A first birthday

Remember this little man? He's One!

Old enough to have his own cake and eat it too.

The little birthday cake turned out a little bigger than I planned. Luckily his appetite ran out before the cake did.

Marcus got bath toys in his packages. He carries a rubber ducky around with him most the day saying "Duck. . Quack (cack)" over and over again. At least 50 times a day I hear that kid say "Duck!" So I gave him another duck. A fireman duck that goes over the faucet and some wind up toys to swim with him. If a rubber ducky is his favorite thing his worst thing is his bath. Anything warmer than lukewarm and the little wimp is screaming. And Caroline is in with him so I am pretty sure that it's just his problem. So we gave him a cold birthday bath with his duckies and he did okay. After that cake a bath was definitely in order.

I found out at his Dr. appointment today that he has an ear infection. He has been screaming a lot lately. I thought he was just a spoiled one year old because his momma is too sentimental (this may be it for me! :( ) to stop nursing him. But I forced myself to let him grow up, hoping he would chill out. Turns out it was pain not milk he was screaming about.

He is 23 lbs. (50th %) and I can't remember the inches but it was the 90th %. It was amazing how fast the antibiotics kicked in. He was doing so well this afternoon we took advantage of the 50 degree weather and went to our park.

It's been 5 months since we've had park weather. It was so amazing watching him learning about the outdoors for the first time. He caught onto the outdoor bumpy ground walking thing pretty quick. Before long he was running all over the jungle gym, runny nose and smiling like he had just been given a whole new world. As far as he knew outside was just something you raced through getting from here to there (the car to the front door) as fast as possible. Or he also gets to see a little of it when he stands on the couch. So today as we just hung out OUTSIDE he was amazed! I am really looking forward to the warm weather for Marcus. It was fun today, but I am pretty sure it won't last. March is known for cold weather around here.

A Wii? For Me?

I have loved the 30's thus far. I finally feel like I have put my young careless ways behind me and matured into a responsible adult. Then again, maybe not.

Apparently, the antics that earned me the nickname KRASHann are still popping up here and there.

After a long streak of driving without incident, I backed into a garbage can for the second time in my life racing off to meet Brent for a very last minute (Can you meet me in 10 minutes?) birthday lunch rendezvous. The garbage men had just dumped our tote and then put it directly behind my car. Not my fault!

I inspected the damage and saw nothing amiss and swore Caroline to secrecy. But of course, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Hey, Dad, Mom crashed our car." So he strolled back and noticed what I had missed. My back tail light had a hole in it.

Sorry, Honey, but you're the one that insisted I hurry.

My date didn't yell or swear and still treated me to a pizza buffet. He mentioned that he'll go to his favorite junkyard and find me another light. It's worked every time for the Buick. Maybe we will get lucky again.

Camille and Savannah stayed up late the night before decorating and planning a breakfast buffet including a handwritten menu of course.

Savannah gave me some jewelry that she had paid top dollar for at Target. I put the earrings on right away. Kennon made the bracelet I have on in the photo and then performed a piano solo and sang a original score she wrote just for me.

Brent bought me a new watch. Recently the $7 Walmart one that has been amazing for 3 years, disappeared. This new one has a lot to live up to.

Savannah made a cake all by herself while Brent and I were home teaching on Sunday. Then she got bored and didn't feel like frosting it. I refused to frost my own cake this year, so Brent and Camille finished it off about 7 p.m. when it was time to sing and he realized that we had no cake.

Brent was anxious from the time he got home to get on with the party. He was frustrated that we had to worry about dinner, cake and dishes. He kept saying everything was taking so long. Finally when all that stuff was over he asked us to come upstairs and see a video he had made for me. Really? I was pretty excited about that.

Turns out there was no homemade video at all but a Wii installed on the TV. Every recent holiday he says to me, "Maybe we should get an XBox or a Wii. . for the kids ". Unfortunately for him I am not and have never been a video game girl. Talk about a waste of time. So I always talk him out of it.

So finally he figured out the only way he could get some video games. . . for the kids.

On Kashann's birthday she doesn't get the chance to weigh in.

So Mama got a Wii. There was lots of screaming going on in our bedroom for about two hours. Marcus had just been put to bed in the closet and it woke him up. We left him there screaming till he gave up after 20 minutes. He really wanted to find out what was going on behind his bedroom wall.

Too bad Brent's birthday comes first. I have really been wanting to give our bedroom a whole new look. New curtains, bedspread, paint, a big headboard. Brent says "Yeah, right, " every time it comes up.

Maybe fathers day I will spring for a little romantic surprise. I am thinking purple. . . no maybe pink.

Actually I was totally cool about my gift. I am going to give the Wii a try and do my best to kick back a waste some time with the family. Plus I am also thinking:

IF we HAVE to have a Wii it better be mine, so I can decide who, when and how much time is wasted on it. They are going to have to grovel when they want to play it.

And IF they have been perfect, I MAY just let them.

Making you all jealous

Kennon and Savannah love a surprise and a party. They set one up for us while we were out on our date. Savannah decorated my spot with several things she had either secretly bought when she was at the dollar store with me (the glass rose), candy she saved from her school valentine's party, and a $2 bottle of lotion she bought from Kennon. I guess she has a store like her momma. She got her goods from her birthday party last week.

Kennon made up a spot for her Dad and he got a dollar. And the house was clean. These babysitters are the best!

Kashann got . . . .ROSES! and Chocolate. They were in the Buick. Doesn't take much to make me happy. I love surprises too. Even if they are from Aldi.
Last night we had a little family Valentine's party with chocolate fondue at our house. Pretty good for recycled chocolate. They were throwing out the leftovers from the chocolat fountain after the dance and Brent stopped them just in time. It bothered me that we were eating chocolate that had been dipped in by the ward. But not enough to stop eating it.

Hot date in the cultural hall

I love to dance so I was a little upset when I saw bright lights, and tables piled high with board games for the Valentines DANCE. But thanks to couples more adventurous than us, there was soon a crowd out on the floor. I danced for the first 15 minutes on my own. After several people pointed out that I was dancing alone, Brent noticed and joined me. Mr. BYU Ballroom, Thayne and his partner, Natalie.
My date and I and a little of Adrian. Chelsea, Brent thought of you when he picked out his shirt.
Camille's favorite orange man, Dave with his lovely wife, Steph.
Richard and his little lady Ella. His other sweetheart was sick and Ella was happy to oblige.
For many it was a family affair. Trey loves the slow songs just like his momma.
Natalie laughing after Br. Dayton steals a kiss.
Lady in red, Rachel with her main squeeze, Ryan.
After the dance, in the buick with my hot date. This is the car where it all began. We have so many buick stories but the memory we hold the dearest- 13 years ago we had our first kiss in this spot right here.

Flight 3407

This morning our alarm clock radio woke us up with the news of Flight 3407 crashing near the Buffalo airport, in the Town of Clarence, last night at 10:20. All 49 people on board were killed, along with one man living in the home that was directly impacted when it crashed. A mother and daughter were able to escape from the house uninjured. So amazing that it just hit the one house. It is still burning now 10 hours later.

It is a sad day for western New York. My heart breaks for the grieving families and friends of flight 3407 that are devastated today.


When tragedy strikes close to home, it really hits you that our time here on earth is so short. I am resolved to live better, love more, and be more grateful for the many blessings I enjoy daily.

In defense of the Funny Book

When I started this blog a year and a half ago I said it was going to be our funny book. So I write the things we say and do that I think we might laugh at some day. And just because my way of showing affection for my husband is publicly disparaging him for our funny book doesn't mean you all can't show your affection in different ways on your blog. We are recording our history when we blog. Go ahead and tell it like it is in your family. I would hate for anyone to not write something because Kashann made them feel stupid for saying that their husband is awesome for doing something. And for the record Brent does lots of sweet things for me (maybe not specifically on Valentines).

Like he has written and sung at least 3 original songs for me. I will let you know if and when he does something like that again. I can hope that the only reason he is practicing away on his guitar all this last month is he is getting ready to serenade me on Saturday.

I just like remembering things he says and holding them against him. He is such good blogging material. The kids are also pretty good but they're kids and you got to go easy on'em. If Brent complains that I am making him look bad, I just say, "Well you said it."

Maybe I need to just be a better wife. . .

Naaaah, I don't think so, because when I read back in the archives we both love the memories. One of the things that we really love/appreciate about each other is that we both don't take life too seriously.

Sometimes I am a little sensitive. Like the time Brent told me as I was preparing for a solo at church that I have more of a choir voice. . .

Ooops, I did it again. I guess because he makes these type of comments I know that he's with me because he loves me. It has very little to do with my talents, my looks, or even my cooking. He doesn't have a trophy wife and he is fine with that.

Anyways, blog away. . .

Though I still might skip the valentine blogs until I can be a better example and keep the tenth commandment.

That's the one about coveting your neighbor's valentines day, right?

Kashann's exploiting us!

If any of you haven't noticed, my wife has an excellent memory.....as long as it serves her best interest or makes her blog a better read. If I could only remember 10% of the funny things she says I could easily top anything she has on all of us put together. I mentioned this after a couple of my kids complained of being embarrassed by some recent posts. Kennon quickly brought up an example of Kashann opening her mouth before thinking. We were over at some friends and Kashann saw this huge stuffed animal. She asked where they got it and the husband said, "Her mother bought it." Kashann said, "Don't you just hate it when your mother-in law buys junk like that, cluttering up your house." He then said, "No, it was our kid's mother". (and of course she was sitting in the same room with us)

I seriously need to start keeping notes because she says something weekly that I tell myself not to forget but by the next day I can't remember it. When our oldest kids were too young to spell, Kashann asked for some m&m's and I scolded her for not asking the request in code to keep our kids from begging for them too. She said, "Oops. Sorry. Could you please give me some F'n Fs. I laughed for about five minutes before she finally figured out what she said.

For any of you who have ever been offended by something Kashann has said, get over it. Trust me when I say there was no malice intended but that's just Kashann. My new goal is to stop, find a paper and pen, and write down every funny thing my wife says from now on. If history repeats itself I should have plenty of material for a book before we leave Buffalo.

I am going start with text rather than photos. It seems like since I got my fancy computer and started uploading my own photos all the time - blogging is a chore that I don't look forward to. So today I am going to just write like the good old days on my old computer and not constrict myself to photo captions. So get ready for rambling.

Marcus walking is old hat around here so he's had to learn something new to get our attention. He can now "Mooo" like a cow and "Quack" like a duck. Savannah asked me yesterday if he is really early to do this. They all think their brother is the smartest ever. His favorite word is "Yeah" so we all get a kick out of asking him crazy questions and having him smile and give us another "Yeah". "Do you want a cracker?" "YEAH" "Do you want a drink?" "YEAH" "Do you want a . . . spank?" "YEAH"

Camille is also quite a smarty lately and loving her new first grade writing skills. She's always leaving me notes, especially when she is sad. Twice lately she was sent to her room for a temper that she has a terrible time controlling without a time out. After a few minutes of quiet she pokes her head out of her room and throws a letter down the stairs for mom. One letter said, "Im sory. I nid love." - I'm sorry, I need love.
Then a couple days later she was sent up to her room and threw down "giv me love mom"

It seems like a great way to vent her anger and calm down enough to come out of her room. I think she has middle child syndrome and really does need more love. I am working harder to "giv" her some.

Caroline was selected to play the elephant bird in her sister's school musical. She is supposed to sit quietly in an egg for an entire song before popping out for the big finale! She is VERY excited, so much so that I am sure that they better make an egg with a latch and keep it locked till the BIG moment.

Of course Camille had a huge fit when she found out she was the only sister not in the play. They won't let first graders try out but her four year old sister got a part. What? Luckily their music teacher caught wind of the family tension she had created and decided that Camille will be the only first grader to perform on stage. She is now a part of the circus and will wear a big popcorn vendor box. For some reason the idea of her walking around wearing a box keeps reminding me of Scout playing the ham in the first grade show in To Killing a Mocking Bird.

Not a glamorous roll but Camille so far is just glad to be included. We really get the special treatment at that school. I think it's all due to Brent and the fact that he is the only school father they haven't seen show up at the school wearing a wife beater tank top.

Seussical the Musical is April 1 and 2. Let us know if you want to see Kennon and Savannah duking it out on stage, Camille wearing a box, and Caroline in an egg crashing the show.

And we had another Birthday last week. Brent always says when it comes to birthdays I over do it. How many times have I heard the story about how one birthday his mother just gave him a pair of pants? So I got him a pair this year and wrapped'em up for his birthday Saturday. As I presented him with the gift I said, "Now let us know if this is all you need this year and you we can just forget about that pile of presents over there."

He didn't get it. But he did like the pants. Maybe his mom was right and that's all it takes and I have really ruined my own kids by spoiling them.

Besides the addition of a great pair of pants, it might be said that Brent didn't have the best birthday ever. I mean first of all who wants to turn 39 in dental school? Add in the fact that he got two tickets his birthday week. Oh, and Savannah fell asleep in our bed Friday night watching a movie with me so he turned 39 sleeping on the couch. The first thing I heard on Saturday, the morning of his birthday, was the front door slamming?? After a bad night on the couch he awoke with a start remembering he had never moved his car off the street.

What kind of a cop writes a guy a ticket on his birthday? The same cop that has signed all 5 of our parking tickets on this street. Officer #87. How much would Brent love to get #87 in his dental chair?

His other ticket this week was for failing to do a YEARLY inspection on the Buick. So, short story, my birthday boy was way too upset for the birthday present I surprised him with. I had scheduled his FIRST EVER massage, an hour long appointment with Shana. Truthfully, it killed me to make the appointment. Even with the student discount and the fact that it was a birthday splurge, I thought it was a waste of our precious money. But my stressed out Brent is always talking about how nice it would be to have a true massage and I thought, "Every 40 years is probably not too often".

Turns out we are both "Cheapos" (right, Kennon?) and he said, "Thanks but no thanks, honey. I just can't do it." I called Shana with the bad news and then gave him my best Swedish Massage and he didn't even need the student discount. After the massage I think he loosened up a bit and even allowed me to take him out for his free Red Robin Burger.

I can't believe he is going on 40! I am suddenly very concerned about stuff like heart disease and diabetes. I 'm thinking about tough love and considering putting an end to constantly restocking his bag of peanut M & M's that are a permanent fixture in his underwear drawer.

It's so sad that even on his birthday I can't help harassing him. Maybe on Valentines day I will sweeten up.

Then again, I am thinking of skipping the valentine's posts altogether. I can't handle hearing all the lovey, dovey thoughtfulness of all the perfect husbands out there. Brent and I are good. . . And I don't need to be reminded of all the stuff your husband is doing to blow you away for Valentines, because then I may start feeling sorry for myself for no reason. The way I see it the more we brag about our husbands the more we mess up each other's marriages. So I feel it is my blogging obligation to to make my husband look a little bad once in a while and then you can all feel so great about yours. I had to get a picture of Brent and his guitar. Like everything else we left his real one in Washington. This is the $7 Target one he stole from my store.

We do have a family tradition for Valentine's day. I make lots of red and pink stuff, like strawberry's on waffles and smoothies and have a special family breakfast. The kids may or may not get a little gift or goodie bag to go along with it. Don't want them to start expecting it so I try to have a famine every other year to keep them grateful and not surprised. This year may be the going without year. Savannah asked me the other day if she could HAVE A NEW DRESS FOR HER VALENTINES PRESENT.

Valentines PRESENT? I don't know what you are talking about, I told her. I think she is just having a hard time coping with the season ever since her teacher canceled Valentines. I guess she got mad one day last week and said, "That's it! I am canceling Valentines! I don't want to see a single Valentine come into my classroom." Savannah is furious. She had already spent over an hour creating her special valentines out of doilies and magazine cutouts of animals.

If only I would've had the foresight to save the tub of stuff I brought home from Angela's Shop & Swap ladies night out a couple weeks ago, I would have plenty of Valentine presents. Like an idiot I handed them all out the next morning completely forgetting about free christmas, birthday, and err.. . Valentines presents. Then that night we were over at Stephanie's for some Rock Band. She had missed the swap and wanted to know if it was any good. I told her I came home with just few things. Then, I looked down and mentioned I was wearing Erica's shirt. . . Oh, and Brent over there is wearing John's. Then I examined our other kids and for the first time noticed that all of us but Caroline were wearing swap items. Thanks, ladies.

I've been calling Brent, "John" all week since every morning he comes down in another swap shirt. And Brent's the one who told me not to go and if I did please don't bring anything home.

As for me, I am busy playing the piano for hours and hours. After a hundred times playing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, I still can't keep up with the sunbeams. But I have made it through two weeks of primary. I cried all night the night before my big debut. I was doing great till a certain someone heard me practicing about 10 p.m Saturday night and remarked, "You're telling me you have to play that song tomorrow?"

After that my confidence was shattered and I couldn't hit a note all night. The next day I murdered every song but miraculously always got the last note, and that's what counts right?

As I left the primary room the first week, I told the primary presidency to talk it over and let me know. I guess no one was even paying attention to my weak efforts because they just looked confused. . . and I have still have the job.

I really love church callings. They give me so many opportunites I never would have had. And I seriously just love thinking of myself as a pianist.

Kennnon is 11

Is she really only 11? Sometimes she seems so much older. Heck, she's been babysitting for years, wearing high heels around the house and anywhere else she can sneak off in them since 8, begging for earrings since she was 6 (and not getting them so making her own out of random items) doing her own hair since she was 4, accompanying for the primary for the last year. We are trying hard to not let her grow up but she is so intent on it.

Kennon was frusterated this year as her birthday approached, because we had just made a new family rule. No Sleepovers! ( Believe me, I have my reasons)
She thought her 11th birthday was going to be the worst.
To make it up to her I let her invite ALL the girls in her class over for a girls night out the night before her birthday. Pizza, games, and lots of Karaoke and they were all out the door by 10 p.m. Awesome!
The one on the front left is 13 and wasn't invited. About an hour before the party her mother called and asked if her older daughter (who Kennon has never met) could come too. Not knowing what to say and figuring that she had to work or something I said, "Do you need her to?" Then with some major attitude, "I don't NEED her too." Then she just waits for me to say something. "Well", I said, "Kennon won't even let her own sisters come to the party. . . she wants them to all stay upstairs." She says nothing. Finally because I hate saying no to people. "Well, I guess someone else's sisters are better than her own."
So she brings them both. This girl ate tons of food, belched loudly all night, and as she was leaving asked me for a bowl of ice cream for the road. I really need to learn to say No.
I told Kennon I would order pizza. I was really going to do it. But as usual we ended up with homemade. Being a farm girl, I always dreamed of living in town and ordering pizza. But I guess you can't take the farm out of the girl. I've tried many times to pick up the phone and call for a pizza. . .but I just can't do it.
Savannah bought this dress for Kennon from my store upstairs. Kennon has been begging for it ever since it showed up in the store, but hasn't been able to earn her five beans yet to buy it. Camille bought her a pair of pink tights to go with it -2 beans.

The next day on her birthday Brent in school then at the church till 10 p.m He took Kennon and Savannah with him and they had a church activity skating downtown. The rest of us were home waiting for cake. Caroline and Camille fell asleep on the couch. Because we know what happens when we do ANYTHING without them we woke them up to sing and have mud pie with us. Caroline tried but she was too tired and cold for ice cream cake.
Camille made it through the song and all her cake before being carried up to bed.

We love birthdays this time of year. One month from now we over half of us will be a year older. Way too much cake!

Savannah is always complaining that she is freezing. This stool right by the fire and is her permanent hang out. When she isn't here she can be found in one of the following two places.
Here. (After hours and hours practicing this last month she can hang out upside down for over a minute, as long as she has a wall nearby.)
Or here in her snuggie, (her Christmas present that Caroline referred to as a snuggie. Now we all do.)
Speaking of Caroline, here's what she's been up to. Soaking her big toe. Last weekend I trimmed her toe nails and as a result gave her an ingrown toe nail. Dr. Casper scolded Mom, squeezed out the puss, and then had me wait on her while she sat around like a princess for a couple days till it was all better.


She also found a little boy who needed some love last Sunday. Meet Henry. . a.k.a Hanky Panky. Kennon caught them smooching just before we had dinner with his parents. Caroline said that she did it, "because he was so cute".Thanks to Savannah and Camille you can expect place cards if you show up at our house for dinner. This is what she does when I tell her to set the table. I come in and find the table is missing forks or knives, but there's always a unique surprise with our names on it. Last Sunday she created these. I stole this picture off of Caroline's boyfriend's blog.

all about marco

Poor Marco. He doesn't get a blog feature too often.
(But before you feel too bad for him or think I'm a terrible mom, just let me tell you. He's got his own private blog with all the important, and very boring for the rest of you, first year stuff in it. His stats, breastfeeding details, sleeping habits, first word, etc. YAY, blogs! I am more than happy to give up scrapbooking in favor of a blog book)

This morning I decided he needed a photo shoot. I opened the curtains to let in some natural light and noticed it was snowing. So did Marcus. After that it was pretty impossible to get him to face the camera. So finally I just took him out to the front porch to see how he liked the 5 degree weather. (If you zoom in you can catch a glimpse of the beginnings of a handsome head of hair. . that he'll get to enjoy for a brief 20 or so glory years. Right, Brent? The casper curse.)
For some reason he seemed to enjoy the snow coatless on our front porch better than last weekend when we bundled him up for sledding. It could've been the size 4 snowsuit he was forced to wear making him look about twice his size. He also HATES hats and I made sure he had two on. Or maybe it was the extra pair of women's mittens I thought he needed.

Marcus goes up and down these steep babies. He had one big fall from top to bottom and that did it. Now he's a pro.
For the last couple weeks I keep wanting to announce . . .We have a walking 10 month old. . . because he is. But he's still crawling a lot too. We know which one will win in the end, just not sure when.
This could very well be the last of the crawling photos. Can't wait for him to get off the cold, cold ground. Then we can turn the heat back down from 65 to 60. This crawling stage is costing us a fortune.

He finally got his top two teeth this month. About the same time he decided that he is now old enough to feed himself. His diet which previously consisted of a rice cereal mixed into anything the rest of us are eating is no longer working now he's got the spoon. No idea what is now going down the hatch. So much is scattered around it's hard to believe that any went in. He also never figured out the bottle or sippy cup. Just uses them for dumping toys. I have been giving him little drinks of milk from a cup for months. But he doesn't want help with that anymore, either. So he has a lot of skills to gain quickly . . . or he's gonna starve.

Bribery

Kashann has been busy . . . Shopping.

In January I am obsessed with hitting every single store every single week. Don't want to miss a markdown. It is like my favorite thing to do ever. Good thing prices aren't this low year round or I would be in serious trouble. Target has some especially low toy prices and K B Toys is going out of business. I brought home a $7.48 kids acoustic guitar, originally $29.99, showed it to Brent, then shoved it in the closet for some future present for the kids. Next thing I know he is down in the living room playing it, didn't even ask. He played guitar all MLK weekend. I should've saved it for his birthday next month. I had no idea it was on his wish list.

Besides, stocking away for birthdays and Christmas. . . What else do I do with all the great deals I haven't been able to resist?

I decided to start my own store. Seriously. It's up in my room and all the items are priced to sale. My girls can earn a point a day for keeping the following family rules.

Practice instruments 5 times a week for 30 minutes
Clean room before school and before bed
In bed on time- 7:45 upstairs girls, and 8:40 downstairs girls
No Fighting (it's verbal in our house)
No Back Talk
Don't leave anything out in the family room at night
Hang up stuff when you come home from school
No Whining

I think this pretty much covers all my grievances lately. This doesn't include daily jobs that they all have around the house. It's a given that they will be doing those also since they aren't allowed to whine or talk back.

The store is open for business once a week. We had a grand opening this morning as I unveiled a few items available for purchase as soon as they earn enough. It was just as exciting as I had hoped. We haven't had a lot of peace in our home at times lately and I am crossing my fingers that this idea works. Kennon really loves new clothes. She's gonna need them soon enough anyway, she's growing so fast -I am now buying her size 8 shoes and she's in the very last size for girls jeans. . . She's going to be in my closet before I know it, so why not make her earn them?

Really there are two reasons I am doing this. I love to shop and need an excuse AND I need a fresh idea to promote peace in our home. Parenting is all about fresh ideas. Nothing works for ever. Whenever I hit a dead end, I just have to come up with something new. Never give up on them.

Brent's summer plans

We recently found out that Brent will be spending three weeks of his summer practicing his dentistry in Bethel, Alaska. After talking him out of signing up for a $3,000 spring break Boca trip (I don't know what the initials stand for, just that it's a highly promoted externship for dental students) to some exotic location like Africa, I am really glad that he found this alternative. The whole spring break Boca idea sounded like a crock to me. They have to pay thousands of dollars to go to a different country and sit in folding chairs in tents and pull teeth?

For Brent's externship they are flying him there, paying for his hotel, and giving him a food budget. Not anywhere near as exciting as the Boca locations all his buddies are going to, but the point was to pull teeth right? Not to take a vacation with the guys.

The last vacation Brent took without me was when Caroline was 2 weeks old. He went on a 7 day cruise with his parents and siblings. I insisted he go, but cried much of the week, and upon his return made him promise to never take a vacation without me again.

I don't think I will be too jealous of him hanging out in Bethel for a few weeks all by himself.

Resolutions 2009

Sunday night we told all the kids that they needed to come prepared to Family night with their resolutions for the new year. They needed one goal each in these categories.
Physical Fitness, Spiritual, Academic, Talent

Caroline came up with one. Learn to do a somersault.

Camille almost hit each category. Here's her list:

"Wake up every morning and run" (Where? that is the question. I asked her about how that goal was coming along this morning and she said that there was too much snow)
"Eat Bread and Water and other stuff" (This is her spiritual goal. We were all confused, but her only explanation is bread and water are sacrament food and thus spiritual. And she had no explanation for the other stuff.)
"Draw one thing a day" (She is planning on being a famous artist one day and has a pretty good start.)

Savannah was the most prepared in each category. She loves schedules so her goals were all broken down accordingly.
Get up every morning at 6 a.m. and . . .
read the New testament for 10 minutes
practice handstands for 5 minutes,
read the Book of Mormon 10 minutes,
10 minutes solving math problems,
15 minutes of Ballet,
Then finally 10 minutes Suessical practice!!!!!!!!
She has been very faithful all week waking up at 6 with her alarm but quite frustrated that she keeps running out of time before the bus.

Kennon's goals were a little vague . . .I can't even remember what they are. Probably something like - 3 blog posts a week. :) The thing is . . She's all that, already.

Brent and I are following Savannah's example and keeping pace with her in our New Testament reading. We both decided we would work out 30 minutes on the elliptical at least 3 times a week. And as talents this year I am focusing on piano -so I will play it for 30 min five times a week. Brent is going to take up golf again with the goal of learning to drive straight.

No one knows it yet but I am adding one more for us all. I've always had a master shopping list that has all our staples and when I go shopping I just print it out and circle the items we are low on. We make pretty healthy choices overall but we can do a lot better. My new master shopping list was printed from The World's Healthiest Foods.com. That will be the basis for Casper Family meals 2009. I am excited. Savannah is going to hate it.
We are going to see a lot less white rice, pasta, flour on our table. Basically if it is an empty calorie I am going to try to stay far away from it. Eating healthier (tons of fruits and veggies and lean meats) can be expensive but I plan on including lots of inexpensive healthy foods like beans and grains.
Someone in our ward gave us several buckets of whole wheat when we first moved here. They are probably over 20 years old, but working for us just fine.

My initiation into Primary

A couple weeks ago Kennon and I were pretty much a one man show in the Buffalo Ward Primary. During the holidays our ward usually bursting at the seams turns into ghost town since all the students take off . The entire primary presidency, along with the music team and half the teachers were out of town. The week before I had been sustained as the new primary chorister/pianist so they asked me to fill in for them all.

Kennon played the piano, Camille gave the talk, I conducted the meeting, and also lead the music. Thank goodness for Kennon or it would've been quite the feat for me to pull off.

My new calling is a co-position. We both alternate leading and playing each month. I am first up leading in January which just gives me a month to LEARN TO PLAY THE PIANO! The Lord by way of Bishop Payne is forcing me to do something that I have not had the discipline to do my whole life. I think it is awesome and know that it will be a miracle if I actually am able to get good enough to accompany the primary. When I first moved here I was practicing piano a ton and hinted to the bishop that I wanted to be in the primary helping with the music. Not sure how that hint translated to Relief Society Presidency?

I finally got my wish a couple years later. Unfortunately in the meantime I stopped playing the piano and am starting from scratch again. Kennon's piano teacher is the primary president. I think she wants another student.

Yesterday was my turn to introduce the song of the month, a brand new one from the Friend, "The family is of God", which I have fallen in love with. . . after many hours hen pecking it out on the piano and singing along.

Our ward primary is run a little different than the last one I served in.

Jr and Sr are combined for all sharing times because we only have about 10 kids in Sr primary And The music leader gets the entire time every first Sunday.

So I am supposed to entertain 3-11 year olds simultaneously with my voice for 40 minutes straight! And four of these 3-11 year olds are mine and come running up to me every 2 minutes to interrupt whispering suggestions in my ear. And I even anticipated this and announced as I was getting started, "If any of MY children have any ideas for me, please see me after or raise your hands like all the other children".

Brent volunteered to come and pull them out by their ear next week if they don't heed this advice.

I thought running RS was stressful but after 40 minutes of this primary opportunity I was hoarse (that song is high and I soloed it at least 20 times), sweaty (haven't been able to locate my deodorant and Kennon's Sauve I'm borrowing isn't cutting it), mad (at my brilliant children and their ideas), and mainly just disappointed (that my 3 plus hours prep didn't translate to success).
It's a real challenge to teach music to that wide of range of ages all at once and for SO LONG. The sunbeams were perfect but gave me blank stares when we tried to get the key words in order. The only 11 year didn't even have the courtesy to look at me let alone sing for me. I had planned a coloring activity but for some reason I just kept singing, singing, singing. . . . trying to make it work and forgot all about the coloring till it was time to go.
Next week will be better. I am determined. I've done this before and it is my all time favorite calling. I guess I am just a little rusty after dealing with women only for so long.
In defense of Caroline, her interruption stemmed from being told by the girl next to her that she would beat her up after class if she didn't hand over the visual aid. But I can't deal with this in the middle of sharing time!
And in defense of Savannah she was the one perfect child of mine. She not only stayed in her seat and kept her ideas to herself but she also tended Marcus the whole time and told me afterwards that it was such a good sharing time.