Through My Eyes: February 15, 2007

Hey everyone,
Yesterday we had a GREAT Valentine's Day. The boys each had Valentine parties in their classrooms and brought home a whole loot of stuff. I just let them have at it in the afternoon, and most of it is gone which is good. I went to Brigham's class to help out a bit and it was good to see Brigham in his element. I like his teacher a lot. Mosey and I went to the ward playgroup earlier in the morning-- it was supposed to be at the park, but since it was in the 30's yesterday (and today-- ugh!), we switched it to the mall. It was fun-- the kids played in the play area for a while and then we went upstairs to the food court to do some little activities-- decorating cookies, decorating a valentines bag, and then exchanging valentines. Mosey had a good time. I hope I can make good friends in this ward.
Last night Ben's friend Eddie came over to babysit the boys as well as his daughter Rose, and Ben and I went out to eat at Jonny Carino's. It was so NICE to have a quiet meal just the two of us. We pretty much ate until we couldn't eat another mouthful! We had stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer, cherry italian cream sodas, snow crab stuffed raviolies with a lemon basil cream sauce, and then an apple skilletini a la mode for dessert (we brought most of that home since we both could only manage a couple of bites). It was a very nice evening. When we got back, Eddie told us that before dinner (they ordered pizza), the boys told him that they had to say a blessing on the food. Eddie's eaten with us many times, so he sorta knows the drill. So he said a prayer on the food, after which Brigham informed him that they are supposed to say thank you for more things during the prayer (this was the subject of our FHE on Monday night), so Eddie invited Brigham to add his contribution to the prayer. After Brigham was done, Joseph told him that he forgot to ask a blessing for Grandpa Kent, so then Joseph added HIS blessing to the bunch. It was a well-blessed pizza! And THEN, as they were digging into the pizza, the boys told Eddie that they have to read from the Book of Mormon during dinner. Eddie is not LDS, just so you all know. So they showed him where the Book of Mormon was, and he obligingly turned to where I had marked, and read them the story of Nephi and the broken bow. I am VERY proud of my boys, let me tell you! That was probably the best Valentine's gift of the day for me.

The boys were up fairly late last night, needless to say, so I was worried how'd they be today. They woke up just fine and had a good morning and presumably good days at school. Then after school we drove down to the Capitol building for the free tour they give, and after I let the boys pick something from the gift shop to spend their chore money. On the way back the tiredness began showing. I asked them how they liked the Capitol and Brigham said, "I loved everything about it!" And Joseph said, "I didn't like it. Everything was boring!" And then ensued a lovely argument about whether or not the Capitol was great or boring. Ugh. Finally Joseph was in tears and I had to tell everyone to stop talking for the rest of the way home. Oh well. Brigham fell asleep just as we were getting home, but he hadn't eaten dinner yet and woke up as Ben was getting him from the car. So he was pretty crazy tonight trying to get to sleep, because as any mother knows, even 5 seconds of sleep will COMPLETELY disrupt their normal sleep/wake cycles. Oh well, tomorrow they are definitely going to bed early. Brigham picked out 3 natural crystal rocks from the gift shop-- a piece of Halcite, Gypsum, and Calcite. Somehow amidst Ben getting him from the car in the garage and bringing him inside the house, the gypsum was misplaced. I totally cleaned out the car looking for it, pulled it out of the garage to look for it in there, with no luck. Brigham's not going to be happy in the morning because I promised him I would find it. Oh, the drama with Brigham and his treasures!! Joseph picked out a Texas wallet and a chocolate gold coin. Mosey (and me) picked out a Texas-shaped cookie cutter and a couple more chocolate coins. I have big plans for making Texas-shaped sugar cookies to send to the boys' old school classes in Florida.
On Sunday (I guess it's been a while since I've written...) I had to give the Gospel Doctrine lesson. The regular teacher was out of town and asked me to substitute. And I didn't even have Ben there for moral support since he had to be with his primary class! It was nerve wracking and extremely intimidating, but I think it went well. I covered all of the chapters, but certainly didn't present all the material I had prepared, which I think is pretty much par for the course when teaching Church lessons. We'll see if I ever get asked to substitute again!

Did I tell you we got Church callings? Ben is the primary teacher for the 7-8 year olds, which are a challening bunch I guess. There is one ADHD little girl who is usually fine, but when she's not fine, OH boy, is she ever not fine!! I think Ben will be EXCELLENT in that calling since he is really creative with kids and I think they'll respond to him really well. But he is a little bummed because being in the primary (for a guy) will make it very hard for him to get to know people in the ward. So we'll have to make a big effort to go to all the activities, etc. We'll have to see if there is a ward Basketball team or anything like that. I was called to be the Young Women's music coordinator, a calling that I have a sneaking suspicion was invented just to give me a calling! I'm still not entirely clear what this calling involves, but I guess I'm supposed to help the girls prepare musical numbers to sing in Sacrament meeting, come periodically and teach the girls how to lead music, and coordinate the girls taking turns as accompanist for the mutual activities. Yeah, I think this calling is going to be keeping me super-busy! Anyone have any bright ideas as to how I can "magnify" this calling?
I will close with a few pictures from the past few days. I've been feeling like I'm in a total slump with my photography (probably due to not having any clients!), so I've forced myself to bring it out and try a few new things with my camera settings and focus mode and stuff, trying to improve. I don't have anything stellar to show for it, but I'll share anyway.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Mosey's eyes are so interesting-- they change so much depending on the light. Check out the difference between this pic outside with the light sky reflecting, and the next indoors in dark, contrasty lighting.