Happiness!

Three small experiences that have brought happiness into my life this week:

1) My Church Calling!

Last Sunday in Junior Primary the Primary chorister began to put up pictures on the chalk board to help teach the children the words to "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". While she was setting up, the Primary pianist started playing the prelude. As she did so the children one by one just started singing the words until they were all full blown singing "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus." I was amazed and impressed how well all these little ones already knew the song. Listening to their sweet voices and their simple words... spoke straight to my heart. As I stood in the back I was unable to do anything but well up with tears of gratitude. I knew at that moment I was exactly where I wanted to be. Exactly where I needed to be. I am grateful for each one of those marvelous children, for their fun personalities, their sweet spirits, their abundance of love and knowledge of the Gospel. I feel privileged and honored to get to spend this precious time with them each Sunday! I love my new calling! It makes me so happy! :)

2.) Random little flowers!

I noticed a few days back that somehow this little flower randomly popped up on the side of our house, among rocks, and in the ugliest place it possibly could have (next to the obnoxious blue, dirty garbage can). We had Marigolds just like this in our flower beds at the front of our house last spring. But they were annuals. They should have all died with the frost/freeze this last winter brought. And on top of that.... how did it walk 30 feet, turn the corner and seed here and thrive of all places? Every time I go to empty the trash I see my little orange friend and it reminds me there is beauty in everything. It just makes me happy! :)

3) My Husband!

The man of the house has been away the last six nights. I think I texted him almost every night around 3 am with some problem: Kids having bad dreams, I'm spooked, I'm getting no sleep, I fell and rehurt my injured knee, etc.

I've had a busy and tiresome full schedule between the three boys on my own. After running over to Eli's preschool one morning for a parent teacher conference I came home and found a box on the doorstep. In it held a dozen beautiful spring colored roses: red, orange, yellow and pink with a note that said,

"Just wanted to let you know that I love, I'm thinking of you, and I appreciate all you do as a mother and wife!"

After several nights of less than 4 hours of sleep... and days filled with a constant go, go, go... I was tired, used and abused! :) This act of kindness was just the pick me up that I needed to make me feel loved and appreciated. Sure, Seth gives me flowers on Valentine's Day and our Anniversaries... but I don't think he has given me flowers "just because", ever, in the last ten years. It tugged on my heart strings. Seth's simple and thoughtful act made me a very happy lady!! :)

Yay for little children, the power of the Spirit, God's beauty all around, and loving husbands!!!

Missing In Action

I've been neglecting the blog the last couple months. There are a few reasons for this:

1) The baseball season is upon us. You're looking at the new 8U Humble Indians First Baseman! Seth is the 3rd base coach again this year and I am the Team Mom. This includes, but is not limited to: one practice and two games a week. So far our Indians are 2-0!

2)Eli started T-ball! He is making his Poppy proud by playing for the Oakland A's! Eli is a on a 3 and 4 year old team provided through the local YMCA. He loves having his own separate thing from Connor! He has one practice and one game a week.

(Although this pic hides Eli's face a bit, I like it because of the big smile... and because it shows what an awesome coach this man is. He is all about getting on the kids level, having fun and teaching life lessons in the game of baseball!)

3) I recently received a new calling at church! I am the secretary for the Primary presidency. I absolutely LOVE it! I work with great people and think the kids are hilarious! It certainly keeps me busy.

4) Dallin is a very active, well practiced, tantrum throwing, busy-bodied little 2 year old! He's counting and learning colors (and frankly I am a little afraid he is going to soon surpass Eli in that department who seems to be lagging a bit).

5) Did I say Connor started baseball season???

So although I have not been blogging there has been a lot going on in the Washburn home! Some big, and some not so big.

Like the fact that Dallin falls out of his bed a lot...

You'd think we could buy the poor kid a bed rail... but he doesn't really seem to mind too much. :)

Eli had a Rodeo Parade at school that included line dancing with the occasional "Praise Jesus" thrown in there. In my mind a good representation of what Texas loves most: Cowboys and Jesus... and probably in that order.

Connor had his first Pinewood Derby Race. He picked out his design and built most of it himself(with occasional help from Seth). Come race day, Seth was out of town. So I got to go and do weigh-ins, and grease his wheels in between races with graphite powder, and give him the lecture that "win or lose... we need to be a good sport", and most importantly to NOT cry... I specifically remember saying that! Guess what, I was also there to hug him and hide his face when he cried on the FIRST race.

Connor and the "Holy Rider"

Good thing it was just the first race of many. I think there were 16 kids in his wolf den. (4 races with 4 cars in each one.) Connor took last the first race (thus the crying), and then took first in the next three races. He made it to the final four round! We were so excited! They raced one final time and it was very close, but he got last. There were only trophies for the first three kids that placed. It was so sad to see him be the only one to walk away without a trophy. But surprisingly, the kid took it like a champ. I was proud.

Final four race. I love this pic. Connor's face is priceless, as well as many of the leaders!

And these two were two of the cutest little cheer leaders around! They were pleased as punch to get their own little "twinkie derbys'!

No Sleep

You know you're messed up when...

you can't sleep a wink because there is a storm outside. You are POSITIVE that among the howling winds, every crack of thunder is actually a crack of a falling tree... that is about to land smack dab on your house... and come crashing through your roof... on top of you and your husband... of even worse on top of your babies.

Thanks to Hurricane Ike over 2 years ago when we heard those high speed winds and cracking trees... three trees DID fall on our house. Now this is just how I get when it storms.

(One of the uprooted trees that fell on our house.)

(Luckily for us it was just the very tips of the trees that fell on our house and only the branches that actually punctured our roof.)

(Our neighbors were not quite so lucky. A tree came through their house and crushed EVERYTHING in their master bedroom. Thankfully, they slept with the baby in the nursery that night.)

But now do you understand my pain? I thought seriously about camping out in the hallway half way through the night. But I ultimately decided that if my family was going to die from falling trees... I didn't want to be the lone survivor. Instead, I kept waking up Seth to reassure me trees weren't going to, in fact, fall on us. His annoyance with me was more apparent than his willingness to provide me with comfort. Great, now we are going to die mad at each other! So I laid there all night in the dark with the blinds open... staring down the trees and getting ready to grab Seth with my superhuman strength and run upstairs and grab the kids with my lightening speed, all in a moments notice... if I saw a falling tree.

Yeah, that is about how my thought process worked.

So when I woke up dead tired this morning... Seth laughed at me.

I'm so not grabbing him next time.

Rodeo Carnival

Friends from Louisiana came out for a fun filled Rodeo Carnival visit!

Nothing like bumper cars for some good ol' fashioned family fun!

The kids rode carnival rides until the were blue in the face!

Seth's Science Fair Project

When I think of Science Fairs I think of 4th grade kids creating tomato sauce volcanoes and studying the dietary habits of ants.

The way I see it, Seth has basically been asked to create a big boy poster for an upscale Exxon Science Fair. He makes the said poster, people stop and ask questions about his research, and then he privileges them with his abundance of knowledge. Only his won't be as cool because there will be no exploding lava at the end.

He has been putting in countless hours into this 'poster'... which thus far still remains on a lap top screen. I've seen no actual proof of poster paper.

Personally I don't get how creating a poster can be so time consuming.

Hell, give me some scissors, a Sharpee, and a piece or two of card stock and I could knock that puppy out in 60 minutes flat. (And that's with adding some glitter glue for flare!)

Seth doesn't seem to want my help.

So tonight while Seth was home from work (but really still working on his poster)... I was putting the boys to bed.

Apparently I'm not the only one confused by all this poster nonsense. As Eli was saying his personal prayer before bed he slipped in, "Please bless Daddy will make a yummy toaster".

Connor's 1st Love Letter

Today Connor came home from school with a letter...

handed to him from a girl...

supposedly written by another girl.

Although I would not categorize Connor as "girl crazy" by any means (that would be our Eli) I can tell he is flattered and a little excited about the idea of a secret admirer. Who wouldn't be?

And can you blame the girls for falling for this handsome devil?

These shoes are made for walkin!

I don't know about you...

but trying to get out the door with my kids

is like trying to run with an elephant on my back.

Impossible.

I always forget something

and have to make at least two trips

from the driveway

back to inside the house

and then again

sometimes half way down the road.

And still, I often forget one of the kids' most basic needs:

a sippy cup, soccer ball, shoes, piano books, baseball glove, snack, pants (yes that's happened!), coat, backpack, extra diapers, sack lunch.

But even more often I forget my needs:

wallet, cell phone, purse, sunglasses, Blockbuster DVD, receipt, i-pod, water bottle.

Not to mention we are rarely on time for anything.

It is what it is.

It's our life.

I'm not making excuses

and I don't see a sudden change in the near future.

So when I buckled Eli in his seat today and saw these shoes on his feet:

I was just grateful he had on two...

and that it did not mean a third trip back inside the house.

So yes, my son and I

walked all around Ace Hardware, the Dollar Store, Kohls and the public library...

with two different shoes

and two right feet.

And I actually LIKED that I was okay with it.

Maybe we will do it again tomorrow?