YIP - Week 11

Monday, March 26th

Tonight we decided to get out for FHE and enjoy the nice weather.  I gave each of the kids a plastic Easter egg and told them to find things that would fit in the eggs that reminded them of Jesus.  I told them that they would have to explain why each item reminded them of Jesus.

 We stopped at the gazebo by the fire station and talked about what was in each person's egg.  Quincy had a few things and was just glad to be out walking.  Gabby had quite a bit of different things and her egg was overflowing with beautiful treasures.  Many of them just reminded her how Jesus formed the earth and gave us all of these beautiful things.

 Corban was surprisingly thoughtful about why he chose each particular item.  He began the walk determined to find a nail and he did find one!  He spoke about how Jesus died on the cross for each of us.  It was a nice way to spend a family home evening.

Tuesday, March 27th

Today I cleaned and I was feeling like a bit of a homemaker.  I had 3 brown bananas ready to be thrown out or frozen.  I decided to make banana bread.  It made my clean house smell so yummy (even if it did get a bit overcooked).  Then I got a bit crafty and finished my SPRING letters.  They turned out fun and cute and brought some nice color to my living room.  See?  I was a really homemaker today!

Wednesday, March 28th

Remember last week when the piano tuner came and tuned my piano?  Well, since my piano is over 100 years old a string ended up breaking while she was tuning it.  She hadn't ever replaced a string before and didn't want to practice on me without help.  So, she called in an expert so she could watch him and know what to do for future spring breakage.  Tonight she came with a nice guy, Mr. Butcher, and they fixed my string.  It was quick and easy and I am glad it's done and my piano sounds pretty dang good for such an old thing.

Thursday, March 29th

Again, I am getting things accomplished.  I have needed to do this for weeks (since I painted my dining room) and today I just did it!  I painted my stairwell.  This first picture is when I remembered to take a "before" picture after I already began cutting in so you can see the before and after colors together.  Notice the many patches on the walls that have been patched and waiting for many, many months.

 And here is is after I finished.  This is at the bottom of the stairs just to show my mom the white trim that I freehanded since it's flush with the wall.  I used the same color that I used in the dining room and just carried it up the stairs.

 And here is the finished stairwell!  Yay!  No more patches, scratches or discolored parts.  It looks really good, but not really different.  Bump didn't even notice until I pointed it out to him, and that's okay!  Next I want to paint the upstairs railing white.  

 After painting the kids and I went on a walk.  We found this cool tree in our neighbors yard and the kids just had to get their picture taken in it.  I love these kids!

Friday, March 30th

Gabby is such a good student!  I am really proud of the hard work she puts in and with the grades that she continues to get.  I didn't think that times tables started until 3rd grade, but apparently they start at the end of 2nd grade.  Today Gabby was rewarded for passing off her 5's times tables.  Way to go Gabby!

Saturday, March 31st

Last night we had cousins show up.  We will have them for the next week during spring break.  We are having so much fun!  I love that these two have the same fake, forced smile.  :)  They played hard today while we worked hard in the yard.  We took a couple of loads to the dump and it was a nice way to start our spring clean up.

This won't look good to anybody but me.  I know how quickly this vine fills back in and will turn this weedy looking fence back into a beautiful green wall, but without all the crispy leaves and garbage hiding within it.  And I can see the window on my garage again after 3 years!

Sunday, April 1st

This weekend is General Conference.  I got to hear a bit on Saturday and the kids actually did pretty dang good about letting us watch it today.  I loved the uplifting talks.  They just help me want to be better.  I did my usual April Fools joke on the kids by switching their cereal into the wrong boxes.  Mother Nature did the best April Fools joke by giving us some snow today after a few days of 70 degree weather.  We also celebrated Fin's 2nd birthday by giving him the bone from our pork roast.  He was very excited and I am sure he knew that it was his birthday.  He's a pretty smart dog.  Maybe he'll get groomed this week for another present.