March

We got some new Elders in our area. After dinner, the boys decided they wanted to leave with the missionaries, so they made sure they were appropriately attired. ;)

This made me smile and have anxiety all at the same time. Steel was right next to Rubi, right until I took the picture. He had chucked his apple down the stairs and went after it. Right after I took these pictures, I went and sat on the step right below them. You can never be too safe. :)

Preschool!!

The letter "P"!

We Played musical instruments to nursery rhymes and songs. Made Patterns with colored pasta, then made Pasta necklaces. Read The Princess and the Paper Bag. Made the letter P using Playdough. Ate Powdered donuts and Pears. Then I wanted to PLAY some games, but we just ended up playing Freeze Dance. They were oh so into it. I was jammin' too.

It made me laugh when they all sort of gravitated to Olive, like they were helping her dance or something. Olive just stood right where she was, swayin' those hips!

Missy Moo has hit the shoe phase! We can't have any other kids over to play without her finding their shoes and putting them on. She's even got the hang of my heels, and will go all the way across a room in them! (Let's be honest, they're her fav.)

With the diaper sticking out and high heels and skirt, this ensemble was killing me!

One weekend, we had Josie and Brighton over. Brighton played soccer with Travis and friends, we enjoyed some Fratellis, and best of all was Sunday night. I had already had plans to have a sister missionary (Sis. Haughter) over, that we loved. She went home a few months ago and was returning with her mom to show her, her mission. She was one of the sisters that knocked on Terry's door the day before we left a Book of Mormon and bread on his step for Easter. She gave him the first 2 or 3 discussions, but had been transferred before he was baptized. I was already looking forward to having them all over for dinner Sunday night, but having Josie and Brighton there made it extra special. In making small talk, and knowing Terry had taught the High Priest lesson that day, I asked him what his topic was. He said, "joy". My jaw must have slightly fallen open and I looked immediately at Josie. A little later in the conversation, I brought up Josie's project and her emphasis on JOY. She proceeded to tell them about the beginning of it all, including her original mission call to Farmington, her depression and bi-polar diagnosis and everything in between. I wondered how it was being received, but every time I looked at someone's face, they were absolutely mesmerized by Josie. What followed was a very spiritual, open conversation about depression and the gospel. Sis. Haughter's mom opened up about her first marriage and his depression. Terry spoke emotionally about his father and suicide. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. At one point, Sis. Haughter's mom reached over to put her arm around her  and whispered, "I wonder if this dinner wasn't the very reason we were supposed to visit". I couldn't put it into words if I tried, but it was a very, very special evening. 

Britta and Olive are about 4 months apart. Their squished faces, hanging from the slide had us all giggling. 

Weston is friends with these two boys that are fraternal twins, Sam and Drew. The twins are best friends and really easy to have over. I still cringe at the thought of having twins.

St. Patrick's Day!

I had no plans to celebrate this day, but found some glasses and gold coins I'd bought at the dollar store, stashed away the day before. Then on the morning of- Collin asked if I'd make waffles for breakfast. Since I had enough time, I decided to oblige. Then remembered how fun Rachel is with her St. Patrick's Day breakfast and gave it a whirl. I was pretty proud of my square rainbows, haha. And I didn't even remember to wear green the whole day. Weston was pretty concerned about when the people would be coming over to pinch us. (People??? Poor, confused child :)

 

So this honestly was a pretty huge pay day for me. After we exercise in the mornings, Trav and I go to the front room to read our scriptures. My routine is to write in my journal, read out of the scriptures, then read a Conference talk. I usually have a highlighter in my hand and Collin obviously took notice. He sometimes wakes up while we're still in the middle of this. So he grabbed an Ensign and wanted me to read it to him so he could highlight something he liked. Children really do want to do what's right.

I got a new calling to be in the Young Women's at the beginning of the month. But they asked me if I could still be the Cubmaster while they found a replacement. For my last pack meeting, I decided to do a Raingutter Regatta. Why? Because I like to be stressed, apparently. I ordered an inflatable one online that should have gotten here in time, but it didn't. So off to Home Depot I went to buy actual, metal raingutters! Picture that with two small children in tow! They were a nightmare! Soooo long and sharp on the edges. I could barely fit them in the scout closet. THEN, when it was time to set them up, I realized they weren't water tight. Uhhh, how many websites did I read about this and NEVER did it mention this!!! And we couldn't do it outside because of dumb Gallup's ridiculous wind! So Trav and I duct taped the heck out of those end caps and they STILL leaked! Ugh. I spent at least 4 hours at the church that day just setting up. Plus the hours of the actual event and then staying for mutual right afterward. So happy to see that night in my rear view mirror!

 

I tried to make it pirate themed. So I put this stuff on and gave it my best pirate accent to hand out awards! I know I sounded so silly but everyone laughed and I hope it was a memorable night. 

Here's my treasure chest with the boys' scout awards in it.

Some refreshments. The jello hadn't totally set up when I was taking 40 cups of it to the church. Oi! Luckily, no blue liquid spilled all over the car. 

The boys made their boats out of juice boxes. About half worked and half didn't. Turns out, the sail needs to be very close to the box. If it's high, the boat just falls over. I really wish I had known that. 

The top three winners got a bag of gummy lifesavers and the top winner also got a bag of gold doubloons! ;)

His swagger is pretty warranted. He's won the past two Pinewood Derbys and now the Regatta!

Sooo, my friend's mom emailed her this.

What do y'all think? Haha.

It's always interesting to see how you're perceived by others.. looks or otherwise.

It gave me a good laugh!

Just because she's the cutest darn thing in all the world!!

Daddy snuggles before he leaves to work. Olive was out of jammies so she got one of Weston's shirt and her Christmas flannels. Don't know what it was about that combo, but I couldn't get enough of her!