The Weekend that was so lovely it deserves its own post

Friday:

No pictures of this, but Emma and I got to participate in a huge Easter choir concert and it was a phenomenal experience.  The director is unparalleled and spending hours practicing and performing with friends was a blessing.  I feel grateful, during activities like these, that I get to experience holidays through music and get to raise my praises to heaven through song.

Saturday:

The egg dying:

so chill and fun. I think the first 60 degree day and the sunlight streaming through the window made everyone extra happy.

A sunny Egg-Salad-Sandwich Picnic:

Can I repeat:  NICEST DAY OF THE YEAR SO FAR?

The family candy/egg hunt:

 

The church egg hunt, also not documented with pictures, was way more fun this year (Egg hunts seem to be more enjoyable WITHOUT snow).  We loved the part where they sent the million kids out hunting in the forest and then told the adults to line up for the food.  Everyone was happy!

Sunday:

Alas, no Easter Sunday clothes pictures.  It’s way too hard to

a)get everyone dressed, happily, in time for church AND pictures

b)get everyone dressed, happily, in time for church AND pictures, when the 2 year old is taking her nap until the last possible second

c) get everyone dressed, happily, in time for church AND pictures, when the 2 year old is taking her nap until the last possible second, AND your husband left for meetings 40 minutes earlier.

Everyone did  look very cute and I was very pleased with the matching.  We’ll do a repeat next Sunday, when we visit Utah, and have Aunt Bekah take pictures.

But I did capture some of the always fabulous Easter dinner with the Daines:

and Uncle Doug and Aunt Marcy (who couldn’t be more positive, loving, thoughtful and fun to talk to):

Hey look!  I was there:

Last night Jane said the family prayer at the end of the day and was thanking Heavenly Father for each family member.  When she got to me, she said, “Thanks for mom and um….the food she makes.”  I took that opportunity (my counselor told me I could) to, kindly, remind those children about who organized all activities, purchased all eggs and dye kits, initiated Easter dinner planning with Heather, bought all new Easter clothes, provided all baskets, made all the food, etc. etc. 

I wanted some credit.  So, shoot me.

It takes a village

 

So this is how Faith refers to the following people:

Really.  For example:  Faith was in the tub and she called for Daddy to come get her.  When Ryan appeared she said “No!  Not you, Big Daddy.  I need Yittle Daddy get me out da tub!”

It’s nice to be the well-loved, much looked after, doted on littlest sister.

March (can I really remember that long ago?) Summary

I really don’t think I can remember much, so I guess I’ll just caption the few pictures I took.  You can tell who’s home during the day, because they’re basically the only people I document.

Here is Seth with his Leprechaun trap.

We obviously didn’t read the instruction that told us to make it small enough to fit in a backpack.  It was kind of hilarious because Seth literally thought he was going to catch an actual Leprechaun.  Too bad Mom didn’t “have enough energy” on St Patricks Day to let the Leprechaun in the house and he wasn’t able to leave his usual trail of footprints and pot of gold.  We’ll never know if that Leprechaun trap would actually have worked.

Luckily my energy was drained AFTER I purchased the appropriate green gear:

Speaking of my massive energy drain, I seriously got so fed up with reminding people to do 100% of their daily jobs instead of 63% and then having to deal with the stomping, yelling tantrums that resulted from reminders and THEN having to deal with fighting children all morning long before school that I just decided that I only had the energy to do the basic Mom stuff (feed, clothe, love the children).  We didn’t have fancy breakfasts, just healthy boring oatmeal.  I didn’t give rides to school/soccer/cub scouts/swim practice.  We didn’t have fun holiday celebrations.  Pretty soon I started hearing stuff like “Hey, guys, maybe if we stop fighting, she’ll make us waffles tomorrow.”  And “I can’t get distracted because I want mom to give me a ride.”  It was decently effective, I must say.

Also, I eat Spinach Smoothies every day, and I’m pleased to report that 3/5 of my children now suck down a serving of veggies with every breakfast.  See:

Dress up week at the Kindergarten Center included:

Wacky Wednesday

and Crazy Hair Day

Gabe competed in the Math is Cool competition and his team took 2nd place. 

There was a lot learned by Gabe about working consistently and up to his potential and Mom learned a lot about letting kids learn from their mistakes and dealing with the frustration/worry that comes with it.  Cryptic enough for you?

Emma got to go to her first New Beginnings for Young Women and it was beyond cute in it’s theme and message.  She LLLOOOOVVVVEEEESSSS Young Women.  Loves.

Aunt Betsy came to visit and we had a lovely time sneaking in lunches and pedicures and one late night talk.  We love having cousins come, too, of course, but sometimes an aunt by herself is LOTS of fun.

Note to self:  You remember a lot more about a month when it’s not been over for 3 weeks.  That’s all.

How To: Do it EXACTLY right and STILL fail Love and Logic

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I really ascribe to the “Love and Logic” parenting program.  I wish I was a thousand million times better at it.  The following is a conversation where I actually did it perfectly (see my italics for the editor’s notes and L&L descriptions) and, well… why don’t you just read to see my results:

Seth:  “Wah wah wah!  Gabe is doing blah blah blah same old whine something mean to me!”

Mom:  (Displaying empathy, when she really just wants one single solitary morning where the boys do not fight before school) “Oh, that’s no fun!  Sorry, bud.  What are you going to do about it?  (Making the issue HIS problem, not Mom’s.)

Seth:  “I don’t know!!  I already tried that Ignoring One you always say!”

Mom:  (Classic Love and Logic here: helping the child problem solve, but not forcing) “Would you like me to give you some ideas?”

Seth:  “Uh-huh!”

Mom:  (As L&L suggests, she throws out some outrageous ones that the child can reject first, because who wants to listen to dumb ol’ mom, anyway?) “Why don’t you go punch Gabe in the stomach!?”

Seth:  “No!  He would fight me back and he’s better at fighting than me!”

Mom:  (Throwing out another TOTALLY outrageous suggestion, while preparing her rational suggestion that Seth go do his dishwasher job and laundry cubbie, so he doesn’t have to be around Gabe) “I know!  How about you go cover your ears in TAPE so you don’t have to hear what Gabe says to you!?”

(And here’s where it all breaks down…)

Seth:  “Oh! OKAY!”

He returns, 2 minutes later.

Seth:  “Mom!  That was a great idea!  I can’t even hear him in here!”

I give up.

For ideas that actually work…head over to Stie’s How to Tuesday!

Kindergarten Self-Analysis

So Seth was supposed to color Red (or reddish pink, apparently) the “Intelligences” that seem most like him, Yellow for the ones that are kind of like him and blue for those not resembling him at all.

Do you see how well this kid knows himself?  (If you can’t tell, artistic is also colored red…)

I love it!