latest layout ...

I promised myself that this blog would be a place for me to write - and tonight I'm a bit sad & unsure how to handle a situation. Being a primary president is hard... a couple who has been consistent & really tried to teach our most difficult class reached their breaking point on Sunday. A couple of visitors who were also completely out of control didn't help. So - a couple of parents sat in the hallway & overheard bits & pieces of the class & jumped to all sorts of conclusions about how these teachers were saying things to this class that were completely inappropriate. Why they didn't stick their heads in & offer to help I'll never know or understand. But as I just got off the phone with one of the teachers who didn't even know if it was worth coming back to church if people thought so poorly of them. Both of their grown sons have gone inactive through offensive remarks. While I hope that they wouldn't let others have this much influence on them I also see that they sit & wonder who else has talked about them & complained about them. How many others have these parents complained to? And I sit here & wonder if these young parents have any idea what they've done by they're thoughtless remarks & going behind the teachers backs to complain to the bishop. I sit here & understand the frustration of the teachers - these kids have no respect for the teachers or for others & apparently their parents don't care if they act the way they do. Whiny & difficult & completely disrespectful. Tonight my heart is sad...

Just a quick layout - my 30 minute Start to Finish assignment in my digi scrapping class

credits: here

Other than that - we're just plugging along. Survived the first week of Adventures Plus (Ben) & Peak Adventures (John). Not that it was very adventurous... they don't really have any field trips or exciting stuff the first few weeks because kids are in summer school. Hello? we're only in it until July 8 & so we'd like some field trips. Oh well - they're looking forward to the adventures in Colorado.

Today was busy - we went swimming & then I had to give a talk tonight at a baptism. I think it went ok - but does one ever really know? OK... later peeps...

New Scrapbook Pages

I'm now taking an intermediate digi scrapping class & loving it. Finished 2 layouts tonight. Feeling behind with Primary stuff & reunion prep stuff (putting together a Jeopardy game), cleaning my house - but we did go for a walk tonight. While it's been a rainy & miserable spring, I'm grateful it hasn't gotten terribly hot yet. Tonight we did our 'kind deed of the hour' (according to John). A guy in an electric wheelchair had gone down close to the pond & had gotten stuck in the soft dirt. Thank goodness we were out & about or who knows how long he'd been stuck there 'enjoying the view'.

So without further adieu... my creative attempts

New scrapbook pages

Lots going on - lots to talk about, but I've been sick & still struggling with a miserable cough. Just wanted to post a couple of my latest digi pages. The more I do the more I'm excited about selling all my old scrapbook stuff.

Busy, busy weekend...

Usually, we don't have much going on. We're just excited to kinda hang out at home, but I could tell it was time for an adventure so Saturday was busy from 8 am to 10 pm.

The boys both started swimming lessons - I'm kinda ashamed to admit they haven't had any before (well, John had some when he was much younger) but I just haven't had the $$ & even now I don't but they've got to learn to swim. So, better late than never, although they both were a tad bit embarrased being the oldest kids in their classes. Oh well...

After swimming, we grabbed a quick lunch & then off to pick up Josh & Justin. These are 2 boys in our ward that John & Ben really connect with. Their mom watches J & B often on non-school days & they really do play well together. We went down to the Mall of America for a Battle Bots competition.

We all enjoyed that, but I had promised them they could ride a few rides. The amusement park was now called Nickolodeon Universe & they had some new roller coasters & rides. John had recently been there for a "physics field trip". They had to ride a roller coaster - fill out a physics worksheet about it & then spent the rest of the day riding rides. This isn't school like I remember it. Anyway, he was getting everyone excitd about all the new rides. Poor John, he's extremely adventurous & no one would go on the most intense coaster with him, but all in all I think they had fun.

You can kind of see behind the sign where the roller coaster comes straight down - this of course after going, literally, straight up. It's still amazing that all of this is indoors, which was wonderful for Saturday as it was miserable cold, windy & snowing.

A quick treat on our way out & then we had to rush off to Josh's birthday party - another exciting event. Quite a few of the boys from the ward got together & had a video game party. 3 TV's - 2 Wii's & 1 GameCube. Lots of fun & pizza & many exhausted boys at the end of the night. We'll be ready for a nice, quiet weekend next week.

Here's our latest update ... we just seem to keep busy with 'stuff'.

Ben got a new bicycle & has really been developing his riding skills. It was on sale at Target & the morning we went to get it was very cold - windy & snowy. And yes, it was just a couple of weeks ago ...

He rode it home from the store in spite of the cold wind blowing. He's preparing for the 8 mile 4th grade bike trip at the end of the school year.

John was invited to participate in school districts "Bridge to Knowledge". They have a physics section & then get to choose a couple of classes to take. John got to take a class on geocaching & then another one at the Observatory. His middle school has an observatory ( JMSObsevatory)- the largest one in Minnesota. He enjoyed both classes, but has decided he really enjoys geocaching & has asked for a handheld GPS for his birthday.

One weekend Ben decided to come up with a fun activity for both of them. He drug all the pillows & blankets into the living room & decided to go sumo wrestling. As you can see, fun was had by all (at least until they had to clean up all the blankets!)

Other news - Ben learned magic tricks one night at scouts & came home & put on a magic show for John & I.

My goal...

is going to be to at least update weekly - merely for my own sake & memory if for nothing else. I have been thoroughly enjoying my online digital scrapbooking class. While it's over I've come to a decision in my scrapbooking world - I'm going digi. A friend is having a garage sale in May & I've already started to clean out stuff & get it marked. I just don't have the space to keep all the 'stuff'. Of course I will never truly get rid of all of it. I have too big of a love affair with buttons & ribbons & paper - but this whole change has resparked some enthusiasm & enjoyment for the hobby - at least for me. My 2 latest pages...

These took such a short time & it would have taken me MUCH longer to do paper scrapping. Loving it!!!

In other news... we have a pet. It's a 4th grade thing - a crayfish. Yes, we always get it at the end of their unit. Apparently ours is one of the few remaining survivors. We are doing our best to keep it alive. I find I do grow a bit attached... we've gotten our critter quite spoiled. Will only eat chicken nuggets cooked just right & loves to sun itself on a rock during the quiet of the day when we're not home. Isn't she a cutie? :)

Photograph courtesy of Ben -

Then our other project - which I dread annually. The Arts & Academic Expo. Every year I say we're not going to put it off to the last minute & every year we do. The idea is out there it's just the actual work. Ben decided to do a cross-stitch picture. We'd gotten the frame ready & knew what he was going to do, but didn't actually start until 4 pm Sunday night. I'm pleased to report this is the first year we did a manageable project & it was even completed Sunday night. He did a great job - the frame turned out cute also. He used some fabric stickers I found while cleaning out my stuff & I thought it was fun... He's extremely visual & sees things I would never see.

Till next time....