Surprise Party

We threw a surprise party for Aubree's twelfth birthday. The thing I loved the most was she had been coming up with ideas for a party since Dec. so she had no idea it was coming. I told her we can't have a party on your birthday because her dad had a camp out, but that we would have it the following week. She ended up going babysitting with her sister Friday night (on her birthday) but she was anxious to make her birthday invitations for the following week the next day. Her neighbor friend asked her to go to the mall (see we were just getting her out of the house). When she got back, she came in and SURPRISE! She was really surprised. It was fun.
We played 'growing up' relays. First one: the new wheels took a ride down to the gas station. (a wheelbarrow with a driver and a passenger) they had to guzzle down a cup of water and run back until all the team had gone. It was Aubree's friends against the family (and the neighbor's family which is family) The girls won. Second one: dressing up and texting (each team had a BIG bra that they stuffed with balloons and some BIG panties, then a dress to go over them. They ran to a table to text, "dressed and ready to go") The family won that one cause the girls cheated and didn't put their arms in the dress. And they weren't young and perky cause their "stuffing" didn't stay in their bra. IT was soo fun. Gary looked real good! HA Third one: donut on a string. They couldn't touch it with their hands only mouth, first one done won. Needless to say the games were a hit and the party was a blast. This was our first surprise party ever.
SO if any one needs to borrow a BIG bra have two. HA.

pooping sugar bugs

Okay, so today we, Adam and I, went to the orthodontist to get his top set of braces put on. Which he is so excited about, I'm sure by the end of the day it won't be as fun, i'm sure. Anyhow, the assistant went into detail about Adam keeping his mouth clean. She said, "Be sure to brush, because those sugar bugs that eat all the sugar you eat, poop out acid that then gets into your gums and makes them swell." I laughed! I had never heard of sugar bugs pooping acid. Just the word 'pooping' should help him keep his teeth brushed. I told the cute assistant as we were getting ready to leave that I was going to go home and tell my other children about those pooping sugar bugs. Have any of you ever heard of this before? The only thing I've ever heard was come morning, dad saying, "guess what, a bear came along and pooped in my mouth." Well now he'll have to say, "It must have been a pooping sugar bug that I didn't brush away." Funny, funny.

Hopefully Spring will come.

Okay so this weekend we were enjoying the outside a little. Gary put up the tramp again since the snow was melted off the grass (at least in our yard, it helps when you are facing the sun) And the excitment for the seasons to change was starting to stir inside.
THEN we woke up this morning to snow! And its not a light snow, about 12". CRAZY!
I guess one good thing about it is we finally found our orange sled. It got buried in snow in the beginning of winter, so now if the kids want to sled in this fresh new snow they now know where it is. (if only kids would put things away we wouldn't have this problem.)

Looking good

So it's been about a week since we started this new system of doing things, and I'm liking what I see. We have set up new rules for the family. After school the children are to do their homework first then their reading out of the scriptures for five minutes and then one thing out of their faith in God or scouts. No TV until 6pm. There has been a different feeling in our home. The kids are doing well with these new rules. Riley said the other day he liked reading out of the scriptures. The younger kids have been working on their articles of faith so they recite one daily. ITs hard to believe Aubree will be twelve in a few weeks. I hope that my children will continue to work on goals. Setting goals is more important than I realized, so hopefully we can help our children to see that.