Friday is my day

After a series of incredibly hectic weeks, I've decided to take a stand:
NOTHING ON FRIDAYS (at least during the day).

No visiting teaching, no friends, no appointments, no errands, no activities, nothing - just me, the vacuum and the washing machine.
How did it come to this? I've read about other busy moms having to set aside a day to themselves, just to stay home and "be a mom," but silly me - I thought I was better than that. I thought I could handle more than I actually can.

In the last four days, I took a dear friend (whom I also visit teach) to the dentist twice; attended our monthly FHE group at the church; served a shift at the family history center; spent a morning at the temple with my uncle and cousins; spent an evening helping my friend Marcie at a community meeting; and went visiting teaching. This along with Brennan's homeschool, taking Bella and Harrison to school and picking them up, caring for Carter and Rosalind and our home, dishes, laundry, picking up, vacuuming, the usual, and... shocking... I rearranged the living room last night.

This doesn't even touch time spent on the phone for callings, school, etc.; Hubby's work, calling, or soccer schedules; Brennan going to Mutual on Wednesday night; and the three soccer kids' weekly practices and games. I find a little time to blog, but haven't written anything substantial since Sunday. I should add that I did take some time yesterday (having a headache and not having anything pressing at the time) to rest and get hip-deep into Jane Eyre. My activities are all worthwhile, but I'm going to blow my own mind if I don't calm things down. It's been chaos and I'm finally doing something about it.

Along with continuing my love affair with the computer - I've had it going since age 11 when my uncle JR brought home his first Apple and I played "Apple Panic" - I'd like to branch out into such unheard-of activities as sewing, i.e. diving into the incredible growing mending pile; walking with my friends; quilting; baking with exciting and new substances like WHOLE WHEAT. There are these six people I live with, called "my husband and kids," that I'd like to get to know better, if I ever have time to put down the laundry basket. I'd like to have time to pop in on my friends sometimes and have them pop in on me. But I find I can't do those things unless I designate a day just for the care of the family and its physical needs - the house, the clothes, the food, the organization. Just ME BEING HOME, doing those little essential things so I can play without guilt.

Ahhh... feels better already.

At the Temple with Candace & Russell

On March 29, Candace and Russell and I met at the Portland Temple to do some temple work together. It was fun. We hadn't seen each other for a long time. I can't remember what Dad was doing that day - probably soccer.

Candace and Russell were so sweet - they bought me lunch afterward. We'll have to get together again soon - this time I'll make sure Dad comes with us!

Tuesday Top Five

We were going down the freeway the other day and I mentioned that I needed to start gathering material for my Tuesday Top 5. My ever-so-darling husband was happy to help by providing the items - I added the reasons.

Saturday in the Park

We had a meeting with Cedar’s new soccer coaches at a local park (with a playground so the kids could play while we talked – smart). So here we go with another kid in soccer. I’m excited for him, particularly with the memory of his experiences with soccer from last fall. What a cute little guy, running around and getting muddy on the field.

It was kind of funny – I, the non-sporty parent, am starting to become an expert at this. The other parents had quite a few questions about uniforms, etc. and all I needed to know was where and what time. It hit me that this is our fourth child to play soccer, which makes me feel comfortably worn-in, and freaks me out at the same time. I can’t figure out why. Oh, well. It’ll probably hit me someday when I spill another Wendy’s salad all over myself in the car and start bawling hysterically (another story for another day).

Somewhere that's not so green

There are two kinds of people in this world: “changers” and “stayers.” Bunny is a stayer – he likes things to stay the same. Whenever we go to Olive Garden, he orders the same thing he’s been getting for at least the last 5 years – ravioli portobello – which he fell in love with when I ordered it and gave him a bite. I like to try something new every time and sometimes, yes, I am disappointed by my choice, but other times I am excited to have found a new favorite. I’m also the girl that friends laugh at for changing her furniture around so often, sometimes monthly. With our current limited space, I don’t quite have that same opportunity but the desire is certainly there.

Which brings me to my topic… changing not the furniture, but the entire location. Changing CLIMATES. The weather is not my favorite right now – it’s not sunny, it’s not rainy, at least for more than five minutes. But the air is moist, the ground is sloppy and it’s dang cold outside. Worst of all, the playground structures are always WET.

Fortunately the world is in bloom, so we have lots of color, but driving around today, clutching the steering wheel with my chilled-to-the-bone fingers, I remembered the March trip I once took with my friend Coz to Arizona. Her sister was getting married and she was taking her two kids and needed someone to help drive from Logan, Utah to Phoenix. I absolutely loved the trip, even though Phoenix was already scorching hot (for me) in March. I finally understood the “snowbird” mentality – leave your cold, miserable hometown in winter for the southern states, camp in your RV until it becomes hot and yucky, then go home to finally-nice weather.

Driving around today, I thought, I could do Arizona. Particularly northern Arizona and southern Utah, close by the canyon parks. Sure, we’d be hot, but what a lovely change it would be from the gloppy Pacific Northwest. I still really love it here – there’s something magical about the deep, dark, misty woods, even if you’re just driving by them on the freeway. I guess I’m just ready for a change. For about 7 or 8 months of the year, we can count on continual cold, rain, dampness and darkness, and right now, I could deal with some cactus and juniper and red dust and blue sky and that yummy baked smell the Brookings woods would take on in summer. I think it was the myrtlewood trees.

The grass is always greener, right? Or in this case, deader.

Does Autumn Really Like Back Hair?

Carter takes after my side of the family and consequently is a hairy little guy. Ever since he was born he’s had a mustache and back hair, very light, but they’re there. We kid him about it sometimes and tell him what a cute little hairy guy he is, meanwhile thinking, this kid is going to be a beast when he’s grown up. He just grins and takes it in stride.

Carter apparently has a crush on our friend Autumn N. Today I called her after she’d just come home from getting a new haircut. Carter overheard us and wanted to talk to her, so I put him on the phone and he told her HE’D just had a haircut. She was politely impressed. I took the phone from him and continued my conversation with her, and told her to come over so I could check out her new ‘do.

After I hung up, Carter asked if Autumn was coming over and I said “Yes.”

He said, “I want Autumn to see my back hair.”

New Homeschool Schedule

I am totally wigged out (happily) right now because of Brennan's new schedule.We first signed him up February 1 with this home school program, and the director suggested we take the first month and get into a routine before adding any classes. Brennan started some P.E. classes - rock wall and swimming - a few weeks ago. It's been almost two months and we've discovered that more structure would be a good thing.
So today, I signed him up for more. Here it is:
Mondays and Wednesdays:
8:00 Rock wall Monday, Swimming Wednesday
9:00 Writing
11:00 Lunch (he can take a cold lunch or they have hot lunch there)
11:30 Science
1:30 Social Studies
2:30 Drama
Tuesday - 5 hours at home, plus a 1-hour art class at 3:30
Thursday - 5 hours at home
Friday - 5 hours at home, plus a 90-minute newspaper/yearbook class at 9:30

I'm especially excited about art, drama, and yearbook, which will be a lot of computer lab - he loves that. I had to really work on him about drama. This kid is so funny and entertaining, but has an enormous shy streak that I'd like to him work on(having had one myself), so I've been dying to get him into a drama class - once he comes out of his shell, he'll have a blast. I kept suggesting it and he kept saying "no." Last night at Mutual, they had roadshow practice, and he must have had a good time because today he said, "I guess I can take a drama class." Yay!!

Brennan has to get a minimum of 25 hours a week, and only half of that can include classes at the home school center, so we'll go over our allotted amount, but the home school people don't care as long as we have enough hours at home. I'm thrilled that all this is FREE. He has the opportunity to take a weekly basic guitar class on Wednesdays at 3:30, which we'll sign up for as soon as we can get a good inexpensive guitar.

We're thinking of home school for all three kids next year. I wouldn't even think of it, except they offer foreign languages, American Sign Language, dance, art, and rock wall/swimming classes for elementary school kids. But YIKES! That would be a lot for me to handle. I think I'll try it out on Brennan first. The poor "oldest" kids - they have to make it through their parents' inept first tries at everything (and I say that as a parent, not an oldest child). Plus, Bella and Harrison are doing really well in school right now, but they'll be leaving the excellent teachers they've had for two years for new ones next year, and in their school, it's a totally mixed bag. It has me a little worried. But, at least we know we have this wonderful option of home school.

The End

… of the kids’ basketball season. Bella and Harrison had their last games and team parties on Saturday, March 18. What a nutty day.

Basketball Game with the Deaf Girls

The girls on Bella's basketball team, the Blackjacks, played Tuesday night against the girls at the Washington School for the Deaf.

Binky-eating Jammies

Every so often, the pacifier supply comes up a little short around our house. It's either feast or famine - having a whole group of binkies lined up on Rosalind's dresser, or doing the frantic naptime search. Lately we've been finding the binkies in a very strange place.

We don't know exactly what she's doing or why or how, but apparently, when Rozzie has decided she's bored in her bed but not bored enough to get out of bed, she stows her binkies in the toes of her pajamas. These are the zippered, footed jammies for cold weather. She must be sticking them in the neck hole, and eventually they find their way down to her toes. When she woke up this morning, she was crying (probably because she couldn't get to a pacifier), and later, when I happened to catch sight of her feet, one looked oddly lumpy and misshapen. When I looked closer, there they were - two binkies.

This behavior has us baffled (as does some behavior of all our children), but all we can do is laugh and say: WHAT A WEIRD KID!

Hubby's Study in Name Dropping

Hubby enjoyed himself very much in Mexico City. He and his security group provided security for the top 10 LPGA golfers at the tournament. He spent most of his time with golfer Natalie Gulbis, even accompanying her to the grocery store one night. He also helped occasionally with Paula Creamer (ranked #2 in the world) and Annika Sorenstrum (ranked #1, and won the $2 million purse). In his words:

"It was fun, and everyone treated us great, and since we were considered LPGA security, we were given as much of the 'royal treatment' as the players. I got to use a lot of my Spanish, which garnered quite a few compliments from the locals. Natalie Gulbis was really nice, and while we were at the store, she offered to buy food items for several of the volunteers and other persons helping. She bought us security guys a cake. She asked why I lived in Chile for two years (my standard answer for the question 'Where did you learn Spanish?') and I told her I'd served a mission for my church, and what church I belonged to."

The flights were uneventful - by some fluke, on every plane, Hubby had the row all to himself! That was the best! He was really glad to not have some fat person squeezing him out. Ha... he says, "Thanks for adding that, you nerd!"

To celebrate his homecoming tonight, we're having homemade burritos.

Girls Night Out Gone Awry

While the hubby's away, the wifey will play. What started out as a quiet, innocent dinner club meeting, ended as... a rowdy dessert at Shari's restaurant. WHAT WENT WRONG? The names below have been changed to protect the innocent.

It all started with the making of the mysterious manicotti - a ricotta cheese mixture squirted into manicotti tubes, covered with spaghetti sauce and baked. After taking it out of the oven, I met up with the beguiling Startling Beauty (who made breadsticks from scratch and prepared the "bagged" salad) and we headed for Molly Moe's. We enjoyed a lovely dinner together, ending with Molly's "Holy Canoli" cake. Our other club members, Agabrasta and Cleopatra, were unable to join us - Cleopatra, because we played phone tag all week, and Agabrasta, because her oldest son had pinkeye. We missed them but still had fun. After dinner, we prepared a plate for Agabrasta, and Startling and I traveled back to Agabrasta's apartment to surprise her with dinner.

And what did we find but a very harried Agabrasta, struggling with her two baby boys, who had smeared red pizza sauce on her light tan carpet, strewn her DVD collection across the living room, and scattered toys and chocolate chip cookie crumbs all over their bedroom. After Startling and I helped Agabrasta straighten up, we hung out for a while; and then, the evil idea was born... "Let's go out!" The night was still young and I had errands. Agabrasta was only too happy to accept our invitation.

At Millicent's home, the destination of one of the errands, the real debauchery began. "Let's go out for ice cream," we suggested to Millicent, who was just wicked enough to go along with our evil plan. As time passed, more plans were laid for this evening of fiendish delights. We first divulged to Millicent the secret combination of our monthly dinner club and invited her to take part. "Do I have to cook something?" she wailed. We told her to bring the bagged salad next time. Now caught up in the spirit of the evening, Millicent introduced the menacing idea of a girls' overnight stay at a local hotel to paint the town red. And THEN - this is where it got ugly - we decided to make our way around the village to certain homes, where unsuspecting women, cozy in their jammies, were about to be ousted by the Naughty Four. Soon we were on our way in my huge, somewhat-trusty car.

"Ding, Dong!" sang several doorbells... and before they knew it, Sing-Singa-Song and Klashanka were swept up in the revelry. Kasnostra begged to be spared, citing a migraine. Husbands reluctantly let their wives out into the dark night, not knowing what terrible fate lay before them...

One husband in particular, Millicent's Dackleback, was horribly afflicted by our sinister deeds. Not only did we prevail upon him to care for Agabrasta's two babies but - as we were about to be on our way with our ill-gotten booty, the somewhat-trusty car became somewhat-less-than-trusty. Almost as if it knew what was happening, the car tried to thwart us! It "pretended" to have a dead battery, right there in Millicent's driveway. Poor longsuffering Dackleback was subjected to the dreaded jumper cable torture, but knowing he had no choice, he manfully participated.

FINALLY the horrible festivities could begin. The radio blaring the Beach Boys' "Kokomo," the nonchalant bumping of the backseat passengers' heads as we went over speed bumps, and the discussion of Val Kilmer's teeth going full force (Millicent thinks they're too long and I think he's completely perfect), added to the depraved atmosphere. There was no stopping us - chaos was left in our wake.

As we made our way into the restaurant, a group of four young males almost lost their eyeballs and gave themselves whiplash checking out blond and beautiful Agabrasta. The waitress, who somehow knew we were up to no good, hesitantly seated us. Sensing the nervous tension of four manipulative females and their two helpless victims out for a night of ice cream, she brought us incredibly small glasses of ice water and continued to bother us until we ordered our desserts. Conversation flew; dark secrets were revealed; laughter rang throughout the restaurant. Klashanka and Sing-Singa-Song, resigned to their fate, shared a turtle sundae. Rejoicing that our dastardly plot had met with such sweet success, Startling Beauty, Agabrasta, Millicent and I indulged in Shari's Delights and strawberry cheesecake sundaes, and enjoyed this impromptu meeting of four wicked minds.

We glued his nose back together, Part 2

So the glue didn't work. The cut's in a weird place to try to hold it together. Back to the phone, calling the advice nurse... back to the doctor's office... more screaming about stitches...but the happy ending is, no stitches OR more glue!

This doctor first gave Harrison some topical anesthetic, then cleaned the wound out and inspected it. He said it would heal fine - there might be a minimal scar (which won't show - it's in Harrison's "nose cleavage"). The doctor didn't even want to mess with stitches. He said stitches could introduce infection, and an infection on the "mid-face" is hospital-worthy. He gave Harrison some antibiotic ointment and sent us home.

That deck of cards I bought Saturday is still in my purse and has really come in handy this week. Last night Hubby and I played gin rummy while we waited to see the doctor, and tonight Harrison and I played Go Fish. I taught him to play Crazy 8s and Kings in the Corner. He was impressed with his mother's card game knowledge.

Mexico Bound

Hubby is leaving at 11:05 for Denver this morning, followed by the flight to Mexico City. He's staying at the Mexico City Sheraton, probably where the LPGA tournament ladies are staying. We drove to the airport this morning in a BLIZZARD! We awoke to find a thin layer of snow on the ground, and it started snowing again when we took Bella to school (Harrison stayed home after his late night). By the time we hit the bridge, I was wondering if I would have to pull over for a while and wait the storm out after dropping him off at the airport. But, true to form, the weather changed to light rain in about 5 minutes.

Hubby is excited and nervous about his trip to Mexico. The last time he got on a plane and landed in a foreign country, it was on his mission in Chile. He was a little scared when he got off the plane because he couldn't understand what anyone was saying. That won't be a problem this time, but he wonders how it will be exchanging dollars for pesos, finding his way to the hotel, and that sort of thing. He's so easy-going that everything will go fine, I'm sure. I do wonder what the customs people might think about Brian toting four metal detector wands in his bag, but other than that, it should go smoothly.

Hubby will leave Mexico City about 7 in the morning Monday and we'll pick him up at our airport around 7 that evening - he has an 8-hour layover in Denver. We'll be very excited to see him again!

We glued his nose back together

Two "fighter monkeys," jumping on the bed... one fell off and split his nose open!

Harrison can't catch a break lately! He and Carter were naughtily jumping on our bed Wednesday night, and Harrison fell off and his nose landed on the corner of an old computer hard drive we're going to recycle. It bled quite a bit and we thought he had a nose bleed at first, but upon closer inspection, we found he had a deep, gaping cut in the "nasal fold," the little crack between his nostril and cheek. We called the advice nurse and she thought he might need stitches, so off we went around 9:30 PM to the after-hours clinic (Harrison's second time in 2 1/2 weeks). He wasn't happy at the thought of stitches, and worried that he'd look funny at school the next day, but we assured him that if he did get them, he could wear a bandage.

We didn't have to wait too long to be seen, considering how late it was. Once we were in an exam room and the doctor arrived, she decided that medical superglue would be just fine to help heal the wound. By then Harrison was fast asleep and didn't really care for being jolted awake by cold stinging alcohol cleaning the cut, followed by stinging superglue (why does it all have to sting?), but was happy about the "no stitches!" His face looks a little gloppy where the glue is, and it won't come off for the next 5 days or so, but we're so glad he didn't have to go through the trauma (and embarrassment) of stitches.

Hubby's Going to Mexico

Hubby will be off to Mexico City in a couple of days, to work at a golf tournament with his security company. He's leaving Thursday morning and will be back Monday night. He's excited to visit another country, try out his Spanish, and earn more $$. The great thing about the golf tournament trips is he can use his paid vacation time to take time off the other job, get paid to fly to the tournament, and make money on top of it. I've already warned him to not drink the water.

We will miss him, of course, and I worry about him being in Mexico. But he assures me he'll only be in two places: the golf course and the hotel. He'll probably be working 12- and 14-hour days. Sounds relatively safe, I guess. I'm not excited about doing the single parent thing but it's nothing we haven't done before. Everyone, please send prayers for his safe trip! Thanks.

The Virus, Phase II

Yes... you get to hear the blow-by-blow details of my cold/flu thing. Aren't you lucky!

I've moved beyond the "too weak to do anything and everything hurts" and "drooling and eye-watering" phase into the "take a shower, then pass out afterward" phase. This is accompanied by the "drainage and hacking cough" phase. It's an improvement, but the whole thing reminds me of the song in the musical "My Turn On Earth" called "Oppostion": "You've got to be sick to be grateful for your health, you've got to need money to appreciate wealth." Amen to that, on both.

I'm still loving the NyQuil liqui-gels. Pop a couple of those and it's smooth sailing. I might buy stock in that company after this.

Monday Morning Musings

I am dead... tired. I finally caught the big bug that everyone in the household had been passing around for the last two weeks. I spent all day in bed yesterday (thanks Hubby for taking care of everything) and slept most of the day, on and off. I really hope this is the end of it and I don't infect everyone with some new bug that we'll pass around and around and around again. But I have to say, NyQuil liqui-gels totally rock. I hate popping pills so the fact that I am singing praises to pills, tells you how gross I feel. Hubby was such a good daddy, he took four of the five kids to church. He had to teach the lesson in Elders' Quorum yesterday so there was no staying home for him.

On Saturday night, I spent a good three hours working on invitations to the Relief Society birthday party Enrichment Night on the 16th. It hit us Saturday morning, during my meeting with Sharon, Stephanie and Christi, that there were only two Sundays until Enrichment Night and we HAD to have invitations! I wish I had a PDA in my brain so I would think of these things a little SOONER! The whole thing's been kind of a mess, with the presidency changing, but that's no excuse. So there I was on Saturday night, making invites. They were pretty cute. I had Hubby take them to church so Christi could pass them out to the sisters. He helped me cut them out. Such a sweetie.

The meeting was a good time. We planned some fun, ongoing Enrichment Activities like sewing and walking and going out to Dairy Queen and stuff. I really like Stephanie, the new 2nd counselor in the RS presidency. She says she's only been to Enrichment Night five times in her whole life so this will be a fun new experience for her. It reminds me of when Claudia was put in on the Enrichment Committee and she told me she was getting a new calling... trying to help me guess what it was, she said, "What is the one thing in church that I hate?" Ha! It was Enrichment night. Seems like you either love it or hate it.

That's all my sick-ridden brain can think of for now... no crocheted blankets coming after anyone's fingers, no soccer or basketball, no wet chewed-on shirts, no Korn folks coming after Hubby. Just me feeling gross.... bleah...!!

No More Crocheted Blankets!

While I was at a meeting this morning, the family had a frightening experience with Rozzie and one of the crocheted blankets she sleeps with. She was in her crib crying, and when they checked on her, they found that she had wound part of her blanket around her little finger. It was so tight that she couldn't get it off and her finger was losing circulation. It was dark purple. Dad finally got it unwound and watched anxiously as her finger slowly came back to its normal color. What a huge relief. Rosalind won't be using those blankets anymore! We're so grateful her finger is OK and nothing worse happened.

Sports Stats 2

The kids played soccer and basketball last week too, but Harrison's stomach was still bothering him. He had to come home early from one of the games because he was in so much pain. The stats sort of flew out the window.

Harrison's soccer team didn't do well today, due mostly to a lackluster goalie (not Harrison) who, poor kid, couldn't really care less about being on the soccer team. Dad said any time the ball came his way, the kid hit the floor, afraid to get hit on the head. Boy, can I sympathize. He was scored on no less than seven times. The Strikers were able to score two goals, however.

Then it was basketball, which was a much better time. Harrison scored his first basket today, contributing to the winning score of 34-24. He was excited to score and did a great job in defense. We were impressed at his level of energy today, so much better than it was last week. He did really well.

About halfway through his game, Dad took Bella to the indoor soccer place for her game. She and her friend Samantha traded being goalie, and did so well that Dad said today they are the only two girls he trusts in that position. They lost by 1 point, after leading the game for some time. The team they lost to was a year older and had won the state championship for their age group the year before.

Meanwhile, Harrison and I took a walk over to Winco to get a snack while we waited for Dad and Bella to come back (we're doing the one-car shuffle) for her basketball game. We bought a deck of cards and played "go fish" in the lobby, expecting that any minute they would walk in and find us and we'd go watch Bella's game together. However, they didn't see us, and we didn't see them, and before I knew it, here they came, telling me that her game was now over and it was time to go home!

For basketball, Bella arrived in time to play in the second half. She played well, despite her complaints that the boys on her team won't pass to her. Fortunately this is the last year that the teams are co-ed. She played great defense and seems to be grasping the concepts of basketball. They won 27-24.

O Korn-y Night

Dad had a most interesting time working security at the Korn concert recently. I am most definitely not a Korn fan. Hubby doesn't care for them either, but the money is always nice and he knew he would have a memorable experience.

And did he ever! He knew there would be a fair amount of skinny, dirty, methed-up freaky people - that group was certainly present - but what he didn't expect were the beefy weight-lifting types. He figured that in some of the cheaper, smaller exercise clubs, this is the kind of music that is played on the stereo so the clientele can be more motivated to pump *clap* themselves up. So there they all were, some really big guys.

Long story short: Fights galore broke out. People were handcuffed. One big guy had five of the security guys hanging onto him for dear life. Our friend Charles pinned a guy and told him to "get on the ground!" The guy answered, "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" and knocked Charles on his butt. Another guy jumped over a wall onto a moving escalator to escape the security guys.

This was pretty awesome: a victim of one assault was able to help Hubby identify his attacker as a registered sex offender on parole, who was now breaking the law by engaging in criminal behavior (violent acts)- violating his parole. Hubby called the cops, and the next morning, off to jail this guy goes.

AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

The Strong Man

Yesterday I was driving around doing errands. We were headed for the store when, in the rear view mirror, I happened to notice 4-year-old Carter sitting in the back seat with no shirt on.

"Carter, put your shirt back on!"
"I can't. It's wet."
"Why is it wet?"
"Because I chewed it."
Whaaaa? What a weird kid.
"OK, well, we're going in the store in a minute and you have to put your shirt on."
"Why?"
"Because you can't walk around naked in the store!"
"I'm not walking around naked!" He flexed his little muscles. "I'm walking around STRONG!"

Temple Trip

Brennan is old enough now to go to the temple and do proxy baptisms for the dead. He's going today for the first time with the ward young men. We're all excited about it - probably me more than him. Understandably he's a little nervous.

When he goes today, he'll take twenty-two little blue cards, on which are printed the names of grandfathers, uncles and cousins. The Ackley family in particular will have three generations of men receiving their baptisms. I've come to love this family as I've researched their lives and tried to imagine what earth life must have been like for them. Henry and Martha Ackley died within two years of each other while in their thirties, leaving four young children to be raised by friends and relatives. Their little family had such a short time to be together here on earth, and to think that today, we are helping to facilitate their being a forever family, brings great joy to my heart.

I hope good things for Brennan today. I look forward (for him) to experiencing the beauty of the temple, the wonderful peaceful feelings, the newness of the experience, and an increased testimony of the holiness of our temples and the importance of work for the dead.

"How was your anniversary?"

We had an interesting anniversary celebration. First there was the car, which decided that today was the day to have the starter act up, so we drove around to Les Schwab and various other car places to figure out what was going on. It was now 6 PM and nothing else was open, but we did spend enough time inside Les Schwab to have the tire smell burned into our noses so bad, we could taste it. That took us to Burgerville for some dinner – I seriously wanted some onion rings to kill the tire taste, but apparently at Burgerville, onion rings are “seasonal” because they only use Walla Walla sweets. WHAT??? This is a burger joint! Where are the dang onion rings! Hubby was amused by my temper tantrum.

Following the Burgerville trauma, we went home. By now the kids had trashed the living room, so we made them pick it up before we left for our night on the town. First we headed to Target and bought the 2nd season of the TV show “Arrested Development” on DVD… it was on sale. Hooray! We love that show! The cats are suffering from a flea infestation (which means we soon will be, too) so we bought some flea collars and a new kitty brush, and a $2 green T-shirt for Bella. Then it was off to our favorite book joint, Barnes & Noble, where we had fun browsing and I bought a Mary Engelbreit magazine. Finally Winco, where we bought groceries and a Cyrus O’Leary chocolate cream pie for our anniversary dessert. We are tired out and ready to collapse. Ah, the joys of being married 14 years.

Bella's Night with the Portland Pilots

Last night, Bella had the opportunity to go play basketball with her team as a halftime show for a Portland Pilots game. Everyone met at a bus transit center here and carpooled to Portland. The kids got into the game free.

She said: "At first the Portland Pilots were behind 20 points, but then they pulled ahead and won. The score was 91-78. I had a good time watching the game - it was great. Sometimes the Pilots didn't do very well because the other team kept getting shots. But then, they were victorious! Sometimes during the game, when the other team fouled, the dudes from college (I think she means the students) would yell, "Boo You! Boo You!" and they kept chanting stuff. Nice. During the game, the coach pulled us out and made us go practice by the bathrooms. It felt cool to be playing out on the big court. It was a great, great game."

Green Eggs & Ham Breakfast

What do green eggs taste like? They taste, strangely enough, like regular scrambled eggs with just a hint of mint. Just kidding... all they did was throw in some green food coloring. We had an awesome time this morning celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with Harrison and the kids at school. Hubby even won a $25 gift certificate for food from a local restaurant (the one that provided breakfast)! Our friend Christi D also won one, so we joked that he and she could go on a date together and it would be free. What a lovely thought on your anniversary. *wink*

After we ate, we went back to class and the kids heard "Green Eggs and Ham," and each got to pick out a new book as a birthday gift. Our friend Kailyn D, who helps in class, told us that Harrison, when it was his turn to choose, seeing all the "little kid" books, he asked if there were any chapter books instead. Hubby whispered to me proudly, "That would be Big Sister's influence on him!"

It was a very enjoyable morning. We took lots of pictures of Harrison and his friends, his teacher, and other friends and ward members who attended with their kids.

Brennan and Homeschool

Today we added structured PE classes to Brennan's schedule, which he will attend at the community center down the block. Every Tuesday morning at 8:00, he will attend rock wall class, and Thursdays at 8:00 is swimming. He is very excited. Patti, our teacher/home school consultant we meet with weekly, is so awesome. Today I had to restrain myself from impulsively hugging her and telling her I love her - she's THAT encouraging and supportive. After all the years of hearing that Brennan isn't doing well at this or that, to have someone sit there and be so wonderful is very comforting and exciting at the same time. I did tell her that I appreciated all the great stuff she does for us. I probably worded it differently.

I told her that Brenna had been drawing lately, and that on President's Day we checked out a book for kids on drawing Utah's signs and symbols - seagulls, the state capitol, etc. Along with "serious" pictures, he drew a great picture of the capitol building being attacked by a flying saucer, with a chunk shot out of the side of the dome. It cracked me up. Patti suggested that Brennan should take a shoebox and decorate the sides, inside and out, with Utah stuff and make a little Utah box, and that each side could represent something different - geography, flora/fauna, art, history, food, natural resources, etc. That has me really excited. Gee, twist my arm. You want Brennan to make a Utah shoebox? I am SO there. We still have pangs of homesickness for Utah, especially Cache Valley.

The whole staff is completely great. I can't think of enough positive adjectives to describe these people. Just think of your favorite one and that's what I think of them. I used to think about homeschooling my kids and the number one thing I thought of was, I couldn't possibly do it. I wouldn't know enough, have enough resources, be able to keep him busy enough, but these people make you feel like your kid will be the next Nobel Prize winner with YOU as his teacher. No public school has ever made me feel like that.

I'm not knocking public school - Bella and Harrison are still doing well there and I love their teachers - but if it doesn't work, it just doesn't! Thankfully there are great homeschool programs out there now - I especially love that the school districts are involved. I talked to the mom of one of Harrison's classmates today and she said she'll be pulling her little boy out of public school too, because the kids at school have been picking on him and he's just miserable. This week is probably his last. Poor guy, he looked like he felt terrible - like he was just hanging on for dear life, emotionally. That's no way for a kid to learn. It's great that we don't HAVE to send our kids to school anymore if they're not doing well. We have great options. And that *sniff, weep* is why I love homeschool.

Harrison's Blessing

Harrison's stomach pains went on for over a week, including the weekend before Hubby took him to the doctor on the 20th. We watched what he ate and tried to monitor him so he didn't eat too much or eat things that we thought would bring on more pain. We kept giving him Mylanta liquid, which he hated, but took the pain away within 10 minutes. In between times, he was listless and cranky. It was hard to watch - we knew he didn't feel good, but we couldn't do a thing for him since the tests on Monday evening proved negative for anything wrong.

Finally on Sunday night, he had another attack and was in great pain. We finally thought to have Hubby give him a priesthood blessing. It was really amazing - he IMMEDIATELY calmed right down and went to sleep. He went to school yesterday and while he was tired from being awake during the night, he was perfectly fine. He slept through the night last night and is his old happy self today. The best thing is, we haven't heard the words "My tummy hurts" since his blessing, not one time... and we'd heard it about 3 times daily since Friday the 17th. We know blessings work! Hopefully next time, our poor kids won't have to wait 10 days before we think of it!

Happy Anniversary (Kind Of)

When I say "kind of," I mean that it's KIND OF our anniversary, not that it's KIND OF happy. Today Dad and I are celebrating fourteen years of wedded bliss. Since we were married on February 29, we've only had three actual anniversaries (and five kids - wow, we work fast). To celebrate, we went out to dinner Saturday night at Olive Garden (thanks Mom) and we had our usual stuff, and I had chocolate lasagna for dessert. I think I'll try making it sometime... so good. Dad had the black tie cheesecake, his favorite.

Today we'll attend Harrison's "Green Eggs and Ham" first grade breakfast at his school, and tonight we'll hang out, make something fun to eat and possibly go to Borders or Barnes & Noble for fun and maybe buy each other something. Vague enough for ya? It's fun having our anniversary every four years... it's definitely a conversation-starter. We figure right around midnight between February 28 and March 1, our little day is stuck in there somewhere.