The Girls

Picture of my girls snapped last night before bed. So cute!!  Emily right now is all about hair ... has been for most of this school year.  It's always fun to see how she's braided or done up her hair for the day. 

I made the dress Anna is wearing Monday afternoon melding two different tutorials out there, this tutorial for the pattern, and this for the embellishments. I'll write more about the dress on my TS blog in the coming weeks.

Berry Picking

A week ago a friend stopped by and said she needed my help and to grab a couple large kitchen container.  After sending me back to the kitchen for larger containers, she proceeded to dump the contents of two large ice cream buckets into two largest mixing bowls.  Beautiful, red, juicy strawberries!  

She's getting a bumper crop and has more than she knows what to do with, and we got her "leftovers" - such a sacrifice!  If only we were asked to help out like this more.  Saturday she called to say the patch is still loaded with berries and wondered if the family would like to go out and pick berries sometime.
 

As you know, we really like to pick berries, so today, after attending a pancake breakfast and flag raising at the church to benefit the boy scouts, we drove out to the strawberry patch and picked berries for about an hour, coming home with 15 qts or so of beautiful, sweet strawberries.  I'm thinking I may need to make jam this week!  Especially since the kids want to go back later this week. 

On a side note.  We discovered the super scoops featured in FamilyFun Magazine a while back make excellent berry picking buckets, specifically for kids!  Even Anna could pick up a jug and walk around the patch without spilling any berries.  If your picking berries on larger bushes ... say blue berries or black berries, tie the jug around your waist with a belt or length of rope threaded through the jugs handle.  That way you can pick with both hands and not have to bend over to dump the berries in your bucket.  I'm also thinking these will make good containers for the kids to use in the garden (if it survives our really wet spring!) when it comes time to pick tomatoes, peppers, green beans, peas, our own strawberries, and onions.

I've been using a half dozen or so super scoops in the craft room to hold some of the kids craft supplies ... markers, glue, glue sticks, scissors, etc.  I like that they are made from something I have all the time.  I like how easy they are to make, and how nicely fit on the cupboard shelf.  And I like that the contents are always so easy to access for me and the kids.  I think it would be cool to hang them from a rod along the wall using an s hook of some kind maybe, but for now, they are fine sitting on a shelf, or floating around the house from art project to art project.

The Launch

Friday night the big girls spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa and we took the three little kids on an adventure.  An evening balloon launch was held not too far away and we thought it would be fun to go watch.  Thanks to mainly back roads (see all the dust from the gravel roads?), and leaving a bit later than we expected (thank you Old Navy 50% off clearance!) it took longer to get there than we expected, but it was a great sight to see so many balloons in the air.  And the kids LOVED it!

GR came into some new-to-him camera lenses which he used to shoot most of these pictures: 

They had one balloon tethered to the ground so people could get close and see how it works.  Kids and parents, lined up to climb in the basket and watch the propane fueled engine fire hot, hot flames up in to the balloon, heating the air.  Alex was the first little kid they'd seen who was excited to get inside and wanted to see the flame and know how it worked.  I love the look on Alex's face in this shot, and Sam's delight at both of their enjoyment.

We had hoped to take the girls back Saturday night, but once again the day was too full, and something had to give.  Instead, the kids played out back in the field with papa, while I helped a friend pack up her kitchen.  We are planning a return trip to this park for more intensive play.  It is AMAZING.  Built a couple years ago, it's prefect for multi-age kids!  It has a little tikes play area, sand pit, larger kids play area, huge web-like climbing tower, long bumpy slides, rock climbing structure, large covered pavilion, pond, ball fields, soccer fields, and probably more.  I'm looking forward to going back when it isn't covered with a couple hundred kids (which it easily accommodated).

In other news, Bob's been helping us get the pool ready to swim.  It won't be ready for Memorial Day, but by the weekend it will be close.  When it is, I hope you'll "come on!" over and join us for a dip. 

[Anna motioning to Papa to come on! and walk with us]

The New Resident

It seams my friends, that we have a new house guest. Meet Oscar, he lives under our deck and we are pretty sure he is a groundhog.


Oscar comes out when the yard is quiet ... he drinks from the little creek that goes around the deck, he eats grass and weeds from the yard, and then of course he poops in places I'd rather he not poop. But it's super fun to watch him stand up on his hind legs and look around the yard ... so far that's making up for the poop in the flower beds and planters.

When I asked GR, what my chances were for potty training a groundhog, he wasn't too encouraging, and offered to have someone trap it. I'm not there, yet. So far, it seems "he" is following the house rules and as long as he follows the rules ... don't damage the property, play nicely, don't poop around the house (he has a grace period, but I'm not sure I'm willing to give him the same period of time we've given Alexander ... a year's a long time), etc., he can stay, otherwise we'll issue an eviction notice.

I'm not sure how long he's lived under our deck, but we just recently noticed him. Our first introduction was on Rebecca's birthday -- it had pooped in one of my planters on the upper deck ... right on top of a sweet pea plant.

This picture was taken through the kitchen window. He's about 30+ feet from the house, just past the little line of trees that goes long the lower deck. I've tried to get closer, but every time I've gone so far as to unlatch the back door, he's shot back under the deck.

Petite Chefs

Rebecca started planning her birthday party in December.  With the move, we finally had to tell her we couldn't discuss the party plans until April 1st.  For most of April party plans were being discusses right and left with modifications being given almost as quickly ... I don't think the plans were truly decided on until right before the party ... our conversations went something like this ... 

yes cake decorating would be a great idea, 
we can bake pizzas too, 
I don't see how there's time to bake cookies too, 
no a competition would not be a good idea, even if Emily and Halle are going to be the judges, and I don't think teams are a great idea either, let's just let everyone do their own, okay?
if you're going to invite 8 of the 10 girls in your class, you should invite all of them, I understand they don't all get along, if they don't want to come that's their choice.
you're going to have to choose between watching a movie and all these other things you want to do, I don't think a six hour party is going to work, honey. 
ooohh sequins monograms would be lovely, but not at $6 a letter. 

In the end she settled on a handful of girls, her good chums from school, to come for a night of cake decorating, making pizzas and well, eating and giggling.  It was one of the best birthday parties we've held, by way of my personal enjoyment and stress level, and the girls had a great time.  

We had a 6" cake for each girl to decorate with lots of candies and icing and sprinkles.  They also decorated cupcakes which we used as Rebecca's birthday cake at the end of the party.  While the girls decorated their cakes, I made pizza dough so they could each make their own personal pizza for dinner.  

Becca and I toyed with the idea of decorating aprons but that quickly became cost and time prohibited, so I opted to make the girls aprons, and I'm so pleased I did.  The end result was so much better than anything I could have hoped for.  To make them a bit more fun, I made each girl a little flower pin using scraps from the aprons and coordinating fabrics.  I love this tutorial!   


While the girls and I were doing the party, GR took the four other kids to dinner, and then Mother's Day shopping.  Becca got upset that she didn't get to go out to dinner, and Emily and Sam were sad they didn't get to decorate cakes.  How do you win?!

I'm hoping I can figure out how to help the this summers birthday parties be just as fun and easy going for us and the kids.  For sure we need to have one for Emily.  The poor kid hasn't had a birthday party with friends, that I can remember since she was three or four maybe.  So, this is the year, wish me luck that I don't get totally wiped out by the rest of the summer and poop out. 

Double Digits

[A couple of years ago my mother started sending email announcements to the extended family about birthdays. Her hope was that this would be a unifying exercise given that both sides of the extended family -- my mothers family and my fathers family -- live all over creation. Her secret dream is that the email announcement will spur family members to send either personal or public "shout outs" to the individual celebrating their birthday or anniversary.]

Today, Rebecca is 10! I sent my family the following spot light on Rebecca and decided to include it the blog ... enjoy and feel free to add your own insights about Rebecca in the comments.

Rebecca is a hands on creator. She is constantly making something out of anything and everything she can find ... paper, fabric, boxes and cans from the recycling bin, etc. Right now she has two different quilts pinned together on the floor of the craft room. [quilt she made last year, and another she did the year before] Rebecca also enjoys designing things on the computer. Using Microsoft Publisher to design invitations, books, labels, business cards, fliers, etc.

Rebecca is an avid reader and excellent student. She caught on to reading quickly as a kindergartner and fell in love with the Junie B. Jones series. Since then she's found lots of favorites ... All of the Ramona Quimby books, both Penderwick books, Judy Moody is another favorite. But recently, Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian has been her books of choice. She read all four books in two weeks. Rebecca is one who will re-read books. They are her good friends, and when she finds a book she loves, she will read it again, and again.

Rebecca is a planner. Birthdays, vacations, etc. When she wants to do something she plans it all out her in head with very detailed ideas about how she wants things. She and her friends had her birthday party planned by mid-January this year.

Back in early March she started planning our family garden ("her" garden, as she calls it). She called her primary teacher for advice on what fruit trees to plant in Kansas (we're holding off on this stage of the garden). She then called my visiting teacher & her husband, avid gardeners too, for advice on what to plant - even arranged for them to come over and advise us on where to plant, making a list of their suggestions of what to grow in Kansas. And she called her Great Grandfather to talk with him about gardening and started reading the book he published about gardening.


Rebecca has always been a black and white, right or wrong kind of kid. She works hard to figure out how to do something correctly and she will not deviate from it. She is not easily intimidated by adults or peers and freely speaks her mind.

Since a young toddler Rebecca has taught us the importance of making people feel loved and accepted. She is an incredible example of being a friend, and extending a hand of fellowship to all she knows. She says hello to everyone. She is always excited to see you, and will greet you with a smile, hug and ask you how you are. Even if she only met you for a brief moment, she will remember you and excitedly greet you the next time you see each other (and remind you how you know each other if necessary).

Last night Rebecca was asked by a member of our Stake Presidency to speak in Stake Conference today. She was asked to share her favorite scripture about the Savior, share why and bare her testimony [side note: 10 members - 2 each: primary, youth, young adult, male, female - were asked to do this, along with a member of the stake presidency. Becca was one of the two primary children, and she was the youngest].

Last night she excitedly accepted, but this morning her confidence was gone and she was a puddle of tears; scared, nervous and completely unsure of what to share. Thanks to calm assurances from her parents, a phone call to her primary teacher, and the answer to GR and I's silent fervent prayers that the spirit would bring peace and calm to her heart, she began to prepare and choose a scripture they recently studied in her primary class. She wrote a few key words down as notes, and shared her scripture and testimony in Stake Conference this afternoon. She didn't even get flustered when she realized that the scriptures she had marked and put her notes in didn't make it in the car and she had to write out her notes again.

The scripture she shared was: Mark 14:21-25. So fitting for a 10 year old who 2 years ago was baptized and has such a vivid memory of her baptism, and the covenants she made in that ordinance, and renews each Sunday when she partakes of the sacrament. Her testimony was basic, simple, as all first testimonies are.

Rebecca is a pretty mature 10 year old. She is asked to shoulder a lot of responsibilities in our family. Even today we needed to celebrate with a birthday breakfast rather than our traditional birthday dinner because GR had BYC and was the speaker for the tri-ward Bishops devotional for the youth tonight. She bravely and maturely agreed to have her birthday dinner Monday night instead of Sunday night. No need to feel too poorly for her. We celebrated in style this morning with pancakes, sweet rolls, all her favorite fresh fruits, sausage and donuts!

She opened her presents in a small break this evening before GR left for the church. While he was gone, the girls and I put Rebecca's new bedding on her bed. Her new favorite color is green, and everything she got today was green (with a couple minor exceptions). Green scriptures, green sports watch (that will show military time), green sheets, green bedspread, green print pillowcases (made using this tutorial, but awaiting the crocheted trim), and some fun new artwork (from this website) for that big blank wall!

Good Mail

I got an email this afternoon from Sam's teacher Mrs. H.

"I just wanted to let you know that I had a sub two days ago. When I returned I was told the class did not do well, outside of 4 students that were fabulous. Sam was one of the four. Not surprising as he is always wonderful. I just thought you would like to know."

When I asked Sam about it after school, he modestly said, "I know." And then added, "everyone had to write Mr. &%?$ a note saying they were sorry. I didn't though. Colin didn't either, he wasn't at school Monday."

Love it!

Turning back time

Some "old" friends were in town for the weekend and we had a chance to hang out after church for a bit, let the kids run wild in the fields and eat a good dinner. We got a picture of all the kids together, just before they pulled out for the night. Dawn and Rebecca are a day shy of being 3 months apart. Her parents moved into our ward midway through her pregnancy and they have been good friends ever since. I dug through our picture archives and pulled up some fun photos of the kids together over the last 10 years. There are some holes given my picture deleting incident, and living many, many miles apart.

It seems like only yesterday they were toddlers playing together, and yet, in the same breath, a life time ago in all they have experienced. Both families have added four more babies (actually they are about to add baby number five this summer). There is something so grounding and comforting in relationships like these.

The Reward II

I woke up to Emily telling me she would be playing in the Teachers vs. Student basketball game during the last portion of the school day. If you aren't familiar with this new tradition at the kids school, read this post from last year.


Emily was so excited to participate this year. She and Rebecca both totally rocked their exams - surprising even their teachers with their high marks!

At events like these, I am always impressed by the children who understand how to play as a team, and share the ball with everyone who is participating. It is so hard to trust others, and hand the ball off to someone else who may not score a point for the team. I wish they encouraged the students to make sure each person on the team has an opportunity to handle the ball during their 5 minutes on the court. I always feel bad for those who never get a chance to dribble or even shoot the basketball. They are all so every excited to participate, it must be disappointing to not get a chance to contribute. They are not selected because of their athletic skills, they are selected because of their academic performance ... hummm I haven't decided if it's worth talking with any of the teachers about this.

They are very careful to make sure everyone ends up happy in the end. Once again the students beat the teachers 88 to 71. It was a much needed break from the intensity of the school week!

Sleeps 11

For the last two nights we've had four house guests. GR picked them up Monday night. Four guys who are members of BYU-I Sound Alliance and Vocal Union. Actually three of them are band members and one singer. They are doing a two week midwest tour benefiting a variety of different charities. Tuesday night they put on a fantastic Jazz concert that we took the kids too. You can't beat $5 a ticket, especially when 100% of the proceeds go to the charity.

They were a great group of guys (they are between Alex and GR on the back row) and our family loved having them, although the kids only got to see them during breakfast. Housing singers/dancers is definitely something we'd like to do again. Thanks Jason, Stephen, Dave and Brandon for a great experience.

My new country life:

We're ticking items off our list to prep for closing on this house April 20th. Wednesday was the home inspection, Monday will be the appraisal. Any guesses on what they did today?

Reading with Boys

My girls read constantly. They are incredibly strong readers, reading well above their grade level. They devour every book they choose to pick up. I haven't quite gotten them to the point that they will read anything handed them, but I'm making progress and am learning fun ways to get them to read books they previously decided they didn't want to read. Consequently my girl library is pretty good.

When Sam started kindergarten, I started searching for more "boy" books to add to our library. Flat Stanley, Magic Tree House, Ready Freddy, Encyclopedia Brown. Anyone else struggling to find good early reader boy books that your boys find interesting. Sadly none of these have really captured his interest. (He'd still rather read Junie B. Jones ... which is fine. She's hilarious!) So while he remains a strong reader, he doesn't have books he loves, driving him to read more and more ... that is until now:


Saturday night GR came home with two new books he was interested in reading ... one of them was "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." "Really?!", I said. "This book?!"

The second the kids saw it, it became the book they all wanted to read. Rebecca is already finished with the first book and ready to read the second. Emily is doing her best to get equal time so she too can read it. Sam continues to call out what page number he's on and how many he's read since the last time he announced it. It's totally and completely above his reading level, but he's plodding his way through the book, and while it isn't real literature (to me), it is funny. Even Alexander has taken to laying on the couch with the book, "reading" it.

Last night I purchased the next three books in the series. (desperate sucker!)


Monday night we took the four big kids to the movies. There had been a request to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3-D at the IMAX. After choking that the IMAX ticket prices ($11/each) don't ever change (typically a movie during the week is about half the price of weekend ticket prices), we took the plunge and purchased six tickets. The movie is fantastic and well worth the small fortune we spent to see it. Hands down one of the best movies GR and I have seen and the kids loved every second of it! Even little Alexander stayed glued to his seat (minus the quick potty break mid way through).

Turns out, the movie is based on a book, by Cressida Cowell, and there is a whole series! Yep, we'll be adding these to our boy library too! As soon as the school book order arrives, we'll have the first four books in the Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian series. These are more for Sam in a year or two, but it's a start.

Any recommendations on 100 page chapter books for boys?

Attitude

I got a call a couple days from Sam's teacher, Mrs. H, letting me know Sam would receive a character of the month award during a pod assembly at the end of the day Friday. I told her it was a little answer to prayer. Sam's watched his sisters receive an award nearly every year, and he's been disappointed that he hasn't had a turn to be recognized for the good student he is in class, and friend he is to those around him. As you can see he's beaming! And his teacher couldn't have said it better:

"Sam is a student that is very eager to learn everything he can. He is extremely inquisitive and always trying to learn more about everything. He is always one to share stories or ask questions. He is one that everyone wants to work with as he is friendly and excited about the projects we work on. He always strives for more."

Holy Guacamole

Tonight is our Relief Society Birthday dinner, and this is half my kitchen island. Mom and I are spending the day making 40 cups of guacamole. And it looks like we'll just make our deadline!


Until this week I'd never made guacamole. So we've done a number of test runs this week, including purchasing ready made varieties, and, if we like them, reading the ingredient list so we know what to add to our recipe. Our final recipe tastes pretty good if I dare say so:

4 avocados, diced and slightly smashed with a fork
1/2 cup yellow onion chopped
1/4 cup red onion chopped
2 Roma tomatoes diced
1 tablespoon jalapeno puree
juice of a lime
1 teaspoon salt
2 dashes of pepper


This little judge things the guac is better than the chips! Let's just hope the ladies do too!

Back to the Earth

The snows nearly gone and things are starting to warm up again. We've got garden plans on the brain and are slowly working our way to making those dreams a reality.

Spring Break 2010

Sunday night: Late night dinner making homemade pizza's. Monday night: GR and I have a fun night out on the town - dinner and Bon Jovi!

Wednesday afternoon: Ceramics!This is something I've wanted to do with the kids for two years now, but never known quite how to pull it off with everyone. Mom stayed with Anna, I took a deep breath, and we jumped right in with both feet. We met some friends there and had a great time. I'm so pleased with how everyone's projects turned out ... so great! (picture is of their projects before they got fired)
Thursday: Kangaroo Math Contest for Rebecca, Emily and Sam. Sam was the youngest child participating in this national math competition. We'll get the results in May. In looking over the exam and their answers, they did well. More importantly, they had a good time and enjoyed being with some of their classmates for the afternoon - even if they were quietly sitting in a classroom taking a test.
From Kangaroo Math, we went straight to Ann's for haircuts for the four older kids, although Anna needs one too: Friday: picked up new library books, had friends over for dinner, temperatures dropped 30 degrees.

Saturday: SNOW! Spent the day watching movies, hanging out and playing in the snow.

Sunday Night Devotionals

As a youth I attended many Sunday night firesides at members homes. Typically they were held at youth leaders homes, or the homes of fellow youth, but occasionally they were held in other members homes. When GR mentioned at the beginning of the year that they were going to start having more youth firesides ... now called devotionals cause fireside really is a confusing term, since they are rarely held at the side of a fire ... and wanted to have them held in members home whenever possible, I got excited for the youth.

Tonight we got a chance to host the first one, and I think the youth had a great time. The speaker (pictured left), I'm told, did a bang up job as always. Sadly, my plan to listen in from the back door didn't happen. Just as he got started, Alex had an accident and my mother called totally lost in KC. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where she was. After driving around the suburbs for a while and consulting google maps, we finally got her back on the right highway and she eventually made it here to spend Spring Break with us (Daddy's out of town for the week, so she's spending it with us!).

Thankfully, it was just dry enough and just warm enough to have it outside around the fire pit. We rounded up all the fleece and wool blankets in the house for them to wrap up in and served a good amount of hot chocolate, s'mores and fruity rice krispie treats. I hope we'll be able to host more things like this, where we can provide a fun place for the youth to hang out, feel the spirit and allow their testimonies to grow in a safe environment. And I'm excited for other families in the ward to provide the same kind of space for the youth this year too.

A Little Known Fact

.... that is, I think it's a little known fact ... I guess we'll have to see.

One of the perks of buying Grandma and Grandpa's house is having access to the shed. The shed houses all of Bob's wood working equipment. Bob couldn't take them with him, so we're looking after them, providing them a good home, and when he needs something, he shows up and uses or takes what ever he needs for the project of the day.

Like most guys who went to a small high school, GR took shop. He really enjoyed it and had a shop teacher that would let the kids make whatever they wanted. So after the first standard project, he started making other things; a set of nesting elephants for his mother, a rocking horse, a bench with storage under the seat. Since high school, he's done small projects here and there for church or scouts or the fireworks or to help Bob with a home improvement project, but hasn't really been able to do hard core projects because he hasn't had easy access to the tools like he does now. Now that he sleeps 30 feet from them, a whole new world is opening up ... that and the discovery of this blog back in January!

Just before we moved, we cashed in every single credit card point we had a crewed over the last decade or more, for Best Buy gift cards, and finally purchased a big flat TV with every single one of those points. It got delivered the weekend we moved in. After watching a couple of shows, we realized a table or console of some kind under the TV would be smart to help little kids, their hands and their toys at a distance, otherwise, we were going to have a problem. We looked at Target and Walmart, even Craigslist, and found some suitable options, but in almost every case they were expensive for what you were getting. And so we figured we could totally make our own, and settled on these plans.

It took a series of nights over two weeks to complete it ... it was all GR. I did nothing, but make sure sleeping children didn't wake up, admire his handy work, console him when he pointed out mistakes, and of course, click pictures so I could brag on him. I'm not sure exactly how people are able to put this thing together in an evening or two?! But we are both so pleased with how it turned out and are already planning future projects!




So there you have it, a little known fact, my husband can build stuff from scratch!

Indoor Water Fun for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Have you seen the water tables some preschools have? It's basically a table with a deep basin they can fill with water, sand, oatmeal or an assortment of beans to serve as a tactile station. At every station like this, kids typically have to be pried away and told to do something else, or they get squeeze out by other kids who want to play too.

Today was my day to host and teach preschool again. Our topic was rain, snow, wind and water. We didn't have any snow, so we focused on the other three elements. Our free play was my own "mom" version of a water table. Had I had enough sink space, we'd have just all pushed chairs up to the sink and played there (Anna and Alex will never tire of this - thank heavens for double sinks and tile floors!).

I used two under bed storage bins, filled them 1/3 full with warm tap water, had a plastic watering can for each child, plastic cups in different sizes and measuring cups.

Since I wanted the kids to make it home somewhat dry, I used plastic grocery bags to make 'smocks' for each of them. I flattened out the bag and cut out the middle of the bottom 'seam' of the bag. Leave 3 inches of the seam on both ends, these will be the shoulders of the smock. Next cut open both sides of the plastic bag all the way to the bottom seam. Snip the handles apart to create ties. This should resemble something like a scrimmage jersey.

Slip their head through the opening in the bottom of the bag, and tie the handles securely at their hips.

If the child is wearing long sleeves, you'll want to push them up well past their elbows to keep them dry.

Keep a stack of towels on hand, because try as they might, water will get on the floor and you'll want to wipe it up periodically so your feet don't get cold and wet.

These kids played with this set up for a 30-45 minutes, with no sign of getting bored.

Had the weather been better, this would have been perfect to do outside. Prop the storage bins up on buckets or set up two folding chairs facing each other, using the seats to set the water bin on, making it accessible from both sides and would allow up to four kids to participate.

Check Mate

This school year the girls joined the Math and Chess Club. They learned to play chess at my parents house over the course of a couple of visits (Mom and Dad still don't have cable, and the children NEVER seem to miss TV there - amazing - anyhooo.) and were excited at the prospect of learning strategies and going to tournaments. Unfortunately, I didn't ever really hear about 90% of the tournaments, and the ones the girls made sure I heard about were in early February when, ahem, we were a bit ... preoccupied.

Our school got a last minute opportunity to host the last tournament before state (kids must attend 2 tournaments to go to state) and I was able to get the three big kids signed up. The day ended up crazy ... Enrichment planning meeting for the birthday dinner that morning, hosting dinner for the new bishopric and their families for dinner before bishopric training that evening, I still had a lesson to prepare for Sunday, and a handful of other things I had hoped to accomplish in a single day ... ha! when will I learn.

For the schools very first tournament hosting, it was hugely successful, and TONS of kids were there ... 80 maybe? Which from what I understand from other parents who actually know what's going on, is big for most Kansas tournaments. And the kids who attended were really good. There were lots of very high scores. Each child played 6 rounds of chess. And if you win or loose or draw, (hee hee) you are awarded points. For their very first tournament ever, our kids did well, especially considering the competition. Their Chess teacher, said she hopes that kids get at least one point or half point at their first tournament. Becca got a half point from a draw (she was playing 4-6th graders); Emily got 2 points (K-3rd); Sam got 2 points (K-3rd).

They had a really good time and want to attend tournaments next year. We've already placed an order with a friend who's attending state for a nice portable chess board with large weighted pieces like they use during club meetings and at the tournament. And GR is looking up legal chess moves to teach the children to improve their strategies.

And for those considering your first tournament here are some survival tips, cause you'll be there for at least 6 hours, possibly longer.

1. Take a laptop and something to do on it. I did the Relief Society newsletter and updated the ward website, but don't count on having wireless access. Some parents were playing games, others watched tv shows or movies (bring your headphones), others caught up on work.
   
2. If you don't want to mess with the laptop, take a book, a couple of magazines, hand sewing/crocheting/knitting, note cards for writing letters, etc. You basically want something simple you can take in a tote bag to keep you busy while your child plays any of their six games. You want it to be simple, because you are going to be distracted and interrupted on a fairly regular basis throughout the day. Think 40ish parents plus all those kids in the commons area of an elementary school sitting at the cafeteria tables.
   
3. Bring bottled water. A couple for each person in the family.
   
4. Bring a cooler of snacks and lots of them. Boredom = hunger = paying $20+ over the course of the day for JUNK at the concession stand. Bring a variety of healthy snacks and let the kids pick 1-2 things from the concession stand to round out the day and make it fun, plus the money raised supports the host schools chess club.
5. Check in to what the team is doing for lunch. Our team was hosting, so they provided pizza for all the kids from our school and their parents. Other teams/parents could purchase pizzas to be delivered. Others brought lunch, or sent a parent out to a fast food joint.
   
6. Have your kids bring a "church" bag of simple activities. Mine were pretty content to play chess between rounds, talk with friends and generally goof off a bit, but books, coloring books, puzzles, hand held games, etc. are good time busters between rounds, and keep your kids within arms reach rather than running the halls in an unfamiliar area.
7. Make sure your kids know about some of the basic legal moves for tournaments ... ask one of the more experience players in their club, or do a google search. It will help level the field just a smidgen and they won't feel quite so new and awkward.
   

Contract Pending

Yesterday the Realtor called with TWO offers on the house. Both offers were for about the same ... less than the asking price, $$$ for closing costs, closing dates in May and one wanted home insurance. I have to say this was discouraging, that we got two offers wasn't discouraging, but that they were asking for SO much. We worked so hard on that house, putting a lot of time and money in it, and then we were very careful in how we priced it. We did not over price the home because of the work we put into it. We priced it dead on, to sell quickly, and yet no one has offered full price, and everyone is asking US to pay for lots of additional costs.

Our Realtor told us not to feel like we had to settle. Counter with what was best for us. And so we countered, and countered hard to both parties telling them whoever responded first would get the contract. We countered with full price, 1/2 their request for closing costs, no home insurance, and upped the closing date to April 1st. Very quickly we got an acceptance to our terms and last night we signed the papers to make it official!!

What a blessing. The house is going to a really nice couple from NE with three boys. They are all older (college aged) which I'm sad about (really changes the dynamics of that little end of our street), but hopefully that will mean grandchildren in the coming years.

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Some of you asked if I had before pictures of the house ... I don't really, other than pictures we've taken of the kids in the house. You should be able to just browse through the blog to find pictures of the 2 red accent walls in the dining room, the pale sun yellow on the rest of the walls on the main floor, the horrid gray carpeting, the bluish gray tile in the entry way and around the fireplace, the old whitish cream counter tops in the kitchen and the white, stained cream vinyl flooring in the kitchen. It was a cute house, that was well loved and worn by out little family that nearly doubled in our 7 years there.

* * * * *

Yesterday afternoon Alexander christened the new house with our first accident. The kids were playing a rousing game of hide and seek in my bedroom. All of a sudden Alex comes running to me in the kitchen holding his palm and screaming. He had tripped and his hand ran down the edge of an unfinished square of colored glass used in stained glass work. It had been left behind by Grandma and Grandpa, and not knowing if they needed it or intended it for something specific, I moved it out of the general path of daily activity until I could ask and "deal with it." The glass did not break, it was not jagged, but the cut was deep and ugly (be grateful I didn't photograph it - :).

Poor kid, he wasn't doing anything wrong, he wasn't being silly or making poor decisions, he just tripped, and his hand touched the wrong then when trying to brace his fall. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of blood! Monday night we couldn't tell if it needed stitches or not, so clean it, and bandage it ourselves ... this morning when GR was helping Alex get ready and the cut broke open and started bleeding again. GR took him to work for a couple of stitches to keep the skin flaps together, and insure the cut would heal correctly. Anna and I were right behind him, meeting up with them at the ER just before the stitches. He was so brave!

So his left hand (his dominate hand) is pretty thoroughly bandaged in an effort to keep the stitches covered and clean, nearly impossible when you're a 3.5 year old who now lives in the land of mud and shovels. We also discovered a good sized wart on his right pinky during all of this yesterday. So like his left hand, his pinky is also bandaged ... it all looks so much worse than it really is! He's getting lots of sympathy from people at the store!

ETA 4/6: Alex's hand took a while, but it's finally healed. We had the stitches taken out a week later during Sam's quarterly ENT check-up. It still wasn't completely healed, but the skin was getting irritated by the stitches, so they definitely had to come out. We kept it bandaged for an additional week using the sticky ace bandage type stuff -- that is fantastic stuff! So wish we'd had something like that with the stitches. Instead we were using masking tape - such a nuance for Alex and after a week, it started to really irritate his skin. The other stuff is now permanently in our first aid kit! The wart ... well we're going to start a second round of treatment. We didn't get all of it the first time, so it's come back.

And the closure on the green house went off without a hitch on Friday!! GR's had a couple of conversations with the couple who bought the house and really likes them ... so much so he invited them to Easter dinner. They ended up declining, but it feels good knowing we're passing on that home to good people.

Open House & Virtual Tour

Our open house got pushed a week. The window instillation was delayed thanks to a myriad of issues. And there was a lot of clean up work to be done once all the work crews finished up inside and out. So we waited a week. Sunday I called my mother to see if she could come stay a couple days while I cleaned the old house. Miracles of miracles she was able to arrange her schedule such that she could come. I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday at the house, late into the night, cleaning. Every wood surface in that house got rubbed down with Old English. It did wonders for repairing the scratches that the baseboards and mantel suffered during the remodel and before. So after many, many long hours and more elbow grease than I thought I had to give, Thursday the house went on the market and we had our Realtor open house. The response from the dozen or more Realtors who walked through, was really favorable.

Mom and GR (and a couple neighbors who came to the open house) are the only ones who have seen the "improved, depersonalized" inside of the house, so I've created a slide show of picture so you can see all the changes. I didn't photograph the basement ... it's no longer deep blue, but the same color as the bedrooms, and the floor got painted the same color as the coffered ceiling in the master bedroom (which is also the same color as the far wall (garage wall) of the dining room. It looks really nice with the bright white wood work down there.



Saturday afternoon we had a public open house, and again the response was favorable. A couple minor things that needed to be addressed, but they are simple fixes. There were lots of open houses in the neighborhood so we had more than a dozen interested parties walk through! Apparently of the 8-9 comps in town, ours is by far the best house for the price.

We know of one very interested family who came Friday, and spent an additional 45 minutes at the house Saturday. We'll see how this shakes out. We did have an offer after the open house ... it's rather telling when your Realtor closes his conversation with you that you have an offer on your house, instead of leading with that bit of information. Needless to say, we rejected it out right and didn't even bother to counter.

Mom had a cute story about Alex from her week with us. One night when he was sad that he couldn't say goodnight to us, mom told him that we were at the old house working really hard to get it ready to sell so a good family could purchase it. Alex looked at her and said, "Grammy, WE could buy it!!"

It's going to take a while for the kids to see Grandma's house as our house and home.

Little Orphan Annie

Our last school music program was tonight. The fourth and fifth grade did their 'broadway' selection together and did an amazing job, as always. They did a very, very truncated version of Annie. From start to finish the entire show lasted 18 minutes. There were lots of speaking parts and solos to pass around to the kids. And lots of costumes for them to come up with ... among our favorites, President Roosevelt, the Rockets, Babe Ruth, Mobsters, King Kong, Lady Liberty. Most of the kids dressed up as orphans, newsboys, flappers, or hobos. Rebecca had a small singing part, as Molly, one of the kids in the orphanage, so we created an orphan costume, using these as inspiration. With some layering and a smock made with calico I had, I think she turned into a pretty good little orphan.

Wednesday night we tested the smock I made along with the piece from the closet we were layering together to see if the ensemble would pass as an orphan.

With some finishing and a little embellishment we had ourselves an orphan. Here she is with some of her good friends from class. The gal on the far left, had the part of Annie. Rebecca singing her solo.