Eggs, anyone?

This afternoon, I had gone upstairs to do a few things. The three youngest kids were downstairs watching "Go, Diego, Go!" Michael was home, but also busy. After a little while we heard the boys calling because Olivia had changed the channel. I came downstairs and Olivia was sitting in the kitchen floor in a pile of broken eggs. Dillon had gotten a drink out of the fridge and left the door open. Olivia found the carton of eggs on the bottom shelf and taken them out. There were broken eggs here and there throughout the kitchen, but the biggest pile was right in front of the doorway and she was sitting in the middle of it covered in eggs, and might I add, very happy. Michael gave her a bath while I cleaned up the floor and started the laundry. I think she preferred the eggs!

Hendricks Fall Fest

Today is the Hendricks Fall Fest. We went in to town and painted pumpkins, played in the big corn box, made scarecrows, ate hotdogs, and walked around to see what all the shops and vendors had out. Later on they will auction off the scarecrows and the winning ones will get $100 of Hendricks bucks. Then there is a taco in a bag feed and tonight at the school there will be a free movie on the big screen for the kids to go to. It's a lot of fun. Our kids look forward to it every year. This year is the biggest they've done though. Here are pictures of this mornings fun.

Mud and green hats

The boys decided yesterday afternoon to carry water from the puddles in our driveway to their dirt pile. Olivia thought it looked fun to play in. Strangely enough, she is the only one that came in covered in mud. Zane, Dillon, Zeke and even Makenna (who was supposedly keeping an eye on her) came in spotless. As you can see from the picture, she was not happy when she came inside. Once she got bathed and changed she felt much better.

Later on in the evening, Dillon found this bright green furry hat and put it on her. She wore it around until bedtime. Zeke wanted a green hat too so he found my Ireland hat and wore that so he could match Lala. They are best buddies. She gets so excited to play with him and he does a very good job at letting her play (most of the time).

Boys, dirt and hot wheels

What could make little boys happier? Dillon and Zeke love to lay out in the driveway and play with their hotwheels. They make tracks in the dirt and build mountains for the cars to drive over. The only thing that gets them out of the driveway is Michael coming in the truck or else a daddy long leg crawling up the drivewway. That would also get lots of screaming and stomping!

Primary Program

I am in charge of writing our primary program this year. I was in charge of it last year too. We aren't having it until the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I finished writing it today and we will start going over it on Sunday. We only have 12 active children and 1 semi active child. I am only expecting 11 children the day of the program. We have a small branch so I get the privilege of being primary president and music person. I also am supposed to do activity days. My counselors are also the primary teachers. Our pianist we only get for a few minutes at the beginning of sharing time because she is also in the young women presidency and has to teach most every Sunday at the same time we do sharing time and music. Surprisingly the children have learned their songs really well and things go relatively smoothly despite the juggling of different callings and small numbers. The children are excite about the program and we only have one that gets a little shy in front of people. The congregation always loves it no matter what happens during the program. I'll give you all an update after the program.

Show of Friendship

Through all of this frustration and worry, we have been humbled by the people around us. The people in this community have gone out of their way to help us and support us. I get phone calls daily of job leads and ideas. We have a house we can move into when we find another job. We have offers of help and words of kindness and support. I get told often that they don't want to lose our family and how much we mean to this community and school and they are doing all they can to keep us here. I even had the principal call me this morning for somejuob ideas and last years principal is going to talk to the people at his church and see if anyone has any ideas. It has humbled me to see how much the community likes our family and wants us here. I have never experienced this before from so many people. I got birthday cards filled with kindness telling us what good examples we are to others and how much they love our family. So despite the difficulties that we are facing with how to feed and take care of our family, we have seen a silver lining in the kindness and concern that is being shown to us. It shows me that people do watch and they can feel the spirit when we do our best and try to live our lives the way we have been taught. Even though we haven't found answers yet and our struggles don't seem to be anywhere near over, it is a testimony to me that Heavenly Father is still there and is still watching over us.

Horse Riding Lessons

Michael has been teaching riding lessons every Tuesday night at the Olsens house. Josie, Claire and their cousin Emily take lessons and Makenna rides too. The rest of us come watch and play. It's always fun and the kids are never ready to go home. Olsens have a ride on toy that our kids love to play with so Pam always makes sure the battery is charged and ready for them. She also has juice or water for them afterwards. Last week Chad was there and he got out their pony for Ellie to ride. Zane and Zeke also got rides on him. Afterwards Zane got back on the pony. The pony's mane was full of stickers so they made it stick straight up like a unicorn. Zane thought that was so funny he wanted a picture taken. Some of the pictures are hard to see because it was dark. There is one of Makenna during lessons, one of Maddi and Olivia on the gator, one of Ellie and Zeke and one of Zane.

Half Marathon

Today was the half marathon fundraiser. I was at the park at 6am setting up. I could hear the thunder and see the lightening. By 7 am it had started sprinkling and we were all nervous about what was in store for us. It did stop and turned out to be a beautiful (but cold) day. We had a great turn out. There were 72 kids from the school that came and ran with us. That's almost half of the school. We ended up making around $900 from the racers and then another $300 left over from sponsor money. I am very excited about it. Everyone (except one person) enjoyed the race and we have many that have asked us to do it again, which we plan on doing. I even had some one come and ask us to be a sponsor next time. The kids all had fun too. There was plenty of food and all the kids get prizes on Monday. Pam and I are ready for a nap, as are a few others.

Life

Have you ever had moments in your life when you just walk around wondering what just happened? That's how I have been feeling the last few days. Wednesday Michael came home with some not so good news. It came as a shock and a huge let down. All that we have been working for seems all of the sudden so out of reach. We were so close to our goals and now it seems everything has been taken away from us. I have been walking around in a daze wondering what just happened, why it happened and what we are saupposed to do now. I don't know how to feel. I'm angry, I'm sad, I'm depressed, I'm very tired. I want to have faith and trust and feel reassurance but it all seems very slow coming. If I didn't have children and responsibilities, I would probably just curl up in a ball and stay there for days. I kow it sounds like drama, and it probably is, but right now it's real drama. Of course everything in life happens for a reason and we don't know what's in store for us, but the wondering and struggles in the meantime are very overwhelming. I'm sure things will settle down soon and we will all be all right. I just react emotionally. Why do people have to be so selfish? Why do they have to break their promises? I sure hope a change of heart happens and maybe all of this will go away. In the meantime, remember to be honest and kind. Look for those who need a smile and be aware of how much your actions affect those around you. We can spread good in this world or we can spread sadness. Even if we have been wronged, let's spread the good and see if it will help erase the sadness we sometimes feel in our own hearts. So to all of you who read this, I love you. You mean so much to me. All of you that I have invited to read this blog, have touched my life in many positive ways. Your love has changed our lives and continues to change it. Thank you for all you do.

Time Flies!

I can't belive it's October already. Last year on my birthday I went to school and read stories to the kids. This year they wanted me to do it again. It doesn't seem like that long ago but when I went to school Tuesday to eat lunch with Maddi I made appointments to come in next week on my birthday. Sometimes things get so busy, you miss what's really going on and before you know it, it's over and gone. The weather had turned beautiful again and we went to the park yesterday to enjoy the afternoon with friends. Today is clean up the house day. Next weekend is the big half marathon fundraiser. I can't believe it is time for that either. Things are coming along nicely but I am feeling the stress of trying to tie up all the loose ends and answering everyone's questions. We have close to 60 kids running so far and many more adults signed up to rn as well. We are collecting all our donations and the t-shirts are being printed. Anyone want to come run a 5K or half marathon. It will be fun! Next week we have our final meeting and then we go shopping to collect all the goodies and drinks. Friday night we will set up and hten early Saturday morning we will do all the finishing touches. It will be crazy busy, but hopefully we will earn a lot of money for our school. The kids are excited and we have people from all the communities around coming to support. I'll let you know how it goes.

As far as our loose tooth contest - Maddi won. Hers fell out this morning while she was brushing her teeth. Makenna is still working on hers.