Good Things January

It is working. After 13 years of marriage and family I said, "NOPE, I'm not doing all the dishes anymore!" Abe, Clark, Bethany and I are all in the weekly rotation for dish duty. Hooray for me! After some initial backlash (which was to be expected) it is going very smoothly.
With the exception of the couple of days Clark tried to load the dishwasher with VERY dirty, food encrusted dishes; which food then cooked on the heating element producing a very strong burning smell.
He has since learned that there is a reason we rinse the dishes before loading them.










Clark's First Lego League team went back to Pocatello for the State competition (after winning a category in regionals). They WON first place in the same category again. They were thrilled, but didn't rank high enough overall to go to nationals/worlds in Atlanta. That's okay, because that would have been some kind of fundraising nightmare. Their project was researching energy producing speed bumps.
Great group of boys.



This little guy is growing up very quickly. He's about 21 months and just as much trouble as he looks. He loves balls and cars. He is obsessed with the basketball hoops at church. He knows what they are there for and it is very frustrating to him that he can't get a ball up there.
He recently ripped several pages out of Clark's scriptures and tore the earrings out of a favorite doll of Bethany's. He likes to throw things away. Our can-opener went missing a couple of months back and we can only figure that he threw it away. The Cannon-ator strikes fear into the heart of the young and old who do not put their things away.
For Abe's birthday Clark made him a Lego look-alike. He also created Elinor's likeness. Abe took his to work. It's kind of like getting a bobble-head of yourself (like Dwight from The Office).















Also in honor of Abe's birthday we turned our monthly book club into a cold cereal party. All the sugar cereal you cared to eat. The kids were never so anxious for dinner at book club before. But I must admit that by the end of the evening nobody (with the exception of Abe) was feeling very good. The kids admitted that lots of sugar cereal doesn't make your body feel good.
Important lesson learned.





The little ladies of the club wrote a song entitled, "Fabulous Five". It was so catchy that I'll share the lyrics with you, but remember they are copyrighted.
Fabulous Five
Dead or alive
We are all connected

Fanciest Five
Strong and Alive
We are all connected

Bethany, Elinor, Raven, Faith and Gracie
We are all connected
BY DESTINY!
This picture is of their debut performance. Sorry you weren't there to witness it. It was really something.
Clark and Abe went to a Jazz game last night. Included with your registration fee for Junior Jazz comes two "free" Jazz game tickets. It was fun for them. They didn't climb all the way up to the top of the arena just for the view and a picture. Nope. That's where their seats were. I guess if you're getting "free" tickets you get the nosebleed section.

The February Blues

Please indulge me:

da DA da da DA
da DA da da DA

Well the sky is all gray
da DA da da DA
And it's too cold to play
da Da da da DA

And the house is a mess
da DA da da DA
Cause it's boring to clean
da DA da da DA

I ain't got no money
da DA da da DA
Because the taxes aren't done
da DA da da DA

We don't want to do school
da DA da da DA
So I say "just go read"
da Da da da DA

I say this is the month
da Da da da DA
When I feel pretty sad
da Da da da Da

I've got the FEB-RU-AR-REE-EE Blues
Oh, nooooooooooo.

Sorry everyone. I know it's lame, but this is the time of year when I hope for my non-trauma induced coma to set in. Wake me when it's March.
How's that for self pity? I'll get over myself.

Bethany

Bethany's violin recital playing Humoresque by Dvorak. When Bethany first started taking violin lessons one of the more advanced girls played this song and I loved it. I imagined hearing Bethany play it at a recital. Tonight was my night. . .er, uh. . . her night. I was one proud mama.
Enjoy if you have a moment.

Whoa. . . bummer

I went grocery shopping tonight to the local Walmart. Like most people who shop at Walmart, it is a love/hate relationship. I love the low prices, but rather hate everything else. Nonetheless, I went and did my price-matching and got my vittals to feed my ever growing family. I loaded up the groceries in the car and...(in the words of Swiper the Fox)... "Oh, Man!" the car wouldn't start. Dead battery. I think I left a light on. I call my hubby to come help me. I know I could have tried to ask a neighboring car to help, but we live pretty close and I prefer my man, as to someone else's man, to help me in my hour of need.

Now, this was sort of a bummer, but nothing compared to what came next. He comes and we attempt to hook up our cables and SPARK! SPARK! SAPRK!. Hmm, not good. We have both jumped cars before. This is something we are very capable of. What went wrong? What did we do differently? I don't know. We tried rearranging the cables, but still lots of sparks even when the good car wasn't turned on.
Well, that is just great. Fortunately, Wednesday is very much a home day for us, so we left the van at the Walmart and we'll research online and try again tomorrow. But, if anyone reading this has a particularly car savvy hubby that can advise us, we would most definitely appreciate it. It's not really Abe's strong suit. Ask him to tell you the "Lugnut Story" someday. He probably won't tell you, but you can ask.

Speaking of Abe, tomorrow is his 35th birthday. He says he's so happy to be turning 35-- "and I thought 30 was good", he said. It's just not something you'd hear a woman say.
Happy Birthday, Abe. As Clark said today, "He is a really great dad". Amen to that.

Let the Television Watching Begin

Did you know there are only twelve days left before the Olympics begin? Do you remember that I am OBSESSED with the Olympics? Some people think the Winter Olympics are lame compared to the Summer Olympics. Whatever. I will religiously watch any and all Olympic events that are broadcast at anytime of the day or night (love that DVR). Iceskating, skiing, bobsled, skeleton, hockey, curling. Seriously, any Olympic event enthralls me. Why is this? I am not normally a sports person at all. I am the ultimate fair-weather fan, and I'm proud of it. But the Olympics-- I can't get enough.

But my TV watching has begun in earnest this weekend. Did you know the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships finished up this weekend? That is just a step away from the Olympics, so of course, I had to watch that too. I even watched ice dancing. Are you embarrassed for me?

And then, the grand-daddy TV event of them all; a new 6 hour masterpiece theater production of Jane Austen's, Emma. Oh, happy day! They are showing it on PBS in 3 2-hour segments. If you ever want to get me a gift you can be sure I will LOVE, get me all the the Jane Austen Masterpiece theater productions.

Good thing I'm pregnant and have a legitimate reason for extra lying down and resting time. Hee hee hee.

Hello... is anyone still there?

Must. Write. On. Blog.
Must. Form. Coherent. Thoughts.

It's been a little while since I've written, and probably nobody cares except me. I am okay with that, but I've missed the process of putting down my thoughts. I do have a good excuse. Here it is.

I am pregnant. Some may say "Hooray"! Some may say ,"Are you crazy?" Some may question how many children you can legally put in the same bedroom. Just for the record, I am in the "Hooray" camp.

I am about 13 weeks along, due the first week of August. I think it will probably be the end of July, so let's just say July because it seems a lot closer than August. I have experienced my smoothest first trimester to date. I felt pretty crummy in the evenings, but my days were great and that is a real blessing because I don't exactly have the luxury of lounging on the couch all day.

I tend to get a bit depressed during pregnancy, but feeling better has definitely helped my state of mind so far. That being said, I am really going to try not to let the "fog" cloud my thinking too much. I found I wasn't really feeling a desire to write on this blog very much, which is usually something I really enjoy, so I figured I should just do it. Already I feel a bit better. Also I took a happy nappy on the couch this afternoon, so I have a bit more wakey-time at night after the kiddos are in bed. They are outlasting me in the energy department these days.

A few thoughts to share:

*I'm reading "The Lightning Thief" and it's great. Clark got the series for Christmas and he's really enjoying it. I needed a lighter read. "Atlas Shrugged" was killing me. Can you say, downer?

*We have no pretzels left in our house. Nor shall we for a long time. It turns out Bethany was able to be SO picky about food because she was stashing baggies of pretzels around the house to subsist on when the food I prepared was unacceptable. Abe declared a "pretzel fast" and hid the big Costco bag in our closet, which was subsequently discovered and the pretzel sneaking continued. Their was also some dishonesty involved, but I won't go into that. The punishment for the crime? The girls had to carry the big pretzel bag to the big trash can outside. Too harsh or responsible parenting-- you be the judge.

*After much howling and gnashing of teeth Clark and I finally came to an agreement-- WE HATE THE K12 MATH PROGRAM and will be ordering the next Math-U-See book.
Note to my fellow homeschoolers: If what you are doing is working for you- DON'T MESS WITH IT. Lesson learned.

*Abe has decided to play basketball with the church team. He's so happy he is old enough to play on the "vets" team because "there is less running". Well, there would be less running, unless you kill yourself trying to prove to yourself and your team-mates that you've still got the skills you had when you were 19. He has his first game tomorrow, which we are all excited to go and cheer for.

*Clark is also playing basketball. He tells us he has "mean, jerk-coaches". Always yelling at the boys what they should have done. He is not that far off base. They are pretty jerky, but Clark is handling it pretty well. The coaches want the boys to be more aggressive and foul more. He came home from practice tonight and said it was their most aggressive scrimmage yet. By the end of practice three boys had blood and the coaches were really happy. Hmm. Do I need to write a letter to someone?

*Softball sign-ups are coming next week. I find myself fantasizing about spring time and going to the park for games. I think I might be more excited than Elinor. It's been a very cold, gray, blah winter so far.

*I tried to make refried beans the other day in my crock pot. It sounded really tasty to me, so I doubled that batch. Why did I do that? The flavor was good, but the consistency was too thin. Now I have a LOT of refried bean soup in my fridge. On that note, does anyone know a recipie that has a base of refried beans?

That is about all I have to talk about tonight. Glad to be back.

Final Thoughts on the Holiday Season

We went to see the lights at Temple Square after Christmas. A good decision, because there are NO crowds. I would like to point out my children all have adorable hats and gloves that match, thanks to Aunt Mary and Uncle Baden. They gave to us in the Fox family gift exchange and she read my earlier complaints about my poor children's lack of appropriate cold weather outerwear. She picked out really cute stuff for each of them. Thanks, Mary!




These are the Christmas dresses Barbara made for the girls. She made matching dresses for each of their dolls as well. She's amazing and she spoils us-- but we love it!
Thanks, Barbara












Faith started Sunbeams today. She was so angelic sitting on her little chair, listening intently, but not willing to go up front for anything.
I made us reminisce today about each child's Sunbeam experience.
Clark didn't really care for primary and went through a rather lengthy "I hate church phase" when he started.
Bethany was VERY enthusiastic and she sat there bright eyed, anxious to be called on and eager to sing.
Elinor was REALLY not happy about leaving nursery and so she kept escaping out of the primary room and running back down the hall to nursery. She was kind of a naughty little Sunbeam. Cute, but naughty.
We switched from 11:00 start time for church to 9:00. I prefer 11:00, but there are worse times, so I'll take it and I won't complain.
We hoped the new time would help Cannon to be calmer during Sacrament Meeting. Um. . . no. It was the same at best, but perhaps worse than before.
His disruptions included, but were not limited to loud pirate laughs, even louder dinosaur roars, making cars go vroom, squeals of delight (when he saw his favorite deacon passing the sacrament), high pitched screams of displeasure when denied anything. He was in a constant state of motion. Consequently he spends A LOT of time roaming the halls.
This picture was taken at Temple Square where he ran almost the way. And he is QUICK, so not only did he not slow us down, but we were sending children to chase after him to keep track of him.
Lots of Rock Band to ring in the new year. Now, for anyone who cares, which I know is pretty much NO ONE, I am up to the "hard" level on the guitar. I know, who knew I had a such gift?
Fortunately, for the sake of peace in the family, Bethany has taken to singing, Elinor rocks out on the guitar (like mother like daughter) and that leaves Clark happily on the drums.
The great thing is now we have guilt free Rock Band. We got the Beatles Rock Band for Christmas. The original ones are fun, but they do leave me feeling a little guilty-- not exactly the cleanest lyrics and the most uplifting music. But the Beatles? Come on-- you can play that forever, with your kiddos and it's great. I hear Lego Rock Band has some great songs on it too. Maybe next year.
Well, that is it for the the holiday season. Tomorrow we are back to regular life. As Martha would say, "This is a good thing".