Grace and the Toilet Paper Monster

I asked Gracie to get Jane a rag because she was spitting up and this is what Jane ended up with. Jane enjoyed it so much that she didn't want it taken away. (Thus the crying picture.)

A Real Current Event

Who: Lindsey
What: screamed and almost ran into a cactus
When: on her bikeride home from school
Where: in the shortcut near her house
Why: she saw a snake in the middle of the pathway, so quickly turned out of its way, but wasn't smart enough to brake
How: she was smiling, and looking forward to being home, but then she looked down, leaned right, screamed, and forgot there was a cactus

A photoshopped version of the snake. It was actually a little lighter in color, so it blended in. As you can see, it was probably bigger than Lindsey.

Luckily, the cactus was small, and I was back in my right mind enough that I could brake, then go around it.

I ran quickly inside, told my news, got a quick snack, and then ran outside with a camera, only to find the snake had already left.

Happy Mother's Day!

After having been given my most requested gift (that of sleeping in) I was given a darling menu with these choices:

Main Courses
Pancakes--sorry, no longer available because someone put chocolate chips in the batter.
Chocolate Chip Pancakes--yummy semi-sweet chocolate chips in a buttermilk batter.

Side Dishes
Fruit Salad--A combination of all the fruit we have.
Eggs--Scrambled or fried
Sausage--freshly cooked

Refreshments
Strawberry Smoothie--As simple as strawberries, milk and sugar.
Juice--apple, grape, pine-orange-banana, or orange
Milk--Scoot by the competition with fat-free milk!

We went with the choclate chip pancakes and strawberry smoothies. Yummy! (And convenient that I didn't choose juice or sausage since they were all frozen solid, nor fruit salad since that was pretty limited too).

I sure have great kids! (We also took pictures to send to Grandma, and so you can see that as well as great kids, I have cute kids too).

Pirates and Kindergarteners

Rachel's kindergarten class is through with the alphabet--which means that they no longer have a letter collage due each Friday. Which in turn means that each Friday the kids now share a current event--they are suppose to read a news article with a parent and tell what occurred. I thought it would be very exciting to tell the story of Captain Phillips being saved from the pirates, so, I printed off an article and Rachel (who is a pretty advanced reader I must say) read it and shared the story in her own words with the class (which I didn't see but can imagine how animated she got with the story) she said the boys thought it was pretty cool.

Not too much after this assignment was completed all the parents got an email saying "please don't use stories about guns or drugs, it is not Kindergarten appropriate." Surely no one used a story about drugs, because let's face it, that's not exciting at all. And since the rest of the class told the story of the Obama's getting a new dog (boring!) I am guessing this email was directed straight at me, in a round about way to not be offensive. Now I'm trying to decide which story to do for tomorrow; maybe something about Madoff.

Jane's blessing

Grandma and Grandpa Madsen brought the Powell kids for the weekend to attend baby Jane's blessing. On Saturday the younger kids had a fun time at a primary activity while Lindsey, Ben, Daniel and Grandpa went to the air and space museum. Then the day was filled with swimming, yard work, and making braided bread. The kids had a great time!

Sunday was the blessing and here is what I remember of it: (My mom and my grandma Groberg--who knows how far back it goes--would record blessings and write them out for keepsake. This is my measly attempt at that, just main ideas). Janey would bring happiness and joy to others. She would have a clear mind and learn from the world and the gospel. She would stay close to her Heavenly Father and seek for the best things in life. Be a good friend and sister and share the gospel to others. She would have health and strength.

It was a beautiful weekend, even the weather was pleasant. I am so grateful for my little family and for my extended family, on both sides. Having a connection between, or better yet, a belonging with my kids and their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc., is so valuable, and I am glad that our families try hard to build good relationships. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of family in June!

(The dress was worn by all my girls and made by my sister Jenette out of my wedding dress fabric).

Art Work by Gracie

3 year old Gracie has been into drawing and writing. This is a picture of me and the one below is of Janey. She laid right beside her and drew the picture. When I went to pick Janey up Gracie protested because she wasn't done with her pencil drawing. There is a picture I want to post (but can't find it) of Gracie writing lots of letters with chalk on our driveway. They were organized in a rainbow shape with 30ish lines of 20 or so letters each. (Some weren't quite letters, but she is intent and a self learner--no one has been formally teaching her letters). We think she's a great little artist!

Rachel's start to her first novel

I copied and pasted this from a word file that Rachel was working on. Here it is, a mystery!


The big not b ig but huge Mistrey



You know thears a mistrey well heare it it. Weer are all the tvs !do you know .weaare they are .ha ha thricket you. bake then thear was not aney tvs!