What Happens at Our House When the Missionaries Come to Dinner

We had the missionaries over for dinner Friday night. They were very nice, albeit shy, Elders. We ended up feeding them our version of Carl's Jr.'s guacamole burger. They cleaned their plates, but I don't know if that's because the food was good or because they were missionaries. :)

Anyway, the rest of the fun happened after I left. I had a baby shower that night and so I had to skip out when they were still here. When I got home from the shower that night Ben had some great stories for me.

Our friendly little guy, Carter, was chatting with Elder Funbanana. No, of course his name wasn't really Elder Funbanana, but his last name was Polynesian, and I couldn't pronounce it, let alone spell it.

"How old are you," asked Carter of Elder Funbanana.

"I'm 19," Elder Funbanana replied.

"Do you think you'd like to go on a mission when you're 19," Ben questioned Carter.

"Yeah, I think I would," said Carter. They continued to talk while the boys played in and out of the conversation. Later on Carter came back in the kitchen and exclaimed to the Elders, "Well, at least you're not gone for two years!"

"Actually," replied Elder Funbanana, "we are gone for two years."

At this point Carter walked up to Ben, and with tear-filled, milk-chocolate brown eyes and a very sad face he said, "I think I've changed my mind."

Seeing Carter's teary face Ben swallowed a chuckle and said, "Don't worry about it now. You don't need to stress."

"I'm OK," Carter said, wiping his face. "My eyes are just sweating."

After Carter left the room, Elder Funbanana said, "Apparently, I'm not doing a very good job as a missionary if I've only been out for four months and I've already convinced somebody NOT to go on a mission."

I tell you, I don't know what I would do without Carter and Riley and Melanie and their comic relief.

Carter wasn't the only one up to antics last night. Riley had his own little play going on. He was so tired yesterday when they were here. He wasn't doing his usual get-all-hyped-up-when-I'm-tired routine. He was more on the everything-makes-me-cry path. He would start crying about anything and then would look at the missionaries and say, "They keep staring at me!" start crying even harder, and then duck his head under the table. He'd stop for a few seconds, peek up over the table, then proclaim, "They're still starting at me!" start crying again, and duck back under the table.

At least we gave them some good stories for laughs when they report on their missions when they get home, right?

Posted Grades and Patio Cleaning

Well, my grades are posted, which gives a final feeling to the semester. Ahhhh.... it feels nice to really be done with this semester. I am so looking forward to summer break and spending leisure time with my family. We're planning on getting a swim pass for the summer, so it should be fun. Even though it will make it hard to meet my goal of not letting my kids get sunburned!

I sprayed down my patio today. It was so dirty from all the construction they have been doing around us for the past year. They've finally finished landscaping the complexes next to us and so hopefully the dirt will be down to a minimum now. Hopefully. The kids had fun getting their feet wet. Melanie was the smart one and went inside before too long, but the boys stayed out and I ended up soaking them by "making it rain." They thought that was great.

I didn't sit down much today - on the go with shopping and such. It will be nice to sit and get LOST. Hopefully I won't fall asleep while I'm watching!

Last Day of School! Last Day of School!

You know, like on Finding Nemo. Except I'm excited because it's the last day of school, not the first. Come August, I'll be excited because it'll be the first day of school again, and I'm always excited for the first day of school.

Was that me, or was that a mouthful?

I'm lucky enough to only have two finals this semester. One is math and the other one is really not a final. It's just a 25-point quiz for my education class. I love that teacher. His philosophy is that teachers give too much homework - both in grade school and higher education. Bless him.

My goals for the summer? Take a nap every day. I'm not kidding about that. Don't let my kids get sunburned. Does it count that Riley already got sunburned at Grandma Jeanne's today? Oh, well. I can't win them all!

School, nothing, and Riley

A certain friend, (cough, Tearese, cough) teased me because I kept changing my background even though I hadn't written anything new in a while. School has been really crazy, and I feel like I've been tutoring people in math - that in and of itself is scary. I only have one week left of school and then finals, and then SUMMER. That is, if mother nature decides to figure that out.

Anyway, I've been so busy I haven't been able to keep up to date, and I felt like I didn't have anything to say for a while. But of course, Riley will give me something to write about.

A few months ago I noticed one of his eyes doing something weird. It was like it couldn't follow where it was supposed to go. My sister-in-law noticed it too, and I figured it was time for an appointment with the eye doctor.

I took him yesterday, and of course, it's some rare thing. He actually has two weird things going on with his eyes. He has overacting inferior oblique. Basically his inferior oblique muscles that control his eye are too powerful and he can't fight it all the time, so one eye gives way while the other one stays focused. I thought it was just his left eye that went unfocused, but the doctor showed me and it's actually both eyes. It's mainly cosmetic. It won't hinder him developmentally. They will see us again in four months to see if the condition is any worse. They eventually can do a surgery for it, but it's not 100 percent correctable. The doctor said it's really uncommon. He maybe sees two to three kids a year with this.

The other thing the doctor found was that Riley has retinal coloboma. Basically there was something going on while his eyes were forming in utero and that affected his retina. It's like there is a gap in his retina. They took a picture of his eye at the office - it was the coolest thing to see. Anyway, he's sure it's not a tumor on his retina (like retinal blastoma) but he wants to get a second opinion. We go in again in May when a retinal specialist will be in the doctor's office to check it out.

Ben and I both googled these conditions to find out more. There is mostly just medical jargon on the overacting inferior oblique, but the coloboma had some interesting material. Coloboma is connected to a syndrome called CHARGE that is to believed to be caused by a disruption of fetal growth during the first three months of pregnancy and affecting many different organ systems undergoing development at that time. I had some issues with my pregnancy around 16 weeks, and discovered I had a subchorionic hemorrhage. There can also be urogenital abnormalities associated with CHARGE, like undescended testicles. Remember Riley's inguinal hernias? Not as dramatic as undescended testicles, but they both kind of take the same path.

The doctor also asked if Riley has always had such a prominent forehead, like mine. It's a good thing I don't get offended easily! That got me thinking that this is all connected, because it took nearly three years for his fontanel to completely close. There is still a tiny little soft spot on his head now!

I don't know if he has CHARGE, or what the route would be if he did. He's a little smarty pants and everything else with him is developing well. It's just interesting to see all the relations with this stuff.

Riley has always been the one to do things his way. Melanie and Carter were angel babies, and Riley is balancing them out with all his mischief!

It's That Time Again!

It really is that time again! Major changing time. You knew it was going to happen, didn't you? I hoped it wouldn't, but it's really great that it has.

I've decided to major in Elementary Education for a number of reasons, some of which are because I do not want to major in English. Not that I feel the need to justify my decision, most college students change their major several times, or wait a couple of semesters before deciding anyway. But I feel sometimes like I need to convince myself. Here are my reasons, in no particular order.

#1. I found out I do not want to major in English. That is probably what spurred my desire to find a new major. The biggest reason I don't want to major in English is because I can't spend four more years debating with professors about papers. What I mean is when I turn in a paper with my ideas on it, and I get back a grade I don't think reflects what my work earned, and some of that grade is because the teacher didn't think I "dug deep enough" it drives me crazy. Well, I didn't dig deep - because that 's how I read things. I'm not a "find the hidden message" sort of girl. I can read books over and over again and enjoy them just as much as the first time. This reason is the only one not associated with education that made my decision to switch majors.

#2. I have really enjoyed my education general ed class. I know it's super easy, and there is not much required of me, but it got me thinking about education, what kind of teacher I can be, what I can do in the classroom, etc. Had I not taken that class for a general ed requirement, I don't think I would have leaned toward education.

#3. It is such a good fallback for my family. And it's something I would enjoy doing - at least I think I would. I'll never know until I'm actually in the classroom, but I think I'll have a better experience with my education if I have the idea that I will do well as a teacher.

#4. I actually know a lot of people who are majoring in education, and while it's nice to have friends to take classes with, that's not why I will do it. Since I know these people it helps me to see all the types of personalities that work well with education.

#5. Elementary Education really fits my personality and learning style. One thing that always stressed me out when choosing a major was me thinking, "How can I be good enough to do well in the upper division courses for this area?" I'm a very well-rounded learner. I like a collection of subjects, and Elementary Education allows me to gain knowledge and then teach in each subject. This is actually one of the reasons I'm most excited to take education classes.

#6. The Department Chair and the Academic Advisor are really helpful. Most of the advisors I've spoken with already were the same way. When I was admitted as a music major, the PVA Advisor was great. I actually already know the Education Chair - he was my 7th grade core teacher, and I really liked him back then, too. The advisor is really helpful and knows her stuff. She'll also register you early as soon as you know what classes you want, and even if you don't she'll help you figure out a schedule and then register you. It's very nice.

Anyway, after this post I'm now convinced! Just kidding, I was convinced before I wrote this post!

Science Fair Results

A few of you who read my previous post asked about which stain remover Melanie discovered worked best. Well, here's the skinny. And just so you know - the stain remover didn't really matter much in the end.

Melanie had four squares of white fabric - an old T-shirt she had cut up to use for her project. She then "spilled" approximately 1/4 tsp of ketchup on each, scraped as much off as she normally would if she had spilled on herself, which she does all the time, and then applied different stain removers. I use Shout remover and that is the store-bought remover she used against her homemade removers. She also used a combination of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, a combination of lemon juice and salt, and diluted bleach. She let each treatment sit on the stain for about 15 minutes. The bleach did the best, but of course it was white fabric. The Shout did really well, too - she could barely see the stain.

Anyway, we laundered all the pieces of fabric like I normally would after applying a stain remover - I through them all in the wash with some HE Tide with Bleach. After the wash cycle, all the squares were equally clean. So the Tide is actually what turned out to be the best stain remover. I would have to spill ketchup on four squares of white fabric again, and then launder them without the stain removers to see if the Tide works fine by itself, which I think it does.

On a side note that doesn't pertain to Mel's project, but to laundry...The other day Riley decided to eat a chocolate pudding. I use the word "eat" loosely, as it was more like he was slurping the pudding. You know the part on A Christmas Story where the mom tells the little boy to show her how the piggies eat? Yeah, it was kind of like that - only with chocolate pudding, and I was NOT prompting him to eat that way. Anyway, he got pudding all over the shoulder of his orange polo shirt. I sprayed some Shout on that the next day before throwing it in the laundry, and it came out nicely. No sign of pudding anywhere.

Best wishes to you and your laundry.

Melanie's Science Fair & Spring Break

Last week was the Science Fair for the fifth graders at Fiddlers Elementary. Melanie did her experiment on which stain removers work best - maybe because she tends to spill on herself. She did all of the work herself. I took pictures, and occasionally gave her some direction. She won third place in her class and qualified to compete in the District Science Fair, where she says she will have to sit ALL DAY by her project while people walk by and look at it. Ben told her to take a book.

It was fun for her to do so well. It was not her goal to get a ribbon, she was just having fun with the experiment. She came home the day she won and told me, but we didn't tell Ben because she wanted to wait and surprise him at the open house that night. It was so cute to watch her face as she watched her dad notice the ribbon. Good job, Melanie!

With the Science Fair and everything else that went on last week, the timing for Spring Break could not be better. I really have no plans, and that is perfect for me. Usually I am on-the-go all the time, which I enjoy, but once in a while I like to sit. And that is what I'm doing this week. Do you have any idea how nice it was to get the laundry washed, folded, and put away all in one day? I haven't accomplished that since school started last Fall!

It's nice for the boys to have a little extra Mom time. Carter and I are playing Zelda 'til our hearts' content. I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want to. I don't, but I can.

Once school resumes I'll only have five weeks of school left, plus finals. Crazy! I am so looking forward to summer, swimming, and warm weather! I know I'm jumping the gun, what with living in Cedar City, and as a guy in my English class said, "If you don't like the weather just wait 20 minutes," but it will be nice to be done with the cold for a while. Now watch, because I said that it will snow this week. If it does, I apologize.