Spring Break Report 1

Parker and Zane are out all week, Grey and Roe had a half day today and Spring Break is now in full swing for the kids who go to school in Murray and Taylorsville.

To kick it all of right all four of them got sick. The boys spent Sunday hacking and feverish in bed, Romy joined them on Monday. By today they were all feeling better, but Roe had a big dentist appointment so she ended up missing school today, too.

Other exciting events so far include:

Rosie getting spayed, chipped and they did something to the gland in her rear end. I could have gone my whole life just fine not knowing that.

Ew.

Romy made a rice krispie treat mess, er cake.

Yum.....

Mom made Madelines.

Yum for real.

And after the bell rang at school today, we hit the park and attempted to fly kites.


The wind was blowing really hard, it reminded me of the monsoons in Arizona. I miss the monsoons, but not enough to consider moving back.
The kites were not quite made for hurricane force winds.

But we still got them off the ground and soaring a few times before they crashed and broke into pieces. That's about as much excitement as kites that cost a dollar can bring.

All that wind and dust got Grey back to coughing and hacking, so it looks like we're going to be spending a lot of our spring break indoors.

Do you think I'll be able to get the kids as excited about spring cleaning as I was about kite crashing?

Senior Year ( a meme)

IN YOUR SENIOR YEAR DID YOU...

1. Did you date someone from your school?
Yeah, a couple of guys.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
No, they all went on missions and I took the fast train to "Screw up your Life-ville" right after Senior year.

3. Did you car pool to school?
Yeah. My brother and I drove Lila and her cousin to school for A- hour.

4. What kind of car did you have?
We had this ugly old car, dubbed the banana boat because it was huge, yellow with rust spots on the sides. It would typically overheat by the time we made it the 6 miles to school.

5. What kind of car do you have now?
2005? Tahoe

6. It's Saturday night...where are you now?
Lying in bed with Matt watching SNL

7. It is Saturday night...where were you then?
On a date. Probably going to the dollar movies in Mesa and then Dairy Queen afterwards.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
I worked after school in the office at the school and then evenings at Little Caesar's Pizza

9. What kind of job do you do now?
Sloth.
(I have 7 kids in 6 different schools, what more does the world want of me?)

10. Were you a party animal?
No. Not unless you call watching Videos at Tyler Cluff's house while drinking Dr. Pepper a party animal event.
11. Were you considered a flirt?
I would guess so. Perhaps not a good flirt, but I didn't spend many weekend nights at home. I must have been doing something right.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
No. I was in Seminary. Sometimes. Most of my friends were in band, but I moved a lot in High school and never got into much of anything.

13. Were you a nerd?
I was nerdy, but I don't think I was a "nerd." Not with my crummy grades.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?
No. I stayed under the radar pretty well, but I probably deserved it a few times.

15. Can you sing the fight song?
Not from the school I graduated from, but I can sing the Mesa High Fight song.
"Onward ye men of Mesa High......"

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Um...teachers kind of hated me. I was either late or not paying attention in class. I didn't really like any of my teachers Senior year. I liked Mr. Schiesser Junior Year and my English teacher that year but I forget her name. I had a mad crush on Mr. Pugh from W.Lafayette when I went to high school there.

17. Where did you sit during lunch?
With my friends in the cafeteria. I had the same thing for lunch every day, a pretzel with cream cheese an a diet soda. Sometimes if I had extra money, I'd get an ice cream bar. I really lived on the wild side.

18. What was your school's full name?
I went to a lot of high Schools, we moved a lot, but I graduated (barely) from Gilbert High in Gilbert, AZ.

19. When did you graduate?
1991

20. What was your school mascot?
Tigers

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
No. I spent my 20's wishing I could go back, part of my 30's getting as far away from it as I could and now I'm content and have all in perspective.

22. Did you have fun at Prom?
Yeah, I did. I had a big poofy green dress I borrowed from Ladawn Whetten. The actual Prom was kind of lame, but I still had a fun time.

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?
He's on my facebook. (Hi Paul!)

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
Undecided. It's next year, I guess. I think I might go.

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
Not much, mostly just on facebook & Xmas cards. I stayed really close with Lila for a long time, but we had a falling out a few years ago. I went out to lunch with Brent Whitmer and his wife last summer and saw Kayla (Lane) last week. I saw Mindi Young for a few minutes last summer, too.

26. School Colors?
Orange and Black

Wasatch Rugby

Today Zane got to play in his first Rugby game. It was against the Junior Varsity team for Davis County. We also played the varsity team, but Zane and all the new guys waited to play the JV team.
It was pretty fun to watch and I'm really starting to understand the game more.

Check out Zane in the middle of the ruck. That's my baby boy. :)

Matt had a pretty good time, too.

He loves having a kid in sports. I love how much Matt enjoys pretty much any sort of live athletic event, but I have to agree that Rugby is pretty freaking exciting.

Way to go, Zane. We're proud of you.

Ward Temple Night

Last night was Ward Temple Night.

As we sat waiting to start our session, wondering who was going to be there, we were happy to see a bunch of our close friends walk in the room. We have a lot of good friends in this ward, and a lot of people we are friendly with, but it's always fun to hang out with people who you'd pick to be friends with even if you didn't go to church together.

After the session Sam and Mindi suggested we all go to Leatherby's for ice cream and we waited at the bottom of the stairs for the Hunts & Merrills to come down to the dressing rooms so we could invite them as well.

We found the Hunts, but never saw the Merrills again after the session.

We suspect they got translated.

;)

Things I'm Excited For

Today begins the first set of kids having Spring Break.

We have kids in 3 different school districts, so three different dates for Spring Break. This means only 2 actual days of sleeping in for the parents,but April is full of kids out of school here.

Parker and Zane start today, Grey and Roe begin in the middle of next week and Em, Kate and J start the week after.

There are going to be a lot of trips to the movies, the aquarium and the mall. Many hours will be logged in on World of Warcraft. Cheet-os and Capri Suns will be consumed.

----

I'm also excited for Ward Temple Night. We rarely have the chance to go due to another obligation, but this weekend, we can go and enjoy the temple with those we love from church.

I went on my own earlier this week, and was thankful for the insight and experience I had there. I was also thankful that in this season on my life, if I'm having a bad day, I pretty much can go when I want to without worrying about the kids or other things.

Of course, when I went this week it was the ONE time in months that we had an autistic meltdown at school that was bad enough that the school called me. They started calling within minutes of me shutting my phone off. By the time my session was over, things had calmed down, but I went and picked up the boy anyway.

He has a good teacher this year. I worry so much about Grey and school, but this year has been a blessing with his kind teacher who doesn't take the antics of a kid with Asperger's personally. Grey loves him and even though I know it's hard not to pull a Homer Simpson and strangle the boy, I know Mr. G cares about Greyson, too.

----

I am also excited to keep working one and eventually finish this sock:

It's the yarn I dyed with KoolAide. I'm going to post the link on instructions for kool-aide dying soon and it looks like a few of the knitting group are going to give it a try. It was fun and very easy to do and I love having the sock design be a mystery that you solve as you knit your sock.

We figured I am making the area under the cuff way too short, as I suspected, and this one has another inch more of knitting on it before I start the heel than my other pairs.

I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my face last night with the ladies. Just remember, my friends, we are ALL the Lord's Jedi Knights. :)

I'm also excited for Rugby this weekend. Matt and Zane went with the team earlier to the opener between Utah Vs BYU.

BYU lost.

Most of the boys on the team are U of U fans.

Matt, Zane and Coach are BYU fans.

But they all still loved a good game. We have tickets to a few big events this month, Matt is loving having a sports partner in Zane. Neither of them really cares what the event is, they just love being part of the crowd, cheering on guys who know what they're doing. They still have a Blaze game (arena football) and a Jazz game to look forward to in April.

Zane will be playing on Saturday. Since he's one of the younger kids he doesn't play in every game and he's totally fine with that. Saturday they play the JV team of the Davis County Rugby Club and Zane will play the whole game.

Can you believe this tank is only 14 years old? He's already 6'2" and kicks some serious butt.
Go Wasatch Rugby!

Wordless Wednesday (plus words)

I' ll leave this picture up as my 'Wordless Wednesday' submission.

All I'm going to say is that it's a long story.

----------

I just finished my second pair of socks. These were made for a friend who is going through a rough time.

I don't like the colors. They were cuter wound up in a ball, I don't like how they translate to socks.

I also need to make my cuff higher.

After 2 pair I realize they both are too low to fit my feet right. technically I think it's the area between the cuff and the heel I need to make longer. I'm also gong to make my socks smaller if I'm going to use a size 3 needle, as both socks were looser than I'd like around the ankle.

I started my pair I'm doing with the yarn I dyed, the cuff is done on the first one and it's turning out really cute. They're wool and so much softer than acrylic yarn.

I'm also going to start another pair and try a different ribbing on the cuff, just to see how I like it.

I can do a sock in about 2-3 days now, depending on how much time I have and I'm happy about that.

I felt the urge to scrapbook this week, so....yeah...I'm going to sign up for the May Load. If I fail this one, I won't sign up for any more.

Another Weekend Update....

In Roe's class they do an "Estimation Jar." The kids fill it with treats and the child who estimates best gets the surplus treats from the jar and to take the jar home. Romy has been trying her best all year to win and finally she did it. The estimation jar was here at the Olson house.

I told her I'd pick up treats, but she got impatient and filled it with messy cheese crackers herself. I had to re-assure her that I'd pick up real treats by Monday and tell her not to open 10 packages of crackers ever again in her life.

Today, she was set with skittles and starbursts and a smile on her face.

----

After school- for the next month- her snack will be cheesy crackers. I guess I could save this for a Wordless Wednesday, but since I never had any "Silent Years" (eye roll) there aren't that many Wednesdays that I don't have at least a few words for.

So---here's the boring, normal child....Zane.

For Family Home Evening we are starting a new project. Inspired by Betty's Family History class, we decided to work with the kids and have them start documenting their personal histories. Every week we'll give each kid a different question and they are to jot down a few lines to answer their individual question. I'll save the papers and give each kid a folder and at the end of the year, there should be quite a few different points of view written by the kids that show their life, in that time frame as they see it.

Zane was less than enthusiastic about this project......

Greyson's question was "Write about a time you got sick or hurt. What happened and who took care of you?

He wasn't in the mood, either so he traced his hand and labeled his big gross black thumb he has right now. It's nasty. He made sure to include his nasty hangnails on his pinkie finger. It's accurate, but ew.

10 year old boy hands are kind of gross.

After FHE we enjoyed a dinner of my fried chicken and food storage apple crisp, using apples I canned last fall and other items from the year supply, including the magic caramel sauce I made using Kayla Lamereaux's tip.

And there you have it, another weekend at the Olson House. I know most of my posts are annoyingly Mommy Blog-ish, but I figure I'm also doing our personal history in keeping this up and one day when they are older the kids will appreciate having even the boring stuff documented. I want my kids to know I enjoyed them, I enjoyed being their mom and that we had a good life.

Peep Season has begun....

Every year without fail ,Peep season arrives at the Olson House. Cavities are created, Peeps are smooshed and murdered on the carpets and Peep S'mores are a common dessert they everyone enjoys.

Everyone but Mom, because I don't like S'mores but I do love me some stale Peep.

Peep season for mom starts about 2 weeks after Easter.

We had a bit of a British Invasion, Walmart style today as well. Without realizing it, three of the girls all gave a T-shirt shout out England.

That's a whopping nine dollars worth of pond -hopping love there, folks.

Friday Fill In

1. Today I will be freaking cold as cold can be. I'm never going to get use to this whole winter thing. Bleah.
2. Hot chocolate and homemade cookies will be given to frozen children later.
3. What do you think of my cute ball of hand dyed yarn? Adorable, isn't it?

4. My religion is a big part of my life.
5. People say that what we're all seeking is health care reform from their political party. I think the whole system is a mess and I don't see any of the current powers that be capable or willing to fix it.
6. The image I cherish most is Our children laughing and running barefoot in the grass at our wedding.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Taking Zane to a Rugby scrimmage, tomorrow my plans include __errands and a party with friends___ and Sunday, I want to _sleep in, but it isn't going to happen.

-------------

Also...my new sock on the needles....

New Addiction Alert

Tonight I did something I'd read about, but hadn't tried yet in my grand quest to transform myself from a scrapping snob to a yarn snob.

I dyed my own yarn.

It was easier and much less of a mess than I thought it was going to be. I'd been wanting just some red white and blue sock yarn and haven't had any luck finding any. I also wanted to see how difficult dying it would be.

Easy Peasy.

To dye the wool I used....koolaide.

To dye with Koolaide you first need a natural fiber yarn like wool. I picked up a cheap-o skein at Joann's for 5 bucks to test on. You soak the yarn in warm water while you dump 1 packet of koolaide per ounce of yarn (my skein was 4 oz)in enough warm water to cover the yarn you want to dye. The amount of water doesn't matter- just enough to cover the part you are dying.

I did two colors, so two packets of koolaide in each pot.

You set the yarn in the pot and heat until it is almost boiling. Turn off the heat.

Then cover and let it sit for about 30 minutes.

You'll know it's done because the once colored water is now clear.

Cool, huh?

Rinse it in warm/hot water and wash with a mild soap and hang it to dry.

Don't use cold water or you may felt the yarn.

The colors bled a little as they soaked up the dye in the yarn, but once they are set in the wool, they are set and don't bleed.

Let it dry overnight and the next day you can start making cute one of a kind socks that smell like KoolAide for the first few washings.

Cute stuff and I have my own unique hand dyed wool for about 6 bucks.

The Good Life

What a day today!

I'm so glad it is finally over. I'm waaaay too lazy to live at this pace. I can't be doing things every day. That just goes against every sloth gene in my body.

It started off reasonable enough, Matt dropped our dog, Rosie, off at the vet this morning to get spayed. I thought that was going to be the only event this day brought.

I've never been good at predicting how much drama any random event is going to bring.

The vet called after a few hours and Rosie is really sick. She has pancreatitis and it's a really big deal. She's on medications and will be on a strict diet for the rest of her life. She's just a puppy so we're in for the long haul with this. Her spay was cancelled until she is better. She's so full of energy and so happy all of the time, we had no idea. She certainly didn't show any signs of being so seriously ill, but it's a life or death kind of deal.

---

After I picked her up, I met up with Sunnie at Leatherby's for some icecream. I didn't take any pictures because we were pressed for time. It was good just to touch base and laugh a bit.

---

Then we got notice that someone has about 12 zeroes in Algebra 2..........

Parker, meet your new tutor. Looks like he fell behind at some point and just hasn't been able to catch up and now he's way behind. Thankfully the teacher accepts late work and was understanding.

I'm thankful that Matt remembers this crap because I never could figure it out in High School.
-----

The sun was shining and while I scrambled to catch my breath with this busy day, Grey and roe climbed trees.

Until he fell out of one and then he decided the outside was evil and plopped his butt down in front of the computer.

Zane had his final Rugby practice before their first game. When we went to pick him up he was playing. He plays "lock" and his primary job is to hold the scrum together in the second row. The scrum is the line f guys that hold tight and push the other side in order to gain control of the ball. It still makes no sense to me, but it was way cool to see Zane play. My kids aren't very sporty, they're more artsy, but I'm way excited for the actual season to start.

I didn't get any good pictures of him practicing, so I'm just going to have to point him out in the middle of the scrum.....

Cute kid, huh?

As we praised the stars for the same daylight savings time we cursed this morning and sent the kids off to bed, I was able to just sit for a bit and relax and finally...........

I finished my first real PAIR OF SOCKS.

And they even match exact and they're soft and comfy and I made them all by myself. It took about 2 weeks, and I couldn't be happier.

Life is good.

Bowl For Kid's Sake 2010

Today was the Annual Bowl For Kid's Sake event for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We go every year and it's one of the biggest fundraisers the org holds during the year.

It's a ton of fun and every year Matt kicks my butt. I'm a terrible bowler.

During the event they have a raffle with prize drawing throughout the day and mini challenges. In one mini challenge, the first person to get a strike by rolling the ball through their legs, granny style got a prize. Since I was getting mostly gutterballs the regular way, I gave it a go. The first time I got 9 pins and the second time, I got that strike.

Those were the only strikes I got all day.

--------

Matt won a raffle drawing and found himself the proud owner of a fancy pair of Lady Gaga earphones. He traded with Laurie for a set of Blaze tickets and some passes to the aquarium. As pretty as those red rhinestone Lady Gaga earphones were, we'll enjoy tickets to football more.

Thanks everyone from Amex who attended, we had a fun time. See you next year!

Fun with Rori

This week we had an almost sleepover with cousin Rori. She was all settled and tucked in but Lisa wasn't feeling well and cut her late evening short and picked Rori up that night after all. Rori was bummed, but there will be more chances to spend the night, I promise.

She's a riot.

One conversation with her

"So, Rori, are you super excited that your mom and Eric are going to get married?"

"Yes! It will be so fun!"

"Then Eric will be your awesome stepdad!"

"No, I don't think so."

"Why not, Rori?"

"Um, stepdad sounds kind of mean."

"Stepdad isn't mean, did you know Uncle Matt is a stepdad?"

"Big Uncle Matt or little Uncle Matt?" (My sister Lindsey is also married to a Matt)

"Big Uncle Matt, Romy's dad."

"But he's not mean."

"I know, stepdads aren't mean. Stepdads are great."

"Just not if your name is Cinderella."

And I started laughing my head off. That kid is a joy to be around. Everything she says is adorable.

Romy wore the legwarmers I made her to school today, she looks like a stripe-a-saurus, but she's happy and loves them. I'm still working on sock #2, I had to frog the heel I did today because I dropped a stitch on the first row, but give me a week and it will be finished.

It's been a really hectic week, this weekend we have a charity event to attend and a mission farewell in Eagle Mountain but other than that, I'm ready for some rest.

It's a sock! It's a sock!

I know, I know. My readers have been waiting and anticipating this post waaaaay more than my 30 other posts about knitting.

The wait is over.

It's a real sock on a real foot.

Yeah, it's a real foot.

We're all about real feet here.

Anyway.... I started it Friday and finished it today.

I left knitting group with my head around how to finish the toe, but totally forgot it today. After trying to remember and having to frog 6 or 7 rows TWICE today I gave up and asked Joie. She helped me out and my sock is done! I'm going to start on the mate and hopefully finish it this week.

On my next sock I'll make the cuff a little bigger.

I am super happy with this and proud.

Already one of my friends have requested a pair, but she's going to have to wait until I make a mate for this one.

I have passed the mooch torch.

Today the big girls had no school so we took them out to buy new Easter dresses and Jane got a super cute haircut as well. Her hair is so fine and thin it gets kind of scraggly looking and after she got it cut, she couldn't stop smiling she just loved it. We had lunch at Subway and had a fun afternoon together.

Parker's glasses finally came in today. He went for a more Buddy Holly look and when we walked out of the office, he said "Wow, I can see the letters on the signs."

He's a little nervous about his first day at school with glasses, but I think he looks great.

I'm still going to taunt him relentlessly, but he looks great.

New sock on the needles

So much easier the second time. It took me over a week to get to this point on that red sock and it was completely wonky.

I now have callouses on the tips of my index fingers, but I wasn't in the running to be America's Next Top Hand Model anyway.