turtle release

This is us in the upper left corner.

  
We live in a pretty amazing place.  We got to see a sea turtle released into the ocean last week.

 They had their education center open after the release.  I really liked this operation game converted into a sea turtle surgery kit.  Awesome.

 We have this same brock magicscope and I am always delighted when I encounter it at museums.

 We walked to over to the waterway and the kids threw shells and ate snacks.  Then L threw a brick and it was time to go.

$0.25 pizza

 My friend and choir carpool buddy told me that this place was having $0.25 a slice day.  We went over after I helped measure the kids at choir.  My buddy gives the kids a ride home and was going to bring the girls over after practice.  It was a lot of pizza for $2.00!

I don't go downtown often.  Malls and commercial areas are more stressful to me than say, driving in my car.  So I rarely go to them.  Everything is so much easier now that everyone is older. 

grandma's walker

I've had a plan for a few years now.  When I become a grandma (in 20 years!) I'm going to start using a walker.  I will have it when I take care of my grandkids.  I might need it.  Or I might like to give them a ride.  I want to have it already so it's not a line I have to cross when I really need it.

Check out this sweet walker/transport.  I could fit 2 grandkids on this sweet ride!

Grandma Buffy

Have I told you about Grandma Buffy?  That's my persona I'm working for.  She's a tough grandma with big muscles.  She has taken care of her body so she can be fun and active.  She raised her kids to contribute to family meals and help out.  She uses a walker so it's already available when you need to borrow it, or when a grand child wants a ride.  Grandma Buffy wants me to take good care of my 100 day sugar free boots because they are actually hers. 

Grandma Buffy is also the name of the giant bean bag that the kids love to jump on.  I'm worried...

Devotional

I had the opportunity to attend a youth devotional in Jacksonville.  Elder Bednar, Brother Martino and Elder Vinson spoke.  There were youth from 9 stakes and they were given a phone number to text questions to. 

They invited the youth to not take notes about what was said but to focus on what the spirit was saying to them. 

I felt impressed by the message that whatever emotions and actions are good, are from the spirit.  We are listening to the natural man or the spirit.  Anger, frustration, jealousy, are not the spirit.

M said she was impressed by the message to be an agent rather than an object.  Act, don't be acted upon.

2 suits, 10 stores $110

P needed to get a suit so we went shopping.  P doesn't want a suit so his capacity to not buy a suit is tremendous.  We went to 3 stores locally on Friday.  Today we went to the temple then to 7 more stores.  He did find a suit he was OK with at one store but at the check out they said it was $10 more than he previously was told so he walked away.  Wow.  I can't imagine doing that.  He's awesomely strong at not feeling pressured to buy anything!

On our way to another store I saw a Men's warehouse that advertised 2 suits for $100.  We pulled over an it was our lucky day.  After trying on about 100 jackets cumulatively, he could tell that the dark blue and black in his size were good enough for the price.  The pants were good too!  Then some sweet paisley ties were 3 for $20.  Extravaganza.

This was the epitome of our planned impulse buying.  We know we need something, so we decide how much we can afford, plan out a series of outings to look at options, then buy.

While P was trying on the suits I browsed some sports coats nearby.  I was taken by a beautiful blue velvet coat.  It was very nice.  Not needed.  Nice.  When I told M about the jacket she said I should do 200 days of sugar free for it.  That jacket is totally worth 200 days of sugar free.  And I am totally worth 200 days of sugar free.  Win.  July 29th, 2020 will be the day.   Just like with my 100 days sugar free boots, by the time I earn it, it won't be the season for the jacket, but I'll have permission to get it, whenever that happens.

So where were the kids for this marathon of shopping?  Home.  Wow!  They were home for 12 hours today while we were off driving, temple, store, store......driving, home!

Chores

My new years goal to have the children learn to do more is going great so far.  We assigned more areas for them to clean tonight during family council.  My goal is to help them with their job.  So having L assigned to the bathroom is not so hard.  He just goes there with me and I tell him to put the towels away, or pick up a piece of trash.  I anticipate cleaning as much as I ever did, but now the children can see that this area is their responsibility.

The children also volunteered several dishes they would like to learn to make this year. 
G: Crepes, Pizza, Hamburgers, Fried Chicken
M: Tacos, Salsa, Rice, Spaghetti
P: Pizza, Bread, Cake
B: Cookies, Macaroni n Cheese

Fixed Gate

P works from home so we keep a baby gate at the kitchen to keep people out of the side of the house where he works.  So there is a baby gate, then a bedroom door, then a louvered door between his work teaching online statistics, and the chaos.  The gate stopped working in the foot pedal so we tried to buy a replacement.  We actually bought 2 replacements.  Neither was very good so we returned the too tall one, and will return the 'doesn't actually keep kids out" one. 


We really wanted to buy a replacement like the one we had, but they don't make foot pedal opening gates anymore.  Weird.

I put up the old gate since it keeps kids out as well as either of the new ones.  P came home and found the reason that the gate was broken and bought a new pin to fix it.  Yay! 

Putt-putt

 We took the kids putt-putt golfing on New Years Eve.  Oye it was expensive but awesome.  This course had a lot of water and elevation elements that made each green a surprise.  We divided in to 2 groups so we weren't all playing at the same time, smart!

 We could see the ocean from the elevated portions of the game.

 Sometimes we felt a little pressure from the group behind us but mostly it was fine and we finished at a good pace.  I'm so glad we went.  I love spending time with this crew.  L was so sad when we left.  He is so sad about leaving anything...  I'm grateful for this wonderful life. 

Cooking and Cleaning

This year my new year goal is to teach the children to clean and cook.  They've all been doing this for a while, but I want to make some goals about specific dishes and jobs.
There are daily tasks, weekly and monthly.  I'd like to get it all on a spread sheet and have them get assignments and rotate monthly.  Then after a few rotations I'll let them choose what they want to do for the rest of the year.

Size and ability

G was always small for his age and his ability was far beyond his age.  So people always thought he was amazing.  He is amazing, but the perception of his ability is amplified by his size relative to his ability.

B is 6.5 but looks like he's 8 or more.  He's gigantic!  His abilities are awesome, but they look like they are more normal for his size.  Sometimes I see other children at church in his class standing on their parents lap or other running and screaming and they are little so it is less strange for them to act that way.