First Day of School

Here are a few pictures of the girls this morning before they left for school. Thanks Greg for taking them! I love the first day of school. I always have. It almost has the same anticipation for me as Christmas. I love the new school clothes, backpacks, crayons, and pencils. I also love the excitement of meeting the teachers, and the clean slate so to speak that comes with the beginning of a school year.

The girls were great this morning as we headed off to school. They each took an apple to their teacher, and were excited to be on their way. When we got to the front doors of the school, Ellie saw a friend she went to preschool with, and asked if she could just go with her rather than having to walk to Becca's class, too. I couldn't bear to leave her, though, so we dropped her off first. She walked right in, found the spot for her backpack, found her desk, and was ready to go. No anxiety whatsoever.

Then, we went to Becca's class, where Becca handed her teacher the apple, and walked right past her while her teacher was still talking to her. I had to tell her to stop and listen because she was so mesmerized by the classroom she couldn't focus on what was happening right then.

I love Ellie's teacher, and Becca's seems great, too, so I was a happy mom letting my kiddos off on the first day of school.

By the way, if you look in the pictures you will notice Ellie's broken arm--the left wrist, fortunately, so she should still be able to write without a problem.

We Love A-Fair!

Here are a couple of pictures from the Davis County Fair. The girls had so much fun...they rode the ponies, saw a magician, "milked cows" went to the petting zoo, held a tarantula, got balloons from the clown, and had a ball with their cousins. Most of my pictures are still on my phone (the camera battery was too low) but here are a couple to give a brief idea of the day at the fair:

Becca was most looking forward to "Milking the Cows" at the fair this year. I wonder how she would like a trip to the farm where she could milk a real cow.

All three of the big girls held Rosemary, but Ellie was the only one who kept her long enough for me to take a picture. I was very impressed with their bravery.

Weekend Wonders

In the early hours of the morning (1:50 to be exact) I awoke when I heard Rachel crying. I got out of bed, and realized two things--first, that I was not hearing RACHEL cry, and second that whoever was crying was out on my front porch. I started walking toward the window and the sound grew extremely loud, and then stopped abruptly when I heard a huge thunk against the house that shook the windows. As I looked out the window a deer bounded out from under the porch, and I realized that the deer had been kicking a bobcat to a pulp. This morning I went out to check out the yard and found tufts of cat fur everywhere (I thought I had better check it out because it's not every night you get to watch the nature show in your front yard, and I wondered if I had just imagined the whole thing). Go Deer!

What a Week!

I need to start this post by thanking my mom and Greg for a WONDERFUL 9th anniversary. Yesterday, Greg took the day off work and took the family up to the zoo (a random anniversary tradition, but one we love). We had a great time, and the kids commented that it was "the best day ever," mostly because they knew that when we got back from the zoo they got to go to Grandma's house for a sleepover while Greg and I went up to the Homestead for our anniversary. Greg laughed at me because with no kids to get to bed, and nothing to wake me up, I crashed just after 9:00 last night, but in my opinion, nothing could have been more appreciated than a night of sleep. THANK YOU Mom and Greg for letting that happen.
My night of rest couldn't have come at a more opportune time, either. This week has been a wee bit crazy. It started out TUESDAY when I was at a Young Women's activity. I had a water party with my Beehives, and while everyone was enjoying a snow cone, Sarah got stung by a bee. Her screaming brought the party to an abrupt halt, and I gave Sarah some Benedryl and an ice pack and called it good. However, for the next 2 days, her leg was so tender and swollen it put that child in the WORST mood ever. During this same time frame, Rachel's front tooth (that has been trying to come in for about 3 months) finally broke through, causing her to be a little less than cheerful herself.
Then, with 2 ornery little girls, and a cancelled babysitter, I ended up taking all four kids to Becca's dentist appointment WEDNESDAY where she got to have a pulpotomy--also known as a juvenile root canal. Mmmm, wasn't that fun?! I can't complain, though. My girls ALL were great sports. The appointment was right during Rachel's nap time and she snuggled me through the whole procedure, and Ellie and Sarah watched Toy Story in the waiting room. Becca's only complaints were 1-she didn't really like having her mouth numb, and 2-she couldn't really see/hear Finding Nemo when the dentist was leaning over her face and talking to her.
THURSDAY as I said, was a wonderful day, and very refreshing, which is a great thing because today (FRIDAY) Ellie fell off of the monkey bars at Greg's parents' house and broke her wrist. Yes, this is the first broken bone for the Greather family, and we are just feeling lucky that assuming she keeps it in place, she only has to have a splint and wrap because it was a fairly minor break.
However, it does mean that she gets to attract even a little more attention than she normally would for the first three weeks of kindergarten!

Welcome Home, Greg!

So, the case of the missing cheese was just the tip of the iceberg this week. I don't know how my kids know when I am at my wits end, but they enjoy exploiting the fact. A few highlights of the past week without Greg include:
Monday: A futile hunt for the missing cheese, and a halfhearted attempt at cleaning/laundry.
Tuesday: The girls decided to play Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Rachel got diarrhea and desperately needed a bath in the morning, and while I was with her, the rest of the girls decided to make themselves breakfast. They climbed up on a bar stool and pulled out our giant Costco box of instant oatmeal, unloaded the dishwasher of every dish capable of holding liquid, including 8 bowls, 4 serving bowls, 11 glasses, 3 measuring cups, 4 tupperware containers and 19 paper cups, and emptied the entire box (minus three little packages) of oatmeal into the various containers. They then proceeded to fill each of the bowls to the top with water, and carried them throughout the house, sloshing the contents of each one as they went along. By the time I came downstairs, the entire main floor was covered with dried out, sticky oatmeal and it took me until late in the afternoon to get it cleaned up.
Wednesday: Rachel still had "the runs" and was not feeling too hot in the morning, so I spent some time trying to make her feel better. I thought the girls were behaving themselves until a neighbor called to see if she could come over. She has a one-year-old daughter, and only one car at the moment, so she was feeling a little cabin-feverish. I told her to come on over, and we could all play in the back yard together. Well, when she came over, Rachel had just had another "blow-out" diaper, so I told her to just go on out back and I would be right there. When I came to the back yard it looked like a natural disaster had struck. Apparently, the girls found a bag of trail mix. Well, I have the rule that you have to "take a handful, eat a handful" not just pick out the M&M's, but I guess the girls decided that it was just easier to "take a handful, eat the M&M's, and throw the nuts and raisins on the back porch. There was also a box of Capri Sun wrappers, and some random fruit snack wrappers that the girls decided to "hide" from me out there. In short, it looked a bit like the garbage dump--not to mention the fact that the lawn hadn't been mowed for a week and a half, so we were growing a forest of miniature aspen trees across the yard. I have to say I was quite embarassed, and the girls proved to be their less-than-angelic selves for the remainder of my friend's visit. They dipped sidewalk chalk in water and painted themselves with it, climbed around the yard like little Tarzan children, and basically paid no attention to any instructions I gave. Somehow, I doubt that I will be seeing much of this neighbor again--what do you think?
On the bright side, however, Greg's mom called and invited us all over for the afternoon. She took the girls while I went shopping and I was able to get some bananas and other BRAT diet staples for Rachel, and then she fed us dinner. I also FOUND THE CHEESE under the seat of the car when I went over. It wasn't edible, but at least it wasn't moldy, so I consider that to be a success. It was a WONDERFUL night!
Thursday: Thursday nights are set aside for Young Women's Activities, and this week was no exception. The schedule called for the combined YW activity to be held at our house this week, where we were supposed to be watching a movie outside in our backyard. Well, the house by this point in the week had seen better days, so I thought I would take a little time to mop the kitchen floor and scrub some toilets before the young women arrived. While I was mopping the floor, the phone rang, so I decided to walk upstairs while talking on the phone to make sure the girls weren't in trouble. It was a good thing I did. When I got to the top of the stairs I saw every towel, blanket, sheet, pillow, etc. that was supposed to be in my linen closet strewn down the hall. Sarah smelled to high-heaven of Vicks Vapo-Rub, Ellie was sucking down a packet of Emergen-C (vitamin C supplement) and Rachel had been taken out of her crib (she was supposed to be napping) and was happily sucking on an Alka-Seltzer. Yes, I got to call 1-800-222-1222 yet again. I told them that I didn't know how much she had eaten, but I was fairly certain it was less than one tablet. They told me to keep an eye on her, not let her nap, and to call back if she started throwing up.
Fortunately, she didn't throw up, but I will say that keeping a baby up during naptime and trying to get things cleaned up was not my favorite way to spend the afternoon.
The girls were pretty well behaved after their foray into the medicine cabinet, but I was more than happy to inform them that when
1-Grandpa Welling called to say that the pool was nice and warm that they couldn't go,
2-Aunt Heather called to see if we wanted to go to Tracy Aviary that they couldn't go and
3-The neighbors called to see if the girls wanted to play water games in their back yard that they couldn't go because we had to stay close to home in case Rachel threw up.

Well, the girls stayed up past 11:00 on Thursday (I knew they would) because of the movie, but they still woke up at what Greg likes to call the "butt-crack" of dawn. They were less than sweet spirited on Friday morning, but knowing that the day would bring their daddy home kept their spirits higher than they had been during the week.
A bout of rain spoiled our plans to go to the zoo, but the girls were just as pleased to see Greg, and I will agree. It has been a wonderful 24 hours having him home.

Case of the Missing Cheese

Last night we went to my niece's birthday party where we enjoyed a yummy taco bar. I was in charge of bringing cheese, so I brought my Costco 10 pound bag. I stuck the whole thing in a collapsible cooler, and I was even careful to remember to bring it home. I know it was in the car, and I am 99 percent certain I brought it inside when I was bringing the kids in, but I have not been able to find it. I looked everywhere last night after I put the kids in bed, then looked again this morning (to save my sanity rather than the cheese at this point) but I STILL can't find it ANYWHERE! So, I will keep you posted, but I don't think it is a very good sign when on the first day that Greg is out of town I lose a 10 lb. bag of cheese...

The Fam

The girls and I decided to make a "family picture." I know their selections for themselves will be shocking, but try to contain your surprise!

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Poor Kitty!

This morning I was typing up some of my grandma's recipes (I am trying to get them all typed up by Christmas) and Ellie and Sarah were playing "kitty" outside Greg's office. I kept trying to listen to the two of them as I was typing to make sure they didn't get in any trouble, and overheard the following conversation.
Ellie: Here baby kitty. Come see Mama kitty.
Sarah: Meow.
Ellie: Here kitty. I got you a nice bowl of milk.
Sarah: (slurping sounds followed by a cough)
Ellie: Oh, Poor Kitty! You coughed up a hairball! Come see Mama kitty, and I'll make it all better.

My question is, how does Ellie even know what a hairball is? We have no cats, Greg's parents' cat stays away from the kids, and I am not really a 'cat person' so I rarely discuss cats with my kids, and never have I brought up HAIRBALLS!

Only Ellie could think that one up mid game!

100 Best Books for Children

I received a list of the "100 best books for children" with instructions to bold the ones I had read, so I thought i would share the list for anyone interested. I personally think there are way too many excellent books to claim that these are the "best," but they are great books (Although I am not personally a fan of "I love you forever"--it kind of creeps me out)
But regardless, ENJOY! (I know I will be reading the few that are not in bold soon enough!)

Books for all ages

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Where the Sidewalk Ends: by Shel Silverstein
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Books for Preschoolers

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Corduroy by Don Freeman
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault
The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

Books for Children Ages 9-12

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
The BFG by Roald Dahl
The Giver by Lois Lowry
James and the Giant Peach: A Children's Story by Roald Dahl
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Laura Ingalls Wilder Webquest
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Books for Young Adults -

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

I decided this week to make every day a "staycation." We started out the week with a trip to the park, went to the zoo and McDonald's (a rare treat around here) played in the kiddie pool, rode bikes/scooters, went to the canyon, had picnics, and just enjoyed some good-old summertime fun. We had so much fun everywhere we went, but the zoo had to be my favorite. We got to ride on the new carousel and the train, and the tiger was just admitted into his play area while we were there, so we got to see him play in the water, and when my niece tapped on the glass, he walked right up to the glass and looked at us as curiously as we were looking at him. I think that the pictures speak louder than words, though, so here are some fun pics of the last few days.

Clean up!

I appologize for my lack of posting. This summer has been fun, but a little on the boring side for anyone reading, but this morning we did have one amusing event.
Becca went to day camp this morning and Ellie is playing at a cousin's house, leaving Sarah alone with me while Rachel took a nap. She was a little disappointed to be left alone while her sisters got to go play, so I told her that we would have a mommy-daughter date while her sisters were gone.
The first item on our agenda was to play play-doh. I got out our giant tub of dough/toys, and Sarah promptly informed me that I should dump them out in front of her so she could see all of her options. I did as I was asked, and she played happily with the play-doh while I picked up the kitchen. When she was finished playing, she climbed down from her bar stool and I told her that she needed to pick up the play-doh toys before she could do something else. She looked at me incredulously, and responded without missing a beat, "But Mom, YOU are the one who dumped them all out."
She graciously helped me clean up "my mess," so we could watch Snow White together, but I am still laughing at the look in her eyes when I presumptuously asked her to clean up a mess she didn't make :)

Becca's Birthday, Swimming with Sarah, and Santa's Shower

Well, we have had a fun-filled week. Becca enjoyed having the family over for Sunday dinner for her birthday, and then got to have a sleep-over with her eleven-year-old cousin, Brynn!! I went all out with hamburgers, hot dogs and a Costco birthday cake, so it was a pretty easy thing for me. Monday I decided to take Brynn swimming. We arrived at the pool just after my mom, and started putting on the sunscreen/life jackets. My mom needed to make a phone call, and I had just put Ellie's life jacket on and went to grab Sarah's, when I heard Becca say "Stand up, Sarah."
I turned around and saw Sarah standing on the bottom of the pool. The top of her head was showing, but she couldn't get her face out of the water.
I jumped right in and pulled a rather frightened little girl out, and reminded her that this was why she should never get in the pool without me saying it was OK.
Although she was a little gun-shy to get back in the water for the first few minutes, she warmed right up to the idea, and we had a good time.
My favorite thing that has happened though, was when we went to my mom's house the other day. I just had to run something inside, so I left the kids in the car (which was parked in the driveway). When I came back (about 30 seconds later) the girls were in a heated argument. I asked what was the matter, and learned that they were trying to decide if this:

was a miniature barn used for housing the local livestock, or a shower for Santa Claus. I didn't have the heart to tell them that it was used for tools and fertilizer, so instead I just told them that unless they could see inside, they could both think that they were right.

The Snipe Hunt

Well, last week was Girls Camp, and I think the highlight for me was our Snipe hunt. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. About 5-10 years ago, there was a young woman in our ward who got so scared on a snipe hunt that she wet her pants. Therefore, snipe hunts have been taboo in our ward for a long time. However, we decided to lift the ban and have ourselves a grand old time. We especially enjoyed the fact that only a handful of girls knew what a snipe hunt is.
We began our adventure by giving all of the girls a handful of peanuts to sprinkle out in a field near the cabin. We told them that snipes LOVE peanuts, and would be drawn to the scent. Then, when the time for the hunt drew near, the girls painted themselves with peanut butter to mask their own scent and to again, draw the snipes out.
Amazingly, there was a bird-call book at the cabin which had a woodland snipe, complete with bird-call. So we spent the afternoon before the snipe hunt teaching the girls the call of the "Uintah Snipe" in order to lure the cute little creatures (a cross between a quail and a chipmunk) out into the open.
We also told the girls that the birds would be blinded by any flashlights, due to their nocturnal nature, and so they shouldn't have any lights on.
I had an armadillo puppet, and while the girls were out in the middle of the field, crouched low, waving their peanut butter-streaked wrists about, holding pillow cases to catch the snipes, and cawing at the top of their lungs, I put the puppet on my hand, cradled it close to my body, and told the girls they could touch it, but to be very quiet because the poor little snipe was "shaking like crazy," it was so nervous.
After I had caught a couple, we decided to go back to the campfire for s'mores, but half of the girls opted out of the sweet treat in favor of more hunting.
On the final morning, I let all the girls in on the secret, telling them about our puppet-snipe, and made them promise to keep the tradition alive with the incoming beehives.
Sadly, I don't know if that will ever happen again, though, because Sunday in her talk, one of the "believers" told the story in Sacrament meeting.....I guess I'll just have to hope that nobody was listening!

Halloween Preview

For whatever reason, San Francisco is officially the place that Greg chooses to go berserk when it comes to souvenirs. Fortunately he has only been to San Fran a couple of times, but he does bring back fun things each time. This time when he returned (and what I was hoping to post about on Saturday instead of out medical fiasco) was a set of darling little dresses and matching shoes for the girls from China Town. So, assuming I can find something for Rachel to wear, it is quite probable that Greg has picked up this year's Halloween costumes for me, and here is the sneak preview:

Kid-Logic

We just got back from swimming, and I told the kids that they could just put on their PJ's to warm up, even though it isn't bed-time yet. I really don't care what combination of pajamas the girls put on at night, but I couldn't help but laugh when Becca explained the reason her pajamas "matched." For those out there who may beg to differ, the reason (according to Becca) this outfit works is as follows:
These pants are Hello Kitty pants, and I have a Hello Kitty coloring book. And in my Hello Kitty coloring book there is a picture of Hello Kitty working in the garden, and this shirt has pictures of the same things that Hello Kitty was working on in her garden.

No News is Good News

I have to say that right now, no news would be good news, but here I am posting, and sadly, it isn't "good news."
This is a picture of Rachel fast asleep in my arms between bags of saline at Insta-Care. Yes, we had a lovely foray into the medical field today when Sarah decided to "wash Rachel's hair" with some Resolve carpet cleaner.
Apparently the pH of the solution is 12, and it was less than pleasant to have in the eyes. We called Poison Control (1-800-222-1222... yes, I have it memorized) and they had us flush her eyes with water for 15 minutes. I did, and then had to go to a bridal shower, and assumed all would be well when I got home; however, it was not to be. Her eyes were still tearing up and irritated, so I called Poison Control back and was told that I should take her down to Insta-Care.
I have to say that I was really impressed with the service we received down there. They got us in shortly after we filled out the paper work, and they were very thorough in their exams. We got to put 2 liters of saline in her eyes over the course of two hours, with the ever fun litmus-paper test right in her eyes after every 500 ml. I took the picture above between the first and second applications. Rachel screamed the entire time her eyes were irrigated (it took two nurses to hold her down while I pried her eyes open and another nurse hosed her down), but she would fall asleep immediately after each procedure.
Right now, she is sleeping soundly, which is a good sign, and hopefully we will not have to make the midnight trek back to Insta-Care tonight!

Livin' the dream

My morning started bright and early this morning at 4:00 when Greg's alarm went off. He had to leave at 4:30 for San Francisco, so I tried to keep him semi-coherent company before he left. When he was gone; however, I did not see any pressing need to get out of bed, and decided to grab a few winks before the kids woke up. Within seconds I was asleep and dreaming that I was on a road trip, with Rachel screaming. I pulled the car over in my dream and tried to console her to no avail. It felt like she was crying forever in my dream, and it continued into my waking, as I drifted back into consciousness.
I got up, changed her pants, and sent her back to bed when I realized it was only 4:45, and she probably woke up right as Greg left. Still exhausted, I climbed back in bed once more (we were up late packing the night before, and I only had about an hour of sleep the previous night) only to have Rachel wake up again shortly after 5:00. I put her back in bed at 5:18 (I looked at my watch), climbed back in bed, and Sarah woke up, distraught, at 5:30. I climbed in her bed and rubbed her back until she fell asleep, took a couple of Tylenol for the headache that somehow crept into my brain, and gave up on the idea of sleeping in.
By 9:00 my headache had subsided, and since I already had a babysitter lined up, I went to the temple... and let's just say it was a miracle I didn't fall asleep during the session!

Let Summer Begin!

We kicked off summer vacation this weekend with a little bit of 'the good life.' On Friday after school, we had some friends over for a bubble/water party. The weather was a little too cool for the kiddie pool, but they had fun with squirt guns, scented bubbles, and popsicles.
On Saturday, Greg and Grandpa took Becca and Ellie fishing while I stayed home with Sarah and Rachel. Everyone had a great time, too. There wasn't much success with the fishing, but everyone enjoyed relaxing in the boat, and the girls were in heaven holding the fishing poles.
Sarah felt a little bummed that the older girls left without her, but when her cousin Jake arrived, she was thrilled beyond words. He let her watch him play with his game boy, colored pictures with her and then they laughed their heads off at a game on the Wii where you have to pick a giant nose.

Peanuts & Ice Cold Rootbeer

This past week I have been trying to get some spring cleaning done, but it has been harder than I thought because my sweet darlings had other plans for the house. It started on Thursday when I was deep-cleaning the upstairs bathrooms. My girls and two of their friends came up looking like little snow-people because they had gone "swimming" in packing peanuts. As I looked behind them, I think that it was more like a triathlon because they took those peanuts all over the house.
It took me the better part of the morning to get them and the house de-peanuted. Then, on Friday I decided to continue my quest by tackling the basement. When I came up to get the girls lunch, I discovered that they couldn't wait and tried to get some root beer and a snack by using the side compartments on the fridge as a ladder, breaking three drawers in the process. Naturally neither one would admit to being the instigator, so I made them both sit on the ground next to me while I cleaned up the mess, called for replacement parts, and cleaned out the fridge. Finally, Sarah admitted that she was the culprit, and apologized to Ellie who previously stated that it was "the worst day of her life." However, when she got to go watch a show all by herself while Sarah continued to sit by me, she felt a little bit better. The good news is, I was putting off cleaning out the fridge because I have found that the girls always need something "urgent" as soon as I get everything out on the counter and when they were both sitting there with their arms folded I was able to get everything spic-and-span without worrying about what was going on elsewhere in the house :)

Ha Ha!

This morning was a great one for funny comments. It started out with a conversation Greg and I had. We were discussing a young man we know who is a great person, but I recently had a conversation with his mom about how expensive it has been around their house because he has been trying to be "helpful" with a few projects out of his league. Greg asked me what he wanted to do (career wise), and I responded "cause trouble" in jest. Greg looked at me with a most quizzical look and said, "He wants to be a constable?"

Then, at breakfast, Greg asked Sarah to say the prayer. We have been having some difficulty teaching our kids what needs to be said at different prayers, and lately have spent a lot of time reviewing the fact that we tell Heavenly Father that we are grateful for the food, and ask His blessing on it. So, after asking Sarah to please say the blessing, he reminded her to "say what you're supposed to."
We all bowed our heads, and Sarah gave this prayer: "Heavenly Father, you're supposed to" and closed her prayer.
Yep, it looks like we have a few more family night lessons just waiting to be given.