convince the laundry pile to stop growing.

Cami Checketts

We started our Field Trips this week. We take the kiddos on a different adventure every Tuesday. This week was an adventure. We rode the CVTD bus to Richmond, played at the park, ate at Pizza Villa, everything was going great until - we missed the bus coming back to Smithfield. The next bus was only a brief ninety minute wait. Six moms, twenty children, most of them under five. Great fun, eh?
Our cute friend, Deanna, calls up the Transit Center and asked for a special bus to come and get us. We finally made it home to Smithfield and the kids thought it was great.
Our field trips are a lot of fun. We tour different businesses in Cache Valley, we go to the Willow Park Zoo, Ryan's Place Park, hiking up Green Canyon, on a day trip to Bear Lake, whatever we can think of that will be low stress, cheap and lots of fun for the kids.
Hope you have lots of fun plans this summer.

Had to share my exciting news. My book - The Fourth of July - was released electronically today. It's only $5.00 to buy it - go to www.thewildrosepress.com and you will see it on their home page.
If you'd rather wait and buy it in print format, it will be released June 25th. Just in time for the holiday.
Here's a little blurb about it.

When eight parade floats explode during the annual Fourth of July celebrations, Agent Chris Harmer must find who planted the bombs before the terrorists strike again. His troubles aren’t isolated to terrorism. Chris falls in love with the FBI’s feisty psychiatrist, Alexis Osborne. She won’t commit to someone who doesn’t share her religious values and Chris has no desire to convert.

Now I'd better turn my computer off and be a mom again. My five-year old has been playing Nintendo for an hour and I am one of those freak-out moms who hate electronics. I'm feeling a lot of guilt, but I'm also getting a lot of work done!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

I got to volunteer in the childcare at Ryan's Place Park yesterday. It would've been really cool to be at the park, but I can't leave the bambino for that long. I'm too attached. We had a good time though and everyone said the park is coming. If you haven't had a chance to volunteer, go to www.ryansplacepark.com. I think there's still time.
It was really cute yesterday because people from Lowe's showed up and did a project with the kids at the childcare. They gave them all aprons, goggles and little hammers, real ones. Great, huh? Now my son can hit his brother with something that will actually leave a dent! But the kids were thrilled and it was very thoughtful.
I hope you all had a great Mother's Day. It was my son's birthday, so between both mom's celebrations and birthday stuff we were nuts, but it went well. My little dude is five. It kills me. He's such an angel I'm having a hard time letting him grow up.
You know on Mother's Day there's always somebody who says the holiday makes them feel guilty. I hate that. I train my boys that they are in charge of their feelings, no one but them can make them feel happy, sad, mad, etc.
Don't let something or somebody make you feel guilty. It's just the devil trying to undermine all the good you're doing and make you feel crappy. It's not right. All of us have days when we question if we can do this job or if we even want to! But most of the time you know the most important thing is loving the snot out of that kid, being there for them and raising them to love the Lord. If anybody makes you feel guilty about that, tell them where to go. If you feel like you're not doing enough, try setting some goals or changing what you're doing, but I'm betting you're doing a great job and you just need to give yourself a break.