Long time no blog

And here you thought I had dropped off the face of the earth! (If only.) Here's what we've been up to in the past 2 1/2 weeks, complete with pictures!

1. Both girls came down with Strep Throat right before Spring Break started. We had to cancel the first of our Spring Break plans (seeing old friends in Jacksonville and going to the zoo there). Giving our luck with illnesses so far this year, I'm just glad it wasn't worse than strep!

2. We had a visit from our friend Adriana, who lives in Phoenix and is awesome!




We drove down to the Jacksonville Airport to pick her up. Of course, we had to make a detour out to the beach so she could say she's been to the Atlantic Ocean.

3. James and I took a trip up to Atlanta to visit some other friends and drop Adriana off.


We had a meet-up with about ten other people at this great little restaurant in the Virginia Highlands. I can't remember the last time James and I ate out with other adults and NO KIDS! It was very nice.

4. Easter Sunday was great. I was lucky enough to teach Sharing Time in Primary that day, and I did the Easter in the Eggs. It wasn't this exact version, but I think this is my favorite way to teach the Easter story to small children.

After church was over, we hot-footed it over to Tifton for lunch and the Annual Adult Easter Egg Hunt. (Oh yeah, the kids had an egg hunt, too, but their's didn't involve COLD HARD CASH!! ;D)

All of the "adults" lined up, ready to go


Jed and his favorite sister


The kids getting ready for their hunt


Mom, doling out the cash




Gretchen, giving me a death glare. I had gotten up to go do something, and when I came back she was sitting in my spot on the swing, eating candy. Jokingly I told her she needed to move. She got up, took about five steps and then turned around and shot me this look. Mom and I were dying.


5. This week it was back to school and work, only James came down with a heinous stomach virus that started late Sunday night and kept him home from work all day Monday. We thought maybe he got Food Poisoning from David's Easter Ham, but since no one else got sick we ruled that out. ;) Thankfully James mananged not to spread it around to the rest of us!

6. I spent most of the week getting ready for a Primary Activity at church that we had today. I have to give major props to Katheryn as we stole most of our ideas from an activity her ward had back in February! Thanks Katheryn!! LOL!

It was the first activity our Primary Presidency has done, and I think it turned out really well. I saw lots of smiles and heard lots of laughter, so what more can you ask for?? It was a family activity, and I took pictures of all of the families. Like most Saturdays, James was at work, so he missed out on all the fun. :(


7. This upcoming week is going to be a doozy! The girls have CRCT testing (URGH!) and I am getting ready for Preschool Graduation (fun, but *LOTS* of work!). James continues to plug away at his new job, which is challenging but rewarding. *Fingers crossed*, the stress levels around here will be headed in the downward direction VERY SOON. Summer vacation is only a little over a month away!

You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!!

Just let me tell you how much I hate people right now.

Seriously.

Hate.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.

And you thought this blog was going to be rainbows and unicorns all the time.

And with that, I am about to take myself off to the church where I will have a visit with my visiting teachers and then proceed to Enrichment.

My ward is SO LUCKY to have me.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I regret to inform you, the viewing public, that the quality and quantity of info coming out of the Tree Fort is about to go seriously downhill.

Last Sunday our Primary Presidency was reorganized, and yours truly is now the Primary Secretary. *shakes head* What were they thinking? Unlike Melissa and Emily (new first and second counselors, respectively) the new President doesn't keep up with my blog and is therefore unaware of blog posts like this and this. And, oh yeah, who could forget this? Surely had she seen any of that she would have realized I have a subversive side and therefore am unsuitable to do anything more spiritual than teach the Sunbeams! And here I was, SO SURE, that the 'Vote Obama' bumper sticker that was on the back of my van would be my ticket to no more big(ish) church callings!

*sigh*

But never fear! I do have a few posts in mind (complete with pictures!), including one where I become Ranty McRanty-Pants and rail against the commercialization of Valentine's Day. YAY!

In other news, James just finished his first week in his new job, and he's already laying plans to take over the joint in 3-5 years. Awww...I love a man with ambitions!

Fondue, Part Two

Three days into 2009...What's the verdict so far? It's okay, I guess!

Our New Year's Eve celebration was low-key; fondue, followed by Phase 10. James and I used the Christmas break to teach the girls how to play our most favorite card game. We had planned to set off some (small) fireworks, bu we nixed that plan after the wind caught some major sparks from my sparkler and set fire to the grass! James, who had gone to work that morning at 6AM, was asleep by 10:30, so that left me, Jed and the girls to polish off a bottle of sparkling grape juice.





Jed pretty much ate his body weight in shrimp.



I bought an authentic, pre-packaged Swiss cheese fondue from Publix this year. I'd always wanted to try it, just to see how it matched up to the homemade fondue we've done in the past that was tasty, but had some texture issues.

It was...not good. At all. Lesson learned. So I was glad we also had sweet-and-sour meatballs along with The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Shrimp to eat. Not to mention strawberries, apples and peanut butter crackers for dipping in the chocolate!




On Thursday we headed back over to Tifton for Ally and Ryan's reception. (And to watch Georgia beat Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl. Go Dawgs! :P) The reception was lovely and the food was tasty, and it's always nice to visit with our families (both blood and church) over there. Auntie Helen asked if the girls could stay with her for a few days, so James and I came home that night sans kids. James ended up being put in charge of his shop for the week, so he was back at work all week. I've cleaned and rearranged and finished my lesson plans through February. The girls are coming home this afternoon, and I'm glad because I always miss their faces when they're gone!

Tomorrow we all get new classes in Primary, which will be exciting. Madeline is moving up into the Valiant 11-12 class, which is the oldest class in Primary, and it makes me feel old. Isabella is also moving up into Senior Primary, which makes me feel older! I'll have three new Sunbeams, which will be a lot of fun. I'm sure it will be a very different class then the past year when I had eight. I will miss being around those sweet children, but I'm sure I'll love the newbies just as much.

An interesting experience

Yesterday afternoon, James got a phone call asking if he would mind helping give a blessing of healing to a less active member of the ward. We didn't recognize the name, even though this sister lives right up the road from us. He said yes, and waited for the other brother to come by the house to pick him up. It turns out the sister is one-half of a less active couple: A lesbian couple.

Both ladies are members of the church, or at least were at some point in their lives. They obviously still have some sort of testimony of the gospel or else they probably wouldn't have called their home teacher and asked for a blessing. Heck, the fact that they 1) have ahome teacher and 2) feel comfortable calling him is something in and of itself.

There's been a lot of hatred and bitterness from both sides of the Prop 8 fence. I think those of us of the LDS persuasion here in the south have been a bit isolated from it all, especially those of us who live here in south Georgia. I mean, honestly, how many of you reading this post right now have regular contact with someone who is gay, let alone LDS? We haven't seen the sadness and grief and division this issue has caused between family members.

Along those same lines, I wonder how these women would be treated if they were to walk into our Sunday meetings one Sabbath day. Would we welcome them with open arms and with love in our hearts? I'm sure some would, but I'm sad to say that most probably would not. I've heard too many snide and cruel remarks by members over these past fews months to have that hope.

Perhaps I'm underestimating my brothers and sisters in Christ. Perhaps I'm overestimating my own ability to be Christ-like and kind and welcoming. All I know that is today, I have been humbled and reminded of Heavenly Father's love and mercy for ALL of his children. His blessings are not mine exclusively. His blessings are not just for those who think and feel the way I do. These women must know that there are some members who would hate and revile them, yet they still feel the light of Christ in their lives. It's something to think about.

One thing down, one hundred things to go...

Today was our Primary Program. It's probably my most favorite Sunday out of the entire year. To top it all off, we got done FIFTEEN MINUTES early! YES!

Both Madeline and Isabella gave talks, and I was so proud of them. They had worked very hard on the talks, and they were well-prepared (moreso than some adult speakers I've heard! :P). They are both growing up to be so confident and well-spoken.

Out of my seven Sunbeams, only two participated. Two twin brothers were sick, two little girls were no-shows, and one little boy did a great job all through the practices, but got stage fright when he saw all the congregation filing in and made a beeline for his mother before the program even started! But the two who participated did a great job, and I'm proud to be their teacher.

PS- It's not too late to respond to my last post! I won't respond to it till later in the week, so join in the fun!

In what seems to be becoming a habit...

...I find myself posting once again in the evening.

James and the girls are at church tonight, and I am ALL ALONE.

*does a happy dance*
*thinks about walking around the house naked for the next hour and a half, just because I can*
*decides against it*

(BTW- In my high school yearbook the seniors could submit a quote to go under their picture. I wanted to submit "You need time to be naked with yourself" but the yearbook advisor vetoed it. I ended up going with a Simon & Garfunkel quote that no one got.)

Anyway, James got a new calling. He's now the 2nd Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency. He'll specifically be in charge of the Deacons. Heh heh. I wish him the best of luck! (11-13 year old boys being my least favorite age group ever. What? I know some of you would rather gnaw off your own leg rather than work with preschool children, whom I happen to love. We all have our favorites!)

So the upshot is that *he* gets to be at the church every Wednesday night now! The girls have an activity every other week, and if you think I'm not looking forward to those twice monthly alone times then let me disabuse you of that notion right now.

I'm really, really looking forward to it.

In other news, Violet is going to the vet tomorrow to be (get?) spayed and recieve her shots. Finally. The stupid cat is going around meowing like a lovesick teenager, which I suppose she is, in a way. We're hoping she will mellow a bit, and that she will quit attacking the other two cats every time they walk by her.

Now, I'm off to fold four loads of laundry and make my lunch for tomorrow.

Good times.

As If There Was Any Question

I've had a pretty good week, ego wise.

First, there was the great response to my post on the trashy romance novels I got from the library, both here and at my LJ. (I have several reviews that will go up in the next few days. You're giddy with anticpation, aren't you?)

Then on Monday, a sister from church stopped by to drop off something and told me my hydrangea bush was the most beautiful she had ever seen. I have to admit, it's pretty gorgeous. I was afraid we had cut it back too far last fall, but it practically doubled in size over the winter.



Yesterday was Missionary Zone Conference, and I'm the meal coordinator. (Which means I provide lunch for 45 missionaries, plus the Mission President and his wife once every six weeks.) This week the menu was BBQ sandwiches, potato salad, my world famous (okay, family famous) baked beans and The Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings with vanilla ice cream (which are TO DIE FOR). By the way the crowd responded, you'd have thought I served . Everything was a hit, especially the Apple Dumplings. Needless to say, getting told OVER and OVER again how great your food is can boost your ego quite a bit.

Today, as if I wasn't already convinced of how great I am, this package came in the mail today.



It's only Thursday. I am sure more proof of my awesomeness will be forthcoming the rest of the week.