Passed-off Proclamation

Six days of getting up at 5am. I'm starting to like it! Sunday is a "day of rest" so no alarm clock will be set. We'll let ourselves wake up naturally.

We enjoyed the temple last night and burgers from Colorado Grill. Groupons are awesome! Ross is great to look into them and buy the good ones.

FB post: *happy dance!* I memorized and passed off the Family Proclamation for a YW project! Happy 20th year to this special document. Onto "March Madness" challenge of reading Book of Mormon cover-to-cover in 31 days, celebrating the month it was published and preparing for conference and Easter. Anyone want to join me? I passed off the Family Proclamation to Abby yesterday (it was my integrity project for YW) as we walked to school. Kind of funny how awkward it was when I did it: trying to remembering lines while inching uphill (other Friday school walkers passing us), making sure Allen didn't tease Emma too much and that Emma stayed nearby on a busy road, and hearing Jill screaming she wanted to get out and walk like Emma. *Happy dance* though when I passed it off. Abby laughed. I started officially memorizing it on Monday and had it down by Friday. It did help that I've attempted memorizing it back when it first came out, that parts are repeated in church and conference and that two years ago we took it piece by piece and studying it for Family Home Evening. It's been twenty years now since it's been issued. Memorizing it was a cool way to honor this anniversary. What's my next project? Something I've done for a few years called "March Madness": reading the Book of Mormon from cover-to-cover in March. That's a great way to prepare for conference and Easter as well as honor the month that the sacred book was published in. I challenged my beehives to read it with me and ten of them consented. I am blessed to work with so many girls in Young Women. Right now I have 16 girls and if you add all the girls who have already moved up to Mia Maids that I worked with since I've been beehive advisor for 17 months I've been a leader to 23 girls! A new one will be joining our class next month too.

Ross jogged this morning and I read my scriptures and have been catching up on the online world. In a few minutes I'll leave for an early shopping trip to Walmart. Later I'll need to sort and put away one batch of laundry and do a pile of ironing. I'm hoping I can take the kids to a park or maybe two while Ross works like mad.

Blue & Gold Banquet

We went to a lengthy pack meeting last night. We had dinner (sloppy joes, veggies, chips), awards, skits, and then cake. Going along with the western theme we added Lincoln Logs to Allen's cake and Allen earned the "Lincoln Log Award". He was excited about it. People were also encouraged to wear western attire--Emma wore her horse and Jane wore large cowboy boots (sorry, no picture) and Abby (didn't get a picture) wore the cowboy outfit with vest, hat, chaps and hair in pigtails. The kids brought home many of the "fire" decorations. In the car the girls used the flames as pom poms and the "wood sticks" as wands.

Date tonight is a temple trip. I'm getting a babysitter duo (Hailey and Sidney) who signed up for tending for me at the service auction in January.

Lemon Lincoln Log Cake

We dropped girls at Bezinques and went to the school for IEP meeting. Glad Ross was there in person this time and not just by conference call. I recognize the trait of being pro-active as very helpful! I learned the importance of a thinking tool (circle / square / triangle) to help shape behavior. And iPads can be wonderful reinforcers.

After playing in the toy room the girls wanted to go on a bike ride. We practiced the straight line that they can travel back-and-forth while I stay back with Jill who desperately wants to ride a bike, but can in no way keep up. Instead of doing the full loop alone they did the straight line back-and-forth (ordering imaginary lemonade at the yellow fire hydrant and ice cream at the white holey street sign at each turn-around spot) and then I joined them (with Jill in the wagon) and we did the full loop.

I pulled things out (like western wear for the kids) for tonight's pack meeting. After school Allen needs to help make his cake. We are doing a lemon glaze kin. He's going to have fun poking the holes and pouring the glaze over while it's hot out of the oven, and because of the night's western theme, I'm going to have him use our Lincoln Log set to build a cabin and place the people and stagecoach on top of his cake. We are also taking several bags of chips for the dinner. The girls have been excited about that ever since I bought them on Monday. (i.e. "Mom. When do we get to open the bag with the cheetah on it?" Yep! Name-brand Cheetos are a rare novelty here.)

Bubble World

After school our backyard turned into "Bubble World" with Jane and Abby creating bubbles all over the grass. Emma played the "Bubble Monster" and ran around, using a bat and trying to pop all the bubbles before more were created. My job was being the "Bubble Juice Filler" (because their bubble plate would easier run low) and Jill's job was the remind me to do my job. The whole scene was both serious and hilarious. And a tad annoying (getting up at 5am again was starting to get to me) as I wanted to just be sitting inside with kids preoccupied with a quiet and clean activity, like TV or a book. But sometimes my kids are too creative for that. Allen missed the bubble fun though. When we finally came in he was curled up in the recliner with a blanket and book. I envied him.

And how is the job search going? Yesterday Ross just applied in Denver, Sacramento and DC. We still have other things pending here, Dallas, DC, Virginia, SLC, and Boise. I'd love to know where our next "transfer" is going to be.

A Bee's Stripes

Today was day two of getting up at 5am. I like having quiet time in the morning before little ones arise.

I was in charge of our Personal Progress POWER night and spent time throughout the day gathering supplies in a large laundry basket. Overall the night worked out well. I had one beehive in charge of parfaits, four moms that came to help man stations and I interviewed the girls and helped them map out goals. I proposed my annual "March Madness" challenge of reading the Book of Mormon cover-to-cover in March and ten beehives agreed to take the challenge!

Down below I have pictures of my handout and outline of stations. And here is an email I sent out as a reminder--

A friendly reminder;

Please bring Personal Progress book, journal and scriptures for our YW activity tonight!

Just FYI, below is a Sneak-Peek of the value stations we will have tonight so we can BEE productive... :)

***

Personal Progress: POWER NIGHT!!

By value, here is a list to work on:

Faith –#6 Plan of Salvation; pass of Living Christ

Divine Nature – #1 Divine Qualities

Individual Worth – #4 List Hopes and Dreams

Knowledge – #6 Memorize two hymns, learn to lead music

Choice & Accountability – #6 Study YW theme

Good Words – #4 Service Family Home Evening kit to assemble

Integrity – #5 Witness (also YW theme)

Virtue – Book of Mormon challenge, “March Madness”

Four Girls in a Bubble Bath

Abby made homemade bubble bath using a recipe in her book called Girls' Book: How To Be the Best at Everything. We tried it Saturday night for baths. Four girls in a tub is a lot!

More turkeys in the road on the way to school pick-up. Love the wild turkeys!!

The little girls have been practicing writing and using the writer's grip. Jill has it down! Here is a drawing from Jane that she did NOT want me to erase.

Spending the day getting ready for tomorrow's YW activity (buying things at Walmart) and cleaning up from weekend fun ("mopping Monday") and making a big batch of muffins we can use for breakfast this week.

Ross and I went to bed earlier last night and tried getting up at 5am. We were successful this morning.

Everyone's Named Jill

Jill can say her name. She can't say many words, but she knows her name. Sometimes when we ask who other people are she'll say "Jill." It makes us laugh.

Jill is the most snugly of all our babies. She didn't get a real nap today but she's been content sitting in Daddy's lap for stories and he's content with that too. And Abby and Allen were playing with the keyboard.

The choir preformed a cool arrangement of "Praise To the Man" today which brought tears to my eyes. Today at practice we started learning two Easter selections.

Abby was in charge of Family Home Morning" today. She taught a lesson on families, showing her own family tree she made, and we had a song, scripture and a quick game of Hide-and-Seek before getting in the car for meeting.

Ross had a Sunday School meeting at 10:30 and I had a choir run-through at 10:35. Luckily the kids just sat on the pew while I was up singing and Ross was in another part of the building. I had to go down once when Emma cried, but other than that they just sat and looked at books or drew.

Allen is going home teaching with Ross tonight after dinner.

Jane let me braid her hair today and Emma had fun playing with a butterfly puppet today during church.

New Backpack and Baptism

This morning Abby and I went to Trevor's baptism (a boy in her church class--Abby's baptism is only two months away and is scheduled for May 30th) and then did some shopping at Walmart. She was most excited about a new backpack she picked out that she will be working to earn. I got some new jeans (because doing mom-work I easily wear holes in the knee), some picture clothes for Jill's birthday, a new curtain rod for the twins' room, and we plenty of groceries. Ross took care of the kids and made lunch. I noticed the pile of shoes by the door when we got home. He said they played soccer outside, built with blocks and Rambo Allen and sisters too flattened out the big brick block box and the vacuum box. Never underestimate the fun kids can have with a box.

Ross is working now. Kids did quiet activities while Jill slept and now are watching fairytale stories acted out by real dogs-)-oh the interesting things you can find at the library!

Tonight is our date dinner with food from Deli Delicious. I'm getting the turkey, bacon avocado sub. Love avocados!

Potion in Closet

• Abby tried making another potion in her closet. Food coloring and carpet? Oops!
• It's walk-to-school Friday. We took breakfast bars and juice boxes along the way for breakfast.
• Kids passed off their piano songs this morning (G Washington March and Teach Me To Walk and Morning) and received new ones to work on this week.
• I copied the first two pages (out of 31) of Allen's spelling packet to practice and he carried it to school, looking at it as we walked in the mist.
• Friday French-toast? Maybe. Ross is working late again. Depends on my energy. We have plenty more waffles I could toast up in a pinch.
• Going to the library soon to see Miss Karen. Kids are so excited! They especially want to look for more book and cd kits.
• Curious what famous people you might be related to? If you had an LDS account login to Family Search, they will download your family tree and find your connections in minutes, telling you the relation and which common ancestor you share. It's pretty cool. It's called Relative Finder.

Picture Party from San Francisco

Feb 14: Fisherman's Wharf

Maritime Museum, Aquatic Park, Pampanito submarine
It was fun exploring the ships, seeing the waves, pointing out the sea lions and looking back at the city.

Musee Mecanique
Yes, I'm arm wrestling "Rupert's Cousin" just like Julie Andrews did in Princess Diaries. Many of penny-arcade games, artifacts, and interactive attractions inside are over 50 years old. We had fun seeing puppets dance, playing Foosball, watching a player piano, viewing a carnival set light up and run among other things.

Embassy Suites in South San Francisco
Love that we have room 214 on 2-14. Love the interior garden feel. Love the pool and how we have a suite so the kids go to bed earlier than the adults. Love the view from our room and the hot all-you-can eat (bacon, pancakes, eggs, sausage, hash browns...) breakfast!

Feb 15: Church and Marin Headlands

We enjoyed a yummy breakfast and then went to the Half Moon Bay Ward (the same one we visited during our Thanksgiving trip) which is south of the city and were asked by several people (just like last time) if we were new in the ward. Then we got stuck in coastal traffic and ate apples while we inched along. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and up into the cliffs into the Marin Headlands. We walked down to the Point Bonita Lighthouse (you have to cross a suspension bridge to get to it!) and then explored old military ruins and bunkers which were over a hundred years old. (Note: Be sure to watch the videos of the girls putting on a show and the kids "jumping" on history.) We had a great view of the bay, the ocean, the bridge and the city! After we drove up (peeled tires one time!) and down steep roads in the city, got to the bottom of Lombard Street and took a picture. On the way back to the hotel we found the Princess Diaries Firehouse which is for sale for $1.8 million. "Mr. Robitussen's house" (next door) has a suspicious resident with a crammed garage and two dogs who needed outside time. I got a few stares while I took pictures -- I'm sure I'm not the only fan to stop and take a picture.

Feb 16: Alcatraz

We got up early so the kids could swim one more time before leaving. (You can see our pile of wet pool towels next to Jane in the picture below). Then we changed, ate another yummy breakfast and headed to Alcatraz, passing the AT&T Park (where the San Francisco Giants play) and the silver Bay Bridge. What did we think of Alcatraz? Allen and Abby were fascinated especially after hearing the escape attempts. Emma loved the boat ride and asked to go on it again the day after we got home. I had mixed feelings. I thought the history behind it was really interesting. I didn't realize it started as a military base, then became a military prison and then when the military didn't want it anymore the Dept of Justice picked it up from the 30s to the 60s and it was a jail then. Guard's family stories were interesting and how the kids grew up on the island, played together and would take the boat over to the city everyday for school. Overtime it became so expensive to maintain the jail and island because everything had to go by boat that they finally closed it, In the late 60s an Indian group (their name for themselves, not mine, which they painted on walls and on the water tower) claimed the island in protest and ruined many of the buildings. Much of the Alcatraz looked dumpy and it wasn't until more reading of the history that I found out why--the park service doesn't give you all the details there). The cell house was the most intact and the most interesting especially because of the audio tour. I didn't like the feeling in Block D and I don't like how the criminal stories come across as "prisoners" and almost heroes as their names and pictures and stories are plastered around. The reason they were held captive were because of serious choices they made. The island isn't very from the city so that must have been tempting for the jailers and I thought sharks were what people feared the most, but it was the frigid waters and currents in the bay which caused swimmers aiming for the city to head toward open ocean. After Alcatraz, and while waiting for the next ferry back to the city, Ross taught the kids to play Pe--a game from San Paulo Brazil--, then we walked from Pier 33 to 39 to see the sea lions and the kids played on the octopus by the Bay Aquarium. Once we got back to the car and snacked, we drove through city to Mission Delores, stopped at Yerba Buena and Treasure Island, saw the skyline in the moonlight and then headed home.

As you can tell we had an awesome trip and we had a picture party in San Francisco!