Other news

I'm sitting here late at night, listening to the storm outside and wishing I could control my children.  I was informed this week of an incident that occurred a couple weeks ago.  One of my kids was very rude to another child - at church of all places - and made this other child feel very sad.  My heart broke for the poor child who had been hurt, and I'm boiling with frustration that my own child would be so disrespectful.  I told *said child* that there is NOTHING they could do in this life that would disappoint me more than treating another person badly, and I really mean that.  I went through some rough things in my childhood that were really hard, but I learned a lot of compassion from those experiences and I vowed to teach my own children that no amount of bullying will ever be tolerated in our home.  I hope I can handle this situation in a way that helps my child learn a very valuable lesson. Today I was so embarrassed and upset that I couldn't really deal with the situation, but this child will be on the doorstep of the hurt child this week, apologizing for their actions while handing over a hand-written promise to never treat them that way again, plus a treat to try to heal the wounds.  And my house will be sparkling by the end of the week, because this child will be working their tail off to make amends. 

Moving on to other (happier) events of the past couple weeks.

• Ryan and I took the boys to see Ironman 3 in the theater on opening day.  I had been giddy excited for the movie!  I have a strange fascination with the Ironman movies.  They have the perfect amount of action and humor.  I took this picture of the boys on the ride home.  Cutest brothers ever.

• This stinky boy enjoyed a treat from church a little too much.

• Brandon is home from the Ukraine!!  My super handsome, tall nephew has returned with honor and we are so thrilled!  We've been told he still has his witty sense of humor, but he is a more mature version of himself.  I can't wait to see him this summer when he heads back out to BYU!  I love this poster that Bailey designed as she was counting down the days to his return!

• Ashlyn is such a beautiful, fun, talented girl.  I wish I could have had an ounce of her maturity and confidence when I was 17. This picture was taken right before she attended her Junior Prom a couple weeks ago, where she was crowned the Prom Queen!  She was recently asked to fill the assignment of Seminary President at her Idaho High School next year (where 95% of the kids are LDS).

But the most amazing thing Ashlyn has accomplished lately is introducing her boyfriend (although she hates that label) to the LDS church.  Edgar grew up in their small Idaho town, where all of his friends are members of the church, yet he finished high school without any of his friends ever giving him a Book of Mormon or challenging him to investigate the church.  After getting to know each other, Ashlyn shared her testimony of the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy of the book.  The Spirit spoke to him, and he was baptized this past week.  I'm told there wasn't a dry eye in the place as he spoke of his love for the restored gospel.  I'm so happy for him!  And super proud of my cute niece who loves him!

• 3:30 has been a chaotic time for the past year, especially on Thursdays.  Brevan has piano lessons from 3:00 - 3:30, the girl's elementary school gets out at 3:30, and Logan's preschool ends at 3:30.  All three places are on opposite sides of town, so I've had to get creative in how I gather my chicks.  I pick up Logan a little bit early, rush over to the elementary to pick up the girls and hurry back to the house where Brevan takes piano lessons.  When I arrive early at preschool I love to "spy" on Logan for a few minutes as he plays with the other kids.  I'm glad the teachers know me well or they would be concerned about a lady staring at the children and taking pictures from her car!  Logan is in a blue shirt, walking up the slide in this picture.

• Last weekend, Ryan and I went to a Royal's baseball game with some good friends - Emily, Dan, Brandi and Alan.  We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant before heading out to the game, where the Royals lost (not shocking) to the Yankees.  The girls and I had some great discussions about life while the boys followed the game much more closely!  We stayed until the game ended so we could watch the awesome firework show!

• I love that it's nearing summertime, when the fresh produce is cheaper so I can stock up.  We had a full meal of fruit and veggies for dinner three times last week!  It's easy prep for me, and healthy for all of us to take a break from meat and heavier dishes.

Let's compare that meal to the one I served my kids last night, while Ryan is traveling for business.  It was a busy Sunday afternoon full of meetings, graduation parties and an induction ceremony at the Junior High, so when dinnertime came I opened the fridge and grabbed out leftovers from various weekend meals.  Bacon, macaroni & cheese and cake.  How's that for a meal?!  My kids thought I had lost my mind, but enjoyed having cake as a side dish!

• Logan and I eat lunch with the girls at school fairly often, but I don't usually have Logan buy a school lunch.  Last week I taught him how to walk through the lunch line to get his food, so he will be prepared when he starts school here in a few months.  He looked so small standing in line waiting for his food.  I ended up carrying his tray so he wouldn't spill and realized I need to teach him how to eat more quickly when he had barely touched his food by the time the bell rang. I guess he has a few more things to learn before the big step to Kindergarten. 

• Last Thursday was Logan's last day in preschool, which means it was the last time I will EVER take a child to preschool.  The positive is not having to pay the tuition anymore, but the negative is sending all my kids off to public schools that aren't nearly as good at giving individual attention.  And it means after 12 straight years of having a child in preschool, they are all grown up.  It was a very bittersweet day for me.  These were Logan's teachers this past year - Keri and Amy.

I told Thomas and Logan to pose for a picture on the last day of preschool together, and this is what they did.  Goofy boys!

• We have had so much fun since we found this nest full of baby birds in our yard a few days ago.  They are the CUTEST things EVER!  I'm sad my kids didn't find the nest until the critters had hatched or we could have witnessed them actually entering the world.  They have been abandoned by their Mama, so we have taken them in and tried to keep them alive.  We've researched the internet and learned that we should feed them soft dog food because they need the protein.  We also give them water through a small syringe.  Brynlie has really taken on the biggest role of mothering the birds, and has spent hours with them each day.  I have to admit that I've become quite attached to our new friends, also.  It was rainy on Saturday night so I couldn't sleep because I was worried about my tiny bird friends getting soaked in their nest.  When we heard that severe weather was coming into town today, I carefully got the nest out of the tree and put it in a box.  They are now living comfortably in our garage.  When I tucked them in last night (I can't help it, they are so freakin' cute), I left a night light on so they wouldn't feel too scared or lonely.  I have gone completely crazy.

We wondered if this bird was their Mama, because it would stand at the end of our yard and look around, but now it hasn't come back in a couple days.

This is what all 3 birds did when I found a worm and held it out to them!  Aaaaaah, I love them!

We've put dog food in a syringe also, and the kids take turns giving the birds drops in their mouths.

The only problem is the kids have turned our cute friends into a sticky mess of dog food.  Today the birds will need to be given careful baths.

• Brevan was inducted into the Kansas City chapter of the National Junior Honor Society!  We are proud of him for working hard in all areas of his education!

• Brynlie had a really bad day on Friday.  I've mentioned before that she's had a rough year, and it's actually gotten worse lately.  She has such a hard time making friends, even though she is such a sweet girl.  I have my own theory on why some girls treat her the way they do (it starts with a J and ends with an ealosy) but that doesn't help ease the pain when she's sad.  I'm so glad it's almost summer and soon she can move on to Middle School where she will meet more people.  I don't understand why girls have to be so darn mean sometimes.
• Because of Brynlie's hard day, I told her she could invite a couple friends to do a fun activity on Saturday.  She invited Madelyn and Jillian to go roller-skating, and then ended up invited Erin, another neighbor, too.  They all had fun and I hope it helped Bryn gain back some confidence in herself.  
• Besides Brynlie's 3 friends who were at our house on Saturday before going roller-skating, there were 6 other friends who were here around dinnertime, so I cooked up a huge batch of pancakes and bacon for the 13 children running around the house.  It make me happy to hear all the laughter from the kids.
• My Dad had a strange event a few weeks ago.  He was at a convention when he suddenly couldn't make sense of the world around him and realized he must be having a stroke.  His co-workers called an ambulance and my Dad was rushed to the hospital where he still couldn't regain his memory.  He's had a couple other strange moments like this in the past few years, and it makes me hate being so far away.  He is visiting several specialists who will hopefully figure out what is going on.
• I had a few fun times with friends this past week.  One day I went to lunch and got pedicures with several friends who I don't often get a chance to catch up with, and another day I went to dinner with friends, followed by shopping.  I have the greatest family in the world, but sometimes it's so nice to get out and spend time laughing with my girl friends!  Last month I spent an evening with Christine at a Time Out for Women event where we got to hear Sheri Dew speak.  She is one of my favorite speakers!
• My friend, Ciara, and her husband Blair, were able to take their sweet adopted baby boy, Delmar, to the temple and be sealed together for time and eternity!  It was an amazing moment, and I will never forget the smile Delmar got when he was brought into the room by the temple patrons and saw his Mommy.  
• Brynlie had a recorder concert last week.  I remember having to play the recorder in elementary school, but don't recall having to participate in a recital where we all pretended the recorder is an actual instrument, haha!  Brynlie was so annoyed that she had to perform in the recital that she told the other kids they should just stay home instead of supporting her, because they were be bored.  For the record, she did a great job on the wannabe-instrument.
• Ryan has been helping the missionaries teach the gospel to a guy named Willie for a couple years now.  Willie finally accepted the invitation to be baptized, and we were able to witness the event last weekend.  He asked Ryan to confirm him in Sacrament meeting the next day, so Ryan gave him a beautiful blessing.  Nothing brings joy more than knowing other people are feeling the pure joy the gospel brings.
• Brevan has been doing so much service lately - helping to build a fence, clearing out brush where the Stake will be going for Girl's Camp, and doing yardwork for people.  Somewhere along the way he came into contact with a poison plant, whether it be poison ivy, oak or sumac.  He wasn't able to attend school all last week because his body was so swollen and rashed.  It got to the point that Brevan actually ASKED ME to take him to the doctor for a shot.  This is the child who has to take Xanax to walk into a doctor office, and then still punches the nurse and screams when they need to give him a shot!  We doped him up on 3 Xanax before taking him to the doctor and explaining that they couldn't allow him to actually see the needle.  It all went well and I was proud of Brevan for doing something that was so hard for him!  The Xanax knocked him out when we got home and he slept until 11:00 the next day!
• School ends next week, and I'm so excited!!  I can't wait to have our schedule slow down a bit so we can spend more time relaxing and enjoying being together.
• Mother's Day was great!  I got up early to eat breakfast, but decided to lay down for just a few more minutes.  At 8:20, I was suddenly awakened by Ryan asking me why I wasn't getting ready for 9:00 church.  Oops!  I quickly showered, got ready and fixed the girl's hair.  It's a good thing we weren't too late because Brynlie surprised me by singing a solo in Sacrament meeting!  She has such a beautiful voice, and wanted to surprise me for Mothers Day!  After church I took a long nap while the kids cleaned the kitchen and Ryan made dinner.  I opened presents from the littlest kids who gave me cute pictures they had drawn.  Brynlie gave me a painted vase and a jar filled with "50 reasons I love you" so I get to pull out a paper every day for the next 50 days!  Ryan bought me a cute bench for the front porch.  I'm excited to find some cushions for the bench and spend time outside this summer.
• I've decided to start going back to college in the fall.  I'm going to do the BYU-Idaho Pathways Program that helps me adjust back to the life of a college student before becoming a full student after a year.  I'm apprehensive but very excited for the challenge!  I've started the application process and will hopefully be starting classes in September.