More February fun...

This is my crazy kids on Valentines day...I love that Britt is so wild and I love that Ally is being goofy. The night before Britt went to the store with her good friend Gina and the bought matching crazy outfits to wear to school. Jay is as "valentiney" as a boy can get with the red & white shirt.

On presidents day we went and played in the snow near a little town called Strawberry. It was actually snowing pretty hard that the pass was closed. We pulled over and found a school field and had a great time making snow angels, throwing snowballs, making a snow man and body sledding down hills. The kids had a great time. On the drive from our house we discovered a cheese factory. We stopped and bought some cheese & bread and some salami roll. It was yummy! On the way home we stopped at IHOP and got hot chocolate and some all you can eat pancakes (for everyone but me yuck!)

this is what Britt came home to after our day in the snow. Revenge sadly was taken out on her rather than me! It's all in fun and Britt thought it was pretty funny ( and is still plotting her next move) I thought it was hilarious that they taped her phone to the wall and taped her pillows together. P.S. I'm still vacuuming up shredded paper!!!

Ward primary activity. Jay is officially the oldest kid in primary and loves every minute of it. This is one of my kids favorite babies in our ward. Her name is Rebecca and she is sooo cute!

This is me enjoying a day off from gurading (per my sons request to take a day off) we got to enjoy "muffins with mom" at the kids school. Last year they just brought me a muffin and we ate it at my crossing corner but the kids really wanted to go inside this year so I took the day off!

This is Ally dressed up like Jackie O...she had a famous person report and speech. It was extra credit points if you dressed as your character and of course Ally was all over doing that.

DID YOU SEE THE MOON AND VENUS ON FRIDAY NIGHT...

My mom & dad called me up and told me to go look at the moon...at first I couldn't see anything so the kids and I came in to look online to see if something "special" was happening. We learned that Venus & the Moon would be aligning to the visible eye. We went back out at different times through out the night and got to see it from our backyard. It was pretty cool!

We have had a CRAZY BUSY February and it doesn't look to be slowing down for March! We all love it and are enjoying everything we're involved in! Life is good here in Pleasanton!

Jay's scouting adventure...

Jay earned his first-aid merit badge today. During the month of February his troop has been learning all about first-aid. Today for their merit badge pow-wow or Saturday activity, they went to a local park and had a bunch of MOCK accidents that need to be assessed! All the boys had a great time. Kind of disgusting, but quite effective!

My other children...

I was looking through my past posts and most of them were about Britt's going ons...Some might think I have only one child. I thought I'd dedicate this post to my two other amazing kids.

This year Jay is in 5th grade. He is really enjoying it (I think he's secretly wishing he were done) I can't believe it's his last year of elementary. MAN the time really has flown by. He LOVES playing the TROMBONE...I don't think he could have picked an instrument that better suits his personality. It's a perfect match and I'm thrilled he loves it. I don't even mind the practicing. He is going to be in the school play (again) and we are dying to find out what part he will get...you can bet I'll do a post about that =)

The kids had a great time going to the SNOW for President's Day. Sadly, none of them really remember the snow, so it was fun to see them excited about playing in it and making snow angels and a sad little snowman...those pics will be in FEBRUARY PART 2

Ally is in 2nd grade this year and LOVES school. She is very outgoing and VERY bright. I think she probably is my most serious student at such a young age. I think it probably has to do with her teacher Ms. Vernon who is EXCELLENT and she's had this group of kids for two years now and she has taught them AWESOME study habits. I love it. Above is what happened to the girls room while we were playing in the snow...(there will be more about that too) Ally thought it was great!!!

For Valentines Day Ally's class had secret pals...Ally's secret pal was Karin who actually ended up having Ally also. The two of them thought that was the funniest thing EVER!!!

The other night as I was walking down the hall with an armful of laundry to fold I noticed Ally had "snuck" a reading light and was finishing her chapter book that she DID NOT want to put away earlier. Who can get mad when their child WANTS to continue to read. It was such a KODAK moment. I love ALL THREE of my kids and I am trying to SLOW down and enjoy each moment with them...moments seem to be going away as they get older so I've made it a goal to TAKE as many as I can with them. I LOVE THEM TO DEATH!!! They truly are my greatest TREASURES!

February fun...part1

This month has been filled with lots of activities and fun. Our ward had a Chilli cookoff fundraiser for the YW and Scouts. Britt donated a service of making cards and Jay took mint brownie bites to auction. While our family was enjoying FOOD FOLKS and FUN on the inside there were a few scheming SCOUTS outside having fun TP'ing the inside and outside of my car....that's where the fun really begins!!! A few days after my car was innocently attacked (ya right this is me we're talking about) the youth in our stake had a dance...I had arranged to attack the rooms of the two GUILTY young men. Britt was a very willing helper. I had arranged to do it as soon as the boys left for the dance so that I wouldn't be too late to the dance and arouse suspicion...

I enlisted the help of my talented sister in writing a poem about the adventure and taped it to each YM door...

This is Britt probably enjoying herself a little too much attacking Jordan's room
This is a picture of Nathan's completed sabotaged room...when we got to the dance the boys were teasing me that they had gotten me a few times and I hadn't done anything to them. I failed to mention above that on Tuesday after a RS meeting I came out only to find that my car had been SERAN WRAPPED...no problem I recycle :-) While at the dance and being teased constantly that I "suck" and that my "coolness" level had dropped I pulled out my camera and said "you guys want to see what I did tonight..." the boys went ash in the face and were totally shocked. It was a priceless moment and my "coolness" level was elevated once again(at least I like to think so) This has been too fun and it's only just begun wait 'til part 2...

We had a 3 ward New Beginnings this year and it was sooo much fun. We had the theme "GO FOR THE GOLD"...being that the new VALUE added of virute is gold we thought we'd have and OLYMPIC theme. We asked each girl to dress in one of the value colors and then had appointed individuals to carry a "value flag" each girl wearing the said color marched behind that flag (much like the olympics and the countries carrying their flags) while the girls were marching in we had the olympic theme music playing...I was really surprised at how much this touched me...it was pretty amazing.

Britt wore one of her favorite colors GREEN which represents KNOWLEDGE. All of the girls sang the song Let Virture Garnish Thy Thoughts Unceasingly. It was a great night. We then had a Laurel from each ward introduce the Beehives that had come in this year while a slide show(that I put together...pat myself on the back) played with random slides of each Beehive.

This is a picture of our Chilli cook off...the YW sang a few camp songs and then passed out the auctioned off desserts to the highest bidder! This is a fun tradition in our ward!

After the cook off a couple in our ward had asked for a few youth to come and wash dishes from a dinner party of 52 people...not many of the youth were very excited so I volunteered Britt and Jay (and the rest of our family) to go and wash dishes. It took us a couple of hours and each of the kids earned money to go towards Girls Camp and Scout Camp. We got invited to go and have dinner with this family the next day and REALLY enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know them better. It was a fun filled evening...I love hanging out with people!

Stay tuned...our February adventures are just beginning!!!

Life is good...

There is a song that has the line..." I said all that to say all this..." My last post some might have thought I was complaining...in reality I wasn't. I love that my life is soooo busy! I recently read in my kids school newsletter the quote" Communities have the schools they deserve" I couldn't agree more. I think that philosophy applies to everything in our lives. Wayne and I are very blessed to live in such a wonderful community for our schools and for our church activities. The caliber of people in this community make going above and beyond truly a pleasure! Our programs show how amazing this community really is...I am privileged to be among them!!! This is a picture of the MP room decorated and crowded with people at Noodles & Notes

Here are a few with those in my life who make it all worth while and truthfully make it possible!!! Wayne was on sauce and meatball duty! He was such a help to me through out this whole ordeal. In the middle of the evening I needed more dollar bills for the auction tables and he ran QUICKLY to the store for me!! Thank you! Thank you, to my wonderful husband and family!!!

Here is a lovely picture of my SUPER TROUPER girls. I have video from this night, I need to take the time and post it on my blog...IT'S HILARIOUS!!!

My sweet sister flew into town for ONE day just to see Britt in her play. It was the day that the cast did it 3 times in a row (once for each grade level) Anne bought Britt lunch and an adorable ELEPHANT holding a "clover"! It was so fun to have her be able to come. I don't want my parents to feel bad...they came on opening week and saw Britt perform. I will do a post all about that weekend later...I have lots to blog about!

My life is great, I love being so involved and I would do all of it again and again and again!!! The kids are totally worth it!!!

A week in the life of me...

Why is it that all the things you agree to do always end up in the same week? This seems to be a pattern for me. Last week was such a crazy week, I vowed to never say yes to anything again...that only lasted until Saturday when the Stake called me to do Dance Festival...AAAHHH! Okay, so I'm just going to spell out my week for all of you. Maybe you all could share your craziness too.

SUNDAY- Church 1-4, first YCL meeting 4:30-5:30, Dinner...prepare and eat 5:45-6:30ish, freshen up to be to the Bishops for Youth Discussion meeting by 7:00, Home by 8:45 read emails to only be reminded that I have the "around the world" presentation in Ally's class on Monday.

MONDAY- Up by 6am to guard from 7:30-8:30, Email/call Ben & Tyler for ideas for class presentation on Ecuador & Peru. (thanks for all your help boys) round up all souvenirs from Ecuador & Peru, put together slide show of pictures, call Wayne to pick up 20 Ecuador bananas, Take Britt shopping as promised because she didn't have school 12:00, eat lunch pick up all presentation stuff & Wayne from home drive to Ally's school by 1:50. The presentation went great! Guard from 2:30-3:30, drive home get kids on task of SNACK, CHORES, HOMEWORK, Piano student 4-4:30...Breath, check emails and send out emails to all Noodles & Notes chair people. Dinner, FHE, bedtime for Ally, watch 24, check emails again, go to bed!!!

TUESDAY- Up by 6 am to guard again, Go to Britt's school to pick up all pre-order Noodles & Notes tickets payments. Firm up all plans for Noodles & Notes, contact Dianna & Brenda to practice for RS Broadway Night, Laundry and housework, facebook, help Dad with Blog (not a bother at all) Guard from 2:30-3:30, Snack, chores, homework again, Piano students from 3:45-4:45, Be to Consumer Research for Clorox by 5:00, be a product tester from 5-7, drive to bank to deposit just earned funds, home...breath and then check emails for Noodles & Notes info, send email or call all MiaMaids to bring their cameras to YW on Wednesday! Relax go to bed!

WEDNESDAY- Late day...YAY! Up by 7am to guard from 8:30-9:30, meet Super Trouper girls at 10am to practice our number for RS Broadway night, YW presidency meeting at 11:30...sorry I was late because the Amador appreciation catering team showed up at the Stake Center so I got there at 11:45, Go directly from presidency meeting to guard from 2:30-3:30, Snack Chores, homework again, Piano students from 4-5, tidy up the house do laundry, help with unfinished homework and fix dinner, find my camera manual, try to get cute and head off to YW 7:30 (have to drive to Dublin so we met at 7:10 to carpool) Enjoy the photography class with my MiaMaids, drive home all YW 9:00, deliver music to Sister Bishop (stake RS pres) for musical number on Thursday! Check in on Raffle wrapping committee, to see if all raffle packages are ready to go for Friday Night Noodles & Notes, Help Britt finish HW, get all kids in bed! Emails, sort through all Noodles & Notes shtuff!!! Bed! After I typed all this I remembered that Britt actually had to be to the church at 6:45 to practice the Beehive number for the RS Broadway night!

THURSDAY- Up by 6am to guard from 7:30-8:30, go to HPMS to collect more pre-order tickets, alphabetize all pre-order ticket stuff so it's ready to go on Friday night, make final to do list for Noodles & Notes, gather up costume stuff for RS Broadway night, 1:00 meet Super Trouper girls to have final practice, guard from 2:30-3:30, snack chores homework (every day) piano students from 4-5, Dinner prep, confirm with Wayne that he'll be home with Jay & Ally so Britt and I can go peacefully to the RS Broadway Night, Iron shirt and pants for Super Trouper number, glam up the make-up and hair, help Britt with her costume & make-up, head over to the stake center by 6:30, RS Broadway night 7-9, Drive beehives and friends home, help Britt with HW! Answer phone calls and emails about Noodles & Notes, facebook :) change laundry head off to bed. I tried to be in bed every night by midnight!

FRIDAY- Up by 6 to guard from 7:30-8:30- come home take a shower, Britt is home with the teenage sickness of just being too tired so I tried to give her a little TLC, Head to pick up last minute things for Noodles & Notes...I had to pick up some envelopes, trash bags, tickets for the raffle, and get change for tickets and bake sale tables! Check in on Britt load up all Noodles & Notes stuff , go to the High school to pick up coffee pots then head off to guard from 2:30-3:30, drive straight from guarding to the Middle school to set up for Noodles & Notes, Leave Jay in the kitchen with Robb Gibbs who is the chef for Noodles & Notes, (luckily Ally went to a friends house so I didn't have to entertain her as I was running around) Tell all committee chairs what needs to happen and where they need to be, get tables and ticket boxes ready and labeled with signs that I had made earlier, Noodles & Notes is scheduled from 6-8, while setting up the power at the middle school goes out from 5-5:45...surprisingly I didn't freak out, it was out of my control...I had done my part and was ready to go, POWER FINALLY, head up ticket lines and tell volunteers where they should be...run around crazy from station to station, I actually did get to eat and enjoy the raffle! Clean-up head home PARTY because Noodles & Notes is OVER!!!!

SATURDAY- sleep until I wake up...about 8:30! Clean and organize my severely neglected house! Prepare my YW lesson for Sunday!

For those of you who don't know Noodles & Notes is the middle schools biggest fundraiser. Last year I was the c0-chair and this year it was all me! I will NEVER do it again. I will always help, but I'll do like the bake sale or decorations. It's just to much for little ol' me! It was successful, we raised a lot of money for the music departments, but I'm glad it's over. We've had meetings since September so I am looking forward to all those free nights!