Now Let Us Rejoice

My mom and dad stopped by on their way back from a bagpipe event (fulfilling the request of someone with terminal cancer).   He walked up to the house playing the bagpipes (Surprise!  We didn't know they were coming).

G. Mark asked Ammon "Do you want me to play another song, or be all done?"  Ammon said "Play another song." and then covered his ears.

It was VERY loud-  I am pretty sure all of our neighborhood could hear it!

The Dr. Dolittle play is over! (!!!)

The kids worked hard (LOTS of practices at the end) and did a great job.

The FACT directors and all the moms and dads did a LOT of free volunteer work,  just for the kids to get to have this fun experience.

Here are some Dr. Dolittle pics:

Katie & James were background animals-  in Dr. Dolittle's office and at the circus. 

Mark was half of the pushme-pullyou, and a villager and warrior.

Sarah was in lots of villager scenes and a warrior.

They had to learn a lot of songs and dances, and they worked pretty hard!

Mark and Sarah on the far right below 

Mark as the pushme-pullyou (he is the half on the left in this pic).

You could tell which one he was during the play, because he would bite anyone that pet him:

Sarah looking pretty and moving props around, which she did a lot of:

She worked very hard to do a good job, even though she did not have a speaking part.

She sang loud, and was EXTREMELY expressive.

She said she would try to think of something that would make her feel how she was supposed to feel for that particular scene.

Here she is, 3rd from the left, fist in the air during a gleeful protest scene

(Kate is also in the very front, under the duck):

They would not hold still afterwards for very long for me to take pictures.  

Cupcakes with their names on them had been promised, as soon as they got their costumes put away!

One of our good friends was very sweet and brought them bouquets-  flowers for the girls, candy for the boys.   Kate and Sarah enjoyed sticking flowers in our hair throughout the week!

James informs me he is desperate for the bathroom, not a cupcake, in the above photo.

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Other highlights of our week:

BURIED TREASURE...

We had the septic tank pumped (supposed to about every 3-5 years).

The septic tank guys would charge $25 less if John went out and removed the caps before they came.

The caps are 1 1/2 foot concrete square lids with small metal handles.

Joan was sitting at the window watching John dig in the yard, brushing dirt away from the edges to expose a lid.

She hollered  "GUYS!!!   Dad found a treasure box in the backyard!"

(She added smugly to herself later  "OUR Dad knows how to find treasure!")

Ammon was also very impressed by the huge truck with a straw (I carried him out and let him watch.  LARGE EYES.  He really likes cars.), and he requests me to tell him stories of the "poo poo tank" repeatedly.

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LITTLE MIRACLE

My miracle of the week was the inspiration to feed Eva her baby food in a cup and not a bowl.

It was taking me 45 mins to feed her, and now it is about 20 (she gulps it out of the cup).

It may seem like a small miracle to you, or maybe even idiotic that I didn't think of it myself earlier.

Logical as it may seem, the idea did not occur to me.

I knew Heavenly Father would know a way for feeding her to take less time, if it was possible (which seemed IMPOSSIBLE to me), and I got the idea to feed her from a cup that same day.

Endless little sips turned into manageable gulps.

THANK YOU!!!

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SIT & BE FIT???

We had fun doing this activity earlier this week:

simple-sitting-test-predicts-longevity

You are supposed to sit down on your bottom on the floor, and then get back up again.

If you can do it without using a hand or a knee, and no wobbling, you get a total of 10 points- 5 for getting down, 5 for getting up.

Minus one point for each appendage you half to use, minus a half point if you wobble.

It supposedly an accurate predictor of how long you will live.

(OR how likely you are to die!)

It was A LOT harder than I thought it would be!

It was fun to watch John and the kids try to do it.

Yes, if you use the side of your leg, that is minus 1 point.

I sat down easily, but was stunned I could not get up without using my knee.

Kate was the only one who got a 10.

(she figured out to get up with her legs splayed in a wide squat, leaning far forward)

The point is not to freak out that you are going to die, but to get more active ( & limber!) so you won't!

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MY STUDIES

I haven't been getting to study or read to the kids as much as I would like.

I have been listening to little snatches health podcasts, and classic books, when I can though.

John is reading "To the Rescue"  (Pres. Monson's biography) to me in the evenings, and Sarah and I listened to "Persuasion" on audio book  (*SIGH*  ROMANTIC!  I am turning my kids into Jane Austen junkies.)

I have a goal to read each of current conference talks before the next one comes up, and write notes of the main points of each, and then study the 5-6 ones that ring for me.

It isn't working out so far.

I have been LISTENING to one talk a day, but that is a far cry from reading it and looking for the main points!

Working on it!

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