Week #20:No More Broom Flying

This week...

...we had a pizza picnic at the park for Family Night. It was great! The kids were in heaven. They had something fun to eat for dinner and then toys to play on afterward.

...my broom handle got bent out of shape, and I wasn't the one whacking it around. I should have know better than to take it to the Youth activity of broom hockey. I knew in the back of my mind that it wouldn't make the end of the night unscathed. I didn't trust my instincts. Even when the young 14 year old boy asked to use it and promised to be careful, I didn't trust my instincts. It didn't take but five minutes from the time my lovely broom left the wall for it to end up like this. I guess this witch can't fly for a while. :(

...Benjamin has been making and remaking rubber band bracelets. He has definitely caught the bug for this popular past time. Emma is the only one with rubber bands in the house. She shares, but that still doesn't suit Ben. He's learned how to make the bracelets using his fingers, since Emma has the only loom. Yep, limited permission granted - you guessed it. The neighbor kids have been kind to let Ben use theirs when they play together after school. But he still itches to make more! So he takes his bracelets apart and then puts them back together. One night as I was reading, he took the hair bands and starting weaving those like rubber bands. Emma didn't like it so much. I thought it was pretty resourceful.

We were messing around before bed trying to make it look like they were running even though they were lying on the ground. We need more practice, I know, but they thought it was so funny to try it out.

Benjamin's super long rubber band bracelet necklace is flying in the wind. (He makes the bracelets and spends time hooking them together in a big necklace. Then he spends time unhooking them and putting them back into bracelets. This really occupies him.)

Claire decided to try and make it look like she was jumping for joy.

No, Lainey's not running either. She's playing dead.

...we went to Frontier Days with Paul, Ben, and Claire at their school. Grandma Zirker was visiting and so she got to come too. We met up with Paul at the Pee Wee Rodeo and saw the animals at the ranch.

Look at this handsome guy. He was a little concerned that he didn't have anything cowboyish to wear. Little did he know that his Benton County Sheriff's hat was perfect for the day. Law man Erickson.

We met up with Ben and Claire at music and frontier dress.

...Paul helped mow the lawn for the first time. Before long, he'll be out there doing it every time. Although, Jason does enjoy mowing his lawn. They'll have to flip for it.

...Emma gave me a cute mother's day card. She used some bracelet charms to create a cute charm gram. She couldn't find any tape so she used duct tape to secure the edges. I thought that was very fitting since she loves to make things out of duct tape.

I said no to netflix on Roku. The kids were so disappointed. "Now we don't have anything to watch!" they exclaimed. I quickly pointed out that dvds were perfectly entertaining before the advent of netflix and Roku in our household and they would be sufficient on this day. That's when they had to pull them ALL out in order to make just the right selection.

...Lainey put some makeup on...lots of it. We had a little preschool party for Lainey on Saturday. One gift that she received (and that we will never buy as a gift for anyone ever) was a make up kit. Most of it was lip gloss and nail polish, but Lainey thought it was eye shadow and rouge. Jason and I ran a quick errand and this is what Emma texted to us. Apparently Lainey had been dabbling in the make up on her own. That stuff was so hard to get off, even with lots of rubbing. Needless to say it will not survive in this house very long.

Week #19: Your Four Minutes Grandkid Luncheon

This week...

...we had our sixth annual Grandkid Luncheon. I know, our sixth one! I can NOT believe it! Here we have them lined up youngest to oldest. Aunt Shelly organized this as a way to keep them occupied as we waited for everyone to gather, but I loved it and started snapping shots. We included Aunt Shelly on the end because she has been in just about every Grandkid Luncheon photo we've taken over the years.

Lainey, Rylan, Allie, Keaton, Claire, Benjamin, Jenna, Paul, Emma, Ethan, Katie, Trenton, Sydney, Alex, Brennan, Christian, Austin, (Spirit Elder Zirker-Jordan), Aunt Shelly

Here's the secret to our keeping-the-little-ones-in-line success. Uncle Corey stood just out of the shot coaching them and telling them where to look.

This year my brother Corey and his wife Julie Kay offered to host the luncheon at their house in West Richland. Corey ran the BBQ, Julie Marie (Kent's wife) helped me with the message, Grandma Zirker led a trivia game in honor of Grandpa Zirker's 70th birthday, and we took a small walk/hike with the grandkids. 

This year's theme was "Your Four Minutes." I absolutely loved Gary E. Stevenson's talk from April General Conference where I got the idea. I printed off some pictures of the three Olympic athletes that he talks about - Noelle Pikus Pace, Chrisopher Fogt, and Torah Bright - and made some collage pages to send around so they could see who I was referring to. I briefly described that all of the athlete's preparation and training came down to four 60 second runs at the Olympics to determine whether they would win a medal.

Noelle Pikus-Pace

Noelle Pikus-Pace missed the 2006 Olympics when she broke her leg in a terrible accident. She missed the 2010 medal stand by a tenth of a second. She had a lot of training, hopes, and dreams riding on her runs in the 2014 Sochi games. And she won the silver medal! As she stood on the medal stand and bent to receive her medal, her young woman torch could be seen around her neck. I thought that was awesome! Talk about stand for truth and righteousness. 

Christopher Fogt  

 Christopher Fogt didn't give up after a devastating crash in the 2010 Olympics. His four-man bobsled team took bronze in Sochi. Just the coordination necessary to make each team member fit inside that bobsled makes me cringe.

Torah Bright

Australian athlete Torah Bright had four intense runs in snowboarding. Not only did she finish off an amazing run with a backside rodeo 720 for the silver medal win, which sounds great even though I don't know what that is, but she was seen hugging American competitor, Kelly Clark, between runs, offering support and encouragement. Bright commented, "I am a competitor—I want to do my best—but I want my fellow competitors to do their best, too."


We related these athletes and their four minutes to our lives. This life is our time to perform our four minutes. Gary E. Stevenson states, "Dear friends, you are in the midst of an exhilarating journey. In some ways, you are racing down the half-pipe or sled track, and it can be challenging to perform each element or navigate each turn along the way. But remember, you’ve prepared for this for millennia. This is your moment to perform. This is your four minutes! The time is now!"

The whole day was great! I love this tradition and that we've stuck with it. Each time that we gather all of the stress of putting together a big meal and the worry over whether everything will turn out falls away. It does work out. Everyone enjoys themselves and I feel so much love all over again for these young people in our family. I want them to be successful. I want them to be strong. I want them to remember that they are loved.

Picture taking is always a big part of the day.

I love Paul trying to find some peace in the chaos.

The hike/walk was great. Piggy back rides, football in the street, what could be better?!

Photo Bomb!

They ran down to the bottom of the hill. They weren't too thrilled about all the brush that ended up in their shoes though.

The girls showing off their stuff. 

...we once again realized that there is never a dull moment with Lainey, shopping or otherwise. She sure cracks me up.

These are the pick glasses that we bought at Old Navy and then returned because we found some cheaper at Children's Place. The cashier at Old Navy totally understood when I explained that they just weren't right for Lainey. "Girl problems," she stated good natured-ly.

These are the yellow glasses that we bought at Children's Place that were cheaper than the ones we got at Old Navy (that's the only reason I didn't mind making the return at Old Navy).

Here's she's clowning around at Old Navy. "Mom, I'm going to hold their hand." This makes me laugh every time I look at her face. :)

I had to meet up with Jason's while he was on shift and take him some things that he forgot. Lainey wanted to come and I said that was ok. This is how she came to the door all ready to go with me. I couldn't believe it. And of course I had to take a picture.

She saw this summer display at Walmart and it just called to her. She hopped onto the chair, pushed the glasses up to her face, and gave me a saucy I'm-ready-for-anything look. She could have been a mannequin in the display she was so into it.

Lainey has come up with a new way to point. She closes one eye to focus in on what she is pointing at. Try it out! You may find that it increases your capacity to point.

...I was a guest of honor at Lainey's preschool. They made muffins together and then served us for a special mother's day event. Miss Amy ready the kids' funny responses to questions about their mothers. We had a good laugh.

...I discovered a hole in the toe of Ben's shoe. (Apparently he knew about it for a while, but hadn't bothered to let me know.) This guy loves his tennis shoes and therefore they get a lot of wearing, wearing out that is. He wore them to school even after I discovered the hole because I hadn't had time to go buy some new ones. I w thinking, "Thank goodness we don't have to worry about rain." And what does it decide to do outside the very next day? Rain! We duct taped it so that his toes would stay dry. He liked the idea at first, but then saw how conspicuous it would make him. I learned that he swiftly tore it off once he got to school.

...we met up with some of Paul's friends at the park. These boys have been Paul's good friends since Kindergarten. They are sweet, responsible boys and their moms are super nice (that makes it nice for me). They're the kind that I don't worry when Paul's around them. Great kids! (L-R: Cooper, Paul, Brody, Caleb)

...Jason's dad came and helped us burnish our floors. Jason put several coats of polish on the floor and then they rented the burnish to top it off and make the floors look super nice. And they did look nice...until Lainey brought down her chair and dragged it across the whole length of the floor.

...Emma and Afton were being silly as they waited for their ride to Activity Days. I told Afton that I would save this lovely shot of her silly face and share it with her Prom date when she's older. Haha!

Week #18:Pocketfulof Treasures

This week...

...Lainey documented our time volunteering in Benjamin and Claire's kindergarten classroom. I let her play with my phone because she was especially noisy and disruptive. She often skips the games and starts snapping pictures of whatever she can. Once in a while, she does get some good ones. This is me trying to look stern.

...I washed Benjamin's jacket. Only before I could through it in the washer, I could feel that there were extra things in the pockets. This is what I found after emptying the four pockets. These are things that Ben just collects from all over - on the bus, on the ground at school, on the playground. He just likes to fill his pockets, much like when he was younger. We'd have to watch what little toys he swiped after visiting friends because he would fill his pockets.

 

...Emma did a science project on how the type/quality of paper effects a paper airplane when it flies. She made sure to fold each plane the exact same way and then conducted her flying trials in the garage. Surprisingly, the wrapping paper was a contender.

regular printer paper, wrapping paper, cardstock

...Lainey let me do her hair before preschool. And then she took it out at preschool, of course. At lest we did a mini photo shoot in the backyard. This is proof that she did look presentable when she left the house.