Pocket Change

Dalanie was so excited to show me a penny she found while we were shopping. By the time we left the store, she had found $.27.

And then today, she came home from exercise with $1.12.

Not bad.

She has been putting it in her money bank. Along with her "new" socks. Turns out Hudson started conning her into buying his old socks.

Nothing like generating a cash flow.

All Aboard

We ran into the library after preschool graduation for Hudson's "boys only"- Thomas the Train Party. When there were spaces still available, the girls even got to participate. They read stories, chugged through the library blowing their whistles, and had individual Twinkie train cars for treats. Leave it to Hudson to grab the only engine car for his treat. It was comprised of 2 chocolate zingers, tootsie roll smokestack, and oreo wheels.

Obedience School

After barking orders at my pups without much response, I decided it was time to enroll them in obedience training. I purchased an inexpensive collar, leash, and Scooby Snacks and set aside an evening for our first class.

It was an absolute hit, the kid canines enjoyed leading each other around with the leash. For safety we used the collar around their tummies, like a belt. By the end of the night they could "sit," "stay," "shake," "fetch," and "roll over." They loved being rewarded with Scooby snacks for their good behavior. We had a little discussion on obedience and why it is important. After so much fun, we plan on having more training sessions in the future.

I found an interesting article on obedience training for dogs that I could easily relate to my children. A little excerpt states:

"Obedience training should be fun and rewarding for you and your [child.] It can enrich your relationship and make living together more enjoyable. A well-trained [child] is more confident and can more safely be allowed a greater amount of freedom than an untrained one. "

"Keep the obedience training sessions short and sweet. It is dull and boring to schedule tedious and lengthy training sessions. Instead, integrate training into your daily routine. Make obedience training interesting and meaningful to your [child]."

"The single most important aspect of training is rewarding your [child] for good behavior. . . Praise and reward are the most important part of maintaining good behavior and preventing problems from arising."

Turns out I learned a little from obedience school too. It's not as one sided as I thought. There's more to obedience than just barking orders.

Chocolate Caper

Ever since Dalanie was little, she would head for the chocolate chips when she wanted a treat. Now it's no different, only worse.

After grocery shopping, I proceeded to put things away. I reached for my chocolate chip canisters only to find them gone. Dalanie had apparently misplaced them after reloading her Easter eggs and purses. After I was about crazy from trying to coax their location out of her, we found them beneath the desk.

She must be related to this one.

Pretty On The Inside

It's sad that our society puts such an emphasis on good looks. Even at my son's preschool graduation, I felt like all the kids were being judged and rated by what they look like. How unfair and ridiculous.

And then the next morning after Dalanie's hair was fixed, I told her to go show Dad. He tells her how pretty she is and she loves hearing it. Well, this particular morning, he scooped her up and asked, "But are you pretty in here?" pointing to her heart.

How do we teach our children that? Because to me, that's the most important pretty, pretty on the inside.

Grandma's House

It didn't take much of an excuse to get us to Grandma and Grandpa's house, so the invitation for Hudson to go to Father and Sons with Grandpa was enough. The kids were eager to go. We left Brent behind to hold down the fort and work and headed to Burley for a few days.

The weather was gorgeous so there was asparagus to be hunted, lawn to be mowed, work to be done, and ice cream to be eaten.

I had to restrain Hudson from following Grandpa to the shop at 6:00 am. He loved using Grandpa's tool, building hitches, getting his own soapstone, and heading out on their boy campout. Luckily Grandpa had a hat he could borrow since he forgot one at home. I don't know which one enjoys the other more. Hudson told Grandma, "He's my best pal."

Ruby couldn't be outdone by Grandpa's tricks, so she decided to start rolling over while we were there. A trip to the hair salon rounded out the trip. Hair cuts for all the girls.

Daddy's Girls

The girls have been the lunch ladies for Dad while he's been planting corn. Ruby got to take her first tractor ride yesterday. Despite Hudson's differing opinion, girls can ride in tractors. Dalanie's rides are brief, but enough to make her feel pretty important.

The Dad sure enjoys the company, but is requesting twice as big of lunches. For some reason, Dalanie is pretty smooth about conning people out of things.

Reality Check

I woke up to kisses and "Happy Mother's Day" salutations on Sunday. Nothing better to put a smile on my face. I was off the breakfast shift as the kids and husband tackled that. I lounged around until I was summoned to my egg and waffle breakfast. I was living the life, a magazine fairytale for Mother's Day.

And then it happened, my first born prayed over the food and then over me.

"Help my Mom to be a better Mom."

What!?! That was even after a very pleasant morning.

I wonder what he uttered in his prayers last night, after a very long a trying day for me. Oh well, I guess I can use all the help I can get.

Branding

We've got some big calves so instead of running them all through the chute and branding table, we decided to rope them this year. It's easier and quicker. All you have to do is call on a few cowboys and they'll bring their friends when roping is involved. We had a lot of help and things went smoothly.






Hudson sure looked the part. He loved riding around on the horses and taking pictures. Hopefully in the future he can be more involved. Things were moving so fast that there weren't many jobs for the kids.


Food is of great importance when a bunch of hard working men are involved. My MIL and I put together the lunch. Baked potato bar, fresh rolls and bread, peanut butter bars, rhubarb crisp, and cookies.

No Mess Fingerpainting

I can count the number of times my kids have finger painted on my right pointer finger. It's messy and not something I enjoy. I saw this cool trick in Family Fun and gave it a try.
Dalanie helped me make the finger paint. It's simple. . . 1 c. flour, 2 T salt, 1 3/4 c water. Heat on the stove until it thickens. Divide and add coloring of your choice.Place paint inside a baggie, squeeze out all the air, and go to town drawing. It's easy enough to smooth back out for a clean canvas. (Oh yeah, and a great way to let your kids clip their nails. You'd hate to put a hole in the bag.)

Hair Day

There's good reasons most babies aren't born with this much hair.

-She gets a hold of it and then she can't let go.
-All the blankets and covering up make it hard for the hair to lay right. It's crazy 99.9% of the time.
-She's still too wobbly to hold still and get it fixed. No such thing as a straight part.
-We practically have to blow dry it so she can go out in the cold after a bath.
-It hangs in her eyes and obstructs her vision if it's not pulled up. (And to think I wasn't going to start fixing it until 6 months.)

Despite the inconvenience and hassle, Ruby's hair has become her trademark. A day never passes without having complete strangers comment on it.

BYU Womens Conference

Since they were no longer accommodating nursing infants at Women's Conference, I figured I'd be staying home. But my sister made some babysitting arrangements with her friends so I could be part of the get away. Further more, this same sister had hookups with a place to stay too.

This Aggie felt like a foreigner on campus and a freshman all over trying to find the right buildings. Campus was beautiful with the trees, tulips, and daffodils blooming. It was cold and windy so we bee lined it to where we had to go.

Some of the highlights for me included:
-Sister Beck's opening message on prioritizing: essential things, necessary things, fun to do things
-service projects during classes (At least then when your class was boring, you didn't feel like it was a total waste of time.) Nik and I worked on memory boxes for parents who lose infants and then cut out 'procedure dolls' that are used in hospitals to show children when they have to have procedures done.
-introduction to Cafe Zupa-hiking to the "Y" early on our snowy FridayThe best part was coming home and having my husband admit that "It was hard. You do a lot."

Thanks to everyone who watched kids and helped so I could go.