best of the day

January 29 - Linger Longer is over until April, oh, and we were told lice has been going
through the primary, so we might want to check.  Oh, yah, baby.

best of the day

January 28 - Ron and I ran to Mountain Home, AR, to get a few needed supplies.  (I finally found affordable, cute baskets, Nana.)  We took time to fool ourselves into eating Mexican food.  Food not good, but our teenage waiter treated us to random singing escapedes like, "Can I get you a to-go boooox?", grunts, high voices, low voices, flexing motions, and all other things that were EXTREMELY annoying.  If nothing else, we got a few chuckles.

best of the day

January 27 - Worked on a dress for Anna out of flood-sale material.  

Turned out cute.  Of course, no picture.  Soon, hopefully.

best of the day

January 26 - I got a full moon today.  Yep, a full moon.  Went to Zach's PeeWee basketball game and a sixth grade boy miscalculated how far he needed to pull his pants down to tuck in his shirt and I got mooned.  Maggie and Casey couldn't stop laughing the rest of the game and continuted chanting all the way home in the car.  Booyah!

not to be left out

 When the camera started to flash, Anna and I found we had company.  Love this girl, and her slippers that walked into the civic center today, and her wild hair, and her awesome, interesting conversations. 

sitting in a chair, kind of

Anna was semi-sitting in a chair, so I grabbed my camera.  Can't believe she is almost 2.  She is spunky and fun and never is still.  So, some pictures are blurry, but that's what happens when you are trying to catch a flitting little 22 month old.

If anyone knows how to get the date stamp to not show on photos, will they tell me?  I detest it. 

best of the day

January 25 - Not sure if it was the fact that Ron went number 1 for the first time since Sunday, or that we were able to sneak to lunch with Michele and Ashby, or piano lessons.  Zach is back to piano after 8 months off and it was great.  It is amazing how much money can motivate.  Thanks, Thelissa for all of the pointers.  I just wish I was a better pianist, but for the short while, this will have to do.  Thanks to the kids for their willingness. 

(Hoping to post Sam's piece for Nana soon.)

best of the day

January 24 - Realizing how much Ron means to me.  He had a serious bout with runs, if you know what I mean.  It made me appreciate him all the more and admire all that he does.  The bright side was I was able to spend a partial afternoon with him at home.  It was a nice treat to have him home when the sun was shining.

best of the day

January 23 - 

An acutal quiet night with everyone home for FHE.  It really is pretty sad how often we are able to pull that off.  But, it was a great night talking about Elder Christofferson's talk on repentance.  It made me want more Mondays like that.

best of the day

January 22 - A day of drizzle and fog got a little brighter when Sister Wood brought me a warm blanket from her car to warm up my shivers at church.  I still have not acclimated to a building that is kept cold in the middle of winter.

best of the day

January 21 - Cozy afternoon reading in bed with my electric blanket that Ron gave me for Christmas.  It was supposed to be 60 and sunny, but was really . . .  ummm, not.  Great day for a good book and a warm blanket.

Best of the Day

January 20 - Glenwood Mustangs win the Championship in overtime.  Nobody knows for sure when Glenwood last won the conference.  Someone thought maybe 18 years.  It was an awesome game, one that Sam will not forget soon.  He hit a great three and will always remember the time he traveled.   Congrats to the A team boys, who nobody ever thought would win it all.

best of the day

January 19 - Making "eyo eyo" cupcakes with Jill and Ashby.

(Picture courtesy of Bakerella because I was unable to supervise cocoa, 4 year olds, and a camera.  It was an awesome recipe.  Would highly recommend it if you have a like for cookies and cream.)

Mini Must Mag

Mags got to perform at the pep assembly for her last mini mustang performance today.  She got to tumble and show off her aerial cartwheel.  She was awesome and is looking forward to working with Mrs. Land again next year.   

very random best of the day

January 18 - Woke up in the middle of the night to find myself crawling in the hallway.  What in the world?  I must have been a fantastic spy in my dream. Haha, what a dork.

best of the day

January 17 - Wish I had a picture, but I didn't want to humiliate an old man.

Today, I got to help an old man and his wife pull their car out of the ditch in front of our house.  Yep, an old man was trying to turn around at the edge of our driveway and didn't see the three foot ditch.  He ended up spinning his wheels until help (me) came along. 

best of the day

January 16 - Cleaning up vomit, poopy pants, and pee pants. (jk, not the best of the day)

It has been almost a week since we have not had someone vomit.  Sam is the only little cub who has not yet vomitted.  I hope that it happens for him soon; bball post season tournament starts Thursday. 

Actually, the best was seeing Sam hit two great shots in his game.  Glenwood played the Middle School and lost by 3.  But, that is a major victory.  You see, it is kind of like David and Goliath.  Sam only has about 15 boys in his grade, causing the talent pool to be, well, a little like a puddle.  (A muddy puddle a lot of the time)  So, playing against the middle school that has at least 5 times the students as Glenwood, losing by three was a moral victory.  They almost pulled it out, but it was fun to see Sam in one of his last games in red and black.

best of the day

January 15 - Playing Zero with Sam and Zach after everyone else went to sleep.  

There are benefits to no school on Monday and the fact that my kids have no friends. 

best of the day

January 14th - A funny story via Ann-Renee via the Super Saturday Dance

Ann- Renne is a sweet, lovely girl in our ward.  At Super Saturday, a boy asked her to dance.  They exchanged names, home ward info, and such, and then she asked him how old he is.  He said, "19."  Then, the boy asked Ann-Renee how old she is.  She said, "14."  The boy stopped dancing, said, "Just a minute,"  turned around and walked out the door.  Ann-Renee never saw him again.  

Love it.  What in the world was the 19-year-old doing at the dance? 

She did it!

Since Jill was about 3 months old, she has sucked on her left thumb

and pinched her belly button with her right hand.  

Exhibit A

 She couldn't wear onesies, and freaked out one night as a six-month-old because I forgot and put her to bed in a onesie.  She loved her thumb.  It gave her comfort, and helped her fall asleep.  But, about 6 months ago, she started telling me that when she turned four, she was going to stop sucking on her thumb.  We would talk about it every now and then, but never did I think it would happen.  Well, it happened.  She did it.  The night of her fourth birthday, we put yucky thumb-be-gone stuff on her thumb.  She tried putting it in her mouth once and then just cried.  She cried and she cried.  She begged for her thumb to be back the way it was.  So, after about 20 minutes, we wiped off the stuff with her sobbing still a bit, and she never looked back.  It took about 3 nights for her to learn how to go to sleep without her thumb.  But, she did it!  She is amazing.  It has now been almost 3 weeks since she sucked her thumb and I have to admit, there are times I would love for her to just stick her thumb in her mouth.  But, what an awesome example she is to all of us.   She is amazing.

best of the day

January 13 - Pure Love

Headband on the forehead, ripped Max and Ruby book, 

and the sweetest captured photo of Anna finding a place of her own to read

best of the day

January 12 - Enjoying the first bitter cold winter evening with the sisters in our ward.  Sister McKellar read a fantastic story about the bucket and the dipper.  This particular story was well written, clever, and witty.  I enjoyed it a lot and it gave me reason to reflect and think about my own actions.

best of the day

January 11 - Today I found the BEST of the best.  Brach's candy hearts in the red package.  Is eating a candy heart like eating a teaspoon of sugar.  I don't like to think of it that way. 

best of the day

January 10 - Ron's chocolate cake.  It was pure goodness.

Christmas tree farm

Well, I talked the other 7 into going to a tree farm in December.  It really was 1 against 7.  But, once there, I won a couple of them over.  We found a cute little Austrian pine to adorn our front porch.  I loved the little tree.  It would still be there if the wind hadn't blown it down the hill too far for my ambition to go retrieve.  I vote a good new tradition.  Maybe next year I'll have more with me from the start.

paint

Anna hasn't learned that paint is for paper, not her lips

Best of the Day

January 9 - Getting a phone call that someone wanted to look at the house in one hour. 

It has been 7 months since anyone has looked and I pretty much have forgotten about the sign in the front yard.  So, I speed cleaned around the house, realizing that all I was going to be able to do was pick up and make beds, and then I walked into Zach's room.  All I could do was laugh.   I could cry or laugh and I chose to laugh.  His room is clean, but covering one wall to the other is the fort that has taken over his room.  He has blankets thumbtacked to walls and anything else he can.  He then has strategically tucked the tails of blankets into the futon and whatever else he can find.  I just turned and walked out of the room, leaving the masterpiece to live another day. I can only imagine what thoughts were had as the looker experienced the world of an incredible fort-building 11-year-old.

Best of the Day

January 8 - Seeing Brother Cordell passing the sacrament for the last time with Dakota before he goes on his mission.  What an amazing spirit that brought to the meeting.

Best of the Day

January 7 - Spending the day with Ron in Springfield for his 41st..  Would I get tired of a day like that?  I sure don't think so.  Thanks to the kids who did an amazing job at home.  Only one phone call from their end to let us know that they were going to bed and had said prayers.  I think there was divine intervention to help them have an "awesome" day.

Best of the day

January 6 - I have two for today

Jill's commentary while painting that went like this:

See, mom, when I wipe the paint like this, it makes it absolutely invisible.  J is for invisible and for Jill.

Watching Sam get valuable playing time as his team went undefeated for the season.

best of the day

January 5 - A park day in the middle of January.  Who would have known?

Best of the Day

January 4 - Helping Grier get to where he needed to be with the other scouts

Best of the Day

January 3 - uninterrupted hanging with Jill and Anna - 

you know, playing store, dressing up, 

and having a fake picnic

(the others went back to school today)

Best of the Day

Not my original idea, but this year, or at least for as long as it lasts, I want to remember the best thing that happened every day.  So . . . here is a little catch up.

January 1 - watching 17 Miracles with the kids

January 2 - zach asking if streakers get sent to jail.   
(Both Ron and I raised our eyebrows at that one.  Does he have plans we are unaware of?)