Visiting Teaching Modernization

There's two days left in April which means the visiting teaching flurry has begun. I did mine on Monday and had my visit today. It is also on my mind since I have had a training seminar and a planning meeting on the topic in the last week as well. It has got me to thinking about ways visiting teaching could cast a wider net to include the upcoming generation, because it has been my experience that Generation Y is disinterested in the concept, if not bothered even. So I think we need to revise the old standards which in case you were wondering are: a home visit at least quarterly and a letter or call monthly at a minimum. I propose adding the following to the list of acceptable monthly contacts: made a flattering comment on their blog, texted them an encouraging message-"UR awesome, read your scrips!" for example, pay pal them enough to buy themselves a nice treat, or post this month's message on their facebook wall. Let's not fool ourselves, in the absence of these changes, we will never catch the 100 percent goal.

Also could we please start direct depositing and or auto drafting tithing? I could finally throw away my check book since this is the last hold out use I have for it. That is all.

A Proclamation to the World Regarding Sophie's Hair

Sophie is fast approaching three and is starting to really "get" what is going on around her. She not only understands but constantly asks for clarification on things people say that don't make sense to her. She also frequently expresses her opinions on things she does understand.


Sophie's coloring is somewhat unusual and as a result tends to attract attention when we are out. It's pretty predictable.."look at that red hair" or "she has such pretty coloring". There was one lady who informed me that in England they do NOT like red heads. OK lady, thanks for sharing. Good thing we are at the grocery store so I can rush over to the hair dye isle before my daughter's hair offends any Brits.


Anyway, I digress. Sophie, like most kids her age, doesn't particularly like strangers talking to her and pretty much universally rebuffs them, especially the ones who touch her hair. I can't say I blame her and I do my best to smooth it over as she is hiding behind me. But I think I got to the crux of the issue the other day after one of these comments when Sophie informed me that her hair was not red. Two-year-olds are literal and I am pretty sure that when she thinks of red hair, she is thinking of this:

So on behalf of Sophie, I am proclaiming to the world that Sophie's hair is NOT RED!

In little league news, DB had an awesome base hit, followed by a home run by Jake tonight. I happen to catch it on film, so I thought I would share. Good job, Bats!

Lost in Translation

Dylan came home from school totally disturbed by something one of his classmates told him. His Kindergarten Play is coming up next week, so the kids have been practicing a lot. One of the kids told Dylan that if he acted nervous during the play that Mrs. M is going to take a picture of EVERYBODY in their underwear.

I am sure what Mrs. M actually told the kids was "to picture the audience in their underwear" . I am extending the same courtesy to Mrs. M that I hope she extends to me, that I promise not to believe everything my five year old says if she does the same..

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I celebrated the last cool day of spring today by hiking to the top of Squaw Peak. That mountain always brings back floods of childhood memories (which is why I can't call it Piestewa.). The hike is always therapeutic especially when it is a picture perfect day with a heavenly breeze and a clear view of the whole valley. I soaked in as much as I could because it is going to have to last me at least five months. I hike around the area often, but it has been years since I made it to the top of the mountain. I guess I needed to prove to myself that this middle-aged body still can make it, although tonight my knees beg to differ. Thanks to Mom and Dad for looking after the little ones, while I took my mini-vacay..

Easter Sunday 09

It's a dollar store Easter miracle. Thanks Easter Bunny!

We decided Easter Sunday was a good time to introduce Jake to a real tie. He was unimpressed. Even though there was a good inch of wiggle room around his neck, he was convinced he was choking to death. Ultimately, this tie idea cost us an on time appearance to church. Turns out it is harder than it looks to tie a tie on someone facing the opposite direction as you are used to.

An after church snapshot. The hair is ruffled and I had to persuade Dylan to put his clip on back on, but we were too late to church to get the more put together before church pose. (Notice we had to compromise on the highest button to get Jake to keep his tie on.)

Moments before the Easter outfits were shed into a pile on the floor. You can't effectively hunt for eggs in church clothes after all.

Triage Unit

DB and Sophie attempt to sleep off their fevers.
I put on my nurse hat this week and went to work in my mini triage unit located in my family room. The kids got hit with a nasty virus that started with fevers spiking to 105 degrees and seems to be ending (I hope) with a wet cough. A few kids in the neighborhood had pneumonia recently, so we are hoping to avoid that. It is handy that Jake is already on antibiotics for his cut, although he has not fared much better than the others so far. DB started the whole thing last Saturday and he was well enough to be super naughty today, so I suppose that is a good sign.

At one point yesterday, Jake was having hallucinations and possibly a febrile seizure, while Sophie's nose was gushing blood from the thinning effect of the ibuprofen. I just kept telling myself that it can only get better now. Thankfully, it did.

Anyway, enough of my sob story. We were all well enough to bust out of these four walls and go to the park this afternoon to enjoy this perfect weather. The fevers are gone and the kids are now in bed, resting comfortably. The worst part of this whole thing is that Jake had a speaking part in his one and only First Grade play, "Bugville" tonight. He had worked super hard to memorize his line and the class had spent hours practicing the songs. He burst into tears tonight when I told him he had to miss it because he was sick. DB missed his cap and gown Kindergarten "graduation" pictures today, but as you know I wouldn't have bought them anyways.

So that was my week. Not funny or entertaining, but I am considering contacting the local Community College to request an honorary nursing degree.

Open Apology to All Suns Fans

I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure I know why the Suns last playoff hopes went up in smoke this afternoon. How else can you explain how the same team can win by 30 one day, then lose by 30 the next? (In our defense, we did have the audio set to BYUTV. I'm not sure that makes it any better, but at least there is hope of possibly getting half the blessings of watching conference.)

So I solved that mystery. I do not, however, have an answer for this one...

Here is one of the two socks that were issued as part of the boys' Little League uniform this season. It is bright purple and literally extends all the way to DB's underwear. I am accustomed to losing the kids' normal socks. It happens in almost every load, but THIS sock? It was lost before they even played their first game. What the heck?

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The best part about Conference weekend: Sophie's hair can look like this all day long and no one will judge me.

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And finally, how bad is this economy? I'll tell you. Even the Urgent Care Doctors are up selling me. I reluctantly took Jake to Urgent Care to get his finger stitched up as you know from my last post. Now I'm sure that the doctors at those places are smarter than I could ever hope to be, but I can't help but notice that they don't tend to be the cream of the crop, as doctors go anyway-especially in the bedside manner department. So this guy heartlessly injects Jake twice with the anesthetic in his tiny finger and barely waits a minute before getting busy with the business of stitching. I suggested that maybe we wait just a moment longer, just to be sure it is numb since Jake was still screaming from the injection. Really in my mind I was thinking that this guy is going to need stitches after I punch him if he starts before it is numb. So anyway after he is all stitched up, he explains to me in what I presume to be English that I would need to come back there in 48 hours for a "wound check" and it is better if I come there and not my regular doctor. Whatever dude. Here is my "wound check"... Doesn't it look OK to you? I'm not even sure I can't cut these stitches out myself in 10 days, since my insurance pretty much covers nothing to the tune of $500 bucks a month.

Jake's on the DL

Jake was invited over to a friend's house this afternoon. He wasn't there ten minutes before I got a call from said friend's mom. She told me he had cut his finger and he would probably need stitches. I've noticed that whenever two or more seven year old boys are together for more than a short time, that they will come up with some bone-headed idea. Don't get me wrong, Jake is a bright kid and so are these friends but somehow that doesn't help in the decision making department. Wes has told me many stories of things he did as a kid. I swear if he had gotten caught for even half of the things he and his friends did, he would probably still be doing time. It wouldn't be for intentionally trying to hurt anyone, just things like blowing stuff up and racing cars and starting fires. Apparently it doesn't skip a generation as I had hoped it somehow would.

So Jake and his three buddies decided it would be cool to try to explode soda cans. So they shook them up and threw down as hard as they could. Not getting the results they had envisioned, Jake picked up a partially dented can to throw it again. It had a sharp metal piece that sliced his right index finger as he threw it. It was deep enough to require four stitches. His right hand is out of commission 10-12 days. He is excited about the no writing part, not so much about the no baseball part since the season is only two games old. The Coach Pitch Bats just got a lot worse- as least for next week's games. Ironically, but not totally surprising, Wes has almost an identical scar that required stitches on his right index finger. Like father, like son I suppose.

I was hoping the doc would slip in a scrip for Xanax along with the antibiotic for Jake, but no such luck. Besides, I had better pace myself. I've got a lot of child rearing years ahead of me yet.

We're Pregnant!

April Fools! I'm a straight shooter. As a result, Halloween and April Fool's are not my best holidays but I do my best (which isn't very good). My boys on the other hand have proven to be quite the pranksters. They tried the following tricks on us today over the course of a half hour:

Jake put ketchup on his hand and came in fake crying. Then with the help of the neighbors, presented us with toothpaste filled Oreos. The last was my favorite: a cup of vinegar was offered up to quench my thirst. Their presentation needs a lot of work for any of these stunts to be believable, but not bad for a couple beginners.

The best joke of the day was when Wes came in and said business was down because of a terrible economy and the more goverment does to solve it, the worse it gets. I laughed and laughed.