Week 17:Grandkid Luncheon #5

This week...

...we held the fifth annual grandkid luncheon. This year it was at our house because the Sparkling Z ranch house is all torn apart right now with Jason's renovations. It was so great to have them all together again - except the oldest who is on a mission. Our theme this year is I can do hard things: Perseverance. Heber J. Grant, seventh president of the church, was our example. This man had so much determination and perseverance. It's amazing!

...Paul participated in his second annual Fun Run at school. I took Ben, Claire, and Lainey with me so we could volunteer out at the field and run with Paul when his class came out. Lainey was excited to run, Ben and Claire not so much. They wanted to play on the playground toys more. I made them run with me though so they could get their popsicle at the end. It was great to be outside, cheering the kids on, and marking their laps off on their runner's tag. In the picture below, you can see Lainey stretching out with Paul's class.

Claire is a pro at the monkey bars.  

 

 

Lainey had to make another lap when Paul's morning teacher, Mrs. Ogle, came out. Lainey held her hand and walked another lap with them. They talked about Mrs. Ogle's purple painted toenails. The next day Mrs. Ogle let us borrow the purple nail polish so we could paint Lainey's fingers and toes.

...we painted at Grandma Zirker's house. We're in the process of changing carpet, flooring, counters, and paint at my mom's. Jason is the project manager and we're all donating our time. Paul has turned into quite the little helper. He helped Aunt Reesie paint in the family room and kitchen.

 

...Paul tried to hoard the cookie dough all for himself. That didn't last long.

...we went to an angry birds birthday party. Our friend Kiersten turned 6 and we got to celebrate with her and her family. The kids had a blast bouncing in the bounce house and eating the cupcake cake. Oh yeah, and taking a turn at the pinata too.

Week 16: Think, Believe, Live Higher

This week...

...we had a blast at Time Out for Women. My sisters and I made the trip to Spokane again this year for this great women's event. They are going to start doing them every year in Spokane because the event has grown so much. Yay! The theme for this year is Think, Believe, Live Higher. Below is the only shot of the three of us together (taken with my phone). I'm so glad that my sisters will go with me. I've always wanted to do something like this with them. One of the presenters challenged us to look for the parable of each day. That is one thing that has stayed with me from the conference and I've had tons of little parables pop out at me throughout each day since. It has been so fun to think of these little parable-moments and they relate to the gospel or life.

 

We tried a new restaurant for lunch - Luigi's Italian. It wasn't bad. I really liked what I had - some white, creamy sauce dish. Yum! (So good I can't even remember the name. Ha!) My sister, Shelly, was my willing model.

We had to stop at our favorite chocolate place in the mall - The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company. Only, this year we weren't too thrilled with our flavor picks for the caramel/chocolate dipped apples. Better luck next time... (Check out those cute sandals that my sister Cherice is wearing down in the bottom left hand corner. So cute! Sadly, she did not find any shoes to buy on this trip.)

...discovered Lainey's hidden sumo talents. She found some of Grandma's knee high nylon stockings and decided they must be for wearing. Her wearing. She also discovered that the arms of her sweater make great leg warmers.

...Grandma's garden is blooming. She has had to scale way back on plants and put in more grass. It's getting to be too much for her to take care of.

Week #15: Conference, Renovations, and Volcanoes

This week...

...we finished watching conference. We hooked the lap top up to our computer monitor and watched it in the family room. This was such a big improvement from cramming into the office.

Ben's rendition of our conference tents.

...we went to Mattawa a lot to help Jason with renovations at Grandma Zirker's house. We missed the mark in choosing paint this time. Jason painted the master and my sister's room twice because the first color just didn't look right when we got it all done. He was so good about it, but we did feel bad...a little. :) We finally sent Jason to choose paint and my sister loved it!

...our tree has beautiful blossoms. Jason picked a good one when he picked this tree for our yard. It may be little, but the blossoms are wonderful to look at.

...we watched our neighbors pour cement in their backyard. The neighbors weren't actually home, but we had fun watching the workers pour and work the cement. Then it rained later that day. Not good for fresh cement. Yes, we're still very interested in what our neighbors are doing. Old habits from Ellensburg die hard.

...our azalea bloomed, and the blossoms were yellow! I guess I just expected it to have purple blossoms like my mom's. It was beautiful to see.

...we went to the hospital to see baby Emmitt. Amber had her baby! Of course, we all washed our hands and ALL took turns holding him. He's so sweet!

...Jason made a volcano in the sand box for the kids. They loved it! He used all of my vinegar (and I even needed some the next day for a recipe). Emma and Taya dipped their hands in the vinegar, lathering up. They stunk for a little while.

...my forget me not is blooming. This was our mother's day gift last year at church. They gave specific instructions not to toss the plant out since it wouldn't bloom that year. It was a reminder of President Uchtdorf's talk from Women's Conference 2011. It was such a great talk.

::source::

Week #14: Break for Spring

This week...

...we had a great time watching General Conference. We went to Grandma's house for part of conference. I'm not sure if they liked the Bingo Bowl (full of candy for when they got a bingo of words they heard) or Grandma's iPad better.

Lainey was Grandma Zirker's companion, following her everywhere and wanting to do what she was doing. Lainey wasn't getting in the way or whining or making herself bothersome. She was just sweetly being with Grandma and working alongside her.

We had a great Spring Break...after which the kids didn't want to return to school. We didn't really plan special things, we mostly enjoyed being together.

...we chose carpet and the paint for the big renovation at my mom's. Here's me sporting my sister's sunglasses and my mom and Jason talking details. (Now that I don't have glasses, I can look for a good pair of sunglasses.)

Week #13:Resurrection Rolls & Egg Hunts

This week...

...we made resurrection rolls to help us tell the story of the resurrection in preparation for Easter. I had seen a couple of friends do this several years ago and never got around to it until now. This was so easy and a lot of fun. Plus, they taste really good. I searched pinterest and found a good reference the blog cheerios and lattes (http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com/resurrection-rolls/). You take a marshmallow, Jesus' body, and dip it in melted butter (oils) and cinnamon sugar (spices). Then you wrap it in a croissant roll (the linens) and put them in the oven to bake (the tomb). Read the story of the burial and resurrection of Christ while the rolls bake and then have fun pulling the rolls apart when they're done. Just as Christ was resurrected on the third day leaving the tomb empty, so shall your rolls be empty. It was great fun!

...we made chocolate dipped rice krispy bunnies for our young women. There were extra so my kids got to eat one as well. These were so easy and a definite hit. This was another pinterest find from the blog eighteen25 (http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/02/bunny-pops.html).

...we had some Easter egg hunt fun. We first went to the church for our Easter Brunch. The kids enjoyed the biscuits and fresh fruit. Then Grandma and Grandpa Erickson put together an egg hunt in their back yard. Once the kids found all the eggs with candy, we kept hiding the empty eggs for them to find. Then they would hide them for each other to find. We got a lot of use out of our plastic eggs this year.

...Lainey go her nails painted again by our ER working nurse friend Tristen. She's the one th

at helped take Lainey's stitches out.

...celebrated my oldest sister's birthday at Twigs, once again. This is her favorite place to go.

...we have enjoyed playing at the park. My kids absolutely love the swings. There's only two of them so we are getting lots of practice in taking turns. Lainey especially enjoys the swings. I would enjoy them a little more too if ALL of my kids could learn two little words and how to repeat them correctly: in, out; in, out; in, out...

Lainey makes me laugh so hard when she hangs from this bar. It moves along a track as they swing their legs back and forth or someone pushes them. She holds on tight and then just swings her little legs. She barely seems to move at all for all the effort she exerts. 


...we spent some time being silly. Benjamin isn't always enthusiastic when I pull out the camera. Most of the time he'd rather opt out. But this time, he was willing to play along and even go the extra mile to be silly and make us laugh.