Thursday, April 30, 2009

April 30, 2009


Some might say "What big shoes to fill!", but my thoughts are, I hope the shoes she fills are much better than mine.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

April 19 - 29, 2009

April 19, 2009

We are slowly trying to read through the Book of Mormon with the kids. Slowly. They can only sit through maybe a page before the ants in the pants show up. But, as we plod along, I am noticing the light going on in their minds and they are starting to grasp the principles being taught in the scriptures. It's a wonderful thing!

April 20, 2009
Brazil. A country none of us really knew much about. So, we sat down together for Family Home Evening to do a little research on it. Lyndon and the girls really enjoyed it. I didn't. I didn't enjoy learning about the place that was taking my husband away from me. In fact, I may have developed a slight grudge against the place. I *might* get over it, if Lyndon takes me with him next time :)

April 21, 2009
Passport time! Not sure why I put this off. Probably a fear of long line ups and passport photos. I survived the horrible corpse-like photo, and even better -absolutely NO ONE in line! YES! I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. Maybe this passport thing will grow on me.

April 22, 2009
I helped TJ at her Achievement Days activity. There were 12 girls there and they were one craft short. TJ made me proud by immediately raising her hand to offer to go without so another girl, a visitor, could have one. What a doll. Her teacher smiled and offered to bring her a pot to paint another day, which she did, and we all painted pots together on a future Family Home Evening.

April 23, 2009

There is a lot to get organized when you plan to travel out of the country. My heart was aching watching him pack, knowing that he'd be so far away for 10 long days. Is it normal to be excited for him, jealous of him, scared for him, and miss him all at the same time? And all before he's even gone?


April 24, 2009And he's off... Many hugs were given. And I did not cry, or blubber, or lose it. Really. At least, not too badly. And not in front of him. Much. I'm a big girl and this is no big deal. We'll all be fine. Seriously. I missed him the moment he was out of my sight. Who am I kidding, I missed him before that. But I'm happy for him. So happy :)

April 25, 2009
We had 5 young women and their YW leader billet at our house from Winnipeg this weekend. They were so sweet, though I didn't actually get to see much of them. They spent from 8am until 11pm at the church for the conference, so I basically was here while they slept :) They left me this sweet card and a lovely gift - a bar of strawberry soap from the Body Shop. My girls all wanted to use it so they could smell like perfume.

April 26, 2009
Do you ever just thank your lucky stars for a certain someone in your life? I do from time to time. In my case, I have a certain FAMILY in my life that I adore and who were kind enough to invite me and my girls over to dinner (and some wonderful adult conversation) while my husband is away. They are truly some of our very best friends, and also some of the most Christlike people I've ever had the pleasure to know. I mean, who has the wheaties to invite 5 extra mouths over for dinner? These folks, that's who! I enjoyed visiting with Ketrisse and watching her sweet relationship with her children.

April 27, 2009
Ooooh la la. These would be what I call a "Sweet" success. I've never before made cinnamon rolls, but in my ever increasing attempt to keep busy this week, I thought I'd give them a shot. Oh, heaven! They turned out PERFECT!

April 28, 2009

Oh, what do you do in the Springtime, when all the world is white? Take it easy and scrapbook, that's what! Thankfully the temperatures warmed up enough that it was all melted by evening :)


April 29, 2009

Lyndon is still alive and well in Brazil, seeing the sights, eating the food, enjoying the company, and missing us. It's been hard on us both, but being able to chat online at night has helped.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

April 4 - 18, 2009

Saturday April 4, 2009
Watching the most wonderful sessions of General Conference. So touching, so emotional, so true, so uplifting. I wish Lyndon didn't have to be in school and miss it.

April 5, 2009

Busy trying to keep the children occupied with good activities during Sunday's Conference sessions. They did church coloring sheets and activities and enjoyed themselves. Hopefully they also caught a little bit from the talks, too.

April 6, 2009
Easter Family Home Evening - a sweet little lesson on the last days of Jesus' life on earth, and the joy of His glorious Resurrection. We learned the Children's Primary song "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" which is one of my favorite Easter songs, then played a fun game together. I love Family Home Evening - even when the planning can seem to get in the way of other things that need to be done, I never regret doing it.

April 7, 2009
Swimming lessons for TJ - last day. Parent Day. Play day. They pretty much splashed around the entire time, enjoying themselves, having fun. I was glad I decided to go - I never want to miss things like this.

April 8, 2009

Bayboo and her little pre-Kindergarten class had been working for 2 months to learn a Metis Rabbit dance to perform for their parents and other classes.

The story goes that a Metis hunter, while on his way home from the hunt, saw several rabbits lined up beside each other, and several dogs lined up beside each other, facing the rabbits. One dog would chase the rabbit around the lines in a figure eight pattern, then they would trade and the rabbit would chase the dog, then the next rabbit and dog in line would do it. The Hunter ran back to his home and showed the "Rabbit" dance to the others in the home and they all learned it. It's very lively and fun. I was so proud of my girl - she knew every step without help and was chosen to be the leader "rabbit" in her group, even though she is by far the tiniest in her class :)

April 9, 2009

A familiar sight for Lyndon as he rides the bus to and from work with mostly the same people each time. We're blessed to have access to a great transit system so I can have a vehicle during the day.

April 10, 2009
TJ's 9th birthday party! This year she decided on only inviting one friend and going to see a movie at the theatre. Sounds good to me! She was sooooo excited all day, driving the rest of us batty with her giggly chatter. I'm taking it all in, though, because I fear the time will come when she won't be so quick to want to chat with me. I hope that day is far off!

April 11, 2009
Easter celebrations! In our family, we have the Easter bunny visit on Saturday so we can focus on the Savior on Sunday. We had our Easter basket hunt, decorated eggs, and went on a little bike ride. A wonderful, warm, fun Easter day!

April 12, 2009
The Howies invited us over for a turkey dinner! To our pleasant surprise there was another great couple from our ward there to enjoy dinner, too- the Burgesses. This couple blow me away with their testimony, service, and genuine love for others. It was such a pleasure to spend the evening visiting with them and getting to know them better.

April 13, 2009
TJ turns 9. I love this girl. She is an example to me, she is a good and faithful daughter - to us, and to her Heavenly parents. We love her and have felt blessed to have her as a part of our family these past nine years! Now I can look forward to the next 9!

April 14, 2009
Hooray for warm Spring weather and no school! We spent the morning at a fun park near our house. The girls especially loved this sill twirly dizzy thing. Crazy kids.

April 15, 2009
Cool cat in a hat. Lyndon needed to buy a hat for his trip to Brazil, so what could be more fun than accompanying him? The girls all looked smashing in their mountain man hats, but my hubby looked HOT in his!

April 16, 2009
How many Barbie movies does it take to make a mommy go insane? Probably 1, but we're not taking any chances. Our girls LOVE these flicks, the music, the stories, the beautiful princesses. What's not to love?

April 17, 2009
BB surprised me by making my bed. What a sweetie - and a pretty awesome bed maker at that!

April 18, 2009

Now that the weather is warmer, I can always find at least one of the kids in the back yard. This day was spent making a make-shift playground out of logs and planks of wood. Ingenuitive!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

April 3, 2009


The semester is ending - which means, Finals, group projects, presentations. Which means Lyndon has spent hours and hours in our little home office, working on his papers, doing research, and compiling reports for his group projects. I don't envy him the work, but I do envy, a little, the continued growth and learning.

April 2, 2009

The kids have spent almost as much time outdoors in our yard as they have inside these days. The weather has hovered around 2 degrees above zero, but the cabin fever has won out and outside they go!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

March 29 - April 1, 2009

April 1, 2009Let's say that JJ dressed herself for April Fool's day. Let's say that I knew about her backward pants and shoes on the wrong feet before I let her out the door. Let's say this was all on purpose. Yeah, we'll go with that....

March 31, 2009

My dinners are so tasty that they just exhaust my children from the sheer jubilation of eating them. She was so overcome from the delicious pizza that she just couldn't finish her salad and veggies.

March 30, 2009
Monday night means Family Home Evening - and since we are trying our best to coordinate our lessons with what they girls are learning about in Primary we had our lesson this week on how Children contribute to our family. We acted out ways that we can help to make our house into a home. Daddy acted out his favorite thing - a fire in the firepit in the backyard to roast hot dogs on. TJ and B acted out being kind to each other (such a stretch - ha!) and we all had a wonderful, happy, uplifting evening together!

March 29, 2009
This has been our reality for over a week. Joy.