Mitt Romney announced his candidacy for President of the United States today 15 minutes from my house. And of course I was there. 

This turned out not too flattering of his wife Ann but it happens to be the picture where he shakes Marcus's hand.

The event was held at a local farm in a big field and we all ate Mrs. Romney's famous chili. Former Senator George Lovejoy (our realtor) introduced me as his friend and fellow mormon. I was doing fine on my own talking to him but as soon as he had to tell him I was a mormon he immediately got the moving on attitude. I guess he figured he already had my vote.

And look.  His wife Ann is really beautiful. 

Candice and her sister in law that lives in Boston also scored some tickets thanks to my friend the Senator.  

Brent has informed me that our house is voting for Ron Paul so I felt a bit like a traitor yelling Go Mitt! But either way.  Hooray that I am living in NH for the election season. 

Caroline's 7th Birthday fell on a busy Monday. It was so hectic we didn't even get any pictures of her surprise visitors straight from Tennessee.  Uncle Peter, Aunt Candice and cousin Laura arrived. That's okay though because they will be here all summer. Hooray!

 Caroline wanted fondue for her party so I just made a small ice cream cake to go with the fruit and chocolate.

Once the partying was over we put our house guests to work. Peter followed Brent around all day while Brent cut holes in the side of our house to fix things like the upstairs shower faucet. Let's just say we bought a very leaky house. Luckily I happen to be married to a plumber that doesn't mind doing the work on tall ladders. 

Candice has been inside helping with the painting.  Why do my children hate their mom in bib overalls so bad? They are horrified that all of our new neighbors keep meeting me in my painting gear - the same overalls everyday. I gave Candice the cute painting outfit to keep her happy. 

 Along with lots of little helpers. Caroline insisted that she needed to borrow my "safety goggles" for the heavy duty sanding she was asked to do.

 

It's hard coming up with jobs to keep everyone busy. 

Peter and Candice had to leave us this week to start his job in Manchester. So now I am just trying to squeeze a few hours of painting in everyday while the rest of the family is off at work/school. 

Besides our new busy remodeling schedule we also had Savannah break her arm last week, Marcus pick up two new bloodsucking ticks, Kennon get three first place finishes in her last track meet, Camille sing and dance on stage in her mother's high heels for the grade school show, and that's all that comes to mind. 

Stay tuned for some before and after photos of our big house project.

We have the keys!

Should we call it "The Lion House?"

Graveside service for Angelica

 Angelica was laid to rest in a small graveside service last Friday in Washington state. They were able to get a spot and bury her at the foot of my 9 year old sister Arianne's grave who died in a family car accident in 1987. It was one of the hardest things for me ever to miss this and not be there with my family.

 Big Sis Laura says goodbye to our little sister.  

Here are ALL of my siblings and some of their spouses and children. They had a big family reunion without me this weekend. They came from Nashville, TN, Dallas, TX, Long Island, NY, and California. Talk about being spread out across the map. It was weird to not go because my reasons all seemed so trivial compared to the reason they were getting together. This house better be worth it because I missed a very important day last  Friday while I was stuck in NH signing house papers.

Mother's Day Trip! New House! Visitors!

For my Mother's Day gift, my husband bought me a ticket out of town figuring it would be a nice break and get him out of flowers, breakfast in bed, and shopping. Kennon and I flew to DC to attend a reunion with some friends from Buffalo. Kennon got to come because we were having the girls reunion at Christy's house and her daughter Ciela was Kennon's good friend during the dental student years. 

This is the group that made me loose a whole night of sleep once a month at book club. We used to talk and talk and get so tired that we couldn't get our booty off the couch and into our car so we just didn't till way too late. This weekend we had three nights with no  nowhere to drive once it got late so the party just went on and on. I came home Mother's Day so exhausted after having the least amount of sleep I had probably had since the last Fielding Family Reunion. And within a couple days I had a bad cough and had my first illness since 2008. Seriously I haven't been sick since then but 3 nights with little sleep was enough to bring it on. One night I retired to my bed early at the sensible hour of 12 a.m. determined to get some sleep. But all these women came and piled in too.  There's Steph, Briste, Kristen, Erica and Christy from left to right. I had the little slot on the foot of the bed next to Christy. When the first one got too sleepy and drug themselves off to bed, I was jealous and mentioned to them as they left the room, "Would you mind shutting off the light on your way out?" Everyone totally hollered at me for that though and the light stayed on. I tried again later when someone else left the room but once again I think they thought I was joking or something. Finally sometime after 3 a.m. the last of the late nighters left my room. For the last hour there had been a pillow over my head. It's a wonder they even wanted me at this party huh? Well see if I get invited back for next years reunion. 

The thing is it's not like we could sleep in either. There were a lot of kids in that house and they were screaming and running past my room by 7 a.m. every morning. 


It was tons of fun. I loved seeing these women and catching up. I am sure that it will all be worth it and I will be SOOO grateful I went. . .once I get over this darn cough that now keeps me up every night.


Yet Another tick 
So I got home on Mother's Day and only had one present left to discover. Marcus had a tick stuck in his head. On Friday when I talked to the man at home taking care of kids, I pleaded with him to please bathe the kids nightly and check for ticks. He said he did. But somehow on Sunday during Sacrament meeting while Brent sat up on the stand Savannah found a tick sucking on the back of my little boys head. Brent spent the next two meetings driving around trying to find a tick spoon finally settling on a pair of tweezers and then trying without success to remove the tick. When he finally did get it out the head broke off and remained inside Marcus. So this is how I found out when they came home from church. We tried to numb it with ice cubes for awhile and then dig it out but that wasn't working that well. After a while Brent took off for some medical supplies at the dental office and an hour later thanks to some antiseptic the tick was removed. So apparently I can no longer risk leaving my children over the weekend or they may have Lyme disease by the time I come home. The main reason I was concerned is because Brent was pretty sure he must've picked it up on Thursday because that was the day that he had been at the neighbor's house playing in the woods. And the tick was all engorged with blood so that is a pretty good sign that he had been there long enough to feast. 
Luckily so far, out of the three ticks we have had all of them to our knowledge have been the right kind of ticks. They are large ones and therefore not the small deer ticks that carry Lyme. I love the woods but sometimes you have to ask yourselves. . . Is it really worth it? 
Brent had a really busy weekend though. He attended one track meet, one daddy daughter formal dance, the ward building spring clean up, cleaned the office for his out of town cleaning lady, bought a birthday present and dropped off Camille for a party, and attended a very long home inspection. All that and there wasn't a single dish in the sink when I got home. Though no one can exactly remember what they ate. . . but that is a different issue. The home inspection went better than expected and while I was gone we decided to go ahead and buy the house after all. 


Homeowners again
So it is a done deal. We paid and it's ours. We are still waiting very anxiously for the keys however. I don't know how it is that you can write a check for a house and four days later you are still asking permission to get inside that house. They told us we can't even mow the lawn yet. Buying a house from a bank has really been a pain. It's like they didn't want to sell it and did everything they could to prevent it. But we were persistent and now have the huge project on our hands. Saturday night about 7 p.m. was the first time we had time to do anything and although technically we were trespassing according to the bank we mowed the lawn and started in earnest on the yard. We had worked for about 20 minutes pulling weeds and raking stuff up when suddenly I hollered out, "WAIT!" We never took our before pictures. So the weeds were thrown back down and we walked away though it killed us. 


 I am so excited about this project. As we walked around the yard I really felt happy. It seems like a great place for us to be. It's going to wear us out for the next couple months but I think we will be really proud of what we will accomplish. 

Meg and Jake come to town

 We signed homeowners papers on Friday morning and then spent the afternoon in downtown Portsmouth with our guests -Brent's niece Meg and her husband Jacob from Phoenix. I think it is awesome that we can take our visitors down to have fresh seafood on the harbor when they come to town. For me it never gets boring to live near the sea. I am not sure if it is the constant sight of sailboats or the fact that I think seafood is one of the best things ever, or maybe it's just that it is so different than living in the desert I grew up in. I always loved as a kid crossing the mountains and visiting Seattle and having seafood down on the wharf at Pike Place market. We only did it three times maybe but it was quite memorable. Now we can do that just 15 minutes from home. . . without the traffic.   We really do live in an awesome place in the woods by the sea. I'll just keep crossing my fingers about Lyme disease. 

First Camp out 2011

We came home to children that were really enjoying the warm weather and were convinced that Dad needed to set up the tent for a camp out. Brent told Marcus if he could make real tears he would do so. Here is him giving it his best shot. Kennon had to help out. Unfortunately she can make the kid tear up in 5 seconds flat. Dad had to set up the tent. 


We cooked hot dogs over the fire in the back yard and then it was time for the big camp out. Only our three younger children wanted to sleep outside it turns out. So we let them. I had Brent go get Marcus and bring him in about midnight. But Caroline and Camille slept out all night. 


Downtown Boston Tour

Saturday we went to Boston with Meg and Jake to see them off. We walked part of the Freedom Trail but got little out of it without a guide. 

Riding the swan boats in the Public Gardens.

Marcus Always chases birds. He really thinks that he is about to catch one the whole time.

Jacob had a pamphlet and was forced to lead us around and play tour guide. Brent and I were embarrassed that we were such terrible hosts. I told Jake next time we visit them in Phoenix we will give THEM the grand tour. We kept getting stuck behind the Rainbow Parade taking over the downtown area . . . and had to answer lots of questions from our children about why there were men marching along wearing high heels and lipstick, and how come so many of the ladies had Mohawks. So I guess it ended up being an educational day after all.

Angelica Fielding Munk 5/4/2011 -5/9/2011

Candice and Peter's baby daughter was born alive last Wednesday morning and spent the next 5 days with her mother, father and sister before she died peacefully in the night lying between her parents as they all slept together in their home in Nashville, TN.  

Angelica came home from the hospital with her parents the day after she was born like most babies do. Angelica was pink, ate well, had a peaceful demeanor and was literally much like any other newborn except for one thing. Their daughter wouldn't have as as many breaths to take. 

Starting on her second day of life, she would without warning lose her pink color, and stop breathing for several minutes as her little angel heart would suddenly stop beating. Each time her parents held her and said their goodbyes never knowing which of these moments was the very last moment they were spending with their living daughter. Every time though she would recover in several minutes and they would have her back again. They were happy as each moment and then day passed and she was still there breathing in their arms. 

Finally Mother's Day came, Angelica's fifth day with her family. Candice dressed Laura and Angelica in their matching dresses she had sewn and Peter took pictures of his girls out in the yard.

 

That was the last day they spent together in this life as a family. 

Losing a child is every parent's worst fear. But Candice and Peter have just been amazing throughout the entire ordeal, inspiring all of us with their willingness to go along with Heavenly Father's plan for their lives. And they have remained so grateful. Grateful for nine months of a wonderful pregnancy where the baby was safe and well. Grateful for a delivery of a living baby daughter. And then mostly grateful for the five beautiful days that they just spent as a family giving her all the love they could for as long as they could.   They know that they will be together as a family one day and until then she will live with the angels watching over her family from up above.  I think most of us Fielding are thinking that one of those angels is our dear sister Arianne that we lost so many years ago. 

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are so grateful for the knowledge we have of eternal life as families. It gives us the gift of peace and happiness despite the very hardest of trials that life may bring us. 

              I love this picture of mother, father and child. It expresses the true joy that they have recently experienced. Farewell Angelica. I too look forward to meeting you someday. 


Here is a link to their family blog if you would like to hear them tell their story themselves.


peterandcandice

Meeting Angelica

Today my sister Candice is going to be induced to have her 2nd baby daughter. As most mothers are at nine months pregnant, she is anxious to meet her and hold her in her arms. But Candice has been less anxious to deliver than I usually am. That's because her baby has thrived while in the protection of her womb. But once she is born she knows that her time with her daughter will be brief. Since the ultrasound at 20 weeks, Candice and her husband Peter have known that their daughter has a condition called Trisomy 13 which involves a host of problems that are not conducive to life outside the womb.  She may not survive birth at all or live only a few hours. They so want to be able to hold her and love her in their arms before she passes on.

I am praying really hard for her and Peter today. They have been such an example to all of us as they have anticipated this birth. They spent a lot of time early on choosing a special name for her and finally fell in love with the name Angelica. Candice loves to sew and spends much of her time sewing dresses for her 2 year old daughter Laura. She decided to sew baby clothes for Angelica too, even though she knows that she most likely won't be alive to enjoy them all. She hasn't blamed God or been angry at the fact that she has spent 9 months of her life sacrificing, losing her figure, being sick, all the hard stuff that comes with pregnancy. .  .and not to even get to keep the baby in the end. She continues to thank her Heavenly Father for this experience to carry a special child who has taught them already so much about the preciousness of life. I am so inspired by her unselfish desire to give life and love to this angel baby who will have such a short life among us. No child could be more loved. 

We love you Candice and Peter and are praying that this will be a sweet experience as you meet and enjoy the time that you have with Angelica. Thanks for teaching us so much. 

It seems like I just blog currently just for the sake of blogging so I don't give it up all together. It's been such a good thing in the past, and I am sure that I will get the motivation back . . . so for now I press on until I do. I took several pictures this weekend and that helped get me on here. I love taking pictures of Caroline, because she has A LOOOOTT of personality. She just is overflowing with zest.  All Saturday she was bugging us to take her to Wendy's to use her Birthday kids meal coupon that just came in the mail. She seriously asked over 100 times and said we had to go today because if we didn't we were gonna forget. Ha! Like that could ever happen.

So besides her constant harassment to go somewhere, Saturday was a typical day of our great NH life.  I love that dentists have weekends off and really nothing that they need to feel guilty about because they don't need to study (like in dental school) call a big list of people (like in our insurance salesman days) or work their head off all day (like on the farm) because you definitely don't take Saturdays off as a farmer.

So we can plan our weekends around family usually and of course church too because that takes up much of Sunday's and sometimes Saturdays too. But last Saturday was pretty open. Despite three transport trips to the Mall for Kennon's Jazz band performance, we took it easy at home.

Working in the yard is always my favorite Saturday family activity and we did plenty of that. At least I did. Everyone else disappeared from the work area after about an hour but I kept going until I had 1/2 our back woods taken out. Anything small enough for my clippers was cut down and hauled away. We now can run around in the woods without ticks brushing against us on all side. And I know we are probably moving out of these woods soon. . . but it was worth it. 

  

Brent finally found himself a motorcycle after hundreds of hours of craigslist shopping and that was the reason that I think I was abandoned. He started that up for a short work break and then spent the next hour giving each kid a ride around town. He never can sneak away on that one. 

On one of these rides he found out that the University was holding a very affordable carnival a mile away. So we scrapped our date plans for the evening and took the three middle girls to hang out with the coeds till the carnival closed. We had a carnival come to town every summer in Buffalo but that one cost $20 for a ride pass and we never bought one once. This one was only $5.  Once again we were one of the very few families that were brave enough to hang out with college kids. I don't mind these kids at all at this university. I am seriously impressed with them. They don't cuss or smoke, or at least they refrain to do so around our children. 

I am proud to announce that Caroline finally got over her fear of rides and was a new and improved girl and didn't waste any of the money we spent on her. She was so happy to be there all night. Of course they didn't have that scary dragon ride that terrified her every year as we talked her into just one ride to try it again. . . Do I need to post those photos again? 

Kennon on the other hand has already passed the stage of thinking carnivals with your family are fun and stayed home happily to watch Marcus.

                                                    There was free face painting by the sorority girls.

                                              And the most respectable carnies you will ever find. 





Savannah came along and spent way too much time in line getting her portrait drawn on this hat. Luckily she didn't have to pay for this artwork. This actually is after she spent another 10 minutes at home with her sharpie adding eyelashes, and more hair on the side because at first she looked mostly like a man with a hairy chin.

 On Sunday afternoon we went for a walk down to our river with even less children. We keep losing them lately when it comes to their willingness to be seen in public with their family.

Aren't they sweet when they are young and do what you say? Camille is washing her hands off in the river after being told to pick up the trash she knocked over and out of the garbage can, one item being a doggie doo bag.

I told Camille she has to stay on our side and not cross over to the dark side to join her older sisters.

Okay I know. I have become a terrible blogger. I have my reasons.


Here are the highlights of another month around our house.

 The snow went away. And though it is still cold most days, Marcus now spends much of his time outdoors. Shoeless. He won't listen to me when I warn him about all the stickers I am going to have to pull out of his feet.

Nor does he take heed when I mention that rolling down our hill is a great way to pick up blood sucking ticks. I hate to always spoil his fun.  

Camille and Caroline started up a lemonade stand with some neighbor girls a couple weeks ago. They stole the idea from these neighbors down the street that they crashed one day after they saw they had a stand going. I insisted that the sale at our house have a few improvements. First of all everyone gets their own cup. This stand had one cup and each costumer got a fresh straw but then returned the cup for the next customer's use. And the plastic cup didn't even look cleaned. It was covered with paint from the face painting booth they were simultaneously operating. They also advertised that their lemonaid was fresh. After you paid got to watch them dump in a couple spoonfuls of sugar, and few splashes of lemon juice, and then warm water. Each customer had a different recipe. So at our sale you actually get your own cup with cold lemonaid made from Country time in our kitchen. They made about 5 bucks each in a couple hours and so Camille wants to have them constantly. It's amazing to me how whole families will walk down to visit and buy our lemonade like it's actually their favorite way to spend their money.


The last afternoon we had a lemonade stand going on Marcus, Caroline and I were manning the booth while Camille and Anna (a neighbor girl) were in making more lemonade. Marcus suddenly took off running down the street, refusing to listen to me when I screamed at him to come back. I turned my back on him for a minute to tell Caroline that I was going after him and suddenly he was gone. I saw he was headed towards Anna's house and wasn't too concerned that I had lost sight of him. He was probably hiding behind a tree or something knowing he was in trouble. But when I finally made it there, I couldn't find him anywhere. Marcus hasn't ever been over to her house but he knows where she lives. After having no luck searching the yard and woods for him I decided to knock on the door and let Anna's parents know why I was running around their yard. 

No one answered to my rings though except for two large barking dogs. A couple minutes later I heard noise around the back and walked around and found him inside their fenced-in yard sliding down their slide. I grabbed him quick scolding him all the way home for running away from me and then going on the neighbor's property without being invited. His shoes were of course missing, though I was pretty sure he had them on for once, when I last saw him. We told Anna the story once we got back to our place and I asked her if she could look around her yard for Marcus's shoes. She found them later inside their house upstairs. So he had just walked right in and made himself at home, not even worrying about the fact that he was in an unfamiliar house with big unfamiliar dogs.  I hope he can learn to mind this summer or it is going to be a difficult one.

One thing we all have missed since moving from NY is all that money that those high NY taxes brought in for our school. Our last grade school had an auditorium and put on awesome shows that were serious good entertainment. The middle school had an even larger auditorium and even an indoor swimming pool. Only our high school here has an auditorium and guess what? It doesn't even have a football team because. . . we don't have a stadium, of course. 

So there are of course drawbacks to living in the no state income and no sales tax state that we were so attracted to. In NH things are little more laid back and everyone expects a grade school show to be simple and not involve any more than a month of once a week practices. Unfortunately they chose the exact musical production that our girls were in a couple years ago at their NY school. So we couldn't help comparing one Suessical to the other Suessical. Though they sang great and had better soloists probably than the previous Suessical, there was nothing else going on. No clip on mikes in the budget around here so don't even think about doing anything but planting yourself squarely in front of that microphone.  And the other hundred kids that aren't leads stand on risers at the back of the stage and never leave the entire play. I felt bad for the parents who worked hard sewing an awesome Sneetch costume for their child only to find that you only saw the top of his head the entire play.
Camille was lucky and was cast as Horton. Along with a fourth grade boy. They switch the cast out for the second act. Which in theory is a good way to get more kids involved but it certainly doesn't to add the performance. Camille was a good choice for Horton- she is super sweet just like the elephant who was willing to sit on the egg. 

You can't see much here but look for the gray blob sitting front and center. And that's Camille's voice you will hear singing.


We all missed Caroline popping out of a giant egg as the elephant bird though. That was the best part of the last show. 

Last week was Spring Break and I find that it isn't near as fun with a combination of middle and grade schoolers. The grade schoolers would hang out all day in their jammies playing monopoly ( Caroline and Camille are obsessed with it and will play for hours, day after day)  totally content.  The middle schoolers were calling their friends all week and trying to do something exciting. Begging me to take them shopping because they were "wasting their spring break." But did they want to do any of the things that I thought were fun family activities like going to the park/ library/ a local kids concert/ or hiking? Yeah, right. So I find that life has definitely gotten complicated now we are in this stage.

Finally on Friday when Dad was done with his week we went on our second ever vacation since moving to NH. The family that use do to be known for many vacations has gotten pretty boring since we joined the real world of working and earning money and again. The only other time we left town was to head to a wintry Buffalo funeral so I don't even know if that counts for a vacation.


This time we decided to head south to Boston. We spent Friday evening at the Children's Museum of Boston which is right on the harbor. Then we drove south of Boston and spent the weekend at my cousin Marne`'s beautiful new home in Norfolk, MA. We are each other's only family in the northeast and figured we needed to have a New England Family Reunion for Easter.  We had an indoor egg hunt Saturday due to lots of rain, and then Brent, Kennon and I drove back up to Boston for a ward temple trip while 8 month pregnant Marne` fed, bathed and put the other 6 children to bed for us. You will have to rely on this narrative for the weekend because I brought a dead camera along so we have no Easter Vacation pictures at all.  Marcus decided that their almost two year old son Bowen is his very best friend and he actually cried when we said goodbye after church.


And in House Hunting News. . .we had an offer accepted on a foreclosure home here. I am so anxious to own because I love to paint and I am going insane here in this 30 year old house that needs a bit updating. Even if the landlord allowed me to update my husband won't. He says I am wasting my time and money even  if I dare to put up a curtain on a rental home. So we really need to buy a house so I can have the license again to be creative and make things a little more beautiful.  And we can't buy a house that's all beautiful because then how fun is that? And do you really think after our history that we are the type to buy the pricey perfect house that you instantly love because it's all fixed up? No of course not. We are looking for the Worst home. . . . in the best neighborhood of course. Something with potential, but plenty of problems to bring down the price. 

So we did find our promising foreclosure home listed well below what you normally would pay to live in that neighborhood. It's a contemporary style home which I never thought was my style before but for some reason I am willing to give it a chance to see if it is. 

Unfortunately the power and water are all off and so it's all a gamble. I didn't even get to see one bathroom because. . . .  I couldn't see it. With no windows and no light in the room it was impossible to check out. So we will just have to take our chances on that one.  We already know their are problems that need to be fixed. Most bedrooms without closets, no Master suite, broken rain gutters, a mysteriously missing deck from a sliding glass door that goes nowhere . . . but there could also be bigger problems like broken water pipes in the wall. It's all so exciting, all this unknown. So in the next 7 days  it will be inspected and then if we still want to take it on . .  it will be ours in Early May. The bank is insisting on a quick close. 

April Snow Showers

Kennon keeps sprucing up my blog and surprising me with a new look. She also takes 90% of all our photos so I guess a Big Thank You to Kennon is in order for the entire blog. I definitely got out the habit of blogging while I was working, and now it's hard again to do regular posts. I have enjoyed being less connected to my computer and don't want to start up old habits too much. So we'll see. I think blogging is so good because then we have all the memories, but it also is hard to get up once you sit down and start blogging and then reading friend's blogs. While working I learned to just do the things that matter most, and it made me feel good about my day and I would like to continue that.
We finally had nice weather the last couple weeks of March. The snow was melting and we were seeing green grass. Then came April Fools Day.  We woke up to at least 4 in. of fresh snow. And school canceled. No fooling. 

I was supposed to work all day at the office on the Snow Day as an assistant. We decided to send Savannah as the assistant instead so I could stay home and make the snow day fun. We only send under age assistants on Saturdays and Fridays when the office is actually closed. People are pretty understanding about kids in the office at this practice. There is no law against 11 year old assistants . . . that I know of. 

Kennon doesn't love it, and the dentist doesn't like how she keeps asking, "How much longer, Dad?" during the procedure. Savannah has enjoyed it from the beginning. She is always looking for funds for her growing wardrobe and a girl can never buy enough hats, right? So she works every Saturday or Snow Day she can.
This toothless-still 6 daughter has been wanting to bear her testimony of Jesus the last couple months during our Sunday Fast and Testimony at church. She never brings it up until the meeting though and I have told her that we need to talk about it at home first and make sure she understands the purpose of going up to the front and having your time at the mic. Because of course Caroline would be interested in standing in front of a microphone and with Caroline you never know what she might say.  But you can be sure that she will be up there for a while and have plenty on her mind. 
Two weeks ago it was again our monthly Fast and Testimony meeting. We had forgotten to talk about it at all at home since the last month when she was interested. And Marcus was sick with the flu so I just drove the kids in and dropped them off with lots of instructions and warnings - "Be good! No fights, No purses or any other paraphernalia to fight over, No leaving to the bathrooms, Kennon on one side, Savannah on the other end". . . . I thought I had it all covered. 

Dad would be on the stand so I wanted them to sit together on the front row where the bishopric could keep their eye on them. Turns out that was probably not such a good idea because they were all too obvious up in front on display for the congregation. And what was Poor Dad on the Stand gonna do if they were misbehaving? Apparently the evil eye wasn't working it's magic.

I also completely forgot that Caroline wanted to bear her testimony.  Well, that Sunday Camille and Caroline both went up. Kennon told them she would give them a candy bar if they did. How was I supposed to think of warning them, "No Bribery" also? I didn't hear anyone mention much about Camille's testimony -she's pretty brief, but Caroline apparently took her sweet time telling a story about a birthday party she attended. She talked about the pinata, the prizes, the tea party, and finally after several minutes got to the punch line. . . She had shared her pinata treasures with other less fortunate party goers who weren't as quick to grab as she was. So she apparently sort of understands the point of bearing a testimony. She had gained a testimony that it is wonderful to be unselfish and kind to others like Jesus was. And she enjoyed it so much I am sure that she will be wanting to go up once a month for now on to tell us how her 6 year old testimony is coming along.

After another long winter here in the Northeast it is going to be hard to relearn how to ride a bike. We always get a jump start when it warms up a little and there are still snowbanks to serve as bumpers. I am sure Caroline will have it figured out again by the end of the summer.

Today I had to run to the bank and noticed cop cars parked on every corner. Then I heard on the radio that Vice President Joe Biden is here speaking at the University. Ron Paul was here a couple weeks ago speaking. So far I find out too late to attend. Somehow I need to get in the loop now that things are heating up for the election. And I am pretty sure NH is the place to be if you want to meet the big names for 2012. All I need now is a baby so I can get on the camera when they walk by me. Maybe Marcus would count as a baby? 




We had a super weekend staying home and watching the General Conference Broadcast instead of church. Out here it doesn't start until 12 noon so that is one lazy Sunday morning that only comes around twice a year. I made cinnamon rolls like I always do for the occasion. And we sat and ate for hours and hours. Eight actually. 

I love being a Mormon. Actually according to President Packer who spoke on Saturday we are no longer supposed to say we are Mormon. We are back to saying, " I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". It's a mouthful. So I am assuming the " I am a Mormon button" is still okay, but be it understood that it means that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. It's important that people know that Mormons aren't just followers of some guy named Mormon. He was a prophet who compiled the book that we know as the Book of Mormon, an ancient record of people who once lived on the American continent. 

But we are followers of Jesus Christ. Over and over during Conference they reminded us that the most important thing we can do everyday is to show loving kindness to each and everyone of God's children. That's what it is all about. I am so thankful for my testimony of Jesus Christ and the way it inspires me to live better and love more.

HAPPY Friday!

I can't believe that messy picture of my living room has been left on here front and center for TWO WEEKS!

I am starting my 9th week working next week. Still waiting for the full time help to come back full time. She has completed three half days so far.

The office is supposed to be closed Fridays but we've worked every Friday since I started. Just Brent and I. And Marcus on occasion. We've been giving a whole new meaning to the name Applewood FAMILY Dentistry lately. The rest of the staff never comes on Friday. So that means we operate without a front desk lady. . .or a babysitter. Two weeks ago it was Marcus's birthday and I resented that I had to work the whole day. I insisted that I wouldn't part with him on his birthday. I woke him up with the whole family singing carrying a lighted stack of birthday pancakes. Brent thought it was a bit ridiculous (He thinks I overdue it on Birthdays)  but I was thinking this may be the only thing he gets all day. Once at the office I set him up in the upstairs staff room with his favorite babysitter. . . Netflix. I also brought a bean bag and plenty of snacks. Plus he had a fridge fully stocked by our front desk lady.  She usually has an assortment of stuff like hard boiled eggs (he cracked those), fruits and veggies, juice, dips, cheeses. And all right there on Marcus's level. He did fine with the arrangement. The only amenity the nursery lacked was a men's room. The bathroom was down a steep set of stairs to our level and at least twice during the day he didn't make it.

Anyway, we worked from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m!!!! On a Friday!! On Marcus's Birthday!! Finally I took off in a sour mood to celebrate my son's birthday. By 7:30 I was home and had the kids all loaded up for a trip to McDonald's Playland and Brent pulled in just as we were leaving. We played till they closed up the Playland at 9 p.m. I was smart and didn't even order him anything but a milkshake because I knew he wouldn't touch it. Then we came home and opened presents and had a store bought carrot cake (first  cake I have ever bought). I have always taught Marcus that carrots are dessert (they clean out his teeth) and I thought it was a fitting way to celebrate under the circumstances. He was thrilled and didn't complain a bit about the way his 24 hours were spent turning 3. I am quite sad that he isn't two anymore. Why can't I keep my babies a little longer? They keep growing up on me and forcing me to want another one. I honestly don't know how this ever ends. The babies grow up. . .the mom wants another baby. At least that is how it usually goes around here.

Not that I even have time right now for the five I have. I am pretty torn because Brent and I are becoming a good team. Sometimes it seems like this is the way it should be. It's like we are back on the farm spending our days together solving problems. Except we get along so much better now than in the early honeymoon days teaching me to drive tractors and be a farmers wife. A dental assistant is much easier. And he can't get mad at me anymore. Nope, not in front of the patients.

But then I come home and have to make the huge decision constantly. . . Do I clean like a mad woman all night  OR   Do I relax and enjoy the little bit of time I have to be a Mom today? Sometimes I chose the better part and do the latter and sometimes I come home and yell and nag all night while I run around trying to make up for 8 hours not spent at home that day. So basically I know now for the first time how you working mothers do it, I've done it and amazingly life just goes on and we are doing fine, but something has to give you know?

So today is a Happy Friday, because I finally convinced Brent we needed a break and we didn't schedule anything. He is off visiting a specialist learning something new and Marcus and I have the whole day ahead of us to. It feels so good. Can't believe it used to be like this every day.

Here's a brief update on my children.

Kennon -Got her own room when we moved here. It's not really a good thing. We frequently remove her door or take her room away all together. We need to get squished in a little house again so we all can  family time. She has become way too territorial and something of a hermit back in her cave. We convinced her a couple weeks ago to play Monopoly with the fam. She had fun. See?

Caroline had the most fun. She almost beat her Dad! And that was her first time playing.

Savannah- The only thing that gets removed from her is her computer privileges. I don't think I will ever get used to how hooked up kids are nowadays. She skypes with her friends constantly. She also started ordering stuff online. All free of course. We have got all kinds of random samples. She signs us all up. Kennon got adult diapers, Caroline- travel kleenexes, Marcus- individual Miracle Whip packages, and Savannah- three bags of Cheesits. Lately it's one box a day in our mailbox. I don't know how she gets these ideas.

Camille is busy practicing away for her grade school play. She loves all the solos she gets but doesn't feel flattered about the casting. Not when she has to recite lines like. . . " I big, I'm fat, I'm slow". She's Horton the Elephant.

Caroline is busy losing teeth. She lost her top middle tooth one evening after having her Dad hook it with a piece of floss and then jumping up and down over and over yanking. It was only slightly loose. Then two days later she came to me before church and pointed at the bottom middle one and said, "Mom, when did I loose this one?" So one yanked out and one swallowed. Sounds line one of Brent's patients.

 Caroline was upset about something last week and made the above mask and stuck this on her face to express her unhappiness. When we finally noticed her. . . . It got the point across way better than words or tears. Her Dad loved it. He is the one who took the picture. He was laughing pretty hard. I think I am going to put Caroline in charge of making some more. We will need 7 of them. Much better than crying, right? Who can't give in to that face?