Family Home Evening Workout

No children were harmed in the making of this movie.

Pause the blog music, if you haven't already, there's music on the video you'll want to hear.

I hope this little video brings a smile to your face. (smile) Tonight our Christmas music musical chairs for FHE morphed into a big "dance" party, with Eli and Nathaniel as the main characters (Eli claimed the Christmas music was really fight music, so he & Nathaniel choreographed the fight dance to the "fight" music all by themselves).

Family home evenings are so fun now adays. Our lesson was about service, the fill the manger with straw with every act of service...you know. This must be the sweet spot of parenting! No babies (which are wonderful, don't get me wrong, but they didn't sleep through the night, which meant I didn't sleep through the night-and well I am not happy when I don't sleep through the night!) and no grumpy teenagers (just one tall one, she's growing SO fast!) Everyone is mostly happy, a little hyper at times, and very very funny most of the time! Men are that they might have joy in their posterity! The gospel of Jesus Christ truly brings joy into my life through my children! Is it normal for the mom to want to have more than one family home evening a week?

Thanksgiving!

I missed my family in Wisconsin this Thanksgiving. I don't remember when we were last able to visit Wisconsin for Thanksgiving...maybe 11 years ago? My parents are the best when it comes to avoiding guilt trips about my lack of holiday visits. They even made their way out here for Thanksgiving a few years ago, which was like heaven on earth. It was so nice to see them at that time of year.

Even though I couldn't see my family this year we visited Ryon's whole immediate family (all 3 parents, 6 kids, 6 in-laws, and 18 grandchildren) in Palm Springs for Thanksgiving. As always it was a lot of fun! Nana Jan planned all the food and all of it was amazing, I thought it was the best ever! Everything had at least a pound of butter in it and who knows what else, yum yum! Papa Kirk was as amazing as ever (planning and executing the funnest activities imaginable!)getting all the kids nerf guns for a "nerf war". And of course the famous doughnut eating contest, I think Eli won, who knows how many doughnuts he downed. He ate another 2 whole ones when he came into the house (but currently he is an empty pit ). We chatted, tickled, gave piggy back rides, jumped on the trampoline, played frisbee, football, and ate and ate and ate.


The day after Thanksgiving, Ryon's dad was willing to squish into the suburban with the 8 of us so he could come home with us to spend a night. It was such a treat to have him visit. He had never seen our place, so the kids LOVED showing him around. They also loved his mission stories and having him all to themselves. (I wish I had taken pictures, Grandpa you'll have to come back again, so I can get some pictures with you and the kids!)

My husband gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek tonight while I was eating dinner, I felt like I was in a dream. Life is so wonderful, so much better than I had imagined as a child.

Oil & Robots!

My team took our Robot to Queen Creek on Saturday, I was happy to wear my little "First Lego League Coach" pin on my shirt collar. My team worked together really well! And the programs and attachments ran smoothly. We were the first team to be ready to try out our robot and our trials went really well. The real competition is on Dec. 5, so we have a few weeks to make some more adjustments and to finish our research and project. The kids have really come a long way! Ryon isn't thinking next year is in my future, it really does take a lot of time for me to coach. I'm thinking at least 20 hours a week...not to mention the thinking time. So, I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts.

Ryon decided he wanted to be an army guy on Friday. And so he dressed himself in this camo outfit for the day, hat and all:).

On Friday, I realized the suburban needed an oil change, it wasn't driving so well. So, I went to Checker Auto Parts, asked for a quick oil change tutorial, and headed home with a new filter and 6 liters of oil. And within an hour bada bing bada boom, installation success. I felt better, the suburban ran better, and one more thing checked off the better do soon list. I even reset the oil life setting on the suburban computer...isn't the internet amazing...3 quick pumps to the gas peddle when the ignition is on but the engine is off and magically the oil life was back to 100%. (I feel all smart, even when I don't know anything!) I told Ryon a few hours later about my fun little oil changing adventure, and he asked me to change the oil in his truck. It was so much fun I told him I'd do it, Monday should work into my schedule, although, I think he's feeling weird about the prospect of his wife changing his oil.

Monday

I love Mondays! I get more done on Monday than the rest of the weekdays combined, normally. But today I've been teaching Ry to ride a 2 wheel bike, making Thanksgiving crafts with Ry & Andrew, going to the bank, making lunch, picking Andrew up from school, picking lettuce...and well, there's still 8 loads of laundry to do. The kitchen was cleaned, until lunch. I think my mind is mush for a few reasons. Garfield, our wild cat, has been fighting at night and is all scratched up, his eyes are almost swollen shut, his leg is hurt, his nose was bleeding, and his eyes are dripping tears. Maybe he got scratched in the eye, but it looks worse than that. So, I keep wondering what I'm supposed to do (that takes away from my concentration-I've looked up symptoms on line). Ry isn't feeling good, so he's been grumpy, which is nearly unheard of, he is the most good natured kid in the world! My week is going to be insanely busy, so I've been trying to figure out what has to go and what I need to make room for, and I'm feeling just a bit under the weather, but not bad, just not good either. And Ryon was starting a partnership at work today...so there go a few more brain waves. I hope your Monday has been more focused and productive than mine has been!

So Much Going On!

Savanah, Eli, and Nathaniel each participated in "dress your spud in duds" today. Savanah did "Thing One & Thing Two", Eli did "The Three Bears", and Nathaniel did , "Charolette's Web". Eli came home with a best of show ribbon and $10, and Savanah was awarded "Most Creative" and $5. There were only 5 awards for the whole school so I was so pleased with Savanah and Eli's success, although, I know Nathaniel was disappointed not to win, too, but he was competing against 9th graders (he is only 9). It turned out to be Eli's lucky day. He also guessed exactly how many "things" were in a paper sack and won the candy inside and a poster from the book fair. He guessed within 1 oz the weight of a pumpkin (he said he remembered our recent conversation about the weight of a gallon of milk (8 lbs) and was able to guess how many gallons of milk the pumpkin would be) he had the closest guess so he won a Guinness World Records book. The sparkle in Eli's eye at the end of the day was worth staying up late with him the night before to get the bears finished. I could tell he felt smart and talented and successful. Being successful from hard work and strategy is so much better than being given everything, the success just sinks in so much deeper!

Eli & Nathiel's science and technology club that I'm coaching is doing well. It's a battle to know how to get everyone on task all the time. Don't at all believe I am keeping everyone on task. But we did get a good start on our project and we've figured out how to do 2 missions. I think I may be learning a ton more than the kids. I'm learning about how to communicate with parents...not an easy task when I want them to help their student. But I'm having fun, and the kids are too.

My garden is growing really well! Amending the soil with compost and grass clippings is finally paying off! All that back breaking work the last few years made it so much easier to turn the soil this fall (I didn't even need a pick this time!!!). I have arugula coming out my ears, green and a very dark red leaf lettuce, cucumbers, basil, gray squash, and sweet potatoes. It's the best fall/winter garden I've ever had!

I ride my bike A LOT! It saves on gas money and it's nice to be out in this weather. I probably do 5 miles a day. The other day I volunteered in Andrew's kindergarten class, and the teacher introduced me, "And we all know Mrs. ****, because we see her riding her bike to school everyday:)." I kind of had that I want to hide under a rock feeling, but it's true, everyone talks to me this year, it's like riding a bike breaks a barrier, although, when people come over, they definitely seem surprised by my home...kind of a why would you ride a bike everyday if you don't have to look. I know, I'm weird, but happy...that has to count for something!

Happy Halloween...

For years the kids have creatively assembled their own Halloween costumes from the contents of the 2 dress up totes. This year Savanah was a snow princess on Friday (sorry no pictures) and a Hawaiian girl on Saturday, Eli donned a huge black afro as karate guy, Nathaniel was Indiana Jones, Zach a "weird girl" (I think this makes at least 2 years in a row for him, maybe 3), Andrew was Mace Windu (or as he put it at the end of the night, "I look like a guy in a chimney"), and Ry was a knight (but 1/2 his costume had come off before we even left the house). Ryon and I didn't dress up this year. We've definitely found our Halloween tradition. We took the kids to the trunk or treating party the ward had, then to the box maze, and finally trick-or-treating down our road. It was a great evening! Although, we were all wishing we could have celebrated with our West Virginia cousins!

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Andrew (I mean AND...well, I don't mean And but he means And...that's what he's asked to be called, so that's what his buddies call him...so we wrote it on his cake...and Zach doesn't go by Bob any more..."he hates it:)")celebrated his 6th birthday today with 11 of his best buddies. He's always been forced into being alone because there so few kids his age in our ward or neighborhood and I didn't venture out into play groups while he was young. So, he's a friend magnet right now. He loves playing with his buddies! His favorite part of today was the capture the flag game. Eli carried around one boy who didn't like the feeling of grass on his feet. What an awesome big brother! Savanah took on the treasure hunt all by herself! She made all the clues and filled the treasure box. She's so capable! Thanks Savanah!

Besides the party we had a solar tour at our home in the morning, a cinnamon roll bake sale, a Halloween party in the evening hosted by some of our friends , and our adult Stake Conference session. It felt like a whirlwind day. Now I'm doing the laundry that I was supposed to have finished earlier today. Better late than on Sunday. It was a great birthday for Andrew, and that's all that really mattered. Next week is packed Monday through Friday...I'm excited for Dec. 5th...even though there's a lot to be accomplished before the Regional Lego League competition.