We Did Our Part to Stimulate the Economy

In June we received our stimulus check. Chris and I were so excited. We knew just what we wanted to do with that money. Did we put it away for our children's college? Did we go out and get a whole year's worth of food storage in one shopping spree? Did we save it for babysitters so we could get out more. No, we bought a new oven and microwave. Isn't that exciting?!!!

When your microwave blows a fuse defrosting bread and your oven door doesn't quite fit right and you only have one working burner - then yes a new oven and microwave are pretty darn exciting. Now, not only do all my appliances work, they also all match again.

We hit a great sale at Sears (my husband loves Kenmore brand!). We paid for the delivery and thought also installation. But, apparently installation is extra and requires different workers from Sears. So after the delivery of our new appliances we called up our good old bishop, Chris Kunz, to come and do the labor. If I was going to have to pay someone, it might as well be some one you like!

When we looked at ovens we had to choose a slide-in because that is what we already had. We assumed that all ovens were the same standard size, but apparently 20 years ago, when our oven was installed in our house they were two inches smaller. So we had to cut away some cabinetry and some counter top to make the new oven fit. If I had known about that earlier then I would have got a way cheaper stand alone range and oven. Oh, well. The money was easy come, easy go.

I'm starting to like my kitchen and cooking again.

The before picture. Still not bad looking appliances - they just don't work. A minor inconvenience.

Yeah, my brand new microwave and oven. All in great working condition (and not to mention still clean!).

Green Beans - They're a Magical Fruit

So, how do you decide what to have for lunch?



I let Chad and Halle pick two days a week to have school lunch. Obviously they want something they like and there are usually several choices that they like.



Chad's choices depend on whether there is desert served or not. (My kind of kid.)



And Halle, well she goes for any day that serves green beans. She doesn't care about the main item, desert or anything else. Just green beans. Yes, I have a strange child. To top it off she is a girl who doesn't like chocolate.

We always joke that between the three kids they eat a pretty balanced meal. Chad is our carnivore, Halle is our vegetable eater, and Sean loves fruit. So between the three of them they finish off a square meal.

June Catch-Up: Backyard Campout

One family tradition that I think is really fun is camping out in the backyard. Every summer solstice (for two whole years now) we put up the family tent in the back yard and sleep outside. The kids get so excited and think it is the greatest thing in the world. I think it is neat to wake up to the first day of summer outside.

My kids, once asleep, sleep like logs. They wake up early nice and chipper. I on the other hand, never sleep much in a tent. I'm a light sleeper and hear every noise. I'm usually fully awake by 4 am when the birds start singing incessantly.

All fast asleep and snuggled up in their sleeping bags and pillows.

Nothing wakes these kids up.

I love pictures of my kids when they are sleeping. It is the only time they look completely innocent!

All ready for action on the first day of summer.

June Catch-Up: End of School Programs

June also brought end of school programs for the big kids, Halle and Chad. I love that the teachers make the effort to have fun with the kids and give us parents a show.

Halle's kindergarten class presented Dr. Seuss' ABC's.




Halle had 26 students in her kindergarten class and the teacher was over-joyed to take advantage of that. Every student represented one of the letters of the alphabet and said the line from the book about it. (Can you believe 26 students in kindergarten? Shouldn't that be illegal or something?!)

The class also performed their favorite song, "Skidamerinkadink a Dink, Skidamerink a Do."

Halle got to be the letter Q. "The quick Queen of Quincy and her quacking quackaroo."

Sean loves to be part of the action too.

Chad's class had been studying butterflies (which he absolutely loved - being the little entomologist that he is) and so they put on a butterfly program. It was really cute and well done. Since Chris couldn't make it to either program I video taped them both - so didn't get too many pictures of the actual program.

A picture of Chad with his props. A head band with antennae, a caterpillar sock puppet and a butterfly.

Chad and Halle got to watch Chad's program. I got to tell them (especially Sean) to be quiet every 30 seconds!

Another big event for Halle is her gymnastics Spring Show. Kind of like a dance recital. Their class performs a floor routine with some gymnastic moves in it. This year, in case you can't guess, it was a cowgirl theme. They did their floor routine to "These Boots Were Made for Walking."

A shot in the middle of the routine. So much better than last year!!!! (Last year their teacher didn't show up and the girls just jumped around and giggled instead of performing the routine that they had worked and worked on.)

Halle loves gymnastics and being with her best friends. Here is a picture of Anna, Halle, and Lily. For some reason I didn't get Natalie in the picture (sorry!).

June Catch-Up: Sean and Preschool

Time for some major catching up! This summer has been so wild and crazy I've just barely taken a breath from it all. And I am completely overwhelmed at the thought of catching up. I'd much rather just skip to the present - but I know in the future I will wonder why I didn't take the time to do it right. So here goes.

Can't believe these pictures were from just a few months ago. It now seems like a lifetime ago. Sean has already grown so much over the summer and now he will be a big second year preschooler in just a couple more weeks.

Sean's preschool program at Ferris. The theme this year was, "Little Patriots." As you can see he is pretty proud to show off his American flag.

I was so worried about him being a pickle up on stage - but he actually did rather well. He even sang the songs (much better than his previous siblings did). He was happy to walk to center stage and receive his certificate.

So far it has worked out that Chris and been able to leave his classroom and see the program. It is great having them both at Ferris.

My mum makes several visits to Spokane each year, but this was her first time to attend a preschool program. Sean loves his nanny!!!

I always go to the last couple of days of preschool to watch them have their play days. Sean had been waiting all year for me to come to his classroom. He knew that I went to Chad's and Halle's classrooms to help all during the school year and just couldn't wait for his turn.

Playing a game of human tic-tac-toe. Sean is being an "X."

Now he gets to be an, "O."

A serious game of red light/green light. (And don't you just love the cleavage? I'm glad this picture will remind me of what young ladies wore to high school in 2008. Will it get better or worse I wonder.)

Ring jumping.

My absolute favorite picture of Sean.

I tried to get some pictures of some of Sean's friends too.

Bouncing frogs on a parachute.

Taking a breather after all the hard work of being an energetic preschooler.

Kyle takes a run at the long jump.

A great landing for a first timer.

Sean just does a run through.

Trying to sit patiently while waiting for snack time.

My mouth is open. Feed me!!!!!!!

Ah, that hits the spot. Nothing like a refill of sugar to keep a preschooler going.

Last year it was hit and miss with Sean and school. Some days he wanted to go and some days he didn't. It was always a struggle to leave without him attached to my leg in some way. This year he keeps asking when he gets to go back to school and has mentioned several times that he needs to go back to school because Mrs. Crater must be missing him. He can even point out the day on the calendar of when he gets to go back.

I hope he really enjoys this year! And that I can just drop him off and leave.

He also doesn't understand why I don't come help out at preschool everytime. Hmmm, have an hour and a half all alone with no kids, or spend an hour and a half with 25 preschoolers and high school kids? What a decision. Hope he understands how it is when he is older!

How Many Kids Do I Have?!

I may only have three kids but sometimes it certainly seems like a lot more. Surely it takes more than three kids to make the daily messes around the house that take me forever to clean up. And surely it takes more than three to sound like a herd of elephants running throughout the house. Every night I go to bed feeling like I have watched at least a dozen kids that day.

After our whirlwind trip to Utah and Ohio, it was back to home and running full speed ahead. The very next morning after we had arrived home Sean had a doctor's appointment. Chris had a dentist appointment at the same time, (how does he always do that to me?) so I got to take all three kids to the doctor's.

While in Utah Sean had developed pink eye and Halle caught a cold. (Much better than last year after I left my kids with my mom - three sick kids and Halle ended up in the hospital.) So before entering the doctor's office I warned my kids that they were not to touch the toys or be in the kid's area. They had to sit down in a chair by me and play with something from the diaper bag.

It was probably from being confined in the car for 12 hours the day before, but they were completely bonkers and out of control. They were up and down, skipping, jumping, and being loud. (But I do have to give them credit for not touching the toys.) Sean found some long lost candy in my bag. He ripped the bag open and it spilled all over the floor. Immediately I had a couple of other little kids running towards us - eyes on the candy. I quickly yelled out to their mothers that my little guy had pink eye. Then the mothers immediately took action and grabbed their kids away from my kids.

After trying to settle down my kids one more time we were finally called back into the doctor's office. As we entered the office the nurse looked around and asked, "Is this all your children? I thought you had a couple more! "

"Nope, just these three." Believe me, three are all I need.

Come to the Ohio

Chris and I just got back from visiting the Ohio. Wow, what an experience.

I expected it to be wonderful. Traveling without kids, seeing a historic church site, seeing my in-laws again, being adventurous - all things to make the journey marvelous. But all my expectations were exceeded. It is funny how a trip down to Utah to light fireworks and a quick visit to the small town of Kirtland changed into a remarkable spiritual journey where I feel more connected with my ancestors and with the early saints and how that has totally strengthened and given more depth to my testimony.

All I can say is everyone needs to do it!!!! This was the right time for me in my life to be able to take all these things in and relate it to my own experiences in life.

Ohio was amazing. As I tell everyone - I am a visual learner. If I can't see it or touch it - it just doesn't make sense to me. All those stories from Sunday School and Seminary finally came together and became solidly real to me. To walk down the street where the prophet Joseph Smith and his sweet wife, Emma, walked. To see how the early pioneers of America lived. To see the sacrifice of so many to further the gospel along - it is so amazing.

Most magnificent of all was the Kirtland Temple. It may not be a dedicated house of worship at the moment (still owned by the Community of Christ Church and rented out for what ever occasions) it is still a house of God. You can feel the dedication of every saint who sweated and labored and cared for the temple. As one of the quotes says (somewhere on the tour) that it stands as a silent witness of the dedication and testimony of the saints - who knew the gospel of Jesus Christ had once again been restored to the earth and knew that Joseph Smith was called of God to be a prophet.