blossoms, monuments, desserts

I'm tired.   This has been a long week.  Wednesday night Hannah went bowling with the Beehives, R and E went to soccer and scouts and Lu and I drove out to the Bowie ward's New Beginning.  It was a long drive (an hour and a half one way) but we had a good time and their program was awesome. 

Last night I had a meeting at the stake center.  It went well, I think, but I didn't get home until 11.  Getting used to my new responsibilities is taking some time. 

Today R and I went to the temple.  We got all the kids off to school then we left.  We had a great day together.  There was a cute little old temple worker there that I see quite often, another sister asked her how often she was there and she said she works  5 days a week, she and her husband started together, then he passed and they let her stay.  She has now been working at the temple for 17 years. 

After we went to this cute restaurant called "bread & chocolate", it was delicious and charming. (we may or may not have had 3 desserts :) )  Lastly we drove by the tidal basin to see the blossoms and stopped by the Jefferson memorial (our first visit), we didn't have much time but really wanted to stop so we parked the car (ahem somewhere we may or may not have been permitted to) and ran up as fast as we could, looked around, ran back to the car and rushed home to get the kids from school.  We made it, barely.  The memorial was very nice, I need to get back when we have time.

spring

Today was so springy and nice.  After school, piano lessons, D. I. practice and tons of laundry we went over to Big Larry's for some ice cream cones.  We sat in the square and ate and enjoyed basking in the sun.  We also watched ice cream drip all over Lucy, she was a sticky happy mess.

reading incentive

 So at the beginning of the year I found this cute incentive chart on pinterest and we had a family home evening and decided to read through the Book of Mormon (same as always :) ) and as we went we would earn little treats.  Well we have been meaning to go skating for a long time, it just hasn't fit into our schedule.  This weekend we had few plans for Saturday and none for Saturday night so we combined skating with "late night" for reading Enos and we were ready to go.  The kids each got to invite a friend.  Lu chose Maggie, Ethan chose Justin and Hannah asked Chelsea.  We had pizza and Hawaiian punch at our house then headed over to Leonard Hall to skate. 

 It was crowded and loud and reminded me of the many fun filled hours I spent at the skating rink as a kid.  I used to love to go roller skating.  Lu and Mags loved it the most and had to be dragged off the floor long after the others had given up.  Ethan and Justin met up with Daniel and they enjoyed skating until their feet started hurting.  Hannah didn't like it at all and quickly made Chels leave :( 

I didn't skate because I don't have skates and I hate the rentals but I enjoyed watching. I saw the usual assortment of skating patrons, lots and lots of tweens, a good number of teenage couples holding hands, 20 something roller derby girls practicing, cool boys, little kids zooming around and moms watching or skating plus a few dads.  It was fun watching Lu, she fell a lot but she also did really well and was skating around after a short time.  I was surprised how well she did.  It was a lot of fun.

After skate time was over we came home for popcorn and movie watching, the kids choose The Smurfs.    Good times.

girl power

This morning the Daisy's had a cookie booth sale.  It was chilly out.  First we went to Ethan's soccer game, they tied.  Then we dropped Lu off and he and I went to McDonalds (his request) for breakfast.  I had the oatmeal, which was tasty.  Ethan had a smoothie, two hash browns and the cinnaminis which he loved.  It was a fun little date :)

Today we also did our weekly shopping trip, did some cleaning up, talked to Val and said "Happy Birthday", skyped Jenna, and petted the dog.

first cavities

It was a busy week, although looking back I am not all together sure what occupied my time so fully.

Sunday we met at the Calvert building, our new presidency and our families, to be set apart.  Before the setting apart Pres. Sakai gave us some words of council.  It was a lovely meeting.  I was happy to meet all the sisters I will be working with and to hear instruction from our stake president.  We have a lot of work ahead of us, work I am excited to do, and anxious about :) 

Monday I took the car in to Mr. Tire and spent the morning waiting for it, then went to the grocery store, then came home to get ready for FHE.  We had invited the Davis' over for dinner/ FHE and we had a really fun time visiting and playing with them.

On Tuesday I painted our music room a cheery yellow, which resulted in an emergency trip to Target to buy different curtains.  The gold and red we had clashed but the new white ones are crisp and bright.  Love it.

Wednesday was scouts and YW, also we had our first presidency meeting which resulted in a sigh of relief for us all.  It's good to know what we are doing and to be about it.  I love the sisters already, they are sweet and wise and we laughed a lot.  What tremendous blessings come from being in the service of our God together.

Thursday was dentist day for the children.  E and H got clean bills of health along with their new toothbrushes and happy teeth stickers.  Lu has two cavities and has to go back next week to fill them :(

Today I subbed kindergarten and it was wild.  But now I am home and it's quiet (R took the kids out for take out so I am alone).  When he gets back we will kiss them all and leave them under Hannah's watchful care while we go out to eat.  Love the Friday night dates with my man.

divide and conquer

 Saturday dawned bright and early with lots of important things to do.  Lucy had her Daisy scout world thinking day activity.  DH and Bub took her and reported that it went well.  She said she had a good time.  Daisys has been a very fun activity for her and she looks so sweet in her little blue vest.

 Meanwhile I spent the day with Hannah at the D.I. regional competition.  It was amazingly awesome.  I had no idea the scoop of the whole event.  Their team rocked the house and took first place so now it's off to states!!! 
The challenge Hannah's team chose was to write a movie trailer showing how different cultures come together and accept one another differences.  They had to write their own script, make their own set and costumes, make their 'technical spectacular" and have an original soundtrack.  And they could have no adult interference.  They worked for literally 5 months and countless hours and it really came off wonderfully and wowed the audience and the judges!
I was an appraiser and got to watch the world outreach challenge which was inspiring.  The kids had to organize and execute a community service project and then have a performance to showcase it.  They had great ideas and really did a lot of good.

It was a super long day but really a great day too.

Hannah with her medal!

march march march

Today March came in like a lamb, the sun was warm and I opened windows and breathed in deeply the beginning of spring.

I was supposed to sub today but Lucy was sick.  Actually she wasn't that sick but last night she was sick, had a fever.  R pumped her full of Gatorade, Tylenol and cough medicine and put her to bed early.  I cancelled my job for today then this morning found her certainly under the weather but she probably could have gone to school.  We actually had a very nice day together.  We put together her swaps for world thinking day this Saturday.  I cut out the little sombreros and stuck pins in them then she strung little colorful beads on the pins.  Very cute and fun.  When we finished that we made a cute shirt for her to wear to Dr Suess' birthday celebration at school tomorrow.  We read our library books, headed to the library to restock and then she wanted to go to McDonalds so we had a very posh lunch in the play land there.  Sometimes it's nice to have an unexpected day together.

Last night I went the Capital Ward's New Beginnings.  It was pouring rain and the weather kind of matched my mood, it felt a little gloomy...well not really, but I was apprehensive.  I got a new calling several weeks ago and I am trying to figure it out and I wasn't sure what to do , what to say, how to help.  Anyway, it was very nice.  They had some wonderful talks and my favorite part was at the end each of the YW stood up and said how they were like Jesus.  Each was heartfelt and sweet. They expressed their desires to do good, to be kind, helpful and loving.  They shared their love of art, good music, family and the gospel.  I left uplifted, much more so than I lifted I am sure.  On the way home I got to listen to conference talks from last Oct.  The rain was still pouring down but then it felt like a clean shower washing away the grim of the day.  I am so grateful for the gospel, for the love of the Savior, for my opportunities to serve, to grow, to learn, for the trust (largely undeserved) put in me to be a wife, mother, daughter, servant, leader, etc.