from here to there...and somewhere in between

Hmm, since I already don't keep up with this blog, I decided to start another blog.

2011-03-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

I decided to start an etsy store to sell a few items that I have hanging around from different ventures over the years.

I have discovered that if I have things in my life to keep me motivated and working towards some goal, I am typically more productive in all other areas of my life. So this is my current motivation.

I also started a blog to go along with it. I will use this blog for my more crafty posts!

Erin this is for you

2011-03-11T16:00:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I've totally been a slacker for what....the last 2 years. We moved about 2 years ago, and the whole process just threw my schedule off, and blogging never made it back into the schedule. (but I did manage to make an awesome photo book of my blog during that time with Blurb.com).

So Erin, after your funny comment on facebook, this post is for you so that next time you check in there is something besides "Ms. Benjamin Franklin" for you to read!!

Look I even put our most recent family photo here for you, (even if it is almost a year old and we all looked lovely at the end of our week at Lake Powell)

And then here's one of Shawn. He's in the phase of never having a normal photo face. Or actually this IS his normal photo face.

"Miss" Benjamin Franklin

2009-01-30T13:26:00.000-08:00

Danielle's class just did a play called "The Thirteen Colonies", and she played the part of Benjamin Franklin. The incentive for her to play a male role, came in the form of the great solo "he" got to sing. She did an great job! (As if I'd say anything else). And did you know baseball pants make great colonist costumes?

How to Torture a 7th Grader

2009-01-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

Jiffy Mixer,

Popcorn,

Cotton Eye Joe,

Mexican Hat Dance,

and The Chicken Dance

to name just a few.

It seems as if the current P.E. unit is Folk Dancing. You know it's bad when Micah says "The Chicken Dance" is the best of the bunch.

He wanted to borrow $100 from me today to bribe his teacher. He says he would pay big money if he never had to dance these dances again. I think I would pay money to see his gym class. It has got to be painful, but I told him he need experiences like this so that he will have good stories to tell to his kids. His response, "Good and folk dancing don't belong in the same sentence."

How I spent my day on the kids first day back to school after the holidays.

2009-01-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, I admit it! I had a few too many late late nights during the holidays, but I actually felt like I was getting back on track the last few days.

WRONG!

I did not want to get up this morning!

It might have been the early morning semimary wake-up that hit me hard, so I was headed back to bed before Shawn even headed out the door. How come when it's early and cold, I always forget going back to bed is a mistake? Just as I fall back to sleep, it's time to get up again with the younger ones, and it always leavesme feeling more tired than if I'd just stayed up.

So to put it nicely, our morning routine was a little rusty today.

I did resist going back to bed, again, after everyone had left, and I keep away from cuddling up on the couch with a book, but instead of heading out the door for a walk like I had planned, I attempted to tackle the laundry room. There seemed to have been an overabundance of dirty clothes this morning since two suitcases of vacation laundry were added to the mix.

And then is it just me or does anyone else do things like this?
After putting in the first load of laundry and doing a little folding, I went to eat breakfast. Thought I'd warm up a little wassail to drink while I fixed breakfast, so I got out everything I needed and set it on the counter by the stove.
Then I needed a spoon. I realized there was none clean in the drawer, so I started unloading the dishwasher.
Then as I was unloading the cups, I noticed that the insides of the cups weren't quite clean. Uhgg. I hate that, so I started fideling around with the dishwasher. Ended up getting Steve to come and look into what I thought it might be.
With him in charge of that, I headed to the laundry to switch loads.
Then I remembered that I needed to clean off the Sunday piles from the dressers in our bedroom, so taking advantage of the fact that Steve was still working on the dishwasher instead of the computer in our room, I hurried to our bedroom to do some cleaning.
Of course, putting the piles away lead me to most of the rooms in the house, and since I was already in "cleaning mode" and our house seems to sprout up clutter on the weekends, I ended up touching up each room.
And of course a few more laundry changes.
And, finally, back to the kitchen and my forgotten wassail.

I ended up just eating lunch!

(And then I snuck in a nap before the kids got home from school!)

Favorite Christmas Gift...okay maybe just one of them--but it's up there.

2009-01-04T21:37:00.001-08:00

Could also be the cheaspest one, too.

Supply List

-Some PVC pipes from the garage.

-A couple of Water Noodles. This actually required a little bit of work. Not many people carry them this time of year. In fact, I could only find them at Leslie's Pool Supply. Probably their only customer of the day. The clerk says he gets in a lot of movies this time of year.

-A little elbow grease to get the noodle onto the PVC pipe after you cut both in half. It was a little harder than Steve expected it to be.

And wahlah.....a boffing sword!

We made 6 of them this year. Enough for everyone who wanted to have a friendly whacking competion on Christmas Day.

I think everyone even survived with no injuries! (But I guess that's the idea behind the foam!!)

"The Friend" magazine link

2008-12-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

Haven't had time to check this out extensively, but I was excited to see some additions to "The Friends" homepage on http://www.lds.org/. Looks like they've added some coloring pages and recorded stories for kids to listen too. If you haven't seen it yet you can check it out here.

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ae20e975d2a2b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0

Christmas at Disnyland!

2008-12-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

The kids were so sad when we told them that we were going to Disneyland a few days before Christmas.

Actually, when we told them, they looked at us in disbelief. Then seeing that Steve wasn't just trying to pull their leg, they started jumping up and down.

We took Shawn and Micah when they were 6 and 4, but Danielle and Lucas have never been. They have wanted to go for forever and have spent the last few years making sure that we know that we have been depriving them of one of their childhood rights.

Even though I know they would have always loved it, it was fun going with all of them at these ages. They all still got excited, but all of them were old enough --and tall enough--and brave enough to go on all the rides. Danielle was a little nervous waiting in line for some of them, but at the end she was going on and on about how awesome the ride had been.

My kids really got into the Disney pins this trip.

All their friends have been talking up how fun it is to collect and trade pins, so our first stop was a gift store to stock up. One of the kind Disney workers pointed out all the clearance section, so Micah decided it was worth saving a few dollars by wearing the cast of High School Musical on his lanyard for a few hours until he found a worker willing to trade him for some better pins. He ended up with a collection of Star Wars pins, but not before I'd documented his willingness to be a good sport.

All in all it was a perfect day! Great weather, short lines, awesome Christmas decorations, lots of smiles and excitement. Steve loved it when Danielle said to him, "We could be a commercial. Micah and I have riden on all the rides together and we haven't fought once!"

The only complaint of the day was from Lucas. FYI the second seat is the one that gets the spray from the Splash Mountain ride. At least it was one of the first rides of the day, so there was plenty on time for his pants to dry before it got dark and chilly.

Steve was the die hard, who convinced all the kids that they needed to keep going until the bitter end (12:00 midnight since it was special holiday hours). I think that we were one of the last ones out of the park.

2008 Family Pictures

2008-12-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

My sister was nice enough to update our family pictures during Thanksgiving Break. Here is a preview of some of her images. I can't wait to go through them all and figure out which ones to print up!

Going Private

2008-11-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

Been thinking about it for a while now, and my plan is to make my blog private by the end of the year. I have an idea of who checks in on me and my family, but if you are interested in still being able to log on, let me know and I will make sure you get an invite. If you aren't sure if I have your email, then please leave it in a comment. I'll make sure to delete all emails after I get them.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T12:58:00.001-08:00

Our "Thanksgiving Weekend" was great. Wonderful food, lots of hanging around, a couple family movies, a little knitting, a lot of kids playing, a LOT of trampoline jumping, some baby holding, hanging out at the park, and a family photo shoot (Thanks Beth).

The kids were ready to dig in by the time the Feast came around. They we apparently starving even though we'd been snacking all morning. After they were done eating, they immediatedly went out and jumped on the trampoline. When I suggested that activity to the other adults we just all groaned and held our bellies.

October Travels

2008-11-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

Grandpa's 80th birthday was a great excuse for a family trip down to Southern California.

We were able to connect with lots of family that we haven't seen for a while, and spent the weekend playing, eating, laughing (a lot), and eating some more.

Grandpa spent his 80th birthday playing soccer and volleyball in the park. Steve had to stop and realize how old he was when Grandpa stopped for a break, and Steve commented that he hopes he's in that great of shape at that age.

Lucas was fascinated with this Hummer Limousine when we got to the park. The driver was a great sport and let us all take a peek inside while he was waiting for the wedding party to finish up their pictures.

A kind biologist was nice enough to inform us of all the sickness our children could get because they were sticking their hands in the duck water. Do you think I should still be worried after three weeks?

One day after getting back from Southern Cali, I headed East for a sister's weekend in New York.

I have been homesick for New York, and what better time to travel there than the Fall. We get some Fall colors here, but nothing like what I remember. It was absolutely gorgeous.

It was the greatest time hanging out with almost all the sisters. Heather even made an appearance through the web cam, because she was enjoying her new little boy. Next year, Heather! And hopefully all the sister-in-laws.

We did an excellent job of keeping to West coast time, and spent many late night talking and laughing and being reminded to keep it down because of the college kids who lived downstairs. Never got around to doing half of the things we wanted to do, but there's always next year for that.

I do have to admit that it was a little bit of an adjustment going from wearing shorts one day to gloves the next. Since, I tried to pack light, I left out winter attire knowing Jana would have some I could borrow if needed. The second night there, I asked her son if he would get me a pair of gloves.

He came back with these.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but besides being mismatched, they are also both right handed! I gladly wore them the rest of the week.

I guess that I became a little too used to mismatched mittens because during our "MAKE and TAKE" winter mittens fest, I unknowingly made both of my mittens right handed!

Sunday, I took a pilgrimage back to Rochester. It almost didn't happen because of transportation issues, but as I told one of my friends--if I didn't make it back to Rochester after being only hours away, I would never be able to tell anyone back there that I had even been in New York. I can't even tell you how wonderful it was visiting our old ward and seeing so many friends!

I had to swing by our old house on the way out of town. I can vividly remember all the times it was me raking up those nice leaf piles in the gutter. That part I actually miss! As for shoveling snow...that I can gladly skip.

small update

2008-10-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Flipping through my camera today, I realize that a lot has happened in the last month--including being out of town for two weeks on two different trip. Since I never have computer time anymore (husband working at home all day on computer--schoolwork after school), I have time for one small update (husband is showering--gotta get computer time when I can.)

Remember this???

He has been de-vampirized--just in time for Halloween.

He is much happier.

Okay, time for a few more pictures.

Micah has come up with a whole new style! This is how he looked this morning when I got home from Seminary carpool. I'm wondering if maybe Steve should start driving carpool so that I can make sure our kids look decent when they walk out the door for school.

Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering the reason behind Micah's makeover--It's Spirit Week at Junior High. I think today is "Mixup/Crazy Day." Always gutsy dressing up at home like this, and hoping that you aren't the only one who remembered as you walk out of the door!

UPDATE: To be fair to Micah, I can't leave out Shawn's school attire for today. After stressing over "what he wants to be when he grows up" (haven't we all), he decided on a Jedi knight for "Career Day."

Tomorrow I think the plan is Darth Maul for "Hollywood Horror Movies". Micah has decided to give up his Crazy ways and will wear a normal BYU T-shirt for "College Day."

sometimes time seems to fly too quickly

2008-10-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

This week I felt time passing. My oldest is gone, my youngest started cub scouts and my middle son had a birthday.

Shawn took off with his acting group TNT for a 5 day trip to Utah. They were going to attend the Shakespeare Competition in Cedar City and to do some workshops at BYU. More details on this are sure to come after he fills us in on some of the happenings. I say "some" because as much as I would love to know everything he did and felt and thought, the reality is my son is getting older and I don't experience near as much as I would like to with him. One goal I have consciously been working on in the past few years is to help him develop greater independence. I rejoice in his maturing, but it comes at a cost to me as I realize how little time I have left with him full-time at home. A part of me wonders how mothers bear the moment when they hug their child goodbye and then watch them walk away. I’m sure it’s a bittersweet moment. (He just called. He’s in town now, and on his way home.)

I send our small camera with him, so I've been without it for other events I wanted to document this week.

Lucas started Cub Scouts. He has been so excited since he turned 8 to finally get to join the scouting family—and to now be the one with the weekly adventure to go to. It didn’t really affect me when he was baptized, but somehow starting the Wolf Den has made me go WHOA! What’s going on? But how can I not smile when he rushes to put on his uniform on Tuesday nights and asks the whole way to the church building what I think they might possibly be doing that night.

For weeks leading up to the big day, Micah has informed us of his plans to finally watch Pirates of the Caribbean on the night he turns 13. The only bummer for him, was the fact that Shawn was gone. Although, Shawn did call him on his birthday to wish him happy birthday. The phone call with my son who had been gone for 3 days went something like this.

"Hello"
" Hi, Mom, is Micah there?"
"No"
"Well, can you hang up so I can call again and leave him a message."
!!!!

Actually I laughed. In all reality, how was he to answer all the questions I had in less than an hour. That could wait. I was just glad that he had thought to call Micah, and the birthday message he left was great.

But I regress—back to Micah’s birthday. Although he would have liked Shawn to have been there, he looked passed it and invited some church friends over to watch the movie with him. The other 2 had probably each seen it at least five times, but they were willing to watch it again. For a few minutes they did try to encourage the watching of another movie that one of them hadn’t seen, but Micah stuck to his guns and they watched Pirates. I was impressed with Micah because sometimes he gives in and then is miserable about it later. I guess he’s really is getting older!

Lucas's front teeth

2008-09-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

I got a dreaded phone message from school on Wednesday. "Lucas fell on the climbing structure and took big chips out of his two front teeth." I called the office back and since he had wanted to go back to class, and it was almost time for them to come home, I didn’t go and pick him up. I spent the next few minutes wondering how much of his teeth were gone. I meet him at the door, and he very sheepishly smiled to show me what had happened. The two inside corners of his front teeth were gone in decent sized chunks.

He said that it didn’t really hurt, and that it hadn’t bleed that much. When I asked him when he knew he should go to the office, he said "It was pretty obvious," and he showed me the teeth chips that had been knocked off into his mouth. He said there were probably other little chips that flew out of his mouth, but they couldn’t find any of them. I can almost imagine what his frantic brain must have been feeling, as he was panicking and wondering if there was possibly anything he could do to minimize the damage that had just happened.

We took him to the dentist on Thursday, and the dentist wants to cap them—but we have to wait to see what insurance will cover. Robert (Steve’s brother) has also said he would be happy to take care of it when we go down there in a few weeks for their dad’s 80th birthday. So either way it will be a few weeks before we get to have it taken care of. Poor little guy. He definitely got a lot of attention from it this week

Lucas is our party planner

2008-09-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

How many younger kids have stood helplessly at the door watching older siblings go off for
promises of fun that are seemingly only denied to them because they aren't quite old enough?

Lucas was fed up with the injustice of being told "when you are 8 you will get to do this" or "when you are 12 you will get to do activities like that, too," when he saw Shawn and Micah take the pinata that he had helped Dad to buy and fill, off to their mutual activity celebrating Mexican Independence Day. So he did what he does when he wants to do something. He planned his own Mexican Celebration for the family.

The only oversight with his plan was being unaware that he had to inform the adults of the household. So after a few days of Lucas coming in 5 minutes before dinner and asking if we could have mexican food for dinner, and then wildly freaking out when I told him I already had something stewing in the crockpot, I figured out something must be going on. His plans eventually came out in the frustration of finding himself thwarted so many times, but then Steve and I could actually help him work through what he wanted so it would actually happen.

He ended up not wanting much. Mostly just tacos and a pinata. (Okay, we all know it was really just the pinata.)
The cousins were in town on the big night, and that just added to the craziness and excitement.

The only downfall of the pinata came the next morning when I confiscated the candy after too much of it was consumed for breakfast before any adults made their morning appearance. At least it will last them longer this way.

Another Soccer weekend

2008-09-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my awesome little brother (who is not so little anymore)
for these photos.
We were so excited for a visit from Andrew and Jamie last weekend.
Danielle was excited to have them see her game (and Jamie now knows what she must have looked like on the soccer field as the smallest player).

After Danielle's game, the rest of the gang joined in for a quick scrimage before we headed over to Lucas's game.
Then we played 9 holes of disc golf before heading home and trying to figure out a way to watch the BYU/UCLA football game. After listening to more than half of it off the internet, someone had the crazy idea to call Allyson and have her point her web cam at their TV, so we were able to finish watching the incredible 59-0 win-albeit a little fuzzy.

Soccer

2008-09-11T13:37:00.001-07:00

Our next 10 Saturdays will be spent watching Danielle and Lucas play soccer. Even though practices started four weeks ago, I don't feel like I've been very involved up to this point. Danielle walks a block to practice, and Steve has mostly been taking Lucas since I'm usually delivering newspaper with Shawn and Micah.

I always forget how much I like to watch their games..

This picture cracks me up.

Look at the height difference between Danielle and the girl she's defending.

Danielle's favorite way to cool off during a game!

FYI--Jon Schmidt

2008-08-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

Heather, (and anyone else who is interested) you can check out Jon Schmidt's website here, http://www.jonschmidt.com/catalog/index.php

He has about 6 free MP3 downloads and a few pieces of free sheet music--including "All of Me"

Ha Ha, Funny!

2008-08-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

So......I'm sure in an attempt to give Shawn added motivation for learning his new song the "smart way", Shawn's piano teacher issued a competition between Shawn and I. He will judge who plays the song the "best" at the end of September. I will go along with it--but it will only be to motivate Shawn. I had a hard time not laughing as his teacher was presenting the challenge, and I was thinking "Yeah, right."

If you are curious as to what the song is, click on the song link at the top of the left column.

Shawn has already mastered two of Jon Schmidt's songs, and I have given up on many easier ones. My only hope is to hit the right notes more often than Shawn, because I will be playing my version about 10 times slower than the original.

Back to School

2008-08-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

The kids headed back to school this week. The two youngest were excited! Danielle now finds herself as the oldest child at the elementary. Lucas was excited when he found out who his third grade teacher was --since he was also his 1st grade teacher. At least he knows what he is like. I think Micah was a bit nervous about starting Middle School, but he went with his friend so there wasn't much grumbling. Shawn seemed ready to get back into things--and escaped early to school before the camera came out. I think I'm ready, after spending a few hours working out seminary and Middle school carpools, but if Micah decides to do early morning band, I have to start all over with that carpool.

Sunday afternoon

2008-08-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer, Danielle and Lucas missed a primary activity of visiting the temple. They were so disappointed and begged to be able to go soon. The opportunity came when my dad and sister were visiting. We spent a peaceful Sunday afternoon (well maybe not that peaceful for the wild turkey that my kids felt the need to chase) walking around the temple grounds.

When did you get so old?

2008-08-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I look at my boys and find it hard to believe that I have two teenage boys!! When I go to hug them and realize that they are getting taller and bigger I wonder where the time has gone. I definately don't feel old enough to have growing boys--or maybe it's just that I don't feel smart enough and spend half the time wondering what I'm doing.

They just spent the last few days at a regional Sons of Liberty campout. It sounds like they had an incredible time. The days were spent with rapeling, ziplines, mountain biking, scuba, climbing telephone poles and jumping off, waterballooning, water sliding, and so many other activities that they didn't have time to do everything. The nights were filled with firesides and a visit from Elder L. Tom Perry (and many other things that I'm glad were left at scout camp!) It was great that Steve was able to go with them, and then to have them come home and hear and feel all of the things they were able to share together.

Lucas's Big Day

2008-08-06T22:47:00.001-07:00

This face pretty much describs how Lucas looked all day long. He was so excited that his baptism day was finally here. He was more excited today than on his Birthday!

My last one to be baptised. Shawn gave the talk and he did an awesome job. The whole time he was giving it I couldn't help seeing the missionary he would be in a few short years.

We were lucky to have lots of family be able to come. We had 19 people crammed into our house that night (or tent in the back yard) but not much sleeping went on when there were fun games to play.
I'm sure Lucas will remember this day for a long time.

Lucas

2008-07-14T10:43:00.001-07:00

Lots and lots of swimming.

Legos and Brio

Lucas loved our sewing class where we made stuffed animals. He has made three of them at this point with plans to make one more.

Discovered Garfield comics this summer.

What Danielle has been doing

2008-07-14T10:38:00.001-07:00

Danielle sewed her first quilt.

Designed her own pillow to embroider.

Weekly library haul--a little for everyone.

Danielle and Lucas have been trying to learn sign language and are practicing a little each day. I caught them using it in church today when Lucas was sitting up on the stand with Steve.

Danielle designed and sewed her first doll trying to follow the description of Laura Ingall's first doll from "Little House in the Big Woods."

Visit from Cousins. And one of them knows how to french braid!

More fun with cousins.

What I've been doing (okay, actually only a small portion I've mangaed to cram in here and there)

2008-07-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

Shawn was gone for two weeks so I took his piano lessons.

I actually had to report for Jury Duty this time.

Wasn't selected, but got to watch the whole selection process.

Beth taught me how to knit.

Dish clothes, a new scarf and fun daisies are all I've done so far,

but just bought some yarn to make danielle a sweater vest!

Sewing

Costumes, a few new shirts,

Sewing class with the kids,

Bedskirt (finally, since the bedspread has been done since Christmas)

Fixed our yucky grout.

Danielle's quilt

Danielle and Lucas--"To Be a Pioneer"

2008-06-26T15:24:00.001-07:00

Lucas and Danielle spent a fun-filled week at a Summer Acting Camp. The daughter of the TNT director (see post about Shawn) thought that this sounded like the perfect summer job, so she had 16 kids, ages 5-12, running around her house for 5 hours each day. It was amazing what they got done in that amount of time. At the end of the week they put on a 30-45 minute show called "To Be a Pioneer" filled with songs and vignettes from real pioneer children's journals.

Lucas was in heaven that he finally got a turn to see what it was like to hit the stage. The director told me that he asked her for a lot of lines and a big song solo, and since there was only 4 boys to 12 girls he did end up with big parts. His excitement never died down the entire week, and he was amazing diligent in memorizing his lines. He did a fantastic job, and it was so fun to see his energy.

Highlights for Danielle: She sang a beautiful duet with another girl and she was one of only a few girls that HAD to do the square dance with an actual boy!! (I guess the other girls were lucky enough to get to dance with other girls!!)

The "boys" performing the "Buffalo Chip Rap!"

Micah's Happening

2008-06-26T15:04:00.001-07:00

#1 Micah had a band concert the last week of school. He has been playing the drums for the last two years. He never practices at home, so we don't ever hear him. It's a nice surprise to go and hear how good he has gotten. (But he always has to act like it's not cool)

#2 Micah has been highly motivated to learn how to make his own beanbag. He designed it with a selection of fabrics I have stashed all over, and learned how to sew on my machine. He cut the stuffing out of big blocks of foam, and stored them in big garbage bags when I didn't have time to sit down with him for sewing guidance. He made the whole outside beanbag, and most of the liner. The rest of the liner I sewed to show him how to put in a zipper and sew on the end circles.

It turned out great!

#3 Micah headed off to Scout Camp. Signed up for 8 or 9 merit badges, and packing his fishing pole, he headed off for a week of fun.

Shawn's Happening

2008-06-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

#1. Shawn's 15th birthday was the end of May. Months before he had put his wish list on the fridge with only two items listed--a Synthesizer or a nano ipod. He did get the ipod--but he had a hard time finding it. I always give my kids lots of books for birthdays and Christmas, so to hide his ipod, I stuck it inside a a randomly selected pile of books I got off of his bookshelf. He opened the books and looked confused and said "I already have these books." But not noticing the slight indent in one of the books (have you seen how tiny the new ipods are), he went on to the next present only to say "We already have this movie"--but inside the cover was the ipod cords.

Took him a while to figure out that he had missed the real gift. Has been getting much use since then.

#2 Shawn was in his third play of the year. Take Note Troupe (TNT), a small acting group in the area, was performing Twelth Night, and they were looking for a few extra kids to be in the pirate band. A few of Shawn's friends are in the group so he was extremely happy to join in the fun.

#3. Shawn tried out for Take Note Troupe (TNT) this week. TNT is a small non-profit acting group that was started by a women in our Stake. Instead of focusing on "acting" skills, the group is more value based. They teach the kids to "make your partner look good"(whether in acting or real life) instead of the "look at me" attitude. Community service is also a big push, and they spend a lot of time conducting workshops in schools and community centers that focus on developing better interpersonal skills between you and your "partner."

I was really glad when TNT approached Shawn to be a pirate in Twelth Night because if he wants to keep up acting, I wanted him to experience a different approach to the whole acting thing to contrast what he might be learning at High School. He really mixed well with the group, and they are a good bunch of kids--so hopefully he'll make it. Find out this weekend.

#4 Piano Recital time. Shawn played the 2nd movement of Beethovan's Sonata Pathi----(add your own letters) and Jon Schmidth's Ridin' West.

#5 Shawn made his first solo train ride to his cousin's house last night. From there they are headed for a week of fun on a houseboat on Lake Powell. I'm sure it will be a teenagers paradise!!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, our good friends moved a couple hours away. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't far enough away to prevent us and another mutual friend's family from crashing at their house for the holiday weekend.

Posing at the Oakland Temple(we needed something to keep everyone entertained on Sunday), are 14 of the 15 kids that we crammed into their house and a tent in the backyard for two nights.

The whole weekend was a blast. The kids got along GREAT! The food was awesome...

... and many candy runs were made to the local Candy Shop. Here the oldest is entertaining the group of kids with camp songs the whole way down the hill.
Can't wait to do it again next year!

Open House

2008-05-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

The kids like showing us some of their work from their year. With 3 classrooms to visit, time is often tight, but here are some highlights!

Micah is here with a disected owl pellet. He also had a mummified chicken wing on his desk made during their Ancient Egypt Unit--this made his classroom smell quite interesting for a few weeks during the "preservation" process.

Lucas had plants and writting and drawing to show us. Here is their "Flat Stanley" project. His Aunt and cousin took his "Stanley" with them on their trip to Argentina--the only one to visit South America.

Danielle had lots of writing projects. A "Gratitude Journal" (that she wouldn't let us read), a John Muir trail project, an animal report on Robins and lots of other displays and art projects shown around her room.

Micah and Lucas don't seem quite happy that school ends in a few weeks!

Lucas's Book Float

2008-05-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Every year the 2nd graders get to make a book float for Open House about one of their favorite books from the past year. Lucas picked "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

He was extremely motivated to make it, and worked on it a little each day. Now he only needs to keep up that work ethic until he reaches High School!!

Headed off to school with his float. They do a parade during the day for any of the classes that want to come out and watch. Then at Open House they end with a parade for the parents.

New Backyard Feature

2008-05-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Kim, we have a new addition to our backyard. They weren't going to use it at their new house this summer because of their dirt backyard, and my kids were super excited to have it passed on to us. As you can tell from the picture it just barely fits between our house and the fence--but the important thing is that it fits.

The kids were dying to set the pool up, but we told them not until May. The weather is now warm enough, but the water in the newly filled pool was freezing as you can tell from Shawn's reaction.

Here is Micah doing his "skim" into the pool. (I had to tell them no diving!)

I'm sure this will get much use this summer.

Lost and Found

2008-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

My friend gave me this bracelet about three years ago. I loved it because it went with everything. Then about 10 months ago, I lost it. Counldn't find it anywhere.

Saturday at the temple, I was looking for something I dropped in my temple bag, and lo and behold--look what I found buried at the bottom!!!

Who knew he could put on makeup??

2008-05-02T12:24:00.001-07:00

This is how Shawn looked the other day when I picked him up from school. Couldn't help but laugh first and ask questions later.
Turns out that it was the last day of their make-up unit in Theatre, and they could create whatever look they wanted. Shawn looked to the second Pirates of the Caribbean Movie for inspiration.

Will is Crack?

2008-05-02T11:48:00.001-07:00

Event: The 2nd Grade Annual Egg Drop

Rules: Pack a raw egg in a container no bigger than 7x7x7 using whatever materials you want. Then watch the principal and custodian hurl it from the top of the library roof.

Results: Will it survive??????

Lucas's egg box is next. It contains a raw egg:

1. enclosed in brown playdough

2. wrapped in a piece of polarfleece

3. tucked into the playdough container

4. cushioned on layers of foam

5. padded with a wad of quilt batting

6. sealed securely in a resized shoe box

7. connected to a big black trash bag parachute.

Lucas looks on anxiously waiting to see what will happen. This is a big deal for him after spending all week planning and making and tweaking.

And it's off--thrown up above the view of this photo.

Running back to his spot after collecting up the goods.

Did it survive?

Back inside the classroom, tearing the box apart.

The moment of truth............

The smile says it all---IT SURVIVED!!!

Some other kids weren't as lucky :( But everyone had fun.

Birthday Party

2008-04-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

Friday we finally had Danielle’s 10th birthday party.

It was rescheduled from 4 weeks ago when it was originally suppose to be. On the date of the first planned party, Danielle decided to come home from school sick. Then due to Spring break and play schedules, four weeks later was the first time that we were able to have it—making it a mere 4 months after her actual birthday. She didn’t complain too much though, she’s just happy to have a birthday party this year. Having a birthday days before Christmas always presents a challenge, so this year, after good intentions for years, we actually managed to celebrate her "half- birthday " (or close enough).

The DVD release of Nancy Drew was our motivation for a fun detective party. Ten girls ran around seeing how good their mystery solving abilities were with various detective games.

I think the highlights must have been the trampoline and the karaoke machine.

"You're a Good Man Charlie Brown"

2008-04-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a little clip (sorry very bad recording) of Shawn during one of his numbers in his play. The play turned out really cute. Shawn did a great job, and looked the part of the "little brother." I personally think the costumes turned out fabulous!!

Weekend Fun

2008-04-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend last weekend up in the Bay area with cousins. Jake and Abby turned 8 a few weeks ago and were baptised on Saturday. We loved being able to be there with them.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at their new house. It seems like the kids spent so much time outside on the trampoline, Shawn forgot to eat.

Believe it or not, they all survived with no major injuries. We even stayed longer than planned because Micah got a migraine and had to lay down inside. The rest of us (adults) relaxed outside while the kids ran around playing tag. Oh, I remember doing the exact same thing when I was younger. Definately, good times.

Art Lessons

2008-04-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

Last time Grandpa was visiting, I suggested that he teach my kids mini-art lessons. It didn't happen during the Christmas visit, but Danielle loved the idea and has been waiting impatiently for the chance to learn something from him.

She even wrote about it in a class essay on what she wanted to be when she grew up. She picked an art teacher and here is a little excerpt I read to Grandpa today.
"One reason I seek this job is because I like art, especially drawing. To get better at drawing, painting and ceramics, I would take lessons from my talented Grandpa . My Grandpa is an artist. If my Grandpa can do it, I can probably do it. "

So Monday before dinner, Danielle and Lucas sat down with Grandpa to learn about shading. Danielle then redid a picture that she had recently drawn using the new technique. Tonight they talked about perspective. Hopefully we can fit in a one or two more before Grandpa leaves.

Lucas's Spring Break!

2008-04-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Beth and Kim's family came to visit the first part of Spring Break. We were having so much fun, I didn't get any photos :(

Beth had the great idea for Lucas to go home with her for the week. He was so excited to go and stay with Spencer and Adam. He ran in and packed his clothes (I later had to add a few necessities), and packed a few books and toys. He also packed something unknown to Beth and I, that according to Beth turned out to be a lifesaver for him ....

Lucas is my snack-er. He eats all day long, and needs water every 30 minutes. If we are going to pick up Shawn from school he thinks he needs to bring a snack. Often, when we go to Beth's, I take snacks because I don't want him to eat all hers. He was the one who took his own snack this time. Beth discovered it when he came and asked her for some wheat thins. When she told him that she didn't have any wheat thins, he said "I do!" He had taken a whole box of wheat thins with him--probably as snacks for the 1 1/2 hour car ride to their house, but Beth said that it probably saved him from snacking withdrawals. She was kind enough to go pick up some other snacks for the boys, and Lucas even came home with some of his wheat thins left.

It also seems like Lucas was quite the story teller. He told a "chapter story" to the cousins all week long, about fighting different kinds of monsters. I think he got to about chapter 10. Beth said the kids wanted to hear Lucas's stories instead of bedtime stories. I had to get him to tell me a chapter when he got home. He's a great story teller.

Opening Night

2008-04-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

Opening Night for "Annie" has finally arrived!

The kids worked hard and spent long hours perfecting everything and

they were excited to finally perform. Can't you tell?

Half of the orphans.

Danielle with the girl who played Annie

Micah as a Hoovervillite.

Micah as the Drake, the Butler.

And yeah, about Micah’s hair. His hair was still pretty short from shaving for St Baldrick’s. At first he was going to wear a wig for his role as Drake, but it didn’t look quite right. The director asked if he would be willing to shave again, and then everyone started joking about just shaving his top and leaving a fringe around the sides--so of course we had to try it. Then everyone ended up liking it, and Micah was willing, so we left it. (He even went to school like that for a week, but didn’t tell the other kids why because he didn’t want his classmates to know that he was in a play called "Annie")

I think Micah's favorite part was between performances on Saturday. His friend's shoe got stuck on top of the building. They (meaning the teenage cast members) figured out a way to get it back. It involved climbing this fence, climbing up a ladder that went to the roof, and then finding the shoe. Micah volunteered. (It kindof helped that I was there to give permission for liability purposes). He was the hero of the day!

Danielle, as "Star-to-Be"

Danielle was a little sad after her last performance of "NYC." She has the "star-to-Be" solo in that song, and afterwards she said "I’ll never get to do that again." Here’s a video clip of her singing her solo part. She sure had fun with it.

Minuture golf

2008-03-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Our cousin Emily came to visit during Spring Break. She had to put up with long hours of play practices, but one afternoon we all went Miniture Golfing.

Some of the kids were quite competitive (Shawn and Emily), but somehow Shawn ended up winning both rounds.

It was a busy day, so we had lots of time for crazy photos.

Good thing that this bank wasn't for real, these guys look like they are ready to break down the door.

Easter

2008-03-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

Even though our kids are getting older they still enjoy our family Easter Egg Hunt.

Now it tends to focus on being more of a competition of who can get the most eggs or who can find the best jackpot.

We tend to follow Steve's family tradition for our Easter Egg Hunt and hide tinfoil wrapped jelly beans that they spend all morning wrapping. This year we ran out of tinfoil halfway through and had to borrow some from our neighbors!

Then the kids guess what color the jelly bean will be before they unwrap it.

Movie chart

2008-03-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Lucas, as the youngest, sometimes wishes that he could do things that his older siblings do. One example is to be able to watch PG movies. There are so many movies that he is dying to watch (Harry Potter's and Narnia seem to be at the top of his list), but he doesn't turn 8 until July, and the wait is pure torture for him. The other day I thought of a great arrangement for both of us--He can earn them.

While Lucas has always been a big helper and good at getting his things done, lately he seems a little distracted by his high energy level and endless imagination and could use some refocus on his responsibilities. We came up with a few things for him to work on over the next few weeks and he picked out the movie he wanted to watch. So far we're half-way there and it is working wonders.So here's an example of Lucas's creative imagination. Somehow while cooking breakfast with Steve, he came up with the idea of hatching an egg. Doesn't matter that Micah has made it his personal goal to try and convince him that it is impossible, he is convinced that it will work.

Here is the incubator that he has come up with. The egg is nestled in an empty carton and covered with a washcloth. Then it is covered by a plastic bin and cushions put on top to keep it warm. It has now been there for 2 days. If the incubator doesn't work, he is sure that if he can catch a leprechaun in his leprechaun trap that it will grant him the wish of hatching his egg!

St Baldrick's

2008-03-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

This is the 2nd year that my kid's elementary school has participated in St. Baldricks. It is a fundraiser event where participants shave their head in order to raise money for Childhood Cancer.

Both Danielle and Micah were on the student committee to plan and run the event. Micah shaved for his 2nd year. His hair was getting rather long but he wanted to grow it out before it all got shaved off. Overall 23 kids shaved their heads and they raised almost $11,000.

Danielle helped plan the order of the shavees, so she made sure that Micah was in group that was filmed for the local news station.

http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.html?ParticipantKey=2008-25318.

Spring!

2008-03-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

Lucas said to me the other day "I love it when it's sunny. It just makes everything so beautiful".

I love watching Spring appear.

I love seeing the rows of blossoming trees as we drive around town.

I love going for walks outside without a jacket.

I love having the kids want to spend so much time outside.

I love seeing my apricot tree blossom and having all the kids be so protective of it because they want more apricots this year than the 30 it produced last year.

Laundry Surprises

2008-03-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

I'm never quite sure what I'm going to find in the bottom of my washing machine.

This week it was rocks.

Lucas loves collecting things everywhere and anywhere and by the end of the day his pockets are usually full with his finds of the day (or mine are from "storing" his stuff in them). If I forget to check his pockets before doing a load of laundry I always find his latest collection waiting at the bottom of the load.

I was tagged here goes:

2008-02-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

1.The rules of the game are posted at the beginning
2. Each player answers the questions for themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 Years ago: Hmm, I was 27, and Danielle was only a few months old. We bought our mini-van with the jump up to 3 kids, and thankfully it is still functioning. Steve’s parents were coming home from their mission in Argentina, and I traveled cross country on an airplane by myself with three kids under the age of 4 to see them get home. Steve joined us a week later for their Homecoming and we spent a week camping. I was the Stake Young Women’s Camp Director for my 2nd and last year. Sue came with me to watch Danielle during camp. It was quite an adventure with a bat being captured in one of the cabins and being sent off to Albany to check to see if it was rabid. What can I say, I was young and inexperienced and did not have enough help—I did the best I could under the circumstances. And Shawn started Kindergarten 10 years ago!

5 things on my "To Do" list: 1. Monday is laundry day, even though tomorrow is a school holiday. Maybe I can even get to the three clean baskets of clothes that are currently stuffed in the laundry room because I didn’t get around to folding them last week. 2. Take Danielle to a Holiday Brunch in Auburn 20 minutes up the road. 3. Explore Auburn for 2 ½ hours while Danielle is at her party. I know there is a Target, so I can do some returns, and if it’s a nice day, I’ll take a book and find a park. 4. Clean my sewing room. 5. Do something fun with the kids—we’ll see where this leads, but I’m sure Lucas will have some good ideas.

Things I would do if I was suddenly a Billionaire. Buy a house with a beautiful yard and hire a gardener. Make one of the rooms in the house a library and fill it up with books. Fix my sewing machine. Visit England (a long time dream) and Italy (a newer dream).

3 bad habits: 1. I LOVE to sleep in. A Lot. 2. I’m constantly picking at my fingers I don’t bite my nails, but I’m always picking at my cuticles. It drives Steve crazy. 3. I interrupt people. Also drives Steve crazy. I’m really trying to be better.

Places I have lived: Orem, Utah; Montrose, Colorado; Duchesne, Utah; Provo, Utah; Rochester, NY; and California

Jobs I have had: Babysitter, Polar Queen, Food Server at the Cannon Center Cafeteria at BYU, BYU Creamery, Fabric Store, Math Tutor, Newspaper Carrier, Preschool Teacher, Seamstress, (Oh yeah, Beth’s "grunt" seamstress. Isn’t it time to make some more surfer overalls? j/k)

Things People don’t know about me:
1. I love to read, and when I am reading a book, it can consume me and I stay up too late reading.
2. I’m probably 50-70% gray at this point in my life. I started dyeing my hair 2 years ago, so I really don’t know at this point.
3. I sing really loud in the car when I’m all by myself (except at stop lights when people might be looking).
4. I talk to myself a lot. Especially when I’m home all day alone. It really drives me crazy when Steve walks in on me while I’m having my own conversation.
5. I’ve been really trying to learn how to play the piano for the last 1 ½ years. Shawn’s piano lessons are at our house, and Steve and I usually sit in on them so that we can learn, too. I have been pretty consistent, and I am starting to feel like I can actually play some things.

Okay, I know that there aren’t many people who do read my blog since I’ve only been doing it for about a month, and those that I do know of have already been tagged. SO anyone else who is reading this who haven’t already done this feel free to consider yourself tagged by me. And then leave a comment to let me know.

Special Musical Number

2008-02-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

There was a special musical number in Sacrament Meeting today. As soon as the women started playing, Shawn and I looked at each other and started laughing (reverently, of course). It was a song that he had been working on in piano lessons since October, and his piano teacher keeps getting after him because he was suppose to have finished it months ago. He encourages all of his students to perform in church at least once a year, and this was suppose to be Shawn’s piece. Now, he will have to pick something else. Shawn really isn’t all that broken up about it because he didn’t like the piece much anyway.

Nothing is better fresh out of the oven

2008-02-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

Heather, inspired me with her wheat rolls a few weeks ago.

I have been craving homemade wheat bread for weeks now, so I finally ground some wheat and made up a yummy batch. Steve and I had to leave as soon as it came out of the oven. This is what we came home too. Don't blame the kids at all. I had to take a warm piece with me when we left.

Sick Days

2008-02-22T15:20:00.000-08:00

Today is the 4th day of having sick kids at home.

Tuesday: Micah spend the day sleeping and reading Calvin and Hobbs.

Wednesday: Micah's fever was mostly gone, but he was stuffed up and COUGHING a ton. Started more Calvin and Hobbs books. Complained when I made him do homework.

Thursday: Shawn had a fever and slept ALL day on the couch. Didn't sleep so much at night.

Lucas came home from school and announced that he was sick because he had been sneezing all day. Took his temperature right before bed, and yep, sure enough he had a temperatutre. You would never know it though because he goes around happy all day.

Friday: All 3 boys are home. Micah is still coughing a ton. So many kids have been sick at school the last month that I still didn't want to send him. Danielle once had almost half of her class out sick. Shawn is feeling well enough to play the game cube with Micah.

Lucas is singing and painting. And making collages for me out of construction paper.

Valentine's Week

2008-02-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

Steve and I have a tradition for Valentine’s Day. He gives me a box of chocolates, and I give him a children’s book. There was a candy store he discovered in Rochester called "Stever’s." Since, I frequently call him Stever, he thought it was a perfect touch to give me his "signature" box. The children’s book started our first Valentine’s Day. We had just been dating long enough, that I knew I needed to give him something, but not long enough to be too mushy. I ended up at a book store and found a cute book. Now I pick out one that fits each year. I love to find ones that remind us of private jokes or things we do together. This is the one I found for this year, and as you can see the Stever’s chocolate has now been replaced by "See’s".

We saw each other for about 5 minutes on Valentines Day. He came home from work and then had to rush out the door to teach piano lessons. I was headed down to Beth’s house, and had the car packed and ready to leave. You can tell that we’ve been married almost 17 years--but we did catch up when I got home.

The weather was gorgeous for the few days that we were down at Beth’s. The kids played outside practically the whole day. We went to the park both days, and Danielle and Lucas tried out the "spider" swinging.. The swung like that for about an hour, laughing their heads off the whole time.

And of course the trip ended way to soon, but Beth and I did get an afternoon of sewing and laughing in. I made a shirt I have had cut out for a few weeks, and Beth made two adorable girl dresses for her blog give-a-way. I then attempted a few zippered bags. One turned out perfect, and then I tried to follow the directions for the 2nd one, and it turned out terrible. Unpicked the whole thing and then started over.

Then Saturday night our friends turned a couple’s game night into a family dinner when the other couple canceled at the last minute. Can’t even tell you how wonderful it was to to come home from Beth’s and play practices and shopping and not have to fix dinner. Thanks, Judy.

Lucy (Trivia? Does anyone know her last name?)

2008-02-14T15:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, one more sewing picture. If it seems to you that all I have been doing is sewing lately, you would be correct.

The crunch is now over. They are taking Promotional Photos for the play as I sit here typing. Here is the almost finish product of Lucy's dress. I did end up taking the sides in a little, so it's a little more straight up and down instead of so "A-line"-y

My favorite part is the collar.

Now, I'm headed to Beth's house until Saturday. Knowing us we'll fit some sewing in there somewhere.

Homework

2008-02-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

Hmm, my 20th High School reunion is coming up this year, and I'm still getting homework.

Shawn’s Drama teacher contacted me on Wednesday, wondering if I could help with costumes for "You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown", and maybe would it be possible for me to get a Charlie Brown and Lucy costume thrown together by next Thursday for Promo Pictures?? So, with a measuring tape in hand, I crashed the play rehearsal 15 minutes after reading his email and took all the kids measurements. Charlie Brown’s shirt will be not problem (already bought the shirt at Old Navy), but I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do the ruffle at the bottom of the Lucy Dress. Got lots of ideas, though. We’ll see what works after playing around with it tomorrow.

Then Thursday Night (after spending all day shopping and being completely exhausted), Steve told me that President Perez wanted to talk to me. I asked him if he knew why, and Steve said that he wanted to ask me to give a talk in church on Sunday. I crumbled and said "No, not this week. I can’t do one more thing." And I really felt bad because I didn’t want to say "no", but I also knew I had to be careful because I was almost at my physical limit. I talked with Steve, and was prepared to explain everything to President Perez, but when I got on the phone with him, I changed my mind. I suddenly felt at peace, and knew that I would be able to give the talk.

I let some things go, and I totally took it easy on Friday, while mentally thinking of what I could talk about and how I could make the Lucy dress. Things fell together, and I had a great weekend, and the talk came together in about an hour on Saturday morning. President Perez wanted me to talk about Blessings that come from Service and Sacrifice and especially blessings that we have received by serving in the Spanish Branch. The talk was easy to write because I found a great quote from President Hinckley, and thoughts and experiences had come to me the last few days. I was even able to use the example of President Perez asking me to talk and my attitude being changed as I felt the Lord’s peace come to me.

Spiderwick

2008-02-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

I scored major Mom points this week! Saturday's local paper advertised free tickets to an advanced screening of the soon-to-be-released movie "Spiderwick!" Of course, Micah noticed it right away as he was shoving papers into the plastic bags. "Oh Mom, Mom can we get some?" was all I heard over the weekend as the clock ticked away the hours until the tickets became available on a first come basis Monday morning. Trying to surprize my kids, I waited until they headed off to school and then went to pick up 6 tickets. It took me two trips (they tickets weren't there for my first early morning try-but they reserved some for me), but we are now in possesion of 6 tickets to "Spiderwick."

Now the backstory of why I even went to all the trouble. Lucas just discovered the Spiderwick series in late November, and zipped through all 5 books. (Along with Micah--they were always stealing each other's books.) Then, while Christmas shopping, Lucas discovered a new Spiderwick book had just been released. It took all his self-control to not put back all the selected Christmas presents for his siblings in order to buy the book for himself, but he was blessed for his unselfish behavior the next time his school class went to the library and he discovered that it had just purchased the book. He was able to be the first one to check it out!

A few weeks ago, there was one incident that made me wonder if Lucas was getting a little too involved with the Spiderwick books. He had apparently taken our broom and started hitting our kitchen wall in order to make a hole to see if we had pixies living inside our walls!! Luckily, he had enough sense to stop after just chipping the paint and making a big gouge, but he did supply us with a story we can tease him about for a long time!!

So who knows if the movie will be any good, but watching Micah's and Lucas's excitment building up about it has definately been worth all the trouble it was to get the tickets.

My week

2008-02-03T23:58:00.000-08:00

My week seemed very routine this week. Although it often does when school is in session.
Monday I did laundry and cleaned the house.
Tuesday, I spend a lot of time sewing and then carpooling to play practice.
Wednesday, I volunteer in Danielle’s class and the school library, and then we do newspapers and the kids have Young Men’s.
Thursday, we have a second paper route, and
Friday is full "weekend is here" attitude with the kids having friends over and this week biking to the Jelly Belly store. (Lucas’ came up with a new flavor after smashing about 5 different ones together. "I think I’ll call it ‘blueberry!’ ")

We did end up doing quite a few things together as a family this weekend. We attended President Gordon B. Hinckley’s funeral on Saturday morning (or as Lucas affectionately calls him President Bitner Hinckley.) And then we enjoyed a family movie night, which actually might be stretching the family togetherness thing just a little since the kids who could watch PG movies were in one room, and Lucas, Steve and I watched a different movie in the family room.

Sunday night we all pitched in and made dinner together. We have been making Sunday dinners together for a while now. It started out as me teasing Shawn in the car on the way home from church about what he was making for dinner and pointing out that it would help fulfill a Duty to God requirement. He was more than happy to volunteer and made dinner for quite a few weeks in a row. Then it started evolving to all the kids being assigned a specific task, and we’d all work together. Now, I tell them the different things that need to be done, and they start volunteering for jobs. Shredding cheese is a big favorite—instant gratification. Making freshly squeezed lemon juice is another current favorite as we are trying to make use of our great crop this year!!

Has anyone seen my blankie???

2008-01-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

The cast list was posted on Friday for "You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown!" Shawn will be appearing as........ Linus! He’s already had his blanket out practicing—and recruited siblings and visiting cousins to join in his blanket parade (wish I’d have gotten a picture of that, but I was a little preoccupied with sewing).

Wednesday was singing auditions. Those who made Thursday call backs were taught a short dance and then had to do "improv" dancing (luckily Shawn is good at imitating the TV show Schroeder type dance). Shawn had a feeling he would get the part of Linus because when they read for different parts, he was asked to read for Linus a lot.

A Dress Fit for a Prom

2008-01-27T22:01:00.000-08:00

I was able to relive High School this weekend as I helped my niece sew up her Prom dress. My sister-in-law and her two daughters drove up from Southern California for a two-and a-half day sewing marathon. I had helped my niece pick out fabric and patterns during Thanksgiving, and then they hauled it all up here so that we could put it together. It took a little longer than expected (doesn’t everything), but after a few design modification and numerous try ons, I think we all ended up happy with the results.

And an added bonus: meals cooked and house cleaned by my sister-in-law so I could spend time sewing!

I LOVE a good bargain

2008-01-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

Yeah, pretty much you can call me the bargain girl. I LOVE a good deal. I'm working on getting better, but I sometimes have a problem of gushing too much over my bargains. If someone complements something I got a great deal on, I have a hard time NOT saying "It was only $2!!! (or $5, or $10, etc.) The running joke with my husband is when I ask him how much he thinks I paid for something--especially, a larger garage sale find-- he always answers "$2," and most of the time he is right!

So my latest bargain, was at Target's winter clearance. I went looking for something like laundry detergent, but it happened to be the day they were marking all their winter items down to 75% off. I picked up a few sweaters for next to nothing--most of them were $3.74. Okay so maybe I went a little overboard, but I figured at that price ...

Sew What

2008-01-20T17:03:00.000-08:00

For once, my sewing is better than it is suppose to be!

I have been working on orphan costumes for the "Annie" play. Yesterday, I took the five dresses that I am working on to show the director, and I got the overall impression that they are too nice. So I came home last night, and tried to think back to the bare bones, and tried to "throw" together more what I think Dana’s vision is. My vision was that these are hand-me-down dresses that might have started out nice, but have been hammered over the years. I know that we are going to really distress and dirty these dresses up, so I thought that they would get their "beating" post construction. I think Dana is thinking that they might not have been constructed very nice in the first place. So, last night I tried to think that way. I didn't gather very evenly; I left the hem chunky; I just turned under the neckline and topstitched sloppily allowing threads to poke out; I ripped up from the bottom hem and then stitched it back together and I added patches on the front and the back. Now I just have to roll it around in the dirt a little to "season" it.

So here is my before and after pictures so far, but it’s still a work in progress.

Introducing .........Tessie and ???.

2008-01-20T16:39:00.000-08:00

Annie parts have been cast, and Danielle found out that she will be playing the "whiny" orphan Tessie. "Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness" seems to be one of Tessie’s catch phrases. We’ll have to see if it becomes one of Danielle’s???? She will also have a good solo in "You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile". Danielle said that the director told her that she had a great audition, and that if she looked more like the "typical Annie" (red or lighter color hair, light complexion, etc.) then she probably would have been cast as one of the two Annie’s. Don’t know if that helped Danielle’s disappointment, but she is definitely learning about show biz!

Micah also stretched himselfand joined the cast of Annie, after deciding weeks ago that he didn’t want to do it. (Isn’t it amazing what one little phone call from a friend can do in changing kids minds) Even though he has a professed dislike of anything related to singing, he was willing to go through the tryout process of singing a song and reading lines. And for not doing it much Micah is amazing good at singing. Micah just wants to get his feet wet with this play. We still haven’t heard back on what he will be doing....

La, La, La La, La, La, La

2008-01-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

Tryouts for the high school musical is next Wednesday. They will be performing "You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and Shawn (of course) wants to try out. He has been stressing a little about being able to project and hit all the notes in his audition song, so Tuesday I took him to a voice lesson with a women in our branch. I sat in and took notes while she worked with him. I think he was a little nervous before we got there, but he jumped right in gave his best for anything she asked him to do. He was able to do the things that she suggested, and his song sounded much more polished when they got done. Afterwards, I asked him if it helped, and he quickly said "Yes." He now has a week to work on all the techniques he learned, so hopefully, he’ll feel a little more confident going into tryouts.

Can you spot it?

2008-01-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Our school district participates in an "Art Docent" program. Once a month parent volunteers go into each classroom and teach an art lesson along with a hands-on project. All of the information and art prints and supplies are provided, so the parent just has to focus on presenting the lesson and guiding the students through the project. I love this program because besides being a great supplement to a meager art curriculum, it means I get to go in and actually TEACH in a classroom setting!! I love my twice a month fix--all the fun, but none of the commitment of a full-time teacher.

So I am the art docent in Micah’s and Lucas’s classes. Today, in Micah’s class the theme was Sports and Action, and for their project the kids got to create their own 16-piece manikin following specific body proportions. They made a rubbing of their body, and some of them went on to use their figure in an action painting.

Micah came up with his finished manikin to do his rubbing, and it took me a minute to find his characteristic "Micah signature" in his project. Can you spot it?

Five Year Anniversary

2008-01-16T22:31:00.000-08:00

Wow, I just realized that we’ve lived in California for 5 years! This is the rental house that we started out in.

And now, fast forward 5 years.... We live in a different house. We attend a different ward (now the Spanish Branch) and everyone is showing the growth of 5 years.

It’s seems like we just moved here yesterday, but looking back a lot has happened since then. Steve ran his own business for 4 ½ years before he went back to marketing. I had my own preschool for two years with Lucas as one of my students. Micah got baptized the year we moved here, and last year he was ordained to be a Deacon. Danielle started Kindergarten and now is in 4th grade, while Shawn was in 4th grade but somehow jumped into High School. And Lucas who was our toddler is now a big second grader. I keep telling him he has to stop growing, but he just laughs at me.

So at this time, I’m finding myself in an interesting position. We spent 11 ½ wonderful years in Rochester and loved the time we were there. and although, I go through periods where I get homesick for Rochester, we’ve been away from New York for too long, to really think of it as "home." On the other hand, I don’t feel like I’ve been here long enough to really feel the long term roots of "home" yet either. I still feel like I’m waiting for something to feel more "settled"

Micah is a good boy!

2008-01-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

"Micah is a good boy. When I want to get mad at him, I should remember that Micah is a really good boy."

Okay, so Micah might have dictated exactly what I should write down for this post, but you have to admit he's pretty smart. Of course he's a good kid, and of course he's going to do things where I might want to get upset with him, but if I would just remember "Micah is a good kid", I think I would be a better mother.

I love the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbs", and when I was first married, I said I wanted a little boy like Calvin. Cute. Smart. Mischievous. Inventive. Marches to the beat of his own drum. Micah definitely fits that picture--and he even plays the drums.

You never know what new idea Micah is going to come up with. He is always thinking up new inventions. One of our cousins loves his concept of "toothpaste soap", but Micah now gets annoyed when people remind him of that particular idea. It's always unpredictable what going to follow, when Micah starts a sentence with "I have an idea...."

Oh, and did I forget to mention,

Micah LOVES COWS!!!

Wednesday....

2008-01-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

I really think that I'm a little crazy. Wednesdays are always our planned-down-to-the-minute- days because we have a 500 paper paper route (it's actually 2 routes). It also happens to be Young Men's at church in the evenings, (actually 2 different churches for 2 boys--long story) and every other week Activity Days for Danielle. Steve also has church meeting, (but that actually helps get Shawn to Mutaul). It's not uncommon for other stuff to pop up either.

So getting everything done on Wednesdays always centers around how well the kids get their papers folded. They each only have 100 (Danielle and Lucas) or 150 papers (Shawn and Micah) which is doable, but somehow never seems to actually be "doable" What with stalling, and arguing, and yelling (okay sometimes me) and potty breaks and blaming and every other trick that kids seem to know but parents seem to have forgotten, papers end up taking up to 2 hours to JUST fold. (How can we do 1000 papers on "special delivery" days in 30 minutes, yet it takes 3 or 4 X's as long to do half as much? I keep trying to figure it out, but I really think I must have missed that day in school. Uhgggg.)

So today is one of our expanded schedule days. Our Primary President decided to go visit her family in Peru for a month (yes, we go to the Spanish Branch) , but told us to go ahead with the Primary Teacher meeting planned for tonight without her. Too, bad we hadn't already planned it before she left, and spend all of our time planning for our really nice Primary Christmas Program. So, I ended up having to do most of the planning this week and then because of unforseen circumstances had to spend a little extra time on it yesterday and today. So I have to leave really early to set up tonight, and paper still aren't done. In fact not even finished being folded and if we don't leave in the next, ummm, 10 minutes then I will more than likely be late to my meeting tonight, and I have the keys!! So why am I in here? So I don't have to see what is going on out there.

But back to why I'm crazy. Danielle and Lucas have wanted their own route, so we JUST agreed to take a Thursday afternoon route for them yesterday, and then things go crazy today and I wonder why am I trying to torture myself two days a week in stead of just ONE???

..definately somewhere in between

2008-01-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

So we're only on day 2 of school after a two week Christmas break, and everything seems to have crashed down upon us. All the old baggage of seminary carpooling, (or not carpooling), homework, piano practice, guitar practice (or lack of practice), play practice, job reminding, dinner, homework, and warzone bedtimes has somhow managed to come sneaking back in the door. Maybe it came in with all of the Christmas boxes I pulled from the garage today.

I did finally attempt to put decorations away since my house no longer has multiple boys (+ numerous friends) messing around in the front rooms, but there seemed to be a few unexpected fires that needed to be put out in the form of phones calls that keep intruding my cleaning plans.

I am now proud to say that my house is about 3 times as messy right now as it was when I woke up this morning, I still have at least 2 boys awake past 10:00 (and they are still messing around), and I have 1 hour left in my day to get a few more nesscessities done.

Dishes now seem to be optional as you can tell from the current state of my kitchen.

"Just thinkin' about Tomorrow"

2008-01-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

Lately, Danielle has been thinkin' about "Tomorrow" alot. She's been practising that song with Steve and I for a couple of weeks to prepare for "Annie" tryouts. Which was yesterday! Hopefully, tomorrow we will find out what part she got.

Her first choice is Annie (of course), and then Molly, and then maybe Pepper. She said she probably did her best when she was reading for Pepper (really got into the line "Do you want a knuckle sandwich?" with a balled up fist and matching snear), and then spent the night worrying that doing well with Pepper would lessen her chances of getting the role of Annie. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

p.s. Lucas has also been practising "Tomorrow" all around the house, and wants to wear our red Raggedy Ann wig to tryout for "Annie", too.

...Beth made me do it.

2008-01-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

Or maybe I should say Beth DID it for me.

Sitting in front of her computer, showing me someone's else's blog (I think Edith's), she said "Let's make one for you." She then proceeded to create my blog, after we came up with a name (having laughed through many crazy ideas.) I do have to admit, though, that "From Here to There" reminds me a little of "The Lord of the Rings" phrase "There and Back Again." Hopefully, my life won't turn into that saga, but maybe I'll see some progress of my life from "here" to where ever "there" might be.