Contest Winner

As I have mentioned before, Emmaline is very creative. She is constantly making something out of weird odds-and-ends around the house. Lots of time they involve tying one item (string, plastic, etc.) to another item (flower stems, ribbon, etc.). She can't usually figure it out and often asks me for help. This week she spent a lot of time filling rubber gloves with different items (air, water, gravel) and making faces on the glove. This conversation ensued as I was tying yet another glove to keep the filling intact.

Emmaline: Mama, if there was a tying contest, you would win it for sure. You can tie anything.
Me: Where would they have that kind of contest?
Emmaline: Probably New York.

I guess, to Emmaline, New York is some magical place that holds contest for little known talent like tying knots.

Perspective

As I was coming out of the building for Girl Scouts, one of the other mom's stopped me and asked, "How is it that I have so much chaos and drama in my life with just one child that I can't make it to anything and you have 3 kids and you are at every activity?"
Emmaline asked why she would say that to me (I think she thought the lady was criticizing me). I wondered too. Here is a little snapshot of my day(and this is just this afternoon). I went to "Story Time" at the library with Oliver, then went to pick up Savannah at the school. We rushed to the Aviary to meet the Girl Scout troop (they get out of school early), then hurried home to grab a snack for the kids and get Savannah into her soccer uniform. We dropped Savannah off and hurried back to the school for the Family Fitness Fair. I left Emmaline at the school with another mom while I picked up Savannah from soccer and came back to the school. We got home at 8:15 and it was time for everyone to go to bed.
I'm sure lots of us had a day like this, and will probably wake up tomorrow and have another day just like it. Having that mom say that to me really made me think. I guess to her (a recently divorced mom with a live-in boyfriend) I have a charmed life. No chaos, no drama... nothing much to worry about. And when I look at my list for the day... I do. I have a wonderful husband (who I really wish would COME HOME) and three fantastic children that I got to run around all day with. The toys on the floor, piled-up paperwork, whacked-out hormones, broken washing machine... all will just be there tomorrow. And maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get a chance to cross off something on that to-do list... but if I'm even luckier I'll just hang out with my kids again.
Here are some pictures from the Aviary.

Savannah and her best friend Nikki.

Oliver looking at the ducks.

Kind of a weird look on Emmaline's face... but it was the only second I could catch her.

Oliver kept calling the bird in this picture... "Come here yittle guy"... but when it finally came, he was distracted by a loud peacock and didn't notice it! (look in the left corner, under the leaves.)

Never the Same Weekend

The girls and I spent the weekend at Trefoil Ranch in Provo Canyon. It was a little crazy (one girl asked me if I had a bag on the way down because she gets carsick on windy roads) but we had a lot of fun. They did a skit...

learned to use a compass...

had a fake archeological dig...

and learned how to tie some pirate knots.

It was a lot of fun, but there is nothing like going to camp with 14 girls to learn how much you love your own!

Chinatown

Here is Emmaline's report that she wrote for school tonight.

Chinatown

By Emmaline Huntzinger

When I was in Chinatown, in Oakland, it felt like we were in real China. Everyone there was Japanese or Chinese except for my Dad’s uncle, his wife, their daughter, my Mom and I, my sister, and my brother. When we got to the restaurant, it was hard to understand everyone. The restaurant wasn’t very nice. But still fun. My little brother and my cousin Isabel and I all went to look at the fish. Isabel loved the restaurant and the fish. After we ate, we had fortune cookies. I got a good fortune. It said I would enjoy something with four wheels. After we ate our fortune cookies, we went outside and we saw dead ducks that were hung by strings in the window of a store. I tried not to look, but I couldn’t help it. It made me want to cry. Who would want to eat ducks? Gross, I thought. But it still seemed sad. We never got to go to any stores that night because they were all closed. So the very next day we went.

Hurt Feelings?

Today Oliver and I had to run some errands. First, we went to the bank where he was delighted when the teller handed him some candy after we completed our transaction. Then, we went to Burlington Coat Factory to return some dresses that didn't work for the girls for Easter. As we were at the counter, Oliver noticed some candy. He asked me, "Why they not share their candy with me." I explained that it was for sale, not for the cashier to give. That didn't make sense to him and he said, "That hurts my feelings that they not share their candy with me." He is such a talker and a funny boy!

Our Crazy Life

Here's just a smidgen of what I've been up to lately.

The Thursday before Easter, Tyler called and said he really needed my help to finish a mural he was working on in San Fransisco. I didn't know how I could swing it, but he made the phone calls for me (THANK YOU Alyssa and Micah) and I was off. I kept thinking there was no way I could go, even up to an hour before my plane left, since I didn't even have Easter dresses for the girls... but I arrived in Oakland at about 5 pm. We frantically worked on the mural for the next couple of days, but we weren't able to make it to our flight Saturday night. This was a problem because, not only was it Easter Sunday (Easter bunny, Easter dinner, Easter eggs... you get the idea), but our church started at 1 pm and I was supposed to lead the Primary in a special musical number (Savannah was also supposed to do a solo). We were going to arrive in Salt Lake at 11 am. We knew it would be tight, but thought we could make it.

Fast forward to our landing in Salt Lake... Tyler stayed to get our bags while I rushed to get the car. When I got to the car, I couldn't get it to open with the automatic key thing. It was then that I remembered that Oliver had turned on the interior light before we left... the battery was dead. I rushed back to Tyler who called Jaim to pick us up. Luckily Jaim had two cars, so I took one while he and Tyler went to get jumper cables and pick up the kids. I made it just in time for church and Tyler hurried and got the kids ready (in 10 minutes) and met me at church. That afternoon we went to Georgia's house to see everyone and dye a few eggs.

The next day was spent with Tyler making a hurried sample to send for his next job in New York while I did a million loads of laundry and got us ready to go back to San Fransisco (it was the kids Spring Break). We left early Tuesday morning and spent the night with Tyler's parents in Fallon. The next day we went on to San Fransico to stay with Brad, Kendal and Isabel. Thursday we spent the day at Six Flags. You might wonder if we took pictures... I was too frazzled to remember a camera. The next couple of days Tyler spent working again on the mural. He was not able to finish it, and I had to drive back home by myself. Sunday night, they decided they needed to start the project over, so he got some guys started, and he had to fly directly to New York for his next job.

Anybody got something that can top that? I didn't think so! =) We are really hoping that May is a terribly boring month. And right now we are praying, as Emmaline so appropriately put it in her prayer tonight that "we will be comforted even though our Dad is really far away."

What my kids are up to...

Beginning the Thursday before Easter, my life has been complete chaos (more on that at another time when I'm not so tired and my internet connection isn't so sketchy). Here is what my kids are up to (mostly for Tyler who is in New York for the next two weeks).

Oliver's favorite phrase (beginning today) is "I've had nuffin eat ALL DAY!" Hmmm... I guess that doesn't include the 4 pancakes, one granola bar, 2 packs of fruit snacks and several carrot sticks that he ate (and that was just the odd breakfast assortment he chose this morning).

Emmaline spray painted a huge tulip bud she found at the studio silver. We won't even mention the way the sink, bathtub, light switches and who knows what else that I haven't discovered yet look.

Savannah is struggling to think of something she can make a commercial about for Humanities.

On that note... I'm off to bed.

Spring Cleaning

I love to clean. I love the feeling I get when things are all organized. I love to figure out better ways to keep the house clean. I even love to read other people's ideas about the subject. The last few days I have really been in the spring cleaning mode. I've also made the girls pitch in. They have these cute little baskets on the shelves beside their beds that have to be dumped every couple of months. My kids are incredibly creative and are constantly making something. I love it that they have inherited that from Tyler, and I try to be really careful not to be such a neat freak that they can't explore their artistic interests, but the whole time we were cleaning, I must admit, I kept saying, "Doesn't this make you feel good? I just love to get everything all organized... etc." That's why it really caught me off guard when, as I was tucking Savannah in she said, "You know, I kind of like it better when my room is messy." If it had been Emmaline, I could have just blown in off as being obstinate, but that just isn't Savannah's way. Something I think I am going to have to give a lot more thought to.