Peter Pan Mermaids

So there's quite a bit of back story that goes along with this performance.  When I signed the girls up last fall, I was aware that Dalanie would not have a place in Peter Pan because she was only taking gym.  I just told Paunie that because of that Ruby just would not be participating in her production.  Keep things simple and easy.  Fast forward to this spring.  Preparations were underway for the big production and I reminded Paunie of our deal.  "Oh no!  I have to have Ruby.  She is my class leader.  I'll even buy her costume" she begged.   Needless to say, she found a ballet class for Dalanie to join and got her a part.

These first two capture Dalanie's mood regarding the intensity and time that rehearsals took.  She was upset about me sharing makeup and glitter with others.  To me I was just being kind.  To her, I was being unfaithful as her mom by not making her #1.  She didn't want everyone to look just like her.  She wanted to be unique.

That's better.  Smiles are what make girls beautiful.

Each night before the performance, Paunie would gather all the girls into the dressing room.  She would give them a pep talk and always have a prayer.  Paunie makes every girl feel so special and talented.

Ruby's tiny little class.

The girls had quite a fan club for the first night.  Hailey and Sydney brought them little bags of candy.

Jensens made the drive and stayed up late to come and watch.  We snuck a picture with Grandma.

Grandma Parish drove up after school for it.  She spent the night and left early before people were awake to get back in time for school.

Brent was able to join us too!

The first night was kind of a disaster trying to keep all the little girls quiet in the hall.  So the second night I came prepared with a big poster that the girls to draw and write on for Ms. Paunie.

It seemed to do the trick.  There were so many I love you's! on it.  They spent all their time drawing and writing over every square inch of that thing.

At the end of curtain call, Dalanie helped walk the sign out onto the stage.  Paunie was quite surprised!  She was pretty emotional and asked the girls "Who's the best?" To which they all cheered- "WE ARE!"

Thanks Paunie!

Burley Zoo

When you find yourself in Burley with several little kids to entertain, we head to Skaags Furniture store.  It seems like an unlikely place but it in the back there is a room full of animals, the Burley Zoo.  There is a huge selection of animals from all over the world from their hunting trips.   

On the East wall they have a fish display.  The kids were lucky enough to see the brand new shark ready to be hung up.

On our way home from lunch with Grandma, Dalanie was itching to buy something.  So when I saw Grandpa at Farmer's Corner, I gladly kicked her out to get her fix.  It turned out to be such a great experience, she later wanted to go back with rest of the kids and treat them.  "I'll buy it for you," was her promise.  It was all fun and games until I met up with her and saw that she was fighting back tears.  Ruby showed me her loot and it didn't take long to realize that a real-life lesson was being learned.  Turns out to be pretty expensive when you buy kids anything they want.  Now it never would have happened on my watch, but Grandpa was generous to throw in a few of his own dollars to offset the $20 candy shopping spree.  What do you do?  Squash all their generous ambition in order to protect the lousy green backs that rule far too much of our world?  It took her an hour or two, but she got over it.  No foreseeable plans to go back to Farmers Corner though.

All of the kiddos lined up and eating on Grandma's brand new granite countertops.

We enjoyed a fun bridal shower for Katelin.  Dalanie was mesmerized by Aunt Kathy's house and all the fun girly decorations, food, and company.

The boys slacked off while we were away, so they had to get their wood stacked in order to earn their cookie.

Petroglyph Project

Fourth graders rule the elementary school.  They get to do lots of fun things in conjunction with Idaho history.  Several parents helped out with their Bread In A Bag event.  

And another part of their Idaho history education is to prepare a project and written report to display during PT conference.

At my suggestion, Hudson decided to do his project on petroglyphs and interview Marlene Reid.  We had a fun visit to her home where she talked all about her indian friends.  She has a lot of neat artifacts.  Her home is like a museum.

We were unable to go to the site with petroglyphs, but she has a few of the rocks in her back yard.

She really adores Hudson.  All the kids go when we visit them, but she always talks primarily to Hudson.

Double Digits Man

Premonition, sign seeking.  Whatever you want to call it, but Hudson found a 10 in his curly fries.  It was one of those "Mom, take a picture!" moments.

I had asked if he had a special something he would like me to fix for his birthday dinner.  I never got much of a response, so I dismissed the idea.  But on our way home from church he mentioned that he would like to have family over for dinner.  So we pulled together a lasagna dinner and had the Hillmans over for dinner that night.  Evelyn and Hudson both got a coconut cream pie in honor of their birthdays.

The obligatory Hard Times Cinnamon rolls.

What a handsome kid.  My girls don't know how lucky they are to have Hudson for an older brother.  He is such a great sport and sweetheart with his sisters.  Don't get me wrong, he loves to pester them, but at the end of the day he's still their biggest fans.

Trying to keep this kid in clothes is a full time job.  He was in desperate need of some church shoes since his boots had long been converted to work shoes.  

And then a little more fun, a battery for the old 4-wheeler that he resurrected last summer.  After school he had it hooked up to the 4-wheeler in no time at all.  I was pretty impressed.  He just gets it.

How To Catch A Leprechaun

It all started the weekend before St. Pats.  The kids were dead set on catching a leprechaun this year.  They got on youtube and watched all sorts of videos, taking the best of everything and concocting a giant plan.  I remember being quite disgusted that they were so obsessed by it.  They seriously couldn't think of anything else and I thought it really distracted from our Sabbath day.

As the talk of leprechaun traps dominated dinner conversation I knew there wasn't any way the kids would go to bed without making a trap.  But that was a dilemma because it was Monday night and we needed FHE.  I decided to combine the two by first talking about how traps work.  "What makes a good trap?"  They knew all the answers: bait to lure them in, secure so they can't escape, and deceiving.  You got it kids!  And Satan, the master trapper knows all the tricks- they're called addictions.

The trap was nearly state-of-the-art.  They were convinced that a leprechaun would be banging around in it come morning.  

There was a ladder up to the dining room.  Gold candy and shiny presents would bait them in.  Once they sat on the chair, the false floor (tissue paper) would give way.

They would find themselves falling down a big funnel that would drop them out precisely over the sticky mouse traps.  It was bullet proof.

Except that those sneaky little critters used a phone cable to climb out.  There were two little shoes left glued to the sticky board.

They refuted many of the notes the kids had left.

One final note stating that they were never coming back.  Whew!  What a relief to this mom.  ;)

Sand Dunes

We had been mulling over ideas to do as a family for Hudson's birthday.  Brent suggested the sand dunes and since most of us had never been there, we made it a date.  We had to get some flags.  It was quite different than Moab.  It takes a totally different machine.  

We tried finding a protected spot from the wind.  Ha!  There's no such thing on a sand dune.  We roasted some gritty hotdogs.

Shoes came off and then the real fun began.  Kids were cartwheeling and rolling all over in the sand.

The movement of sand is so fascinating.  But really, the foolish man was truly foolish if he built his house upon the sand.  It is so transient.  A good opportunity for an object lesson.  Build upon the rock, even Jesus Christ.

We buried kids until their feet were frozen.  We took home a lovely sandy memento  in our pockets, ears, and shoes.