Recent Happenings.

Making Money.
My kids are entrepreneurs. They have sold things from the classic lemonade to Otter Pops, to rocks. Their latest venture was artwork. They would create a masterpiece, put it in a grocery sack, hop in their Power Wheels, and go door to door selling the art for a quarter a piece.

Next, they choreographed a dance performance that consisted of 3 numbers. They made invitations that read:

"Please come to a dance show. When: Tues at 7:30. Where: in the circle. The dancers will be: (their names along with their neighbor friend) We are trying to make money. We will put a bucket out and you can put money in if you want.

They then delivered the invitations to EVERYONE in our circle, including those that I think may have been annoyed by the whole thing. After the deliveries had been made, they told me the plan!

Thankfully, it got rained out and they haven't brought it up since.

Cupcake Cousins Cooking Club.
The kids like to get together with their cousins when they are off track and have a cooking club. We made a giant cupcake with the new cereal "Cupcake Pebbles". I think it was more fun to make than it was to eat!

Here is a yummy and cute carrot cake I made! When Paige noticed the orange flecks inside the cake she asked what they were and all the kids were astonished to learn that carrot cake actually has carrots in it!


Easter Clothes.

Skiing one last time.

Naps.

I found Charlie napping like this:
and like this:

Tulips.

Charlie, my mother-in-law Julie, and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with Charlie's playschool class. There were 250,000 bulbs planted! These were one of my favorites:

Soccer.

The girls started Spring soccer. They are on the same team and Jon is helping coach! They won their first game!

Here is a creative note Paige left for me one night:
We're keeping busy with life!
By the end of the day I usually end up like this:
lying on the floor surrounded by my brood.

Control

I've been thinking about the word CONTROL a lot lately.

Trying to get my life under control.

"Someone, control those kids!"

Been told I'm "controlling" That doesn't sound like a good thing!

One quote from Elder Holland's talk in general conference stood out to me. He said "the only real control in life is self-control".

So, I'm making more of an effort to control the things in life which I can. I am also trying to encourage my kids to do the same, learn self-control. Here are a few steps I've taken:

1 - FINALLY, got Meg sleeping through the night.

After having a near emotional breakdown at the pediatrician's office, I decided it was time! She had been on a particular bad stretch as far as sleeping goes and I was beat. She has also been very stubborn about eating, refusing a binky or a bottle! I've felt very tied down for the past 7 months so say the least!

My doctor said 4 nights. I knew besides getting through the anxiety of listening to her scream, I had to get the kids AND JON through it. So, I chose to start on a weekend so that the kids wouldn't have to get up for school the next day of they last a lot of sleep. Also, Jon was not going to be around and I didn't tell him my plan.

Night 1: I laid her in her bad already asleep. She woke up a couple hours later and cried for about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I went in her room on and off to reassure her that I didn't abandon her.

Night 2: Laid her in her bed awake but tired. She cried for about 20 minutes, fell asleep, was awakened by Charlie, cried for an hour. Woke up in the middle of the night and cried for about half hour.

Night 3: Went to bed awake, fussed for less than 2 minutes. Woke up about 45 minutes later. cried for 15 minutes, slept through the night!

Night 4: went down awake. slept through the night!

2 - Thought of a new motivational plan for the kids.

PEBBLES!

Who would've thought that a pile of small rocks could get kids to do homework, chores, practice piano, almost anything really!

They each have their own box. They earn a pebble for doing things. They lose a pebble for bad behavior. They earn prizes along the way as they reach marked points on their boxes. So far so good. Pebbles are very valuable in our home.

I'm proud of my little gems!

MUSE

The stars all aligned and I was able to go to the Muse concert with Jon and a bunch of other friends. This was Jon's 5th time, my first. If there is one passion in his life, it is MUSE. I have to admit, they are pretty incredible! I've been listening to their album on my runs lately and it so rocks.

Anyway, I wasn't sure I would be able to go until the last minute, the night before. We have a hard time finding a babysitter. It was on a school night and I can't leave Meg for very long because that stubborn little cutie will ONLY nurse! (more on that to come in another post...) Ben's girlfriend. Sara ended up doing it and she was awesome!! Thanks SOOO much!

I had to go late, missing the opening band, which was OK with me except that Jon went at 2 in the afternoon to wait in line so he could be front row! So I was going to have to fight the wild crowd to find him, and everyone else.

It took me about an hour and a half to get there when it normally takes about 1/2 hour because the traffic was so crazy! PLUS, a blizzard started as I was driving. I had to park about a mile away and run in the blizzard with only a light jacket!

I had missed the first 2 songs, which were my favorites, and then it was time to push my way up!! I was so brave, and bold. This is a hard thing for me to do. Jon said I wouldn't be able to and told me to just stand in the back. (nice.) But, then there was my sister Annie! I made it about 2/3 the way up and then she came for me!! She grabbed my hand and we marched up to where everyone was!! YEAH!!! "That's what sisters do!" she said.

Here is a little video clip:

Jon got in 2 fights with the same skinny little Utah County dweeb trying to show off for his girlfriend and act tough and cool, clearly he was neither. Just adds to the adrenaline of the rock concert experience, I guess. And the best part is...besides literally being on the front row against the bar, Jon caught a pick! It was a fun night!