Utah Spring

It just started snowing, and when Em decided she wanted to go outside, both her younger brothers wanted to go as well. It is really cold out, and after two minutes Em came back in. But Gee and Hebs are still out there.

So I'm shivering by the window, front door open, watching my little boys play in the falling flakes like it was the first time they'd ever seen snow.

Happy (belated, sickly) Easter

Em wasn't feeling well Easter morning, but Daddy had an early church meeting and I had to be at choir practice at 8 am.  So we all got dressed and went.  Em had a bit of a fever, so she was cold.  But, in t typical six-year-old style, she wanted to wear her Easter hat.

(Daddy ended up taking her and Hebs home before church really got started, and then came back for Gee.  It was a pity, because sacrament meeting was really amazing.  Such is life with kids, though.)

Winged President

I was reading the news today when Gee looked over my shoulder and saw this picture:

Gee: Who is that person?
Momma: The president of our country, President Obama.
Gee: Does he have wings?

I looked at the picture, saw what he was talking about, and laughed.

Momma: No, sweetie, he doesn't have wings. That's the plane's door.
Gee: He has wings.
Momma: No, he doesn't. Look (doing a rapid Google image search), here's another picture of him:


Gee: Oh. Does he have different colored wings?

Now my son is convinced that the president of the United States has wings. At least we can now be certain that he is a native-born winged president.

Absence

I've been called to repentance by both my mom and one of my sisters, so I'd better explain where I've been.

First, there was spring break. I spent a lot of spring break either in Page (three days; nephew's baptism) or Salt Lake County (three days; helping my sister with her move).

And that week, my computer started to act a little squirrelly--having trouble with mysterious things like "chkdsk", "system repair", "start-up repair", and finally, "actually turning on". So, seven days ago, I sent my computer off to the Dell hospital.

Fortunately, I still have my internet-enabled phone, my iPod touch, and my husband's computer, but it is really hard to blog on the phones, and I don't like to log my husband out of his accounts too often with his (work) computer.

So, blogging will be majorly sporadic for the next few weeks. I'll try to do better, even if it is just a picture from my cell phone.

TTFN!

Sleeping

This weekend, in our hotel room, Page, Arizona. I'll write more later, but I'm exhausted.

The Ross Family Spring Break Curse

This is the most snow Page, AZ, has seen this year.  And of course this is where we are spending our spring break.

Ooops

Georgian woman cuts off web access to whole of Armenia:

An elderly Georgian woman was scavenging for copper to sell as scrap when she accidentally sliced through an underground cable and cut off internet services to all of neighbouring Armenia, it emerged on Wednesday.

Don't you hate it when that happens?

Seriously, though, I get antsy when my internet stops working. I can't imagine an ENTIRE COUNTRY being internet-less for hours on end. Wow. The mind boggles.

Still Cursed...

Remember my curse? (Short version: Every time I try to volunteer for Em's kindergarten class, something gets in the way.) It continues.

In March, I was already to take the two littles over to my friend Crystal's house, when I could not find my keys. ANYWHERE. I tore the house apart. I thought and thought and thought. I may have cried a little. I prayed. No keys, no car, no volunteering. (Walking was out of the question--a storm had coated every surface with ice the night before.) And finally--I was supposed to be at the school at 9:00am, and by now it was 9:18--I found the blasted things. They were in the car, nestled peacefully in the shadows of Hebs' car seat.

I took the kids to my friend's house anyway, and showed up right at the end of "Writer's Workshop", in time to hear Em present her story about measuring the density of different objects. (Most kids write about going to Grandma's house or playing ball with their siblings, my daughter chose to write about density. She's turning into a little nerdling. I love it!) I stayed with Em through indoor recess that day, because I felt so bad, and read some stories to the kids.

Today is the first Tuesday of the month again, and you know what that means. My friend Crystal called me this morning at 8:00am. Her oldest daughter is sick with the stomach flu. She offered to take my kids anyway, but...stomach flus are the worst. I really didn't want to invite that into my home, and I didn't want to make her worry about it, either.

So I started calling. I got a little discouraged around the third call with no luck, but then, once again, the clouds parted, sun shone, and birds sang as my friend Kimberly made time in her busy schedule to rescue me. Thank you SO MUCH.

I'm glad there is only one more first Tuesday in the school year. My nerves are completely frayed over this whole volunteering curse.

(P.S. Em did much better today. No cross-offs. And her teacher was very sweet about the note.)

School Lessons

Em came home with THREE cross-offs today. (Cross-offs are part of their discipline system in kindergarten.) She has only ever gotten one cross-off at a time, before today, and she hasn't had a cross-off for months and months. Who knows what's up today. Each "X" was accompanied by a brief message: "Talking out", "So much talking out", and "Screaming at people." Nice, Em.

She was in tears as she told me about it. When I asked why she had had so much trouble, she said, "I don't know! I just couldn't stop myself!" We had a nice talk about controlling our emotions, and how we can stop ourselves. I told her she wasn't in more trouble, but there was something she had to do.

Momma: You need to write an apology to your teacher.
Em: Why, Momma? Nobody else in my class ever writes an apology to her.
Momma: Well, nobody else in your class is in my family.

Here is her note:

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Food Storage Happiness

Does anyone else know the feeling of extreme satisfaction from having a very full pantry? Between canning food storage and Macey's (our local store, love love LOVE it) case lot sale, I have accumulated at least a 3 month supply of food my family eats, as well as some extra long-term stuff. And, boy, does it feel good!

The kitchen cans. Yes, it's not pretty, but it's food!

The basement storage--isn't it wonderful?