Marshmallow Pie

Jill switched to sitting in the back of the van on Tuesday and she no longer uses a lid on her sippy cup. Both milestones happened on the same day!

Jane gave the cutest prayer yesterday. It involved a marshmallow (which the kids earned for getting morning routine done) and explaining she wanted to wait to eat it but mommy told her to and requested a future dessert with it. Soon I realized she was thinking of a past Family Home Evening lesson on patience.

Emma has enjoyed playing with my old She-ra dolls after watching some of the old cartoons.

Abby and Allen learned in their survival class that they could find edible plants to survive and cooked one up and ate it. Abby braided leaves from a cat tail. Both kids have state testing all this week. Allen told us he wrote a 5 paragraph essay on bugs.

Andrea just hit 14,000 arbitrated names on familysearch indexing! I was at about 6,000 last fall.

Tonight Ross and I are going out to dinner with another couple in the ward. The man teaches our Sunday School class at church and is also an attorney. He wanted to talk to Ross about the 9th Circuit and invited to us out to dinner. Nice to have a Thursday date this week.

Tsk, Tsk

Last night the beehives (girls ages 12 and 13 I teach at church) met for "The Game of Life". (We had 17 beehives attend--good thing we have a second beehive advisor now!) We had four stations to help them learn more about working and money--

Station One: 7 Effective habits of teens

Station Two: Getting a job / ideas / making business cards

Station Three: How to handle money -- saving and budgeting

Station Four: Game of Life card game

I taught a fifteen-minute station about the basics of handling money. I told the girls to remember TSK: tithing first, save now / enjoy later, and keep a record. We went through each letter and discussed good habits and ideas. We practiced filling out a real tithing slip. At the end we were playing a hands-on game with dice and a log to practice writing down expenses (according to what they rolled -- the color one is if they earned or had an expense and the number was the amount of dollars), calculating tithing and setting a goal to pay for my handout at the end. Here is my handout and Ross was the one that came up with TSK. Being memorble I kept it!

As I gave them the handout, and before they moved onto the next station I said something like this: "When you get a PAY DAY, remember to pay your tithing first. Then save (pay yourself next -- and make a goal to what you want to buy. Ususually if you wait and work toward something it either becomes unimportant or more important--good test to see if something is worth buying) NOW so you can enjoy something LATER. Be sure to keep a record because that's what SMARTIES do! :)

An Oval Around the U.S.

Yesterday Abby completed her ancestor quilt square. She wanted to make flags for all the places her ancestors came from and then she did state flags for her and her parents' birthplace.

Ross's "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" Family Home Evening was interactive. Each person was given a map and drew circles at all the church history sites, using the pioneers as an example of how they have to move a lot even though they didn't really want to, and Heavenly Father was mindful of them. They were obedient and served Him.   Then we switched pen colors and mapped out sites our family started and has lived. We've joked we have circled the U.S., but it looks more like an oval :)  Much like the hymn's chorus "...I'll go where you want me to dear Lord, over mountain or plain or sea... I'll be what you want me to be," This hymn was sung at stake conference on Sunday and I couldn't help but think of our family and how our moving plans are up to the Lord. Anything could work out--just depends where He wants us to serve. We've lived by moutains, in the plains or by the sea! We told the kids they were so fornuate to live in so many places. We watched this video at the end of Ross's lesson.

Maidu Grinding Stones

Yesterday afternoon we took a walk behind Holiday Inn, going down in the ravine near a river. We found a grinding stone Indians used to use. We like Sunday walks as a family. And, I have to point out, that Abby is wearing a dress I modeled at a school fashion show when I was her age.

Consensus of Sunday Schedule

Schedule for today (and we discussed and wrote it as a family over breakfast of stake conference cakes and cereal): 10-12 church, 12:30 lunch / rest, 1:30 visit from primary leaders, family reading time, 3:30 walk, dinner, game and bedtime.

Just finished writing in 6 journals. Now off to pack a bag to get us through stake conference.

Smiley Jill at the Library

Here are some pictures from Friday's storytime and Thursday's pack meeting:

Allen earned a marbles belt loop. Last time to wear his bear uniform.

Garage Camping, Teal Dress, and Royer Park

Due to rain the father-son campout was moved to the garage and Abby was invited. We had s'mores and visited. Ross stayed with these two and I went inside to sleep, just in case other three woke.

In the morning I spruced Abby up, took her with me to a dentist cleaning appointment (she got lots of compliments and she got kind of shy with each one),  and then to Target for her picture appointment and to pick out birthday presents. Her birthday is almost a month away, but the next few Saturdays are going to be really busy. It's just early planning on my part as I anticipate a hectic schedule. Here's a few shots from my computer screens--ones I didn't buy, but gives you an idea of what's to come. I forgot to snap one of her with my phone before she changed.

This afternoon we stopped at the library, did errands (dry cleaning ties, washed van) and enjoyed a lunch date from Carolina's while the kids played at Royer Park.

We've been working on reservations this summer and are excited about two family reunions -- one in a cabin in the mountains and one at a beach resort. It's gonna be fun!!

Tonight is Stake Conference. I'm going to go and take notes and report to Ross over chips 'n guac and a game of Wheel on the computer.

List of Things Today

Today's to-do list: Kids are going to scooter to school. Miss Karen at the library (fieldtrip). Straighten the floors (Friday floors) to vacuum. Play with three girls (file folder games) and read stories. Pack a bag for Allen--tonight is the father-son campout. Prepare Abby for her Target picture tomorrow and decide on a hairstyle. Think more about Doc (because I finished it yesterday and loved it!). Make a dinner plan. Finish the April Ensign. Clean off desk.

Sunbathing Track Go-ers

The girls were out in the backyard playing and I was listening to them from upstairs and then... all was quiet. When I looked out the window I saw three girls lying in the sun. I had to go downstairs to take a picture.

After picking up the kids from their after-school survival class, we drove to Antelope to attend a track meet where three of my beehives were participating. We got there later than I had hoped (with the phone map and GPS I still got lost twice), but it was still fun to see them and a few events. The kids were excited to be there and I felt pretty brave for taking them all. When we got home the kids were playing "track" (running and jumping over boxes) before a burrito dinner.

Pigtail Smiles

Yesterday Abby noted how cute her sisters were yesterday, especially Emma who was sitting by the van door, with their pigtails and smiles. I took a picture of my cute van passengers who help me get two other kids to school and I also took Jane and Jill sitting side-by-side on the recliner. They were watching Daniel Tiger together while I got a phone call from Arkansas (from Annette and my parents) to look up specific directions to the Parley P. Pratt grave site.

Second Medallion

For Family Home Evening we got out the quilt t-shirt blanket and talked about the restoration using imaginery cups, teaching how Christ built His church and how it's been rebuilt today, using the same organization. We sang "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ" and Emma bore her testimony about the true church before leading a game of Hide-and-Seek.

Tonight is Young Women in Excellence, meaning we dress up and go to a special meeting when talks are said and awards are given out. Last year I was earning my medallion and I was one of the speakers, but missed it because I was in the ER with a hurting appendix. From last April until now I started the Personal Progress program again and completed it (not only the leader requirements this time, but the full requirements the girls do--6 experiences in each of the 8 values and 8 ten-hour projects) to earn a second medallion. Also, within the year I also completed 40 addtional hours (for my service I did indexing/arbitrating) and read the Book of Mormon for the second time to earn the Honor Bee pin.

Just for my record, here is a list of my 8 completd projects:
Faith -- read full Old Testament
Divine Nature -- improving role as mother (praise, routine, up early, parenting book)
Individual Worth -- studied Ross's patriarchal blessing, wrote in his journal for 6 months
Knowledge -- read "Preach My Gospel"
Choice & Accountability -- arbitrate 4,000 names
Good Works -- giving rides to YW, making ornaments
Integrity -- memorized Family Proclamation
Virtue-- read the Book of Mormon

I didn't record projects from last year on the blog, but from memory the projects I did--joining the ward choir, memorizing the Living Christ, memorizing my patriarchal blessing, starting a music group for kids, learning how to use my new insulin pump, studying General Conference talks, and starting a new exercise routine and class (Zumba). 

The Personal Progress program is awesome. I'm excited to do the program again with each of my girls. It's a wonderful way to improve oneself!

Secret Assembly

This afternoon I'm popping over to the school (with the three girls) to see an assembly where Abby will be getting an award, She was chosen as a one of the monthly student who shows "caring". She doesn't know I'm coming. Suprise! This was part of an email from her teacher: Each month of the school year we will be celebrating kids that are role models and show us exceptional behaviors.  This month we are honoring the kids who are showing good citizenship. Abby is one of those special kids in Room 17.  She listens to others and waits her turn. Thanks you for your great kid! She is a blessing to all of us in Room 17. -Mrs. O

Allen's Birthday Pictures

Saturday: Allen had fun with his friends. They were picked up, got food at Burger King, ate dinner, had a water fight in the backyard, did X-Box, cake/ice cream/root beer floats and presents, laser tag, and then home.

Sunday: We had more donuts for breakfast (ten candles in one donut-haha!), he opened gifts (army vest, toy grenades, spy glasses, Brainquest question cards, Easy button, lock-and-key diary), he was sung to at primary, had Reese's butter cups (his friends took home KING sized candy bars to go along with the theme) light-up balloons, more cake and, by request, stroganoff for dinner. Allen also read us trivia from BrainQuest as we had cake. Geography questions rock especially when we got California and Texas questions and you've been to the places as a family.