Leap Day

Happy Leap Day!
We leaped out to the car this morning.

Then brother and I leaped into the school so I could help out :)
Tonight we'll leap over to the dollar show and try and see that movie again.

Happy Leaping!

sis`tahs

these two like each other a lot. This morning when I took H to the doctor she got a sucker on the way out the door. She wanted to take a second for Lu. After the doctor we went to pick up Lu from preschool and Sis. Guthrie gave her a capri-sun to take "for the road", she asked for one for her sister and carried it out to her all excited to share.

It's these moments that warm my heart, and keep me from eating my young in dispair hopeful that they will grow up to be nice women and good friends.

quick and dirty

This is seriously so fun. It's my favorite class. S and I have gone twice this week, very fun. She's good at it, I'm not. It's still fun :)
I also have done the machines. I need to buy some headphones. And Yoga, which is fun but I just as often visualize my grocery list as I do "a serene mountain top".

Today it going to be tough. E and DH have soccer practice and H is home sick with strep. Any guesses on who will get it next? She came home from school on Tuesday. Today I finally took her in and yup, she's got it. So I don’t know if I will make it over. I am really trying to go every week day so I want to find a way. We’ll see.

Went to the park yesterday with playgroup. It was cold but tolerable. Returned the uncomfortable work out shoes, so now I am searching for what to buy.

J has drill team competition this weekend and has been having after school dance practices. She and S both missed YW this week, J had practice, S had work, and YW switched nights so we couldn't plan around it. J also missed piano. Then her teacher called and told me "she was the most diligent and one of the most talented students she's ever had" and she wants to add private lessons once a week, to her already kind of full piano schedule, for free. Which I am agreeable to. We are committed to her until June so I am glad she and J get along and I think J is making progress. Plus it's always nice to hear how awesomely talented your kids are :)

I’ve been helping in brother’s class. They are getting ready for open house, I am glad to be able to go. One of the big perks to having mom and dad here is that I can leave Lu during the day for an hour here or there and go do something. Yeah! J

We’ve been ready spyderwick. H is on book 5. E and I are on 4…it takes longer to read aloud and to pin down a boy to listen. As soon as we are done we’re off to see the movie. The books are good, magical, the kids are hooked, which is fun.

if I buy enough of these spring will come...right?

wordless wednesday~ loves to cut

one more picture, before the dance

J and Amy getting ready for the dance.

The bottom of the dress, with a little brother wanting to go with her :)

mary and martha

Yesterday at Relief Society we had a really good lesson on "Good, Better, Best" the conference talk from last October. It was about how there are many good things we can choose each day but we need to make sure we are choosing the best of things.
Which is so true, and such a challenge. Knowing what is the best among several good choices is always hard.
We got to talking about Mary and Martha and frankly I feel for Martha. Come on, someone has to cook the dinner and clean the house. I understand that Mary chose well. As a mom though we often have to choose the work over the nourishment to our souls...because babies don't stop crying and etc. The trick is to make sure we also take time for the better part; certainly the Lord wouldn't have us neglect our chores or our children. Maybe the key is to have that done in time to still have room for the other....

Anyway, Julianna made a comment which I thought was so poignant and its truth brought tears to my eyes. She said. I think of Mary choosing to sit at the Saviors feet and listening to His words and think I would have chosen that. Then I think we have His words in our homes. We have the scriptures which we have been commanded to study and ponder so we can know what His message is. Often times I see them sitting there and I feel like Oh I need to do the dishes or I need to clean up this or do that instead of taking the time to sit and read and ponder. (Paraphrased but that was the gist) and I thought. Yes. I do that too. I need to make time for the best things, the quiet contemplation and study that will let me really know my Savior. I need to do better at choosing the best part.

why our future therapy savings is an important budget item:

so, now to the worst mother of the year part of the story.
Lesson done,
everything done,
laying on the bed trying to stay awake so I can go pick up J and co at midnight and spend 2 hours at iHop.
DH was talking with me and saying it was too late, it was the Sabbath, it wasn't safe, she was too young, what about our midnight curfew, he thought we should skip iHop. In stereotypical fashion he often is stricter and wants us home and I am more apt to say yes when the kids want to do something even if it's inconvenient to me.
I was really tired and I was feeling concerned about being out late (I don't know why, I am not normally but I kind of was and I am one who tries to listen and pay attention to "feelings I get" or promptings. I don't always know that it means anything but I try and heed those whispers. So I was feeling uneasy about it and as he was talking I was thinking and feeling like he was right. For the record I usually don't. I usually think, well you want to go to bed and to have everyone safely home but they need to have fun and it's worth the effort to let them.) So I told him I might make them skip iHop.
Then the phone rang, it was 10:30, and it was J. She said are you on your way? No, the dance isn't over until midnight. Well, I was wrong it's over at 11:00. Oh no. I leapt up ran for my shoes and keys and left now knowing there wasn't time to get there by 11:00. (it was at Will Rogers)
She called a couple more times while I was driving and I told her we wouldn't be able to go to iHop. When I got there instead of a car load of girls waiting there was only J and her friend Amy. The rest switched to other cars that were going to go out more.
They were upset. And frankly I don't blame them. I had told them I would take them and now I wasn't. We did some talking in the car and I agreed to go there for 15 minutes and let them run in and talk some more but not order food and we would be home by midnight. They did but really weren't that happy about it.

We came home and J was mad. She wouldn't let me take a picture and stormed off to bed. I didn't get pictures before because she got ready at Siara and Sofia's house; and she won't give me one now from her camera (although I suspect she might)

And now I feel really bad. I probably should have just sucked it up, brought a pillow and slept in the car and let them stay. Especially since I said I would. This ranks up there with the time I told her she had to clean her room before dinner and she didn't so I ordered pizza (a favorite treat) and we all ate it with out her while she cleaned. Or the time I so meanly made her wear lacy socks with her tennis shoes to school and she didn't want to. Only this one was really mean, and I didn't do what a said I would.

At the time I was really really tired and it seemed like the right choice.

Yesterday J was still nice and pleasant but she still won't hand over a picture. My punishment I guess.

Being the mom is hard and sometimes I stink at it :(

snowball

This is the dress, but not the girl that went to the ball. This is Dani in '04. Lucky dress got to get out of the closet twice and go to snowball again. It was fun to see J all dressed up and looking so pretty and to remember D. They looked very different. D wore pink shoes, and sunglasses and up hair. J wore a brown shrug, brown shoes and down hair. Both were SOOOOOOOooooo pretty...and I'm not just saying that because I am the mom ;)

We went over to the church about 5 to set up for dinner groups. Joy came and DH and I, then mom and dad. They were sent to the store for table clothes and ice (thank you!) on the way.

At 6 people started to arrive and we ate and played games. We played a survey game where you had to find people that fit certain catagories. For example, someone who has been bungee jumping (a surprising number of people had). Someone who had been a lifegaurd (Joy, Robin and David), someone who was class valedictorian (Richard and David), someone who had a hobby (LOL! ~ like we have time) Jon did say he liked to wake board, and DH has karate and a few other people came up with stuff. One question was who had been to the most countries. Chuck has been to 15! That's a lot. Anyway you get the drift. It was fun.

After we played pictionary, boys against the girls. I was shocked but the boys won 20+ to 4. They got every single answer right. There was some rampant cheating going on but I won't point any fingers (bishop)

The food was yummy, there was a lot of laughing and I think everyone had a good time.

When we were all cleaned up and in the parking lot going home I was shocked that it wasn't even 9pm. I thought it was like 10:30.

Two more things to go on my check off list for the day.

We got home and checked e-mail (not a thing on my list) and discovered that Uncle Gale had passed away. He turned 100 on Valentines day and had lived a long and happy life so I am glad for him.

Then I prepared my lesson. One more thing on the list.

I was supposed to pick up J and friends from the Snowball at midnight.

to be continued.....

BTW, thank you Joy for all your help with dinner groups, you were soooooo fun to work with, as always!

B.U.S.Y

Oh my goodness, we had a busy day. Friday night we went out to dinner with Rob and Tori, which was so fun. Really they are one of our favorite couples to hang out with :) Tori had been getting ready for the crew garage sale forever.
Saturday morning J and I got up a little after 6 and got ready and headed over to help. J has all the money she needs for her high adventure but she's part of the crew and needs to support the other girls so she still participated. We did not want to get up. But our great love for our friends compelled us to rise from the warmth of our beds and head out into the cold and dark on a Saturday morning. The sale ended up going well. I think they made about $600. which is awesome. I stayed a couple hours and helped get things going. J stayed until almost 2pm. I was home by 9 to make pancakes and bacon for the family and the spending the nighters.
After we got everything cleaned up from the morning H and DH went to karate and Papa and Lu and I went to wal-mart. We did some shopping, came home and put away groceries, prepared lunch and got ready for soccer.

It was the first game of the season. It was still cold out but we had a lot of fun. We won! Which always adds to the fun :)

Brother is not the star of the team. His friend Ryan King is. He is a rocket. He is fast and good. E doesn't mind and loves to play with R. I think he'll learn a lot this season.

Brother got several goals. Madison got 2 and Ryan got 8-9!

The girls had fun with their friends and "watching the game". Papa watched with his magazine. Grandma and I are cheerers though!

After the game we went home and made dessert and got ready for dinner groups. By this time I was tired and not too thrilled to have three big things on my adgenda for the day still to go.

...to be continued

keeping track

work outs:
Tuesday~ Yoga. Loved it.
Wednesday~ Zumba ~ loved it, but it kicked my butt :)
Thursday~ Yoga. It was okay. I like Julie a lot better.
Friday~ fusion. Heart stopping hard for a webble like me and there were only 4 other people in the class so there was no where to hide..but I'll probably go back.

books:
life's a beach~ what you'd expect. A froofry, summer read. Romance and a twist. skip some "parts" but other wise okay.
motherhood made a man our of me~ new moms adjust to being moms, with a twist. Why do I read drivel?
the ever after bird~ really good. It's the story of a northern abolitionist and his niece and slavery of course. Historical Fiction. Written for teens so it's quick but well written and a good look at what life was like then. I'd like it read it out loud to H this summer, but we'll see, it might be too old for her.
the amber spyglass~ the third in the golden compass series. I read it. I am not a thinker but I wanted to see for myself and in the reading I liked the story, enjoyed the science fictiony aspect of it. It might not be for kids, if you are worried about their testimonies, but to me it was like a lot of SF/Fantasy. It is a totally different world, and has nothing to do with a true and living God. At the end of the day I thought he did a good job. His world view, the story he painted anyway, was one that is completely different than what I know is true and right and it made me sad for people who believe that. It's hard to find meaning in life if you think "this is it". It made me grateful all over again for a loving Father in Heaven who does care about us and for the great Plan of Happiness that we know about and get to participate in.


yucky meals served to my family:
only one got a big thumbs down this week and I thought it was delicious (so did grandma, J and Papa) It is German pancakes with sautéed veggies on it.
To make pancakes melt 1/4 cup butter in a cake pan. In blender mix one cup milk, one cup flour and 5 eggs added one at a time. Once butter is melted pour in batter and bake for 15 minutes at 400.
Meanwhile sauté mushrooms, sliced zuch, and carrots in oil. Mix with a cup of shredded gouda cheese.
After pancakes bake spread veggies on top, sprinkle with more cheese and broil until melted. Yummm

Potty accidents~
one day, that being yesterday, she had the runs and ended up in diapers. Today all is well again.

finding time

Caught the eclipse last night. It was lovely. The kids ran around outside and looked at it, mom and dad stepped out, DH took photos. It was cold but a nice break in the routine. Lu missed it, she was already in bed.

Last night the priests made dinner for the Laurels. S had a good time; she said the food was yummy. They ate at Nikkos (thanks for opening your home to them) which was lucky for S because she walked over; and ran back :) Her friend came over after and they sat outside talking for a long time. H invited Ellie to go to Activity Days with her. Tomorrow night she is spending the night. Brother wants to invite K over to play so I need to remember to call in the morning.

In other news I joined the Y. Actually mom and dad did too. I have been needing to work out and they have a lot of fun classes. It's expensive but if you go probably a good value for your dollar. I made a goal (I know, here we go) to go every day M-F. This is surprisingly difficult to do. T I went and signed up. Then I stayed and did a Yoga class, very fun. This was during preschool school and it fit in perfectly. Yesterday I was going to go in the morning and put Lu in Kids Zone but playgroup was at my house so I couldn't. Then I was going to try and go in the afternoon. With J baby sitting, S picking up E who went to play with his friend C and me dropping H and Ellie off at Ellies to play on the way I just barely had time to make it to Zumba and rush home to take J to mutual (which she ended up not going to) still I made it. Today I went during preschool again. Tomorrow I was going to go to a line dancing class but now I am watching Austin in the morning (which I really want to do~ I am always happy to watch someone's kids who I trade with because a) Lu loves it. b) I like to help my friends. c) I really appreciate it when it's my turn and Debi keeps my kids, or whomever. So now I need to either take another class earlier or something else later.....

and today I bought new shoes. For working out :)

I'll go back and see if I can get faster...this was a the first try :)

63 words

Speedtest

favorite toy

Lu got these cute dolls for her birthday and she plays with them all the time. They are her favorite and so cute.

Today we had playgroup at our house. Last week, before preschool, I prepared her. You will need to share your toys without crying. Otay. When the the kids leave they will leave your toys here so don't worry. Otay. And she did.

Today she shared, but not as well. I forgot to do the speech before hand. Sharing is hard.

smile!

9:20am
11:20 am

potty trained!

the wearer of these cute little shoes is potty trained! Yeah! Finally and I say that to myself. Saturday I told her we are done with diapers you need to use the potty. "Otay" she said, and she did.
Two days, no accidents. It's a done deal.

Last night J and the girls took Megan out for her birthday. They all went to Emma's and watched movies and what not, then Tori and Collette took them to the mall where they ate and shopped. I was supposed to pick them up and bring them back to Kelly and Nicole's for movie watching. They were not ready at the appointed time so I walked around and found these uber cute shoes and a matching dress for Lu. Also ran into Ingrid and her kids in the food court and spent a minute visiting with them. When the girls were done I took them to Mariah's to get "Becoming Jane" then to K&N's to watch it. J came home, she wasn't feeling well. I think Megan had a fun time. I was a little unhappy to get to the mall and find more girls than I have seatbelts for, poor planning or an oversight. They double buckled and it turned out fine, luckily. I am happy to pick them up and cart them around, I just want them to be safe.

a last

as a mom you don't always know when a last will happen. The last time to nurse a baby, the last time someone crawls into your bed in the middle of the night, the last _______. Sometimes you do know. The last first day of kindergarten, I haven't had it yet but I am sure I will shed a tear as I drop Lu off to school and skip down the sidewalk free at last solemnly walk back to my car to try and fill the emply hours until school gets out again. This time I recognized a last. Early this week we had decided not to let E and G bathe together any more. H already doesn't bathe with them. This morning I forgot as they hopped in to enjoy some warm bubbles. H got out of the shower and quickly joined them. They had a great time splashing and playing and I let them have some tub time fun, then snapped a picture and got them out. It was the last. Brother is getting big and bath time needs to be private, well more private anyway. They will be a little sad I am sure.

...and the clock keeps ticking on.

big day

Today was a momentous day in our house. It was the first morning in 8+ years that the kids got up, got themselves breakfast and watched TV, allowing DH and I to sleep in until almost 9am. Crazy Great!

Before H was born the big girls had been doing that for a couple years. They were all old enough to get up and watch TV and Dani was old enough to pour bowls of cereal all around.
Today was the first time that H poured cereal for all and Lu was old enough to watch quietly with the big kids. Whoo Hoo! Now I can occasionally join DH in bed (who has been sleeping in all along)

Remember this guy? It's a cold rainy day today and we got some pretzels and went upstairs to watch Jurassic Park. The kids had never seen it. H lost interest but Lu and brother watched. It was kind of scary but they did well, thanks to the fast forward button and the 1/2 mute:)

S and J are off celebrating Megan's 16th Birthday with her. Mom and Dad are at the temple, they've been going a couple times a week.

I'm going to make some rice krispie treats. Good day.

library

Last week when Lu and I spent so much time at the library. I was able to look for some "grown up books" and then this week with DH working nights I had time to read some :) I always read some; I just had time to read more. It was strange. Sitting in bed, alone, with the TV on & sound off and my book. I know it's odd but it's how I like to spend the evening. Anyway I read three books. An "Irish Country Doctor" was my favorite. It was written by the doctor himself and was a fun story of his early days as a GP. You have to forgive the language~ somehow swearing spelt in Irish is less offensive still there is some peppery language so I enjoyed it but couldn't recommend it to our ward book club.

Next I liked "the Sleeping Beauty Proposal" which is the cute story of a woman, in her 30s, who is unceremoniously and publicly dumped by her long term boyfriend and her quest for revenge and new love along the way. It had some "parts" to be skipped over but the story was cute.

Last I read "Life's a Beach", well I'm almost done reading it so I can't say yet.

Today DH, Papa, Lu and I went back to the library. Enjoyed our time in the stacks, stopped by Quiznos for some lunch and came home armed for a new week.

The 12 hour night shift is over so I'll probablly be back to my old pace of reading. However just for fun on my night stand this week:
Peace Like a River

At Home In Mitford

The First Word

Tipperary, a Novel

The Ever After Bird

and

Motherhood Made A Man Out of Me

We'll see which I finish :)

Give My Regards

Tonight was Give My Regards. Grandma, Emma and I went and watched J win "Class Favorite"! It was very exciting!

lets go fly a kite

This morning I made yummy pink oatmeal with sprinkles on it for breakfast. Also there was a little valentines surprise by each of the kids spots. E and G got kites.

After school they were anxious to give them a go.
DH, Papa and E and G and I headed outside to set them sailing. After a little time we had two kites flying.

Then one crashed into the roof.

Lu was still in luck, brother was crying.
Fortunately I had a "backup kite" in the closet.

DH put that together.
UP, UP, and away.....and a string broke. And a kite flew to the pool....and brother was crying.

Then Lu's kite found a tree.

and she cried....

what a great gift :(

and the oatmeal was deemed "disgusting"

Valentines Day Parties

Tag team parenting today. DH took brothers party, I did the girls. Here's brother and his favorite friend Gage.
H and her friend Ellie.
Lu and the preschoolers looking at their valentines.

yesterday J and I went to Jimmy's funeral. It was nice, and sad. We've had three young people die in our ward in the last two years. Tragic.

Today preschool was at our house. We had a party. The kids made valentines for the moms, decorated cupcakes, made crowns, and played. Julia stayed and we had a fun visit.

Preschool Fun

doing the "O" dance, with the octopi
the boys played with star wars guys and cars and stuff
the princesses did princess stuff :)

(thank goodness we have a lot of dress up dresses)

painting our ocean animals. Oatmeal "O" s were a hit, as was the octopus snack. It was a fun day. Landon was sad for a while but he got happy eventually. Everyone else was happy and cooeperative the whole time.

national pancake day

Today is national pancake day. In honor of the event iHOp is giving away a free stack of pancakes to all who come to their restaurant (and wait the two hours it will take to get a seat) a short stack of pancakes. This sounded like a lot of fun but we don't have the time so instead we made our own 5 kid stack and started our day off with a pancake breakfast.

a very "martha" night

We made these tiles at Super Saturday last fall. I made one for me and one for Dani. I really liked it but wasn't sure where to put it. A lot of people put them on the counter or on a table with a little stand; however we are out of flat spots to put stuff so I wanted to hang it. Finally a couple weeks ago I found this scrolly holder at Hobby Lobby and I love the way it looks. Dani forgot hers here at Christmas and I just now sent it to her so I put this up for her so she can see how I hung mine.
Tomorrow is my turn to teach preschool. I am excited. I love when it's my turn. It's "O" day so I made these felt orange octopi for each of the kids. J is modeling it's puppety qualities. We are going to glue oatmeal on to construction paper "O"s, paint ocean animals, play with our puppets and sing the "O" song (Still to be made up), eat octopus on a sea bed for snack (hot dogs cut like an octopus on pasta shells). Should be fun. The eyes are buttons sewn on and there is a strap on the back to slide you fingers through.

an award

Now and then I see awards flying around the blogosphere. Sometimes I get one :) and really it's always fun. It's nice to know that someone reads and appriciates my blog. Yvonne awarded me this "E" award last week. Thank you!

I would like to pass this on to Miranda, and unschooling mom of four. I love to glimpse into her life, which is so different than mine.

Also to Nikko, a mom of four boys who is always patient and kind and who has great photos on her blog.

And Lera, I don't know when she finds the time to sew but she's always got a cute project up.

And to Mel, who is amazing!