General Conference

We came across this review from Mason on the last session of General Conference. He wrote it in his school journal (phoenetically, of course), and his teacher translated underneath. The fact that she wrote "proffet" makes it pretty clear she had NO IDEA what he was talking about. If you click on the photo, it gets bigger so that you can actually read it. It's also very clear when you read it how Mason felt about the experience. The picture is of our family sitting in front of the television, the thing that looks like an ant is Andrew crawling (obviously) with the other bug-like creatures being the rest of the family, and the red blobs are the general authorities.

I fell off the blogging train, and I need to get back on. It has been a great Sunday, meaning I've only shouted at my kids once. We have a great new addition to our family: thanks to $50.64 and an amazing Sam's Club clearance-aisle, open-box special, we have a fabulous new trampoline in our yard. In case anyone hadn't noticed, I have children who have springs for legs. Now they have an option other than my chouches. Our back yard is really coming together, except for the fact that our grass is sketchy to non-existant. We're debating on whether we want to tackle it this fall or put it off. Between our awesome sandbox and the play structure, our kids can keep busy for quite a while. I've really grown to love our home (Ryan will be glad to hear that) now that we have a back yard that attracts our children and a basement that doesn't terrify me.
I took the pictures this morning when Ryan was entertaining Andrew on the trampoline (Andrew loves being on it in spite of the fact he can barely keep standing), and Katie and Mason were building an extensive canal system in the sandbox. I have had such a feeling of gratitude this week that I have such a content life. It's definitely busy and chaotic, but I've seen so many improvements over the past month in our daily routines that I am thrilled to feel like I'm actually accomplishing something as a mom. Mason and Katie have stopped complaining about playing the piano and actually practice pretty willingly. I bought a beautiful new piano a few weeks ago and it has been such a joy to play and listen to. The power of the "sticker chart" to enact change (assuming I continue enforcing the sticker chart) has been fabulous. Ryan has a sticker chart, and he looks pretty pathetic compared to the kids. I figure I will start a sticker chart for me once I'm not exhausted getting Mason and Katie through theirs.
I'm sure the kids have been doing something cute, but I'll have to add that in later. I just wanted to at least post something since I've been so bad about it. I've been getting my blogging fix simply from reading about Aviva on the daily EFN updates. We are looking forward to meeting her!