April endings

Spring Break began with Ben's birthday party. During that week we also went to the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada with my friend Amy and her boys Aaron, Kale and Declan. The kids had a good time playing for a few hours. It's like one giant gym room full of different activities. Ben's favorite was the conveyor rock wall and Sarah liked the store and kitchen. It was a really windy day so I was just glad we were indoors. We stopped at Baskin Robbins before heading home. One of our vacation days we went to the indoor pool for a swim. It was so cold! I think they must be trying to conserve money and don't heat it as high as they used to. Joshua was so cold that he wouldn't leave me and was quick to get out and into his towel where he sat for a good 45 minutes. But, then, all of a sudden he was ready to get in and what a daredevil he was. No fear in this boy! He was jumping off the steps not worried at all about where he'd land or if I'd catch him. The pool threw a few Easter eggs in and for each egg the kids got they could trade it in for a piece of candy. Like we all need more candy! But, I was glad we went and did something fun together during the break. I never did feel like, "oh please go back to school." It was just nice to be together.

I really wanted to spend some time with my sister in Utah. I don't get to see Janet very often and it'd been 2 years since I went there. So we decided to take a last minute trip to Elko. We got there Friday night. On Saturday I left early to go to Salt Lake and spend the day with my sister. We got to visit and go shopping and eat! What more could you want from a day with your sister (and her husband). While I was gone, Kannon went to yard sales with his dad, took the kids over to their cousins house for an Easter egg hunt. They tried to dye eggs but it got out of hand (probably because mom wasn't there!) and Kannon took them instead to watch motorcycles. They also went out for a ride on the 4-wheeler. They had such a busy day that they were all asleep when I got back (which wasn't really too late).

On Easter morning I was feeling super sick. One of those don't eat and don't leave the bathroom deals. I was able to make it (barely) through church and got a good nap before we headed back to Fallon. Here is our family in our Easter finery. Don't you just love the purples and pinks?! (oh, yeah, and the fluorescent soccer ball in my hand!)

The last week of April was a busy one for me. I had shopping, cleaning, baking, organizing. Plus all the regular stuff of running Sarah to and from preschool and cub scouts. Ben's baptism was on Saturday. So, I was preparing for that and for the company that would be in town, too. Adding to the stress was the enrollment for the Charter School that is starting this fall. I've been going to the meetings for this from the very beginning. I was excited about the kind of close education my children could get with smaller classes and the project -based learning. I felt like this was a better compromise between home school and public school. This was what I wanted. So, I had planned on camping out Friday night to be at the beginning of the line on Saturday morning. Imagine my surprise when I found out that people had started camping out on Tuesday night! With all I had to do for the weekend Friday was as early as I could go. My friend, Amy, and I decided to go on Friday morning. We were numbers 73 and 74. The day went okay. It was a bit chilly, so the kids and Amy with 2 of her boys, spent a chunk of the day in the suburban. When we were able to hand the kids off to their dad's we played games, ate Chinese take-out, visited and tried to watch a movie. By then we were tired and we went to sleep in our vehicles. We got up at 5 to get in line. It was a cold 4 hours before I got in and handed over my children's enrollment papers. Completely anticlimactic! Then I left, cleaned out my car and got ready for lunch with my extended family, the baptism, and a dessert bar!

I wanted all white desserts and came pretty close. I had chocolate chip cheesecakes (so the cherries were red), dreamsicle oreos (they weren't as flavorful as I'd hoped), muddy buddies, an 8-shaped butter cake, a snowball cake, caramel nut bon bons (that cooked a tad too long), yogurt-covered raisins ,and silver chocolate kisses and blue cookies and creme kisses. Yes, it was alot. But, it was totally me. I love to bake and love having a reason for it. We'd ordered sub sandwiches for lunch so that nobody had to cook or prepare. Kannon's parents came with Marisha and Kreg. Sister Sasha and her family, brother JJ and his kids, aunt Pam, uncle Mike and great-grandpa Polish. My mom had a houseful, too, with my sister Nancy and family , brother Nathan and family and Susan and Stephen. They all came to the church with us and we were joined by some other aunts and uncles of mine and our good friends the Mortensen's. Our sweet bishop conducted from his wheelchair and Ben was baptized and confirmed by his Dad. We were so grateful for all those who participated and took the stress of his parents. Ben got a lot of neat notes from everyone that were written while he got changed. Then everyone came over for the desserts and a good visit.

I was so worn out after all that week. On Monday I did almost nothing. I made meals, took a shower, went to Walmart, and checked the charter school list. Sarah got in. Ben was number 21 for the 3rd grade class. So, if any of the other 20 drop out before school starts, then Ben will be in, too. I'm praying that it will all work out. And having faith that whatever happens is the Lord's will. I started getting a cold on Monday and it's made it hard to function. Joshua and Sarah are a bit congested, too, so I haven't even tried the gym this week.

This was Sarah's cute good morning outfit!

Ben's been anxiously awaiting his turn to join cub scouts. He got to go to his first den meeting last week. We went to the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge. That's a pretty cool place. We spent a lot of time for our meeting but, I felt like we didn't get to see much at all - a lot of time was driving. Then we had pack meeting last night. Ben has already earned his Bobcat badge. His Grammy and Papa gave him his Wolf book for his birthday and he got right on the memorizing parts for his badge. It's fun to see him and Kannon trying to work on it together. They built a little box garden for Ben so he could complete an elective. Scouting for us right now, will be a family affair!

Ben receiving his award from the Cub Master, Brandon Bird.