Leap Day - Let's Leap and Roll

I'll write about this one tomorrow.

Lucky For Us We've Got A Leprechaun

Justin, Anna, and Emma decorated Justin's leprechaun that is due tomorrow for Totschool (preschool). Justin loved coloring some of the area interesting colors. I told them that if they wanted to find a skinny marker that was similar to a "skin" color, that might look nice. Well, I guess they couldn't find one and Justin started to use orange - the closest color to a "skin" color I suppose. Once the face turned out orange, the hands were left alone to be white.

There were a few other areas that Justin decorated so colorfully, but they were colored a little bit more to not have the areas look so very different than the rest of the parts. The beard is orange construction paper, cut into strips, and taped on. I'm surprised that they didn't use glue. I would have thought they would have used glue. The lacing on the boots are made with orange ribbons.

Hope Justin enjoys seeing his picture hanging up outside of his classroom.

Loveable, Huggable, Handsome Hunks

Tonight we just finished up reading our scriptures and saying family prayer. My boys were giving hugs and kisses to each other before bed and I needed to get a picture.

It has been our tradition from when Benjamin, Anna, and Emma were little, that we would give hugs and kisses (on the cheek) to each other following our family prayer. I figured this would be a nice way for the kids to show love and affection to each other. It is something that everybody enjoys, although Benjamin doesn't care for it as much as he gets older. If the kids went through short periods where they didn't want someone to hug or kiss them, we just told them that if they didn't let someone give them a hug or kiss, that you would have to let that someone give them two. That usually solved the problem!

When my boys were carrying out this tradition, Benjamin and Justin were either next to Clinton or on his lap, and I decided that I needed by fourth boy in that pose. Cameron was placed on Clinton's lap and occasionally I would get him to stay focused on the camera. Many times he kept looking at Justin as he would see him move, smile, and hear him laugh. At least two of my four loveable, huggable, handsome hunks were smiling and two of the four were looking at me. My boys - they're so good looking, especially when they smile. :)

I Feel Like Our Snowman

I hadn't noticed it on the way to church, but coming home I noticed that our snowman's hat, head, and middle section were missing. Clinton told me that they were taken last night while we were at the Chili Cook Off. As if that wasn't sad to hear and put a damper on my mood, I got terribly sick later on.

I felt exactly how I did on July 11, 2010. The only reason why I know when it was, is that it was over my birthday weekend. Clinton and I went out for my birthday Friday, July 9th and we went out again Saturday, July 10th. I was hesitant to go out that second night because I was suppose to give a talk the next day. I was tired, unprepared for my talk, and I woke up at 1:00am and was sick all through the night. The hard part is that I felt nauseous, but I never threw up. I was so sick that I called the Bishop that morning to let him know I would not be at church. There was no way I could stay up front and give my talk when I couldn't stay out of the bathroom for very long. I disliked spending all that time on a talk, only to not give it. I ended up speaking in sacrament a few months after that.

Tonight, I had awful diarrhea or something. The previous time, a friend of mine said that it was probably food poisoning, because it usually hits about 4 hours after eating, and that's exactly what happened. If what I had was food poisoning, it was either some sort of delayed reaction from eating the various bowls of chili Saturday night at the Chili Cook Off, the leftover chicken enchiladas and rice I ate for lunch and dinner (but Friday night when our family ate them we were fine), or I have no idea. Maybe it wasn't food poisoning, but the chili by itself did something strange to me, who knows.

So, nevertheless the cause of my illness, I felt like our snowman - terrible, not quite myself. I was sick for a while, laid down to take a nap around 7:30pm, woke up at 9:30pm, and still felt sick for another hour or so. Eventually I was able to sleep. I'm hoping I feel better Monday morning.

We've Got Ourselves A Winner!

Clinton decided this week to try making chili for the Ward Chili Cook Off. He tested it out a few days ago and we really liked it. He made another batch yesterday so it would be prepared early enough for today.

Our girls are a little more adventuresome trying food, but Justin is a little picky and Benjamin is even more picky. Benjamin won't eat chili, unless it is Wendy's chili. I don't think it dawns on him that he is eating meat.

Well, Clinton desired to make a chili that Benjamin will even eat. He seemed to do that with a similar Wendy's chili recipe. Benjamin ate some of the chili the first time Clinton made it.

Clinton believes that he NEVER wins anything. He watched a Dr. Oz show a while back and they were giving away some free items. He attempted to submit a request on the Dr. Oz website knowing that he wouldn't win. Well, to his surprise, his FREE Comfort-Revolution Memory Core Pillow came earlier this week.

Clinton is also a winner from the Chili Cook Off. His chili won the Ward Favorite Award. It was so surprising to him, but I think he quite enjoyed it. I don't know who all voted for him, but we did have some friends come to the activity, and one of them voted for Clinton. The funny thing was that our friends had no idea what number Clinton's chili was, but once they shared with us who they voted for, then Clinton mentioned that was the one he made. I guess his streak of losing has passed. I'm proud of you Clinton! You deserved it.

Building A Snowman With Dad

It finally snowed again this season. I didn't mind that it hadn't snowed much or that it hasn't been extremely cold, but it was fun to see the great things that can be done with snow.

Clinton was excited all morning about making a snowman with Justin. He told him that after he dropped the girls off at school, they would go play outside in the snow and make a snowman. I had to remind him that Justin had school today, so he couldn't play outside very long. Since he wouldn't have much time before school started, Clinton decided it was best to wait till after school to play. He told him he would pick him up from school and they would go sledding outside. They probably spent about 45 minutes sledding and then came home and went right to work on building a snowman.

The snow was wonderful. It was the best packing snow. I didn't see them roll the first two parts of the snowman, but I did get to see them do the head. It was very cute to see Justin help. He came and asked me for a carrot for the snowman's nose. Unfortunately, we didn't have regular long carrots that would be perfect for a nose, I only had baby carrots, so that's what was used. Justin loves carrots and asked if he could have one to eat. I gave him a few to eat at different times and one time he dropped one on the wet, dirty ground. I told him to wipe it into the snow to get it clean. He decided to drop it in the snow, try to grab it with his chubby mittens, and wipe them off. He had a difficult time picking them back up. It was quite funny to watch.

Clinton and Justin gathered sticks to make the arms and also looked for some good rocks for the eyes. Justin came up to Clinton with what he thought was a great rock, but it wasn't actually a rock, it was a clump of dirt. He put it down and had to look for another one. The snowman was topped off with one of Clinton's hats that is from when he worked at Whittman-Hart.

A great time was had by the both of them. I took a few pictures quickly while the snowman was still intact. The weather wasn't cold enough to keep it from melting. You can still see the snowman, but he has a distinct "lean" to his body. I guess we'll have to wait and see how long he lasts.

Love Thy Neighbor

The scriptures teach us about the importance of loving our neighbors. Well, Anna had two wonderful opportunities to love (or actually serve) our neighbor. Dr. Murphy (Adrienne Murphy), lives on the side street behind our house. She has lived there ever since we have lived in our home. Her children are grown and out of the house. She lives alone.

On Sunday, February 5th, we returned home from church at 12:25pm. About 5 minutes upon our return, someone knocked on our door. We opened the door and found our neighbor, Dr. Murphy, standing in front of us. She began to explain quickly and with much sadness, holding back her tears, that she was heading to Cicero to stay until Wednesday. Her father was not doing well and she needed to stay with him during the nights.

Dr. Murphy is a retired school teacher and has substituted at the kids' school many times. She has frequently filled in for Anna's teachers. There was a 6 week period that our Principal, Mrs. Innes, was on leave due to surgery, so the Assistant Principal, also Anna's Literacy Enrichment Specialist, Mrs. Neylon filled in for her. While Mrs. Neylon filled in for the principal, Dr. Murphy filled in for her. Since Anna and Dr. Murphy already had a friendship, she felt comfortable to ask Anna if she would pick up her paper daily and collect her mail if her mailbox was full.

Anna was very eager about doing this. She loves to help and I think she felt special about doing it. Anna excitedly gathered her things each day. She did a great job. When Dr. Murphy returned home, Anna made sure she received her items. That following Saturday while we were gone cleaning the church, Dr. Murphy left a message asking if Anna could collect her paper and mail again. She would be gone for a few more days.

Quickly, Anna ran over to her house to pick up the mail, but it hadn't arrived yet that day. The rest of the day was crazy with a baptism and picking up, sorting, and delivering Girl Scout cookies. The thought didn't cross Anna's mind to go back and check. It was unfortunate that we didn't think of it again. On Tuesday, I saw her pull into her driveway and I realized that we failed to gather the mail. Although I would normally remind Anna of her commitment to do this, I forgot, but felt that it wasn't my fault entirely. She should have remembered, too.

Serving is important, needed, enjoyable, and rewarding. We can feel a sense of usefulness, accomplishment, joy, happiness, and love. Though we shouldn't serve with the expectation of someone giving us something, Dr. Murphy did give Anna the cute shawl, shirt, and pants that you see on her from a store called, "Justice." She delivered the box to us today and Anna was able to open it up before bed. I feel that Anna did a small act of service for someone who asked for it and needed it. I would not of thought she needed anything in return. That was thoughtful and kind of her to do. Anna will definitely be hand-delivering a thank you card along with some sort of treat and offering to help any time she needs it. Although it may be a little last minute, we could give her an invitation to our ward Chili Cook Off Saturday night.

This opportunity is just one of many that Anna will have to serve neighbors, I hope. In the Matthew 22:36-40 it says,

"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

"This is the first and great commandment.

"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Also, in Mosiah 2:17 it mentions who we are really serving when we are serving our fellowman. It reads,

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God".