parents and pastries. and camera ramblings.

Every year the elementary school does a "Parents and Pastries" morning. 

This means if you show up for school an hour early with a parent and a book you all get a donut.  And a coupon for bowling at Fat Cats.

Mostly I just like being with my circus.  Especially if it encourages reading.

It's time for me to renew my phone contract and upgrade my phone.  I'm struggling with which phone I should use.  I've had, and loved, a Blackberry for the past five years.  I am most definitely not a fan of touch screen.  I want buttons.  West is a supporter of the iPhone.  He has me hooked on some of the game apps.

I think what it's going to boil down to is which phone has the best camera in it.  Sad but true.  I'm tired of sub-par pictures because I use my phone all the time.

And while we're on the subject, ever since my water camera decided not to be waterproof anymore, it's been leaving white spots in my pictures.  Despite what a kind reader said to me about it being spirits in my pictures, I assure you, it's spots inside the lense.  I can see them.  So I need a new water camera too.  Because now that I've had the ability to take my camera into the water, I don't want to stop.

Also, I want a fancy camera.  But I don't know which one.  I just know that I'm obsessed with taking pictures of my family and life, and I'd like them to, you know, actually turn out good.

So that's my to do list.  Phone with a decent enough camera, a water proof camera, and a "fancy" camera.

Is it too early to have a Christmas list going?

No Super Bowl, Chocolate Fondue, and Mr. Popper's Penguins

Happy 33 to me.
Today's February photo project was "10 am".  I was at church with my circus.  This picture was actually taken a little after noon when church was over, but really, I wasn't going to pull out my camera and snap a picture in the middle of a Sacrament Meeting.  So we took one after church in the Young Women's room, which also doubles as the Middle School's Seminary, hence the desks.
Thanks for snapping the pic Ballison.  Love me some Laurels.

The Young Women's President gave me two papers to fill out for the new Beehives coming in.  New Beginings is next week and they want to spotlight the cute new Beehives.  They were for my daughters.  Can you believe that we have not just one girl turning 12 this year, but two?  It's like I always say... once one hits a a milestone in life, the rest are not far behind.  We don't do anything small around here.  Not even if we wanted to...

After church we headed home only to be greeted by this when we rounded the corner:

My dad and step mom drove 45 minutes to surprise me with this when I got home from church.  Apparently my step mom was being sneaky sneaky with The Man and was messaging with him over facebook about when we'd be gone.  When we rounded the corner we all gasped.  Cool Mom!  That Stephanie Rd. sign? Going on my desk at work.

The Man bought me a sewing machine.  I've never owned a sewing machine before and am super excited.  Especially since I've recently drawn up my first quilt pattern with the encouragement and email guidance of my aunt.  Who is a pro.  Really.  She owns her own quilt shop.  And the circus made me paper flowers with Granny Suzann.

We're pushing forward with the remodel.  Tomorrow a sheetrocker is coming to mud and tape the second laundry room we've created out of a large closet upstairs and the kitchen ceilling.  We've picked out the tile and West even said that while he was working on his project (the laying of the said tile) that I needed a project and could paint the second laundry room and kitchen any color I want. 
You are all my witnesses.  Any color I want. 

I'm thinking I should have gotten that in writing...

In preperation for the nasty dusty sheetrock mess we've emptied the kitchen, even putting the fridge into the dining room, and hung plastic.

When our house is finished, we're inviting you all over for a Hallelujah party.  See that pink counter?  It's next on my hit list.  Nasty thing.
All I wanted for my birthday is no Superbowl, chocolate fondue, and Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Check, check, and check.

And now that I think about it, this would go good with our kitchen remodel, don't you think?

Cali Turns 7

Cali.

Favorite color: Blue
Favorite food: Spaghetti
Best Friend: Anistyn
Favorite thing to do in school: Learn
Favorite thing to do: Play with my sisters.
Favorite movie: Mr. Popper's Penguins
What's something you want to learn how to do this year? Read better.
I made a master list of birthday activities for the circus to choose from for their parties.  All ranging with in the same budget, but bigger, or more expensive activities involved less friends, or family only, while cheaper or smaller activities where able to involve more friends.
Cali chose to go to Airborne, a trampoline arena.  She was able to invite 2 friends.
And in true Circus style, we took a lot of pictures, a few videos, and created quite the chaos which ended up being the time of our lives.  We jumped off the floor, the walls, played dodge ball, jumped off cliffs, tried our best to make it across the rope ladder (West failed, I conquered!), and did a lot of flipping in the air.  Even me :).

Penguins and Otter Pops

We heard a rumor from a neighbor that if you dressed up in black and white and headed to the aquarium, you'd get in free.  Even adults. 

I don't usually pass up free.  Especially when it's fun.  And especially with our numbers. So we did.  Even The Man. And since it was free, we took a couple extra kids with us.  Why not? What's a couple more...

The day was dubbed "Penguin Appreciation Day", and who appreciates penguins more than I do? But the newest attraction for the aquarium, even new since our little jaunt to it on New Year's Eve, were the otters. In celebration of the new otters the aquarium gave out free otter pops.  Score.

 I think Cali ended up with the best seat in the house on Dad's shoulders.

I let the kids split off and run around on their own, as long as the stayed in the groups that they left in.  And it didn't matter that they all left me at the otters, they all headed to the penguins when they wanted to find me.
I think they know me pretty well.

Life Lessons While Roller Skating

You can learn a lot by hanging out with your kids.  Luckily for me, we haven't yet hit that time in life when the circus doesn't want to hang out with me.  In all truthfulness, they are my best friends.  Well, them and The Man.  If I want to go and do something, it's usually The Man and the circus that I want to go and do it with.Yesterday Brynn got invited to go to Classic Skating with a friend.  And then Cas got invited to go with a friend.  And then Sean and Jayme got invited to go with their grandma.  Classic has a Thursday deal where it's only a dollar to get in on Thursdays, but what in the world was going on that everyone was suddenly picking this Thursday, of all Thursdays, to go?  Needless to say, Tay and Cali were feeling pretty left out so I told them that I would take them too.
From here a couple of things happened.
Firstly, Jayme and Sean didn't end up going to Classic, they went somewhere else so we didn't get to see them there.  Sad.
Secondly, Casidee's friend, D, called and told her that she'd gone to the middle school when she wasn't supposed to and had gotten herself grounded so she could no longer go to Classic.  No worries.  Cas could just go with me since I was already committed to taking Tay and Cali.
This story gets interesting when we found, after arriving at Classic, that the said friend, D, was there.  With other friends, including one of Casidee's bffs, A.  Not only had she lied to Cas, and ditched her, but she had walked there and met up with 7th grade boys.
Cas and I had a pretty good heart to heart, sitting right there on a hard bench in an overly loud skating rink.
We decided that even though it sucked, like really sucked (that's 6th grade language), to have been lied to and not been included, Cas had come out on the better end of the situation.  And she could see that. The walk from our house to Classic is longer than I would have allowed (three and a half miles, one way... that's too long of walk for a 6th grader in my opinion).  Especially in the dark.  I would have told Cas no if she'd told me she was walking to Classic with D.  When we got there and saw them, we noticed that A was looking pretty miserable.  They weren't skating, just walking around with these boys.  When A saw that Cas was there, she got some skates and spent the rest of the time with Cas.  Cas and I talked about, despite the being left out feeling, would she really have been having fun, now that she could see what D was doing there? No.  A wasn't pleased with the situation, and Cas wouldn't have been either.  Yes, she was left out, but this way she wasn't stuck being there and doing nothing with boys she didn't know.  And I loved that Cas would sit there with me, her nerdy mom,shoulder to shoulder, in front of all those kids, and really talk to me about the situation.  And that even though D was there with those boys, Cas and A would come and sit by me in between their skating rounds.  I hope this level of relationship will last with my circus.
A ended up telling D that she was going to get a ride home from us.  D didn't seem to care.  I don't think I'll be letting Cas hang out with D too much in the future.  Though I'm thankful to have been able to see that A is a good friend.
The third thing that happened last night was stinking cute Tayler bug got asked to "skate" not once, but twice during the snowball boys choice round.  I was sitting on my hard bench when I looked up and spotted Tay making her way around the rink... with a boy.  What? Super shy Tay is skating with a boy?  I tried not to be the embarrassing mom, and stayed put, but only until after the snowball was done.  I called her over when she was skating on her own and asked her if she had been skating with a boy? She denied it and I wondered if I had seen wrong, when a friend of Tay's skates up and blurts out, "she skated with two boys!" Two? I was so floored! My sweet quiet Tay skated with two boys? Tay just grinned.  I knew I had seen it! She had been asked by a boy her own age, and by a teenage boy who was being nice and asking littler kids to skate.
How grateful I am that I hung around at Classic last night, instead of just dropping the kids off.  I was there to help Cas through a tough friend situation, and I got to be there for a boy moment with Tay.  And Cali was full of hugs for me through out the evening.
Nothing can replace time well spent with my circus.