Joy School, Home Improvements, New Job

This past week we had lots going on at our house. Tuesday and Thursday I taught Joy School for the last time. The end of the school year is fast approaching and so is the coming of summer break! We had beautiful weather, for the most part, and the snow that fell last weekend melted away. The bulk of the snow melt happened on Monday and Tuesday, and we didn't have new gutters put up until Wednesday. The old gutters were there in a loosened state and they weren't doing their job as well as they should have, so Tuesday the Joy School kids looked out the window and exclaimed in wonder, "It's raining!" We had to put buckets under the gutter leaks in front of the house so they wouldn't get the ground by our foundation too soggy.

Wednesday I hosted book club at our house. We read The Language of Flowers, which was an enjoyable read, and it was fun to learn about the different meanings of all the flowers. I never knew that there was a meaning attached to flowers, except roses, but it turns out there truly was a botanical language back in Victorian times.

Our Joy School lessons were about the Joy of Family and the Joy of Belonging. I got a video Thursday of the kids singing our Joy School Pep Song and waving their pom poms. I found the pom poms at the dollar store for $1/pair, and I'm so glad I looked around (I thought about just doing without them) because they made the song so much more fun for the kids.

This past week I also finalized tests and paperwork for starting a new job at Covenant Village. It's a nursing and rehab center just a couple minutes from home, and I will be helping out on a per diem basis from 6-10 p.m., which is the busy time for night shift. I have been considering options for employment for several months, but didn't want to rush into anything or make a decision that would be detrimental to our family balance. I really want to keep in my profession though and be able to bring in a little extra money. I called and inquired at several different nursing homes, and I actually turned down an interview here initially because I found out they operate on 12-hour shifts, and I did not want to go back to 12-hour nights. The director of nursing then told me about the 6-10 shift and how they could use help on that shift, and Justin and I prayed about it and it felt like the right way to go. I'm excited to start training soon and be able to keep in the nursing field without the physical and mental stress of my previous job on the hospital float pool. 

Our house is looking snazzier this week with the new roof and gutters. Saturday I finished painting the shutters and Justin laid some sod down on the bare spots in the lawn. It looks so good! It's like a thick, green carpet I just want to walk on. The little kids had so much fun making mud pies while we were preparing the ground, but I didn't get any pictures.

Eli made a cute bug craft out of recyclables for Earth Day. 

Emmie before church Sunday playing with her tea set spoon.

She didn't get a nap that day and fell asleep that evening while Justin was reading the kids a story. 

 Another full week ahead- I better get to sleep so I can hit the ground running tomorrow.

A New Roof, Laps, Talent Show, Potato Derby

This past week we had a bunch of work done on the house. Tuesday we had our bathroom ceiling repaired where it had cracked from a roof leak a couple years ago; Wednesday we had the roof replaced; and Thursday and Friday we had painters here doing trim work on the house and shed. We're changing the color of all the dark brown trim on the house to an off-white color, and the dark brown gutters will be replaced next week with matching off-white ones. That's the last thing to be finished-- almost there!

The kids had a fun week. Wednesday we stayed out of the house all day because of the roof, so we went to playgroup at McDonald's, met Joey and Cyndi at an outdoor playground afterwards, and spent some time at the library. We went swimming one day after school at the Apex because they were offering a $3 special that day that we couldn't  pass up.

Random picture from the week. Benjy's always cool, even when he's just eating oatmeal.

Thursday, Benjy's Joy School took a field trip to visit a family in our ward who owns some farm animals. The Tolmans have rabbits, chickens, and a lamb. The kids got to learn about the animals, what they are used for, where they live, and how to care for them. The kids got to help gather eggs from the chicken coop and feed the animals. They especially loved that part, although some kids got carried away and started chasing the chickens. The kids had a great time, and Emmie loved it so much she cried when it was time to leave.

Friday was a big day for Eli. His annual Laps for Learning race took place, which he had been looking forward to all week. On Thursday his eyes swelled up while he was at school, probably from allergies and itching them too much, and I had to take him home early. His biggest concern was that he wouldn't be able to do Laps for Learning the next day! With allergy medicine on board, he was fine on race day. Justin, Benjy, Emmie, and I went out to watch the race and cheer for Eli and his classmates. Here is Eli and his friend Henry before the race.

 Some other classmates, Ewenn, Carter, and Angelo.

The kids ran on a path around the playground next to the school. Each time they passed the starting line, we punched their index card to track how many laps they had run. 

Eli did a super job! He ran around the path 17 times, which is almost 3 miles! (Each time around is 1/6 of a mile). The kids turned in their cards at the end of the race and volunteers tallied up the numbers. We will know this week who the winners were.

 Eli's class picture after the race.

Later that evening, Eli performed in his school's Talent Show. He played Etude on his violin and I got to accompany him. There were a ton of people in the audience, and I was kind of nervous myself. He was so brave though-- much less nervous that I would have been at his age!

He got a special prize at the end for being one of the best performers in his age group. Way to go, Eli! We had fun getting ice cream afterwards, which is becoming a post-recital tradition.

We got a spring snow on Friday night/Saturday morning, true to Colorado form. We didn't have too much going on so we were able to stay in most of the day. That night we went to our ward's "Potato-wood Derby" activity, which turned out to be well worth the venture out in the snow. Everyone got to make a car out of a potato and race it against the other potato cars. 

Benjy's car lost pretty early on, but he would have won "Most Likely to Impale Something" if such an award had been given.

Eli's car did quite well, and even made it to the final rounds of the competition. Here it is winning by a hair.

And sailing past the competition.

He lost in the end to the car that ended up winning the whole derby. We ate ice cream and had a really fun night. It was a great ending to a busy week. 

A New Business, A New Roof, Funny Things

We have been busy the last couple weeks, but I don't have as many pictures as I usually do. Justin has been working on a website for his new business. He has started an LLC for wills and estate planning called The Law Office of Justin D. Hocking. He was tinkering with the website a couple weeks ago and did a hilarious "About" page using the stock photo provided. We were rolling so I had to take a picture:

He has come up with an amazing logo for his website:

And this past week we watched "Into the Woods" while he made some awesome business cards.

I've been working on some foundation piecing projects. Since I finished all the "Fixer Upper" episodes, I've had more time to spend at my sewing machine in the evenings. This fruit one is actually finished but I'll take a picture of it later.

We have been working with a roofing company and our homeowners insurance company the last few weeks to get our roof replaced. The roofers were canvassing the neighborhood one day and I let them take a look at our roof, and after finding some damage we filed a claim and, to make a rather long story short, we will be getting a new roof compliments of our insurance company. We picked out the roof color over the weekend and are also opting to get new gutters in a different color, and I am very excited about how our house is going to look. This is the year we are going to make some improvements to the exterior. I have long wanted to paint the shutters, and I'm about halfway done with that project now. I'm also working on some window boxes, and Justin is going to lay down new sod and get our grass in great condition again. By the end of the summer our house is going to have a completely new look!

Emmie is so full of personality and gab that it's hard to believe she's only two. People ask all the time how old she is because she talks so well. She is so stubborn though, which can be particularly frustrating at bedtime. She wants everything just so- we have to brush teeth, then floss, then mouthwash; she has to have a story; she has to give everyone in the family a hug; and she has to have a song (or two, or three...) before I tuck her in with her special flower blankie. If there is even the slightest deviation from the bedtime routine (forgetting to do mouthwash or not giving someone a hug), she throws a full temper tantrum until we go back and do that little thing. I have tried just putting my foot down and saying no, but she works herself into such a hysterical state that it's worth it in the end just to do whatever thing was missing. 

A couple weeks ago at dinner, she wanted something (I don't remember what), and Justin said no to her. She looked him straight in the eye, slowly moved her hand over to her plate, and pushed it off her tray, maintaining eye contact all the while. Justin and I both looked at each other and started to silently shake with laughter, because it was just like that scene in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" where Ruprecht (Steve Martin) starts knocking dishes off the mantel in silent protest to being told no by Michael Caine's character. It was SO. FUNNY. Luckily there wasn't anything on the plate she pushed off so I didn't have to clean up a mess, but it still would have been worth it for that moment.

Benjy has become our little trickster. In the last month or two, I have noticed this new personality trait of his really coming out. One afternoon, I was giving the kids a bath and I took the toy bin out of the tub while the tub filled with water. A few minutes later, I turned to grab the toys and they were nowhere to be found. I was sure I had just seen them, so I asked Eli if he had put them somewhere. He said no, but he had a little smirk on his face so I felt sure he had hidden them. I asked him over and over and he kept denying that he knew where they were. I let it go for awhile, but when Justin got home we pulled him aside to have a talk with him about telling the truth. He said again he didn't know where they were, and I remember saying, "But they were just here!" At that moment I turned to Benjy, who hadn't breathed a word about the toys that whole time, and asked him if he knew where they were. He broke out in a grin and said, "Yeah, I hid them." I was so shocked that sweet little Benjy would do anything devious! 

His tricks are not meant to be mean, but another time he hid Emmie's blankie under our bed and he never said anything as we searched everywhere for it before bed one night. Eli found it the next day, and when I asked Benjy about it, he confessed to hiding it, but he kept silent that whole time we were looking! I'm keeping a closer eye on him now. But mostly he does goofy things to make people laugh, like putting diapers on his head.

This is the bubble wand he begged to have at the store and then promptly emptied once we got home so that he could use it as a light saber.

He is really very, very creative. He often takes ordinary things and makes something cool out of them, like this lunch art one day.

He made a "spider head" out of shapes.

Eli is his goofy self. These kids are obsessed with Star Wars. 

I don't think I ever posted Eli's 1st Grade school picture. This was taken back at the beginning of the year, and somehow we managed to forget that it was picture day. He showed up with crazy hair and whatever he dressed himself in that day, but he still gave a great smile. I actually planned to have his picture retaken, and I wrote the date on my planner to not forget (it was on a Wednesday), and I remember thinking that Wednesday night at Chorale practice, "Picture day is tomorrow." Yeah. So I ended up buying the original picture, which is adorable in all its natural, this-is-how-I-look-every-day glory.

Last week we watched General Conference. I made conference cinnamon rolls on Sunday which were a yummy treat. 

Emmie always pulls out this loud popcorn-popper push toy when we sit down to watch Conference. I don't know if it's habit or protest, but I will always remember trying to watch conference with this very difficult-to-ignore background noise.

Funny things the kids have said recently:

Benjy: (smelling me after a shower) "Next time you should put a good smell on you, like air conditioning."

Benjy: "If you ever see Obi-Wan Kenobi in Disneyland, could you ask for me if I could have a little turn with his light saber?"

Eli: "Is that a brown repulsive?" (brown recluse)

Benjy: (coming downstairs after being alone upstairs for a good while) "I didn't really know where you were, but I didn't worry about it."

Benjy and Eli both think "raw" means "rotten." Benjy asks one day, "Does this cookie dough have rotten eggs?"

Benjy thinks that sharp knives are called "shark knives."

Emmie: (in a little whisper, while eating her snack) "Pita chips are my treasure hunt. Pita chips are my best, best meow-meows."

Easter Weekend

We had a fun Easter weekend. Saturday we went to Donna's for the annual Easter get-together. On the drive down, the boys rested their heads on each other for part of the way, which was cute (but looked very uncomfortable).

Grandpa Herb, Grandma Ginny, Dorothy, and Jack

Brad and Mema

Later that afternoon, we colored eggs at my grandparents' house. There were lots of splashes and a few cups tipped over, so by the time we were all through, the white towel on our workspace was a very pretty tie-dye.

Easter morning the kids got up and looked in their Easter baskets. They each got a furry friend that they posed for this picture with.

While the kids were in the living room, Eli noticed a colored egg out in the front yard. We all put on our coats and boots and headed out to look for the eggs that the crazy bunny had hidden.

Happy Easter!

After church, we had dinner at my grandparents' house. Robin and Clay had arrived the day before from California.

The kids got to do another egg hunt after dinner, again in the cold snow.

The kids certainly had fun with all the Easter festivities, but Justin and I were purposeful about teaching them about the real meaning of Easter in the weeks before the actual holiday. The week before Easter, we read something each day about what happened in Jesus' life on that day of the week. We had many opportunities to talk about why Jesus suffered in Gethsemane and died on the cross, and what the Resurrection means for everyone. I am so grateful for this holiday and for the opportunity to remember and celebrate the gift of the Savior's Atonement and Resurrection. Happy Resurrection Day!