Motivation 101

Tess has been ho-humming her practice AGAIN. Chris told me to ignore it. I suck at that. I SO wanted to have a talk with her about how SHE was the one that wanted to start again, and how RUDE it was to her poor piano teacher to quit AGAIN. But I didn't.

Meanwhile Ella has been begging to start. I've been putting her off, not wanting to have another child to fight with every day. Then KATE said she wanted to start AGAIN. Seriously? What alternate universe did we enter while I was asleep? Sheesh!

Chris and I discussed it, knowing that I would need his support, and knowing that I would not allow Kate and Ella to stop and start. We did so with the girls and he made them commit to ONE FULL YEAR, practicing 5x/wk. NO complaining. They agreed, so I arranged to have the 2 of them take Tess' spot with her teacher. Lessons are so expensive, so they'll only go every 2 weeks, but since Tess is quitting, it's a wash. I know there will be complaining, but I can insist because they agreed.

Still sad about Tess, and wanting to encourage her without nagging her, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and suggested a friendly competition. I would start practicing again (I've hidden that hard earned talent under a bush for the last 20 years) and we would keep track of times. Whoever has the most time each week gets taken to lunch by the other.

So far, we're neck and neck. When she came home from school today, I said *smugly*, "I'm winning."  After looking at the tracking sheet she said, "Only by 5 minutes!"
"Still winning." I said.

She promptly sat down and knocked out 30 min. and now I have to play another 25 today to catch up.

No matter who wins, we both win. I'm pretty pleased with myself. And her. *smiling*

My baby is SEVENTEEN!

We spent Luke's bday at the ranch in WY again this year. We left Valentines morning which bummed out his girlfriend a bit ( but not me, oh she's lovely, but I dislike the whole idea of it, that's all). The snow was crap, too hard, too heavy, then too slushy, but the kids had a great time on the 4 wheelers just going up and down the  long driveway. The snowmobiles mostly sat, or got stuck, or got broken…

Chris and I never left the house. It's the ultimate place to "veg". Chris mostly did this:

'Bonding' with my brother. *snicker*

Luke's only request was his favorite cinnamon rolls instead of cake. I don't love making them, baking is never my first choice, but it's once a year... I guess I shouldnt complain. Of course I took no photos of the day. Of course not. That would be so "mom blogger" right? I try not to fit into any molds. Ok, I'm just lazy and didn't even think about it because I lost the cool 4$ sparkler candle somewhere between here and there, so we didn't actually sing to him, we just sort of started eating the rolls as soon as they came out of the oven you know? Sigh. 

I say this every year, but I cannot believe he is seventeen. He graduates this year, and that only hit me today when I had to think about ordering a cap and gown! One more year with this kid and then he's off on a mission. Then school or marriage, he's basically gone already. It's so sad. I'm in denial. Our family is one year away from never being the same again. **sniff sniff**

{Pull yourself together woman! Slap slap!} 

Ok, moving on. 

He got his gift last month when he found something on sale, but I wanted to have something to wrap up, so finished this blanket for him, that I meant to finish by Christmas... But... Didn't. Hey, better late than never!

It's made of old DI sweaters I felted and then sewed together. At the time, I thought it'd be soooo easy. The best laid plans...yadda yadda yadda... It sucked. I sewed one row on wrong THREE times. I was cursing out loud at my MILs sewing machine I tell you. How hard is it to lay it out and check it first? Hard, apparently. One whole hour to fix and re-fix AND RE-FIX it! Argh!

And then I *thought* I broke her machine and had to drive it to Provo to get it fixed, turns out it was something really stupid that neither of us could figure out, but it got a needed servicing and then I drove BACK down to pick it up two days later so I could finish the dang thing hours before we left for the ranch. I'm done crafting. I must be too old. It's getting harder and harder to pull off decent projects. 

Anyway, Luke is easy to please and tends towards the sentimental. I hope he can take it on his mission. Do they take blankets? Ugh. I don't want to think about packing for his mission. **fingers in ears*** La La La La... It's not going to happen if I don't admit it right?

Time flies I tell you. Flies. 

I'm not letting Zeke grow up. Her must stay a four years old forever. 

Waaaaahhhhh!

Private Undone

My blog is no longer private. My mother, who is technically challenged, needed it to be more 'user friendly', so I declassified it in order to put it on Feedly for her. My reason for going private is no longer an issue. If anyone can remember that reason, your memory is better than mine. Suffice it to say, that certain someone is too far removed to be checking anymore. I hope. 

So, if you use a reader to keep track of your blogs ( I recommend Feedly ) this is good news as you no longer have to check in from time to time to see if I've posted. Arguably, a hassle. Especially now that my posting is so sporadic. You're welcome. ;)

Family Creed

My BFF gave me this vinyl a while back. Her family decided on all these catch phrases to be a sort of family creed. I liked what they came up with and thought it was brilliant.

However, not wanting to chance sticking it to the actual wall, (I still miss my vinyls from the Cedar City house) I've not known what to do with it, as vinyl is kinda a one shot deal, you know? Plus my walls are textured which makes these things a bugger to put up.

Enter Hobby Lobby's 50% off frame sale and this exactly the right size frame! For 25$ our family room is now graced with a few words of wisdom from our dear friends. Cool, huh?

It was super hard to get it on straight with no wrinkles, but it turned out better than I thought it would. I have mad skillz dawg. Thanks Di!

Stomach Torture

Luke took a few kids down to the local wing joint around 10pm one night. They have this Challenge, you have to eat 12 wings in their hottest sauce, I think it's like the temperature of hot lava or something, and if you can eat them all, you get them free, and get your picture on their wall of fame. Honestly, completely insane if you ask me, but I have a very low tolerance for spicy foods. He had to sign a WAIVER for crying out loud. Obviously, they know it's not good for you. 

Anyways, he did it. Here's the empty bowl and bones.

Here's his swollen face just after eating them all. He said his lips and mouth were swollen too. Indication that this might not be the smartest thing to do to your gut? Maybe…

 
And here he is in his free Blazin' challenge Tee after a few minutes recovery. Oh to be young and invincible again…

Track Break

Track breaks kill me. One of the reasons I hate the year round schedule and desperately wanted to get into the Montessori Charter school. Sigh. 

My kids get 2 weeks off for Christmas break, go back to school for 2 weeks, and then get THREE MORE WEEKS OFF IN THE DEAD OF WINTER WITH NO FRIENDS TO PLAY WITH!!!!

Yeah. It's bad. Except this one wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, another plus to my meditating possibly, but today was the last day, and I survived. I set up a schedule of morning to-do's. Reading, Math, daily chore, scripture reading and then we tackled a major cleaning project every day. We saw a dollar movie every week. Grandma took them for a 2 night sleep over. They went sledding once. We met some friends at a trampoline place. Ate at McDonalds a couple of times. Got haircuts and eye exams. The girls walked Zeke to preschool and picked him up again. Kate babysat when I had to run errands or take my MIL to the Doctor. I don't know, but it seems like 3 weeks just flew by. Really fast. Amazing. 

Oh, and we also did *ahem* crafts. Well, we made Valentines for their classmates, and their Valentine boxes for school. I knew I was saving those Einstein's bagel boxes for some reason. 

Ella wanted a giraffe she saw on Pinterest.

 Zeke saw Yoda, also on Pinterest, and had to have him on his box. Kinda funny. Say it in your head in yoga's voice, it's better.

Kate's is my favorite. Awww. How cute is that owl?

And THEN, I saw this cool 'science experiment' in one of those Family magazines while I waiting to get my hair butchered (ergh), and it only required 2 things. Pipe cleaner and Borax. Easy. Kinda cool too huh? Like sugar crystals, but way thicker.

And so…. Monday, it's back to school and back to my quiet life with Zeke. And I may even attempt to clean the house. It's amazing how much messier it gets with 2 more kids home all day! Even with our cleaning projects. 

Boo

The girls didn't get in to the Montessori school. Boo. Still crossing my fingers that someone who DID get in, won't actually go and leave an empty spot...