good times

I came across this picture and was so overwhelmed at the coolness of this day and my friends who made marching band costumes.  How did we ever have the time?  Great times.

Masters of the Universe

 I love these kids. 

 

lP has a chronic case of closed eyes in pictures.

the year of the doughnut

 This year we have gotten doughnuts and unprecedented 3 times.  Some friends gave us a dunkin' doughnuts card and we thought it would be nice to treat the contractors one day when they were giving us the amazing shower.  But for some reason they didn't come that day so we had to eat all the doughnuts ourselves.  So sad.  I tried to make up for it by making them dinner on other nights.

 

 Then my friend gave us a coupon book with BOGO coupons for a 1/2 dozen doughnuts (no I can't just say 6) so we got another dozen as a reward for G when his teeth were pulled.  Again from Dunkin' Doughnuts, using the gift card.

 Last weekend we were in Gainesville and realized it was Grandma's birthday on Sunday.  We were leaving Saturday night, but not without taking a chance to celebrate in best form.  Luckily I had brought with us the Krispy Kreme coupon from the 2005 phonebook.  How awesome that they took it.  So in this unprecedented year, we have enjoyed 4 dozen doughnuts and only paid for 1 of them.  Yikes!  And as if it was ever in question, Krispy Kreme is the best.  Soooo goood.

"You have the spirit in you"

Tonight for FHE I took leave of our usual lesson material and read this article from the friend.  "Elevator Prayers"

I was getting a little emotional as the story talked about a child needing weekly blood tests.  And a little more emotional when G said "Just like me!"

So we kept going with tears going down my face.  When we got to the point where the little boy gets stuck in the elevator alone (one of my personal fears) I paused and G said "You have the spirit in you."

I couldn't tell if P was as moved as I was, but I'm pretty sure he was.  G is an amazing little boy. 

Good old L

My sister visited in April around the time of General Conference.  It was so fun.  I was super sick and we didn't have as much fun as I had hoped, but still it was so fun.  Thanks L for coming all the way out here and giving us some awesome memories.

a good day

 We've been blessed to acquire some awesome toys lately.  We got this huge box of race track components from a family whose boys had never really played with them.  G's been having a lot of fun setting up different tracks and launching the cars.  He even made this cute little banner that says "Darda (the name of the company) racing day coming soon".  Then we asked him when that day was and he said "mmmm I don't know."  I suggested he could have it on Monday when he got the cars back, which had been taken because he wouldn't get dressed for church.  So he crossed out the "coming soon and wrote "(tomorrow)" above the crossed out part.  Love this boy.

 At 4 PM I was wondering what to make for dinner and decided to make up some lasagna.  Wahoo!  I have a new favorite way to make a ton of food.
1 box of lasagna noodles
2 jars of spaghetti sauce
1 lb sausage
8 cloves of garlic
12 oz ricotta cheese
6 eggs
1 box of frozen spinach
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of Mozzerella cheese

 

I Cut each noodle into 3 pieces and laid it across the pan.  So each layer is really just one noodle.  

 I was able to do 4 layers, so I guess that means there were 16 noodles in the pack.

The beach at the pier is having a major make over with dredging.  They've put 10 feet of sand onto the beach all the way out to the end of the pier.  It's mind boggling to think how much sand that is, or how much it must cost.  G is standing here trying to scale the 6 foot drop to get back up on top of the dredged sand.2

banner

This is the banner I made for Pioneer Day on the cheapest muslin I could find.  A student from Kearns taught me how to do the lettering so it comes out with crisp edges; for each line you paint it one way, but then use fresh paint and start from the other end.  M and G painted the little pioneer scenes at the bottom and I stitched them on.  The date is just safety pined on.  Rather than make a casing to hang it up I just sewed a button to each corner.  Then I strung it up between the crape myrtle trees.  I was particularly happy with how just using the button at each corner meant that it stayed taut.

In my childhood there was a neighborhood parade with banners.  They were large cloth things that had been painted and repainted for years.  I was usually riding a bike or in later years playing an instrument, but I had a special place in my heart for those banners.

I am sometimes anxious.  Specifically I'm anxious that someone will call child services and they'll try to take away my kids.  P has tried to help me understand that this is an unreasonable fear.  Sheesh, I'm prideful enough to think I'm one of the best moms I know!  But still the fear that someone will, for spite, call child services on me.  I recently found out that the source of this fear is possibly when I was 4 a neighbor did just that to our family.

I was 4, and mom had left us in the care of my brother R who was 12 to run an errand.  My sister M got her eye cut on the pole of a volleyball set.  So I ran over to the house of a neighbor from church.  This neighbor, rather than come and help, called child services on us.  Nice.

I'm sure at the time I got some heat for being the one who let that neighbor know we had a situation.  I know that throughout my life, whenever that story is told, my role has been brought up.  I didn't know she was toxic.  My mom paints a picture of a disabled woman who smoked and sort of came to church, who sometimes would call the school if she thought our family had kids walking to school, but whose own children were often driven to school by my mom.

I do have a fond memory of being taken to her house and apparently cared for.  Specifically I remember how she watched General Hospital and that during the opening credits everyone got to/had to hug one another. 

So the lasting effect is my general fear of having child services called, and my resolve to never leave my children in the care of anyone who might call them.  For that matter, I tend to view my friendships with that lens also. 

While my mom was here M and lP got up on the car and the pediatrician neighbor saw them as she was driving into her driveway.  So I was fearful. 

And that leads me to a current decision I'm trying to make.  Should I move my kids to her practice so she can regularly have data to show that my children are happy and healthy?  We have insurance now that allows us to go to any practice in town and I would sort of like to get a family practice doctor so when we all get sick we can all go to the same place.  That is my choice of convenience.  But shouldn't I let my fears dictate my actions?

Also, I need to figure out how to raise my children to not live in fear.   Phrases like "if you do that someone might call the cops and mom will have to go to jail" are obviously going to make the kids anxious.   Yet that is what I'm thinking.

And by the way for public information I did just make M get a marble out of the toilet.  She'd dropped it in the toilet yesterday because she didn't want to leave it behind.  We got her a rubber glove and told her that she had to get the marble.  Yesterday she was to scared, so we sent her back to the corner.  P couldn't see the marble so we chalked it up to something that might cause permanent damage to the septic tank.  This morning G spotted it and M happily used the rubber glove to retrieve it.  Thank goodness for disinfectants.  Can you imagine all the things that probably got lost in out houses over the years.  The perfect place to hide anything...

We give our kids baggage.  How to turn it to their strength is the mystery and the goal.