Felicity is done with kindergarten

We went yard saleing this morning, I'm so tired I'm just going to sit down at the computer for awhile instead of doing all that stuff I should be doing while Farris is home. There has been alot going on this week, Felicity is all through with Kindergarten, Farris is never going to leave me at home with the kids for two and a half days again (ok, that may not be true) and we set up an appointment for our ultrasound, so more on that in a couple weeks. On Monday we had my monthly doctors appointment, the kids got to listen to the baby's heartbeat; they loved that. And, no they did not hear two heartbeats, despite the persistent rumors floating around (and Felicity's prayers). Tuesday Farris left for a conference until Thursday in Park City Utah and got snowed on. When he came home house and children were all in one piece, mom was very, very tired. It's nice to have another adult around to take over when I need to crash. Thursday morning was also Felicity's graduation, she did a great job on her part and won the sweetest smile award. Friday we went in for her assessment test, she passed with flying colors, so first grade here we come. Last night Farris was having fun with the boys, they were playing basketball on our little hoop downstairs and after several tries and misses, Caleb said "it must be broken." So that's what was wrong all those years in p.e. when I couldn't make a shot to save my life. Then Farris was playing a game on the computer with Joseph and accidentally taught him to say "shoot." Unfortunately, I laughed so now Joseph thinks it's funny. Could be worse, I guess. It's been raining quite a bit these last few days, so no work in the garden, but everything is looking great, even tiny cherry tomatoes starting out. Joseph did some extra weeding and we are now one squash plant short, but Felicity doesn't mind at all.

Busy Week

We have had a busy week this last week, lots of good stuff going on. Our garden is growing, thanks, Judy, for more raspberries and all the strawberry starts! We did get them planted and the kids seemed to better understand that they water the plants, not the parents. We had a nice mother's day weekend in Idaho with our families. On thursday, Farris went to work for a couple hours then picked up Caleb and went to Arizona for the high school graduation where he worked before. We were a little worried that Caleb would be bored in the six hour drive (one-way), but he really liked the time with his dad. It was nice for Farris to catch up with many of our friends down there, everyone seems to be doing well, and we do miss all of them. Felicity went on her first big field trip to the zoo. Her favorite part, she told us, was when they ate lunch. She did like the animals (a tiger, the monkeys, skunks, big kittys, and snakes were her favorite), she didn't like the stinky buiding that some of the animals were in, but she did like the bus ride. While all this was going on, Joseph was helping me plant some flowers and other plants. he went through three pairs of pants that day and by the time Farris and Caleb got home, he wasn't wearing pants at all. Joseph likes mud. On Saturday (after more mud and plants) we met some of our friends from Utah State, we had fun seeing everyone again. I still don't remember some of the pranks they claim I did. That's part of being a mother, we forget everything. Our garden is going good, we just have to fix the sprinkler that is more like a fountain, and the sprinklers that are more like part of a drip system. That's for next week.

grocery store helps

A friend of mine has asked around for help at one of the grocery stores here. She saw a display called "Soccer Moms" at a store when she was visiting her sister. The display had a recipe and all of the ingredients right there (conveniently, many of the ingredients were on sale) for a complete meal--main dish, side dish, veggies and sometimes a dessert. All were quick fixes, healthy, and not too expensive. The store changed the display once or twice a week. I told her I could help out with that, but now I'd like some feedback on the idea. When you guys are making dinner, what are some things you wish were easier? Do you want to try things with new ingredients, or are the old basics good enough? Are you more worried about price or quickness or healthiness or as much or as little from scratch as possible? Any other ideas that would make this whole idea better? Any feedback would be appreciated! Thanks!

Raspberries and terrible twos don't mix

This has been a busy week and a half, not any more big things since Lissy's fall, just busy. Speaking of that, she got her stiches out five days after her fall but was disappointed that they didn't give her another stuffed animal or anything. She's been fine, no headaches, no complaining except when I put a small band-aid on (she liked the big attention getting bandaids). She's enjoying the last days of school, the kindergarten only have a couple more weeks, so now they're doing all the fun end of the year things. Exciting, she gets to eat her first school lunch tomorrow. They introduce the kindergarteners to it at the end of the year so it will be an easier transition to first grade. That's almost as good as the zoo trip her class has planned. She's also had two birthday parties for friends the last two saturdays. The first one she came home and said "I had too much fun. I had more fun than a seal catching it's first ball." I think she's going to be the writer in our family. Caleb is really enjoying the warmer weather. He'll play outside constantly if I let him. And he loves dirt, he's spent his whole life with a backyard of dirt, so our tiny patch of grass is an exception. Joseph loves it outside, too, but I still have to keep a close eye on him, he likes to pick our new plants, eat dirt and whatever else he finds and he'll follow any dog or cat he sees. His little vocabulary is growing, we've started helping him say his prayers. The other day I was helping him say dinner prayer. I said "thank thee.." and before I could say for the food, he said "Gicki" which interpreted is Nicki, my sister. He loves "Gicki and her beep (jeep)". On sunday we went to Farris' brother Rocky's ward to see his baby blessed. The whole famly was there, including a lot of Farris' cousins and grandma. The kids had loads of fun and wore themselves out quite a bit. Farris' mom brought us some raspberry starts and we planted those last night. Have you ever planted raspberries with a five-,three-year old,and 22 month old? Not great. Jospeh liked to pull the starts straight out of the box, goodbye roots. Caleb and Felicity took turns spraying us with the hose and running into the house with muddy shoes. We also had close calls with their little shovels (we armed Joseph with a little snow shovel, plastic blade, for that very reason). We're going to get more and some strawberry starts, too, when we visit Judy next, we'll see how that goes when we plant them. It's library time now, hopefully I'll do better and write sooner next time, without any more High Drama from Felicity.

We needed this like a...

We had a new experience yesterday. Having three kids and no major injuries was pretty miraculous, especially when one of the kids is a human cannonball. But yesterday we got our frst taste of running into the emergency room dripping blood. OK, she wasn't dripping blood any more, she was pressing a washcloth to the hole in her head. To start at the beginning, I was upstairs when Felicity started crying. I wasn't worried, she is our drama queen and I figured Caleb was teasing her again. But then she came upstairs with blood everywhere. I know, logically, that head wounds bleed alot, and blood doesn't scare me (unlike some of the men in my family, hee-hee, Dad and Rob), but the first time you see your child..anyway, no gross details. I grabbed her and a washcloth, put pressure on it, and realized that I had no idea where the ER was, and the boys had no shoes on(Joseph's could be anywhere), and I was starting to panic. I left Felicity pushing on the washcloth and called around until I got our friend, Jenny. She calmed me down, told me where the ER was, and I dropped the boys off (no shoes) at her house. And, of course, it was snowing. Felicity was a little better now, just worried that the doctor was going to give her a shot. I told her about when I cut my head open, but I didn't tell her about stiches. If she was afraid of shots, the idea of stiches would really freak her out. When we got to the hospital I was calmer,and the nurses and doctor were great. I called Farris, which was good because he had come home early, saw the van was gone but Caleb's shoes were still in the kitchen and there was drops of blood coming up the stairs and down the hall. He was pretty worried. Felicity was feeling lots better, they had deadened the area with some topical stuff, and gave her coloring stuff, book, and stickers. Then they had to deaden the area more with a needle, by the time she was recovered from that, the doctor came an stiched her up. It was pretty deep, they had to stich the muscles together and then five stiches on her skin. She was ok, and when they gave her a teddy bear, she told me that it was the great day. Stuffed animals make everything better, even a hole in the head. So, the drama was over, and Felicity has a great story to tell the kids in her class today. And now the kids can do their worst, 'cause I know what to do. At least until the next time I see one of my kiddos with blood all over.

A call for help!

I'm asking for help! I'm the secretary in our primary here, and for an upcoming activity we're learning about the Good Samaritan. We thought we could have the kids put together a simple craft that they could take home to so they could be secret helpers around the house. Like, they make their sisters bed,then they put this flower or whatever on her pillow, and it has a little poem attached to it that says something about how a secret helper did something nice for you, so now it's your turn to do something for someone else. And then it keeps going around the house. I volunteered to find a poem, and after googling several different phrases (I'm not sure if "secret service" is a good thing to Google or not), I haven't found anything. Any ideas? Please comment soon, the activity isn't until May but we wanted to start getting things put together soon. Thanks!

Our week

Sorry I haven't written in here for awhile. Here's an update on the kiddos:
Caleb has a list of four heros, completely his own make: Daddy (of course), Superman, Captain Moroni, and Bob the builder. Maybe Bob is his practical choice, his fall-back guy. I do think he needs to learn a little bit more about Cap. Moroni, yesterday he wacked Joseph in the face with his sword. I can only hope he thought that Joseph was trying to take away his religion, his liberty, and his peace.
Joseph, meanwhile, is talking a lot more. Felicity taught him to say awesome. I tried fiddlesticks, but I'm afraid he'll pick up "dang it" alot quicker. He's enjoying the warmer weather, and has been helping his siblings dig a deep hole in the back yard. No reason, it's just fun. Maybe they're trying to make in to the Olympics?
Felicity is glad to be back in kindergarten after spring break, by friday she was telling me that she hadn't been to school in weeks and weeks. She's planning her birthday party now, she has a theme(Fancy Nancy), list of guests (everyone she's ever met) and her presents (mostly my little pony stuff) all picked out. This will probably change, as her birthday is not until August.
My sisters came for a visit on sunday and monday, we went to some gardens not far from here for the tulip festival. Not quite like Holland, but it was really pretty and lots of fun. The kids loved the children's garden, especially the bear statue that growled. They've had a good time the last couple weekends, Grandma Child and Aunt Charitie came up last weekend, they had loads of fun. No one's coming this weekend, if anyone would like to fill the time slot so our kids won't get bored.
It's graduation week for the university here, so Farris was busy this last month making sure the kids who want to gradute actually deserve it, and getting everyone else ready to come back for fall or summer semesters. Hopefully next week will be slower so he can actually start eating lunch again.
Yesterday was my fourteen week visit to the doctor, everything's good, no two heartbeats despite Felicity's prayer for twin sisters. Whew. And I think that's everything for now. I just heard the door open, which means two little boys are escaping...