1. Spring break! Scott has had very little work to do this week and we have all enjoyed having him around more. I love watching him play with the kids and they love to be around him.
2. Pi day! We had a pi day party on Wednesday. Not very many people came but it was a wonderful excuse to make lots of pies. I made pineapple and key lime as well as a quiche and 2 chicken pot pies. Scott made an amazing berry pie. There were tons of left-overs ... and still are. But we're not complaining!
3. D'Aulaire's Book of Trolls. This is quite possibly the best picture book ever and Carl has been loving it. It's fun to read with beautiful illustrations a rich, mythic feel. I figured it would be pretty good (given how much we enjoy D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths) but I didn't know it would be even more awesome!
4. We have a couple of extra kids at our house tonight and I enjoyed watching my sons interact with them. Soren was totally absorbed in building with his Legos and while the kids played next to him for awhile, they eventually left him alone, happily constructing what he told me was Salt Lake City. Carl, on the other hand, was in the midst of the action and soon had the other two kids eating out of the palm of his hand. "Watch this, Carl!" "Come over here, Carl!" "Look at me, Carl!" "Wow, you did it, Carl!"
5. Scott is reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and it has been interesting conversation fodder. I am excited to read it when he is done.
6. The sunshine this week has been wonderful. We have taken a walk everyday and have shed our coats as the week wore on. We have also started letting the kids run around outside in the evenings, which is nice. I keep trying to remind myself that we have at least another week of winter as well as some typically windy, wet spring but I can't help but hope this year will be different and we will have nothing but sunshine from now until September.
7. The next favorite requires a bit of background. Scott always told me that when he was a kid, his mom would mandate "attitude adjustments" whenever they were in a foul mood. She would have them smile and hold it for ten seconds to help them get a grip. The past few days we have started implementing "attitude adjustments" to hilarious results. The kids respond really well to our request to "smile!" and the smiles they make only become more funny the longer they have to hold them. It has been a life-saver because we are all so whiny this week, due to the time change.
8. I got a lot of good advice from my neighbor for my primary class and I am excited to implement some of her ideas on Sunday. I want to make primary less tedious but I also want to impress upon my kids how important it is that they are respectful during lessons, especially sharing time. We'll see how things go but I am feeling a lot more positive about it than a was a week ago.
9. I devoured a few Dragonlance books this week and Scott picked up the slack in the housework and childcare. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the books (Dragons of Winters Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning, and now Time of the Twins) and by how well the house ran while I read. Thank you, Scott!
10. I rearranged the kids room again today. I love to move their furniture and rotate their toys! I am a little alarmed, however, by how frequently I find myself doing this. I think it has become an almost weekly ritual. It makes me really happy to do it but I think that's probably because I get a false sense of accomplishment from making things look so very different than they did before.
11. Patty read The Way of Kings!
2. Pi day! We had a pi day party on Wednesday. Not very many people came but it was a wonderful excuse to make lots of pies. I made pineapple and key lime as well as a quiche and 2 chicken pot pies. Scott made an amazing berry pie. There were tons of left-overs ... and still are. But we're not complaining!
3. D'Aulaire's Book of Trolls. This is quite possibly the best picture book ever and Carl has been loving it. It's fun to read with beautiful illustrations a rich, mythic feel. I figured it would be pretty good (given how much we enjoy D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths) but I didn't know it would be even more awesome!
4. We have a couple of extra kids at our house tonight and I enjoyed watching my sons interact with them. Soren was totally absorbed in building with his Legos and while the kids played next to him for awhile, they eventually left him alone, happily constructing what he told me was Salt Lake City. Carl, on the other hand, was in the midst of the action and soon had the other two kids eating out of the palm of his hand. "Watch this, Carl!" "Come over here, Carl!" "Look at me, Carl!" "Wow, you did it, Carl!"
5. Scott is reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and it has been interesting conversation fodder. I am excited to read it when he is done.
6. The sunshine this week has been wonderful. We have taken a walk everyday and have shed our coats as the week wore on. We have also started letting the kids run around outside in the evenings, which is nice. I keep trying to remind myself that we have at least another week of winter as well as some typically windy, wet spring but I can't help but hope this year will be different and we will have nothing but sunshine from now until September.
7. The next favorite requires a bit of background. Scott always told me that when he was a kid, his mom would mandate "attitude adjustments" whenever they were in a foul mood. She would have them smile and hold it for ten seconds to help them get a grip. The past few days we have started implementing "attitude adjustments" to hilarious results. The kids respond really well to our request to "smile!" and the smiles they make only become more funny the longer they have to hold them. It has been a life-saver because we are all so whiny this week, due to the time change.
8. I got a lot of good advice from my neighbor for my primary class and I am excited to implement some of her ideas on Sunday. I want to make primary less tedious but I also want to impress upon my kids how important it is that they are respectful during lessons, especially sharing time. We'll see how things go but I am feeling a lot more positive about it than a was a week ago.
9. I devoured a few Dragonlance books this week and Scott picked up the slack in the housework and childcare. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the books (Dragons of Winters Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning, and now Time of the Twins) and by how well the house ran while I read. Thank you, Scott!
10. I rearranged the kids room again today. I love to move their furniture and rotate their toys! I am a little alarmed, however, by how frequently I find myself doing this. I think it has become an almost weekly ritual. It makes me really happy to do it but I think that's probably because I get a false sense of accomplishment from making things look so very different than they did before.
11. Patty read The Way of Kings!
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