Artists at Work

 I love it when fun things spontaneously happen in my home. It makes me feel like a good mom, even when I usually have very little to do with it. And it's a nice reprieve from all the yelling reminding and yelling coaxing and yelling disciplining.

A few days ago I was working out some ideas for Beau's joy school lesson I had to teach. I got out the watercolors and had him paint a picture using little droppers. He had a great time.

Marianne wanted in on the action, so I set a piece of paper in front of her and a crayon. She didn't want the crayon, she wanted a paint brush. I gave her a slightly wet one. She tried it out but quickly realized it wasn't doing anything. So I dipped it in the paint and gave it back to her. She wouldn't paint with it and was still mad. So I put a little bowl in front of her with a tiny bit of paint in it, just like Beau, and she was happy. She was happier still when she had two bowls.



Don't think I didn't know what she wanted all along. She painted for quite a few minutes and then started sucking on the paint brush and that's when I cut her off and cleaned up her grinch-stache. Don't worry, the paint is non-toxic and waterbased...

My neighbor was so sweet to think of me before tossing out an aluminum easel she had and some kid's art paper. Bekah instantly wanted to try it out. She had to take the easel outside to draw. I told her it was too cold, but apparently artists aren't supposed to care about things like the weather. She placed the easel facing the front window where our Christmas tree is and drew the windows and the tree. I'd share a picture of it, but she never finished it. Note her cute hat that she made herself that she wears everywhere and everyone always comments on how cute it is. I took this picture from inside the house by the tree.

 Then it was Jacob's turn. He did an awesome chalk pastel drawing of a desert scene complete with a saguaro cactus, horned toad and lizard. Whoops this came in sideways...

Marianne wanted a turn, too, so Rus was going to sit her on the barstool to have at it but Jacob quickly jumped in and said he'd hold her. He is a great big brother!

Marianne has really been enjoying all of the kids a lot more. She has walked up to Jacob a couple of times when he is sitting on the couch or floor and wanted up and then just hugged him. She's also done this to Bekah. I think it's so sweet, my heart melts everytime. This is the beautiful part of having kids!

Thanksgiving, Marianne and Grandma MaryAnne

 I just had one of the best Thanksgivings ever. It was right up there with the year Amy invented her patented turkey drawing (1989), and Tyler's wedding (2010), and my first experience seeing the bonfire at the turkey pit at Uncle Casey's house (2009).
This year we were able to go to Mesa again to see my family...but it was Marianne's first trip and it was super SUPER special because she got to meet her Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Hansen (or Grandma With The Gum - as my older kids call her because she always gives them gum). Marianne is named after her great grandma - MaryAnne Hansen. I changed the spelling on her name because Grandma said it bothered her that people always called her Mary instead of her full name.
Anyway - the best story from the trip was our last visit to see Grandma and Grandpa. I wanted a picture with me and Grandma and Marianne, so Rus took one:

Marianne is a pretty particular little girl - she really just likes me and Rus and no one else. I wanted a picture with just her and Grandma but I wasn't sure if she would put up with sitting on Grandma's lap. I decided to hurry and throw her on Grandma's lap and have Rus take the picture quickly. Lo and behold, Marianne was perfectly content to just snuggle down and let Grandma hold her.

While on Grandma's lap, Marianne watched the other kids get pieces of gum from the side table. She slid down and claimed her own piece of gum. I tried to get it away from her and she ran back to Grandma and wanted up. She snuggled for a few minutes and then slid down. I said, "Marianne, give me your gum," and she ran back to Grandma and wanted up again. I guess Grandma was home base where she was safe to mangle a piece of gum (in its wrapper), in peace. Grandma was tickled pink to have Marianne like her so much! That one thing made the whole trip worth it. This is my favorite picture of them. What you don't see is the gum in Marianne's little fist.

The kids enjoyed visiting Grandma and Grandpa because they have a neighbor across the street with an electric model train. He turned it on for them and they were captivated following it around for about 45 minutes.

We did dinner a little differently on Thanksgiving day. It turns out three of my cousins and one uncle live within a mile of each other, so we did a progressive dinner. I liked it because we got to see where they each live and it stretched out the normal eating time of fifteen minutes into several hours. Of course the destination everyone really wanted to get to was the pie house - and that's because McKenna made them and they were amazing. I'm talking German Chocolate Pie Amazing.
I didn't get to see Amanda and her family on turkey day because they were with Eric's family. And Amy and Mike were in the area but with Mike's family. So on Saturday we all got together to have a picnic at the park. It was really fun to see the cousins play. Madison, Bekah, and Sarah are each nine months apart; they had fun riding scooters all around the park. Did I mention that I love Mesa for Thanksgiving because the weather is always SO beautiful?! It was actually pretty warm - in the eighties. My girl has some growing to do...Sarah is catching up to her!

Here is Bekah in her super chic hat I bought her the day before. It was on clearance. She loves hats. I couldn't resist. She forgot that Mesa was a warm place and only brought her boots.

 We also went on a hike so Jacob could get up close with some saguaros. He had just finished up a desert unit at school and was intensely spewing out facts about cacti and desert animals. He was ecstatic to see so many saguaro on this trip.


 It was a GREAT trip. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

One Day...Trained...Inspired

I'm tired. I need to get ready for bed (but it's covered in clothes that need to be put away), and it's just so much easier to sit here and get lost on pinterest or a baking/cooking blog. I have just the slightest - ha! - infatuation with new recipes. In fact I tried a new one this past week - butternut squash ravioli with browned butter sage sauce. It was delicious. I know it was good because my kids wouldn't touch it. Beau cried just looking at it. I'll make up for it sometime by getting a sitter and serving them kraft mac and cheese. Blech. One day they might have decent tastebuds. One day all of their drive-me-mad qualities will suddenly spin in the right direction and Bekah will no longer be dramatic and irrational - she'll be a passionate advocate (lawyer? animal rights activist? *please no*)...and Jacob won't be slow and hyperfocused, he'll be methodical and hyperfocused (engineer-style). And maybe Beau won't punch everybody he walks by - instead he'll join the football team and take it out on well-padded young men of the opposing team. And if there's hope for all of them, maybe there's hope for me too - like I'll stop leaving my earrings out in random places all over my house, really loosing my keys and/or phone at least once a week, and irrationally yelling at Rus in the middle of the night when Marianne cries. Oh and sticking my foot in my mouth on a regular basis. But we won't go there...
So I'd like to take a paragraph and talk about the Bug. She is fourteen months now and such a ham. I talk to her all the time like I do with any of my other kids and I swear she understands every word. She even talks back and I'm pretty sure she's saying "thank you," "please," "night night," and "Bekah." Some of them resemble the actual word (like "Beba"), and some don't. But she says it the same everytime, so I'm sure she knows what she is saying. She still loves climbing the ladder to Jacob's bed and has thus trained me to put the ladder away every morning. I gave her a hair cut tonight because her hair was getting a little mullet-ish, and I almost cried when I saw the back of her head without her cute little curls. I hope they grow back! She loves anything and everything soft and will hug said-soft-things fiercely. It doesn't matter if it's a towel in the bathroom or Bekah's favorite stuffed animal or a stranger's baby blanket - she wants them all to hug and love. In this respect she reminds me so much of Bekah when she was little. She also loves to color. None of my children has colored so early. If you give her a paper, she will want a crayon so she can scribble. Of course I think this means she's going to be an amazing artist. ;)

One other thing I should mention about her - she has trained me to put her on the toilet at least once every day so she can poop. I'm serious. If you have known any of my children when they were little, you know that they hate to poop and make some serious noise whenever it's time. Marianne is no different and I have found that she is a more successful pooper if I sit her on a kid's pottyseat on the toilet and let her have at it. I haven't changed a poopy diaper in a month and a half. Great, right? I don't know how it will work when we have to go out of town.

I love when my kids all enjoy something together. Here they are admiring our first fire in the fireplace. 

 Here is Marianne and Jacob. She wanted to "read" this book, so she backed up to Jacob (who was sitting and getting his shoes on), and sat on his lap. She should come with a "BEEP. BEEP. BEEP."

On a more serious note - I was in charge of a holiday dinner and program for the women in ward at church. My calling is the Relief Society activity leader - which I have decided means "Spiritual Party Planner." It's a great calling! For our holiday dinner we wanted to have a program with speakers and music and a "Bread of Life" theme. I found a talk to serve as a framework for the program and needed four women to speak on four different attributes of Christ. I had no idea how to pick four women for that task! So I prayed. And I pulled up the phone directory for the relief society sisters. And then I looked at every name of every sister in our ward and wrote down any that stuck out. I purposefully avoided most of my peers because while I knew they would each do a great job, I didn't want to choose them just because I knew them better than other names on the list. When I had a list of several sisters, I looked again at each of the topics and could clearly see who would be perfect for what. The point is - I was inspired, because each of those sisters' talks was amazing! They were just right for their individual topics. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father showed me who to pick and allowed me to see His hand in our activity. We also had musical numbers that night by several different women and they were amazing. Our committee wanted to turn everyone's focus to Christ before the holiday madness, and I think we did that.

Beau's Glasses

Beau has somehow upped his awesomeness. I should have known at his four-year-old check up this summer that he wasn't just being grumpy when he was doing his eye exam...but I didn't. I felt really impressed to have him tested for speech, and while the whole speech therapy was a really good thing, perhaps the most important part of the whole process was his eye exam. (They not only test speech - they test vision and hearing and motor skills.) A very diligent nurse tested his vision and was persistent when he again became suddenly grumpy trying to read the shapes with his right eye. It turned out that he just couldn't see with that eye and knew that he was getting the answers wrong - so he didn't want to do it. She referred me to an eye doctor and I took him in for that appointment a couple of weeks ago. After several hours, lots of tests, and having his eyes dilated (not fun), we found out that Beau has a lazy eye. Amblyopia. Not a wandering lazy eye (the kind I always think of), but just where his right eye is weaker and doesn't focus like it should.
So Beau gets to have glasses. Bekah and Jacob were/are super jealous. We all told Beau how lucky he was, and he was SO excited to get his glasses. He doesn't enjoy wearing them all the time and will ask for a break every few hours, but all in all he's doing really well. He still really likes it when someone tells him he looks awesome in his glasses.
Because he does.

Halloween

For the last two years my children have been asked to dress as a storybook character for the school's Storybook Parade that they do on Halloween. I know in some families this would mean that we would pour over our favorite books and find the perfect character to bring to life...But in my family it means that my kids come up with random costume requests and then I try to find books with characters who they may vaguely resemble...
...Like a cat (not too hard), or a basilisk lizard. (Thank you Wild Kratts.) Bekah found a children's book called the Adventures of Cattail, and Jacob and I wound up writing a story called "Spiny the Swimming Basilisk Lizard." (Catchy, huh...)
If I were to love my children based on the easiness of their costume, Marianne would come in first because I didn't do anything for her. I just strapped on Beau's old dinosaur tail and she was the talk of the Storybook Parade. (I LOVE this picture of her - she was totally hamming it up!)

Bekah would come in second because I only had to sew a white tummy patch on her black shirt and buy a tail and ears. She loved being a cat, but cats apparently don't smile when they're posing...

Beau would be next because he wanted to be Optimus Prime and I was too cheap to buy the actual costume, so instead I bought sweatpants and a sweatshirt and ironed on red and silver fabric until he looked good enough. I was able to find a cheap Optimus Prime mask that he wore at least once before deciding he doesn't like masks really. I might not have taken a picture of just him! Here he is with our whole group - Jason and Joy's three older kids came with us to the trunk or treat.

And Jacob would be last because I had to turn him into a basilisk lizard! It involved a fair amount of cardboard cereal boxes (for the spines) and some cool fabric - silky snake skin stuff and a green mesh to lay over it - and a hat and a tail. And yes, the base of his costume is camo thermals. I sewed the crotch shut, don't you worry...I drew the line at making him some custom basilisk lizard feet.

 

It was a really fun Halloween, but I'm glad it's over! Now just to get rid of all that candy without consuming it myself...

The Mullet! You've waited your whole life to see this!

 Oh still my beating heart...Here is Rus. Joe Dirt. Business in the front, party in the back.
This year was the year that I convinced Rus to actually dress up for a halloween party. My friend had a mullet wig (two, actually), and I borrowed it for Rus to wear so we could both be flashbacks of the amazing eighties. And then 80's-Rus morphed into Joe Dirt-Rus with authentic Joe Dirt-shaped-sideburns and a stellar face-paint-enhanced goatee and mustache. He even tore his sleeves and found some holey jeans. To be quite honest, it was a little too easy for Rus to become Joe Dirt...
As for me, you'll probably agree that it's easy to find eighties clothes right now just at regular stores like Marshalls and Target. I found my off the shoulder shirt at Target on clearance along with my leg warmers (they were actually in the little girl's section). My great shiny pants were from the "hideous legging" aisle at Marshalls, my skirt was actually Bekah's skirt (she was worried I'd stretch out the waist. I didn't.), and my hair was ALL MINE. My hair was MADE to be big!!
Don't we look AWESOME?! (Don't answer that...)



 
Ah my hair in this picture looks like how my oldest sister's hair looked all through high school!
It was epic.
The end.

Flirty: The New Thirty

I had a birthday last week. I know you all know this because facebook told you so.

My mom told me that I wasn't turning thirty, I was turning flirty. I personally don't think that being flirty in my current situation is a great idea...unless it means I'm flirty with Rus? Anyway...

Yay!

I'm THIRTY!

I guess this means I'm going to start seeing gray hairs and wrinkles and my body is going to start breaking down all the time. And my memory will go and I'll call everybody the wrong name all the time (my own kids, esp.), and I'll stop doing adventurous things like wrecking motorcycles and doing handstands in public...

But the tradeoff is now I have some years of experience to back all of the wisdom that I have to share with the world...and now my spot at the grown up table at family dinners is secure...and I can wear sweats more. (right?)

Here I am, all grown up. (*sigh*)

How do you feel about a high bun? I feel sort of ridiculous but I love it at the same time...and now that I'm thirty I never care what people think...

See my coat? And my earrings? And my yellow shirt? Yep, my mother still shops for me and thus still dresses me. And I will never be too old for that.
On my birthday DeAnn and I went out for lunch and some lite shopping. A wonderful sister in my ward actually called and volunteered to watch my kids while I went to lunch and so I gave her Marianne but kept Beau because he and Russel love to hang out and fight with each other. I went on a date that night with Rus to the temple...not because I'm so uber wonderful that it's the only place I wanted to be, but because I'm a cheap date and the temple sounded nice. Rus did take me out for dessert afterwards and we got it for free because we arrived just at closing. (I am a cheap date!)
The next day a friend took me out for a mani/pedi and dinner and it was so nice to just hang out and talk and discover the amazingness of freshly buffed fingernails - I never knew they could be so shiny without any polish!!!...Oh, sorry I just had to look at them for a few more seconds...
Then the birthday fun continued this morning when I went to breakfast with my visiting teachers! How great is it to stretch one birthday out over three days?! And now I'm going to go enjoy some birthday oreos and milk...

My Very Own Drug Dealer

 Last week I did some face painting at a fall festival that a family put together to give back to the Make a Wish Foundation. Their son had been able to have his wish come true because of the Make A Wish Foundation only a few months before he passed away. This awesome family put on a wonderful event - all the proceeds going back to Make a Wish - and I was happy to volunteer my time to help.
Before the event I realized I was pretty short on face paints - I needed to buy more but really wanted to start collecting some professional quality paints (because they do a better job.) I looked all over the internet and researched what types of paints I wanted and then went to order them - but found that I had run out of time and they couldn't be mailed to me (for less than $30 in shipping) by Saturday. So I looked again and found that one of the companies I liked had a website and was located here in ABQ. I called up the number, asked about the paints, and asked where their store was located.
The guy said, "Well, we don't actually have a store. I have the paints - if you email me or call me with what you want after looking on our website, I can bring them and meet you somewhere. We take cash."
Ha.
I wrestled with the thought of dying or getting abducted over face paints for a full day. It was Thursday night when I finally emailed him back and gave him my order. (14mg Black, 14mg White, one rainbow cake, a sponge and a number 4 brush.) At this point I just really needed the paints. (Sure - that's what they all say, right?). I arranged a time for the next morning in the Hobby Lobby parking lot because bad things don't happen there usually. The next day I left my kids with my MIL (no need to have their reputations soiled in a back alley deal), got my cash, and met the person at Hobby Lobby. She turned out to be a woman in her forties who was very nice, normal and helpful. She gave me my paints, I gave her the cash, and all was well. The event the next day was great although it was super windy and colder than necessary.
Here are some pics of my kids - I was practicing on them with my new paints. Bekah's face shows my new black and white...

And this crappy picture of Zaya shows my newly purchased rainbow cake. All of those colors wipe on with a sponge in one bold stroke - so fast and cute!

 

I have to admit I'm hooked on the new paints. I might be calling my guy again in the next few weeks. ;)

Decorating on a Dime Booth/Handout

A few months ago my friend Melanie aka "Stake Relief Society President of the Los Lunas Ward," called and asked me to come up with a "Decorating on a Dime" booth and handout for their September Women's conference. I was delighted to do so but found it quite challenging to come up with a good handout that gave tips on cheap decor and and also served as a framework for my booth. I realized that I didn't want to just give a list of inexpensive decorating ideas because everyone's tastes, skills and interests are so varied that one list couldn't really meet the needs of a lot of people. So I stepped back and instead looked at the problem from the perspective of what skills are necessary to be able to decorate on the cheap.
I came up with seven important things to know and skills to have: How to refinish, repurpose, rearrange, think big, be resourceful, paint walls, and have some basic woodworking skills. I came up with a thorough handout on all of those things and then also made a handout about organization and another with seven great tools to own for a beginning woodworker.
Then for my display I decided to show a few things that I had come up with (on the cheap, of course). I made another set of poppies and also tried out spray painting over a lace-valance-template. I bought some plain oak doors at the Habitat ReStore for a buck each and refinished them in two ways - stained and painted. I also used a tube from a mail-packaging store to make tubes for each of my kids to keep their homework and other important papers in.
Here are some pictures of my booth:

On the actual day of the conference I just stood there and answered questions about different things in my booth. It was so fun to see friends that I hadn't seen for quite some time, and it was fun to talk about things that I like to do. (Although I felt funny being an "expert" - I'm not.) In the end I wonder if it was sort of a flop, though, because I had so many people say things like - You made that? I could never do that. - or - I could never use power tools. My husband does that. - or - I'm not that creative... To which I would like to say - If you want it bad enough, you can figure out how to do it. And it might not turn out great the first time, but if you try enough, something is bound to turn out incredible and you will find yourself gushing with self-satisfaction. And you'll be hooked.

Anyway that's that. I would like to share with you a phone message my sister Amy left me after I emailed her my handout. This is verbatim:
"Okay so when you said handout I thought you meant like a little cutesy little handout...not like I'm putting on a seminar on amazing things that if you miss out on you'll be dumber and wrong and very detailed...It looks like you put a lot of time into that...I think you should join the PTO because you have spare time...Anyway, I have not read it, I just wanted to tell you that it looks amazing...and...I'm in my car, which is why I haven't read it..."

Ah...it still makes me laugh. I'm pretty sure she still hasn't read it, but that's okay. Awesome.
Anyone want a very detailed, long handout that is not some cutesy little thing that you might be dumber and wrong if you don't read? ;)

Balloon Fiesta Bust 2012

 Here we are - such a good looking group. We were bundled up warm, at the Balloon Fiesta Park dark and early with time to spare. We had gotten packed and loaded up and to the park like seasoned pros. And then the winds proved too...windy...for the balloonists and their crews and that was that.
Bust.
It's okay because we brought kites to fly. Amy brought this awesome dragon one...

 ...it refused to actually fly. We're still not sure if it was a mechanical failure or user error.

 Believe it or not, as the sky lightened it actually got colder so after much whining and sadness, we left the park without having seen a single balloon inflate.
Back at home the kids warmed up and hung out for a short hour before we had to head to soccer games.
Aren't Bekah and Sarah so cute?! Sarah had gotten her face painted the week before and it still wouldn't come off. It was an awesome little rainbow skull.

 Amy and I worked on crafts, of course. We made an adorable little fabric tote complete with pockets and zippers, and we also made this witch boot. (I found the pattern on pinterest, where else?) I would like to say that Amy loved this project, but she didn't. Well, she loved the finished product, but she didn't like cutting the paper to match the wood boot and had the gall to criticize the wood-cutter (me!). She was mad that I didn't cut it out exactly like the pattern so she could use the pattern to make the paper pieces. Hmph. I redeemed myself by finishing it for her before she left. And it's GREAT. So there.

On Friday night we were at the elementary school playground for Bekah's soccer practice. Joshua and Luke and I ran around playing with a football (still one of the greatest things I learned from cross country practice - how to throw a football), and Mikey and Beau rolled down the hill. Later Amy was running to get a ball and wound up taking a wood chip to the bottom of her foot. It went through her croc flip flop and into her foot. Yuck. At home I delicately tried to get any pieces of the wood chip out while Amy held on to Mikey for dear life. I think Amy thought she was going to die. She didn't. I said "delicately," right?
Anyway, the next day Amy and I decided to play a trick on the kids. We had bought a "gorey flesh" kit from Target and used it to make it look like the wood chip had shot out the top of her foot. We fooled the kids for about ten seconds.

Then they all got in on the action and became scarred zombies. Creepy, huh.

Luke's face was my favorite.

And that was pretty much the end of our weekend. The balloons were a flop but the company was great. The boys spent hours outside finding tarantulas, playing in the ditch and digging in the dirt. Bekah and Sarah disappeared into Bekah's room (aka "Ground Zero") for the whole time. Marianne was a terd, but a cute one who will like people more in a few more years. And Amy compensated for her whining later by forgetting her dual-waffle-maker. We've enjoyed it often, thankyouverymuch.

Santa Fe Autumn

Yesterday I took some friends and their kids with me and my kids to go see the leaves in Santa Fe. I had been informed by Taffy that they were spectacular...and she was right. See for yourself:

This is my favorite one. Something about the angle and the white trunks makes it look surreal to me...

Sights like this remind me of a scripture in Alma chapter 30, verse 44, "The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it..." The artist in me was struck by the beautiful blend of colors, and realized (again) that Heavenly Father really is the Master creator.
Beau was an awesome hiker. We really didn't go far, but he climbed every little hill on the side of the path that I let him. Here he is showing off his muscles.

Beau, Marianne and I had a wonderful time. We're grateful for friends that are ready for an adventure at a moment's notice!

Arnold The State Police Pig

Rus and I have been married for how many years now, and I just learned of an important (and famous!) family relation...He is about my age, born in Gallup, and has survived years of being on the wrong side of a police revolver. But he can take it because he was made of a different metal that the rest of us. Really.
So to back up for a minute...years ago, Rus's dad Roger (then a state police officer), went to a welder to have some shooting targets made. It was then and there that Arnold was born to a life of dings, dents and holes.

Meet Arnold.
Arnold is a State Police Pig.  

And he's a tough old pig at that. He's had a few holes put through him with a muzzle loader but has since been welded up and is as good as new. He even has a sense of humor...
For April fools day one year Rus and Roger loaded up Arnold in the back of Roger's State Police Car and Roger took Arnold to work.  Arnold was placed outside Chief Taylor's office looking in.  When the Chief came in and saw Arnold he just started laughing. A pig born to take hundreds of hits now holds a respected and dignified post in front of the State Police Office. And here is where Arnold got famous: KRQE news in Santa Fe reported this story last Saturday:

Cops embrace pig they once shot at

Updated: Saturday, 22 Sep 2012, 5:19 PM MDT
Published : Saturday, 22 Sep 2012, 5:15 PM MDT

by Alex Tomlin
SANTA FE (KRQE) - People who think they're being clever sometimes oink at police officers or even more bluntly just call them pigs.
So you'd think that a pig is the last thing cops would want as their symbol.
But New Mexico State Police have taken the sting out of that insult by embracing it:
This isn't just any pig, though. This is Arnold, who watches over the state Law Enforcement Academy at Department of Public Safety headquarters in Santa Fe.
That's right -- where cops from all over the state spend time training and getting certified before they hit the streets.
Ok--let's address the, umm, pig in the room.
It's a common practice for pigs and cops to be linked. Usually police are not big fans of that connection.
"Pig was not a complimentary term for police officers, but they turned it around for themselves and now pig stand for Pride, Integrity and Guts," DPS spokesman Tony Lynn said. "And they love it. They absolutely love it."
This little guy stands for a lot and has put up with a lot over the years. He was originally made for target practice at the request of a state cop in Gallup.
He still bears the scars from there.
"He found his way to Santa Fe, and they put him outside of the office of one of the New Mexico State Police chiefs, Chief Taylor," Lynn said.
A few years later, when the state were sprucing up police headquarters, they let employees decide what art should be placed outside to represent the building and DPS.
"The pig, which wasn't even one of the art works up for vote, won," Lynn said. "They mounted him permanently outside the Law Enforcement Academy, and that's where he sits."
Everyone has embraced the little guy even putting a wig on him and saying he was undercover or dressing him up to look like a lieutenant or offering to get him a donut as they walk by..
No one knows exactly how long Arnold the pig has been hanging around headquarters, but officials say they plan to keep him there for good.

Soccer, Poppies, Lace, Gaps, Mud

The last few weeks have been busy. BUSY. It has a lot to do with Bekah and Jacob playing AYSO soccer for the first time this year. They both have practices twice a week at the same time at two different fields. Then they both have games every Saturday. [Can I insert here that gung-ho soccer moms and dads are confusing and intimidating to me? They are telling their almost pro-eight year old how to better evade the other team's defense and getting after them for off-sides. They own large and semi-effective shade equipment like over-sized umbrellas and chairs with built in shade-roof-things. Their kids also do dance and gymnastics. For a non-sports family, this all feels a little over the top...] Add to that other church and school obligations and BAM, none of us has any time to breathe. But life is still good. I love watching Bekah and Jacob play soccer. Bekah started off pretty aggressive but has since learned to be a little afraid of the ball. I think it has something to do with her getting hit in the face at a game. I'm hoping she'll gain back some confidence.

Jacob does pretty well. He pays attention, likes to have the ball, and usually knows what he is doing. It's a huge improvement over t-ball days (blah).

 

We obviously need to talk about looking where you kick the ball...
Last Monday we went to a park for family night and had a family scrimmage. It turns out that Beau is the one who really wants the ball the most. That kid is fast and pretty coordinated for his age. He will be so fun to watch when he's bigger and on a team. Hopefully between now and then he'll learn to not pick up the ball and run away when the other kids are being too threatening. Marianne even knows that soccer balls are for kicking. If I hold her hands, she'll kick the ball with her little feet.
Another thing that has been keeping me super busy is some prep work I've been doing for a "Decorating on a Dime" booth for my old stake's Women's Conference. I made a detailed handout (my sister Amy was amazed that it was four pages long and not some cute little thing...), and I'm still in the process of working on my display. I asked around to find a friend who wanted a wooden poppy wall art thing and then made it for her (she financed it), so that I could use it to show in my booth.

See all that mess around/behind it? I'm also trying out some other fun ideas from pinterest like using lace as a template to spray paint some wall panels and refinishing plain ol' oak cabinet doors.
Here are the lace panels. I ran out of white spray paint before I could do the brown panel. I think I'll trim up the sides of the boards...I think I like these...

I have really learned a lot; I hope people that walk by my booth will learn a little or at least be inspired.
Now on to other news:
It must be noted that Jacob has lost two teeth. I know the pic shows only one tooth missing, but there are two bottom ones gone now. Rus pulled the first one - and I mean pulled. It wasn't coming out although it was very loose and Jacob said, "It's okay, pull it again!" He really wanted his tooth money. Once it came out, he bolted down the hall to show me and by the time he got to me he was beaming - with a super bloody mouth. It was gross, and I told him so, and he wasn't phased a bit. He just washed his mouth out and went around with this goofy smile the rest of the day. He loves to tell me the foods he can and can't eat because of gaps in his mouth.

I also have to share that I did the Dirty Dash. And it was AWESOME. If you are not a runner and you want to do a 5k, do the dirty dash. It's basically a run for inebriated people, through the mud and muck and over/under obstacles, with lots of slipping and yelling. I say it was for drunk people because there were a good portion of the people around us who I am sure tipped the bottle before the race. They wore tutus and signs that said, "I've got the runs," with an arrow pointed down. I did the run with a couple of friends from church and we had a great time, despite the unbelievably cold weather that morning. OH, and the tshirt you get from that race is also AWESOME. It's blue and fitted. Need I say more?

I know, we look like cave-women. If you don't like mud or getting dirty, you won't understand and I accept that...
Now it's time to get off my fanny and go do some real work while the house is quiet...