Happy Birthday Anna!

Miss Anna turned 4 today.  What a little personality she is! She loves pink.  She loves dressing herself and as, documented on this blog, continues to have her own sense of style.  She is bubbly, loving, happy, strong willed, bright and quick witted! She has a strong sense of self and does things when and how she wants too, throwing Mom and Dad an occasional curve ball here and there.  Like asking this morning when her friends were coming today for her birthday party ... the party I didn't know she wanted and didn't plan - thankfully she was fine with celebrating with all of us! 

Emily made her cake - from a little lady bug cake cookbook.  When I asked Anna what kind of birthday cake she wanted, she went straight to that cookbook and waffled between 3 different cake designs.  I was pushing for the cake shaped as a purse - cause this girl loves purses and filling them with treasures.  But this is the cake she told Emily she wanted and Emily reproduced it to a T.  Anna of course LOVEed it! 

After Anna and Alex's swimming lessons, we went to the grocery store and got all we needed for her favorite dinner - homemade mac and cheese, hot dogs, broccoli, watermelon and chocolate milk!  

After the grocery store we stopped by the flower shop.  Diane got me a bouquet of the month subscription with the local florist and last month I told Anna I'd bring her in on her birthday to get the July bouquet.  At her request he put together a pink bouquet and was quite sweet to throw in an extra rose for her birthday.  She was thrilled!  

Once we got all our goods, we met Diane at the house with her traditional donut and balloon delivery - Strawberry Shortcake!   

While I got dinner made and wrapped up gifts, GR and the kids went swimming - one of Anna's favorite activities!  Diane joined us for the evening and we even Skyped with Grandma Mutti and Grandpa Art for the opening of presents.  

We did a little shopping for her at Gap - getting her the dress she's wearing and a couple other things.  A couple of new puzzles, little princess dolls and new playdough (because she insists on mixing colors and leaving it out).  Grandma got her some new books, including one on building fairy houses - something I hope we can do when it isn't 105 outside and Ree Drummond's children's book, Charlie the Ranch Dog.  Grandma and Grandpa sent her the kitty purse next to GR.  

Garden Harvest!

We finally have green beans!!  Last years crop got severely tramitized by a hail storm in late spring and never really recovered from it.  But this year we have beautiful plants covered in blossoms and loaded with beans!  The kids spent just a few minutes this morning picking these beans, our first vegetable harvest of the summer. Can't wait to cook these up for dinner!

Late Night Science Fun!

Dry Ice continues to be the best method of keeping the ice cream cold for our fireworks floats.  Placed under a layer of brown paper, it keeps the ice cream solid without being brick hard.  

After the show Friday night, the kids all took showers and I starting cleaning up, wiping out coolers, putting soda and ice cream away, etc.  I had a few chunks of dry ice left and I put them in the sink and quite by accident showed the big kids what happens when it get's wet.  Oh did they had fun playing with the smoke!

Fireworks 2012

We made big changes again for this years fireworks show. For a couple of years now GR has been searching for a new venue ... something better able to accommodate the crowd -- parking, facilities, etc. and didn't include our home within the fall out zone.  We've tried 4-5 different locations, all would have been perfect, but all have said no because of insurance premiums. All that is, but one. The local parks department agreed to let us shoot at the kids soccer fields.  Setting the fireworks up off the soccer/football fields in a farmers field that was mowed just for us, and the crowd sitting on the football fields.

We were worried not everyone would hear the show had moved, thankfully, word spread that the location had changed, and to our knowledge only one family showed up at the house first. Phew!  And with it being in a more public place, people felt more free to invite neighbors, friends and family to attend and we had a great turn out!  GR estimated 400 people, but it's hard to tell given that we were spread out across 1.5 football fields.  It was wonderful to see so many old friends who traveled in to attend the show, and others who were able to work the show into their vacation schedules as they traveled back to KS/MO to visit family.

We had people from CA, CO, AZ, ID, and IA in the audience.  

GR did time laps photography of the set up ... one picture every minute for 7 hours or so.  It doesn't quite give the amount of work, or the extreme heat they endured enough justice when you see it sped up to less than 1 minute.  



And we video taped the show!   For all our friends in fireworks banned states, hopefully you can view this on a large screen and not feel like you've missed out too much.



We served 256 root beer floats, same as the year before, though I was prepared to serve more than that. I kept all by two of my hardworking, trash picking-up cub scouts to the 1 per person rule which I think helped manage the quantities a bit more. HyVee put everything I needed on sale for the weekend which was hugely helpful! I was able to make it a one stop shop for all my float needs which was fabulous, and they were the cheapest in town to boot!

Our one bit of excitement for the evening was, what is now being referred to as the "crazy dog lady" by all who witnessed it. About 15 minutes into the show a dark station wagon with a woman driving, goes flying through our caution tape barricade and finally swerves to a stop. Concerned it was an emergency and someone in the crowd was needed, I went to investigate and see what was going on. By the time I got to her, she was stomping around her car trying to untangle it from the caution tape. She was furious, raging with anger. She had been at a dog park a few miles from the soccer fields and the fireworks frightened one of her dogs so badly that it ran off (the ran off part we pieced together a few hours later). She was screaming at the insensitivity of us shooting fireworks so close to a dog park. I apologized but assured her that we had worked with the city and gotten permission to do this and that rather than all the police she should call the city to complain ... it's 10pm at night, 30 minutes past when the sun was totally set, who is in an unlit dog park past dark?

Anyway, she was so angry that she pealed out of the parking lot, nearly taking out a friends toes and coming within inches of driving straight into me. She then nearly hit the neighbors car and then the icing on the cake that sent us to call the police on her, was she came within inches of nearly hit a mother and her two small boys crossing the parking lot to get to their car.

Sadly the police couldn't do anything about the "distraught dog woman" as, with any kind of driving citation, a police officer must witness it and we weren't able to get her plates.  The officer who came out to take down our concern for the distraught dog woman and any poor soul that got in her way, was extremely nice.  This was our favorite part of the conversation: 

"Driving out here I could feel the vibrations of the shells in my squad car ... that and the size of the shells, it's pretty obvious you know what you're doing and not shootin' off bottle rockets in your drive way, and that you've gotta be legit.  Next time just give us a heads up so we're in the loop." (We thought the fire chief had done that). 

To dispatch:  "All the calls from _____ about the fireworks will be ending now - the show's over."  
Then turning to the small group of people standing around him, he asks, who's in charge of the show and GR says he is. 

Officer Friendly: Who do you work for? 

GR: A hospital in Montana?
Officer: No, no I mean, who sponsored the show?

GR: I did. 

Officer: No, no, who paid for it? 

GR: I did. 

Officer: You mean, like as community service? 

GR: Aahh, kinda, something like that ... you should come out next year. 

Officer:  Ha, that's cool! 

This afternoon GR talked with someone from the local paper who called the city to find out more about the show and if it was going to be an annual thing.  We've been doing this for 5 years, and now that we moved a few miles in town, it get's noticed ... interesting.  Apparently what happens in the country, stays in the country.  Good to know!  

Branching Out

Yesterday, Emily asked if she could bake brownies.  Baking is a favorite past time and the girls are really good at it, but we end up with lots of sweets that either get eaten, or get thrown away - neither option is one I feel good about.


In an effort to find a healthier balance, (learn to make something more than sweets, make something healthier, make something we need.) I suggested she make dinner or bake bread.  Before thinking too much, she picked bread (in her mind it was too early to work on dinner), and asked to use a recipe I made twice last week.


The recipe is for basic white bread and is in the 3-ring Pillsbury cookbook. It's pretty simple in that it doesn't use milk or eggs.  I handed her the cookbook and told her to get me if she needed help.  I really want the girls to know how to read and follow a recipe - which they've shown great ability to do when making treats - to trust the words on the page, follow the instructions and be proud of the final product.  She did an awesome job.  And I only stepped in a couple of times to show her how to do something ... proper kneading technique and how to divide the dough into loaves and shape a loaf.

Making bread took a lot longer than she expected - they went in the oven at 9pm, but the end product is something she is really proud of, and it made an awesome breakfast (with some of last weeks blackberry jam - yum!) everyone enjoyed ... she's saving the second loaf for tomorrow morning!

I'm hoping we can do this more this summer ... help to curb boredom by learning to make food our family needs on a daily/weekly basis.  

Making Jam

Last week my friend and visiting teacher, Kathy, called to see if we could use some blackberries.  Their early variety is going gang busters, and she brought us two big ice cream buckets filled to the brims with beautiful big berries.  Alex and Anna and I ate some and I made some into jam that very afternoon.  

Aldi has had strawberries for a $1/lb and blueberries for $1.29/pint so, Saturday I bought 8 lbs of strawberries and 6 pints of blueberries thinking I'd make jam over the weekend, but it didn't happen.  I needed to get the berries used up before they spoiled and this afternoon we all got to work slicing, mashing and dicing fruit.  

We made peach, blackberry, blackberry/peach, and strawberry jam.  Then later I made peach syrup and blueberry syrup (which I processed!).  The peaches are white peaches and so delicious.  Kathy's husband brought us two large flats of very ripe peaches that make the best jam and syrup!  Oh, so good.  And the little ones have loved going into the fridge to eat a "lean" peach whenever they want.  [Stephen called them "lean-over peaches" when he brought them by, because you need to lean over when you eat them or you get juice all down the front of you.  

I used low sugar or no sugar needed pectin and had great success with it.  And I love only needing to use 1/4 the sugar traditional recipes call for and still getting a good set on the jam.  I also tested using truvia on batch of strawberry jam rather than cane sugar, it set beautifully, so I'm looking forward to tasting it too.  I think GR's count was 28 jars of jam ... most were pints for us to use, but I also used some jelly jars to give as gifts.    

This day in the kitchen with the kids has brought back sweet memories of making jam with my parents and siblings at my grandmothers home.  My parents discovered buckets and buckets of raspberries in Grandma's basement freezer and we spent the entire week we were there making jam.  


We processed the jam in QUART jars.  Yep, quart jars.  At the time I had no idea what that meant ... I didn't realize the significance of how much work that represented - even though I actively participated.  We'd never made jam before - that wasn't something we did.  Maybe we were using jars Grandma had, or maybe because we were a large family quart jars seemed more efficient?  I don't know.   But no one makes jam in quart jars ... everyone uses pints.  IF you are lucky one recipe yields a quart of jam, plus a little bit.  And we made cases and cases of raspberry jam, in quart jars.  I don't remember how many jars we made, nor do I really remember how much work it took to make that jam.  But we all remember that summer, sitting at stove in the Logan house, cooking raspberry jam.  And we all remember how amazing that raspberry jam tasted.  


As we visited family that summer, we left each family, including the newly married cousins, with a case of the jam.  I don't even remember how many cases we gave away or how many we kept ... maybe someone else remembers?  But I remember when we finally opened the last quart jar of raspberry jam a year or so later, we all savored every bite full!

5 Little Piggies

GR's working out of the office this week and was gone all weekend.  I've been talking about taking a new picture of the five of them all weekend long.  So after swimming this afternoon, when they all lined up on the deck, Rebecca suggested I get the camera and take a picture.  Sweet willing participants, I'm all game!  Except this is what I got ...

Clearly, willingness isn't everything.  

Buzz Cuts

Last week GR cut the boys hair. They have been begging for buzz cuts for a very, very long time. I'm not a huge fan, but relented when GR said it was High School before his mother finally gave up on the hair cut issue and I remember that my father got this cut every summer. It is, after all only hair.

When Bob saw Alex a few days after his hair cut, he didn't recognize him - he does look so different, more than one person has done a double take. And I'm getting use to Sam without hair on his forehead. They both look so cute.

For days after getting his buzz cut, Alex would ask you if you liked his hair, or he run past you running his hands through his hair and pausing to look at his reflection in every mirror. It was pretty sweet to watch how pleased he was.

From the time Alley was a little baby people who know my dad have said the two look a lot a like. You tell me, Daddy is pictured on the far left and they are almost the same age, both nearly six.

I think it's possible they have the same hair line ... 

Growing Up

Rebecca gave her first talk in church today.  She looked beautiful ... she wore a white dress Barb gave her and Emily (Emily wore it to 5th grade Recognition earlier this week) and wore her hair down (something she rarely does).  She researched and wrote the talk all on her own with a few guiding comments here and there from us last night.  She did an amazing job - we were all a little nervous for her because we knew she was a bit nervous.  But she did an amazing job - you never would have known she was nervous.  She was poised, calm, and spoke clearly, and GR and I were so impressed and proud of her! 

She wrote the talk in her journal but I wanted to preserve it here so we have another record of it.  

I was asked to speak on the topic "How the Holy Ghost can help me."   The Holy Ghost has been called many names: The Comforter, Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord and Spirit.  All of these names mean the same thing:  The third member of the Godhead, the one without flesh and blood, a still small voice.  The Holy Ghost is kinda like God's messenger.  God sends warnings and promptings through the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost delivers the message/prompting to us using a still small voice. 

The main job of the Holy Ghost is sending us the warnings and promptings of God. The Holy Ghost uses a still small voice when speaking to us, but when we ignore him, he will get progressively louder and louder, simply go away or both.  

After we are baptized we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, or as the scriptures say, "Baptism of fire."  This is when you officially receive the Holy Ghost, prior to this, the Holy Ghost would give a prompting every so often, but it would be infrequent.  Once we are confirmed however, the Holy Ghost is here to stay as long as we keep the commandments and obey the Lord's wishes, and remember what Helaman 4:24 says, "... the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples."  This is pretty straight forward;  the better you keep the commandments the easier it is to hear the Spirit, but if we offend the Spirit by sinning, then he will withdraw. 

I sometimes think of the Holy Ghost as a well oiled machine.  He works on faith and obedience.  When we are obedient and faithful the Holy Ghost still speaks with a still small voice,, but we are better able to hear it and recognize that it is from God. 

I am still learning how to recognize the influence of the Holy Ghost in my life.  He has helped my family find lost things like keys, wallets and all the temple dedication tickets.  He has helped me feel calm, at peace, or have courage in a hard situation.

Once in Social Studies we were talking about the election and Mitt Romney. Because he (Mitt) is Mormon my teacher started to say things that were incorrect about the Church.  At first I wasn't sure if I should speak up and correct the teacher, but after I started thinking about it, the Holy Ghost filled me with enough courage to raise my hand and correct my teacher and the more I started talking the less scared I was and I corrected every wrong thing my teacher had said and even answered some of my classmates questions.  

The Holy Ghost also testified at the cultural celebration that I was seeing the Prophet of God.  And when I went to the temple after it was dedicated, He testified that I was in the House of the Lord.  

I bear you my testimony that if we keep the commandments and do what is right we will always have the Holy Ghost with us.

Amen. 

Twelve years has gone by so quickly, and I am constantly amazed at how blessed we are to be the parents to these astounding kids! 

Outstanding Achievement

Earlier this month representatives from the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution came to the elementary school and distributed certificates of participation to the fifth grade students who submitted essays to their American History Essay Contest earlier this year.  We were thrilled to learn that Emily, took 2nd place!  It's a great essay ... each of the winners essays were written in letter format.  Emily wrote it all on her own and it wasn't until the librarian (pictured right) read her essay to the group (all the girls were too shy to read them aloud themselves), that we heard it for the first time.  So thrilling.  

Emily really loves history and reading historical fiction.  She had really wanted to base her essay on a woman from the American Revolution, but she got really discouraged when she couldn't find one.  Despite that little set back early on in her research, she had a great time researching the time period and history and writing her essay (which I've included at the bottom).  

The three winners, along with their parents, were invited to attend the chapters end of the year luncheon this morning to have lunch and read their essays to the group.  Diane and I attended with Emily and were so proud of her willingness to read her essay to a couple dozen women after sitting through a long chapter meeting.  She was nervous, but did such a great job and read with great pose and maturity.  

We sat with a delightful woman who has lived in the area for many years, but is a relatively new member of the DAR and was instated in the chapters 2012-2013 leadership at the end of the meeting.  She made the entire morning so enjoyable thanks to her warm and friendly personality.  She also did a fabulous job of telling us about the DAR and what they do locally and nationally.  It was fascinating to sit in on one of their meeting.  They do a lot of good work, but the rituals, and rules seem a little over the top to an outsider.  If Emily ever wanted to she could join the DAR she could via Diane's line ... Nathaniel Babcock.   Diane was a junior member as a girl and left upon principle - given their antics during the civil rights era, it's quite impressive an 11 year-old saw through the politics and racism and choose to walk away.     

Emily with the outgoing Chapter Regent, Ms. Johnson & the incoming Chapter Regent, Ms. Meyers. 

Emily's Essay: 

October 14th, 1816

Dear Family,

Sorry I have not written in so long. I would have gladly written a long while before, but I had no time. So much has been going on in New Orleans. Ever since I moved here three years ago, news of the war that so recently ended has just begun to stop as well. Now I have some good news, and I do not wish to say any more bad, but I may bring some up as I talk about the man I met a few weeks ago. He is magnificent, tall and proud, with a few scars on his head and his left hand. When he saw me, I was very shy indeed. He said that his name was Andrew Jackson, and that his nickname was Old Hickory, because once one of his soldiers said he was as tough as hickory.

He was born on March 15, 1767, a few weeks after his father died. He had no more family except for his wife. Then I finally got the courage to ask about his scars. He said when he was 14; he and his brother, Robert, were captured during the fighting of the Revolutionary War. The British commander wanted his boots cleaned, and he instructed that Andrew should do so. “I said then I refused, having rights of a prisoner of war,” Andrew said. I then gasped, and said “You refused a British commander! But what does that have to do with your scars?” “I haven’t finished yet. The commander lashed out his sword, for his anger had gotten a hold on him. It cut to the bone, and the officer also lashed my head. That is how I got my scars.” Afterward, he and his brother both caught a case of smallpox, and Robert died. A short time later, his mother died from helping sick and wounded soldiers. I can’t believe he went through so many deaths. I feel so bad for him. I wish so much to be able to help him.

When he fought in the war, Andrew once fought against a band of Creek Indians with 2,000 soldiers on his side. He said earlier, he was told to reinforce troops in New Orleans, and when he got to Natchez, Mississippi, he was told to demobilize his forces on the spot. Andrew said he was so furious and frustrated, for he had been sent no pay, food, transportation, or medicine for his reinforcements. So he led his troops through 500 miles of wilderness back to their homes. That was also where he got his nickname, Old Hickory. During the Battle of New Orleans, he killed thousands of British soldiers with the Kentucky Army and the Tennessee Militiamen. Then I realized why he was being honored so. They were all being perfect, some even bowing. I hope you have enjoyed this letter. I wish I could have written more, but I have guests coming over shortly, and I have much cooking to do.

Your loving daughter,

Anna

Last Day of School

Emily, Sam and Alex after their last day of school.  They each had a very successful academic year

Alex's class had a fiesta on the last day of school ... so much fun, and so amazed at the great school year he had! 

Alex with his classmates from his table this school year.

Alex and Mrs. C - We're 4 for 4, and love her!

Alex with classmates K and A.

Emily, as an outgoing 5th grader got spent the day playing with friends at PTA sponsored activities.  They bowled, ate pizza for lunch and played basketball and in the rec room at a local community center.  We got word last night that Emily scored high enough on her state assessment test to be in the advanced 7th grade math class next year.  She is so excited and so are we!   

Barb and Stu stayed with us this last night.  They are on their way to San Francisco for Stu's 4 year residency.   So exciting and yet a little sad to see go so far from home.  Closing one chapter and begin to open a new chapter so many miles away.  

Stuart is a huge board game fan and the kids really enjoy playing any and every game they can with him.  Tonight it was Monopoly.  It was a great game, and in true Stuart fashion he completely wiped everyone out!  At one point in the game, fairly early on, I hear Stuart explain to Sam ...

"If you want a game of revenge, play SORRY. This is a game of business."  

My Miracle Day

2am go to bed after preparing, cleaning, straightening, etc.  for a lunch picnic/gathering with Anna's music class.
6:15am - alarm goes off and I simply cannot get my eyes to open enough to wake up.
6:45am - drag myself out of bed. And help Emily put together her Louisa May Alcott costume, complete with hair for the 5th grade Wax Museum.
7:52am - drop elementary school kids off _ late
7:58am - drop Becca off at middle school
8:08am - back at elementary school to observe wax museum
8:50am - pass off Anna to Grandma for Music Class
9:05am - stop at grocery store for a bag of ice for a party I'm hosting for Annas music class in 90 minutes, and a few basic groceries.
9:30am - after putting away groceries and a few other things, realize I forgot the bag of ice I'd paid for and I start to weigh whether or not I really need the ice - there is so much I need to still get done for the picnic.
9:46am - phone call from school nurse that Sam got hurt on the playground and while it isn't serious he is in a lot of pain and the nurser feels it might be best for me to come and get him.
10:00am - get Sam from school, tie up loose ends there, and pick up bag of ice on way home.
10:34am - arrive back home at the same time the party/picnic guests begin to arrive.  I spent 30 minutes getting last minute things taken care of and then join the party.  Great group of women and kids.  Really glad Diane suggested it and that I went ahead and said yes.
12:35pm - the last guests leave and I start a batch of cookies ... need to deliver 6 dozen to the school at 3pm.
2:35pm - the last dozen come out of the oven (the batch made 7 dozen - best recipe ever when needing cookies for the masses.)
2:45pm - cookies are packed, container labeled and we are in the car, on our way.
3:15pm - home from getting kids and delivering cookies, sit down for a minute with a magazine, never mind that it's 2 years old, it's a magazine and I can't remember the last time I did that.
4:00pm - pick up Becca from piano
4:13pm - pull on to our street just in front of my Sister and her husband who are stopping in on their way to CA to start his residency program.  


Rarely does my day fall into sync, everything matching up perfectly, like it did today, and honestly like it has been for a bit.  A sweet and quite reminder that God is watching over me and aware of my needs and desires.  Don't get me wrong, the stress and intensity of the schedule is immense, add to it that GR working at the office this week, and I am super grateful that things are falling into place easily and quickly, especially when we are double, triple and sometimes even quadruple booked in a single evening and everything must work like clockwork.

Louisa May Alcott

This morning was Emily's 5th Grade Wax Museum.  2 months ago the kids were all assigned a historical person to research, write a paper on, then condense the paper down to a 90 second/150 word speech.  Emily was very excited to be assigned Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. 

At Emily's last parent teacher conference her teacher and I were discussing the need to find more challenging books for Emily to read that were also age appropriate.  We both felt Little Women was a good fit for Emily - she loves historical fiction, it's age appropriate, and it's LONG!  Something my fast reader needs.  So I picked it up at the library along with a stack of other books that I thought she'd enjoy and Emily and Rebecca both read it and loved it!  Love it when we have a book success!  Emily is now on to the Harry Potter series -- we finally have a child interested in reading Harry Potter!  Ha!

Back to the wax museum ... If you'll remember when Becca did this last year, part of the assignment was also to dress up at the historical person you were assigned.  This is one of my favorite parts of the assignment, because they are encouraged not to purchase items for the costume, but to use what they have around them and I love seeing what kids put together.  I saw one of Emily's friends in football pants and his mothers suit blazer; another wore an old prom dress from an older sibling, another used a short blue bathrobe to resemble a military jacket, another used a winter hat for a fight hat.  

The students are spread throughout the hallways of the school for one hour.  Students from younger grades, parents, and visitors move from student to student, and press a faux button (on the card taped to the wall to Emily's right in the picture below).  Upon pressing the button the 5th grader in front of you "comes to life" and recites their 150 word speech about themselves.  Emily recited hers over 30 times!  It's a really fun and impressive project that the students and family's really enjoy each year.   

For Emily's costume, we used on of my shirts and Becca's skirt I had made for the cultural celebration earlier in the month, then we tied up her hair and she started to resemble some of the pictures we'd seen of Louisa May Alcott.  

I would really love to know how women did their hair back in Louisa's day.
This poor attempt took 16 Bobbie pins.  

Flying head-on into a Tornado

This was Suzanne's facebook status Friday morning "I'm flying head-on into a family tornado. Giddy-up!"  And it was so true.  Almost all of us were all in town for a very short weekend packed with lots of family fun! 

Joe and Katy had a beautiful baby girl earlier this month and we couldn't wait to meet her and smoother her with cuddles.  Isn't she beautiful! 

My brother-in-law graduated from SLU's Med School Friday. He and Barb are packing up their apartment this weekend and moving to CA for his residency.  We're super excited for them, and super excited for Suz cause they'll practically be neighbors, but it's hard to imagine them all living so far away!

We helped my father clean out the garage.  A very small part of that process was Suz and I building a wood pile.  The wood had formerly been stored in the garage and needed to get moved out of the garage.  We teased Daddy that we were trying to make up for the fact that he only had two sons and four daughters.  

The garage clean out was so we could move furniture my parents drove out from my grandparents home this week.  Last weekend they and my dad's siblings and their spouses spent the weekend cleaning out my grandparents home, dividing up the contents among the descendants and load them up into two trucks ... one truck doing the western US, one truck doing the eastern US.  Mom and Dad made a quick stop at our house to unload a few things and catch a night's sleep before heading to St. Louis Thursday.  And Saturday after cleaning and organizing, we moved the furniture staying in St. Louis onto pallets in their garage until Mom decides where to put them inside.  

Joe and Suz also got Mom's impatient bed planted ... one of "our" traditional Mother's Day gifts to her that my brother is so good at making sure happens each year.  

It's been a while since we've done a super quick visit to the parents like this ... Some of the kids and I arrived Friday night, GR brought our two soccer players who had tournaments, Saturday evening (driving my parents car that they'd left at our place), and then we all headed back to KS Sunday afternoon for our last week of school! ... but it was so worth it to see everyone, visit and help my parents get a good chunk of the work they wanted to get done, done this weekend.    

Mom's Day @ Preschool

I got to spend an hour with Anna at preschool today for Mom's Day and their Art Show.  It was so much fun.  Anna showed me the dress up corner. We planted a sunflower which I hope will eventually transplant well in the garden.  And then we went and looked at the kids art work in the gallery.  They studied three artists, Matisse, Monet, and VanGogh, making three projects in similar styles or using principles of art that correlate to the artist in their preschool art project.  This is one of my favorite art units at preschool!  I am totally in love with her VanGogh sunflowers.  It's gonna get framed and hung in the house somewhere.

We started off playing dress up - I adore this picture of her all done up - complete with the "I'm ready for the pavarazzi" shades.  Our together project was to plant a sunflower seed in a cup.  Mrs. K said last fall a mom brought in the head of the sunflower she and her child had planted at Mom's Day.  She said it was huge!  I will count myself lucky if this little seed spouts and survives a month. 

Then we had to hurry off to the gym (art gallery) to see all the children's artwork.

Playdate

Alex didn't have school today (Kindergarten Roundup for the incoming Kindergarten students) and Anna had her standing day with Grandma.  So it was just me and Alex.  He wanted to have a friend spend the day with us.  Alex spends an hour after school on Thursday's with this friend while Sam and Emily and his sister are at Math and Chess Club.  It's been so nice to have this option for Alex after school, and I was glad we had a chance to do a little something in return.  

I took the boys a children's museum and they had a great time!  They want to go back and I'm convinced they would spend all day there and not get bored.  Here are pictures from our visit of some of the things they did: 

They have an awesome construction zone with real tools.  The boys spent so much time sawing, drilling and hammering to make their car and truck and were so proud of their creations.   

Sidenote: I don't remember much of what the Magic House was like years ago when I first went as a kid -- when it was just a magic house ... no grand new expansion with a three story bean pole, no bump out the back with the store/tree house/fishing pond, etc. This Children's Museum has only been open a year and is small; one very large open room with a dozen or so stations.  I'm really looking forward to watching it grow, expand and develop over the next 30 years as we have the Magic House, and maybe even take my grandchildren there for a day...

Overheard in the kitchen

Anna: Why?

GR: Because I’m the Dad.

Anna: Why are you the Dad?

GR: Because God made me the dad.

Anna: But Why?

GR: You’ll have to ask Him.

Anna: But God’s in Heaven.

…

Anna: God’s in my heart!

Alex: So ask God in your heart.

Anna: I can’t see my heart.

Overheard via the phone:

GR:: Alexander, ladies first, step back and let Anna in the car.
Alex:: What?! That isn’t fair.
GR:: Yes it is.
Alex:: It isn’t a rule in our family.

In a phone call to me, “I have failed as a father to my youngest son.”

Overheard in the car after school

Child: Dad, you didn't have to go to work today?
GR: Nope.
Child: You get to choose when you go to work?
GR: No. I don't have a job right now.
Alex: You got FIRED!
GR: No. I quit.
Sam: You don't have a job?
GR: I do, but I start on Monday.
Child: Where?
GR: I'm going to work from home.
Em: But that doesn't pay anything.

Back story, although the point of sharing the above is Emily's comment - clearly I've succeeded in teaching my children that I work even though I stay home, but... the back story of the rest of the conversation. For a sometime now GR's been looking for a different job. He's interviewed all over the country, and at all but one location, gotten a job offer. In most cases the jobs were a perfect fit for his skill set and career goals, but every time we've prayed about whether to accept the offer or not, we've gotten the answer, no. A few weeks ago GR made contact with a former co-worker who had a job opening she wanted him to apply for, and it had the potential of being a remote position that he could do from home. Long story short, he interviewed, it went well, he was offered the job and he starts next week.

We are really excited to have him around more, even if he's in another room working. He will continue to do hospital pharmacy IT, it's just for a hospital out of state. He will work from home, out of our bedroom of all locations, and will occasionally travel to work on-site, meet with doctors and assist with conversions. And for now we're sticking around here. We are hopeful that this first year we'll be able prove that this arrangement is good for their business as well as for us.