Manners

I had a bunch of children playing at my house today and then they all wanted to go on the water slides, so I got it out, set it up and then had to sit out there and monitor everything ... well this took up a lot of time on my part, which was fine, but when the first group left, they did just that. They got up and left (these were some of Michael's friends and Michael is not here). So since I was just sitting there, I decided it would be good if I reminded them of some basic manners. I called them back over and explained that when I am required to sit out and monitor their playing, which I have to do on that slide, and when they decide to leave there are 4 words I really need to hear. They are "thank you" and "good bye". So they looked relieved that they weren't in some kind of trouble, repeated what I told them to say and they were good sports. Well next left two of Jenna's little friends and again, they just kind of took off together. So I called them back over and explained that since they were here playing with Jenna, when they decide to go, first they should say goodbye to Jenna and then they should say good bye to me, and again, I would appreciate a thank you. So they did just that. And then it seemed like all the kids were paying attention to my manners lesson and really soaking it all in, and do you know for the rest of the day, any time one of them came over, I got a goodbye and a thank you. When did manners stop being important?!!!

Colors ... Colors ... Colors

I think I'm going to have to change my background soon -- it does make me rather dizzy when I look at it! But just for kicks, I'll leave it for another week or so. My absolute favorite color in the world is pink. I love it with a passion. Now of my 3 girls, Erin's favorite color has always been pink, Jenna's is pink, and Lindsey's is blue. I think they all look beautiful in pink, but Lindsey can wear about any color well, Erin looks really good in white, pink, blue, lavendar and green, and Jenna looks good in white, pink, sage green, red and lavendar. When the girls were little I always dressed them in pink, and I feel now like I may have overdone it. Erin was talking to my mom on the phone tonight and I overheard her saying that her "old" favorite color was pink but now it kind of makes her sick. What?!!! My ears perked right up. She said her new favorite color is green. Jenna then came in and said that pink kind of makes her sick too and now she only likes red. I already know Lindsey doesn't like pink. Oh boy, they could tell I was absolutely crushed so they both quickly TRIED to redeemed themselves and said actually that pink was their second favorite color, but I don't believe those words for a minute. Oh what am I going to do?!!! Lucky for me the school shopping is already done (school starts next week) and so for at least one more year, pink will still be the color of preference in their closets!

New Look

I chose this green retro background because when Michael was first born, Jonathan got a job teaching in Paintsville, KY. He went out a couple of days before we did and found us a house to rent. It was very much like a farm house and it was filthy. The missionaries had lived in it for years and it had fleas (because the missionaries had cats) and spiders and canned food that was about 20 years outdated. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned that place. I threw out mounds and mounds of trash and eventually got it decent. Anyway, the biggest drawback to the house was that everything was green and not just one color green, but various shades. This background reminds me of the kitchen floor design. I know it well because I spend many an hour scrubbing on my hands and knees. I'll have to find some pictures and post them for your visual enjoyment! We lived there for 4 months and I just couldn't take it anymore -- thus prompted the purchasing of our first home!

I Passed Some Gas

At our party, a little girl came whose name is Fiona. She is 8 years old and she has a lot of anxiety and needs to talk alot -- yet she is quite proper and has a quiet voice. That is very familiar to me so I feel quite a bond to little Fiona. Her mom did not stay and Fiona came up to me after we had eaten cake and told me that she didn't feel so well and that this happens to her alot when she is at other people's homes that she doesn't go to all the time and eats sweets -- so I told her to just go sit down for a little bit and drink some water, which she did and she shortly came and told me that she felt alot better and that she thought she could go and play outside again. Fast forward a week, Fiona was at the roller skating party. Her mom had to go and put her little sister to bed and Fiona did not know how to roller skate, so bless her heart, she was holding on to the wall and holding on to poles and holding on to many people. She was very distressed and yet excited at the same time. Well they had some snacks out and cake. Fiona came up to me and told me that she did not feel very well because she had just eaten 8 (I thought she was going to say pieces of cake) cheetos and again explained that this happens to her alot when she is at places she normally doesn't go, so I told her to go get some water and sit down for a little bit and she would feel better. So about 30 second later, she came back so excited and said, Sister Ward, guess what I feel better and I think I can skate again! I said, oh, Fiona that was fast -- I told you that water would make you feel better to which she replied, oh no, that wasn't it, Sister Ward. I just passed some gas!

Rollerskating

So the kids were invited to a rollerskating party on Saturday night and they had rented out our local skating rink (which isn't anything to brag about -- the rink that is) but anyway, it was mostly people we knew from church. Michael decided to go and I don't know if any of you remember in Newport, Michael's friends were all into rollerblading and poor Michael absolutely could not skate -- so I tried to teach him and that didn't work and he ended up taking ice skating lessons. By the end of the 6 weeks, he was catching on a little. Well, I don't think he has skated since then but he decided to go and he put on some skates and he did a good job. Jenna, Erin and Lindsey are all really good skaters, but the person I'd like to brag on is myself. Since my Primary children were there, I thought I would make them laugh and skate around a little and so I was doing it as a joke, but I have to say I am still pretty good on roller skates. I was the only one there who could skate backwards and I tried the sitting duck move but the skates they have there are very back heavy, as in if you lean back at all, you wipe out so everytime I tried to bend my knees to basically sit down, I would fall back. It was a really fun evening and was like a step back in time. So we had our party two weeks ago on a Sat. evening, then last Sat they went roller skating ... the kids are getting used to this and are wondering who is having the party this week! Another girl, Michelle, was there with her boys and she is in our Relief Society Presidency. I told her we should have our next enrichment night at the rink and she agreed. Wouldn't that be funny to see all the ladies skating!

On another church note, two months ago a group of us decided to do our visiting teaching at Chili's over dinner and we had a fantastic turnout. Now the Relief Society is putting together a sisters night out each month at a different restaurant and that is the type of activities I like! I couldn't go last month because I was in North Carolina, but this month it is at another mexican restaurant that is so, so yummy. I think this is really fun to get to eat out and gab away! The other fun part was that the time I went, some people showed up that never come to anything and it was great to get to know them better. Good food pulls people in like nothing I've ever seen!

Cycle of Anger

When I came back from North Carolina, Andrew was miserable because Jonathan took the kids camping and he came back with chigger bites -- everywhere! His face is bad,arms have some, but it is his legs that are horrendous. I could not even bring myself to take a picture of them because there must have been 100 bites on each leg and poor Andrew was so, so itchy. They would fill up with fluid (the poison) and it looked absolutely horrendous. Everytime I took him out, so many people thought he had the chicken pox and that is really what it looked like. Anyway, he was kind of a pill for a few days and one day he would not stop screaming so I got my camera and took pictures. When he would scream, I said, oh come on, do it bigger -- I know you can do better. So he would open his mouth a little wider and scream louder. Finally, he started giggling and these pictures show the progression to his smile.

Our First Tree

After 16 years of marriage, Jonathan and I together planted our first tree and it was so exciting! It is a red maple tree and tomorrow I am going to go take a picture of it and post. As is typical of us, we bought it and then it sat potted on the side of our house for about 3 months before we actually could follow through with the whole experience of tree planting. We couldn't decide the exact placement was the problem. But horray for us -- it makes us feel like real homeowners now and I just love the looks of it!

And a couple more

Now the party pictures!

4th of July Activity - Flag Raising Ceremony

Here is Michael at his 4th of July flag raising ceremony with some Boy Scouts. Jenna at swimming lessons, Erin in her favorite activity, climbing trees, and I can't remember what else!

Swimming Lessons and More

Though no one's birthday, we decided to do a combined birthday party for all of the kids last week. This was for a couple of reason. First, since no one but Erin had a party last year, we didn't want them to come back later in life and say all of their problems stemmed from a lack of birthday celebrations. Second, it just sounded fun. So we had alot of kids. I don't really know how many, but I guess around 50 including ours. It was really, really fun! We had two big water slides and rockets and games. The boys (Michael's friends) mostly played video games and basketball, but they did make it onto the slides, too. There were kids from about 3-14 and they all had a great time and they played for hours. Instead of a pinata, we just threw candy all over the front yard and told them when the left, they could pick out 10 pieces. I had 2 teenage girls from church come over the help and they were awesome -- in addition, lots of parents stayed so even though it was still a little chaotic, just due to the numbers, it was pretty easy. The best part is for 3+ hours I didn't hear one complaint! We worked it so that even if multiple kids from one family came, they were only invited for one of our children. That kept the presents down to a minimum (which we wanted) and didn't overtax any families with too many gifts. It was a perfectly hot Tennessee summer day and everyone seemed to have a great time. These pictures show the beginning crowd -- but I kept misplacing my camera so I couldn't keep up well with pictures!

Jonathan and Michael have left for Utah and it is so quiet! Michael talks non-stop so that is different and Jonathan, though he doesn't talk so much, is just kind of loud in general. School starts in 1 1/2 weeks here and everyone feels ready. The summer has gone by so fast!

I'm Back!

It's been so long since I posted I about couldn't even remember my user name and password! But I'm ready to continue on this blogging stuff. The thing I would like to know is how do I get a fun background? I can't stand the looks of this but I really don't know how to change it to something nice to look at. Any ideas?

Our summer is already half over if you can believe it. The kids have been out of school for six weeks and have five more to go. I just can't believe how it has flown. I have really enjoyed having them home, but Andrew has hated it. I think he misses that attention he got all day having them gone. He screams all the time now and it drives me up a wall! Let's see ... our happenings.

Michael attended a Memphis Grizzlies basketball camp and had a great time. He also went to his school basketball camp and a week long scout camp. He will be going out with Jonathan to Utah this summer for 2 weeks and comes home just in time for school to start. He is a purple belt in karate and is doing great!

Erin and Lindsey both took a session of swimming lessons on base and passed their levels. They are quite good swimmers. Jenna also took her first session and did well. The two older girls will be going to Arts and Crafts camp this week and then pottery camp next week. They have gone the past two summers and love these camps. Lindsey has been learning to cook and really seems to enjoy it. She makes us delicious pancakes a few mornings a week. Erin is doing so well on the piano! She is studying with my teacher now and what a huge difference that has made. She sounds so, so good!

Jenna is all about play. As soon as she wakes up in the morning she needs to know if it is time to play. She is on the go all day long and it is exhausting to watch her go! She is quite good to Andrew and really tries to include him in all she does.

We are going to North Carolina this week for my mom's 70th birthday. That is so strange to me because 70 sounds kind of old but I still think my mom is quite young. Actually, the older I get, the younger 70 sounds! I can remember going to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday and thinking how lucky he should feel to be alive at such an old age! I was about 13 then ... oh how things change.
I got a new camera so I don't have the software downloaded yet. I will try to do that today and get up a bunch of pictures.