Sunflower Farm

Do you remember your first bus ride? Kristen had her "first" last week as her kindergarten class visited Sunflower Farm in Longmont. She was thrilled that I was able to come along as well. I was amazed that there was such a cool treasure so close by that I had never known about before.



We left the school around 9:45 am in two big yellow buses and drove for about 15 minutes to the farm. Once we all finished disembarking next to Osama the Llama, we were given a short spiel on instructions and then left to roam. I was with another mother and two other girls. We had to wait for them most of the time which made Kristen a little impatient. The little girl of the mother we were partnered with was the same little girl a couple of weeks ago who acted so snobbish about the toy she was getting. It was enough to spend the morning with them. I always wondered why Kristen never asked to play with this particular little girl; I understand now. I digress.

Kristen dressed for the occasion in her cowgirl hat and boots with a skirt. She definitely knows how to do it up right.



First stop was the zipline. It was a rather popular attraction. We then headed over to the hay bale climbing area. I was grateful not to have an allergic reaction. They had set up planks connecting piles of hay bales to others. Kristen seemed to have a little squeamishness around heights (much like me), so I held her hand as she walked carefully across. We headed next to the goats. There was corn for the kids to feed the goats, but Kristen just watched.





We wandered around to check out the sand pile, horses, a merry-go-round, tree houses, climbing ropes, swings. Kristen wanted to swing, but so did a lot of other kids. We weren't the only school group there, so it was a bit busy at times. Our group activity was to plant sunflower seeds that each student was able to take home. Kristen is hoping that hers grows to be huge.



Finally, she got to ride the horse swing just as we were ready to leave.

Remotely Contentious

Now, I'm not placing all of the blame on the remote, but I can't count how often the remote control is at the center of arguments in our home. Is it the instigator of the problems? Not sure. But it certainly knows which buttons to push to get my girls going.

Last night for instance, Kristen wanted the remote and apparently had it first. Misha somehow maneuvered it away from Kristen and the arguing ensued. Misha headed off to the bathroom and with a slick hand off to Amy, ensured that the remote would be secure in her absence. How you ask? Amy hid it in the appliance garage in the kitchen. Sneaky. When I looked to Amy for an explanation she replied, "We're very serious about remote privileges around here." Apparently.

Art Show

Misha's art project has been displayed at the mall in the district-wide art show throughout the past week. Last night was the open house and I imagine it generated the most traffic for the week. I try to celebrate all of my kids' accomplishments, so we headed in to Longmont to check out her work. It's called an "insoluble painting". Somehow the kids fill it so that a liquid encases their artwork and results in a project that is fun to touch.

Misha's pointing to the artwork at the top!



And here's a close up.

National Junior Honor Society

Amy was inducted in to the newly-minted National Junior Honor Society chapter at her school last week. Chris caught an early flight home from Seattle and arrived at the school (with tulips in hand) as they were ten names away from reading Amy's name. She was thrilled. She asked me earlier in the day, "Mom, do you think this is my most important day ever?" I am grateful that she really strives to do her best in school.



And she was loving her straight hair. She had about three inches cut off earlier in the week. What she loves most about a hair cut is having straight hair for as many days as she can get away with not washing her hair.

Kristen

I swear, my six-year old is hormonally challenged right now. Her attitude lately has been a little...horrifighting. It's a perfectly acceptable word that Kristen coined and used on me the other day when I told her she would have to go spend some time in her room if she didn't stop being a little pill. With drama, "I can't. My room is horrifighting." There you have it. It IS a word.

Life Lesson

Amy has started making some hair bows to sell that my Mom taught her how to make. When she was left to her own devices to make hair bows for a friend who had bought some, she did a rather shoddy job. Upon showing me, I told her that it was unacceptable for her to sell the hair bows as they were, and that she would have to make some more and use the
samples that Grandma had made with her as her guide. She was quite upset with me and put off completing the order.

I finally said that I would help her in order to help her fulfill her obligation. As we worked together, I then proceeded to tell her about my first sewing experiences with my mom and how they were filled with a lot of unpicking and redoing of seams. She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and said, "Good, I thought I was the only one to mess up."
Quality work is one of the many lessons I learned from my mom: Do it right, do it well...and if you don't, do it again. A good lesson for me to pass on.

Grandma's Visit

Grandma Ball came to visit a couple weeks ago. The girls were thrilled to have her come, Kristen especially since she and Grandma share April as their birthday month. We were a little disappointed that the weather didn't cooperate--it was cold all weekend long--but we still found some fun things to do.

Grandma's flight landed just after 6 on Friday night. We planned to go see the Pirate exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, but the last available time to view the exhibit was at 7 pm. We grabbed a quick dinner for us and Grandma on the way to the airport at Chick-fil-A. We ate in the van as we waited for her to land and then she ate as we drove to the museum.

Photography was not allowed in the exhibit, but grandma took a few pictures before and after. I forgot my camera. Boo.







Not being an excellent reader yet, it wasn't quite so fun for Kristen. We read to her and explained what some of the exhibits were. Grandma and the girls finished a lot quicker than Chris and I. It was interesting though. We made a quick stop at McDonalds for treats and then headed home for the night.

Saturday morning, Misha and Kristen were up at their normal early hour. Amy, Grandma and Chris slept in. Misha created her own pirate costume.



I made some delicious pumpkin muffins which seem to be a new favorite now. We had hoped to go up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, but it was quite cold at our house and would have been even colder there. Grandma came with her new toy, an iPad, and like bees to honey, she and Chris were drawn in.



I could tell that Chris and his mom could have sat there all day, but I could also tell that the girls were getting restless. What to do on a cold day? We settled on Laser Tag in Loveland. This was a first for Grandma, and she had as much fun as the rest of us did. My girls dressed for the occasion in their stealth wear. No white unless you want to be lit up like a Christmas tree.



After returning home, the girls and Grandma played Wii while Chris and I made a trip to Costco. Oh, I could spend so much money in that store! I do, but I could spend so much more.

We decided to have dinner at the new Mexican restaurant in town, Hacienda Jalisco. I could eat Mexican any day of the week. My girls, not so much. It was possible that some of them were pouting at the restaurant.

Grandma was here until Monday afternoon when both she and Chris headed to the airport. Before leaving, she got to spend Monday morning with Kristen and Misha at school.

Easter

Our girls seemed to really enjoy our new traditional Easter egg hunt. This year, each girl had 19 eggs to find. There was candy in some of the eggs, notes in others, and some were empty. Chris was home sick from church so I gave him the responsibility of hiding the eggs and the girls' baskets.



He came up with a clever way by creating a clue in Morse code. He copied a sheet containing the Morse code, cut it in four pieces, and stuffed four eggs with those papers. One of their eggs contained a clue of where to look next: Matthew 28, Luke 24, Mark 16. In their own scriptures, he had placed the final clue of where they could find each of their baskets. Amy's basket was outside in the BBQ, Misha's was in the shower downstairs, and Kristen's was in the cupboard by the computer. I thought it was kind of funny that there was a marked difference in the height at which I normally hide the eggs and the height at which Chris hid the eggs this year. There were stools and mini-trampolines involved in the retrieving.







After dinner, we opened our scriptures to read the scriptural passages Christopher had marked. It was a wonderful way to focus on the Savior.

Scooter Love

Kristen received two more packages in the mail today. Walkie talkies from her dad and a Sweat Pea Pink "Razor" scooter from Grandma and Grandpa Ball. We haven't been able to remove the clip from the walkie talkies yet to insert the batteries, so she'll have to wait a day or two until Chris gets home.



A couple of months ago, Kristen decided that she wanted a two-wheel scooter to replace her wobbly three-wheel, not-so-big-girl scooter. Then she changed her mind. When Grandma Ball asked for a gift idea, I sent her a link for the scooter anyway. I hoped that Kristen would be agreeable. Sad to say Grandma, when she saw the scooter, she wasn't too impressed, "I thought I told you I didn't want one." I replied, "I didn't give you the scooter, Grandma did." Hmmm, you could tell it was a little more acceptable since Grandma gave it to her.



Two-wheeled transporters seem to freak her out. I offered to help her ride the scooter on the hardwood by showing her where to put her feet and how to push; I balanced her for a bit. It only took her a couple of minutes to get the hang of it. She's in love. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa. She's been riding all evening long. Once she takes it outside to ride to school tomorrow, it won't be coming back inside, so she's been taking full advantage of my generosity.



She offered to let her sisters ride her scooter if they did what she wanted--"You can clean my room." They opted not to ride.

It's a Birthday Day

So my baby turns six today. My baby who happens to be not so much of a baby anymore. In fact, she is turning in to a planner extraordinaire. She has even been known to make lists. Let's see, her birthday list:

streamers
birthday plates
birthday napkins
balloons
cake
candles
presents
cookies or treats to take to her class at school

Thankfully the dollar store is quite accommodating for birthday planning, especially for the mylar balloons. You might argue that balloons from other places will last longer, but... Exactly, that is my point. Amy's balloon from December hung around in the corner of the ceiling for two months before it thought about deflating a bit.

So, last Wednesday, Kristen wanted to go to Walmart just to see if they had any acceptable cakes. Just to see, mind you. (She so reminds me of me.) When I pulled in to the parking lot and then decided to come back later with the older girls, she was totally miffed. I hit on a lovely idea though. Amy likes to bake, maybe she could do it. I'm all for getting out of making cakes. So later when we got home, Kristen asked Amy, "Would you be honored to make my birthday cake for me?" (So cute.) Amy looked at me, "Can I?", and I nodded. There was a little rejoicing and more lists were made that included frosting and sprinkles and such.





Amy happened to find a spring-form pan that I had. My cool Mom points just went up. All three girls set out to make the cake together. I tried to stay out of the process as much as possible, but there was a teensy bit of arguing involved. Most of it started out with, "Amy, you're doing all...."

Somehow Barbie Mariposa made her way in to the planning process and was wrapped in saran wrap. We thought for awhile there that the cake would have to be scrapped, but I turned it right side up, and problem solved. After cooling, the girls spent quite a bit of time working together (arguing some) to get the cake decorated. And voila! (Please pronounce that vwa-la, not wa-la. It's a pet peeve.)





So, we celebrated with cake and Christopher on Sunday evening (his schedule took him away on Kristen's birthday).



Kristen had to exercise a little patience waiting for the actual day to arrive. We had the obligatory candle in the breakfast--a biscuit--and a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" Tuesday morning before Amy left for school. And she got to open one present--"Just Dance for Kids".





I headed over to the school around 10:15 which was close to recess when Kristen would be able to pass around her cookies and be sung to. So smart of her teacher, Mrs. Ryan, to wait until all of the kids were outside to hand out the cookies. And they all had to wait for Kristen to finish passing out cookies to everyone, serve herself and take the first bite.







I stayed until her morning class let out at 11:35. They had a coloring project to work on after recess. A bunch of the girls sat down at one table. One little girl starting talking, and I swear the group aged 30 years and were sitting at the Country Club chatting over lunch. It was that pretentious. "So, did you hear about the latest toy I am getting?" I kind of did a double take. I was standing by Kristen and she leaned over and out of the side of her mouth she whispered, "She thinks she's a real princess." So funny.

Kristen's friend Aaliyah invited Kristen over to play for the afternoon. Seriously, a play date with her friend was the best gift. Plus, it gave me a chance to run some errands on my own. Kristen's sisters arrived home shortly after I picked Kristen up and there was no more waiting to open presents.



The final celebration for the day was dinner at Kristen's restaurant of choice. Texas Roadhouse. Seriously not a restaurant I would choose on my own, but my girls are all steak lovers, and that was her choice. She willingly climbed up on the birthday saddle for a resounding "Yee Haw" throughout the restaurant acknowledging her special day (along with at least five others while we were there). She ate the whipped cream off her complimentary ice cream and passed the ice cream to her sisters.



Happy Birthday little girl! Love ya.

Parenting Styles

Anyone else out there use guilt as a parenting technique. No? Well, I've been known to a time or two. Let me just give a scenario. When I finish laundry, I often line up four laundry baskets close to the stairs for individuals to carry upstairs. Certain individuals will walk past those baskets and up the stairs two dozen times and never think to stop and take their basket with them. I'm not sure why there is a disconnect, I see stuff sitting around and I usually stoop to pick it up/put it away/throw it in the garbage. Is it just a Mom thing? So, as I walk past those laundry baskets for the 50th time, I'll say, "Would you please take your laundry basket to your room when you go upstairs?" More often than not, the basket still sits at the bottom of the stairs. At some point, my girls will hear, "Thanks so much for taking your laundry basket upstairs!" in a totally facetious voice. There's a difference between really thanking them and using guilt to, well, guilt them.

So yesterday, I had three remaining laundry baskets sitting at the bottom of the stairs waiting for their owners to come and claim them. The girls had done their typical walk-bys, and I had requested the baskets be taken upstairs. Suddenly, one of the baskets was missing. Because I know their clothes, I could tell that Misha had grabbed her basket on one of her trips up the stairs and deposited it in her room. I sincerely (note there is a difference in my voice with sincerely and guiltily) thanked Misha.

Amy, who happened to be in the kitchen, heard me and added, "Oooohhhhh, busted Misha." Amy needs to fine tune her ear a little more to my sincerity, she just assumed Misha was getting in trouble. I responded, "She did take her basket upstairs." and Misha yelled from the office something similar. Amy replied, "Mom, you're so confusing."

Some Dad Time

So Chris made a purchase last week. It arrived while he was away, and the girls speculated over what might be in the box. They were pretty excited when he opened the box and pulled out an air rifle and then a jar of pellets from another box. "Can I? Can I?" Since it was already dark, the obvious answer was, "No."

The gun sat on my kitchen counter for a couple of days until Saturday when Chris surprised the girls with a father/daughter outing. I opted to stay home, but the pictures tell a pretty fun story. I guess Kristen wasn't too thrilled about the gun when they first arrived at our friend's house to shoot on their farm. In fact, I think she even cried, but when she saw that it might be a little fun to try, she braved up and took her turn.









Thanks to all who took pictures for me!

General Conference

I am sure this wasn't all that Chris got out off Conference weekend, but he certainly lucked out!

Annoyances

I think my family is getting a little annoyed with all the pictures I am taking. It doesn't help any more to say, "I'm practicing," even when I am! No more smiles; now mostly I get looks of "Really Mom?" and "Are you done yet?"





Fortunately I have one child who is still willing to smile for me.

Cookie Dough

Last week, Amy was in the kitchen making cookies--she's caught a cooking bug. Misha and Kristen were hovering hoping to get a spoonful or a chance to lick the bowl when Amy was done. Of course, there was a discussion (read argument) over who actually got to lick the bowl. Kristen complained to Misha, "I never get the bowl. You always get the bowl. It's time to move on."

Coach B

Kristen loves her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ryan. Mrs. Ryan took a few days off last week. Enter Coach B. I don't know if he still coaches elsewhere, but he lucked out with a classroom full of eager kinder students. On the first day of his subbing, Kristen didn't say too much except to mention that Coach B was her teacher for a few days, but on Friday she began to tell me how much Coach B annoyed her. Really? Why? "He's just annoying. That's his job. He's supposed to annoy all the baseball players." I guess he threatened her class with pushups. I supposed that is a daunting thought if you are five.

They must have had a few fun conversations with Coach B. She came home with this fancy headware last Friday.

Gardening

Kristen has the gardening bug. She was the one who kept asking when we were going to be able to plant some seeds. Saturday the 2nd dawned beautifully and favored us with an 80* day. No complaints here. The girls were just finishing up a week of Spring Break--they had completed all of their chores on Friday morning and were actually happy to help out in the yard. Kristen dressed for the occasion.



We mixed in some new soil with the old soil, transferred some of that soil to the new garden area at the bottom of the yard, leveled everything out, added new string to mark off our square foot plots in the garden, and planted peas and onions.





And I took a few pictures of our neighbor's blossoming tree.

Bike Ride

Now that Kristen has learned to ride a two-wheel bike, she's anxious to test out her new skills. She and I went on a bike ride together over to the "tree" park. We need to work on her traffic-safety knowledge, but other than that she did really well. My bike is kind of out of commission, so I rode Amy's bike. (There are some advantages to having a daughter almost as tall as me.)

A couple of days later, all of the girls wanted to ride over to the "tree" park together. Since I didn't have a bike to ride, I followed in the van and brought my camera along.











We were only able to stay at the park for a short time because Chris and I had plans for the evening. The adventure was going pretty well until something, according to Kristen, bumped her off her bike! I hate it when that happens. She crashed. It was handy having the van because I was able to scoop her and her bike up and drive her on home. Poor little thing couldn't even sit down her heiny hurt so badly. Fortunately it hasn't deterred her from being willing to try again.