The passing of Tiny

Five years ago at a ward Harvest Festival, one of the carnival games prizes was goldfish. Between that harvest festival and one at the school, we ended up with 8 fish. So we bought a tank, rock, food, etc.. and we finally had pets. (Mardi had waited so long.) They began dying almost immediately. But several lived for a good long time. Tiny outlived them all and has been living alone for probably two years or so now. (He's the one at the top of this picture.) He began to act weird a couple of days ago and Mardi was very emotional. Yesturday he died and last night Joel conducted a burial in the bathroom with Mardi, Keddi and Shinara looking on. Shinara began to bawl. She had told me several times over the last two days that she prayed for Tiny. After the second time of telling me I decided we needed to talk about death. (An emotional time in which we had to pull out pictures of my grandma who died a couple of years ago.) Well, she was inconsolable as she looked at Tiny in the toilet. I asked what was the matter and she said "I don't want Tiny to be gross!" We pointed out that Tiny was the only thing in the toilet at the time and that fish like the water and needed to be flushed. After a few minutes the sobs subsided and with tears, she and Keddi flushed tiny. (Mardi decided to leave before the deed was done. Shinara's outburst caused her to be very emotional again.) Mardi unplugged the tank and will need to get it cleaned out since we won't be replacing the fish.

Last night (after the funeral) we got a call from Joel's sister Lindsay. They had a pretty good earthquake (they live south of San Fransisco) yesturday and phone lines were down. They are fine and from what she told us, the boys thought it was quite fun as the house shook. I imagine there will be lessons about earthquakes and earthquake safety in the near future at their house! We are glad y'all are alright!!!

SUSHI

Several weeks ago we convinced some friends to go to a new sushi place we frequent because we love the sushi rolls. We had talked about it with them before and Scott was excited but Jen wasn't. She said "Oh now, I don't know. I'm southern...food should be cooked!" She was a good sport though and she tried what we gave her. But a piece of our favorite roll went in her mouth and came right back out again. It had raw salmon on top and she just couldn't do it. But there were others that she tried and actually liked. (The cooked ones.) Anyway, I tell you this to preface the following picture. I didn't get a picture of Jen but this captures both Jen's and Shinara's feelings about sushi rolls!

The older girls like sushi rolls and Joel has been wanting to take them. I fed the little girls pasta before we went so that if they didn't like it, they wouldn't be hungry. It looks like we will need to wait a few years and try again, but, like Jen, the little girls were great sports and tried everything that we asked them to.

Primary Program

Thank heaven it's over! I'm going to vent for just a moment. I was called as 1st counselor in the primary presidency in March. The president put me over music, nursery, sunbeams and writing the primary program. Here's the problem. Since February of this year we have been without a chorister. For most of the year we have been without a pianist. A fabulous lady in our ward offered to sub as the chorister until one got called. That was 5 months ago. Then last month, our third or fourth pianist for the year up and moved. Sis. Martin (the permanent sub) plays the piano. So, she moved to playing and I found myself leading the music every week trying to prepare the children for the program. The children didn't know the songs that well because of the lack of having an actual chorister that the children identified with as the chorister. It makes a huge difference to children when they can identify who the teacher is. They listen and learn better. To add to that, we only had 20-25 children participate. (We have a way too small primary!)

The children pulled off a fabulous program. Unfortunately because the microphone is "testy" alot of the talks and parts were lost on a lot of people, but the spirit was strong. There are a few little girls that sing their little hearts out and two of them belong to me. Keddi and her friend Sage always sing at the top of their lungs, which might normally be a bit irreverent, but if they didn't, no one would know what the children were singing about!! But yesturday, they were a bit subdued and it was Shinara that would sing out the words she knew best. And from what I understand, she added some dancing and bench climbing too. I use alot of hand signals to remind the children of the words and she acted many of them out right along with me. What are ya gonna do? Yes I was standing out in front of them but did not see most of Shinara's performance because I had to concentrate on leading and bringing in certain parts....

Anyway, I'm exhausted and glad to have it over. But I still have no chorister, and now they want the children to do a program in the ward christmas party. I'm going to turn them down for a song in sacrament if I don't get someone called soon though! I now have two pianists, who already have callings, and Sis. Martin is one of them. I guess I will still have to lead the music . Oy!

School Harvest Festival

Why Supergirl?
Ya got me! While looking at costumes in Party City, Shinara spotted super girl...for $30.
NO WAY!
I explained that it was just too much money and my sweet girl, (like her sisters who have heard that before) said "o.k. Mama" and hung her head, just slightly, in rejection. I went home and scanned the internet in search of a supergirl that wasn't quite so much. To no avail.
Meanwhile... Mardi was able to choose Pochahontas for a school project which they have to dress up for. She decided that's what she would be for Halloween too. So I went to Wal-Mart and looked in everyone of their costumes isles, from front to back, for an indian costume. With only five rows left, I came across a Supergirl costume that was size 4-6. She had decided she could be superman or batman?!?!? if need be and here lay the only Supergirl costume in the store....in her size. I almost put it back amongst the costumes where I'd found it. But as the youngest of four, she will have to "do with" alot of hand-me-downs. She doesn't ask for much and how often can you do something that brings utter joy to someone else? I called to her and showed her the costume. I was not dissappointed. Elation spread over her little face as I asked if she'd like to be Supergirl for Halloween. (It was still more than I like to spend but the others' costumes were not costing much this year as Tersa is wearing something she'd worn before and Keddi is also wearing something from my costume box.) Anyway, as you can see, she loves it!
The Harvest Festival at the elemenatry school took place Fri. night. Neither Tersa (Diva) or Mardi (puppy- same as last year) are dressed as they will be for halloween and Keddi didn't have her green face because I didn't realize we'd thrown away our face paint. (Wicked Witch of the West. Quite a change for her not to be something glittery and pretty!) The festival didn't have the variety of things to do this year which was a bit dissappointing, but both Shinara and Tersa won cakes (oh goody!) and the girls enjoyed themselves. We were there far longer than Joel cared to be but we like it when he comes with us.

In case you're wondering.

The site I got my last background from has had to quit. She was unwittingly using copy-written pages for the backgrounds that she had the right to use for her own blog but not to use in creating backgrounds and letting others use. Bummer.

No big deal

My 37th birthday came and went and I am no worse for the wear. (It is increasingly difficult to rise at 6:15 in the morning with everything working right as soon as I wake.)
In my family we always ask what you did for your birthday, as though it is occasion to do things that only happen on this one day a year. Well, that may be the case sometimes, but not this year. The girls made me a card before going to school. I did laundry and running around, found this beautiful arrangement at the door when I got home, did homework when the girls got home and when I went to prepare dinner I realized I hadn't gotten the fixings out of the freezer. So I decided that Joel and I were going out for sushi. That didn't take long and we stopped by Cold Stone for an ice cream cake and headed home to let the girls share with us before going to bed. That's it. There wasn't even anything I specifically wanted this year. (Hence the flowers.)
I get birthday excitement at least four times a year with the girls birthdays and since I don't take charge for my birthday..... (Of course, I'm 37. At some point I suppose you outgrow Princess themed parties. Although I wonder what the reaction would be if I threw myself a party and had a theme like that. Ooooo, something to think about.)
Birthdays are important. They are the one time a year that I have the opportunity to acknowledge and remember someone individually instead of lumped with other people on my Christmas list, or in prayers at Thanksgiving. Thanks to Pops and CC for their card, to Lolly and Lee for their e-card, Mom for the phone call, Cami and Britnee for their e-mails, Mandy for her phone call and the gift of a night out with her, a visit from our Relief Society presidency this past Sunday, Happy Birthday wishes from friends that I ran into or talked to on the phone yesturday, the girls for my card and to Joel for the flowers.

Service

This last Sat. our stake conducted a huge service project. There were places all over the city that you could volunteer at for service. We chose an elementary school in an older and more run down part of town. All of us went and we ended up on a cleaning crew. I've never heard of cleaning outside equipment, but we did what we were asked and you should have seen this slide once Tersa and Joel were done with it. It looked almost new. After cleaning the equipment and while Joel and Tersa were rinsing it, the girls and I were asked to wipe down 4 benches in a common area. The benches sit under trees and birds perch in the trees, so the benches become unpleasant to sit in. Not a great job and the little girls were a bit grossed out at first, but hopefully, the benches were sit ready for sitting on when everyone came to school on Mon.
I'm so proud of how well the girls worked. We all kept going for the 2 1/2 hours we were there with only a bit of a break while Joel rinsed. My girls did better than older kids who came with their parents and ran around most of the time!!

Shinara goes to PRESCHOOL

No it's not you. I had the camera on the wrong setting when I took this and by the time I fixed it she had plopped herself down behind a shelf. The first picture gave a better idea of one part of the preschool so I included it anyway!
The point is, that we have enrolled Shinara in a preschool that only goes for 1 1/2 hours and is done in a nearby High School. We found out that there were some openings and I took her yesturday to see if we could get in and to show her the environment. They invited us to stay and when I told her we needed to go and was about to ask if she would be interested in going to preschool, she asked if she could come tommorrow. That answered my question. She was so excited to tell sisters and told Joel about it this morning. They only do classes T,W and Th, much to Shinara's dismay. And perhaps I will be able to use the time to volunteer in the other girls classes. Regardless, she loves it!!!

Let the Birthdays Begin!!

Before Joel and I were married, there were a lot of birthdays in my family between the months of October and November. That increased with the combining of the families. Now, don't anyone get offended that I don't post everyones birthday and maybe I can be more diligent, it's just that there is such a concentration of them at this time of year for us that it is almost comical! Here goes.
Happy Birthday to:
(OCT.) -8
Michelle (sister-in-law)-6th, Quinn (my brother)-7th, Pops (my Dad)-9th, Lolly (Joel's mom)-11th, Gary (Joel's Dad)-12th, Micah (my brother)-14th, Tuesdi-16th, Jared (Joel's brother)-31st
(Nov.)- 10
Coulter(Joel's brother)-4th, Lance (Brother-in-law), Jaden (nephew) & Meghan (neice) -5th, Lee (Lolly's husband)-8th, Shae (my brother)-11th, Jamin (Joel's brother)-13th, Caleb (my brother)- 24th, Shawn (Joel's brother)-25th, Mitchel (Joel's brother)-28th

Joel's, Zach's, Kaden's and Travis' are in December and Mardi, Mary and Shelby are in Jan. I suppose with such a large family this is to be expected. I think I will compile a complete years list because now that I think about it, I think there is a high concentration of birthdays around May too! Anyway, Happy birthday to everyone!!!