guest photographer, Lu

Fair Bucks

The kids are working for fair bucks, they've been at it for 3 days. Tomorrow is the fair and they are excited. Some of the days of work have been more enthusiastic than others but for the most part it's gone well.

The kids want an allowance and I am reluctant. We have tried allowances in the past but it's always been difficult to decide what do kids get paid for, what do they do because they are part of the family, how much, what should they spend their money on, if they make some money should they also be responsible for things like buying presents for friends, or going to the movies or should it all be for their fun....it's a tough call and hard to track.

Needs more thought.

Minute to Win It Mutual Style

For mutual tonight we played Minute to Win it. It was so funny!! Daniel Metcalf and Rachel put the whole thing together and it was awesome. They had video and sound and a score board.

I think the youth had a really fun time. Here's the cookie face it thing...where you have to move a cookie from your forehead to your mouth only using your face.

This is TP mummy roll where Darrin spun in a circle unravelling the TP on his body without breaking it. J is holding the roll. All the teams but one got this done, it was an easier one I guess :)

We had ten games and four teams and lots of fun.

The winning team!

Big B schooling little b and H on the fine art of loading the dish washer.

One thing I am not good at is teaching my children how to work, and how to love it. I really want to but sometimes (always) it's easier to do it myself. And when I do gather them to work they moan and groan and complain. It's very frustrating. I keep trying though and some slow progress is being made.

Recently H learned how to unload the dishwasher. She is good at it now, I do have to occasionally search for a particular dish but she's pretty good and can reliably be left alone to do the task.

After dinner tonight she was told to unload, little b was supposed to gather the trash from around the house and take it out to the can so it could go to the curb, J was supposed to pick up the downstairs, Lu was putting away shoes and I was going to load so we could get ready for FHE.

H disappeared, she was called, she went to the bathroom, she was called, she looked at the wall, she was called, she looked out the window, she was called, she was threatened, then she came down to work and hit her brother on the way.
I then told her she could also load since I was a) upset she didn't do her work in the first place
b) upset she hit little b
c) tired of waiting for her

after some weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, a little lamenting her bad luck and misfortune at being born into such a mean family, and a brief spell of cataloging the injustices of her life which included but was not limited to the fact that she lives in a child labor camp, she is the "only girl in 5th grade" who doesn't have a cell phone, and she feels a cold, or perhaps a tumor coming on (we're not sure yet which)

SO, we left her to it.

later she came upstairs.

much later we went down and saw
dishes on the table, the dishwasher open, watermelon on the counter, the trash can in the living room and nothing clean.

So, we called her down (he just came because really is there anything more fun than sensing that perhaps your sibling was going to "get it" and you could watch)and began:

How to load the dishwasher 101
*where the physics of how oatmeal turns into cement when left in the bowl all day and how to deal with such a phenomenon was discussed.
*where the trajectory of the water coming from various spouts was analyzed and various shapes and sizes of dishes were matched with the optimal spot for getting them clean.
*where the height of the different cups we have was measured and assigned a row on the top shelf, so that the stemware doesn't block the arm from swinging around and the plastics don't flip over and fill with water.
*where the general slovenliness of the rest of the family was bemoaned since dishes had to be scraped and cement oatmeal had to be soaked.
*where....can you picture the fun? hear the tears? feel the stress??

so, tomorrow she loads on her own.

THAT should be fun

next week this time..

we will be cruising!! Whoo hooo!! So excited. I found a nice dress for our formal dinner,

and got a stack of books,

also some sunscreen. Now we are ready! Can't wait!!!

J's new violin

I am so surprised how much better she sounds on this new instrument. It is very lovely.

bowling

We went bowling last night for YW. So much fun!

I am an awesome wii bowler...turns out that doesn't translate so well to actual bowling :)

in honor of earth day

we rescued a way ward turtle and relocated him to a safer home.

Smithsonian Field Trip

Had a fun day at the Natural History Museum with Brother and his friends. We rode the bus down and stood in the rain waiting for our turn to go in. It was a little chilly but the kids had a blast.

The best part was the butterfly house. Tons of butterflies of all shapes and sizes and colors were flying around and landing on us. I took several pictures but my new phone doesn't take great shots, everything is a blur...or maybe it's just a blur of boy running by I am not sure. Our group had 4 boys, and three parents. Almost the right ratio :)

Here is Brother with his good friends, John, Jaiden and Justin.

garden time

it's time to plant.
I am thinking a fun salsa garden.
and of course melons, and berries, and I'd like some fruit trees.

oh, and I found a swim suit. Whew!

friends and blogs and friends and fun

I saw this on my dear, dear friend Marcia's blog today. So fun! I miss my wonderful TX friends, we had a lot of fun together....too bad I was so shy and retiring and shrank into the back ground so often ;)

I am so glad for blogs so I can keep in touch! and I am grateful for old friends, and for new friends. I guess I just like people...nope, I KNOW I am just tremendously blessed that Heavenly Father puts me in places where I get to meet and be friends with awesome women who are good examples and like minded and wonderfully fun!

Happy Birthday to me :)

Yesterday was my birthday. I've lived a long time :) Which is good, every year on this side of the dirt is a thing to celebrate :)
It was a good day. I got some super nice cards and gift cards which I am so excited about!! I got many nice phone calls and facebook birthday wishes :) My YW surprised me with chocolate cupcakes in class and my family made a lovely dinner and we enjoyed a yummy chocolate pie together.

Now I need to start my count down to cruise! 13 days!!

I need to narrow down my book selections,
find a bathing suit :(,
and a lovely dress,
and get a pedi

how decadent!

Prom

Tonight is Jordan's senior prom. He and Jenna are going with his friend Brandon and her friend Lisa. The girls went tanning today and then came over with a crew of helpers to get ready.

Lisa's mom and dad came over to see them off.

Then the boys arrived, with their parents and grandparents and brothers and sisters. We had a fun crowd taking pictures. It was a regular paparazzi extravaganza!

After taking some pictures at the house we went down the road to the pier and took some more. It was a beautiful evening and the kids looked so handsome.

Hopefully they will have a lovely, memorable night!

under pro DUCK tion

My little sister Andrea had her baby shower last night. I wish I could have gone! I made her this cute ducky quilt and sent it with a couple little outfits. Boys are fun to shop for:) I am excited for her. Now all my sisters are mommies! We are still waiting for one brother to join us in the parent hood...all in good time I suppose:)

Anyway that makes 14 cousins! 9 girls and 5 boys!! How exciting!

busy

We have had a busy week. I am not sure with what exactly. The kids went to school. I volunteered. Did some laundry. Tue night I went visiting teaching, which was so fun. I love to visit Juli, she is awesome. Tuesday day I got my car inspected. And worked in Lu's class. Wednesday I went to visit Gina, another fav. Her baby is so adorable. And Wed night Big B and I went with Calvin and Sharon and all the YW hiking at St Mary's Lake. It was lovely. I think we burned about 300 calories each.. of course I brought brownies and ice cream for after so that cancelled out any good intentions we may have had.
Thursday J and I did some prom shopping, last night was monthly night of ministry. Had a very good visit with Gabby.
Today was sort of an annoying errand day. We went to the MSV. We were a little delinquent in getting it done, but we made it finally. We were there for 3 hours, literally. It was not the most fun I have ever had. Big B had to run home for forgotten papers. We had to wait and wait. We had to talk to a supervisor about an issue. We finally got his license and my car registered, but not until after someone was pretty steamed and muttered about living in a "Nazi state" loudly, and someone else was embarrassed and apologized to the workers. But it all worked out.

After we went out for Thai food (yumm) and to the bike shop, where Lu enjoyed these cool welded sculptures and then to Big Lots where we scored $10 crocs!!

Now everyone is playing with friends and BigB is happily buying some flowers for the front yard and I am on the computer.

FHE

After our fun outing on Saturday the kids were dieing to take big B to their "beach" so after a quick dinner we headed over to play. Our good friends came to join us...thanks for always being willing to get cold and wet with us!

The kids built in the sand and played in the water and ran on the playground.

One thing I love about living here is all the birds. There are tons of wonderful birds to be spotted and all around people have built these tall perches that now have nests on them. This nest had a pair of Ospreys and I am guessing they have eggs or chicks up there. Very fun.

These two LOVED the water, and "did not feel cold" :)

The dads played a fun game of baseball with the kids while Colleen and I chatted and chatted. (I love that kind of FHE:) )

When it got dark we headed to their back yard for some smores and fire fun. Like good parents we got our kids home and put to bed too late, but we all loved it so that's what's important right?

decorating style?

if you have stacks of books all around the house does that count as a decorating style?

exhibit B:

exhibit c:

example D

and there are a million more :)

h2o

While Big B spent his day "playing" on the computer doing our taxes

I had the job of taking the kids out of his hair

we looked at the water

and threw rocks into it

and played in the sand

...and some how came home wet? :)

I heart Saturdays

This morning we slept in, then I got up and made french breakfast burritos (eggs and cheese in crepes).
Now we are having tax paying/chore doing/letter writing/ story reading/laundry folding Saturday fun :)

pollen

Last night we had our RS meeting. It was a lot of fun. It was on personal history/family history. I really enjoyed seeing every one's photo albums and family memorabilia. I found out that Carolee and I were both in the same dance festival in 1985 at the Rose Bowl. She was in the polka and I was in the swing. I was looking at her photos and the landscape looked so familiar in a Mojave desert kind of way. So I asked her where she grew up and the answer was So Cal. So funny! Then I turned the page and saw the dance festival and cracked up.
It's interesting how people as well as terrain look different in different parts of the country.

One interesting, and disgusting thing that I have discovered about living in the east is the pollen. The other day our car was covered with what I thought was dust, nope it was pollen. And yesterday I, foolishly, had my windows open and by evening I noticed our whole house was covered in pollen. Today I had to dust and clean the floors and get it all de pollinated! AaaChooo! Benadryl is my new best friend

I want to decorate...

but the children prefer to eat food every day (silly children) soo, we have to do it slowly :)

the little girl's room is my focus right now. We are doing it orange and turquoise. I can't wait, it's going to be uber-cute. We started with this lamp, pretty pink princess shade +

some flowers +

some hot glue....

and viola! A super cute, "not babyish" lamp to decorate around!!