Fundraisers

It used to be that we would have one fundraiser in the fall and one in the spring and I didn't mind particpating because it was for a good cause right? Steve would get really into it and try to help whatever kid to win something. Hannah once won a ride to lunch in a limo for selling the most (whatever it was). The next time she won a $50 gift card for coming in second. Now that I have three kids (in three schools) we get some kind of fundraiser almost every week. This week we got Avon (for the middle school band) Joe Corbi (for Wright Denny playground fund), Kings pizza (combined school spirit fundraiser??) and Bob Evans (for some other wonderful cause). This doesn't include the scholastic book fair next week that they are asking everyone to come and also donate $1. They are also having a change drive (at both Page and Wright Denny) to buy school supplies for the classroom. I just can not get excited about any of it. I sometimes wonder if I should just send in a big check and be done with it. Of course we can't participate in it all so I find myself just throwing everything away because it just gets to be too much. Maybe I should home school and then have a fundraiser for myself.

Just Stuff

I always feel like there needs to have been something funny amazing or interesting before I post something. Well none of those things have really happened. Life is just happening right now. I have done the following things in the last few weeks
*Planned and executed RS Birthday enrichment meeting
*Went away with my sisters for a weekend (more of that to come later)
*Had all of my kids be sick. I took Seth to the Dr yesterday because he couldn't breathe and had been coughing for days. He has a sinus infection. Todd is home for the second day in a row for the mysterious I just don't feel good disease. Oh well what can you do.
*Had allergies knock me on my rear end
*Decided to go out to Matt's mission farewell (I will be getting tickets later on today) He is going to LasVegas West
*Became the mom of a teenager
*Felt like strangling said teenager.
*Decided I am thoroughly done with middle school homework

The only thing of real note is that Steve got released from being YM president. He was in there for over three years. He was sad to be released, but it was time to move on. He got a call last Friday asking that he and I meet with the Stake president Sunday morning. He was called to be Elders Quorum president. I am so proud of him I could just see him take on that new mantle. I am a lucky lady!! It will definitely be a new adventure for us all.
Life just keeps on going whether I keep up with it or not.

No more school, no more books no more teachers dirty Looks!

Is it summer yet? This week has been a doozy. With Todd in middle school, I though that maybe my days of standing over him and helping with homework would be diminished. It has actually escalated ten fold (is that a scripture reference or just a literary one?) This week we have had one paper that took "us" 5 hours to do even though it only had to be two pages long. We then had a social studies project in the midst of vocabulary, spelling, and memorizing the capitals of South American countries, and other various school assignments. The SS project (for the social studies fair) he decided to do on how your economic choices of today can affect your future. "We" searched the web. As a side note on that. I don't let the kids just randomly search the web. I try to help narrow down the words that they should use etc. You just never know what will pop up and I keep trying to point out that they should look at the web address before clicking on the link because Target.com will not help them with social studies. So I did a lot of the research and then printed the pages so that he could read them and highlight the things that he thought was important- Side note done. This project had to have some stupid abstract with it that had to be on the form that they presented so I spent the day while he was at school getting this form onto the computer so that he could put the information in it when he got home. I also typed up the information that he had already compiled and written. We spent the first night make a mach up drawing of how we wanted to lay our the information on the tri-fold board-which I made a special trip to Walmart to get because I forgot it when I went to buy groceries (Remembered to buy math notebooks, treasure chest items, glue stick, tissues, hand sanitizer, and stickers for the other kids classes). We worked on it every day this week and then was up until 11:00 last night finishing it. I all have to say this morning is that we had better get an A! Who thought up a Social studies fair anyway-They must have been jealous of all the science people because they had a fair (which we have already finished thank heavens.) I AM DONE!!!

Wrong kind of Praying

At the end of the summer a lady in our branch gave me a HUGE fern. I love plants and this one was beautiful. I had it in my sun room until Christmas and then I moved it up into my bathroom in order to have room for the Christmas tree. It took me a while before I really got everything put back where it belonged after Christmas..... With that background comes the following experience

I was getting ready for church a few weeks ago and I noticed something on top of my lotion. It was a tiny green praying mantis. I like praying mantis(es) or manti? so I wasn't so worried. I took it down stairs and shook it outside. I came back up into my bathroom to continue to get ready and I looked again. OH MY GOODNESS!!! There were at least 20 to 30 little tiny praying Mantis all over my bathroom. In the tub, the surround, the floor etc. I looked closely and realized that the bugs were coming from the plant. It had been outside until it got too cold. Apparently it made a good nesting place for bugs. I quickly grabbed the plant and carried it downstairs and put it on the back porch leaving a trail of leaves and mess along the way. I then spent the next 45 minutes with the vacuum cleaner cleaning up the mess. We were subsequently late for chruch. My adoration is somewhat lessened now that I have had the critter all over my bathroom. Life is just one of those totally laughable experiences.

Organ donor

I had one of those experiences that you just have to laugh at because it is so crazy. Yesterday right before we left for church I got a phone call. "Can you PLEASE play the organ today for sacrament meeting my son just started throwing up" Of course I said yes and then rushed everyone out the door so that we could get to church on time. Once we got there I ran up and sat down at the organ (I am a piano player not an organ player, but I have been learning) I pushed the button to set all of the stops (those buttons that make the organ sound good) NOTHING! I started to panic. I don't know how to set all of the things individually. The chorister then came over and whispered that the organ was broken and had to be hand set. I should have just gotten up right then and walked over to the piano, but I was soo flustered that I just sat there. We both started pushing buttons and then pressing keys to see how it sounded. It wasn't good. With everybody waiting to start sacrament meeting and staring at me we finally decided to leave it where it was and go for it. It really wasnt good. Think of a tinny sounding trumpet. We did finally play through the opening and sacrament hymn and then I took the book over to the piano. What a way to start a Sunday.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Steve had a birthday Shout Hurray!

(Steve iceskating during YM and YW activity -no that isn't me with him)

Steve's birthday was yesterday. We did the normal daddy birthday thing. Mom made his favorite dinner and cake then the kids opened his presents and blew out the candles. I got him the Joseph Smith journal that was just published recently. Steve loves church history. But if we back up a little bit his birthday started on Saturday. We went to his mom's house and she took him shopping for dress pants (which were sorely needed) Then we left all kids at grandma's house and Steve and I went out. We started at Olive Garden, but the wait was at least an hour so we drove over to Outback-same scenerio. We then GPSed restaurants in the area and came up with a little Mexican restaurant, but when we pulled up the line went out the door and down the side walk. We luckily then spotted a Japanese steak house nearby so decided to check it out. Since it was just the two of us they were able to sit us at a table that had two empty spots and we got our food within 10 minutes. It also turned out to be a best one that I have been to yet. Even spending the time together in the car was fun because we went through the songs on my ipod and tried to pick the goofiest ones.

Life just IS

Life has been uninteresting and abnormal all at the same time this past week. We got about an inch of snow on Tuesday so schools were closed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. While I love having the kids home during the summer, I really don't like having so many unprepared for days off during the school year. In the summer we have a routine and expectations etc but during the school year they go to school so what little routine we have only needs to come into play in the morning and the evening. They eat twice as much when they are home and they make twice the mess.
By Wednesday I knew that I couldn't last another day just "hangin". So I did the dreaded mom thing and made them all job lists. It definitely made a big difference. The other thing that I HATE about snow days is the hats, coats, boots, gloves, scarves, snow pants, etc. First we have to get it all OUT, then it has to go ON, then it comes back IN, soaking wet and dirty. Then a few hours later after we are warm again the routine starts over again. Luckily they are getting older and can do a lot more themselves.
We also went through all of what I call kids hot chocolate (the kind that is a dollar and has the cheap little marshmallows) and they started in on MY hot chocolate (the expensive flavored kind that you make with milk).
I do have to admit though that I LOVE not having homework on those snow days!!