Happy Dances

323. Arby's Dipping Sauces. They make me happy. They make my taste buds do little happy dances as I combine my horsey sauce with my golden mustard on the curly fries. Their little happy dance is a perfect little lunch treat after. . .

324. FINISHING THE GRE!! And - oh yes - doing so well. It doesn't seem right to toot your own horn. We are supposed to be humble and unassuming. But - It feels so good after struggling just to keep up with the laundry and the S-Train's creativity, and trying to fit my own creativity somewhere in the middle of dishes and yelling at the kids to "Close the DOOR," to actually go somewhere and do something terrifying (like math after fifteen years of math atrophy. - Oh, by the way, good thing I've been helping with 5th and 6th grade math homework - I've got decimals and fractions DOWN!) and come out of it with a result that says, "Oh, by the way, even though you feel like a bit of a slow top when it comes to running your house, you are ACTUALLY PRETTY SMART." Whew. It's done. I'll have normal conversations with my children that don't sound like. "Sorry. I can't. I'm studying." Now, where did I really want to go to school?

We will now take you back to our regularly scheduled program called - "Getting Ready for Christmas. One week and counting."

Christmas Lights

322. My candles. I found some plastic Christmas window candles this year. A steal at 50 cents each! The very BEST part about them is that they have little light sensors built in. Every night they turn themselves on. Every morning, they turn themselves off. They are battery powered, so I'm not worried about chords. And - a bonus - they flicker like real candles! I LOVE coming home in the evening or the morning after seminary to see their happy shining glow. It reminds me of times long ago when candles in the window were a guide home and a signal that someone was waiting for you. It reminds me of the tradition of leaving a candle in the window for the Christ child at Christmas. As I remember these things, I want my home to be a place where my family feels that someone is always waiting for them, and I want to make it a place where we look for Christ in our lives and see Him in everyone who comes to visit.

UUUUGGGH! The manly grunt.

321. Sending Mr. C out for a week of Manliness. Mr. C just spent most of last week up with his brother hunting deer. Why does this make me smile? Because he comes home so much calmer and happier. That time tromping out in the freezing woods and processing venison seems to be soothing to his spirit. Someone asked me if I was going to "put my foot down" because of something he was going to miss. NO WAY. This is his time to go out and grunt like Tim Taylor and shoot dangerous weapons and endure the freezing cold and come back hauling food to the cave. It makes him happy. And I'm in big favor of things that add to the general happiness of our family.
Of course, I wouldn't want to do it. All that manly stuff will put hair on your chest.

Major Accomplishments! (for me)

320. I Made My First Web Page!! This was SO hard and so fun. It took several intense days and all the avoidance I could possibly throw at it, but I got it done. They say that learning something new throws you into disequilibrium and it takes awhile to adjust to what you're learning and get your equilibrium back. Well, several times during this process I thought my brain was going to explode from trying to figure out what I was doing - but now I get it. I can now write a web page in BASIC html. I can even see how this could become easy if I kept at it. For some people, this is so elementary it hardly needs explaining. I needed to be walked through the process with baby steps.
So - here is my ugly little baby. You can get there by clicking here. (And there are even internal links to other pages!) There are lots of things I still want to add and tweak and, and . . . But it's a start!

Now I'm off to conquer the CLUTTER that has resulted from mom not paying attention to any sort of house keeping while working on her project for two days in the middle of putting up the Christmas decorations. Our house looks like a small bomb exploded. Most of the debris is Christmas related. Hopefully I'll have fought the extra stuff down to the basement by the time I have to take cranberry sauce up to the school for the fifth grade's Dickens Dinner.

Thanksgiving Smiles

A long rambling list of things that made me smile this past week. There should be a prize if you make it to the end, because there are no pictures. Read only if you don't have to be anywhere in a hurry.

308. FHE - Operation Christmas Child and and School Board Meeting edition. Last Sunday we found out that the deadline for a shoebox was Monday. So, Monday after school we hurried to put together a box. What made me smile was watching my children scour the house. The kids had terrific ideas for things to go inside, like lengths of ribbon for hair bows. They used what we had and filled the box quickly. They felt so good, and kept saying, "I bet our little girl is going to LOVE this box." It's like I could see their hearts growing.
Afterward Sue and Lou came to a school board meeting with me. It was fun to see the girls trying to puzzle out what everyone was talking about.

309. Outlining. (This is the boring entry. You can skip ahead if you want.)

So - I signed up for Nanowrimo this year. With the book fair and other real life going on, I don't think I'll be winning. To get a little extra done in November anyway, I went to my new favorite meet-friends-and-write coffee shop. They weren't there this week. Something about a big holiday.
So - I sat alone and outlined. It went so quickly, it was like it outlined itself. The outline's not finished, but there is some direction. I was so happy to see a story arch beginning to take shape in this thing I've been working on for a year and a half! But then I realized. I'm only up to item four on what is so far a 12 part outline. I really need to up my productivity.

310. Stealth Puns.
Me, talking about something or other with Oldest. "Sometimes change is hard."
Oldest, "That's why coins are made out of metal."

311. Fun Dinner. A 22 pound turkey that is already gone but for soup. Awesome sweet potatoes with the BEST brown sugar topping ever. (And apparently more good stuff in the potatoes.) Green beans, mashed potatoes and rolls. And PIES. Lots of pies. Pumpkin cheesecake, Lemon, the first-ever attempt at an apple pie by one guest (great job!), pecan, and cherry. Yum. Sue did a great job carving a "Happy B-Day Mom" top into our cherry. There's nothing like Thanksgiving Birthday Pie. It didn't quite look like it was on fire. According to the candles I'm 26. I can rent a car, and my insurance rates are lower.

312. The world coming out to celebrate my birthday. It was so nice of everyone to celebrate wherever they were with a nice big dinner. The parade was a nice touch, too. Loved the phone calls!

313. Can you do this? The card game Pit in different voices. Opera. Or Whisper. My sister-in-law and I were laughing so hard we couldn't even play. Just try to whisper, "One!"

314. Cool Birthday presents. A manni-pedi gift certificate from Mr. C. Can't wait to use that! (Though I'm debating saving the pedi until sandal season.) And a VERY COOL T-shirt from the parents. Encouragement to write. It made me smile. My first official writing T-shirt!!

315. Black Friday Madness. Black Friday can be so fun. It's like a huge party. Mostly everyone is nice and points out where the good deals are or tells you about the other great sale, or the back of the store where you can check out faster. Only saw a couple of grumps. We have a new theory that all the grumpy shoppers stay home so they can avoid the crowds. Those that are left are so much fun! The only sad part is finding out later about the cool deal you missed!
Even Mr. C and his brother got out on Black Friday for their first early morning shopping expedition EVER. Of course, they went to Cabela's. So does that count as shopping, or hunting?

316. Catching the Ohio State Michigan Game - At the beginning! I started asking my family, "Do you KNOW what's on TV?" "Do you know WHAT'S on TV?" Of course they didn't. But once I had enlightened them and done my "Can you believe how cool this is?" dance they understood. And my kids came and watched most of the first quarter with me before they wandered off. Meanwhile Mr. C. nodded like it was great and went off to mow leaves and clean the garage. But I got to see things like a full field return touchdown 12 seconds after Michigan scored. It was beautiful. (Ohio did so well that I'll admit I wandered off myself some time in the 4th quarter. It was 37 to 7!)
The only down side of the day was that none of the little score updates at the bottom of my screen were telling me what was happening at the BYU - U of U game!

I know. I'm the only one who watches football in my house. Weird.

317. Compromise and Christmas Trees. A special thank you to Mr. C. for being the bigger person on our Christmas tree cutting expedition. We'll get his kind next year and vote on which worked best. But now, he was so sweet that I wish his tree was this year.

318. Another Missionary Farewell. Sniff. Brother Deshler's sweet remarks about these young men growing in stature with God and man. How they have grown so far and how they will. Beautiful.

319. Blessings and prayer. We know so many people with health problems, employment issues, etc. And today on the way to a meeting we saw a huge apartment fire. (Two families from our ward live there. We stopped and made sure their buildings weren't the ones affected just in case. We felt so bad for those out of their homes.)We are learning to pray for a long list of people. It has made my desire to serve increase. After all, those same problems could so easily be mine. It has made me hold my blessings up to the light with a little more tenderness. There is always something to be thankful for. And my life, with all the subterranean problems that try to mine away at it, is still full of beautiful blessings and smiles.

Are you tired yet? I am. That was long. Hopefully I'm a bit more caught up now. Just need to add in a few concerts.

Way to much time on You Tube

307. Multitrack accapella youTube videos.



The Today show tried their hand


At imitating This:



Love the Mike Tompkins videos. He does a great job!
(They are better on You Tube - the format cuts off a bit of the right side of the video here. Anyone know how to fix that?)

Good News!

306. Excellent Musicians. The Oldest tried out for Symphonic Band - the highest band at high school. She made 2nd chair. Not bad for a sophomore. She and another sophomore who was in symphonic band last year did better than a junior and a senior. (Only 4 tried out.) Congratulations, Honey!
(Miss Lou was ready for her to go challenge for 1st chair the next day.)

Taking Care of Essentials

305. A Six Year Old Boy's Priorities. Yesterday we were on the edge of late when the S-Train got in the car for school. His socks and shoes were in his hands. He had no backpack and no coat. But he had a light saber.

Its the Little Things that make us smile!

302. Sparkling Toenails. I just made up my own color. Mauve with gold sprinkles over the top. It makes me happy.

303. An awesome principal. Who not only will try on the superman outfit we got for her - but will fly all around the gym where kids were practicing Veteran's Day songs. The office staff were in giggles. The kids all turned their heads in unison to watch her, but never stopped singing! Amazing!

304. Sesame Street does it again! I found this on another blog.

Here we come Fall!

That last header was kind of somber for a blog that is supposed to be about what makes me smile. I just liked the patterns. And I had no good fall pictures this year. Last year fall was a blaze of glory. This year many trees are fading into a bare limbed state. It's gotten a little colder, so more color is starting to pop out. Hopefully we get the color pop around here before the leaves have just browned and wrinkled off the trees. But even if the leaves are a little less spectacular than last year, there are still plenty of beautiful trees. And (301. Leaves and Wind.) it's so fun to watch the wind brush the leaves off the streets and whirl them into street and driveway dervishes. A good brisk wind on a fall day blows all kinds of cobwebs away.

Some things are easier with friends

300. Running.
I'm not the best runner. Or the most consistent. And I'm very slow. But having moms who wake up early and are willing to run at 5:45 in the morning three days a week has been a huge blessing. Some days we just walk. But that's OK, because usually someone has longer legs than mine (not hard, I know) and I work up a sweat walking with them. (Their walk=My slow jog).
So, while anticipating running is not fun yet, having run feels so good. I'm actually getting to the part where exercising gives you more energy instead of just sucking it out of you.
We run the same distance we did when we started (about 3 miles). But it's getting easier!! I don't have to walk as much, and I can talk more while I run. I want to do a 5 or 10 K in the spring. I just hope I can keep this up. Hopefully it's not as cold this winter as it was last year!

Is it just me or are early risers getting more sarcastic?

299. Good Morning!
Me to Seminary Student, "Have a fabulous Day!"
Seminary Student, "Fine."

It's Fun to be Popular

298. The S-Train and his peeps. Yesterday I brought the big girls back to school after a trip to the dentist. (I know, who takes their kids to the dentist the day after Halloween! The ladies at the dentist said, "A good one!" Or one who didn't realize it was the day after Halloween when she made the appointment.)
Anyway.
I looked in the lunch room and saw the S-Train. So - I ended up eating lunch with him. After lunch it was so cute to see him take the long way around to where his class was waiting. He had to say hi and exchange high fives, waves, and fist bumps with the other first graders. It's important to stay in touch with your people.

The unfairness shopping with your husband

297. Family Pictures. We had family pictures last weekend. We won a photo session last year at the school carnival. So - for the first time in - well - ever - we went on location with a professional for our own little family pictures. I stressed way too much about it. I looked through our clothes and shopped for over a week.

I put the shopping off as long as possible. I'm not a big shopper. But I wanted coordination. I wanted to get this right. It could be a couple of years (or longer!) before we do this again. It felt like it took forever to figure out the options.

(To add to the stress, we had to get up EARLY to get there for an 8am photo shoot. And it poured the night before. I woke up with my heart racing when the rain stopped and it got quiet.)

The night before I still had nothing for Mr. C. to wear. Or at least nothing I really liked. Ick! I had looked and looked and just couldn't find anything in the colors I wanted. I wanted him to wear a brown sweater and a white dress shirt. Finding a sweater that looked like my husband would actually wear it - yeah. Not happening. He's not big on sweaters. So my mom talked him into a brown blazer. Great idea, except - we didn't have one.

So - Friday - with a photo shoot at 8am and most stores closing in a half an hour, we took off to the store. As we walked in he said, I want this type of blazer. I said, sure Honey. Thinking - right. We'll be lucky to find anything. He walked into a jacket on a great sale that fit him perfectly and was EXACTLY what he said he wanted. Which I didn't think they even CARRIED. You would have thought he'd been shopping for weeks. Nope. 15 minutes. 20 tops. GRRRRR.

OK. So, while I'm happy it all worked out and he looked great, I'm so JEALOUS! How will he ever learn to feel my pain?

ps. The rain had mostly dried and the light was wonderful. It all worked out.

Cat Splat. The Cat goes Splat.

296. The cat and the windows. Our cat had to give up its door to the outside this summer after we saw the racoon using it. We've also seen a cat/dog sized fox in our front yard, and don't want to meet it face to face in our garage some morning. So the cat has had to rely on us to come and go. She learned to sit on the picnic table and yowl to be let in. It's at the same height as the kitchen window, so sometimes the kids let her in that way. It feels so daring.

Our back storm door has glass panes. Two of them have been missing for at least a year. Last fall Mr. C. just stapled some plastic over them. During the summer that got ripped up and became the perfect escape route for the cat when the main door was left open.

This Saturday Mr. C. put in new glass panes and reglazed the others. Monday, Sue opened the back door to let the cat out. The cat tried to jump through the storm door window. And smacked her little nose. She and the Windex birds now feel a connection.

Summer Fun Part III

291. Sleeping outside. That new uber-tree house has given us a place to sleep outside above the chiggers! Mr. C. doesn't mind sleeping out there - particularly when he runs an extension chord from the house to a fan in the window of the tree house! Usually we can fit 3 or 4 people up there. It's so nice on a beautiful summer night. Although Sue prefers her climate controlled and older backs are starting to protest at such treatment, everyone got a turn sometime this summer. Now the weather is just right for sleeping bags, but I think we're moving inside for the season.

292. The oldest had a great time at EFY. And got to be there with friends from the ward. Crazy that she's getting old enough to go away for a week already. I think I'm in denial. The band is supposed to go to Germany this year. At first I thought - that's too far and she's too young. Then I found out there are several days in Paris. Now I want to be a chaperon!

293. Lou had a great birthday. First a bit with family and friends with a drive-in movie on her birthday. Then more friends over for an icecream party. We played minute to win it games, tast-tested ice cream, and built sundaes right on the table cloth. We gave them the option to eat with chopsticks, or face first. OK, we did give them spoons. They had a great time. My favorite quote was from a girl at the party. "I'm neat. This is wierd." I know honey. Tomorrow it's all back to being normal.


294. The annual trip to the fountains.Candy from the bulk candy store and a trip to the crayola store included.
At the end of it I felt a little like Maria. If only I knew how to teach them to sing in harmony!

295. Parks were a big part of the summer. This is only one of the crazy pictures we got on the zip line.
More catching up later!

The beginning of catching up so I can finish strong!

Apparently once I hit the year mark for my blog I was mentally done and stopped posting. The only problem is, I haven't recorded 365 things for the year that make me smile. I still have at least 80 things left to go!

But my sister, who is home with a 286. New Baby, told me she needed some entertainment and asked me to finish strong. So I'm going to do some recap/catchup posting and see if I can finish this year. Then I have to decide if I want to do the same format for the next year. I'll admit, this has been a fun way to remember all the happy things in my life.

So I'm going to publish a few things and schedule a few posts and see what I can do about finishing up the original 365.



287. Pickles. We canned over 52 quarts this year. Mr. C. says all we need is a a quart a week and we have our year supply. We had so many cucumbers that by the time they were done growing we started giving them away. The funniest part was when we told some ward members they could come get cucumbers. I went out with them and we could not find as many as Mr. C. said were out there. When he came home he said, "You just aren't looking hard enough." Right. We looked. Imagine my surprise when he walked in with another grocery bag full. He says they hide and you have to know where to look. Apparently. Because they weren't there when we looked!!

288. Pickles, part II. The unnamed oldest likes to call people pickles. or green beans. She also uses vegetables in places where others might use the Lord's name in vain or swear. She is rubbing off on people. Some of her friends have caught themselves doing the same thing. She's a trend setter! Wouldn't it be nice if all the teenagers you knew just said the name of a vegetable when they got angry instead of swearing?

289. Texting lingo as conversation. She is also setting a trend by saying "question mark?" when she doesn't understand what someone means, or when something odd is said. It's the equivalent of texting "?". The ironic thing is that we are way behind the curve at our house and she started saying this long before she had a phone to text with!

290. Bobby pins. And one more about the oldest. One day she was fussing because she had put her hair up and it was coming out because she "only" had seven bobby pins in it. Only. Oh to have these problems!

And that's my little first catch up post. I'm looking through my pictures to figure out the next ones. Because I've waiting so long to post, I'm kicking myself because I have funny children, and I know I'm missing some great stuff because I didn't write it down. At least I know that life is good and I'm missing funny things, not tragedy.

Silly Dreams make for a happy morning

Lots has been happening here. It's the end of a year. Which means I should be at post 365. But I got behind. So I'm not. I feel like I should catch up post. I might.

But for right now, I'll just share what woke me up in a great mood.

285. Silly Dreams. Have you ever woken up from a dream in the same mood you were in while dreaming? I've done this before lots of times. Sometimes I'll dream I'm arguing with my husband - or that he did something that made me angry. I'll wake up totally grouchy and upset with him. Because of my dream. He'll look at me sideways over breakfast and ask what's wrong. "I'm mad at you." "Why?" "You were a real jerk in my dream." "????" He'll kiss me as he leaves, saying, "I can't be held responsible for something I did in YOUR dream."

I know. But it takes awhile for the feeling to wear off. Jerk. He didn't DO ANYTHING. It was just a dream. It was just a dream.

This morning I had the opposite experience. I woke up from watching what was basically a 70's slapstick comedy. I'm sure it was much better in my head than it will be outloud. But I hit the snooze at least twice to find out the end, and woke up laughing.

Basic plot, - Two groups chasing bad guys in a garbage truck. One group is after them because they have valuables in the truck that were accidentally thrown away. (The complete works of Shakespeare once owned by Sonny and Cher is the major artifact we're after.) The other group thinks the bad guys are terrorists out to blow up a major landmark. Kate Jackson is in hot pursuit and shooting back at herself with a radar gun to find out how fast she's going.

It was sort of like mixing episodes of Dukes of Hazzard and Get Smart with Charlie's Angels. Lots of fast cars and cheesy lines. It was so dumb it made me laugh. (Shakespeare - Sonny and Cher - come on!)

When I woke up I told my teenager what I'd been dreaming. She said, "Sonny and Cher?" So we had to look them up on you tube. And now, "I Got You, Babe" is going through my head.

Enjoy! (The outfits alone make me laugh.)




What about you? Had any fun dreams lately?

Movie Lines

284. New Favorite Movie Line. I finally saw Eclipse. I waited so long we got great seats. There were five of us in the theater. I have a new favorite movie line.
Jacob to Edward, when Bella is freezing.

"I am hotter than you."

Yes you are, Jacob, yes you are.

And it's a good thing I didn't take my husband. You would have heard him laughing at that one in the next theater.

Not necessarily something that made me smile, but it's interesting how coincidences come together to fix our problems

283. Crazy Blessings. Our Suburban was stolen. Yep. That beat-up rusted lovely beast that we could probably recognize in another state as ours as easily as the old van. Less than half a mile from the federal building, the courthouse, and a police station. Really? Yep. Apparently it's easier to hot wire an old car than a new one. Desperate people like that. We've only had a few days of trying to figure out life with one car. We could do it, I think. But it wouldn't be easy.

Luckily, the details of how to help us solve our new transportation issues were figured out months ago when my father-in-law acquired a Ford Explorer. It's an extra car for him that would have been mostly parked during the mission he and he wife leave on in two weeks. We are working out details, but due to a canoe race being postponed (which is good when you have no way to tow the canoe!) we get to go pick it up this week.

It's all coming together for this week. We really didn't have a lot going on except the race. Mr. C. was CRAVING mountains (a good old fashioned camping trip will be just the ticket!) , and we really wanted to go see the grandparents before they left. So - one joy ride and a cancelled canoe race equals a vacation, a chance to hang out with family, and an opportunity to secure busy family transportation. I'm really hoping whoever took our baby was just some poor guy who needed a car and couldn't see any other way to get one. Hopefully our car will be abandoned soon for lack of gas money, and he'll get to come home. And it's even all right if they roughed up the steering column in their quest to hot wire. We have an extra one sitting upside down in the garage! Come home baby. What else are we going to use this steering column for?!

Old Spice, New Spice, Spice, Smice

282. Spice. And on a lighter note, Have you seen the new Old Spice commercials? If you haven't, click here.

And after you watch that, if you haven't seen it already, watch this.

Farewells

281. Great Traditions. Today we had a young man from our ward speak before leaving on his mission. In this ward, when a missionary is leaving, all the men over 12 go up to the choir seats and sing "Called to Serve" as the closing song. It is such a strengthening tradition. The love and support felt. The voices as they roll over the chapel. The feeling that here we are, all of us part of something bigger than ourselves. Hearts swell and eyes are cloudy. It can't be duplicated. It's so sweet and poigniant when the community has watched these young men grow from sunbeams to graduates. We have all raised each others children together. How can you help but feel supported when you roll forth on your mission on the waves of such glorious sound? In low parts of a mission, the echo of that booming joy is reassuring. We are children of our Heavenly Father together. You are loved. You are a crusader in a cause greater than yourself. You will be loved by those who helped raise you, no matter how old you get. I love living in a place where the spirit of caring for each other is strong. It's what we all want for our children.

Summer Singing

280. Musicals - Sue and Lou were in a musical this summer. A friend of a friend (a senior next year in high school!) puts on a show with the kids she can round up each summer. This year they put on "Into the Woods." They worked hard for two weeks. Sue was a narrator and did a great job.


Lou was Little Red Riding Hood. I was excited to help with sketches for the castle and bakery backgrounds. I think they turned out nice.


I keep thinking about one of Little Red's Songs, "Nice is Different than Good." Isn't that really what all the advice we try to give our girls about boys boils down to? The only crummy thing about this video is that my camera insisted on focusing on the hair of the person in front of me instead of the stage. Grrrr.

I tried to upload video of the song several time, but blogger is thwarting me. I'll try again to add it tomorrow.

Summer Fun - Part 2 (I'm not sure how many parts there will be. Probably lots.)

276. This beautiful face. That comes to visit me three times a week with her siblings. I have watched them for the past 5 years or so. It's interesting how things change when they are at my house. Today we had birthday doughnuts for a child with a mild case of Summer Doughnut Obsessive Disorder. Everything this summer has been - "Can we get doughnuts?" Hopefully the two Krispy Kremes everyone got today will ease the symptoms for a little while.

277. Youth Conference Enthusiasm by the oldest. This year they did a pioneer trek. Several youth in our ward loved the authenticity and costuming. Two days in the hot sun with handcarts. She had a great time.
277. Sewing. She made her dress and a bonnet for the experience. I helped unpick everything I told her to do wrong. It seemed only fair. (It helps to actually read the pattern and not just try to wing it from memory.)

A little later in the summer, Lou got inspired and made this skirt.

She picked out one of the fabrics last year and was going to make it for our gigantic vacation trip. A year later it was finally time. Now I have three more girls wanting to make skirts. They are all cut out, and one is half done. I'll post pictures when they're finished. I'm so excited to use up my stash on something so fun and useful. I love watching flat pieces of fabric become 3D pieces of wearable art!

And just for fun

279. Shoes I Saw. Out looking for Pioneer and EFY clothing I came across these little beauties.

I had to take a picture.

Now look closer.

Anyone have ideas for the perfect outfit to go with Cartoon Unicorn Shoes? Smiling and shuddering, it's a fine line, really.

Summer Fun - Part 1

All right. I have missed so many things for my list this summer. I'll console myself by knowing that I have captured so much more of the year than I would have without this blog. So, in the interest of a family update, here are a few of the things we've been up to. I'll try to do a few every day for the next few days.

271. Reading - Every so often this summer things get quiet. It's eerie. I don't know how to handle the silence and I'll look around to find out where the children have gotten to. I gets even spookier when I realize they are all very close to me - they're just ALL reading. While the lack of noise is unsettling, realizing a love of books and reading has been passed on to a new generation makes me smile. The library is one of our favorite summer places.



272. Swimming - The girls have been on the swim team. I love seeing their progress since last year. Their times keep getting better and their strokes look cleaner and stronger. I think this year has been more fun because it's been warmer. No blue lips after practice! It's great to see friends and talk at the meets. The girls get to see some of their friends too.



273. The S-Train and Space - Of course, with more free time the wall decoration has been in a constant swirl of change. One big theme for most of June was space. Made a great telescope. (Don't poke your eye out, kid!)


Which, you can see in the collage below, we took to try and see some stars in the daytime while reading our "If you went to the Moon" book from grandma.

The art kicked into high gear, and this is a portion of the artwork that went up on the walls of his room. Those glow in the dark stars were starting to get company! The artwork extended to
274. A 50 cent light brite - (We found it at a garage sale for 50 cents! It still works and has a bunch of blank pages and bulbs. I was willing to get it for a rainy day summer activity. At that price I wasn't married to it, and it was cheap entertainment.) It got roped into the space theme along with everything else.

And The S-Train made, my favorite, 275. Quick Trip Cup rockets.


This one, seen while doing chalk drawings of rockets at the ward ice cream social, is one of many. The lid comes off and littlest pet shop pets and lego and playmobile people get to go for a ride.

The kids tried to launch one of these on the fountains downtown. It only worked a little bit. The cardboard wings didn't make it. But that led to new and improved plastic milk jug wings.

The space fun lasted about a month. Then all of a sudden space was done. All the space pictures came down and now the race cars are up.

The Fourth of July. There's no place like home.

270. Fourth of July weekend and fireworks. We had a low key 4th. It's amazing how quiet things can be when you're supposed to be out of town. It worked out well. Saturday was spend swimming and cooking and then eating dessert with friends. Sunday we all hung out at home and watched a Capitol 4th. Then we tried to go to the rained out fireworks. Even when cars were leaving in droves, there were some pretty determined people out there. If you look closely, you can see them waiting in their folding chairs and umbrellas in between the raindrops.


Monday we slept in, then did chores. It rained most of the morning. Mr. C. spent 6 hours at work on what was supposed to be his day off. (And was a good chunk of the reason we stayed home after all.) The front lawn got mowed. Mountains of laundry were moved. (Faith and determination help!) Rooms were cleaned. And then we settled in to watch National Treasure and play Settlers of Catan. At 9:30 several small voices popped up. Aren't we going to see the fireworks? Umm. We thought about it, but it seemed like everyone was happy hanging out. Fireworks! OK, jump in the car! (The S-Train in short, patriotic pajamas.) We headed out as the show was starting and watched the first part of it in pieces. Darn trees! Finally we got to where we had watched them last year. The parking was not good, so Mr. C let us out to run down the sidewalk towards a better spot. At this point I realized that two of my children were shoeless. They thought we were going to stay in the car to watch. And in the summer, aren't shoes optional?

We came out on a beautiful view. Grass and a clear skyline full of bright explosions. I picked up the shoeless S-Train and held him on my hip. He avoided the rocks and got a clearer view. I realized this is the last year I will be able to do this. Their littleness is growing and expanding, like the fireworks, into something bigger. As we stood there I got asked questions like, "What if a plane was flying there? What would happen if you could touch a firework? How do they change color - or shape?" The never ending six year old questions that I only know some of the answers to. I love his confidence that I can answer his questions. I hope that will last as long as possible.

We ooohed and ahhhed over the lights in the sky. We pointed out our favorites. I thought about how blessed we are to celebrate freedom with a light show each year. As the S-Train said, "It's not the 4th of July without fireworks!"

After the fireworks we went to find where Dad had parked. The girls linked arms and skipped down the sidewalk singing Wizard of Oz songs, and I felt a great contentment. It's good to be home.

Things I like

There are all kinds of things going on here that I really should be adding to my blog list of things that make me smile. But here I'll just do a quick two.

268. This video. I found it on another blog, and now we are all singing it.



269. Settling down of the S-Train. He has been so helpful lately. And I'm seeing him grow into himself. He helped paint scenery today, and was finding things to do to help out. I love to see kids sort of settle into themselves.

Great Problems to have

265. Arguments. This is on the list? Yes. Two children were arguing over who was going to WASH THE KITCHEN FLOOR. "I want to wash the floor." "Get out. It's my room. Get your own room." Tell me that's not wonderful.

266. Water in the Basement. Which actually turned into win win win. There is a sump pump in the front basement window well. It did its job great! I thought there was a sump pump in the back window well. There wasn't. The window well filled up during a four inch rain and overflowed into the basement.
Mostly all there is between there and the drain is plastic food storage buckets. But this time there was so much laundry there. . . Well, the water didn't have a chance to make it over to the carpeted half of the basement. (WIN)
And the laundry got done much more quickly than usual. (WIN)
And because there were a few cardboard boxes of cans, and we wanted it to dry out quickly (cue the fans) part of the basement was taken apart and vacumned - forced spring cleaning that I tried to avoid earlier this year. (Clean basement - WIN).
Which just goes to show there may even be a silver lining to a small stream in the basement.

267. Unexpectedly hiring children to work for me. My budget says, really? But when you have a motivated child who has finished their regular chores and then looks around for things to do to earn money. And you get this

and this(which had been overflowing) and this.

You say, OK. (Still need a picture of drawer for hair stuff. It's a thing of beauty.) Hopefully by the end of the summer we'll be out of projects! We can hope!

(Dream Dream Dream. Can you you hear the Everly Brothers? (I thought it was the Beatles, but I looked it up))

It's Been a Hard Day's Night

262. The Land of I Cooketh Not. I love love love love love summer. Because it means I cook only one or two times a week. Everyone takes a day of the week to cook. We award points for various categories and whoever wins for the week doesn't have to do dishes the next week. They are doing a great job! Last year no dishes was enough motivation. This year they are really getting into presentation. Our nectarines were arranged and our potato salad was garnished with oregano, thanks to Sue. Our ants on logs marched in pretty circles, thanks to Lou. My dinner is even smiling at me!

263. Working Children. The girls are mowing lawns now. And taking care of the neighborhood animal arsenal. This weekend we have three cats and a dog to take care of. (We almost had a special plant too, but then its owners decided not to go out of town.) (and yes, it was going to be Mr. C's baby, because we all knew that then it would have a fighting chance.)



As for lawns, the father of a boy in Lou's class saw her out there mowing. "Lou's mowing! Wow. We need to get 'George' out there mowing too!" I wonder how George feels about Lou mowing lawns?

(And are any of you out there noticing Mr. C's invention? He blended an old lawn mower frame with a trash can. What you can't see is the ingenious board and hinge system underneath the trash can. It allows him to lift the can full of lawn clippings up and dump it onto the garden or compost heap, while still being attached to the base that gives it stability while he drives it around. So much creativity up there it can't be contained!)

264. Cleaning together. Chores look like they might be manageable this summer as well. Ownership and personal responsibility are a marvelous thing.

Working together, Then taking a break

260. The beauty of people working together. This weekend I got to see how beautiful it can be when people work together for a greater cause. There was a large garage sale benefit for a child at our elementary school with cancer. They had to turn away donations for lack of room - and made enough money that it was definitely worth it. Then we also had a primary activity. Everyone pulled together to produce an activity that seemed to stick with the kids. This is what happens when people work together for a greater cause.

261. A quiet couple of days. This weekend was BUSY. Friday and Saturday we had the garage sale, primary activity, a friend who had a baby, shopping for fourth year camp and grocery shopping. Mr. C trimmed the bushes, thinned out the daisies (thinning turned into clear-cutting - they're gone.), cooked dinner - including potato salad, mowed a yard or two, came to a primary activity, and I'm sure a few other things I've missed. So Monday, we did nothing. Dropped the oldest off for camp, went to swim team, and were done for the day. Cleaning was all we did. We needed it!

259. Another Video. Clicked over to Katherine Center's web page. (She did the last video.) And found this little gem. Cool. Only - I wanted to change the end to "Discover what the Lord wants you to do - and go do it." The rest I liked.

Downward Dog Nuggets of Wisdom

258. Lou cracks me up sometimes. Today Lou and the S-Train were doing P90X with me. Lou had a lollipop in her mouth. We went into downward dog pose. (Like a giant upside down V with your hands and feet on the ground and your rear end up in the air.) Lou stopped. "I can't do that," she said. "The juice from my lollipop goes up my nose." I guess she won't want to drink from a cup upside down either. :)

New Mom Video

I was going to put a video of the S-Train riding a bike the first day on here. But glare on the screen was excessive on our camping trip. Apparently I thought it was something else and DELETED IT BY MISTAKE!! ARRRRG! I need to take another video quick. Before he's way to good to see that he's just beginning. I might be to late already. : (

257. Video. Found this on another blog. COOL PICTURES. Tear jerker. A little pressure, but the video is so cool I think I can handle it.

It was the end of school. It was the beginning of summer.

249. Soccer. This is what happens when you are goalie and your team is good. You have to occupy yourself somehow! I love the picture of him talking with the fans.


and this is my favorite picture from the last day of soccer for the season. They let them play in the rain! This is Lou's half time.



250. Opera camp for a shelter. The local opera company did a camp for kids at a local shelter. They asked any kids that had gone to camp last summer to come and help sing. So - Sue and Lou showed up with three other kids. They had a great time. My favorite was the actor who played both the stepmother and the prince. With a beard.

251. Very last end of school stuff! Class picnics - check! Awards assembly - Check! Final final of everything at school - check! Report cards home - check! (Watch out Krispy Kreme!) Movies with friends to celebrate the beginning of summer - check! Some of the back packs cleaned out and resulting tonnage taken out with the recycling - check! Whew! And SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

Now the process of scanning in everything begins! Digital is awesome for the stuff you aren't going to want - but can't bring yourself to get rid of quite yet.

252. Memorial Day weekend. We took Friday and Saturday and went camping. Took a couple of friends. Great fun. Caught catfish. Swam in the lake. Went canoeing. Drank more soda pop than Mom will let us have in a year! (Thanks Dad!) Came back tired and happy.

After we got home we unloaded, cleaned fish, and the girls and Dad went to mow a lawn. Then we all went to the pool for an hour to cool off. When we got back and everyone had showered, Mr. C sat down. He said, "It feels early to go to bed, but I'm tired! So he went up and fell asleep just as soon as his head hit the pillow. Lou just laid on the couch with her eyes open. I'm not sure if she was awake or asleep.

253. Happy extended family news! Just as we were getting ready to leave on our campout - the final worms were being dug, the bug spray was being found - the phone rang. It was Mr. C's parents. Their mission call had come! They are off to see my aunt and uncle at the Family History Center in SLC! They will be there later this year! It seems the perfect mission for them. They know so much about everything you'd ever want to know about geneology. We know they will help lots of people with their family stories. Serving people as they find their stories will touch hearts. And those hearts will soften toward the church through their service. Congratulations, Grandma and Grandpa!

254. Look Mom, no training wheels! Mr. C threw in the younger kids bikes when we went camping. He took the S-Train's training wheels off. A very patient friend walked him around on it while we were setting up the tent. And - Voila! Second try and he is up and riding! I'm so in awe of my children's ability to learn to ride bikes. Almost always it's their first day out and they are doing great.

Once the S-Train knew he could ride he spent the rest of the camp out ignoring the fish in favor of the bike. His legs showed the effort he was making to learn this new skill. Lots of falls. Lots of frustrated growling. Lots of picking ourselves up and starting all over again. Lots of big glowing smiles and asking, "Mom, do you think I'm good at bike riding?" Darling, you're fabulous.

255. Protection from fish. I don't fish. I don't like to clean fish. So - When Mr. C was cleaning the 4 or 5 fish we caught, the kids came in and told me. "Mom, you don't want to go down there. It's gross." They are tough. I am apparently a delicate flower they need to protect. If I get out of fish cleaning, I'm all right with that.

256. Chance encounters at the jail. As a last hurrah to the fabulous weekend we took the kids up to Liberty Jail on Monday. Sad but true, we haven't taken them since we've been here. We decided to remedy that situation. Some people came in on the tail end of our group looking at the jail. They were all in yellow and green (even the cute baby!). It turns out that grandma and grandpa were up here from Brazil visiting a new grand baby! They live in what was Mr. C's mission. They didn't know each other, but they new some of the same people. Mr. C did an impressive job of pulling out the 20yr old Portuguese and communicating. Portuguese was spoken, and a good time was had by all. It was very cool. It's fun to watch our Heavenly Father bring people together to give them spiritual experiences.

How was your Memorial Day? Are you ready for summer?

Watch Out! It's a Funny World in there!

247. Help! There is a great group of sixth graders who are crossing guards for the half-day kindergartners. (I think they enjoy getting out of class.) Today's group was especially enthusiastic. They love to run and try to shut our van door. (not automatic, requires muscle strength unneeded on car doors for the last 10 years.) They did a big happy dance today when they got it on the first try. I always clap for them when they get it shut. Fun group.

248. Sneak Attack! Today we have a new installment in the never ending list of - who is the S-Train today? Today we are. . . A LIBRARY NINJA! (courtesy of the show Jacob Two Two) Dressed in patriotic pajamas with a laminated library card (the S-Train invented laminating with clear tape) the S-Train Library Ninja makes sure that overdue books are taken back on time. (So we really need him around here!) He also helps make sure people don't color in their library books.

Gear includes: Laminated Library card - scans books to see if they are overdue, gets you into the library ninja lab.

Laptop - looks like a piece of cardboard, but has everything a real computer does. Plus, you can carry it around.

Cell phone - Keeps you up to date on the latest library emergency. Helps all the library ninjas keep in touch. Plus, shoots laser beams.

Belt Buckle - Can be put on any belt. Comes with the initials NU for Ninj-Uh.

Can we never grow up? Please?

Fun night at school

246. Cool Videos. They made a cool video of the BBQ for Mason that we had at science night. Susan did a great job. You can find it HERE. You have to sign in to facebook to watch. It's an awesome video! So much love going out! (The S-Train watching water rockets will be another favorite thing when I get pictures! There are a couple on the video.)

Unexpected surprises

245. Blue Tongues. One minute you're sucking on a lollipop. The next minute someone says, "Hey! Your tongue is blue!" It's always fun while they last. (They were smiling right before I took the picture!)

Practice?

244. Practicing? I had the biggest laugh yesterday when I got home from picking the kids up from school. The oldest was apparently attempting to practice the piano. Or read. Or both.

I needed a good laugh.

Mega-Update post

It's about time I got back to this blog. I'm falling behind my goal of one a day for the year. So - here are a few things that have been going on while I've been out of the loop.

234. Concerts. The oldest has had - solo and ensemble for district and state, a band concert, junior festival, and a piano recital. She has one more piano performance for judges next week. Sue has had a choir concert and tour, a strings concert, and a strings group tour. Lou has had a strings group concert and a regular strings concert. The S-Train has had a kindergarten program to sing to parents. Lots of concerts. They have all done very well.
I love going to these. They feel like the pay off for the kids' hard work. It's fun to realize how well they are doing and how far they have come in a year.

235. Camp. Sue and Mr. C just got back from three days of camping with her class. They had such a fun time. Sue loved the food. Mr. C was in charge of the canoes. The kids weren't supposed to take the canoes past the bridge on the lake. They asked if they could anyway. Apparently his answer was, "No. There are trolls under the bridge." They loooooked at him.

236. PTA. It has been fun and it is almost over for the year! I think next year needs to be a little calmer. We have such great ladies there. A child in third grade was recently diagnosed with cancer. He is currently at St. Jude's. It has been neat to watch the community rally around.

237. Sue and her bake set. She saw it at the book fair and had to have it! She is having such fun with it. She's made mini mini muffins twice already. She loves cooking and we are glad to let her have at it!

238. Lawn Mowing. The girls have been mowing a neighbor's yard. Sue stayed inside while Mr. C and Lou started. She wanted to finish her mini muffins. Since Lou did a lot more of the yard she got paid more. She liked that! She said she's learning about having a business. That you have to keep doing it.

239. Walking home with the S-Train. We had a great walk home from school the other day. It was just the two of us, so we could take our time. We played tic tac toe in the sand and watched the cutest baby birds getting fed in a birdhouse nest. Then, as we are walking by an overgrown yard the S-Train surprised me. "Fescue!" he said. "Fescue?" Mr. C had told him the kind of grass and he remembered! We had this whole discussion about how wheat was a kind of grass...

240. Our Cat. Sleeps on its back.

241. Our Garage. Has recently been invaded by a raccoon. He pulled the nearly empty cat food bag through the cat door into the back yard. Also ripped a new bag trying to get into it. I saw him coming into the garage and slid the cat door closed after he ran away. Hopefully he'll find another home for food. On another note, our car apparently smells like wet dog when it is wet. On the outside. I'm wondering if that raccoon tried to mark his territory. . .

242. Home repairs are getting done. Hurray for tax returns! The washer decided the trap under the ground - that we knew was giving out - was done. So we got that fixed. And the next round of windows are on order! Yea! Progress!

243. Mothers' Day flowers. Aren't they pretty? I got two vases full of irises and daisies! The irises came out of our neighbor's yard. They told Mr. C to come and cut a whole bunch. They had too many. The daisies are from our yard. The flowers were so pretty we took them to church to share.

Anyway, that's enough of a mega post update. More later!

Keeping up with the End of the Year craziness!

Hopefully we are near the end of the crazy busyness and back to normal busyness.

226. The Oldest is enjoying being busy. She says, "There's something to do every night! We're never at home bored!" I know I felt the same way when I was her age. Enthusiastic, ready to bounce to the next thing, and not at all bored. - There wasn't time! She's looking forward to a June packed with activity.

227. The Oldest and her quintet got a I (one) at both district and state solo and ensemble competition! If you haven't heard about their quintet - it's unique. They don't fit into any normal category. There is one baritone (oldest), one french horn, a bassoon, and two clarinets. They couldn't find music for the longest time. They would ask band teachers for music and the teachers would say, "For that combination? . . . Sorry." Finally a step-mom/band teacher gave them some low brass quintet music to try. It worked! And so they went on. They kept coming over to practice, and it was great fun. The Oldest also played a solo at district and got a II (two).

The group began as a quartet. One of the girls (N) was telling someone about her quartet that got a one at state! Then she named the people in her group. The other person said, "Isn't that five people."
And then she got teased. "Guess how many people are in N's quartet?. . . five."

(Oh I can so see myself doing that! One slip of the tongue. . . )

228. Mr. C is enjoying taking kids to soccer games!

229. The kids are enjoying getting paid for stuff. Last year's sugar challenge, dandelions, mowing the neighbor's lawn. We are enjoying them paying for their own stuff.

230. Lou had a fourth grade strings ensemble concert. They sound amazing for 4th grade.

231. Giggling at the scriptures. I was reading a little in the old testament the other night and I started giggling. The girls wanted to know what I was giggling about. Well. . .

In Numbers everyone is complaining to Moses about what they have to eat. (Numbers 11: 4-5) Nothing but manna miraculously sent from heaven in the middle of the hostile desert. They say - "Who will give us flesh to eat?" And they remember that in Egypt they had fish and cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlick. (It actually lists all those things.) Of course, if I'd eaten nothing but manna for years and years and I remembered all the other kinds of food there were, I might do the same thing. (As the veggie tales song goes - "it's filling, but bland!")

Anyway, Moses is fed up, and talks to the Lord and says, "Why me? Do you really hate me so much that I have to deal with these people? Why are they my job? They aren't even my kids! I feel like you want me to carry babies to the promised land. And, where am I going to get them flesh to eat anyway? I can't do this. Instead of making me deal with all these complainers, if you really like me, just kill me now. Please." (Numbers 11:11-15)

So the Lord says,"I will help you out. I'll give you help from others in your group. And about the food, tell them," "the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat." You won't eat for one day, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days. You'll have flesh to eat for a month! Until you're so sick of it that it comes out your nose! That'll teach you to complain about coming out of Egypt!" (Num 11:16-20) It sounds much nicer in the King James English, but that's what it means.

Moses wonders how on earth that's really going to happen this far out. And the Lord says, "You think I can't do it? You just wait and see." (Num 11:21-23)

So then Moses talks to his leaders and lots of people run around prophesying and in verses 31-33 they get all the quail they can eat, piled up two feet deep for a day's journey on each side.

Anyway, Moses' speech to the Lord just cracked me up.

232. The S-Train is cleaning like crazy! He has taken a personal interest in making sure the table is clear and things are picked up. I think he figured out that this is something that makes his mom happy. I am happy to encourage such industry!

233. Mothers' Day. The S-Train keeps hinting at a great surprise. In Primary they asked the kids about what they had done for their mothers. The S-Train was so excited to tell about how they had made me breakfast in bed. Mothers' Day memories are sometimes as much for the kid as the parent!

The primary children were practicing "I Often Go Walking." Sniff. Sniff. I'll be a puddle next week!

Celebrations and concerts

Alright. It's about time for another post. I've been a little MIA on the blog lately. That's because the last two weeks might just win for busiest yet! (And around here, that's saying something.) One night this last week we had to move a piano lesson to accommodate two concerts and two soccer practices. We have had at least two things every evening. And that leads me to ...

218. General Busyness. I'm so glad that we are blessed to have the luxury of this busyness. It's the end of the school year so concerts and assemblies and such pop up with amazing regularity. It's amazing that we don't have more conflicts than we do! But honestly, this type of activity is so much more appealing to me than staying home trying to figure out what to do every night. It gives structure to what is going on. And it's so fun to see the kids growing and doing. The only sad thing about it is realizing this part of my life is flying by and won't last forever. Everyone is at such fun ages.

219. Dancing. And dress shopping. We went dress shopping to outfit the oldest for a dance. She needed something new for summer. We got one with a half an hour to spare! When she got home from the dance Lou asked who she danced with. She said, "This one kid. And this other kid." Lou, "That was his name?!"



220. TEETH. We've all been to the dentist lately. So far - no braces needed. (Mommy happy dance goes here.) And the big news - The S-Train lost his first teeth!! They have been hanging on by the tiniest roots for weeks! Tooth number one came out at soccer practice. (And amazingly made it home after being put in the pocket of his soccer shorts!:) ) Tooth number two came out the next night after he dribbled a basketball into his face in the church gym. (Maybe we should have played basketball sooner.)

221. Choir Concert. Sue had her end of the year choir concert for the parents. She is so excited because today the choir does a concert tour to several nursing homes and ends up performing downtown. They sound great!

222. Milk Jug armor. I meant to post about this earlier. We have a great knight helmet the oldest and the S-Train got together and made a couple of weeks ago out of a milk jug. It has a visor you can put up and everything. Unforturately it has led the S-Train to believe that he needs a whole suit of milk jug armor for Halloween next year. He is saving milk jugs in the basement. If he doesn't use them soon, I'll break his heart and dump them, or the recycling people will have to tip the basement into their truck! (They are all washed out.)
223. Cheerios Guitar. An after school project by the S-Train. So authentic he made a pick (out of a Krispy Kreme box) and mirrored the way it is held by watching his music teacher at school. A work of art.

224. Home Concert. To celebrate the loss of teeth the S-Train wanted to have a party. He's also been rearranging the house off and on for days to get ready for a concert he wanted to have with his cheerios guitar and drums his sisters made in art class. In fact, he had a three minute concert the other day when I wasn't home.

So yesterday he invited a friend over and we combined the two. He had music written out - for himself and for the drummer. And they made tickets.

Now I knew we had lots of tickets floating around from the previous concert. Not wanting to use up paper for another batch of tickets, I said, "Why are we making tickets? Don't we have a bunch already?"
The S-Train, "Those are expired!"

(He was so serious. I had to go in the other room and laugh.)

Then the concert. We had great announcers and singers.

They played two songs. "I'm a rock star" and "The S-Train lost a tooth." The best was when they were going to start the second song. The S-Train said, "STOP! I have the wrong notes!" He apparently hadn't switched from this to this.

After it was all over they set up an autograph signing station in the basement. The girls had knighted them (like McCartney or Elton John) for their contributions to music. So they needed to wear their milk jug helmets for the event.

And if you've lasted this long, I'll leave you with one more thing that made me smile this week.

225. Overheard in a meeting.
First person - says something quietly.
Second person - "What?"
"Oh, nothing, I was just talking to myself."
"Sorry. I was eavesdropping."

I cracked up.