Long Weekend!

I have a love-hate relationship with school. When the kids are in school, I feel like we don't have enough time together, and I resent the stress of homework, projects, and early mornings. I really do enjoy my days with just Annie, though. I get so much done! On days off, I love the time together (well, most of the time), but I also can't wait for everyone to go back to school so I can get the house clean again. I guess school keeps me balanced.

This weekend was a fun one. Saturday we all went to the Legacy Center in Lehi (the community rec center). They have a great indoor pool, and we all had a blast. No pictures, since I was in the water, so you'll have to use your imagination (don't try too hard, though... you really don't need to imagine me in a swimsuit). There is a regular lap pool there, but also a leisure pool with a big treehouse type thing with water toys (water guns, a huge bucket to dump water on everyone, slides, etc.), a lazy river, a little kids play area, and a huge waterslide that is almost completely outside the building. The water was bathwater warm, and felt wonderful on a freezing-cold-inversion day. Emma absolutely loves the water... when I saw her jumping, bouncing, splashing, and swimming, I wondered how we could have kept her away for so long. She is already asking me if we can go swimming on the first day the PG pool opens this summer!

Sunday was nice, too. We didn't do anything different than usual, except that this was our third week of no-technology Sunday. In the past, we have been pretty lax about Sunday activities. We didn't really have definite guidelines in place for what was okay and what was not okay, so we all ended up getting away with a lot. A few weeks ago, we decided that we all needed a weekly break from all things technological... computers, video games, t.v., etc. It has been wonderful. The kids are getting work done on their Faith in God/Young Women Recognition awards, we are playing lots of games together, and there is a much better spirit in our home. We do have one exception to the rules: if we all do a good job of being non-tech during the day, then we can all watch Nature on PBS in the evening. This is a long-standing tradition at our house (except for last year in the Azores, of course), and provides a way for everyone to wind down and be together peacefully. The biggest part of the success of our Sundays so far is MY commitment not to be on the computer. I was spending a good part of my day on the computer, and since I'm not now, I am more willing and available to do things with the kids. It's good for me, too.

Today, Tim needed to catch up on his school work- all of his teachers are requiring a ton of reading this semester. I took the kids to BYU for the day. We visited the Art Museum, where there is an exhibit by Dan Steinhilber that is really fun. All of his stuff is made out of "junk": trash bags, balloons, PVC pipe, hangers, flourescent bulbs, packing peanuts... the kids loved it.

That is a big pile of packing peanuts, with industrial fans pointed at it. Every few minutes, the fans come on and blow the peanuts all over the place. Totally cool. The weird black thing to the right is a packing peanut/plastic bag sculpture- he sucked the air out with a vacuum.

When we were done with that we had to make the obligatory stop at the Bean Museum. We lucked out and arrived just as they were starting a reptile show. At one point, the girl doing the show asked, "Does anyone know what the only two venomous lizards are?" Price raised his hand, and was called on. "Gila Monster," he replied correctly. "That's right," she said, "and what is the other one?" Josh raised his hand. "Mexican Beaded Lizard." He was right. Where do my children learn these things?

When we had had our fill of the museum, I took the kids grocery shopping. That's always a risky proposition. They did pretty good, though- I paired little kids with big kids and sent them off on errands to find things on my list. Shopping is definitely faster that way! The only downside to the shopping this time was Emma... she refused to go with Price, tripped over the shopping cart several times (because I wouldn't let her ride IN the cart), and was devastated when I didn't get her donuts... or cupcakes... or candy bars... or ice cream.... I hope she grows out of this phase soon.

Ethan taught the FHE lesson- all about what will happen when he gets be baptized in June, and what he is doing to prepare for it. I think, in general, that our Family Home Evenings are getting better, not worse, but there is still a whole lot of yelling, shushing, and sitting on kids so they can't run around (headlocks are not out of the question). Pretty soon they'll all be teenagers, so they'll just sit through it half asleep anyway, right? Maybe it will at least be quiet.

Tomorrow we have school again. I'm ready. Definitely.