Catch-up dump style

Oh dear.  My poor, sad, pathetic, neglected blog.  I have been missing you.  I still think up posts in my head.  I've said it before but I need a brain to blog transmitter.  Other than my fingers and a keyboard, I mean.  Something more instant.  Of course, that could lead to some blogger remorse....

So what have I been up to lately?  I fell down a dark hole of Super Saturday YW Fundraising.  I slowly clawed my way out to stumble upon a rabbit hole to youth conference.  It's good.  I love working with the youth but it does take time.  The irony here is that my calling has changed and I actually don't serve in the young women's program anymore.  This is only the 3rd calling I've had since I got married (9 1/2 years ago!) that is not in young women's.  I did a brief stint- about 8 months- as a primary teacher, 1 year as a provident living specialist and another 8 months as a Sunday school teacher for the 14-15 year olds.  Now?  Relief Society Instructor.  It's kind of intimidating.

My mom came up for a week, which was fun.  Actually it was a lifesaver because it was the week of Super Saturday.  She ran errands with me every.day. and played with the kids while I dealt with other stuff.  We always enjoy having grandparents come visit.

A has been flip-flopping between "baby" and "big kid".  Some days she wants to wear underwear and try her hand at being potty trained an other days, "me a baby."  I am loving her toddler caveman talk right now.  I know she will grow out of it so I'm not too worried about correcting her grammar.  She always refers to herself as "me".  "Me a big kid"  "Me no like that"  "Me hungee"  Honestly, it is adorable.

K is registered for Kindergarten.  This is a big step and we're both very excited about it.  She would start today if they would let her!  She thinks she is getting so big.  It is actually causing a few problems because she thinks she can ride her bike alone like D does.  She is almost 5 now.  That's practically full grown in her mind!

D is plodding along through school.  He still loves it but is starting to feel ready for summer break.  He knows he gets to spend some time visiting both sets of grandparents this summer and he is ready to get started.  Too bad he still has almost 2 months of school!  He's been working on fractions, basic geometry and some introduction to algebra.  He loves math.  But since they talked about algebra he will ask me questions like, "Mom, what's T+B?"  When I respond I don't know, he will answer with another random letter from the alphabet.  Oh, riiiight.  I totally should have known that.

Roy is thriving in his calling as Elder's Quorum Pres.  He loves visiting the members of our ward in their homes.  He's always love to talk to people and has a talent for asking awkward questions in non-awkward ways.  I really think this is a great fit for him.  Of course, he's tired a lot and feels like he never has time to himself but I suppose that's par for the course.  Work is good too.  Again, he fits as a lawyer.

Well, after typing this all out, I think I'll copy and paste it into a letter for my missionary brother.  Cuz he hasn't heard from me much either!

BTW, my middle younger brother is graduating tomorrow as an auto mechanic.  Woot-woot!  Oh yeah!

A Moment of Peace

I am sitting in the sun (a rare commodity around here) in my long sleeve black sweater - not because I need the warmth but because I love the way it draws the sun, making my arms tingle with heat.  This is such a great example of a perfect spring afternoon.  All my kids are outside as well as some of the neighbor kids.  The air is full of the sound of bouncing basketballs, kids talking and plastic tires whizzing over concrete.
A just came into view on the far side of the circle racing at the small plastic foot truck equivalent of 50 mph.  K is in the driveway getting filthy with a tray of mud left over from a preschool activity and proudly showing any neighbor who looks her way just how muddy her hands are.  D is riding the tricycle around - his knees at his chest since he is way too big to ride a tricycle.
My mind is drawn back to my drive down to D's school to read to his class.  I was thinking how nice it is to have a home.  Not a house, a home.  Of course having a house is a great blessing and adds to the feeling of being home, but it is more than that.  We have a home here.  My kids have friends they know and love.  D is enrolled at school in a program that fits his needs.  K will be enrolled in our neighborhood school as soon as I remember to go get the paperwork.  I know where to go to do my shopping.  I know who to call if I'm bored or need a favor.  We have activities and roots, shallow roots they may be but roots nonetheless.  Like I said, we have a home.

The sun keeps hiding behind clouds which sends a chill through the air.  There are so many other things I could/should be doing.  Making dinner (these people keep eating!), paying bills, cleaning off the counter - you know the one that catches everything, cleaning up the room - you know the one, folding laundry, pulling weeds, planting the garden, vacuuming - oh the vacuuming, on and on.  There are so many blogs I could/should write.  The one about K's Easter party (it is even started and pictures are uploaded!).  The one about cleaning the girls' room and the irony of the largest drawer in their room being stuffed with pajamas for two girls who regularly sleep naked.  The one about our Easter morning egg hunt.  My thoughts about losing being released from my calling with the young women.  And about a hundred more

 But soon enough the clouds move and it is warm again.  This could be an analogy for life-- but for now just sitting here watching the kids' activity and listening to their play is enough.

Easter Party

Today we had an Easter party for K's "preschool friends".  She has been so egg-cited (couldn't resist)!  We started off with some fun arts and crafts.  We made these cute little treat cups for them to use on their candy hunt later.

We also used painted hand prints to make bunny ears but I didn't get a picture of that.  The kids thought it was great that I would paint on their hands.  I'm just glad none of the paint made it onto the floor or walls!
We had a candy hunt, as mentioned earlier.

For snack we went all healthy and had Easter chick cupcakes that I made and sprinkle cupcakes another mom brought.  Good times.

After making sure each kids was so hopped up on sugar they would never sleep again I sent them home.  Cuz that's how I roll.

Happy Easter!

Surprise!

Roy called me at 2:30 today.
"I know you have young women's tonight but do you think you could get out of it?"
"Why?"
"Well, we got invited to a Blazer game by Lexis Nexis.  They have a suite."
 "I actually don't have young women's because it is spring break.  Let me get a 'sitter and let's go!"

You can kind of see the suite behind us.  It had a bar, food and a private bathroom!

Spring Break

This week is spring break for D.  I've been trying to make it a good time and get some stuff done.  Yesterday and today I made the kids a deal.  If they would clean up one room we'd go do something fun.  Yesterday they all cleaned up their rooms (big jobs!) so we went to the park for a while.  It was actually a fair day.  There was some sunshine at least!
Today, our neighbor invited us to go to OMSI with her and her two youngest kids.  It was a lot of fun.

Girls playing in the indoor sandbox.

Water table fun.  I wish I had a water table in my back yard.  They are so cool!

There was a boy who kept splashing water on  D.

OMSI has a room for traveling exhibits.  Right now it is an exhibit of sculptures built from Legos.  It was really amazing some of the things this Nathan Sawaya guy has made.  I didn't take pictures of any of his work but you can check out his gallery here.  Here is a picture of D in front of his favorite Lego display.  It was all trains!

At the end of the exhibit there were building areas with blocks.  Kids could build their creation then display them on a shelf that was cleared periodically.  There was also an area for taking photos of the artist with their creation.  K really liked that part.

Take a picture of this.  Now take a picture like this.  Take a picture mom....

General Conference

I love General Conference time.  If you are unfamiliar with this time term, it is LDS lingo referring to a semi-annual event where the entire membership of the LDS church tunes in to hear the Prophet and Apostles speak the word of God.  It is an amazing time.  However, it is also 8 hours of church over 2 days and I think we all know what that means for young kids - even at home.  I've prepared conference packets for the kids in the past but these 20 pages only take about 4 minutes to get through before they're bored.  After extensive research on Pinterest and Sugardoodle I decided to make conference bags.

You can't really tell in but there are 15 bags, one for each member of the 1st Presidency and each apostle.  Inside the bag was an activity or treat.

Here they are anxiously waiting for conference to start so they can open a bag!  I love that they are excited for conference.  I like to think we are making memories and instilling a love of conference when they are young that will only grow and mature as they do.

Some of the things I put in the bags:
A foam craft kit
Cracker Jacks
Bubble gum
Mr. Potato Head printables
Play Doh
Watercolors and paper
General Authority activity from this conference packet
Starbursts
Puzzles
Blocks
Fruit Loops for stringing
General Conference Bingo
Workbooks
Suckers

So what you really want to know: Did it work?  yes and no.
They stayed in the general area for all of conference.  They were excited to get a new bag each time an apostle got up to speak.  It was definitely a better long term solution than the packets alone.  However, they were not quiet or totally reverent.  They weren't really listening because they were busy with their craft or candy.  Would I do it again? Definitely.  They aren't really quiet or reverent or listening without the bags.  I do think we'd open the proper bag before the apostle got up to speak because I spent the first part of each talk getting them settled with their new activity.
Still, I'm pretty excited to have a new approach to work the kinks out of and make work for our family.

What happens during conference...

The Bedlamites attack.....

 again!