A Celebration-Filled Rough Week

It's been a rough week.  A celebration-filled rough week.
Yes, we've celebrated.  No, I haven't blogged.  I've been taking care of a sick baby all week and I'm exhausted and haven't felt up to blogging. 
I'm also feeling over-emotional, so much so that I broke down in tears in the middle of teaching Sharing Time in Primary today.  Yeah, those poor kids.  I certainly got their attention, though, even from the ones who weren't paying attention before.
It's been a rough week.
On the happy side, after we celebrated International Waffle Day, Thursday, March 26 was Make Up Your Own Holiday Day.  The kids made up holidays, but we didn't have time to celebrate much.  Nichole's was "Make a YouTube Video Day."  Sorry we didn't get to that, Nichole.  We'll try another time.
Jr.'s was "Minecraft Day."  They did play that.
I don't remember what Jr. Jr.'s was or if he really had one.
Mine was "Celebration of the Baby Not Throwing Up The Whole Day."  I picked that one in the morning and was really hoping I'd get to celebrate it.  Fortunately I did.  Unfortunately he had other troubles instead of throwing up that day.
Friday, March 27, was the anniversary of when Singin' in the Rain premiered.  I thought that after the again rough day, we'd all get to sit down and relax watching that movie together.  The kids watched it but I didn't get a chance to relax and watch it.  I listened to it in the other room as I made dinner.  Sigh.  I'm glad the kids enjoyed it, though.
Saturday, March 28, was Something on a Stick Day.  Skipping our traditional homemade corn dogs because I had a baptism to go to, we had different food when I got home because the family of the girl who was baptized sent me home with a bunch.  They knew I had sick kids at home and that my husband was home taking care of them.  Such sweet people. 
Then Nichole and I went to the church building to watch the General Women's Meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was the first time that Nichole and I were able to go together.  Last time we watched on the computer at home and the time before that, Nichole had a dance show the same evening.  There's something special about that mother-daughter time watching an important broadcast together at the church building away from the distractions of home.  The theme of this broadcast was all about family.  I loved it.

Since I also didn't get around to making a treat for when we got home, Nichole and I stopped by the grocery store (it was fun to see so many women at the grocery store wearing dresses or skirts).  Nichole got to pick out our treat, something on a stick.  She picked orange dream bars and there were enough in the box to share with the family when we got home.

I'm so grateful for so many things.  I'm grateful for that one on one time with my daughter.  I'm grateful that Lucky is feeling better today.  I'm grateful for my testimony of family.  I'm grateful for my calling in Church.  I'm grateful that through all the trouble this week, I have a Savior who knows what I'm going through, and who can give the comfort I need through the Holy Ghost and other people.  I'm grateful for the 11-year old girl who came up to me after my meltdown on her way to class this morning and told me that she appreciated my testimony.  I'm grateful that our family was able to do some celebrating this week.  I'm grateful that the weather wasn't cold, so the baby could get away with just wearing a diaper for four days straight (a tiny bit less laundry that way).  And I'm grateful that Lucky, who was sick all week, still kept his sense of humor.

I am grateful for so much more that I'm thinking about but not listing right now. 
I have so much to be grateful for and I am grateful.

We Ate Waffles

March 25 is International Waffle Day.

We ate waffles.

The End.

A Spoiled Surprise?

You know those times when you accidentally come across a present meant for you and you feel bad because you really weren't looking around for presents and you feel like you spoiled the surprise?
On St. Patrick's Day, I went out for a drive with Lucky.  I brought Jeremy's cell phone with me and I heard it ding.  I stopped somewhere to look at the phone in case someone had something work-related they needed to talk to Jeremy about.  I noticed there was a text and read that it said Jeremy's package had been delivered.  The text said what was in the package- the dvd for Pirates of Penzance.
Oh, no.  I wanted that movie.  Jeremy must have ordered it as a present for me, maybe for Mother's Day or our anniversary or my birthday.  Oh, no.  I like surprises and Jeremy likes surprising me, but I felt so bad for ruining this one.
What was I going to do?  Should I not even mention the text?  Should I tell him about everything?  I felt so bad.
When I got home, still feeling bad I went into my room to put things away and saw this bag sitting on the bed.

Jeremy had turned a snowman into a leprechaun for me and wrote a note saying, "Mommy, it's your lucky day!"  Well, I knew what was in the bag.  Pirates of Penzance!

Yay!  I hadn't ruined the surprise.
I handed Jeremy his phone and told him he had a message.  When he looked at his phone, he asked if I had read the text.  Yes, but I was so relieved I could tell him the whole story of being worried I had ruined the surprise but it turned out I hadn't after all.  He was glad that he had been excited enough that he couldn't wait to give the movie to me so he made it a St. Patrick's Day present.
So... Phew.  It turned out great and we were both happy with how it turned out.
The End.

Near Miss Day 2015

To celebrate Near Miss Day on March 23, we played our own version of Battleship during Family Home Evening.
Each team set up their ships (crates) on their side of a divider made of green sheets on a PVC frame.  We took turns tossing or shooting a balloon over the divider.  If it landed on one of the ships that was a hit and the ship sank.  We put red cups on them to mark the hit (like the red markers in the game, Battleship).  If we had more time we would have made it so there had to be two or three hits to sink the ships.  We didn't have more time.
It was fun.

When Things Don't Go According To Plan

You know those days when you make plans to be selfish and it just doesn't work out?
March 22 is National Goof Off Day.  I even put on the menu plan for dinner, "Fend For Yourself and Your Little Brothers."  That and water since it's also World Water Day.
Remember the Saturday challenge we did a few years ago?  I put balloon fragments on cups again to remind the kids to drink plenty of water on World Water Day.

Besides that, I planned to do some quick phone calls and emails for my calling after church, then get to the goofing off part and work on a youtube video or two.
The phone calls and emails ended up lasting a lot longer than expected, but they were for good things.  Lucky's nap didn't last as long as I would have liked so that put a damper on my selfishness because I just had to take care of the baby.  And he wouldn't let me play on my keyboard uninterrupted. 
I figured I'd end up having to make dinner anyway, but Jeremy made taco salad.  Thanks, Jeremy.
The computer was occupied all afternoon/evening so I couldn't work on my videos, but I did play some games on Jeremy's netbook and I eventually got some time to record some music on my keyboard.
There was some Wii playing among the kids so there was plenty of goofing off.  I just didn't do as much as I planned (although I didn't really expect to spend all afternoon goofing off).
I didn't pay attention to the time (you don't pay attention to the time while you're goofing off) so the kids got to bed later than they should have.  Oops.
And now I'm working on a blog post while goofing off playing MarioKart.  Jeremy says I'm quite the multi tasker.
I think I'll go drink some water then play some more.

First Day of Spring!

March 20 is the first day of Spring this year.
It felt like Spring with running around outdoors and seeing over a dozen robins among the blossoms in an outside area of the Orem Library.

The first picture I tried to get of a robin turned out like this:

Well, I did get a picture of a robin.  And a bonus.

Forgive Mom and Dad Day 2015

Why is it that on Forgive Mom and Dad Day, March 18, I always have a good day and don't need to be forgiven for losing my temper?
It happened again this year.  I'm glad I didn't lose my temper.  I should be forgiven for a few things, though.
This morning I lost my balance and stumbled on Nichole.
Lucky was very clingy while I was trying to get ready and go out walking with a friend.  He was not happy that I kept setting him down or handing him over to Daddy.
It was a good walk, though.

Thanks, Emily.

I took the kids to the library this evening and accidentally bumped into them several times with the stroller.
Little things like that are reasons I should be forgiven today.  Nothing big.
Overall it was a good day and I did get along with the kids.
We win.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well, it's St. Patrick's Day so wear some green,

have a St. Paddy's Day treat,

and see if you caught a leprechaun in your trap.
I didn't want to do leprechaun traps this year.  Too much work.  Instead I found a cute little craft from FamilyFun Magazine- March 2015 issue.  The magazine said if the kids hang up this "Lucky Charm," the leprechaun will leave gold coins in the pot.  I thought when I suggested it for Family Home Evening activity, we'd do one for all the kids, but Nichole, Jr., and Jr. Jr. all started making the letters with stencils and cutting them out so... yeah... one for each of them.

Excuse the picture.  We used fishing line so they were kind of twisted.  They each say, "Lucky," and have a pot underneath for the leprechaun to put the gold in.

After the leprechaun came and weighed the pots down with gold chocolate coins, the charms hung much better and I was able to get a better picture.
So there you go.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Beware the Ides of March... and Your Mother

The Ides of March- March 15th.
This year we finally did something I've been wanting to do for several years.  We wore togas to dinner.  Heh Heh Heh.

We had our traditional "Caesar" salad and orange "Juliuses."  Heh Heh Heh.
Caesar salad usually uses romaine lettuce but green leaf lettuce was cheaper at the store so when Jeremy saw that I used the wrong kind of lettuce, he said, "Et tu, Kristin."  Heh Heh Heh.  But we had Caesar salad dressing which is the most important.
I love my family but whenever the kids started acting up I told them, "Beware the Ides of March... and your mother."  Heh Heh Heh.
It was a good day.

Epic Pi Day

Some of the first numbers of pi are 3.141592653 so today's date, 3/14/15, makes it an epic Pi Day.  There are so many people celebrating in so many ways.
We searched for circles all over.  It's amazing how many round things there are.

Round pancakes on round plates and round lemon slices in round cups

Round rings and round watches

Round cupcakes that a friend gave me

Eyes

At dinner I pointed out that bananas aren't circular.  Jeremy and Nichole both corrected me and pointed out that at a certain angle they are.

We also had some fun with some of the numbers of pi.  If you type 3.1415 on the calculator then turn it around it spells "SIhIE" so I went around calling out, "Si-hie!" in our home.

We got some pictures of certain times on clocks.

The date

3:14 and 15 seconds.  3.1415

3/14/15 at 9:26 and 53 seconds. 3.141592653

Of course some pies were made.

Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

Jeremy told me that since there were two of them it made "pie squared."  Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Apple Pie

Even though I didn't make an apple pie on Johnny Appleseed Day, I made sure that I made one today.  Partly because today is my friend, Tiffany's, birthday and a few years ago she told me I should make a pie for her birthday.  It worked out this year.  So Tiffany, Happy Birthday.  Here is your birthday pie on this epic pi day.

National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day 2015

National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day is always on March 13.  This year it is also on Friday the 13th.

Appropriate.
We did something a little different to celebrate.  We put together a youtube video about different superstitions like opening an umbrella indoors, walking under a ladder, etc.  Things considered unlucky.
I didn't take pictures since we were taking videos but it was fun.
Here is a list of the things we acted out for the video:
Opening an umbrella indoors (we try to do that every year for this holiday)
Saying the title of the play, "Macbeth," in a theatre (we made our own little curtain from some PVC and a sheet)
Saying "Good luck" instead of "Break a leg" when someone is going onstage to perform
Walking under a ladder (we used the kids bunk bed ladder and the kids walked behind it- close enough)
A black cat crossing your path (Jeremy made a balloon cat for us since we didn't have access to a real black cat)
Spilling salt (you're supposed to throw some over your shoulder when you spill it)
Breaking a mirror (I specifically went to the Dollar Store to get a mirror we could break for this video.  I happened to get a double set with a little compact mirror bonus.  The kids did not want me to break the bigger mirror.  They just wanted to play with it.  Finally I just took the compact mirror and broke it instead)

Johnny Appleseed Day 2015

I originally planned to make apple pie for Johnny Appleseed Day, March 11.  I wasn't feeling up to it.
After hoping to get to bed earlier than later last night, two of the kids were having troubles not feeling well.  Sigh.  Then one of the other kids had some trouble in the middle of the night.  Yeah, trouble.  At least it's not anything too serious.  Just normal stuff.  Poor kids.  Poor Mom.  Poor Dad who has to deal with things, too.  Sigh.
Oh well.  Jeremy stopped by the store today and bought some apple pie treats for us.  Thank you, Jeremy.

Jr. said, "Remember when I always stuck my tongue out for pictures?"

Jr. Jr. just wanted to be like his brother.

I love my kids.
Jeremy also checked out some tall tales from the library so the kids could watch Johnny Appleseed.
It's always nice when we can still celebrate even if we're not feeling the best.  Yay.
I was nicer today, too.  Also yay.

Festival of Life in the Cracks Day 2015

Nooooooooooooo!  I was going to get up and get things done.  I was supposed to be getting over my cold.  Then I woke up feeling worse this morning.  Blech.  So...
The little boys and I watched A Bug's Life this morning to celebrate Festival of Life in the Cracks Day, March 10. 
This afternoon, Jr. Jr. and I went out to get some fresh air because maybe that would help.  We went to a park to look at cracks in the pavement and to see what life we could find.  Plants?  Bugs?
I saw one bug that crawled into a crack and another bug nowhere near a crack.
But we saw plants.  Lots and lots of plants.  Lots of plants grow in cracks.  If you really get down and look at the weeds, it's awesome.  They have so many different textures.
Jr. Jr. thought this one looked like they were having a party.

Jr. Jr. took some pictures

 and I took some pictures.

Now I'm feeling lousy again and just want to get this blog post done so I can go to bed.
I'm also feeling grumpy again because I don't feel well.  Blech.  And I've still got sick kids, too.