
Some might say "What big shoes to fill!", but my thoughts are, I hope the shoes she fills are much better than mine.
We are slowly trying to read through the Book of Mormon with the kids. Slowly. They can only sit through maybe a page before the ants in the pants show up. But, as we plod along, I am noticing the light going on in their minds and they are starting to grasp the principles being taught in the scriptures. It's a wonderful thing!
Brazil. A country none of us really knew much about. So, we sat down together for Family Home Evening to do a little research on it. Lyndon and the girls really enjoyed it. I didn't. I didn't enjoy learning about the place that was taking my husband away from me. In fact, I may have developed a slight grudge against the place. I *might* get over it, if Lyndon takes me with him next time :)
Passport time! Not sure why I put this off. Probably a fear of long line ups and passport photos. I survived the horrible corpse-like photo, and even better -absolutely NO ONE in line! YES! I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. Maybe this passport thing will grow on me.
I helped TJ at her Achievement Days activity. There were 12 girls there and they were one craft short. TJ made me proud by immediately raising her hand to offer to go without so another girl, a visitor, could have one. What a doll. Her teacher smiled and offered to bring her a pot to paint another day, which she did, and we all painted pots together on a future Family Home Evening.
And he's off... Many hugs were given. And I did not cry, or blubber, or lose it. Really. At least, not too badly. And not in front of him. Much. I'm a big girl and this is no big deal. We'll all be fine. Seriously. I missed him the moment he was out of my sight. Who am I kidding, I missed him before that. But I'm happy for him. So happy :)
We had 5 young women and their YW leader billet at our house from Winnipeg this weekend. They were so sweet, though I didn't actually get to see much of them. They spent from 8am until 11pm at the church for the conference, so I basically was here while they slept :) They left me this sweet card and a lovely gift - a bar of strawberry soap from the Body Shop. My girls all wanted to use it so they could smell like perfume.
Do you ever just thank your lucky stars for a certain someone in your life? I do from time to time. In my case, I have a certain FAMILY in my life that I adore and who were kind enough to invite me and my girls over to dinner (and some wonderful adult conversation) while my husband is away. They are truly some of our very best friends, and also some of the most Christlike people I've ever had the pleasure to know. I mean, who has the wheaties to invite 5 extra mouths over for dinner? These folks, that's who! I enjoyed visiting with Ketrisse and watching her sweet relationship with her children.
Ooooh la la. These would be what I call a "Sweet" success. I've never before made cinnamon rolls, but in my ever increasing attempt to keep busy this week, I thought I'd give them a shot. Oh, heaven! They turned out PERFECT!

Watching the most wonderful sessions of General Conference. So touching, so emotional, so true, so uplifting. I wish Lyndon didn't have to be in school and miss it.
Busy trying to keep the children occupied with good activities during Sunday's Conference sessions. They did church coloring sheets and activities and enjoyed themselves. Hopefully they also caught a little bit from the talks, too.
Easter Family Home Evening - a sweet little lesson on the last days of Jesus' life on earth, and the joy of His glorious Resurrection. We learned the Children's Primary song "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" which is one of my favorite Easter songs, then played a fun game together. I love Family Home Evening - even when the planning can seem to get in the way of other things that need to be done, I never regret doing it.
Swimming lessons for TJ - last day. Parent Day. Play day. They pretty much splashed around the entire time, enjoying themselves, having fun. I was glad I decided to go - I never want to miss things like this.
Bayboo and her little pre-Kindergarten class had been working for 2 months to learn a Metis Rabbit dance to perform for their parents and other classes.
A familiar sight for Lyndon as he rides the bus to and from work with mostly the same people each time. We're blessed to have access to a great transit system so I can have a vehicle during the day.
TJ's 9th birthday party! This year she decided on only inviting one friend and going to see a movie at the theatre. Sounds good to me! She was sooooo excited all day, driving the rest of us batty with her giggly chatter. I'm taking it all in, though, because I fear the time will come when she won't be so quick to want to chat with me. I hope that day is far off!
Easter celebrations! In our family, we have the Easter bunny visit on Saturday so we can focus on the Savior on Sunday. We had our Easter basket hunt, decorated eggs, and went on a little bike ride. A wonderful, warm, fun Easter day!
The Howies invited us over for a turkey dinner! To our pleasant surprise there was another great couple from our ward there to enjoy dinner, too- the Burgesses. This couple blow me away with their testimony, service, and genuine love for others. It was such a pleasure to spend the evening visiting with them and getting to know them better.
TJ turns 9. I love this girl. She is an example to me, she is a good and faithful daughter - to us, and to her Heavenly parents. We love her and have felt blessed to have her as a part of our family these past nine years! Now I can look forward to the next 9!
Hooray for warm Spring weather and no school! We spent the morning at a fun park near our house. The girls especially loved this sill twirly dizzy thing. Crazy kids.
Cool cat in a hat. Lyndon needed to buy a hat for his trip to Brazil, so what could be more fun than accompanying him? The girls all looked smashing in their mountain man hats, but my hubby looked HOT in his!
How many Barbie movies does it take to make a mommy go insane? Probably 1, but we're not taking any chances. Our girls LOVE these flicks, the music, the stories, the beautiful princesses. What's not to love?
BB surprised me by making my bed. What a sweetie - and a pretty awesome bed maker at that!

Let's say that JJ dressed herself for April Fool's day. Let's say that I knew about her backward pants and shoes on the wrong feet before I let her out the door. Let's say this was all on purpose. Yeah, we'll go with that....
My dinners are so tasty that they just exhaust my children from the sheer jubilation of eating them. She was so overcome from the delicious pizza that she just couldn't finish her salad and veggies.
Monday night means Family Home Evening - and since we are trying our best to coordinate our lessons with what they girls are learning about in Primary we had our lesson this week on how Children contribute to our family. We acted out ways that we can help to make our house into a home. Daddy acted out his favorite thing - a fire in the firepit in the backyard to roast hot dogs on. TJ and B acted out being kind to each other (such a stretch - ha!) and we all had a wonderful, happy, uplifting evening together!
This has been our reality for over a week. Joy.