Service made easy

Martin Luther King Jr Day.  No School.  What to do? 

BYU hosts a community service day every year.  Perfect fun we can feel good about.  After hearing from the first black, female mayor in Utah and one of the BYU football players, 800+ people split to work on all different kinds of projects.  You can read more about it in this article (where we are even mentoned!).  Some people headed out into the community, but there were plenty of projects set up on campus to keep us busy.

We started off making cards for our soldiers serving abroad.  I didn't get any pictures, but Cody made a great American flag and Corbin made "Happy New Year" and "Happy Valentine's Day" cards.  Colton had fun tracing his hand for his "Thank you" cards.  It was a perfect project for any age!  (And as a side note, while we were sitting at this table, I met a family who is moving to Uganda in a few weeks.  I was so excited for them!)

Next, Grandma & Corbin worked on making dress up clothes for the Head Start Preschool. 

They ended up with a very cute tutu, which Corbin was kind enough to model for me.

While they worked on that, the little boys and I headed to a different room to make hand puppets to be sent around the world.  We made a penguin, a tiger, and a piggy.  Cody did a great job! 

Colton did help every now and then, but mostly kept busy with the all-you-can-eat donuts.  :)

We ended in another room where they were working on several other projects for different community groups.  It was a very successful day and we are so glad Grandma Jill was here to go with us! And I got some great ideas for our next summer of service!  We are so grateful for MLK and for this opportunity to serve!

I live in my car

I guess that's normal for moms, but it really is true.  In my car, I have food, bottled water, treats to keep the kids awake, books (for me and the kids), a magazine, books on tape, McDonalds toys and extra jackets.  And lots of other miscellaneous odds and ends.  And here's why . . .

After watching 3 other kids this morning, we left the house at 12:30pm to take Cody to preschool in Provo.  We got home at 1:35 and I put Colton down for a quick nap.  I went to pick up Corbin from school at 2:10 (luckily that only takes 10 min at most).  We did his homework and then left at 2:55 to go pick up Cody.  We got back at 4:10, grabbed the library books from home and headed over there for a quick visit.  We got home at 4:35 and left again at 5pm to take Corbin to theater.  The little boys and I made one other stop and got home at 5:30.  I fed Cody and Colton and we went back to pick up Corbin at 6:20.  We were home at 6:40, Corbin ate, they took showers and were in bed at 8.  Phew.

And unfortunately, this is a typical weekday.  It's no wonder I can't keep up with my house!

I Have A Dream! by Corbin

Corbin brought this home from school.  I'm not sure what the preface to it was, or what they may have talked about (besides MLK, obviously), but I thought it was interesting, so here it is:

I have a dream that there will be no more wars.  And that no atomic bombs will land in our country.  And that a fire will not burn down my house.  I have a dream that one day doctors will hav a cure for everything.  I have a dream that people will stop smoking.  I have a dream that everyone in the world will be free.  I have a dream that the whole world won't flood.

A tool or a toy?

I hope this doesn't sound like bragging, but I love what my husband does, and he is SO good at it!  Obviously I hardly ever get to see him actually doing his job.  When we visit him at the fire station, we just get to see him hanging out, watching movies, eating dinner, blah, blah, blah.  But it sure was a treat for us to have Russ come to Cody's preschool this week.

He talked to them about how to get out of your house in a fire, when to call 911, etc.  My favorite part is when he talks about toys and tools.  He starts off showing a toy truck and a hammer (Colton was his little helper this time), and describes how toys are for kids and tools are for adults.  So then he pulls out a box of matches and asks if it is a tool or a toy and the same with a lighter.  And the kids usually get it.  They were so attentive and it is fun to see them responding to him. 

He also puts on his fire gear one piece at a time explaining what the pieces are for and making sure that all the kids know that he is still Cody's dad and not someone they should be afraid of.  He lets them come up and give him high fives and hugs and tap on his helmet and touch his airpack and most of them really love it.  There were a couple kids that already had a fear of fire drills and fire alarms and fire fighters and hopefully this really helped. 

Cody sure was proud of his daddy!

Mr. Bump

This little magnet thing hangs on our fridge.  And fittingly, Corbin moved it to fit Colton's last couple days. . .

It started with the paper shredder and a trip to the ER.  I will spare you the gory details (and pictures), but just know that it was not pretty and I am very glad that his daddy was home.  Luckily, the ER doc said everything should heal without stitches or surgery in 6-8 weeks, and that was confirmed by the hand surgeon a few days after.  Phew.  Unfortunately, the first few days of changing the bandages was torture -for Colton and Mom.

And then, that night, shortly after we got home from the ER, Colton was trying to climb up onto Corbin's bunkbed and couldn't quite hold on to the rungs on the ladder and somehow faceplanted right onto his face, resulting in blood from the mouth and a big puffy cheek with a bruise.  (It was on the left side, you can kind of see it in this picture, but it was much more prominent in real life.)

And THEN, two days later he was trying to walk down the stairs in his big brothers shoes - and you can guess what happened.  Not sure how far it was, but I think less than half way judging by the relatively short duration of the crying. But that little trip up left him with a small rug burn on the side of his eye.

And so, like a friend said the next day at church, I don't think that will be our last trip to the ER with Mr. Bump (or Cut or Rugburn or . . .).

Playing Paramedic

The following are direct quotations:

Paramedic Cody:  "How many allergies do you have?"
Patient Corbin: (counting on his fingers) 7, no 8

Corbin:  "How many lives do I have?"

Cody: "Let me see."  (writes number on board - 850)

We made it to midnight!

Our New Year's Eve Staycation... 

burgers and fries at Scaddy's and then off to the hotel for a night of fun!

First things first - swimming!

Then back up to the room for games, treats and just hanging out:

And before we knew it, it was time to ring in the new year!

We each shared our New Year's resolution with each other and the boys have not neglected to remind me of mine - "to be a nicer mommy."  :)

Russ had to work at the fire station on New Year's day, so he snuck out in the early hours of the morning and the boys and I slept until 9am!  That's a record for my boys!  We enjoyed the free continental breakfast and watching cartoons on all the numerous channels that we don't have at home.  About noon, we headed over to Jungle Jims and spent the next several hours riding rides, playing video games, eating pizza and climbing around the play area.  It was a blast!

Before we ended our day, of course we had to visit Russ at the station (check out this post).  The kids were out before I even got on the highway to head home.  It was a perfect getaway.

Happy New Year!