Come Listen To A Prophet's Voice

Today marked the start of the 182nd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The General Conferences were today from 11-1pm and 3-5pm and it will be the same tomorrow.

Clinton and Benjamin attended the Priesthood Session tonight from 7-9pm. They met other priesthood members from the ward at Culver's in Downers Grove for ice cream. Following the broadcast, the YM leaders, YM, and their fathers went to Every Day's a Sundae in Downers Grove for ice cream, too. What a fun night for them. Benjamin and Clinton still haven't arrived home yet and it is 10:00pm. I take it they are having a good time chatting with others. I'm glad. They need those opportunities.

General Conference is a wonderful time to "Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice and Hear the Savior, too" as the song says. I love listening to our living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and all the other General Authorities and leaders of the church.

The kids worked on their General Conference packet that they received in Primary. There were games, activities, and coloring. I think they enjoyed their General Conference Bingo game since they were given edible treats to place on their Bingo cards.

Great Times With Grandma and Papa Buss

Before our vacation ended and we returned home, we decided last minute to visit my mom and dad, Grandma & Papa Buss. Yesterday, as we headed closer to home after visiting the church sites, it put us closer to stopping by to see my parents. I called the home, my mom's cell number, and the church, but nobody answered. I realized that it was a Thursday and they were most likely at the Nauvoo Temple that day for their temple worker assignments.

I decided that we could still show up and surprise them when they returned home. We would only miss out on visiting with them for 1-2 hours that night, but that we could still visit on Friday. I knew my parents would love seeing the kids, especially Cameron. He has grown so much since December. Today Cameron turned 5 months old.

More to follow...

Liberty Jail

Here we are visiting Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith and 5 others were held as prisoners from December 1, 1838 until March 6, 1839. More details to follow.

Whiteman AFB in Knob Noster, MO

Here is the crew with Clinton's cousin, Kelly Mitchell. She took us onto Whiteman AFB in Knob Noster, Missouri to see the command center for the Minutemen missiles. The tour guide took us 45 feet underground to this location.

I'm getting bad about blogging about my posts. It's a little tricky when I am not at home in my element and on my computer. I will catch up and write about these pictures. We are at the hotel and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 just started. I want to go watch.

City Museum in St. Louis

The City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri was another amazing museum for the kids to visit. It is incredible to see such creativity, fun, and kid-friendly places being built today. I think museums capture the attention of children much more than they use to. I think I need to take my kids to museums more often.

Inside the museum were large play areas made from real trees. There were fallen hollow trees to crawl through, things to climb, slide, and hide in. There were holes in various places that you could go through and end up in other locations of the museum. All the kids tried the 10-story slide. You gradually go up the wrapping circular steps inside and once you reach the top, you slide down the 10-story slide in the middle. The kids went down it twice.

Outside the museum was a gigantic play place. If you think of McDonald's, it is much greater than that. Again, there are things to climb and slide on, there are bridges to walk across, rope ladders to go up, two large ball pits (one for younger kids and one for older kids) to play in.

After playing outside in the beautiful weather, we headed toward our van for lunch. We ate our sandwiches and then went inside another hour to see the last few things. There was a section which various ramps. The ramps looked like they would be perfect for skateboarding and doing tricks. Some were more steep than others. All of the kids enjoyed the rope swing, too. Justin headed on over to the kid section with a ball pit for those that were 6 years old and younger. In addition to the ball pit, there were tunnels, other play stuff, and a carousel animal to ride for free.

Before leaving the museum, we stopped by the Shoelace Factory to see how and what they make . I loved watching the weaving of the thread to make colorful, durable, and strong shoelaces and other items. Benjamin didn't want anything from the store, but Anna and Emma bought headbands, Justin bought a whistle on a shoelace necklace, and I bought a water bottle rubber ring with a shoelace necklace. My item will come in handy when carrying a water bottle around during soccer season. What a great place to visit. It will be so fun to go back.

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum

The kids have spring break this week and we planned a trip to go visit Clinton's cousin Kelly, her family, and her dad (Uncle Virg). On the way down there, we thought we would stop by the famous Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield Illinois. It was fantastic. The two movies that they showed were brief, entertaining, and used various senses. I felt that it brought the history of Abraham Lincoln to life.

The first film that we saw was Lincoln's Eyes in the Union Theater there. This is what is said about the theater and film:

"A multi-venue special effects theater featuring, at various times: "Lincoln's Eyes" – a spectacular look at the life and times of Lincoln; and a live performance theater with programmed theatrical productions as well as seminars, lectures and special programs.

"Lincoln's Eyes – Most of the time, the Union Theater will present "Lincoln's Eyes," a full theatrical special effects spectacular giving a broad overview of Lincoln's life. "Lincoln's Eyes" focuses on the personal and political dramas and key issues of Lincoln's presidency, especially slavery. The story is told by an artist, who explains that while he was painting Lincoln’s portrait, struggled to understand all the things he saw in Lincoln's eyes: sorrow, resolve, hope, vision, forgiveness, and more. As he explains, he tells us a bit about Lincoln's life. You discover that Lincoln had the courage to do what he felt was right, even when it was him, on his family, and on the nation. He led our country through its worst national crisis difficult with vision, courage, persistence, political genius, and integrity.

"The state-of-the-art theater itself puts on quite a show. The system of layered digital projection screens, theatrical spectacle and special effects in the seating area immerse you in the experience. During a dramatic battle sequence, for example, the entire room seems to resound with war."

The second film we saw was Ghosts of the Library. This is what is said about the theater and film:

"Holavision®
Here the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum will present something that other presidential libraries have mysteriously not chosen to explain. We will explain what a presidential library is!

"You gather in a Pre-Show room where you see a video that welcomes you and takes you on a very brief video tour of the Library. Historic items from Illinois's past are also on view. The doors now open and you enter the Holavision® Theater for "Ghosts of the Library."

"Ghosts of the Library is a dramatic and magical special effects presentation that uses Holavision® to capture the exciting sense of discovery that scholars and curators feel as they approach a great research collection. Holavision® is a proprietary BRC Imagination Arts-owned technology that allows the storyteller to appear to control history around him. In addition, Holavision® permits the magical "fade away" or disappearance of the on-stage actor, with astonishing impact to audiences of all ages. The ghosts of Lincoln and his contemporaries momentarily appear and disappear, their transparent images drifting through the "Library." A quill rises from a library table and begins to write in the air, in Lincoln's handwriting.

"The seating area provides the view (through a large high-security window) into the "Library," as you hear about the activities, the detective work, and the discoveries waiting to be made in a great presidential archive.

"In a mysterious way, these original objects connect us to the people and events of history and make them real. It is almost as if we can momentarily see their world, as though they were here."

The kids toured other rooms inside the museum, played dress-up, visited the White House, etc. It was an all-around good visit.

See Ya Later Alligator, In A While Crocodile

Little Cameron looked so cute after his bath. He desperately needed it, since he leaked in his outfit. I don't always think about giving him a bath, but he does seem to enjoy them or at least doesn't cry during them.

Cameron is continuing to grow, but it is a little tricky to have him lay straight in his little bathing tub. I bet as he strengthens his ability to sit up more, he won't be tilting or falling over as I wash him off. I think it is about time that I get another little bathing seat so he can sit up and even play while in the water.

Once I dried Cameron off, I left him on the floor on top of his towel to get an outfit to put on him. He flipped over so fast with the hooded towel still over part of his head, so as he flipped, it moved along with him. It was quite funny seeing this completely covering his face. What a cute little alligator or crocodile!

"Dirty" Old Man

Well, I don't know the whole story behind this one, but somehow Clinton got very dirty today on his 5+ mile hike.

He went on a hike with the YM and some of their leaders at Waterfall Glen. Those that went were Benjamin, Tanner Cameron, Bayley Gaughan, Matt Deem, Brother Adam Froerer, Brother Dan Deem, Brother Jason Cameron, Brother David Ferguson, and Clinton. Following the hike, they ate lunch as a group.

It rained a lot yesterday, so it appears that everything was still wet and other places were soggy. I guess they found one of those spots. Even though Benjamin wore shorts and had less on his legs to get dirty, he still didn't get as filthy as Clinton. Both of their shoes were wet, too. All I can say is that I was not about to clean up that mess. I made Clinton clean up his pants. It seems only fair. He made the mess, he cleans it up. Hopefully they they will come clean.

Happy 170th Birthday Relief Society!

On March 17th, 1842 The Relief Society was the first women's organization and it was organized as a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Tonight was the Woodridge 1st Ward's Relief Society Birthday Dinner to celebrate the occasion. Since it was near St. Patrick's Day, the party had a St. Patrick's Day theme. There was a lot of green everywhere and rainbow colors, too. It was beautiful.

The meal was centered around an Irish theme as well. They served corned beef and cabbage, sheperd's pie, Irish soda bread, salad, and birthday cakes for dessert. There was such a variety of cakes. I didn't try them all, but I did try a small bit of many of them.

They offered babysitting for those women who needed to bring their children. Initially I didn't sign my children up to be watched because Clinton would be home. I found out last night that he would be helping with a YM campout Friday night and Saturday morning. (There's nothing like being surprised.)

Unfortunately, the YM weren't able to get the campground site, so they did camping stuff at the church, came home to sleep, and will reunite tomorrow morning at 9:00am to do other stuff. The kids had a lot of fun at church. They made crafts, had snacks, played with toys, and watched movies. I'm sure they had a lot more fun than if they stayed at home.

Meadowview's Open House & Ice Cream Social

This is Emma's display during Meadowview's Open House and Ice Cream Social tonight. I will blog about it tomorrow. I'm going to bed.

Dress Alike Day/Crazy Hair Day

This week at Anna and Emma's elementary school, Meadowview, is Spirit Week. Today is Dress Alike Day/Crazy Hair Day. I wasn't sure if they were going to coordinate with a classmate, but then I realized they could dress alike with each other.

Anna & Emma have this matching outfit they received in the fall. They also wore their St. Patrick's Day shamrock earrings and necklaces again, just like they did at church on Sunday the day after St. Patrick's Day.

Their hair is put up like Genna Fox's hair was on March 1st, Dr. Seuss' birthday. Her mom, Lisa, put up her hair like Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch. Thanks for the idea, Lisa.

I decided that I would try it for today. I tried putting a red solo brand cup on top and pulling their hair up around it, but it was too big and red. I next tried a smaller clear cup and it seemed to work. I don't know how long it will last during the day, but it will be fun for them while it does last. You can see a little bit in this picture the cup showing through Emma's hair. Hopefully, the kids at school will at least get to see it.

For my daughters who love to fight most of the time, I love to see it when they have fun together and dressing alike is a start. Look at them, they're even holding hands without me asking them to do so. I love my girls! :)

I'm Getting "Sew" Good at Rag Quilting

Last night I finished up my rag quilt which I started last Friday night. In between my St. Patrick's Day preparations on Saturday and taking care of Cameron, I worked hard to complete the quilt. I stayed up real late to get as much done as I could, but because I decided to add another row and make it 10 squares by 10 squares, I needed a few more squares of one fabric.

Late Saturday afternoon I headed back to Jo-Ann Fabrics to get three more squares of the multi-colored print. After arriving home, I couldn't start on the project for a while, but when I did, I realized that I actually needed a fourth square. The last row started with the multi-colored print, and it needed to end with it, so I needed a fourth square. I was so bummed when I realized that. I knew I couldn't finish it until Monday after getting more fabric. Once I finished, I washed it, dried it, and laid it out for Cameron.

Hooray! For once I finished a sewing project quickly (number of days and not the number of hours). The project still took me several hours to make, but I'm loving it, and so is Cameron. Now I need to help Anna make one (a smaller one) with her sewing machine or make another one with the additional fabric I bought. It was on sale and it was just too cute. I will use the same multi-colored fabric as this one, but I will use a green fabric with green, white, and brown polka-dots, and a blue fabric with blue, white, and brown polka-dots. I may eventually make a larger one for the family to use while watching movies, but we'll see.

Winners of the "Battle of the Books"

Anna's team won the Battle of the Books competition today at their school and they are going to the district to compete on Friday, March 23rd!

At Meadowview Elementary School (and all the other schools in Woodridge School District 68), kids in 3rd grade and 4th-6th grade competed in a Battle of the Books. A list of books to read for the battle is given out at the end of the previous school year so kids can begin reading if they choose to start. They have time throughout the school year until the day of the battle to complete their reading.

Students who want to participate are put onto a team. Anna and the other 3rd-6th grade students who are in Mrs. Neylon's Literacy Enrichment class, are required to participate. Emma decided that she wanted to participate this year, too.

The list of 12 books for 3rd graders to read were: Mr. Popper's Penguins, Freckle Juice, A Lion to Guard Us, Tornado, Muggie Maggie, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Molly's Pilgrim, James and the Giant Peach, My Father's Dragon, Boxcar Children, Charlotte's Web, and Little House in the Big Woods.

The list of 30 books for 4th-6th graders to read were: The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree; The White Mountains; Ice Magic; Because of Winn-Dixie; Phineas L. MacGuire…Erupts!: The First Experiment; By the Great Horn Spoon!; Boxes for Katje; The Patchwork Quilt; What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?; My Side of the Mountain; Old Yeller; Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story; Sheep; Redwall; Harry's Mad; A Wrinkle in Time; Ella Enchanted; Number the Stars; Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days; Anne of Green Gables; Hatchet; Clementine; My Rotten, Redheaded Older Brother; Meet Addy: An American Girl; Scared Stiff; Esperanza Rising; There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom; Knights of the Kitchen Table; Love, Ruby Lavender; and Castle in the Attic.

Each team agrees to read certain books to help their team. They fill out a sheet indicating which books they agree to read and they and their parents need to sign it and have it turned in. Most teams were made up of 7-8 people. Anna's team had 8. Fifteen questions were asked and each team answered the question on their team's dry erase board. They received 5 points for correctly listing the title of the book and 2 points for correctly listing the author of the book. Anna's team (Natasha Krska, Amelia Korbitz, Chloe Orona, Brittany Morales, Jahira Munoz, Natalia Aguilar, Jacey Evangelista, and Anna) did well by receiving 93 points out of the 105 points possible. Way to go Anna! Good luck competing with the other schools at the district competition on Friday!

Loving The Little Exersaucer

Here's a wonderful exersaucer that I borrowed from my ward friend, Diana Bowler. She fixed me up with the exersaucer, bouncer, and swing. Besides the little bouncer, I had previously had an exersaucer and swing for the other kids. Since I didn't want to invest in new ones, friends were able to help me out.

Cameron loves his exersaucer. His legs are getting stronger, he gets to see more things around the room with his new view, and he can play with the items on it which don't fall off.

Due to his two hour nap previously, he was awake and all the other kids were in bed. For dinner, he had a little bowl of rice cereal (which he started a few days ago) and his regular feeding. Hopefully it will help him sleep well through the night.

Cameron is rolling over all the time, raising his upper body fairly high, pushing his feet off the floor (since he is not constantly in the "body bag" outfits he was previously in), chewing on his fists frequently, grabbing his feet while laying on the floor, eating cereals, etc. He will be five months at the end of March already and I'm curious to see how much he has grown. His next appointment won't be until he is six months old, but by then, he will be doing so much more. I know I'll be in trouble soon once he is more mobile. Although he is a good baby, he'll be so curious and into everything.

Lucky Lunch

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I planned on having a "Green" dinner for my family, but instead we had a "Green" lunch (a "Lucky Lunch"). We had taco salad (w/green lettuce, green onions, taco meat, kidney beans, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and hot sauce), green broccoli, green grapes, green lime jello, green granny smith apples, green celery w/peanut butter and raisins (known as "ants on a log"), green limeade w/limes, and for dessert green mint chocolate chip ice cream. What a fun way to celebrate!

"Sew" Crafty at Rag Quilting

Tonight I attended a Sew and Craft group activity where we were cutting out our material to make rag quilts.

I purchased the material the last day of the fabric sale and had a difficult time figuring out what I was going to do. I didn't want to do only three fabrics, but there weren't four fabrics that I liked that would work well together.

Just before I finished picking out my fabric, a worker from the cutting counter was returning some fabric to where I was. She asked me if I wanted any of it. I looked at it and said, "YES". I had been struggling with getting the two different blue fabrics and two green fabrics and the fabric that she brought back was the multi-colored print fabric. It actually went with both colors.

Like usual, when I want to learn some sort of skill in our Sew and Craft group, instead of making one thing I end up buying enough to make two or more. I decided I would do separate blue and green toddler rag quilts. I chose the blue one to start with, but ended up giving the fabric for the green toddler rag quilt to Lisa Fox. She arrived and didn't have any fabric. I told her I could sell her my fabric if she wanted it - she did. I guess it was a good thing that I got it. Normally, the fabric is $6.99 a yard and it was on sale for $1.99 a yard. It was a great deal!

I'm excited to finish the rag quilt. Tonight I had time to learn about what to do, cut out the fabric, figure out the pattern I wanted, and begin sewing. I finished one row, but I have nine more rows to do. Once all the rows are complete and stitched together, I'll need to sew all around the outside of it and snip the edges.

Not that I need another blanket at home, since I have a ton of them, but I wanted to learn something new and feel pleased about making something - something for someone in my family. I think Cameron will like his new blanket.

Thanks to Amy Anderson and Liberty Cameron for taking time to help and teach me. I truly appreciate it.

Cameron Catching His Toes

National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremony

NJHS

Someone Needs To Finish Up In The Bathroom

I'll blog about it soon.

Happy 100th Birthday Girl Scouts!

Today, the Girl Scouts organization turned 100 years old. Anna's Girl Scout Troop #17 is participating in a Promise Circle at Meadowview Elementary school with a ton of other girl scouts (over 180).

Since Girl Scouts began in 1912, all of the girl scouts everywhere were to hold a special birthday celebration and at 7:12pm (19:12), they held hands in a Promise Circle, recited the GS law & oath, and sang a song (at least my daughter's group sang a song).

Throughout the night, the girls played games, did crafts, had refreshments, had raffle drawings, made treat bags, and even had their picture taken with a person who portrayed Juliette Low (the founder of Girl Scouts).

Anna has been in Girl Scouts since Kindergarten. She loves it! The number of girls in her troop has varied at times. Right now, her troop is small. I don't know if they only have eight girls in it, but only eight girls were there. Her troop starts from the person to the left of Anna (if you're looking at the picture) to the girl on the far right side of the door. I don't know who the first girl is (I'll have to ask Anna), but from left to right, of the girls in her troop, it is the girl in the jacket, Anna, Gaby Anderson, Stephanie Bielawa, Annamarie Hyer, Katie Whiteman, Lily Kraus, and Vanessa DeMarchi.

Emma really enjoyed Girl Scouts, too, and was in it until last year. Her leader was no longer going to be the leader, I didn't want to volunteer, and the person who decided to be the leader could meet on Sundays. We decided not to have Emma participate in it because of the day their meetings would be held. I know she would still love to be in it, but she is a social girl without participating with them in Girl Scouts. Maybe Emma will be able to join in the future if the day changes for their meetings.

A great big thanks to all of my girls' leaders for the time, effort, patience, and love that they put into working with these girls, especially mine.

Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox, What Time Is It?

I don't know what got Justin thinking about Mr. Fox, but during dinner the discussion started. He wondered where he had played that game. I remembered it was from swim lessons this past summer at Cypress Cove.

It was a game Justin and his swim class would play towards the end of their lesson. It was good practice for them to be reaching and stretching their arms to catch people just like they would use them to swim. It was a fun way to practice something useful.

Justin enjoyed the game during his swim lessons, so after dinner, the kids began playing. As you can see here, Benjamin is Mr. Fox and he is trying to get Anna, Emma, and Justin. Anna is a little further ahead than Emma and Justin, and probably the only safe one. It looks like Justin has tumbled to the floor and that Emma is about to drop like her brother.

There are different variations online of how you could play, but here's how we played the game based on how Justin learned it:

Mr. Fox starts out at one end of a field, room, or designated area with his back to the group. The group at the other end then yells out “Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox, what time is it?” Mr. Fox then calls out a time that is on the even hour (1 o'clock - 12 o'clock). The group then takes that many steps towards Mr. Fox. As people get closer to Mr. Fox and continue to ask him what time it is, he can answer, "It's lunch time" and begin chasing them to tag them. Mr. Fox can continue to tag everyone, if he wants to, but the first person tagged is Mr. Fox for the next round.

Another variation I saw online is similar to how Justin played, but once people are near Mr. Fox and ask him again, he yells out, "Midnight" instead. Mr. Fox then turns around and chases the group. Those that he catches are to sit out. The last one left becomes the fox. Another variation is to allow each child who is tagged to become an honorary fox and help catch people.

Swinging in the Sun on a Saturday

Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday. When the kids first woke up, they headed downstairs to watch tv. I told them they needed to come up at a certain time to eat breakfast.

Following breakfast, they all needed to put away their laundry baskets of clothes before playing any wii games. Benjamin hurried up and did his, so he could go play "How To Train Your Dragon". I thought it was funny that the movie Clinton checked out and the wii game that I checked out where for the same thing. We didn't even plan it that way.

While Benjamin played (and I think Justin watched him play), Anna, Emma and I tackled their room and closet. It was horrendous. We spent quite a bit of time in there. Benjamin ended his game at a certain time and everyone continued to clean up their rooms and have lunch.

Around 2:00pm, Clinton had planned to take whichever kids wanted, and were ready with their rooms, to the park. I didn't figure he would be gone so long, but Benjamin decided to play at home first on the game and bike over a little later. By the time he biked over to Castaldo Park, they weren't there. They had headed to various places and ended up at the Woodridge Community Park District playground. Emma stayed behind to finish up her room. Of course, I continued helping her. Finally, around 4:00pm we finished, so I dropped her off at the playground where Clinton, Anna, and Justin were playing. Luckily, she got the chance to play. She would have been extremely sad if she missed that chance.

Once everyone was home, it was time for taking showers, fixing dinner, and eating. It was an amazing dinner of one of our family's favorites - biscuits and gravy along with potatoes. What a good way to celebrate a productive day. Although I was busy the entire day, I really enjoyed it. The boys' room could still use a little cleaning up, but their room and the girls' room is much better. I have a lot more to tackle this next week. My desire is to get more cleaned up prior to Spring Break, so we can enjoy it a little more. We may also set up a little trip during that week, so it will help if things get prepared earlier.

Hooray, ISAT Tests Are Over For the Week

It's Friday night, Benjamin's ISAT tests have ended, Anna and Emma made it through their week of ISAT tests and have one more day next week, and all they want to do is relax.

I stopped by the library today and checked out a few wii games and a movie. Clinton also checked out a few movies while he was there. The movie they decided to watch was, "How To Train Your Dragon".

It is a good movie. I believe we have all watched it before, but it has been a while. It was nice for them to relax a little after dinner. I'm sure tomorrow they will want to play some of the wii games, so I think a little room cleaning will be needed first. Benjamin and Justin did most of their room tonight.

Initially, I told the kids that whomever would finish up their room first, could play a game. Benjamin and Justin did start on their room right away and once Benjamin was finished (to his satisfaction), he went to play. His room does look better, but it is nowhere near what I want it to look like. :)

Anna and Emma will need to begin their cleaning tomorrow. Hooray to get things clean (or at least cleaner).

Largest Solar Flare in Five Years Hits Earth

I'll blog about this tomorrow once I read more about what happened, what is predicted, etc.

Buffalo Wild Wings

Tonight was our school's restaurant fundraiser night at Buffalo Wild Wings. I don't think we have been there in quite some time. The last time we've gone there was probably over a year ago. Prior to that, we had gone maybe a few times a year the last few years. Our school would have fundraiser nights each year, plus we would come on other occasions.

Buffalo Wild Wings use to be under different management and Wednesday night (their Kid's Night), they would have $1.99 kid meals with free ice cream topping bar, raffles, and face painting. I believe that manager has since moved to another location. I don't know if he does the same things there, but it was fun.

Benjamin wasn't sure what to get, but he was looking over the kid menu and noticed that two of the chicken tender kid meals were cheaper than a regular chicken tender meal. I know Benjamin would normally want to seem older to everyone, but this is the only time he is thrilled to be young - he still qualified as "12 and under", so he took advantage of it, but one meal would not be enough for his appetite.

Anna, Emma, and Justin received kid menus and crayons in their paper bag, plus a piece of candy. Emma had a Reese's peanut butter cup, but since Anna and Justin had smaller candy, they actually received two pieces. They thought it was nice.

Clinton tried out the hand-held device that they have. You can login and play trivia games that have the questions displayed on their large tv screens inside the restaurant. I think he won one of the games and lost another. There is no real prize except knowing you did well. :)

Everybody ordered a meal, but Clinton asked if we could try a black bean burger that is suppose to be healthy. He heard about it on the Doctor Oz show. Wow, the things you can see and learn from watching shows during the day when you "work" from home.

We had a good time and ate delicious food, but I think I may have to hunt down that other manager and see if he does a special kid's night. I think it would be more worth it to go back for that.

Cameron is Growing Like a Weed

Cameron continues to grow like a weed. He gets heavier and longer all the time. For a kid who was ten days late, he didn't weigh as much as he could have, but he was still 8.04 lbs. and 21 inches long. Not a bad length for a baby.

At his two month appointment, Cameron weighed 12.8 lbs. and grew to 24 inches long. They said that his head was in the 50%, the weight was in the 75%, and his length was in the 90%.

Last week at Cameron's four month appointment, Cameron weighed 15.4 lbs. and grew to 26 1/2 inches long. Just like last time, his head was in the 50%, the weight was just under 75%, and his length was between 90%-95%. It just amazes me that he continues to grow as well as he is and grateful that his length stretches out his weight. I think Justin weighed about as much as Cameron does now when he was only one year old. He wasn't near the height of Cameron either.

He is rolling around more and more. He has learned how to roll from his back to his front, but he has rolled from his front onto his back periodicallym too,

Best of Buds, Tired and Together

Although Justin's bed is the top bunk, he sleeps with Benjamin almost every night in his bed. Justin knows that he should only sleep with Benjamin when it is not a school night, but that still doesn't stop him. He may crawl into his bed before falling asleep or crawl down during the night.

It is important that they both get their rest during the school week and this week it is even more important. ISAT testing started this week for the kids. Anna and Emma started today and Benjamin will begin his testing tomorrow. He also has Jazz band tomorrow morning at 7:00am, so he should be awake sooner than usual.

It is usually hard to wake up Benjamin without waking up Justin if they are sleeping together. Good thing for Justin that Benjamin loves him a lot. Benjamin has told me on more than one occasion that he loves having Justin sleep with him because he is such a warm body. He generally doesn't need many blankets when he sleeps with him. As you can see, Benjamin is actually sleeping without a shirt in the middle of winter (although this winter has been extremely, and strangely mild).

I'm not sure if Justin chose to sleep at the foot of Benjamin's bed or if he was asked to do that. Once I laid Cameron down I went into their room to take a picture. Benjamin's head popped up and he asked me if I took a picture of him. I guess he wasn't quite asleep yet. I told him he was in it a little bit, but that I wanted to take a picture of Justin since he was about to fall off the bed. I know he wouldn't like it if he knew I was posting this picture and blogging about him. Gotta love that boy! :)

"March Forth"

Today is March Fourth and I decided that we as a family would "March Forth" and do good service each year on March 4th, so tonight it began.

I don't recall where I had heard of this idea before, but it had been some time from when I heard it to actually putting it into action. I felt this was a good way to involve the kids in doing good (not like we don't do it already). I had Benjamin, Anna, Emma, and Justin choose 2 families each to deliver cookies to and share our little idea and say thank you.

Benjamin and Clinton had already been involved in service that day by driving around and collecting fast offerings for church. Benjamin was gone for about 2 1/2 hours and Clinton was gone for about 3 1/2 hours. Since our ward started doing this as an assignment for the YM each Fast Sunday, Benjamin has gone on a route with Brother Adam Froerer and Brother Trevor Ricks. He has a blast with them. I am glad he gets to spend additional time with them outside of Sunday and Tuesday activities. I think because of the time he spent with them today, he chose those two families to deliver cookies to tonight.

Anna selected Amelia Korbitz's family. Amelia is in 5th grade and she is in Anna's class. I would say Amelia is probably her best friend at school and she has known her since Kindergarten. She and her family are very kind. They have another daughter who is younger than Emma, but they have a lot of fun playing together. Whenever Anna gets to play with Amelia, Emma gets to go play with Francesca. It makes the playing so much more enjoyable for everyone. The other family she chose was Lindsay Pluister's family. She has known her a long time and has even had her dad as a soccer coach before. When Anna delivered the cookies to them the dad answered the door and she said, "Happy March 4th. I am 'Marching Forth' to do good service". He said he was very glad to have a treat since their whole family had been ill for a while.

Earlier this evening, Lindsay's mom called to see if Anna told me thank you. She said that was the best thing that had happened to them all week. They had been sick since Monday and they haven't gone anywhere, done anything, or felt great. They are on the mend finally and sure appreciated it. She said that whatever made Anna choose them, she chose the right house. I felt very pleased about that and I shared the conversation with Anna. I told her that I was glad she chose that family and whatever made her think of them was the Holy Ghost prompting her to do so, and that I was proud of her for acting on the inspiration given to her.

Emma chose friends from school, too. The first family was Rylan Gaspar's family. She and Rylan have known each other since Kindergarten and are currently serving together as Student Council representatives for their 3rd grade class with Ms. Brackett. Emma has also had her dad as a soccer coach before. Rylan comes from a great family. The other family she chose was Cady Murphy's. Cady was in Kindergarten and 1st grade with Emma, but she skipped 2nd grade and advanced to 3rd grade. When Anna was in 4th grade, she and Cady Murphy had Mrs. Neylon together for the 3rd/4th grade Literacy Enrichment Class. Even though they don't get together regularly since she is not in Emma's grade, she still wanted to do something nice for her.

Justin selected Will Potter's family. Will is a Kindergarten boy that lives in the culdesac behind our house. His family is very friendly and they had been kind to let Justin come and play for a while, especially after I had Cameron. Will is probably Justin's best neighborhood friend. The other family he chose was Peter Anderson's family. Peter is Justin's best friend/church friend.

Tonight was just a small way we could show our appreciation for the friendship and service these families offer to us.

A New Addition To The Family

Benjamin and Justin were having fun with the new addition to the family, Ethan Kinnear. Although he may not look it, Ethan is Benjamin's age and in 7th grade. The two boys were having fun with him tonight while Cameron kept watching all of the action right in front of him.

Ethan's parents called during our dinner with the missionaries to see if he could earn any additional community service hours before Monday, March 5th. He and his family attended our ward Chili Cook Off last weekend and we discussed this topic. He even stayed afterwards for 1/2 hour to help clean up. Ethan and Benjamin are working towards being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS).

In order to join, you must attend all mandatory meetings, need to have 20 community service hours per year, two of the total hours must be performed at their junior high doing peer tutoring on a Thursday - one hour each semester, complete and turn in their NJHS application, uphold the five pillars of the NJHS, pay a $5 membership dues each year, and maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA. At least 10 of those hours need to be completed by the March 5th deadline in order to be inducted into the NJHS at a special induction ceremony on March 14th.

Benjamin has no problem achieving his community service hours. With YM/Scouts and church, he has it covered. He already has 40 hours from Thanksgiving until now. They started later in the school year and told the kids they could count their time from Thanksgiving and continuing. If we could have counted hours from the beginning of the school year, Benjamin would have a ton more. The YM, EQ, and High Priests are in a rotation to mow at a Women's Shelter. He has put in several hours over there this school year and will start up again once the mowing begins.

Ethan needed another hour of community service by Monday in order for him to be eligible. We gave a suggestion of cleaning up a park or the grounds of the Woodridge Community Park District building. If he needed someone to work with, we sort of volunteered Benjamin to go. He told us that would be fine. Benjamin didn't mind doing this with his friend. We drove over and dropped him off at the park district building and planned to pick him up in one hour.

Clinton went to go pick up Benjamin, but passed Ethan's dad on the way over. They dropped him off for us and Ethan ended up staying for a while. Justin loves hanging out with Benjamin's friends and he is good about letting Justin hang out with him and his friends, too. Ethan is like a brother, but from a different mother. A picture of him and his three "brothers" was needed, so here it is. Thanks for the fun evening Ethan!

Family Fun Night @ Meadowview

I'll blog about it in the morning.

The Museum of Science and Industry - Jefferson Pride Team Fieldtrip

I'll let Clinton detail this picture since he was one of the chaperones on the trip. He was the chaperone in charge of Benjamin's group.