Rain rain go away!!!

Last week was our spring break. I always thought that March was supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Well it came in like a lion and went out like a pack of lions. What is with that?

Our wonderful spring break, that sounds like I'm being sarcastic but it was pretty wonderful, started out with the baptism of our niece Ava Quist. She turned 8 at the beginning of the month and chose to enter the waters of baptism. We are so proud of her decision and I know she will a become a beautiful young lady.

She did so great and actually sang a solo all by herself. She brought tears to my eyes with her sweet voice. Her grandma almost couldn't give her talk following her song. Truly beautiful.

After the baptism we went and had some yummy food and then all the kids wanted to go to Sky High. I just thought it was the name of a Disney movie, but no it is a jumping place. Lots and lots of trampolines. The kids loved it. The parents loved it for about three jumps and then came to sit down in pools of sweat. It kicked the adults butts. I choose not to jump, but take pictures.

The next day we got to celebrate Grandma Lorraine's Birthday!! She turned ???? Well we'll just say she has decided not to age anymore. I'm just not sure what number she decided to stop at. The kids were excited to have yummy cake. The only down side is our sweet little Sydney decided to get a fever and couldn't come to the party. She had Grandma Parker call and ask if we would bring her some cake. So we did.

The next day brought us to the Coast. We decided to head down to Cannon Beach. Mom and Dad took the kids and the dog, while Dave and I decided to take advantage of Outlet stores and no sales tax. Heaven. Found some fun things for our Mexico trip this week. Grandma and Grandpa decided to brave the wind and took the kids to the beach for a few minutes. It was miserable, so they came back to the house and rode bikes for a minute or two. They bought Abby her own new purple bike. It's her favorite color. She was very excited.

Grandpa with the girls on the very windy beach.

Noah and Jacob digging in the sand. We use shovels in the hard, wet sand.

Abby on her new bike.

Well the rest of the 3 days we were there were soggerific. So we busied ourselves playing card games. Golf and Apples to Apples were a hit. We also went and saw the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. Then sadly we had to take Syd to the urgent care because she just kept getting sicker. As a treat we went and got Tangled for her to watch and it is now Abby favorite movie for the time being.

Grandpa bought another little sculpture of a mouse. The kids had fun playing with it.

The kiddos also hung out on Grandpa's giant bear sculpture. You make your own fun when it's yucky outside.

Abby and Sydney after a tub. Pretty cute.

Playing sure tuckers you out. Always love a good snooze.

Of course one hour before we left the coast the sun decided to peek out and the rain stopped. We still had a great time playing games as a family and spending all that special time together. Grandma and Grandpa even felt sorry for Foster and let him in the house. It didn't hurt that he had a haircut right before we came.

Once we got back to Portland the weather decided to behave for a day and we were able to go to the park. It was a lot of fun and much needed to see the sun for a few minutes. Dave went golfing and then to a fantastic Blazer game with family and friends. The kids and I helped Grandma get ready for a surprise party for her best friend. It was pretty fun. I got to decorate a fake cake. It was made of styrofoam. I think it turned out pretty good.

Ever wonder why they are called monkey bars? Yeah me neither. Pretty cute bunch of monkeys.

The fake cake and myself.

Of course the rain came back as we left and on our drive home we encountered rain, wind, snow, hail and about 30 miles from our house SUN!!!! As much as I love Oregon I have grown pretty fond of the sun here in Idaho.

We had a fabulous trip!! It was a great Winter Break. I can't wait for Spring break to finally get here. ( Hope it makes it before summer does.)

I thought I could read music

Today I had my first experience ever being the primary chorister at church. It consists of leading the singing for both the younger kids (3-6) and the older kids (7-11). I had 15 minutes for each group. Not too bad.

I grew up singing these songs. I thought I knew the words. Better yet I thought I knew the melodies. Holy cow batman... Where oh where has my little mind gone? Where oh where could it be?

I had to keep checking back at the book to see the words. I think they changed them. I'm pretty sure they are different from when I learned them. Ok it's just been a really long time since I've sung them.

I am not a fan of singing in front of people. I don't have that great of a voice. I think that's why I play instruments. Still musical just in a different less voice cracking off pitch sort of way. For the most part the song time went really well. The kids sang loud and participated. They did the arm motions (which of course I couldn't remember). I did the arm motions to lead the music. Sort of. At one point I thought the song seemed off and realized I was conducting in 4/4 time and the song was written in 3/4 time. Wow, senior moment there or really in my case brain fart.

But really I'm pretty proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new. I will probably say yes to subbing again. Of course all of the other leaders stroking my ego and telling me I did a great job, probably helped that a little too.

Careful what you wish for

I have been complaining about not feeling needed at church. I'm sort of a needy person. I like to have something to do to keep me busy and motivated and feel like I'm giving back/helping others. I have told many people that I need something to do.

I got my wish.... As the previous post states I am the den leader for the bear pack (9 year old boys) in scouts.

I was also just asked to sub as the primary chorister on Sunday. That is one I haven't done before. Here's hoping I can motivate the kids to sing loud so they don't hear my voice. That is why I chose to play instruments and not sing.

I'm not complaining about being needed anymore, I am now trying to figure out how to do it all, all at the same time.

No more idle minds here anymore. My life just got very very busy.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease

When Noah turned 8 he joined cub scouts. It was a very crazy year of figuring out what to do. He loved being in scouts and was able to earn his bobcat and wolf badges. He had a an awesome scout leader. I was terribly sad when he moved up to the next stage of bear when he turned 9.

That experience wasn't as great. At least not for me. Noah loved it. He jumped on a trampoline and ate snacks. What's not to love. Anyway I had a harder time with his most current ongoing scout experience.

If you don't know me, I will tell you that I am opinionated, difficult, and sometimes downright mean. If I need to be and sometimes if I don't. Well I had a few concerns about how the bears were being run. I didn't like the time. I didn't like that it was held at a home instead of at the church with the other scouts. I didn't like that my son had to walk thru a gate and I couldn't drop him off at the house. I'm a little protective. On somethings. Well I tried to address these issues in a manner that I felt was respectful. Did anything happen? With scouts no. With me I found my inner opinionated, difficult, mean self rise to the surface. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't necessarily good. Although if it is affecting my child and his safety then I am right.

Right?

Agree with me here. Anyway I finally stopped sending Noah to scouts. I didn't want him to miss out on creating friendships with the other kids his age, but I also wasn't happy about how the program was working. So I went to the top. I sent an email voicing my concerns. That's ok. It's better to do that than explode and create a bigger rift. So they decided to make some changes. I had a few people tell me it was email that made the change. Truthfully not sure if I want the credit for it or not.

They released the old leader and Noah's wolf leader who is so great took on the wolves and the bears. What a great lady. For a month she has been doing both. Finally she was at her wits end and said find somebody already.

They did. They got the grease. I am the grease.

I am Noah's new den leader. I am head bear!!! Watch out. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

I am excited to be able to spend this time with Noah, since we were doing it anyway. I hope it will be a relationship builder and bring my sweet son and myself even closer together. I also get to wear a rockin' scout shirt too.

No more toys

Do you remember when you were little and the sort of toys you had? You know the kind that made you use your imagination? You know what I'm talking about....

Nature. Boxes that became forts. A wrapping paper roll that becomes a sword. Or cups that can be made into a castle.

I remember in elementary school we would go outside for recess and play house. We had awesome houses because growing up in Oregon there were tons of big trees that had cool root systems. There were all sorts of spaces to make into rooms and then we would find bark and branches that became plates, and brooms. We had the cleanest houses on the playground. Of course the pine cones would be food.

I loved using my imagination. It was great. I sometimes feel my kids don't use their imagination as much as they should. Noah my oldest does. He loves to draw pictures and create stories to go with them. The girls pretend with their dolls and their dress ups. Jacob loves to build forts under the trees outside. So I guess they use them a bit.

You are probably wondering why I am bringing this up, since they seem to use their imaginations all the time. Well I have a playroom full of toys. Lots of toys. We have so many toys it is ridiculous. There are toys in the boys room, toys in the girls rooms, toys in the family room, toys in the bonus room, toys that made their way into my room and bathroom. Where did we get all these toys?

The sad thing is that they are always wanting more. More and more toys that get played with for and hour and then get broken. Sad for the toys. Sad for our wallets.

I have decided that I am going to do a huge clean up and get rid of some toys. Not the ones that require imagination like legos or lincoln logs or tinker toys. You know the ones like when we were kids. Not the dress ups or the doll houses or the kitchens. None of those. What is left do you ask? All the ones you see on the commercials that the kids just had to have. The ones that are supposed to do something spectacular and end up broken in 5 minutes. Those toys. I truly hope that I don't have too many of those. But I'm afraid I do.

After all of my ranting about the too many toys we do have the last week my kids have enjoyed playing with a bunch of paper cups. Yep. I think from now on we don't need anymore toys. Maybe we will try to use our imaginations more.

I've been waiting to post this because there is a picture I wanted to add, but then my computer died and I've been using Dave's. I haven't yet figured out how to get my picture on here because it doesn't have a card reader and mine does. I also can't find the right cable to use to hook into my camera. All this is because Dave is a Mac and I'm a PC. Yet we fit together perfectly.

When I figure it out, or more to the point find time to have Dave do it, I'll come back and put it on.

Going to the dentist

I took all the kids to the dentist the other day. Ok not all of them. Abby proceeded to be awful in the waiting room, waiting. I guess awful isn't the right word. She was very happy and energetic and loud. So for a mom in a quiet waiting room awful.

I remember going to the dentist as a kid..... now I'm done remembering. It wasn't bad, I had a great dentist, and usually no cavities. I think I got my first one in Jr. High School. So not too bad. I blame the braces.

I had to take Noah to the dentist for the first time in Utah when he almost knocked out a tooth falling in the tub. It turned brown and was sad. Then it went white again. Weird. That was a normal dentist.

In Arkansas I had to take Jacob to a dentist because he fell into a toy box and almost knocked out his top front teeth. They were ok, but he cut his gums up so bad he almost needed stitches. That doctor we went to was a pediatric dentist. I didn't know they had such things. I wish my boys were older so they could have enjoyed the experience that is a pediatric dentist. Toys and games and lots of books. Fun music. Bright colors.

Then we moved to Oregon and I never once took them to the dentist. Shame on me. I know.

So here we are now in Eagle, Idaho. Guess what I found here. Another pediatric dentist. This office has video games, movies playing in a space ship and above every dentist chair? A plasma TV. What????

Our kids have it soooo easy. Well 2 out of the 3 got a big NO CAVITIES cheer. And my sweet sweet crooked tooth boy Noah. Has 1 maybe 2. Last time he had 3 so a little better. We have to go get it/them filled today. They won't know about the other until they are working on the first. He got my overbite and Dave cavitiy prone teeth. I don't know where the crooked came from. It's his own I guess.

I still get a little nervous to go to the dentist, my kids...They love it. They think it's great. Noah isn't nervous at all. He's excited to get Happy Gas. He calls it Giggle Gas because that's what it makes him do.

I guess it's good that going to the dentist is a good experience for them. But is it making them a little soft for when they become and adult and don't have those wonderful distractions? Hmmmmm......

Next time we'll get a big round of NO CAVITIES!!! for all four.