More Soccer

Soccer has pretty much been a bust this whole season. The weather has made it virtually impossible to have games or practices.

Nevertheless, last night they were able to have a game. Claire kind-of scored her first goal (she kicked the ball and it bounced off the other team and went in the goal- it was their first team goal of the season), and the team won their first game. Claire was pretty excited about it.

Mostly Claire just dances around with a huge smile on her face. She seems to be having fun, which is all I really care about.

Claire is wearing the purple hat.

You can see her with her hands up in the below picture. It's really cute- she waves both her arms to say she's open.

And, this is what the fans look like:

Clumsy Dragon and Independent Puffin

Tonight I took Audra and Claire to Spy School at our library. It was awesome! They had seven different stations for the kids to go through- code breaking, an obstacle course (their favorite), forensics, and much more. It was pretty incredible. They did it after the library was closed. About 200 kids went. Considering our community refuses to support our library and never passes bonds to pay for them, it is pretty amazing what they are able to provide.

Agent Clumsy Dragon and Agent Independent Puffin had a wonderful time!

Mandatory Reading Time!

With yet another round of horrible weather, the girls were crazy yesterday- running around yelling and screaming (happy screams, but screams much more suited for outside than in) and would not calm down. Finally I said, "Alright- it's mandatory reading time! Everybody get a book and start reading right now!"

Three minutes later, this is what I found. Peace was restored to the universe!

Finally A Nice Day For A Hike

There was a short break in the winter weather, and it happened to coincide perfectly with a co-op to go on a hike. It was quite pleasant- right up to the end when it started raining. By the time we got home it was snowing. But at least our hike was nice.

Above, Claire is holding a cricket. She brought it into the van and wanted to bring it home as a pet. I think she got that idea from a book we read, "The Cricket In Time Square." I was not amused- the cricket was released.

Little Monkeys

Claire and Camille are really just monkeys. They have turned our handrails into monkey bars. I really don't think our hand rails will survive!

Another Spring Storm

It isn't even news anymore to say, "On Thursday it was 75, and now we have over a foot of snow." That's just how it is in Colorado- the snowstorms that never end.

At least this time it was on a weekend and everything got cancelled- even church! Yay! So we have nowhere to go, which is actually quite nice.

I told the girls yesterday that if church got cancelled I would let them watch another episode of "Gummi Bears." They are super excited.

And I have vowed to not complain about the heat this summer!!! It will be a welcome relief after so many months of being so dang cold!

Here's Ben getting the morning paper:

Our poor tree looked pretty bad. We weren't sure if it was going to make it. But, Ben brought out a broom and knocked the snow off and none of the branches appear damaged. Thank goodness! The problem with these late storms is that trees have already started to blossom, so the snow piles on top of the branches and the weight of the snow often kills trees or causes branches to fall off. That can also cause serious power outages, but so far we haven't heard of anybody losing their power- including us. We are grateful for power and a roof over our heads today!

The girls were also very excited to help shovel. As they get older, they are getting better and better at it.

Teacher Appreciation

Wednesday was the biggest Public Affairs night of the year: Teacher Appreciation. This is our prom- it is a HUGE event. For the first time, I was in charge of making sure that everything went smoothly. Thankfully, I have an absolutely AMAZING committee- truly, I get to serve with the greatest talents in our stake. Also thankfully, the Lord blessed me to not get Ben's horrible awful illness until the day AFTER the event (and I do consider it a tremendous blessing!).

Here are some quick notes about the night:

-The superintendent and president of the school board attended. I don't know if any of you know this about me or not, but I'm not exactly on glowing terms with either of these women. I was a bit nervous, but I seriously prayed that I would not accidentally say any snide comments and that I would be polite, friendly, and professional. I was blessed, and I succeeded. Honest, here's proof:

That's the superintendent next to me- and I'm smiling! I was so well behaved.

-Somehow I ended up conducting the meeting. I don't know how this happened. The Public Affairs Director has never conducted before, but somehow I got elected, and my veto didn't count. I was really, really nervous, but it ended up being OK. Despite a couple of hiccups...

     -I was introducing the principals, and I said "Mountain Valley High School" instead of "Mountain Vista." The audience shouted, "Vista!" so I said, "Oh, sorry- I have elementary kids so I don't know all the high school names," and apparently people really liked that save- I had several people comment that I was quick on my feet and that I gave a perfect response.
     -Our main speaker, Principal Page, once won a car from Ellen (click HERE), so I mentioned that in his introductory bio, turned to him, and said, "Sorry Principal Page, but we don't have a car for you tonight." He stood up and pretended to leave- it was pretty funny.
     -I completely forgot the name of the second counselor in our stake presidency, so when I was introducing everybody on the stand, I went completely blank and he had to tell me. It was embarrassing, but thankfully he was a great sport about it.
     -The stake president said it was really nice to have a woman conduct, since that rarely happens in church meetings. The Mormon Feminists would be so proud, but to me, when I hear "Mormon Feminism" I actually hear "More work for me." I'm not a fan.

-Nelson Garcia from 9News came to read the kids' tributes out loud. He is such a nice, witty, and and friendly man! And shorter than I expected. He did this last year, but last year I was behind the scenes, whereas this year I was sitting on the stand next to him and shaking his hand. He is a lovely man.

-Overall, the night could not have gone better!!! We had some minor fires that needed to be put out, but in the, outside of having way too much cake, the night was simply wonderful. The committee really came through- the decorations were fantastic, the dessert buffet was delicious (or so I heard since I can't eat it), the teachers felt loved and appreciated. In fact, one teacher told us that he has never felt such genuine gratitude. He said he has been to several district award nights, and ours felt much more sincere and heartfelt.

It was great. Everything was just great. And I'm glad it's over. Until next year.

Claire has been keeping the Tooth Fairy busy! But she sure looks cute!

28 Days of Clean Eating

Even though apparently my sister and best friend are opposed to clean eating, I decided to do a 28 day clean eating challenge.

I have been wanting to do one for awhile. I hit two years of maintenance last month- which is a huge achievement for me. Losing the weight was tough, but keeping it off has also been tough. I felt like I was in a rut- tired of counting points. tired of the same old recipes, tired of the same old same old. Even though it was working, it was boring and tedious.

I have been looking at the Whole 30 diet for awhile. I find it intriguing. I read Fit2Fat2Fit. I like the idea of eliminating foods and then gradually re-introducing them to see how they make you feel.

A friend who sales Arbonne (gasp- I know, I don't like Arbonne either) posted that she was starting a FB group for a 28 day clean eating challenge. I looked at the program and liked it. I looked at my calendar and realized this is the only month for a long, long, long time that I don't have Birthday parties, vacations, or major holidays. If I didn't do it now, I knew I wouldn't have another chance for probably a year.

So I decided to give it a shot. It's only 28 days- I can do anything for 28 days. I bought the Arbonne protein shakes, detox tea, and other items. And, on Monday I started.

My first main course:

Salmon salad! YUM! I told Ben not to get too excited- not every meal is this gourmet, but this one was delicious.

The "promised" benefits of this diet are quite astonishing. I am pretty certain most of them will prove false, but I am still curious to see if my skin will be as clear as a baby's, or if I have tons more energy, and if I'll feel better than I ever have before.

So far, after four days, things are going well. I did cheat today and have a banana (which you are actually allowed if you aren't wanting to lose lots of weight. Which I'm not- really I just want to do something challenging. Apparently I need challenges). Most people at this point are feeling a lot of cravings, headaches, and withdrawal symptoms. I was already eating pretty healthy (outside of eating a lot of carbs and sugar), so I haven't experienced any of those. After about week two is when I should start feeling "better than I have ever felt before." I'll let you know if that happens. I doubt it, but if my skin does clear up I will be impressed.

I really like the protein shakes, and I love the detox tea. Don't worry, it isn't caffeinated. It's very calming to have that after having a long day of teaching the kids and being the mom- it's my nice break while the kids go outside playing and I just sit and relax. And even though there are a lot of things we can't eat, there are a lot of things that we can eat so it's OK.

Really, of course, in the end it isn't about dieting. For me it's about mixing things up, and trying to incorporate a healthier lifestyle long term. This diet is not intended to last forever- only 28 days. But I hope to learn things about how I react to certain foods that will help me make better food choices in the future. And if not, no big loss- after all, it's only 28 days.

Soccer

Claire has started another season of soccer. So far, it has been quite a disaster. Why? Because spring sports and Colorado simply don't mix. All but one of her games so far have been cancelled due to rain/snow, and another storm bringing a possible 30 inches of snow pretty much guarantees her next game will also be cancelled. It is hard enough to schedule all of our plans around a set schedule, but having to shuffle everything around to re-schedule the cancelled games is simply annoying. As is the continual snow. That is also annoying. Everybody always says how great Colorado winters are because even though it snows, the sun immediately comes out and melts the snow and there are lots of warm days in between storms. And that is true. But, winter just goes on FOREVER. You finally think you have spring, the flowers start to bloom, and another snow storm comes. And another. And another. Winter just never ends...

Anyway- back to soccer.

She does seem to be having a good time. She is on a new team. The coach tries to get her to play as a forward, but she always goes straight back to guard the goal no matter what the coach says. I guess she takes after her mom- maybe she will be a goalie once they allow goalies on the teams.

Here she is chasing after a ball. I need to get some better pictures, but if you look closely she has a smile on her face as she races over. At least she is having a good time!

More CHICKS!!!!

The other day we went to visit a friend's chicks (Jenny- they are yours- they are being well taken care of, very loved, and completely spoiled!). The girls were in heaven as they looked like our baby chicks from last year. When Ben came home we told him that we got some chicks- he wasn't happy until we confirmed that we were just joking.

The girls enjoyed seeing some chicks again. If only Ben would let us get some more...

Those Darn Birds!

Ben found this bird pecking a hole into our house. Any idea what kind of bird it is? And, more importantly, how to get rid of it?