Happy Birthday Mom!

Monday, March 30th is my Mom's birthday! She says she is "ancient" but I think she is just extra-experienced! She has been a cover girl, a kindergarten teacher, and marvelous mom of three. Some of my favorite memories I have of my childhood are things my mom did for me and with me. I remember her reading to me and taking me to the public library in downtown Tulsa. I loved a book called "Mary Ann's Mud Day" and I checked it out over and over again. There was also a book about a pig with no words, just illustrations and she made up the story as we looked at the pictures. One of my favorite children's books to this day is Little Bear. It is one of the first books I remember reading on my own. My mom is a lot like Mother Bear in those stories! One of the stories is called "Birthday Soup". It is Little Bear's birthday and he can't find Mother Bear. His friends are coming and nothing is prepared. He thinks Mother Bear has forgotten his birthday. So, Little Bear decides to make "Birthday Soup." There is not much more than water and vegetables to this so-called soup and his friend arrive one by one. When the soup is hot and ready, Little Bear decides he cannot wait for Mother Bear, they must go ahead and eat the soup. Just then,Cat sees Mother Bear at the door, and says, "Wait, Little Bear. Do not eat yet. Shut your eyes, and say one, two, three." Little Bear shuts his eyes and says, "One two, three." Mother Bear comes in with a big cake. "Now, look," says Cat.



"Oh, Mother Bear," says Little Bear, "what a big beautiful Birthday Cake! Birthday Soup is good to eat, but not as good as Birthday Cake. I am so happy you did not forget."

"Yes, Happy Birthday, Little Bear!" says Mother Bear. "This Birthday Cake is a surprise for you. I never did forget your birthday, and I never will."

I never forget all the special things my mother did for me and I never will! Thank you Mom for everything. I Love You! Have a very happy birthday!

Rough Night for the Roughneck

Tonight they let Michael Sarver, the oil rig worker from Texas, go from American Idol. I wasn't too surprised about him, but I was surprised that Matt Girard was in the bottom three. And on Motown Week! Since he sang first had people forgotten how great he was by the end of the show? He better hurry up and get some fans! I was shocked. My favorite moment was Stevie Wonder's medley of songs-- right toward the end he yells, "I Love You, Barack Obama!"

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Today is my sister Sarah's birthday! She probably would not like it if I put her picture up on the blog, though. She is such a fun person. I am glad I can to talk to her on the phone often, even though we don't live that close (she is in Arizona). Hope you have a great day, Sarah!

Free Rice

Madison came home from school yesterday and told me about this website called freerice.com. So I am thinking, is this some kind of food storage website or what? It is much better than that! You go to the website and you can answer questions in many different subjects including vocabulary, geography, and foreign languages. For every question you answer correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated to fight world hunger. I have played a little bit already and I could see how it could be very addictive!

In the Frequently Asked Questions they ask "Do I really make a difference by playing FreeRice?"

The answer : "The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed millions of people since it started in October 2007."

There are all levels of questions, so school age kids can do it, too. If you get a question right, the next question is a little harder. If you get it wrong, you get a little easier question next. Try it out! www.freerice.com

Goodbye, Alexis!

Wow! I was really surprised about this one! Not that I really liked her, but I thought a lot of other people did. The judges did not feel the need to use their one save on her either. Now we have to wait until next Wednesday for the next show-- Motown Week. President Obama is pre-empting next Tuesday! Talk about being the most powerful person in the world. Next week I expect Matt Girard to do really well! I hope Scott can hang on. Kris is still my favorite guy! Love him! Not that freaky Adam-- Lil is my favorite girl--Love her! Not that freaky Megan. And what is up with her not using her last name now? Itis just Megan Joy. Weird!

Young Drivers

This is my favorite State Farm commercial by far. I laugh out loud every time I hear the little boy at the end say, "Work."

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I really have no connection to this holiday. I'm not even wearing green today. I do love to listen to someone with an Irish accent though, does that count? And I do love Celtic Woman. And Lucky Charms cereal (they're magically delicious.) Ok that's enough.

March Madness

It begins! Do you have your brackets filled out yet? We do this every year at our house. My brackets usually get busted up pretty good, but it's fun to see how many you can get right. I am not picking Oklahoma to win the whole thing, but I do have them going pretty far. Good luck!!

Spanish

Madison has a Spanish test on Monday and spent the major portion of the day yesterday studying. To help her with her vocabulary, she put up all these little note cards labeling just about everything in the house that she knows. There are signs on shoes, doors, windows, even the dog's water dish! You can probably see the one on the television form the last post. It was great because there was lots of Spanish in the Chihuahua movie. Pretty clever!

Spa Night-- Chihuahua Style

Well, Jared's out of town so the girls and I had a spa and movie night. So we soaked feet, painted toenails, and watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Even Sydney got in on the bubbles (no nail polish for her though!) Sydney was glued to the tv once the movie started. She really likes chihuahuas apparently. We topped the night off with a dish of ice cream. Girls just want to have fun!

American Idol

Adios, Jorge. I guess "Never Can Say Goodbye" was probably not the best song choice. How sad to sing that as your farewell song! Maybe they will make Idol Latino and he can win that. And as for Jasmine, she's young and super cute. She definitely has a future. Disney should call her up tomorrow. I think they need an African American Disney princess anyway. Can't wait for next week!!!

The Curse of the Group Project

This was me on every group project ever assigned at school. You know they always put the control freaks with the slackers. Why must teachers feel the need to torture us so? I asked once in a college level group project to change partners and the instructor actually paid me to stay with the guy. I still hate group projects. I don't even want help making the bed.

Poo to you too!

Here's a funny picture! When Jared and I were on our walk Saturday morning, we passed several other people walking with their dogs. They all had the leash in one hand and the poo pick up bag in the other (usually post poo). So when we passed all these friendly walkers, they of course would smile, say hi, and wave. That is where it gets a little awkward. They can't really wave the leash hand, so what do they do? They wave the poo. I just say hi and leave it at that.

Spring Forward, Look Back

Ok, I know, it's been a while. So I thought before we spring into a new season, I could look back at what we've been up to lately.

School Stuff: Both girls had writing activities with school. Gabrielle spent a day at the University of Missouri at a unique writing conference for kids her age. Madison had been working on a writing unit called "Snap Shots." They wrote and had access to a professional photographer to make a book of poetry and short essays. recently when the books were back from being published, they had a "black and white party," where Madison was chosen to read one of her poems (about her sister!) As an experiment for her EEE class, Madison spent an entire school day being a mute. Other kids had to be blind, deaf, or could not use a limb, but Madison could not talk. She wrote on little dry erase board all day. I am sure it helped them appreciate how "able" they all are. Last Friday Madison played in a flute ensemble at the Central Methodist University music festival. They performed "Musette" by Bach. They were judged and received a "1"!! Gabrielle will get to participate in this next year. She helped by practicing at home with Madison.

YW Activities: The girls spent last Saturday afternoon at the Stake Young Women's conference. They had classes, did service projects, had a fashion show, dinner and a special guest speaker. I got to spend some of the day there teaching one of the work shops. I taught the 12-15 year olds a class on preparing to babysit. It was a lot of fun! At their last Wednesday night activity the girls made the cutest bags out of a place mat. They are the perfect size for scriptures and books. They have such talented leaders that are so great to teach them new skills their mother does not have!!!

Family Fitness: I was looking around the house this past week and weekend and thought, "This place is starting to look like a gym!" There are barbells in the bedroom, yoga mat in the living room (ready for wii fit) and the big yoga body balls (2) are always around. Oh yeah, and we had to get a step. Jared and Madison have been working out with "My Fitness Coach" for the Wii. I am sticking with the Wii Fit and balance board myself. Mia (the little dog) tried to pick up one of Madison's smaller hand weights before quickly dropping it back down. She is going to stick to the squirrel chasing work-out. Gabrielle works out on the Wii Fit too where her fitness goal is to actually gain some weight. Pass the brownies, please.

Other than that, not much has been going on. Just the usual dinners going in and out of the oven and loads of laundry going up and down the stairs. We are looking forward to March Madness, Spring Break and a St. Louis temple trip with the youth. Jared has been in study mode lately and is getting ready to take the next section of his CPCU next Wednesday. I have a few random pictures I'll put up here. Hopefully it won't be too long before my next post!

Here's a yummy sorbet I made for a family night treat:



and Madison on her day with a handicap:



and Sydney on laundry day relaxing between loads (literally)!