Betsy Ross

I got to participate in the Kindergarten Kindy 500 rotatation playing the part of Betsy Ross. I told the children about the first flag that had a circle of 13 stars representing the 13 colonies. We talked about places that the flag flies and how we take good care of it just like we would take good care of something that is special to us. At the end I got a litte teared up when I looked into their little faces and told them that the flag is an IMPORTANT reminder for us to be united because when we work together we are STRONG. Some of them got teared up too. It was so cute. I love the innocence of children and how they can grasp concepts that we sometimes think are over their heads. I wore my Mother's pioneer dress that she wore on her mission in Nauvoo, IL. I couldn't get my hair into an attractive looking bun, and try I DID. But I'm pretty sure that Betsy Ross wasn't a blonde either.

Kindy 500

All kindergarten classes in Spanish Oaks Elementary participated in the Kindy 500. Each child, with the help of their parents, was to make a vehicle to "drive" through the hallways for a short parade. Then they were to drive their vehicles to different parts of the school and learn about some of our country's national symbols. The symbols they learned about were: the Bald Eagle, Mount Rushmore, the American Flag, the Statue of Liberty, Lincoln Memorial, and the White House.

When I asked Bastian what vehicle he wanted he said, "I want a mother ship!" He liked the mother ship on StarFox, an old video game that we no longer have. I searched the web to find a design to work from but to no avail. I let Bastian know that we might have to think of something else.....like a truck, perhaps. He said, "No. Let's make the Millennium Falcon." Off to the computer we went. We found the famous Star Wars spaceship with ease and we were well on our way to drawing up the design when Bastian got sick. He had a temperature of 102 and was sleeping the day away while I cut out the ship and designed the blaster gun and satellite.
Here is what Bastian did while I worked on the Millennium Falcon. Look at those RED cheeks! He wanted to help more but was physically unable.

The next day Rob sprayed the design in the garage.

Bastian was feeling a little better during the painting phase. He and Weston played around in the garage for a bit.

Bastian helped spray paint his spaceship.

The next day Bastian seemed to be feeling much better. He definitely didn't want to miss the Kindy 500. Here he is with his class. Bastian is in Mrs. Olsen's kindergarten class.

Bastian was assigned the state of Arizona as the state his vehicle is licensed in. We made this personalized plate from Arizona. We love Arizona because Aunt Shelly and Uncle Alan live there. Our family loves to visit them.

He had a great time and loved his spaceship. After school his fever returned. We took him to the doctor and they said he had pneumonia! We got the prescribed meds and I took good care of him until he was better. I am secretly soooo glad he didn't have a fever the morning of the Kindy 500. He would've been so disappointed!

Charming Cookie Tester

I have a dang cute cookie tester living in my very own home. Weston's green t-shirt reads, "Mom's Offical Cookie Tester." He takes his job seriously but still manages to smile through all the testing.

The Deep Desire of the Little Eggshell

While Abby and I were making cookies, she cracked the egg and got eggshell in the bowl. We made up a story about this little eggshell whose strongest desire was to become part of a cookie. The day came when he hoisted himself into the dough bowl. It was hard work getting in the bowl. Would he be taken out and thrown in the garbage with his other eggshell comrades or would his dream be realized?His dream DID become a reality. Do you see the satisfaction and pleasure this little eggshell has having accomplished his dream? The moral of our story is to dream away, work hard and someday you may end up just where you dreamed you'd be.

I read a great quote the other day that says:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.--Anonymous

Baking with Bucks

The Bucks have come to visit our home a few times during Young Men activities while their father, Josh, and our Dad, Rob, fulfill their callings as leaders. On one of those occasions we had fun making snowball cookies from Abby's Strawberry Shortcake Cookbook. We put one chocolate chip in the middle of each of them. They were devoured just like any sweet thing put in front of energetic children.

Budding Artists at Joyschool

The children painted pictures of nature and drew a picture with markers at joyschool.

I thought the pictures they drew were fabulous. Top from left to right: Alexandra Finlayson, Jaeda Sannar, Audrey Arndt. Bottom from left to right: Isaac Bradshaw, Weston LeBaron, and Ben Gunderson.

Alexandra: "This is a picture of my Dad."

Jaeda: "This is my Mom." Pointing to what her Mom was holding she said, "This is my baby (sister). Hers is getting long hair."

Audrey: "This is my Mom."

Isaac: "This is a bad guy."

Weston: "This is a hot lava guy with sharp teeth."

Ben: "This is Darth Vader, " he said after humming Darth Vader's theme song almost the entire coloring session.

February 2009 Top Ten

10. At dinner one evening Weston put Parmesan cheese on his spaghetti for the first time. After tasting it he said disgusted, "I don't like garbage-on cheese."

9. Abby was talking to her friend, Brooke, about her good friend, Lucy, when she said, "I got to go to Lucy's funeral." Brooke looked confused until Abby immediately corrected herself saying, "I mean baptism."

8. Weston, arguing why he should be allowed to do something, said, "Do you know why I want to do this? Because I WANT TO."

7. Hayden was perusing an RC Willey add when he exclaimed, "Whoa! I never realized how much money things cost. I mean, everything is SO MUCH MONEY!"

6. I explained to Bastian that cheese gets old and hard when you leave it out and he questioned, "Would it get wrinkles in it too?"

5. Wanting to change our family vehicle (minivan) Weston said, "Next time let's get rid of our car and get a garbage truck that takes garbage."

4. Bastian was trying to find someone to play with one day. He called one friend and that friend couldn't play. He sat looking at the ward list ready to pick another friend to call when he announced his next candidate, "I'm going to call the bishop." I said, "You can't call the bishop." He said, "But I LIKE the bishop."

3. After our family returned home from a fun evening at the Woods' house Weston said, "Let's go again to the ....uh, I don't remember......the Bricks' house?"

2. We used to have two chocolate Labrador Retrievers, Toby and Turk. We found them new homes due to their chewing, digging, destroying, and pooping. The kids HATED the chore of poop collecting. One day while driving down the road Weston saw a dog and got a brilliant idea, "Let's get a Turk that doesn't poop, " he said. "They don't make those," I said smiling at his adorable idea. Later I realized my answer was wrong. They DO make those. They're called Webkinz.

1. After dinner one night Hayden said, "I predicted the future today." I asked him what he had predicted. He said there is a boy at school who is bad at thinking up insults. The two things he calls people are "poo" or "bum." Hayden said that today during lunch the boy wanted to make a trade for something in Hayden's lunch. When Hayden refused to trade, the boy went to call him a name. Hayden said to the boy, "Wait, wait, you're going to call me a poo." The boy said, "No, I was going to call you a.....fire poo." Hayden said, "Then Jacob (Hayden's friend) pointed out that he STILL called me a poo." The boy didn't like that Hayden and Jacob were right. Then Hayden said of himself, "I am good at thinking of insults. Jacob says I'm even better at annoying people, and I'm proud of that."

Since I didn't get very many wit-filled nuggets from Abby this month, I thought I would add a couple from the past.

September 2005 Abby at age 4 saw a beautiful dress at the store. She exclaimed, "That is so pretty I can't even move."

Later that same year she said about her two year old brother, Bastian, "That naughty boy keeps wrecking my life."

Modern Day Miracle

We needed money and the sell of this item below would give us just that. Rob put it on KSL.com and literally seconds after he posted it he got his first call. The man wanted it and was coming that night with the money. He was going to pay $200 less than our asking price. We felt pretty good about that. A half hour later another man called who also wanted the bike. He planned on coming a half hour before the first guy. The second caller came that evening and paid $50 more than the asking price. How was that for a quick answer to prayer? We feel so blessed.

Lemon-Filled Weekend Getaway

Our plan was to go to St. George during the three day weekend in March and attend a concert at Tuacahn, but two weeks before when I tried to book a hotel, they were all taken. Apparently that weekend there was a softball tournament that took the hotel room that we were supposed to stay in. I've heard that, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." So we decided to drive to Lehi and stay in the Marriott by Thanksgiving Point. It had an indoor pool and we could rent a movie in the room and make popcorn.

When we got to the pool and saw how microscopic it was, we were a little disappointed but we swam anyway...or waded..with all the other families in the hotel that decided to splash in the chlorinated puddle. We headed upstairs and got all showered and ready for bed. I popped popcorn and we sat down to see what movies were available. There were no movies available. Could this be a mistake? No mistake. There was a movie theatre nearby and so as to not compete with them, this Marriott didn't have movies available in the rooms. What? We ate the popcorn in our pjs while looking at what was on TV. Hayden realized that Star Wars the Clone Wars was on. It was one of the final episodes. We turned it to the channel only to find that the channel was temporarily unavailable. We tucked ourselves in bed early and called it a night. The breakfast in the morning was great and we left there in good spirits because we're just that awesome and we don't let disappointment dictate our attitudes.
That lemonade that I made with all those lemons became tiresome to my taste buds. A small part of me thinks the next time life hands me lemons, I'm going to throw those lemons at life's head and yell, "I DON'T WANT YOUR STINKING LEMONS." The other more mature part of me thinks that next time I'll try making delicious lemon bars dusted lightly with confectioners sugar. Who would tire from a delectable creation such as this? Not me.

Chess Winner

Hayden won first place in the 5th grade chess club at Spanish Oaks Elementary and came home with this awesome trophy! Hayden has a natural apptitude for the game of chess. He's always thinking several moves ahead. He is a very smart boy.

Scold the Cold

It was Scold the Cold day at school and only one of my three school-aged children wanted to dress up for the occasion. Even though it was still cold and a bit snowy outside the kids were encouraged to dress in Hawaiian type clothing. Here is my one participating child. Isn't she a doll? She is wearing a dress that my mother made me when I was 3 or 4 years old. She wore it as a shirt and she looks smashing in it.

Exhasted from her dramatic photo shoot, she rests on the hardwood floor.

Hayden's Choice: Pizza or Hot Dogs

Hayden wanted Dominos pizza for dinner one night and I told him that we could get pizza IF he would call in the order. I thought it was just the right time to introduce something new, exciting and a little terrifying into Hayden's life. He sat with the phone in hand making every excuse as to why he just COULDN'T do it. "I don't know the person I'm talking to," or "I might make a mistake," or "I'm so scared," or "I'm not old enough." I soothed his anxiety the best I could and gave him rational answers to his concerns like, "It's easier to talk to someone you don't know, because they don't know you either," or "if you make a mistake, I'm right here," or "don't think about being scared, think about the delicious pizza," or "you're old enough and you're strong enough to do hard things. YOU CAN DO IT." I added that if he preferred we could have hot dogs. I knew this choice was a no brainer because Hayden isn't in love with hot dogs. To my surprise he almost conceded until he found out that when I said we could have hot dogs, I meant just hot dogs....we were all out of buns. Hayden got a devious look on his face realizing the power he would have as the Pizza Orderer (important titles MUST be capitalized) and said, "I could order 20 pizzas!" I said that he could do that, but that I would be paying for ONE of those pizzas and he could pay for the rest. Hayden got up the gumption and made the call. He did a great job and I am so proud of him for not giving in to fear!