Random Happiness

Thanks for all the kind responses on my last post. You will all be glad to know that I am doing much better. After reading my post, Lee called and told me he wanted to drive home and get Morgan for the week. He arrived late Sunday night and then left to go back to Rawlins with Morgan early Monday afternoon. We enjoyed our few short hours together as a family before they left. Now Brynne and I are enjoying a week together, and Morgan is getting a chance to spend some time with Daddy (along with Grandma and Grandpa who were willing to help out at night when Lee is in Denver -- thanks!!!).

Onto a few fun things that have happened around here... Every year we get involved in the library summer reading program. This year one of the things they asked families to do was check out a recipe book and make something. We checked out a Fairies Cookbook and I let each girl select something they wanted to make. We ended up with some yummy punch and cookies (can't remember the fun names they had given them).

Last week Morgan did something amazing -- she spilled her milk, and the spill looked just like a dolphin. Don't believe me? Check it out: (She wanted to hold up eight fingers since she's almost eight.)

The next couple pictures are of two watches I made during enrichment a month ago. They are the "in" thing around here. I used to always wear watches (I'm a slave to time), but somehow my cell phone has become my watch as of late. And other than watches, I've never been much of a jewelry person; so it is taking me a while to get used to wearing large watches. My sister Alyson just gave me another watch that just has one strand of beads and is really elegant. It is definitely much more my type than these watches, and wearing that watch is helping me get used to having something on my wrist. Too bad you can't really see the actual beads that wrap around the wrist; next time I'll remember to take pictures of both sides. :)

That's all for now, folks. Brynne and I are off to eat some artichoke. Yummy!!!!!

10 Random Things and A Cute Video of Brynne

I've got all sorts of "little things" to share, so here it goes: (cute video at the bottom of the post!)

1. It looks like creativity hasn't been totally lost on our family. Brynne loves to create her own things to give to people. A couple days ago, she brought me this bunny she had made completely out of hearts -- hear tail, heart feet, heart eyes, heart nose, etc. She did ask me to cut out two of the smaller hearts for her because her hands were getting tired, but she was the brains behind this and everything. Good job, Brynne!
2. I'm not the best baker in the world, which really stinks because I LOVE baked goods! Well, on Sunday I got a craving for cinnamon rolls. I have a habit of killing yeast, so I rarely make things anymore without the help of the bread maker, but I did these cinnamon rolls all on my own! (It didn't occur to me that I should take a picture for posterity until after we had already taste-tested...) :)

3. One day last week, Lee called and said his schedule had been messed up at work and he had a day off unexpectedly. We decided to pull Morgan out of school, pick Lee up at the airport, and make a day of it before having to drop Lee back off at the airport. We spent the morning at temple square in SLC. Then we went to Taste of Punjab to get Indian food for lunch (my favorite!!). Here are the cute girls with their dad:

Funny story: We were parked in metered parking while at temple square, so we watched the time quite closely. On the way out of the gate, we were stopped by a kind senior missionary who wanted to small talk about our day. We tried to quickly get through that conversation and then walked out to where we could see our car. We were only about one or two minutes past our time but there writing a ticket right by our car was a parking ticket lady (who knows what they are really called?). I sprinted across the street and discovered she was writing a ticket for the car just before ours, but our car was next on the list. She told me she wouldn't write a ticket if I waited in the car for the rest of my family. Since when do parking people show up the exact moment the meter runs out? What are the chances? Whew!!!!!!!

4. I signed up for facebook! I was being "tempted" by many different friends, so I finally signed up. It had been on my "to-do" list for about five months (toward the top of the list since Christmas), so I finally decided to just do it so I could be done with it. Well, it turns out that's not how facebook works! Now, instead of having one to-do done, I have a bunch more each day. I am constantly hearing from friends whom I haven't talked to in a long time. I love it! But so far, I still haven't had time to respond to everyone... Denise has ensured me that once you get past the initial reconnection period it slows back down a bit. I'm pretty excited and recommend you check it out if you haven't already!

5. Lee update: Still no new job. We're looking and still really hoping Southwest will come through sooner than later. At this point our biggest prayer is that Lee won't go crazy at work before the next thing comes along. We're also getting very, very anxious to have him home with us... Last night at dinner, Brynne said, "Mom. Next time we're at the airport can we walk up to the table and say, 'Hire my Daddy! We want him home with us more often!'" She said this with a great deal of authority, and it was really cute.

6. We're busy trying to figure out if we can afford to spend any money landscaping soon. Our yard is covered with black tarps that make all sorts of noise in the wind, so I'm anxious to get them up, till the ground, and start over. So anxious, in fact, that I'm wishing we had money to pay someone to just get it done for us...

7. I just finished our federal taxes. I didn't think we'd be getting much back, but we'll be getting some back -- thanks to Lee's 737 training that cost us almost $10,000. Now I just have to file taxes in four different states... (I'm dreaming of the days with one job and one state....)

8. I switched brands of thyroid medicine and it sent me out of whack. I've been sleeping 9-10 hours a day and still not feeling like I'm going to make it. I only made it to the gym twice this week and took it really easy, but I'm still proud of myself for trying. I'm hoping everything will be back to normal by Monday so I can start next week out right.

9. Brynne is still up to requesting I take a picture of her as she poses for me:

10. Morgan was finally the star of the week at school. She made her own poster:

And for the grand finale --Here's what Brynne (dressed as a flying cheerleader) was doing while I was writing this post:

Valentine Box, Take Two...

I don't know how many of you read my entry last February titled Valentine Box, but we were "blessed" with a repeat performance this year. For some reason when I got notice last year that we needed to make a Valentine Box for school it didn't click in my brain that it would be a yearly thing. When I got notice that we needed to make a box this year, my brain instantly calculated how many boxes that means I'll have to help the kids make in the course of their Elementary School career. I ran to the calendar to see if Lee would make it home before the box was due, but he wasn't due to arrive until two days after the due date. Bummer! So once again, Morgan and I tackled the project. The theme for second graders was "Love Bugs", so Morgan made a "Love Bug Hotel".

I realize a lot of times the work is actually done by the parents, but this was almost all Morgan. It took me several days to accept the fact that I was the lone adult to help Morgan with her project. I finally turned on the computer and searched for different ideas. I then let Morgan pick what she wanted to do. The internet just gave us a general idea; we had to brainstorm some specifics. I helped with a little of the brainstorming and taping, but Morgan did almost all of the box. I actually felt really good about the box when we were done.



All the boxes were on display at the school last Thursday, so the girls and I walked around to see them all. I was amazed at the amount of detail and supplies that went into a lot of the boxes. Morgan's suddenly seemed so basic. Thankfully, though, Morgan didn't compare her box to the others (a habit I'm trying to break and make sure I don't pass onto my kids by keeping my thoughts to myself) and was quite pleased with it. And I actually managed to keep the stress level low while helping her.



Next year's theme is "Simple Machines". I totally smell an airplane! And since I have a head's up on what the theme is and knowing when it will need done, you can bet I'll make sure the box gets made when Daddy is home! :)

Valentine Box

There's one thing about having kids in school that I had forgotten about -- the creative contests the schools periodically sponsor to see what kind of parents the kids have. You know, the kind that are supposed to be done as much as possible by the kids, which really just means even more work for the parents. Anyway, last week we got a paper from school saying they were having a Valentine's Day Box contest. Every child was invited to participate, and the theme for 1st grade was "I Love Reading." Here is the finished project:

This was a tough thing for me because I have not an ounce of creativity in me. Because of this, however, I've always felt it very important to try and nurture the creative side in my kids. I was really wishing Lee were here for the project because he is extremely creative, and also has a lot of patience for helping the kids with things like this. But Lee wasn't here, so I was left to my own devices if I wanted Morgan to participate. We brainstormed ideas together, but then I had her do all the wrapping, cutting, taping, and pasting. The best part is that we did it all in just two hours -- only 30 minutes past bedtime -- Whew!

I feel a great deal of satisfaction at having been part of a creative endeavor. The thing I'm most excited about is that I got really brave and used my new printer/copier/scanner. I took a picture of Morgan reading (the big picture on top of the box) and then printed it. I also found three pictures from years passed (the other two pictures on top of the box and the one on the front side, which is the bottom of the picture below), and I scanned the pictures, then cropped them and resized them before printing them and having Morgan cut them. Some of you realize how big of an achievement this is for my non-computer age brain! (I noticed the hole we cut in the box looks lopsided in this picture, so I'd like to make sure you know it's a perfectly rectangular hole!) :)

My friend Denise just called and told me that her son's 1st grade class made Valentine bags as part of an art project at school. Now why didn't our school think of that? They must think that a child's education is supposed to extend to the parents (i.e. they like the parents to learn things too -- like how to be creative). I learned my lesson, so can I be done?!!!

(Written at 6:30 p.m. the day after making the Valentine's Day box): Brynne and I picked Morgan up from school today so we could look at the display of all the Valentine's boxes that were made. My initial reaction was that my confidence was shattered -- there were some really creative boxes! -- but then I decided to focus on the fact that probably only 1 out of every 15 or 20 students even did a box. That makes our box better than the 95% that didn't even do them! And most important, Morgan is still proud of her box. (And now I've got more ideas for next year -- bring it on!!!!)

I'm Learning Things From Preschool Too!

Creativity has never been my strong point. Anytime I've embarked on a creative venture, I have needed very specific instructions. I can not think of anything on my own, and I can rarely ever figure out step three if it's missing in a four-step process.

Enter my thoughtful neighbors who invited Brynne and me to join their preschool group. There are just two other little girls, so it's a small group. I quickly agreed, realizing it would be great for Brynne. It was too late when I realized that I would be teaching the class at my house every third week, and, what's worse, I'd be in charge of what we did during my weeks. One of my neighbors is a former elementary school teacher, so she has been really good to bring me ideas each week. I have also relied a lot on my friend Denise, who is also doing a preschool with neighbors. Denise is kind enough to pass all her ideas onto me. The two of them have literally been my saving grace as I've delved into this preschool business.

(Most of Denise's ideas work wonderfully. The only exception is her "song" mug. She has lots and lots of colored popsicle sticks in a mug. Each stick has the name of a song on it. The kids take turns picking a stick and everyone sings the song. After a song is sung, the stick is supposed to be turned upside down so another one will be picked next time. When I first borrowed the mug, my preschool kids loved it. We sang all the pink and purple songs, and then turned those sticks over. When I borrowed the mug the second time, however, I could not convince the kids to pick any colors other than pink and purple. They didn't seem to care that those colors were turned upside down. That's what I get for having a class full of girls!)

The picture above is of Brynne and one of her classmates holding the octopus masks they made today. Do you think I came up with the idea by myself? No, of course not. Although, I am feeling pretty good about it because the idea is actually a combination of an idea I got from Denise and an idea from one of my neighbor's books she gave me. (The other picture is of all three girls wearing Indian hats -- thanks for the idea, Denise!)

There was one time just after Thanksgiving when I did something totally on my own and felt really good about it. I felt even better when Denise called me later to ask for details on what I'd done because she wanted to do it with her kids. Brynne was sick the day before I was to teach preschool, so I wasn't able to get over to Denise's as planned to make copies and finish making plans. I woke up to a flash of brilliance -- I had a "water cycle" day. We froze things, boiled things, waited for things to melt, etc. I won't go into too much detail, but you get the idea. The most important thing is that I came up with the idea on my own and the kids loved it! This experience was akin to a miracle!

One other funny experience, while I'm on the subject: One of my first weeks teaching, I was excited to have the kids do finger painting. I'd never done it before (since I was a kid) and thought it would be fun. When I got the paint out, however, I noticed it wasn't really finger paint. I didn't have a Plan B and didn't even have paint brushes, so we went ahead and finger painted anyway. The kids looked at me like I was crazy when I gave them permission to dig in with their fingers, and I was really glad the other moms weren't there to witness the prodeedings. That's when I knew for sure this preschool thing was going to be a growing experience for me too...