Again

March is coming in like a lion. We have another snow day today! Zoe's reaction after she found out today is a snow day..."It is?! Awesome!" Eleanor's response was..."This is just like last Monday!" Yes, I am well aware. Emily is just tired because she couldn't find her blankie last night at bedtime and she didn't sleep well last night. I think she will appreciate her day to catch up on rest AFTER she gets over her grumpiness. Zach is happy to have his sisters home today to keep him company.

Now for some notes from the past couple of days.

Sunday: Our kids do a lot better in Sacrament meeting when they don't bring anything into the chapel with them...even scriptures. Zoe and Emily are capable of having their scriptures with them, but the younger children end up fighting over them eventually and make noise flipping through the pages. Yesterday was a good reminder to make sure nothing gets brought into Sacrament meeting.

Emily was the first Primary child to share her testimony during Sacrament meeting. Zoe shared her testimony as well. Eleanor wanted to get up, but she was scared. She wanted me to help her, but I told her that she was not ready to get up and share HER testimony if she needed my help. I don't think children should get up in testimony meeting just because all the other children are doing it. I want my children to share their testimonies when they realize what a testimony is and they realize that they have one. Then they can share it.

Zoe wrote her own talk for Primary and I was able to hear it yesterday. She did a wonderful job! Matt left Priesthood early to hear it, but he ended up missing it. He did bring Zach into the bathroom to go potty. When Zach came out, he was very upset that Primary was over. He wanted the closing song and closing prayer to be done over again and he cried A LOT about it.

Sonia gave us a bunch of clothes for Zach. She said she had 3 different dreams that gave her the impression that she should go through her son's clothes and give the clothes he had outgrown to us. Interesting. I haven't gone through the clothes yet, but I wonder what is in there that Zach is in need of.
Kristen gave us a girls size 6 snowsuit. I am truly grateful for all of the people who think of us and give us clothing.

Saturday: I had a great time at Women's Conference. My mom came to pick me up and after several attempts to get out of our driveway, we were on our way. Noah came with us, too of course. Our Stake Relief Society President, April Boulier spoke to us and then we attended 2 classes. I watched part of "The Best 3 Hours" by John Bytheway and then I made a couple of cards. When we finished our cards, my Aunt Tonia and I went into the karaoke room to listen since our card making class got out early. My mom was in there listening, too with Noah. The women were really getting into their singing! We then gathered for lunch and ate yummy soup, bread, and salad. The big hit was the chocolate fountain. YUMMY! I sat with my mom, Patti, Dodie, and Courtney and we had a great time chatting. The women in our branch are awesome! We had one more class after lunch, so we all went to the laughter yoga class. Cheryl Crabtree taught the class and I could listen to her all day long. It was such a fun class! For our closing, we gathered in the chapel for a song and a few testimonies. I went to Women's Conference with the goal of filling my cup and it was overflowing when I left.

My mom and I stopped at the grocery store before coming home. My mom was sweet and bought us some groceries. Matt and I are both blessed with generous parents.
There was an older man at the grocery store who stopped to talk with me while I was waiting for my mom to pick out some Salmon. He was a good man as he tried to give me a pocket sized Bible for Noah. I refused it as I explained that we have scriptures at home to read to him. I agreed that it was very important to read the scriptures to our children and to teach them about the Savior. Yes, very important.

I have a wonderful husband! He spent Saturday morning from 8am to 12:30pm at 4 different basketball practices with 5 kids. Eleanor, Emily, and Zoe had their last practices in Orland and Eleanor and Emily had their first practices in Bucksport. Zoe is done with basketball practice now, but Emily and Eleanor have 3 more practices.

Friday: I made brownies with Zach and Kate. I didn't realize that Zach wanted to help with the butter until AFTER I had put the butter in a bowl and melted it. Zach cried about it as we finished making the brownies. I decided we were all going to take a nap after we made the brownies, so I read a story and then put Kate down for a nap. Then I made a bed for Zach in the living room and one for myself and Noah. We all laid down and I fed Noah to sleep. The phone rang. I ignored it. I think I fell asleep, but I was awake when the phone rang again. I ignored it. It rang again, so I got up and answered it. It was the school nurse. Of course. The one time I settle us all down to relax and sleep, and the one afternoon I ignore the phone, it would be the school nurse trying to get a hold of me. Luckily, it wasn't about anything serious. Zoe developed a rash/hives just after lunch. When I talked with the nurse, school was about to end in 15 minutes, so I told the nurse it was okay to give Zoe some Benadryl and then have Zoe come home on the bus as usual. After thinking about it, I was glad I ignored the first call because I would have ended up getting all of the kids in the car to go get Zoe from school, instead of having a peaceful few hours. We're not sure what caused Zoe's rash and she still has patches of it here and there, but it's minor.

I think you are caught up on our happenings now. Besides having all of the kids home today, my day will be filled with laundry, laundry, and more laundry.