I'm not sure how the NY family is doing, but we've pretty much missed all the impressive weather this year. We did get rain, but no significant flooding by us. We missed all the snowstorms and windstorms. The rain is getting pretty annoying. It's cold. I keep remembering why I went to Hawaii for school. The kids are like wound up jack-in-the-boxes. They may pop any second. They don't care where we move to, as long as it has a yard.

We are looking forward to a warm Saturday. We'll try to hit an Easter egg hunt or two, but J might convince the girls to go kayaking. Or he might not. He has 3 interviews to prepare for. Yay! Wish him luck!

FHE

My kids love FHE (said "fuh"). They look forward to family night. They even love being in charge. I insist on regular FHE mostly out of guilt for giving my mom a hard time every time she tried to institute it.

We rely heavily on the Friend magazine and the GAK (also known as fuh-in-a-box). The semi-annual awards ceremony is also a big hit. Last time G got a crown from Jesse that said "boardgame queen". She wore it to school the next day. Way cute.
This week in honor of the Easter holiday, we dyed eggs while griping at each other for bumping the table, spilling dye, and messing up our creations. All in all, a classic FHE.

The Week in Review

Monday: I was sick but still managed to volunteer in G's class for a half hour. Yay for Mondays.

Tuesday: The weather was awesome, so we stayed and played at the school for an hour! Sun! Warmth! Ok, it was only 60 degrees, but it felt heavenly.

Wednesday:The waves were good, so we spent the morning at the beach. G was ticked off that she missed lunch and recess. The kid adores school lunch. Blegh! J had fun and caught the wave of the day. I had fun, but would have had more fun if the kid I was with wasn't grouching about making her go to the beach. She's such a complainer. I wonder where she gets it from?

Thursday: Hm. I know we had gymnastics, but couldn't tell you much else.

Friday: Personal leave day for M. Some friends from church are moving, so she stayed home from school to have a play date. The kids had fun playing with bubbles outside and running in the grass on campus.

Saturday: Kayak adventure in Quahog bay! J is taking his Maine Island Trail membership seriously. Since the weather was cooperating, we pulled out the kayaks, our maps, MITA book, and explored Little Snow Island and Raspberry Island. Both have osprey nests on them, but they're still wintering somewhere else. We saw lots of geese on their way back north. My neck and shoulders are pretty sore since we paddled for 4 hours!

all the pictures are from the beach on Wednesday.

Censused

I feel so grown up. I filled out my first census form. Eighty years from now, my descendants will be wondering what the heck I was doing in Maine in 2010. How cool is that?

Stake Conference/Fiasco

We tried really hard to get to stake conference early.
Then I decided I should throw some stuff in the crackpot, and we were off late.
Then we got to Augusta and couldn't find the chapel. But we had our phone and called our friends for directions.
So we were late and sat in the back, where the sound system didn't work, so we couldn't really hear. But it looked like they were trying to remedy the problem.
Then the guys totally busted the sound system and no one could hear, especially those who were really late and in the very back.
And right before the rest hymn Mermaid says, "I can't hear anything."
You just noticed?
Fifteen minutes later J says "should we just go home?"
And I say, "um. um. um. I really want to go home, but I'd feel super lame."
And then the sound system started working and we could mostly hear what the speakers were saying. So we heard the last 25 minutes of stake conference.
And we ignored the gps on the way home and went on a really cool road that went by lots of lakes and dairy farms.
And that's Maine for ya'.

Boston and Some Vague Good News

This Saturday, the girls and I went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History while Jesse was at the temple. I'm not sure why, but those girls love rocks, dinosaurs, and the stuffed carcasses of exotic animals.

We were lucky enough to see a volcano demonstration. A little liquid nitrogen in a trash can of water will cause a 30-40 foot explosion, fyi. The kids loved it. For a littler explosion, drop a handful of mint mentos into a 2 liter bottle of diet coke. Also cool.
And speaking of museums, did you know that if you have any kind of Bank of America bank or credit card, you can get into a number of museums free on the first weekend of the month? Everything from LACMA and the Discovery Science Center in California to the Met and the Bronx Zoo in New York. Very cool. I like free.

I also like that it looks like we will be employed next year. Nothing I can put into print just yet, but family and friends can all breathe easier knowing that if we're at your house, we're just visiting. Not staying.

Said and Heard

Monkey: "I don't get to see Mr. Paul much anymore."
Mermaid: "Mr. Paul your bus driver, or Mr. Paul the Janinator?"


Monkey to her friend this Wednesday: "Jawed, I know you and Justice are good fwiends, but you can't act all cwazy at chuwch. It weally bothews me."


Jesse: "I think you should be nicer to Monkey when she comes in our bed in the morning."
Me: "You mean how I'm trying not to totally lose it when she comes in and I'm still half asleep and she starts stroking my ears and face and rubbing her toes up and down my leg?"
Jesse: "oh."

Wacky Wednesday

I love the days that reaffirm the my decision to stay at home with the kids. I mean, they really don't care that I cook most of their meals from scratch, chauffeur them to school and activities, go to the pta meetings, and scour the internet for apartments, schools, dance and gymnastics classes in the city we may move to.

But here's what they do care about.

The Mermaid's school celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday this week with pajama day, class color day, and Wacky Wednesday. She specified that her hair-do on such a special occasion include a bun, braids, and ponytails. I am proud to say that I accomplished all three. We tried to get her to go a little wackier on her clothing choices, but she was cool with just the hair. Problem is, her little sister didn't get in on the fun this year and keeps asking me if it's Wednesday and can I do her hair like Mermaid's?

In My Pretty Garden

A shot J took Sunday morning. Early. His ride comes at 6:15. I don't know if this is our last snow, but this morning I did see the daffodils poking up maybe an inch. I bought a big bag of bulbs last fall and planted them in front of our house. I've loved spring flowers since our first spring in Utah when we realized that the previous owners had planted hundreds of tulips in front of our house. I thought it might be nice to give the next occupants a similar gift. Maybe this will be my "Bekah Wuz Here" tag I leave until we settle somewhere.