Festivities

We've had a festive week. Wow!

Monday we all wore our green shirts. We had a special FHE on what St. Patrick's Day means and learned some comical tidbits about traditions like kissing the ole Blarney stone, (I looked up that one for you Dan.) shamrocks, and leprechauns. It was rather interesting. I can't believe we've spent 30 years wearing green and pinching each other without ever questioning why.

The midweek was a flurry of business and activity. Kwint works his head off all week. I had enrichment on Tues night where I sang at the RS B-day party. On Wed we went to my friends' spring boutique, (they were selling fun spring hair pretties and swimsuits. Kaeleb played outside in the mud with his friends the whole time). We also had "school" with Karter and Mikell where we decorated Eaaster eggs. On Thursday we ran errands getting ready for Nana (my mom) to come, and on Friday we picked her up from the airport shuttle.

Friday night we went to dinner to celebrate my birthday (uh, 22.... for the 9th time). How I feel about that is a blog for another day.

We went to the art festival on Saturday morning and had a blast there. They added a lot of fun things for the kids this year. Kaeleb was thrilled to find shamrocks in the grass at the park- he was more excited about that than the arts and crafts booth. We also toured the historic old tabernacle.

Saturday night the Robinsons joined us for calzones and cupcakes. We played games and laughed. I will leave out the part about Coby crashing his truck and getting lost while 4 wheeling in the desert.... oh, oops, did I write that? J/K Cobs! This is my cake... and the family chocoholics salivating over it.

Easter morning was a joy. Kaeleb was so excited about his legos- the Rebel Scout Speeder. He is way into Lego Star Wars. Brennan got 3 new soft baseballs. He liked the grass in his basket best, though.
After church we had the annual Easter egg hunt at the Robinson's and played games, including a game once called "psychologist" which we have now dubbed "Stump Sadie" because we couldn't slide anything past her.

It has been fabulous to have my mom here for all the fun. Kaeleb really monopolizes her. He is pretty sure the only reason she's here is to comply with his every whim, but we have had some nice time to talk and do other things too.

Brennan had his shots on Tuesday and has had a really hard time sleeping and eating since then. (Not to worry- he's 18 and 1/2 pounds, he won't waste away.) He has always hard time staying asleep anyway, but this week has been ridiculous. He sleeps great- as long as we don't put him down. Kwint and I are going bananas. We are getting so exhausted from 6 months of no sleep, starting a new business, losing my father, being in a new home, etc. We think we could handle it all if Bren would sleep through the night. As it is, we are scraping by on the end of our ropes all the time. BUT- we love the little guy so much. During the day he smiles all the time and exudes so much love that we know it is worth every hour of lost sleep.

Hi ho, hi ho....it's off to work we go

Thanks for all of your comments, everyone. I needed a boost tonight and was grateful to see nice words from our friends. By the way, Trent, astro turf sounds fabulous right now.

Tam and Dave are saving our bacon on the yard. They are so knowledgeable and willing to help and we really appreciate all of their help. They helped us lay the pavers and dig trenches and pretty much worked their heads off on Saturday. It is amazing how much goes into landscaping. We are never moving again, especially to a new house with no yard.

Great learning experiences are plentiful at Turning Leaf. There, also, is a place where lots of time, effort, and energy are yielding fruits to be thankful for. Balancing it all has been a challenge, but we will make it work.

The boys are great. Kaeleb just rolls with our shinanigans and Brennan smiles through it all. One good thing about all the recent hard work is that we are using it as an opportunity to teach Kaeleb about working for money and paying tithing. He's not only worked in the yard, but has been earning coins for doing extra chores. He gets so excited about putting his money in his piggy bank.

Bren is just cute. I wear him around in the sling a lot while I work and he loves it. He watches everything, reaches for everything, and if he gets it, promptly puts it in his mouth. When he finds something he likes he kicks his feet and says "ooo, oooo, oooo." It is fun to watch him learn. He has started saying "Dada". He says it mostly when he wants to be picked up or needs attention. I knew he'd say it first- he LOVES Kwint. He likes me, but oh boy... Dada takes the cake. I love it.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Welllll..... What a week. We had a really hard week. Upon reflecting on the good, the bad, the ugly of it all.... I have decided not to elaborate on the grumpies, the tears, the temper tantrums, or the emotional outbursts- and no, I am not referring to the children, though they had their fair share of all of the above.

On Friday morning I was looking through the memoriam on President Hinckley, reading what Pres. Eyring said about him being an optimist. I realized that so often we (meaning "I") think to ourselves, "What's the worst that could happen?" when we are worrying or stewing about something, and plan out what we'd do or feel, just to make sure we could handle it if it happened. I thought to myself, "Why not think'What's the best that could happen?' and plan for that instead." In that same way, I feel the need to move past the uglies of the week and highlight the goods.

Our neice, Sadie, is in middle school, and her Family and Consumer Science class put together a 3 day preschool as a class project. She invited Kaeleb to go, and he was Oh So Excited. He played games, did art work, ate snacks, and learned a few thug gestures from his 8th grade buddy. He ran out every day bursting with excitement. He kept saying "and then, and then, and then, and then...."

Kwint's wellness center had a booth at the Washington County School District's Wellness Fair (thank you, Tam.). He had a lot of fun and felt that they got some good exposure. Two other colleagues were in L.A. and established a contract with some of the schools there to do workshops and trainings in parenting and such. It is so exciting to watch things progress.

We have started on our yard. Kwint and Kaeleb have been out contouring the dirt with their shovels. (Kaeleb uses a garden spade.) This will be *quite* the project. We are so looking forward to the reward of our efforts though.

We enjoyed the weekend with our family. We went to the home and garden show with Dave, Tam, and Coby (which, by the way had very little in the way of home or garden, so we went to the Home Depot and got sprinkler stuff), then to a new pizza joint with Mom and Dad Kemp, and Kris and Barbi's family.

We learned a lot about parenting this week. Love, love, love. We have to stay in touch with the innocence underneath the limit testing behaviors of our 3 year old or the reflux and teething of our baby, and teach with patience and love. We learned about repentance in sharing time today First, a funny story- Sister Rousch said "Have you ever done something you felt bad about and wished you could make it better? .... What can we do if we feel that way?" Kaeleb blurted out "Well, we just have to deal with it." We ended up having a rough evening where Kaeleb was able to practice repentance (which was, of course the answer Sis Rousch was looking for) and we were able to learn patience and forgiveness. There are so many valuable lessons to be learned from our kids as we teach.

For Better or for Worse

Welcome to our world....'nuff said. (Double click and it should enlarge)