Mr. BigHead

Pi Pod recently met with Utah's governor, Gary Herbert.  Quite an honor for the team. 

Clark is also performing in a Shakespeare play- Much Ado About Nothing this week and next.

He's gone a lot working on both of these big projects.  Our family's schedule is very much dominated by Clark's activities right now.  We are happy for him and he is being gracious even if his head is growing to six times its normal size.  

That being said, when we get back from our big trip to St. Louis we have determined to completely ignore Clark for one month straight.  We won't talk to him.  We won't take him anywhere.  We'll never let him choose what we're having for dinner.  We'll try to pay some attention to our other five children.

I'm just kidding!  It's not that bad, but we are a little out of balance right now.

One time I met the mayor of my town when I was in the fourth grade and I won an essay contest on child abuse.  That's cool, right?  Well, winning the contest was cool.  Child abuse is definitely NOT cool.  The mayor of Colonial Heights, VA is not quite like meeting the Governor, but I'm pretty sure my head swelled considerably nonetheless. So I guess we can forgive Clark if he's feeling pretty darn good about himself right now.

I'm Going To Live Forever and Ever and Ever

Kid's Book Club today was The Secret Garden.  As I expected, the girls LOVED the book and the boys thought it was okay. 

One of the major themes of this book is how healthy it is for children to play outdoors.  So rather than planning activities for the kids, I gave them jump ropes and said, "Get thee out o' doors an feel the soonshine on ya' face!" 

It did my heart good to hear the children laughing and playing today.  And it did my body good to be out in the sunshine today.  And The Secret Garden did my soul good. 
And I bet if I actually planted a garden that would really do me good.
I'm seriously considering it--as I do each Spring.  But I haven't committed to anything yet.

How Do You Feel?

 

Snow in April.  BLAH.

There will most likely be flooding in Utah this spring.  Big BLAH.

Reading Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day.  DELIGHTFUL!

I LOVED this book.  What a delicious treat.

A snake draped around my son's neck.  YUCKY.  Did you know we have a pet snake?  Maybe you didn't want to know that.

 

She is a fairy!  SWEET!

She is five now and I may not have any other little girls after her. SADNESS.   Our fairy days may be numbered, so I will encourage her to wear her dancing fairy clothes every day.

 Clark, tell us how you really feel.   EMBARRASSING!

 This is for Grandma Fox-- the Utah Fox cousins!!  HAPPY to have Philip and Katie's family join us.

Dungeons and Dragons.  CONFUSING to me, but very fun for smart, creative boys.

I went to see the new Jane Eyre movie last weekend.  It was beautiful and I may go see it again this week-- how INDULGENT of me.  

  

Mary Lennox Meets The Biggest Loser

The kids and I are reading aloud The Secret Garden.  I love this book, but I am not much of a gardener.  What am I saying?-- I'm not any kind of gardener, but when I read The Secret Garden, I want to be a gardener.  I feel hope that someday I could be a gardener and make something (other than children) grow.  At the very least I want to get outside in the fresh air and sunshine.  It makes me want to throw the school books out the window and tell the kids to go run wild all over the moor neighborhood.

Last night I watched an episode of "The Biggest Loser" while I folded 1,800 loads of laundry.  I am not a big fan of the show, so I don't know why I watched it, but I did.  I'm not a fitness crazed lady (obviously), but when I watch the show I want to buy a lifetime membership to the gym and spend 2 hours of every day there.  Okay, that it not true, but it does make me think I should do more.

Between The Secret Garden spring fever and "The Biggest Loser" exercise inspiration, I was DYING to get outside today and do something active.  All day I gazed out the window looking for my opportunity to do something.  I hadn't decided what, but it didn't matter because the day was filled with the usual business of life-- meals, school, diapers, nursing the baby, piano lessons, cleaning up, nap time, etc.

Finally this evening I decided that even though it wasn't convenient (it rarely is), I was just going to do it!  I took the little boys for a ride in the stroller on my roller blades.  After 20 minutes of George crying while I got the coats on, the stroller situated, the roller blades on-- we finally got going.  There must be an easier way!

Marian the Librarian

A few nights back I wrote a scathing blog post about the unfriendliness of my local librarians.  It wasn't very nice (even if it was true) and I felt badly, so 15 minutes after I posted it I deleted it.  At the end of the post I mentioned that my library card would probably be flagged in the system and they would confiscate my card or something.

This evening I stopped by the library to grab a few books I had on hold.  As I tried to check them out a screen popped up that said, "ERROR:  There may be a problem with your account.  Please see a librarian."

How did they find me?  How did they know?  I did ask a librarian who confirmed that there was nothing wrong with my account and she could not explain the ERROR screen.

Yeah, well I know why.

Dear Librarian,
I'm sorry I said mean things about you.  I don't think very many people read it.  I won't do it again.   You were very nice to let me go over my limit of 30 checked out items.  I've been very responsible the last two weeks and I don't have any fines.  Please forgive me and reinstate me as a patron of good library standing and let me use my card again. 
Sincerely,
Betsy

On This Day

Abe has an older brother whose family has a tradition of taking their newly turned 8 year-olds to General Conference.  I know a good idea when I see one, so we've followed suit.  It has been a wonderful experience for each of our children so far.  Today was Elinor's big day.  She said her favorite part was riding the escalator up three flights.  I guess there are lots of levels on which one can enjoy Conference.

We got tickets enough for Clark and Bethany to go along as well.  I stayed home with the little ones.  Sometimes I underestimate just how much the older kids to do to help with and entertain the younger ones.  I was pretty worn out taking care of George, CANNON, and Faith all morning alone.  I missed the conversation of the bigger kids.

 

This was a really nice day for our family.  This afternoon everyone was calm (the little boys were napping) and happy to be together watching Conference.  Our schedule has been a bit too hectic lately and we were all looking forward to some down time.  As Bethany so succinctly put it this evening, "I love Conference weekend for three reasons:  1) you get to be lazy and don't really have to do anything  2) You get to listen to the prophet and hear what Heavenly Father wants you to do  3) you get to be with your family a lot."

I couldn't have said it better myself. 

While Abe went to Priesthood meeting the kids had some friends over to play.  Then those friends invited us to come watch them feed the lambs they are raising.  After being home all day, I was ready for a little field trip!

Fun for us.  Doesn't take too much these days.

 

I wanted to take a picture of cute little George, but somebody LOVES to have his picture taken, so he hopped right in.  I don't think I have ever felt so helplessly charmed by anyone in my entire life as I do by Cannon.  I don't feel capable of telling him no.  When he does something wrong, I have him do a short time-out.  When he's all done he says to me, "Stop doing naughty things to me, Mom!"  He is still 2, but he articulates so clearly and says the funniest things. 

It seems like my mind is frequently vascillating between exhaustion from the demands of a big family and overwhelming surprise at how much fun and how enjoyable a family of so many young children is.  It is a lot of work-- more than I ever imagined I would be able to do--- but the blessings are more than I ever imagined possible.  I am feeling very grateful for my people this evening.  I love the scripture about the windows of Heaven and not room enough to receive the blessings the Lord will pour out on you.  I like to think of our family of 8 living in three bedrooms and there literally not being room enough to receive all our blessings--otherwise known as children!

And on that note, can you believe Faith is FIVE???  She's a sweety and a bit of a shorty, but her roller-blades are making her look even more grown up.  I know there is no way to freeze time, but sometimes I really wish I could.  Perhaps that is why I enjoy doing this blog so much-- I'm so busy with my people that if I didn't write about life, I'd never remember it!

Pi POD on TV Again

Follow this link to KUTV's website to watch their news piece on Team Pi POD.  Clark is shown several times.


http://connect2utah.com/news-story/?nxd_id=139106


Abe here:  Pi POD ROCKS!!!!

Welcome Spring

Oh marvelous Springtime!!!!  You have arrived.  Please stay for a long time.

Children, get thee outdoors!  Make sure you get your school work done, but then get outside and stay outside a long time.

Gentle George at 8 months.  Yummy, squishy, delicious.

His first experience with grass.  

"I don't know if this 'grass thing' is for me.  I'm kind of use to the finer things in life".