March 17th

Today was St. Patrick's Day and the Pinewood Derby. We began the day with the breakfast of champions and concluded it with race car twinkies (oreo cookies for the wheels--thank you, Jane, for the idea). Does the Chairman patch count for wearing green?

Denver Aquarium

Flotsam (or Jetsam, I can't be sure)

The kids and I took advantage of teacher inservice day and headed to the closest thing to a beach. Molly, Melissa, Bryson, and Grandma Jane met us there (and it was a good thing, too, because with all the crowds, it would have been easy to lose one of the kids). The top three attractions: the flash flood, shark tank, and feeding the rays--courtesy of G. Jane.

Family Home Evening

A family home evening lesson on the entanglements of the Evil One.

Ben refused to be caught dead in Saran Wrap (although there were zero inhibitions about losing his pants).

One Little Two Little Three Little Indians

Hiawatha in the backyard.




Sacajawea, courtesy of Ben and a box of markers.




Grace: "Monkey"
Ben: "No, I'm a Jilla."




Allie, breaking an vow she made with Staci (never to have a scout shirt in her closet).

Busy, and not a single picture to prove it!

1. James has been in Texas on business.
2. I am the new cub scout committee chair and last week was the blue and gold banquet. I am currently trying to figure out how to register the charter (a money-making scam if you ask me--I never knew how many hoops the church jumps through just to participate with the BSA).
3. The kids are participating in gymnastics lessons.
4. Friday was my birthday. James gave me some lovely porch furniture and he put that together yesterday.
5. On Saturday James and I did some painting for my mom.
6. Tonight for FHE we are going to talk about food storage (i.e. unpack the food storage and try to organize the basement a bit).
7. This week I start running more seriously.
8. The weather is starting to warm up, so we are also planning our yard overhaul. James wants to get the pond cleaned out and pump circulating. We need the garden area prepared, dirt delivered, grass seed planted, sprinklers figured out, bushes trimmed, trees fertilized, etc. It's going to be great!
9. Finally, the school season is simply busy. I'm sure Meri would agree. We'll be back this summer. I promise.

A Note from Tessa

(Tessa was sticking notes all over the house.)

More House Pictures

A freshly painted front door, a trademark panty door, and my favorite view from the side gate. Ben knew for sure when we moved in that the owners had left him a puppy in the large dog house.

Sexy Legs

I walked into my closet and wondered what in the world my nylon egg was doing on the floor. I soon received my answer. Somebody was embarrassed!

Family Pictures

New House

Staci called today and said, "For mine, Lori's and Pete's sake, PLEASE post some pictures of that house." For the last three weeks, James and I have been up until somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00 AM cleaning and painting. As always, it is a work- in-progess. I can't tell you, though, how nice it is to have another project. In fact, there are so many projects to do in this house it will take a life time to finish. We LOVE it. We want to stay forever (which is saying a lot since we have moved 13 times in the almost 10 years that we have been married).