Summertime

Well, school's out and we're loving summer so far! We've had a few days, yes, when the kids have been at each other's throats off and on as they adjust to being with each other more than normal. And we've had some bumps as we get into our summer routines. But all in all, it's so nice to have more time with these kids who I quite thoroughly enjoy these days. I'm so excited that all the kids are old enough to enjoy so many of the same things and I feel like I'm finally in my element a bit more as a mother - I "get" older kids better than babies. The kids still want and need a LOT every day - but I don't have that "totally overwhelmed with 5 mutually exclusive needs at any given moment" feeling that I had for a lot of years. I'm really having more fun and less stress as a mom now and I'm so grateful for that.

We're getting our summer routine down pretty well. The three oldest kids have a list of a bunch of things they can do each day and they're supposed to complete 10 things from the list (they have to do journal writing and reading, but there's a lot of flexibility beyond that). Some of the things on their list are group activities - together, we can work on Spanish (we're loving the simple on-line free program Coffee Break Spanish - 15 minute lessons), read a chapter in a book, learn a new song, go on a bike ride or swimming, or research something from our "wondering list" (a list of things the kids bring up that they're wondering about - so far we've found great informational youtube videos on how to make yogurt, how cars get made, where baby carrots come from and monster trucks - can't avoid that with 4 boys).

Ashton's working hard on his guitar and has got some chords down. He's always completing his reading first thing in the morning then going on to read in every spare moment all day. My big goal for the summer for Isaac is to get him to WANT to read - it's still such a painful process to get him reading much of the time. But math - that kid is a whiz. And he's leading the group on doing work around the house - no surprise there - he's a worker and knows how to get a job done. Eliza is whipping through her math and writing workbooks (when I took her to the store to pick our her Kindergarten graduation present, the main thing she wanted was workbooks) and has only 2 more books to read all by herself before she'll have finished the 10 books she has to read to earn a reading lamp for her bedroom (this has been a fun motivator for each of the kids as they've learned to read). The twins are loving the fact that one of the most popular "electives" on the big kids' daily list is teaching one of the twins something new. Ollie and Si have loved learning to write various letters and working on their biking techniques and having books read to them by the older kids.

I've loved having the time with the kids to get into this stuff! Jared set up a googledoc spreadsheet to track their points and at the end of the week, we total them up and they get money based on the number of points they have earned. Yesterday, as Ashton was doing some extra jobs to try to get more points (Saturday is for extra points), he said "Mom, this is so great, we get to do all these fun things and then we get paid for it!" I'm so glad it's feeling that way for him - at least so far!

Each of the kids is saving up for something they really want so they've been pretty motivated to get their stuff done - plus there's a little healthy competition involved as they compare how many points they have. It's pretty darn nice to have kids come up to me and say "Mom, do you have a job for me?" as they try to complete their points for the day (one of the things on their list is to do a random little job I assign them). Most importantly, the kids seem to be having fun with learning and doing meaningful activities. I'm not opposed to the kids watching some TV but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the TV didn't get turned on all week - we had too many other fun things to do!

I'm so glad I decided not to do summer workshops for all the neighborhood kids. I really struggled with whether or not to do the workshops this summer - they went so well last summer and I have all the curriculum put together after all that work last year. But I just felt like I needed to enjoy time with my own kids more this summer and have a little more flexibility and less stress. I've been so involved in all three kids' classrooms this summer plus doing Joy School for the twins and their friends so I felt like I put in my time actively teaching other people's kids this year already. I feel like the kids are all so much fun right now - I just want them to myself and want them to have me to themselves for a while. I am setting up some super-simple summer school co-ops where I'll switch off with other moms doing simple and fun activities with our kids that are the same age as each other. And we're doing swim lessons down at the pool starting in a week. We've got field trips planned to Bryce and the Las Vegas children's museum plus lots of stuff around here and we'll do swimming with friends every Wednesday and the splash park with friends on Mondays. So we've got some structure to our weeks and some exciting things to look forward to (I've realized I go a bit crazy when I don't have some set structure and some things to look forward to!). I'll let you know how things go!

We rode our bikes to the farmer's market at Tuachan yesterday and then rode them to get lunch at Bajio. Lots of bike riding! The weather wasn't too hot and the scenery was gorgeous and it was just such a nice family day. Days like yesterday make me love this place so much.

Here's to summer!

Isaac's Last-Day-of-School Party - only two kids showed up but they brought their siblings (Liza's friends) so it worked out perfectly - I was nervous that we'd get too many kids and it would be a crazy thing! With the kids' school, it's pretty funny putting on a party - you can end up with WAY more people than you invited or WAY less - people just don't RSVP.

Liza with Tanner and Cole - she was so excited they showed up
and held her own very nicely with these boys.

Four-Wheeling, Cactus Flowers and Horses

I'm a bit behind on posting some of the adventures we've had in the last little while. We're so blessed to live in an area where there are great adventures to be had in the midst of amazing beauty - and we're glad so many good friends and relatives want to come enjoy it all with us!

About a month ago, Jared's brother and family came down and invited us to enjoy a day of fun four-wheeling with them at Sand Hollow Reservoir. I've never done much four-wheeling before and I have to say I'm hooked now! It was so much fun zooming over those red sand hills and seeing the amazing scenery from way up above the reservoir. Aaron and Michelle had these really nice machines - a little kid ATV (Ashton and Isaac thought it was SO cool), a nice adult one, and one of those new rhino things - like a little jeep that 4 people can sit in. Those things can go anywhere and tackle some crazy terrain. The twins were laughing in glee as we hit each bump and had perma-grins on the entire time they got to be on a machine. Liza took a while to warm up to the whole things but then had a wonderful time. So fun! Thanks again Aaron and Michelle!

We finished off that day at the annual Kite Festival where kids get a kite if they've read a certain number of minutes and show their reading chart. The kids had a great time flying their kites (even though they didn't fully earn them. Ashton did all his reading and they gave him his kite and since they had a lot of extra kites they gave kites to all the other kids as well - the kids were thrilled but we did have to have a little talk about how they'll have to read extra to make up for it!). At the festival in the evening, there was a great a'cappella group singing fun 50's songs followed by a really good fireworks display. This turned out to be, as the kids put it when we tucked them in that night "the best day EVER!"

A couple weeks ago, we headed out on our annual "Cactus Flower Hunt" and found some gorgeous stuff! The twins were SO excited about EVERY flower they found (and there were a lot) and Isaac was especially good at noticing the more subtle stuff - that kid is really in tune with nature. Springtime in the desert is an amazing thing - and this year it's extra beautiful since we had such a wet winter. It seems every plant, tree blooms, one after another so that this delicate loveliness of flowers is scattered everywhere you look.

Last week, my mom and dad came down and we had a great time horseback riding at the Kolob side of Zion with them. We haven't taken the kids on a real horseback ride (on trails, not just wandering around the pasture) before and they LOVED it (as did Jared and I). I haven't been on a horse in way too long and I'd forgotten how pleasant it is to be able to enjoy the scenery from a higher vantage point without having to look down and watch your footing - the horse takes care of that for you. I rode good old King. We've had him since I was a teenager. He's an old sway-back who you sort of feel bad riding at this point in his life - but he's sure-footed and tough and gave us some fun as he decided to set off in a gallop now and again!

Don't worry - this was just for a picture - we didn't try having all 5 of them ride together!
(although my Grandma wrote in her journal about riding to school
on a horse with several siblings so this made me think of her)

Isn't Kolob gorgeous?

Mother's Day

As I biked up beautiful Snow Canyon with my five wonderful kids and my excellent husband on the Saturday before Mother's Day, I had a little flashback to a day almost exactly 12 years ago when motherhood seemed like an impossible dream to me. I'd headed down from Boston to DC for my sister Shawni's baby shower (she was expecting her first baby soon) and we were doing some baby shopping with my mom (who'd come out from Utah for the shower). As we were looking at strollers and car seats, I was hit by this overwhelmingly sad thought - "This might never happen for me. I'm getting older. What if I never find my husband? What if I do but I can't have kids? Here's my little sister, so close to becoming a mother - what if I never get that chance?" I remember standing there in the aisle of Babies R Us bawling and trying to explain to my moms and sister why I was so emotional. Would I ever be a mother? Would I ever be picking out a stroller for my own child? Would I ever get to hold my own little baby in my arms? Would I get to see little children of my own grow and develop into wonderful people? Would I have children to shop for strollers with when they got ready to have their own children some day?

About six months after that little break-down, I got to know Jared. And by the time Shawni's little Max was 15 months old, Jared and I were married. We were pregnant by our first anniversary. And the kids just kept coming - Isaac 19 months after Ashton, Eliza 19 months after Isaac, then the big finale of Oliver and Silas 23 months after Eliza. We had crazy years of colicy babies and rambunctious toddlers and 1000's of diapers and so many big messes and plenty of crying and spit up and sleep deprivation - and sometimes it was hard in the midst of the mahem to remember that I got exactly what my heart had yearned for - in abundance! But as each little child learned to say "mama" and put their chubby little arms around my neck to give me big slobbery kisses, my heart swelled and I remembered how very very blessed I was to be a mother. So many women never get to be mothers. It just doesn't work out sometimes. But my dream came true. I am a mother.

When we stopped for a rest on our bike ride last Saturday, I told these beautiful big kids of mine about how much I'd yearned for them. I told them about how I'd cried in thinking I might never get them when I was shopping with Shawni all those years ago. I told them how much I love them and how grateful I am that they made me into a mom.

There are things you can learn in many ways - but there are also some things you can only really learn from being a mom. Some of the lessons are hard - but all of them are worth the price. Motherhood brings experiences that build us by tearing us down and that grow us by stretching us quite painfully. Motherhood has made me a more patient, more loving,more creative, more understanding, more adaptable person that I ever could have been without it. Motherhood has given me the powerful experience of helping to create and shape the lives of others while they help create and shape me. But most importantly, motherhood has given me this amazing experience to love and be loved in a uniquely beautiful way.

I'm so grateful that I get to be a mother. I'll take the hard with the good - the good is so very, very good. I wished for motherhood with all my heart - and sometimes it seemed like this unattainable dream. Now I look at these fabulous little people I get to call my children and realize that motherhood is so much more than I ever even knew to wish for - it's so much more important and joyful and hard and beautiful and stretching and powerful than I could have guessed without actually experiencing it. I needed these experiences and these children more than I ever could have realized before it all began and probably more than I realize even now. I got more than I anticipated in so many ways. I am blessed beyond measure.

Star of the Month

I'm taking a cue from my sister Shawni (she does this on her blog), and "spotlighting" one of my kids every month or so. I did some stuff on the twins a couple posts ago. Now it's Ashton's turn.

Ashton is one amazing kid. I just plain like this kid. He's full of fun ideas of things to do and good ideas about how to tackle any problem. He's totally fun to talk to about everything from current events to ideas for inventions he'd like to do someday to random facts he's discovered while doing research on the internet about things that pop into his head. He's got a great little sense of humor - he's well past the stage (that Eliza is now in) where kids want to tell you jokes all the time but none of their jokes really make sense and has even progressed beyond telling good jokes to a new level of humor where he notices and tells me about little ironies in life. He's got this great slow smile that crinkles up the corners of his eyes, then spreads to his mouth.

And it's not just me that likes Ashton so much - you should see him with his friends. They clearly adore him. We played the "compliment game" as part of a unit on "kindness and friendliness" (from Alexander's Amazing Adventures) that I'm doing for Ashton's class at school. Each kid had a chance to stand up and have their classmates share what they like about them. All the hands shot up in the air when it was Ashton's turn. "He's funny" "He's fun" "He's really nice to everyone" "He always lets everyone play" "He's really smart".... Nice moment as a mom to hear other people notice and appreciate some of the things you love about your child.

Some quick stories about Ashton:

The other day I flipped open my mobile phone and found that Ashton had made me a new screen design on the phone - a template with "I (heart) you" with a big red heart and a cute picture of Ashton in the middle of the heart. Made me smile big time - great to know that this non-demostrative child of mine wanted to share his love for me - and amazing to see yet another example of how Ashton can so quickly and expertly figure out anything technological.

Ashton presented at the district science fair the other day (he won 1st prize for 3rd grade for his mold project at his school). The night before, as I pretended to be a judge and asked him questions to help him prepare, I was so impressed at the way he explained things so clearly and confidently and loved how he threw in a little humor here and there. Today I was so proud of him as I sent him off with Jared to set up his display, all handsome and grown-up looking in his shirt and tie. When I showed up for the awards ceremony later that afternoon, he said he felt really good about his presentation (wish I could have seen it - no parents allowed) but he didn't win anything (would have been weird if he did since he and I threw his project together in just a couple days!). He totally cheered on his friend from another school who won first prize for 3rd grade for the district. He was such a good sport about the whole thing and just said "I wonder what Cole (his friend who won) will do with his $100 prize." Not jealous, just interested and glad for his friend.

And one more story:
As I was trying to quickly wrap up that "compliment game" in Ashton's class last week so the kids could head to lunch, one little girl said "wait - there are two people we haven't done yet!" I was a little confused - I was pretty sure I'd given every child a turn. The kids said "we haven't done you or Ms Berglund (their teacher)!" I assured them I was fine and Ms Berglund was busy testing a kid but several students jumped right in with compliments for me and it was so sweet of them.

After school that day, Ashton was on the computer (as always) and I told him it was time to get off and he insisted he had something important to finish. When I checked out what he was up to, I saw that had printed out a nice little stack of notes to give out to his classmates the next day. Here's what the notes looked like: (sorry - can't get it to turn, hopefully you can read sideways!)

He came up with the wording and did the typing and formatting 100% by himself. Pretty nice idea, huh? He gave out the notes the next day, wrapped up a box (leaving one end open) to put all the compliments in when the kids brought them back the following day, gathered everyone's completed notes and had kids quickly write down compliments if they didn't bring one from home, sealed up the end of the wrapped box and presented it to Ms Berglund. Ashton was so pleased with the whole project. And I'm sure Ms Berglund was too!

One of my most heartfelt desires as a mother is to raise children who are kind and thoughtful. Looks like Ashton's headed in the right direction!

So Ashton's quite a star. He's the perfect oldest child for our family and sets such great examples for his siblings - as well as his friends and his siblings' friends. He's got his flaws, sure (still struggling with focusing on getting things done but that'll come) - but to me, he's about as wonderful as they come. I love you Ashton! Thanks for being such a great son and brother and friend!

Enjoying Childhood Before it's Gone

Down the street lives a family with a couple kids who've grown up and left home and one little three-year-old boy - it seems they had a nice little surprise there on the end. I don't know this family very well but I see the dad, I'll call him Jim, and his son, I'll call him Samuel, out walking together quite a bit and I've chatted with them a few times. Jim is a stay-at-home dad and seems like the nicest most gentle man, always following his little son around and stopping when the little guy wants to stop, looking at whatever the little guy wants to show him. They're always moving along at a very slow pace. And Samuel always looks so happy. It seems like maybe Jim has decided that his older kids' childhood passed too quickly and he's really making the most of this last chance to really enjoy the beauty of childhood.

After driving past Jim and Samuel the other day, it struck me that I really need to learn from Jim's example. I don't think I EVER just go at my kids' pace for more than a few moments or do what they feel like doing without saying "just a minute" about 100 times. I seldom really thoroughly focus on what my kids are saying for very long. And I'm not good at really enjoying what they want me to enjoy with them. I'm afraid I'm quite guilty of having my mind on the many other things I need to be doing most of the time, rather than on the present moment. And I always feel like I have so many people talking to me at once that it's really hard to focus on any one kid for more than a few seconds.

Seeing Jim and Samuel as they ramble around the neighborhood always reminds me that I should slow down more and put the kids' priorities a little higher on my own priority list. And I really need to learn to be in the present more and to clear my mind of thoughts that get in the way of enjoying the moment I'm in. In thinking about the special relationship that Jim and Samuel seem to share, I realize that I really need to get back into a tradition that I used to be pretty good about - taking each kid on their own individual "mommy date" every week or two. I get to know and really enjoy my kids when I can be one-on-one with them. It's hard to make it happen, but really, a mommy date can just be a regular old trip to the grocery store made special by letting my "date" select a favorite cereal or help plan a meal and get the ingredients or a quick run to the car wash (the twins' current favorite mommy date). A walk around the block or quick bike ride also works great. I just need to create more opportunities to really focus on one child at a time.

So I need to figure out the details, but I'm going to be more like Jim - at least sometimes. I don't think I quite have the personality - or the feasibility given the number of kids I have - to follow an individual childs around at a super slow pace and do whatever they want to do all the time. But I know my kids could use more of me - and I know I could use more of them. I don't want to have to have another baby (would have to be adopted) in ten years so that I can enjoy a childhood after realizing I missed out on too much of the childhoods I'm in the midst of right now!

Website Launch!

Life is good. After what feels like a million hours of work crammed in between kids' needs and carved out of the late night hours, my friend April and I (with lots of help from my amazingly supportive husband who turns out to be a very talented web designer) have finally "launched" our website - The Power of Moms. See the button over there in the right margin with the daisy on it? Click on it and check out this labor of love. And if you want, click here to sign up for monthly emails that will keep you updated on the latest additions to the website.

There are so many wonderful moms out there - each one learning and growing and striving and seeking. My hope is that this website will empower mothers with support and resources to help them reach their potential as mothers - and that mothers will find fulfillment in sharing their own ideas and insights through the site.

Please tell every mother you know about this website. I'm quite certain that every mother out there could find meaningful answers and great opportunities at The Power of Moms so I yearn to make it available to as many moms as possible!

Click here if you want a button for your blog or website to let people know about the site. Go to the Power of Moms Blog and see a sample Happy Mother's Day email you could send to mom friends to tell them about the site (scroll down a bit to get to the sample email text). And please let me know what you think as you explore what that site has to offer.

Quotes

Oliver and Silas are at this great age where they've got enough of a command of the language that they are really fun to talk to and they can communicate really well - but they still have these super cute voices with their "l's" and "r's" coming out as "w's" and usually speak in a super-animated way. I love hearing how they express themselves and love how they integrate new words and ideas that they're still figuring out as they talk. Oh, I love these little boys so much! I look at them sometimes and feel so overwhelmed with joy and love for this surprise double blessing the Lord gave us and wonder what in the world I would ever do without them!

Anyway, I finally remembered to write down a few of the cute things they've said lately so here goes:

Silas at bedtime the other night as I tried to leave the room: "Wait! I need to give you a hug!"
Me: "But Silas you already gave me a lot of hugs and it's really time to go to sleep now."
Silas: "But I have to give you one more! I'm just so FULL of hugs!"
(He is so full of hugs. He comes up to me several times a day and says "big hug" and then throws his little arms around my legs. Oh, those moments make my day!)

After contemplatively looking around the chapel for a while during sacrament meeting, Oliver said in a very excited whisper: "Mommy, when I get big, I want to get the biggest, bluest scoopie (backhoe) and I will use it build more churches for everyone."

Silas in his prayer the other night:
"Thank you for Jesus to be OK after the cross. Please bless Charity on her mission to not be old so she won't die." (Silas has been thinking quite a bit about death lately after all the talk of death and resurrection at Easter. When we talked about how everyone dies someday, he got tears in his eyes and said, "But Mommy, I will miss you too much when you die!" I reassured him that I planned to be around until he was a grandpa!)

Silas went to open the door to the bathroom to go potty before bed and Oliver said "It's locked" but when Silas tried it, it opened right up. Oliver said, "Siwas, you're a genius!" No idea where he got the word genius!

More favorite phrases and activities for the twins of late for both twins:

• "dis singy" (this thingy) when they can't think of the word for something.
  
• "pwitty pwitty pwease!" when they really want something. It's pretty hard to say no to the cutest little boys with their arms thrown around your legs and their beautiful blue eyes pleading up at you and the most polite requests!
• "midnight monsters are comming! We have to huwy!" They gleefully get ready for bed with the pressure of the "midnight monsters" helping them hurry along. I mentioned one time when they were really slow getting ready for bed that they needed to hurry or these midnight monsters would show up and eat them up -midnight monsters are only allowed to eat kids if they're not in bed and they can only come out when it's almost dark. They totally latched onto the idea and love racing to get to bed before the midnight monsters show up!
• "wets biwd a spaceship!" They build a spaceship out of K'nex or magnets or furniture several times a day. They are SO into Star Wars and everything to do with space.
  

Last night we had the twins' beloved Sunbeam teachers over for Family Home Evening. You'd think the celebrities of the world had arrived when they showed up! The twins were literally doing summersaults and jumping up and down when they saw them getting out of the car. Brother and Sister Johnson (or "Sister Johnson" as they like to call the pair of them) are the nicest young recently-married couple and Ollie and Si think they are the greatest people ever (and they really are wonderful). It was so interesting to see what the twins felt they MUST show to their teachers. They showed them how they could ride their bikes with training wheels (they just figured out how to ride them proficiently last week - and Si has Liza's old My Little Pony bike and thinks it's awesome in it's pink sparkly glory. Oliver has Ashton's old yellow bike "Strecky" - it's still holding it's own!). They showed them Firehead the snake (and thought it was hilarious that Bro Johnson is terrified of snakes and DID NOT want anyone to take it out of the cage). They showed them how well they can jump off their beds (again and again and again). They HAD to show them the penguin soap dispenser we got for Christmas and that I can't put away with the rest of the holiday stuff because it's still a great motivator in getting them to wash their hands. They felt it necessary to show the Johnsons our master bathroom (which was a total mess). It's so fun and interesting to see what's really important about our house in the eyes of Oliver and Silas! Ollie and Si gave the "mini lesson" at the beginning of family home evening and talked about all the things Jesus created that they love. They pointed at different people to share what they loved about the earth and of course Brother and Sister Johnson had to share about 10 favorite things while the rest of us just got one or two turns. Silas' favorite things about the earth: cactus flowers, the ladybug we saw at the park, the blue blue sky. Oliver's favorite things: dogs and giraffes and all animals and lizards and the park.

Anyway, there are about 100 super cute things they say and do every day that I forget by the time I sit down to write them - but at least I captured a bit of this adorable duo!

Mold and Boiling Water

Around here, most days are crazy days. But Wednesday was a CRAZY DAY. My mom has written whole wonderful books using experiences she bothered to record in the midst of the mahem when she had little kids at homee - so I figured Wednesday should be captured. Here goes:

To preface Wednesday, let me tell you about Monday and Tuesday. Ashton and Isaac entered the science fair and Jared volunteered to be their coach and totally handle their projects. He got them started and then we all got busy with different things and then Jared had to go out of town on Monday and Tuesday so guess who got to figure out how mold grows and determine the boiling points of different quantities of water? Yep. You guessed it. I spent all afternoon and evening on Monday and Tuesday working with Ash and Ike on their projects (with 100's of interruptions from the other kids) and by 10:30 Tuesday night we had some fairly decent projects done and some less-than-stellar display boards put together.

Wedesday morning, I got up early to see the boys and Jared off to the school (they had to explain their projects to the judges before school) and prepared my Joy School lesson (it was my turn to teach the twins' group). I spent the morning trying to help a bunch of very cute but very wiggly 3 and 4 year olds understand the concept of being "unique" and special in their own way and accepting others' differences, "interviewed" each of the kids for their "All About Me" books, then quickly fed the twins lunch and hurried to be at the school at 1:30 when Ashton told me they'd be announcing the winners of the science fair. Turns out Ashton was wrong - the assembly was at 2:30. So I tried not to be too annoyed that an extra hour had been sucked out my already crazy day. I dragged the twins around the school with me for an hour as I caught up on some PTA stuff and saw the science fair projects on display (some pretty interesting stuff) and it turned out fine.

Once we finally got settled in the gym for the science fair assembly, the twins escaped out the back door of the gym to head to the playground across the field (they were done with the boring stuff I'd subjected them to at the school) just as they were about to start announcing the winners. I ran across the field in my dumb clogs and had to pull the twins off the play structure (with much wailing on their parts and some none-too-nice firmness on my part combined with some physical coersion) and drag them back to the school gym, bribing them with pennies (the only thing in my purse that seemed to interest them) so they would stop their wailing so I could bring them back into the assembly.

Turns out I missed them announcing that Ashton had won the "people's choice" award in a poetry contest I didn't even know he entered. But I got to see both boys get their science fair awards (I was pleasantly surprised when Ashton got 1st place for 3rd grade and Isaac got 3rd place for 2nd grade - nice pat on the back after all that work!) while the twins fairly happily rolled pennies around on the floor. Then I had step over kids sitting all over the floor in the assembly to grab Eliza out of the audience to take her to a dentist appointment that we were only a little late for - yeah! She was SO brave about getting her first filling - the dentist was very impressed with her and so was I (and the twins actually sat on my lap and watched quite nicely).

Then I rushed home to try to plan out the "service scavenger hunt" for our church's youth group - an activity I'd reluctantly agreed to be in charge of. I put together lists of families to be visited divided up by area where they life, made up the rules for the game, put together a list of service projects they could offer to do at each house that would give them a certain number of points, etc. I had a couple hours to do everything before I was supposed to launch the project that night at 7. I seriously contemplated calling up the lady I work with in the youth organziation and saying "I know I said I'd do this scavenger hunt thing but I just really really can't - can we just play kickball or something instead?" I wanted to take the kids out for ice cream or something to celebrate the boys' awards and Eliza's brave dentist visit. I wanted to be a fun mom and relax for just a minute with my kids. But no, I said I'd do this thing and it's a little late to be asking anyone else to do it and I hate flaking out on anything.

So Jared was nice enough to come home early from work and feed the kids while I worked like crazy on the lists of people to be visited and the rules of the game and all these different handouts then hurried to the grocery store to pick up some prizes and treats and was so proud of myself when I made it to the church with everything all ready at 6:55. I walked in there and found our dutiful Young Women's president all ready to go with her own handouts and prizes and treats. I couldn't believe it! Since she hadn't had a chance to talk with me, she just decided to go ahead and do it herself. Have I ever flaked out on anything I said I'd do? I had to swallow some serious frustrations but I probably let out a little more of how I was feeling than I meant to!

I realize now that I really should have called her when I was feeling like I really needed to be with my kids after school rather than getting stuff done for the this thing. She would have told me she had things figured out and I would have been off the hook and all would have been well! Still it worked out OK. We combined the different materials we put together and I think the kids had a fun time and a good experience. After we divided them into groups, gave them their instructions and materials, and sent them off to serve up a storm, I headed home and skipped out on the rest of the activity - there were plenty of adults there and I wanted to get home to Jared to work on Power of Moms. I just needed to be DONE.

So it was a good day as well as a crazy day. I showered the boys and Liza with praise and promised them special treats the next day. I learned that I should go ahead and flake out on things sometimes and trust that it will work out OK - everything doesn't really depend on me as much as I often feel that it does. I learned that it's better to start on science fair projects a lot further in advance - but that even a last-minute project can be a good - if stressful - experience. I learned not to wear clogs when going anywhere with the twins. I learned to verify any information I get from my kids about what time I'm supposed to be anywhere for anything. And I learned a lot about mold and boiling water. Did you know mold doesn't grow very well in a closed ziplock bag in a drawer? It needs light and air. So our mold wasn't as impressive or gross as it could have been. Oh well. And I learned that water boils slower if it has salt in it BUT because the salt water had to reach a higher temperature to boil, salted water will cook things faster than unsalted water. Good to know.

On Thursday we had a cookie-baking party to celebrate the kids' good work and wow - I've got some cute kids. There were only a couple moments in the cookie-making where I almost lost it! (Somehow I always think making cookies will be a fun project but with 10 little hands trying to help, it doesn't always work out quite that way!)

Happy Easter!

I think Easter is the best holiday - the most meaningful and the least stressful. I get out the couple of little Easter decorations we own (I'm just not that into cutesy bunnies and pastels so I've never found much I really wanted as far as Easter decor) and add some fresh spring flowers and a bowl of pretty dyed eggs and voila - the house is all decorated for Easter. Then we have special (but very simple) activities we do each day of the week leading up to Easter - and this year all 5 kids have been old enough to really get into all this so it's been especially fun. Here are our basic traditions for Easter week as they've evolved over the last couple years (thanks to great ideas from books and friends and some trial and error):

• On Palm Sunday, we re-enact Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem (using weeds for palms and Jared for a donkey...). The twins were really into yelling "Hosana!" this year.
• On Monday we re-enact Jesus cleansing the temple (and this year we went to the temple grounds to feel the peace there and imagine how it must have felt to Jesus to see people showing so little reverence for the temple - I think we'll have to make a trip to the temple a part of our regular Easter week traditions).
• On Tuesday we dye eggs (the first one has to be red according to Bulgarian custom - the red represents death and the egg represents new life - great symbol of death and life coming together).
• On Wednesday we talk about Christ's parables and miracles (the movie "Finding Faith in Christ" and some good books we have help with this).
• On Thursday we're supposed to have a simple passover supper with lentil stew and pita bread and talk about the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane (but this year Jared and I had our own little passover supper on Tuesday night since our schedule worked out better that way and we just talked about the sacrament and the Last Supper and read about the Garden of Gethsemane.
• On Friday we watch "The Lamb of God" and talk about the sadness of Christ's death.
• Saturday is for the Easter Bunny and egg hunts and all that fun, silly stuff. We make deviled eggs and gorge ourselves on candy. This year it was great to have Mom, Dad, Tal, Anita, Julie and Eli with us for our egg hunt and deviled eggs as well as lots of other fun stuff on Saturday.
• Easter morning we watch a clip of the resurrection (from the internet or one of the DVDs we have) first thing when we wake up and do an egg hunt for plastic eggs filled with symbols of Christ's last week on earth accompanied by scriptures that go with them (a piece of bread for the Last Supper, a rock for the tomb, a little cross, some olive leaves for the Garden of Gethsemane, some nails, some thorns...) plus they find their Easter baskets filled with a few treats and some new Sunday books as well as new Easter clothes. Then we eat eggs benedict and get ready for church.

Our traditions are still evolving - and probably always will be. But it's great to see the kids really starting to understand the real meaning of Easter - and it's great for me as a mom to spread things out over a whole week and do something little every day rather than all the big stuff all at once like at Christmas. I hope my kids will always think of Easter as the best holiday - a great combination of fun and meaning and treats and tokens of the first Easter.

Easter baskets and new clothes - everyone got a little toy, two new books (one "regular," one Sunday-themed church bag book or coloring book), a chocolate bunny
and a handful of little chocolate eggs and jelly beans

Easter outfits - orange and blue theme this year - got to go with
what's on sale combined with what's been handed down from cousins, etc.!

Have to admit it's pretty fun to dress up my little girl. And she doesn't mind it one bit.

Wonderful Visitors

Mom and Dad, Eli and Julie and Tal and his girlfriend Anita (the two of them came out from NYC) came down Friday night and we squeezed in all the fun we could until they had to head back to SLC on Saturday evening. We talked a lot and hiked through some of my favorite places (girls' walk in Snow Canyon first thing in the morning - with jogger Dad tagging along - then beautiful slot canyon hike in the afternoon) and did a fun Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Despite a horrible weather forecast, we were still able to spend much of the day outside and the overcast skies and spotty rain served to make all the colors more vibrant and saturated than usual.We all loved getting to know Anita who is such an interesting, good, bright, lovely person and the kids couldn't believe their good luck in having so many of their favorite people visiting at once. Tal and Anita treated the kids to lunch at Sonic (it was his tradition to take them there whenever he'd be driving through when he lived in Phoenix) and every adult took the time to really play with the kids, tell them stories and listen to them. I'm so grateful my kids have so many wonderful relatives in their lives.

Here's the whole wet group down at the pool after a funny egg hunt/swim party
in the cold drizzling rain - that was the wettest part of the day - so most people
figured they might get thoroughly wet and get in the warm pool and hot tub -
the kids thought it was the best Easter egg hunt ever!

The egg search is on - every kid had an adult or two to help them!

So excited about her bunny ears and new Easter basket

The "dragon tree" at the beginning of our gorgeous hike
Eli, Julie and the kids at the mouth of the slot canyon on the dragon hike

Mom's knee wasn't quite up for the next part of the hike so M and D sat
and drank in the beauty (and chatted about all of us) while we continued on up the slot canyon

This is the view Mom and Dad had while they waited - pretty nice huh? And now you can see why it wasn't a great idea for mom to go on - getting up over that waterfall isn't the easiest thing.

Pretty cute couple, don't you think? We like that Anita. And that Tal.
This is at the top of the second little waterfall we came to.

"Really, we like each other - don't let our constant bickering lately fool you!"