St. Patrick's Day Jollies

This year Sophie gave a lot of input on how the Leprechaun trap should be constructed.  We decided as a family that if we used duct tape and turned it sticky side up that the wee green fellow might step on it and get, well, stuck.  Sophie, who loves hotels passionately now that we have been on a few family trips, decided that a hotel was just the thing to lure in our leprechaun.  She made a Hotel sign and we posted enticing banners reading "soft beds" and "free breakfast" to draw him in.

Sadly he thwarted our efforts AGAIN!  So disappointing.  But we were easily distracted by all the mischief he left behind: unscrewed light bulbs in the dining room, Sophie's and Rhys' clothes hanging in each other's closets instead of their own, green milk and oatmeal, the car was parked sideways in the driveway, rainbow paper chains in the living room and coloring book pages colored green, and messages on their bathroom mirror. Craziness we tell you!

Keri puts a few drops of green food coloring in the bottom of their cups the night before so that when she pours the white milk in front of them they are in awe of the green results.

Both wore a bit 'o green to church that day and happily no one was pinched.

Maybe next year we'll be lucky!

Grandma Visits During Spring Break

Keri and the family were very happy to have Judy, Keri's mom, come out to visit for two weeks, one of which was Spring Break for the kids.  We enjoyed some great weather and made it out to the zoo by train. It sure wore out the kids.  We saw some large turtles for the first time.  That was awesome.  And two zebras "horsing around." We packed lunch and stayed until it got warm and the kids were done.

We also made it to an activity provided by a local library.  The kids were let loose in a taped off parking lot and given sidewalk chalk galore and bubble juice aplenty.  Sophie made a huge bubble with a rope wand.

 We also had a great Family Home Evening playing at the park using one of the Christmas gifts from Oma and Opa--the giant inflatable Giga Ball!

Grandma took the kids on walks, read to them, made origami creations for them, and kept them pleased with a steady supply of treats during her visit.

After the kids went back to school, Keri and her mom spent more time shopping, chatting, and just enjoying each other's company.  We also got Mom hooked on "The Big Bang Theory" series as we had borrowed previous seasons and watched many episodes while she was here.

Allen Eagle Run 2013

As Healthy Lifestyles Chair for our school's PTA, I have been promoting the Allen Eagle Run 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run for a couple of months.  Our school had no more than 72 at this event in years past.  The principal and I decided to keep our goal high at 100 participants for this school year.  We have about 650 children enrolled.

With lots of committee meetings, promoting, and help from school staff, our numbers improved! We had 121 participants this year, despite the chilly race day weather!  It was in the low 30s with windchill bringing it down a bit further. 

Opa and Oma joined in the fun with us that morning and we all looked like champs as we made our way across the finish line on the stadium field. The fun run was, well, fun.  And we felt even more wonderful eating yummy breakfast food afterwards at Cafe Brazil.  Thanks for treating us, Oma and Opa!

This, That, and Quirks

We love Dr. Lisi's dental office!  They are so great with the kids and tell the kids what is going on during their treatments in terms they can understand and appreciate.  Look at the cool shades they get to wear when laying back in the chair.

This is what happens to Daddy when the kids get stickers in their Valentine's bags. He makes one awesome canvas.

Sophie and I went on a Mommy/Daughter date recently and saw The Wizard of Oz at the high school.  Her babysitter starred as Dorothy.  Those kids are totally hooked up at the performing arts center.  They had flying monkeys and a trap door that drops down so the witch really appeared to melt.  Sophie did great but let mom know "It was a little long for me."  Honestly, I think she was being very generous as an energetic, curious kid because it was long for me as an adult.  They got started late, the show was long, and the intermission was very ample. But they did a great job!

I had Sophie running in an area away from most everyone during the intermission but we still ran into lots of friends and acquaintances from church, my neighbors, and our friends, the Sedgley's, who snuck us back stage to see the massive floor plan of the performing arts center.  While there, Glenda, the good witch, was kind enough to let Sophie and I have a photo op.  How great is that!

In other adventures, I have been crazy-busy with life and promoting the Allen Eagle Run for weeks but last week I got to volunteer a good part of two days stuffing bags with race shirts and goodies, attaching safety pins to race bibs, and sorting bags alphabetically.  But I loved it!  It always feels good to be useful and Rhys was such a good kid.  He entertained himself for the most part and indulged in candy and cookies.

Oh, a couple weeks ago Neal was sick and I was trying to get the kids ready and to church on time and failing badly in the process.  I was yelling, and making stern faces, and stomping around finishing up business. Then on the way there, Sophie alerted me that she had forgotten the talk she was suppose to give in the children's Primary, at home.  That did it! All sorts of ugly behavior came out of me as I returned home, stormed in and out, and sat in the car. 

This is when the Lord's tender mercy was granted to me, a very undeserving child myself.  My son simply said the best he could, "Try again, Mommy?  Try again?"  That sweet voice made me stop and realize what I had done and that I needed to repent and ask forgiveness of both my children and my Heavenly Father.  I was humbled and loved.  I thought of Proverbs 15:1, "A soft answer turneth away wrath." I was proud that Rhys recognized that Mommy had offended the Spirit and needed a gentle reminder to change my current path and invite Him back into our family circle.  I told them I was having a tantrum, that I was so sorry, and that I loved them.  My children were quick to forgive.  It was a great moment of learning for me.

What else has happened lately?  Last year we made a big deal about the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering.  Well, like clock work, Sophie says less than a week before the event, I want to go do "Cowboy Day" again.  Well, we did not make a big deal over it this year but we did make our way over to the Sam Bass Day celebration.  On this day we have a bit of fun acknowledging Sam Bass, the first outlaw to successfully rob a train in TX.  It is the city of Allen's claim to fame. 

Anyway, we got to watch the reenactment of the robbery thanks to the high school performing arts students.  Here is Sophie with one of the "bandits", Ashley, one of the fine young women of our church.

This one is so cute! The kids were given balloons by us on Valentine's Day.  They were warned about the skylight in the kitchen and that it was too high for us to even reach if their balloons went up there.  After a few days, Sophie's balloon made it's way up there and she was in tears for a bit.

Her little brother came to the rescue, dragging in the trampoline and jumping with his might so he could try and reach it!  Completely adorable!  In the end Daddy, held Sophie high above him while standing on a tall step stool (not recommended) and they managed to get it down without any broken bones.

For Dr. Suess' birthday, children and staff at our kid's elementary school were invited to dress up as their favorite character or author.  With some discussion we decided Clifford would be pretty easy to do, but alas, it was Sunday, and we do not shop on the sabbath so we were not going to run out for red felt to make ears.  We ended up with something pretty cool!  We used the paper bag from the 50 pounds of rolled oats we purchased* and a tiara, a bit of hair ratting, and a few smudges of black eye liner on her face and WHA-LA! We had The Paper Bag Princess!  One of my favorite books anyway!  We got a picture with Mrs. Coroneos, her teacher, dressed as a Native American (which tied into a book she read them that day), and our principal thought Sophie was so adorable she had to get a picture of her on her phone.

*GASP! Yes, 50 pounds! We have been bulking up our food storage with beans, wheat, sugar, and oats.  I am honestly feeling a bit giddy about it all!  Security is super important to me.  Already made PB and J oatmeal and my favorite Coconut Blackberry Oatmeal Bake with it! GIDDY!

Other stuff, let's see...Ah yes, a few weeks back when I was pretty sick, I was laying on the bed when Sophie did THE NICEST THING for me!  Don't get me wrong--she picks me the occasional dandelion and empties the compost bucket when asked, but this was just so kind.  I heard noise around me but didn't realize until she had come to me that she had gone into my bathroom to get my glass, walked to the kitchen to fill it with filtered water, and then, get this, she put a bendy straw in it so I could drink it while laying down.  She is 5, energetic, and interested in everything that is happening around her that I was so impressed that she stopped to do this for me.  Love this girl!

Sophie has also stopped requesting Silent Night as her bedtime song and now asks for us to "Soft Kitty" which our family knows from TV show, The Big Bang Theory.

Soft kitty, warm kitty
Little ball of fur,
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty
Purr, purr, purr.

It's a sweet, little song, and a seriously funny show about geeks but not something I would want my kid to pick up too much more from.  So Neal and I have more aware of what we are viewing when the kids are around.

Rhys and Sophie have been fighting over who gets to use the purple cup, bowl, plate, whatever, lately so we have been doing our best to avoid pulling those out of the cupboard at meal time.  Really?! Yes! So irritating.

And speaking of color, our son has been quite adamant about wearing one of Sophie's very pink hats--to the store, to the school to pick up his sister, etc.  Well, it's not that big a deal because we don't think that it will affect who he is as a human being but apparently it was a big enough deal to both Neal and I that we went out of our way to find him a more gender appropriate hat.  We think he just oozes magnetism in his new hat!

Rhys also announces, "I help you, Mommy!" anytime he hears me puttering in the kitchen.  It doesn't matter if I'm making oatmeal, orange juice from concentrate, or popcorn.  It does, however, matter if my noise comes from the clinking of silverware.  If I am doing dishes that kitchen is a ghost town, just me and the tumbleweeds. 

Rhys loves to watch, help pour, stir, and run things to the trash and recycle bin, and today, he decided he wanted to crack the eggs. I let him albeit with a lot of parental help.  I love having him there but not always when I am trying to get dinner completed and it's a new recipe I'm not comfortable with. He is the sweetest sous chef.

Also about Rhys--we have found that boy up on his dresser, the kitchen island, the coffee table (which is on hidden wheels!), bathroom counters, and so forth. I am really hoping he will miraculously and suddenly heed our counsel and that it won't take a busted skull to make him stop.

Dirty Fingernails

We got the garden started this weekend!  We finally disturbed our unloved compost pile and gave it a real mixing.  We prepped the containers and found worms in most of them--a good sign of healthy soil.  We planted 3-4 types of lettuce, spinach, kale, bok choy, peas (sugar snap and English), carrots, radishes, and brussel sprouts.  Then we covered them with temporary netting so our adorable cat doesn't use the containers as his potty!  Hooray for all (but the cat)!

We really love the idea of a garden and getting it going.  Then the very hot summer months come and we really love the idea of our air conditioning and do just enough out in the garden so it almost survives.  Almost.  Here's to cooler summers!

Previous Quote of the Blog

Brothers and sisters, this joyful season brings to all of us a measure of happiness that corresponds to the degree to which we have turned our minds, feelings, and actions to the Savior, whose birth we celebrate.

--Thomas S. Monson, "A Bright Shining Star," 2010 First Presidency Christmas Devotional, (December 5, 2010)

Love Struck!

We spent this week feelin' and spreadin' some love.  We started by making large heart cutouts and writing in BIG words WE LOVE, or WE Treasure, or We CHERISH so and so.  Then we snuck up and, with friendly painter's tape, plastered their front doors with the big hearts and a myriad of little Valentines. We did this too the 14 and 15 year old young women in our church and a friend of the kids'. 

We also baked two types of cookies and decorated them.  The kids had never done cut out sugar cookies before and I felt they were both old enough to enjoy the process and they did.  They turned out great! Mommy iced the cookies and the kids added the sprinkles and red hots for decoration.  We made a little bag of them tied with red ribbon and the cute hand print Valentines and delivered them to Sophie and Rhys' Primary (Sunday school) teachers.

By Valentine's Eve we had all the kids Valentines signed and sealed with candy or stickers attached and the party goodies we had volunteered to bring--gummy bears and cookies by their book bags.  Rhys was so excited about going to the store to shop for the cookies earlier in the week and later was very adamant that he carry them into his preschool. As soon as he saw his teachers he exclaimed, "COOKIES!" 

But back to the a.m.! I was awakened by the dainty bellow of dear Sophie when she exclaimed in her might, "Happy Valentine's Day!" to the still dark and silent household. That was at 6:15 when Neal had snuck back into the house with flowers, a bunch for each of his beloved family members. 

After getting them in vases and giving Neal his card, and thank yous and kisses we started on breakfast--French toast with cutout hearts, strawberries and syrup.

With both kids in school, Neal and I enjoyed a couple's lunch at a crepery and had savory crepes for lunch and split a sweet Nutella and banana crepe for dessert.  Then Keri was off to the kids' Valentine parties.

There was an excellent sugar buzz to be had at either party and both kids got plenty of goodies with their Valentine cards as well.  Keri took them home a few minutes early and then we were off to the park to burn off the buzz, well, that is if there hadn't been all those frosted, sprinkled cupcakes.

A fellow mom suggested the park and cupcakes and all we other moms brought frosting, candy, and sprinkles to really help our kids cross the line into nausea.  But no vomiting and and hour later, we all had a good time and were on our way back home for our fancy Valentine dinner--not that anyone had any hunger.  We even spotted a hot air balloon near us that went past our back yard.  We could even hear them increasing the flame from where we were at!

With Neal's arrival home we sat at our fancily decorated dining room table with balloons attached to each child's chair, tablecloth, cloth napkins, flowers, candlelight, and hearts scattered about. Dinner was fancy turkey hot dogs on whole wheat buns with Valentine red ketchup, baked beans (homemade and delish!), and spinach and strawberry salad with strawberry vinaigrette.

We ended with frosted cookies followed by a bath with flower soap sprinkles.

It was a great week of fun!

100th Day of School

February 7th marked the 100th Day of School for our kindergartner!  Apparently this is a huge deal these days, although the phrase was never even mentioned back in my early years.  Sophie and her class have been practicing counting to 100 and learning a special song.   They got to wear pajamas to school and bring 100 of something to count and weigh. 

We made a special journey to US Toy Company to buy up 100 of something really cool to share with her friends. We could have had her bring beans, or rubber bands, or soda can tabs but I wanted her to have the excitement of sharing her goodies with her pals. After much consideration she went with some awesome plastic rings that came in 4 fun colors and shapes.

She left school that day with a smile and a colorful paper crown commemorating the 100th Day of School!

The Year of the Snake

Neal and his friend, Chris, decided to go winter camping in early February.  To me that is like the artic anti-fun.  So the kids and I gladly stayed home and took off the next morning to the Crow Asian Art Museum to expose ourselves to a little culture, especially with Chinese New Year being only a week away.  We talked about the Chinese zodiac and found out which animal's year we were each born in. 

The kids started by drawing a wish that they then enclosed into the traditional red envelope. 

Then we walked through and looked at some of the artwork. 

 Much of which was Buddhist gods that had three faces, feet stepping on small people, and in the sexual act.  Sophie thought that three faces was funny, that it was mean to step on people, and, thank goodness, was oblivious to the copulation taking place.  I explained that Buddhism was a different religion that I did not understand but that these things represented or "helped the people remember" things about their beliefs, and oh, isn't that interesting that that god has more than two arms and never mind you about the girl with her legs wrapped around his pelvis. You get the idea.  Look this one, although stomping on other figures, is not enjoying sexual relations!  Let's take a picture with that one.

Then through a hall with hundreds of awesome origami cranes dangling from above...

And we were in a yoga class!  Took Rhys a few minutes to get into it but he did.  The teacher was great and the kids and I had fun.

After a quick lunch we got good seats to watch The Lion Dance.  We were up close to the action and were some of the first to feed our red envelopes to the Lion.  They dancers did a great job and the kids were allowed to touch them and even get up and dance with them and "play" with them near the end.

It was a great way to introduce them to a bit of Asian culture.  To complete our celebration, the night before Chinese New Year we went out to eat Chinese food, cooked by Chinese people, at one of our favorite restaurants, Zen Chow.  We gave the kids red envelopes with money and left our tip in one as well. Any excuse I can find to eat Zen Chow's food is a good one.

Promotion

So life has been a little crazy with a mourning husband, kids, work, working with the youth group at church, PTA, promoting our school district's 5K, and dishes and laundry so I had to take a break.

However, I did want to acknowledge my husband's hard work and his recent promotion to

Technical Support Engineer, Advanced. With his new position, he has taken over a high profile client and acts as a team lead for the newly formed partner support group.  Besides increased income he now enjoys a window cubicle and has his own live plants basking on the sill.

Way to go sweetie!

New Year's Eve Half Marathon

New Year's was great this year!  On New Year's Eve Keri ran her first half-marathon in the morning. Three years ago on this date she was having surgery to remove skin cancer!  This was a much better way to end the year. She ran the whole 13.1 miles, except when she walked to drink/eat, and yes, the last drink, she took with the sole purpose to walk. 

The temperatures were in the upper 30s (F) and it rained the entire race.  Light rain, followed by sprinkles, and ending in a light rain that was getting progressively heavier.  Brrr!  Don't have the pictures but she sported a lavender shower cap to cover her head and visor, a plastic poncho, and plastic gloves over her light weight gloves.  All the rain gear was shed just half way through the race.  She hit the "wall" just after finishing mile 10 but slowed her pace and kept on.

Despite a light head cold and the weather conditions, Keri met her goal of running the half-marathon in under 2 hrs., 40 min., with a official time of 2 hrs., 38 min., 44. sec.!  She placed 342nd out of 475 finishers, and 199th out of 304 females.  The average time for the race was 2:25:44.

Keri ran, at times, with Sara B., whom she had been training with and Sara is the one who suggested that she was ready for that distance 2 months prior.

Keri was wet, cold, exhausted, and proud to have participated in the event and meet her goal.  This event was the New Year's Double in which there are 5K, half -marathon, and full marathon events on both New Year's Eve and Day.  You can pick and choose which events and what days you want to run.  It being Keri's first time, she thought a single event was just fine.

Upon arriving home, Neal had just finished unloading the boxes we packed from his mother's with our friends Carter, Jason, and Heather.  Keri took a hot shower, popped pain relievers, and with Kari joining the bunch, we all headed out to Torchy's Tacos for a yummy good time.  Later we all went and saw The Hobbit and Neal and I gave it a thumbs up.

Then we headed home and got the house readied for the gathering that evening.  We enjoyed impressively healthy food choices, good conversation, and a group got a game going while others made their exit, Keri quickly fell asleep on the couch ushering the New Year with slumber and probably drool. 

The next day we slept in, putzed around the house while Neal went and purchased IKEA furniture for the kid's play area, got our house in order and ended the day with a one on one date.  It was our first and will not be our last experience at P.F. Chang's and then we were off to see Les Miserables on the big screen.  As predicted we were puffy-eyed messes when it was all done. 

Terrific start to a New Year!