The Bits: March 10th through March 19th

The Bits Before Spring Break!

Last week, Zac spent two days home with the stomach flu.  He tried to go back after day one, but it was too soon, and was stuck back in bed for day three.  Fortunately, he didn't share and it seems that, for now, we are in the clear as far as illness goes...I hope, I hope, I hope!

Spring has sprung in Colorado!  Mixed into the beautiful, warm days like this one...

...We have the crazy-weather days like this one, where it was sunny and snowing at the same time.  Those white specks are not a dirty lens!

Zac took a drama class this quarter, and the culminating project for the class was a small-group presentation of one scene in Shakespeare's Hamlet.  The skits were held during the day, but families were invited to attend if they could, so Adam, Tommy and I went to watch.  Zac's group presented the final scene of the play (Shakespeare really knew how to end a tragedy tragically, didn't he?!), and Zac played Prince Hamlet himself!  I may be biased, but I think Zac would give Kenneth Branagh a run for his money! :)  Bravo, Zac!!

It's hard to believe we've been Coloradoans for six years already!  It's been a sweet six living here in our adopted state, and it is amazing to think of where our family will be in six more: Zac will be a year into his mission; Ben will be finishing up his junior year of high school and Josh will be learning how to drive; Luke will be in the middle of middle school and our sweet Colorado native, Tommy, will be ten!

It took my heart a little while to stop pounding after I discovered this in the dryer after removing the clothes.  YIKES!!!  Some things that are left in pockets are more terrifying than others, like rubber spiders.  Other terrifying things: crayons and chap stick.

YES!  It may seem silly, but I felt so proud that I could still figure out how to solve this 8th grade math problem while helping Zac with his math last week.  Sure...it may have taken me 30 minutes to solve it, but I did it and actually helped Zac understand it!  Woot woot!

Our computer's screensaver cycles through the pictures in our photo files, and sometimes it goes way, way back.  This picture of my darling Josh and adorable Ben must have been taken about 6 years ago, when we first moved here.  When I saw it, I just had to share it.  I mean, look at those sweet mugs!  How could I not share?!  And thus, participated in my first throwback Thursday on Instagram.

Annual exam.  Not fun.  Especially when you have to sit and wait for a really long time wearing only paper.

We aren't super over-the-top in celebrating holidays around here, especially minor and made-up ones, if for no other reason than we just don't have time to go big!  But Pi Day is definitely a celebration I can get behind.  I made a tasty from-scratch chicken pot pie for dinner (because the frozen ones are just gross) and then we feasted on a store-bought chocolate cream pie for dessert!  Now that is a yummy day!  The boys already have plans for next year's MEGA Pi Day.  It will be 3.1415, and they intend to eat a bite of pie at 9:26am, for a grand total of 8 digits of pi.  Geeks rule!

Josh swam the 50 free, the 50 fly and the 200 free in his swim meet on Saturday.  His favorite is 50 back, so he was sad that it wasn't included in this meet, but he had never swam the free or fly at a meet before, so he was excited to give them a try.  That last one was LONG but he did great!  He isn't the fastest kid out there, but he loves it and that's what matters to all of us.  Go Josh!!!  It was a long day for the two little boys; they were so wiggly and asked every 30 seconds if it was almost over.  I'm going to have to make sure we have some supplies to keep them occupied for the next meet.

A few of Josh's adorable swim fans!

On Sunday, Zac and I were both assigned to speak in sacrament on the topic of The Good Shepherd and how we can be shepherds ourselves.  I always get so nervous to speak, but Zac was as cool as a cucumber.  I think we both did a good job!    Zac is a fantastic speaker, especially for a youth speaker, and we are so very proud of him and grateful for the example of his solid, intelligent faith!

Sunday afternoon fun.  Favorite sound: the boys laughing together!

Tommy and Luke were also having some happy together play on Sunday afternoon, building a Creationary museum in the basement.

Daylight Savings Time perk (if there is one): seeing the glorious sunrise.  There is something so blissfully hushed and understated about the creeping colors of a sunrise that gives the start of the day such a peaceful feeling.

Luke ended up late to school on Monday because he refused to eat any breakfast.  I told him I couldn't send him to school with no food in his belly because he would not be able to learn well and his teacher shouldn't have to deal with the 'hangries,' so it was another unpleasant breakfast standoff with our underweight boy.  This morning's tortuous breakfast: cinnamon-sugar toast with chocolate milk.  I am so cruel.

So sometimes we do holidays well, and sometimes...well...we get this year's St. Patrick's Day.  Fortunately, the bar isn't set too high, so the boys aren't overly disappointed when we don't do much.  I whispered to Ben on Sunday night that I had forgotten to buy the Lucky Charms for the leprechaun trap, so if he could be so kind as to wait to set it before leaving for school on Monday, that would be great, since he's the only one who really remembers to set one anyway.  He agreed happily, excited to be in on a funny secret.  And then, the next morning, set up the most hilarious ghetto trap ever built, using a stick and a plastic dump truck with some pennies underneath.  Hahahahaha!  At least Ben and I were at the same level of effort!  Also, for dinner we had pasta with broccoli, because broccoli is green, and for dessert, cupcakes that I bought at the store on Monday afternoon, while I was also buying the Lucky Charms.  I was also fortunate to have both green grapes AND kiwi in the fridge, and some nice green food coloring to tint the cream cheese in the bagels to make lunch green, so it actually wasn't the fail it could have been, considering I had not planned anything at all.

Doesn't every mother love finding still-folded clothing in the dirty laundry basket?  Grrrr.

We have had a couple of wacky wind storms blow through this past week, with wind gusts over 60mph.  The tumbleweeds sure are a' tumblin'!  And they love to gather for tumbleweed parties, like this one that was flooding out onto the road in the grocery store parking lot.  This tumbleweed congregation wasn't nearly as bad as the riotous one that we saw on the news that was so huge that it had taken over the entire front of a house in one of the new developments that are south of town and out towards the plains a bit.  Yikes!  Pretty sure the developers weren't looking for that kind of publicity.

Spring conferences at our school are student-led.  Over the years, Adam and I have wished we could have regular parent-teacher conferences like we do in the fall, so we could have the opportunity to actually meet with the teacher rather than have the boys show us their work, which they do nearly every day after school anyhow.  But when we are there, and they are clearly so proud of all they are doing and happy to have us in the space where they spend their everyday lives, we get it, and always really enjoy watching them glow a bit.

On the walk home from conferences, Tommy remarked several times about how dark the night was before I actually looked down at him and noticed he was wearing sunglasses.  Wha?  I never even saw that he had them with him, through one-and-a-half hours of conferences.  Ha!  "Tommy, if you take off the sunglasses, it won't feel so dark and your eyes can adjust more to the little light there is."  "No, Mom.  This is good."  OK!

The Bits: March 1st through March 9th

March marches in!

With outdoor soccer season ramping up, Zac and Ben played their final futsal games this week.  That takes a *bit* of stress off the schedule...but really, just a bit.  The boys really enjoy this fun to watch, weird little soccer variation.  It's one of those things that I can just picture--my adult boys playing for a futsal league with other young dads...{sigh}.

Yep.  Saturday is chore day.  They don't love it.  They have the ability to make it drag on for. ev. er.  I have to get them to come back to redo things over and again.  Some days it's not too bad; other days it's tortuously painful.  But still it is.

Last Saturday, Colorado Springs was caught in a cloud.  It was really cool and a nice excuse to get stuff done and then be lazy.  I guess this is what is meant by 'thick as pea soup.'  It definitely was!

Saturday night, the three older boys and I braved 'The Mist' and had a date night.  Thanks to Ben and Josh's 2nd place finishes in total laps run for their grade during Lynx Laps, they each had been awarded a free meal at Noodles and Company, so we started there with a delicious dinner and then popped next door to the Cold Stone for a treat.  Afterwards, we went to Barnes and Noble and got lost in the books for awhile.  The boys had received a nice gift card for Christmas from Auntie Sara, so we were able to do more than browse and wish.  The hardest part was deciding which books to get, and although they were good sports about my funny photo op, Dance Divas, Goddess Girls and Hello Kitty were NOT actually under consideration.  It was so fun to spend some quality time with my big boys.  They are such fine young men!

Overnight, we were dusted with snow and the fog had frozen the trees into ice skeletons.  Tommy said that everything had been "frost-bited."  It had thawed by the time we left church, but going into church, it was the kind of eerily pretty, still and quiet morning that only comes on a truly frozen day.

Too much sick snuggling caught up to me Monday.  Misery.  Fortunately, the calendar was pretty clear for the day, so I could take it easy and hope that when the schedule exploded for the rest of the week I'd be OK.

Tommy was kind and let me relax most of Monday, while I used up an entire box of Kleenex trying to relieve my sinus pressure, but when he asked to "please make magic green playdough" I couldn't say no.  I mean, look at that face!  He told me you make blue playdough and yellow playdough and then you mush and mush and mush and mush...and then it's green!  We divvied the two colors up into seven two-ball-sets and shared it with his preschool friends at Ms. Rachel's for Dr. Seuss Day the next day.

Luke and Tommy started up swim lessons again this week on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, after an almost-year-long hiatus.  Luke's lessons are in the big pool, a.k.a. the "cold pool."  He is so excited that he can {juuuuuuuust barely} touch the bottom on the shallow end of the pool.  He's doing great keeping himself above water when he has to go in deeper and can't touch, but I feel like he needs a wetsuit as I watch him shiver through the lesson!

Tuesday there was too much to do, so, even if I still felt awful, it was back to regular life.  Thank goodness for the person who invented ibuprofen and hand sanitizer!  I had a shift volunteering with reading circles in Luke's class to start off the busy day, and felt I did a good job keeping my germs to myself.

Zac called to come home as I was leaving the school; he wasn't feeling well either.  So I crossed the errands off the list, picked him up and we watched a bit of Soul Surfer (good!), with a box of tissues to share, before picking up Tommy from preschool.  Zac had an orthodontist appointment scheduled after lunch, which he felt well enough to keep, just so we didn't have to worry about rescheduling and taking him out of school for it another day. 

Surprise!  It was Fat Tuesday at the ortho, complete with Mardi Gras beads!  Zac was told that even during Lent he could feel free to over-indulge in brushing.  Sheesh!  I don't know what to do to get the boys to brush well.  We've even looked at pictures of plaque under the microscope and read about how all it is is bacteria and bacteria poop.  GROSS!  But no.  We still have brushing problems.

Thanks to Pinterest, Luke now enjoys studying spelling!  We had two games of Connect Four lying around, so when I saw this idea online, I didn't hesitate to letter one up.  Even if the fun only lasts for a short time, I'm grateful for this week's painless spelling practice.

While on the subject of homework, Tommy loves it!  And I'm no Tiger Mom; it's totally his idea.  He asked me if I wanted to play Connect Four or do homework.  I replied, "You choose."  He punched his little fists into the air and shouted, "Homework!"  I wish this go-getter attitude about homework lasted.

Tommy loves swim lessons too!  And is so cute in goggles.

Wednesday night, the first grade class at AIES performed "How Does Your Garden Groove?"  I may be biased, but I believe Luke was the most darling little tomato up there!  And, even without bias, there is no doubt that his class had the best song on the program, a Queen-inspired song called Vegematic, Automatic, that sounded a lot like We Will Rock You, complete with robot dance moves and some head-banging a la 80's Big Hair Rock.  Luke even had a couple of short shared lines with the other tomatoes that he proudly and loudly delivered.  Wow, this not-so-shy-anymore kid has come far!  The whole show was so fun and entertaining, but Mme. Cote's class was stellar!  Bravo, Luke!

Oy!  Wednesday!  I was glad that we had made it through.  Not that the other days are that much simpler....  For the duration of the year, or until it seems that he doesn't need it anymore, Zac will be attending French and Math after-school-help.  Tuesday we discovered that he had been having a 'challenge' keeping his math and French grades up and he had failed to let us know that he was having this difficulty.  I'll admit, we had become lazy in checking after his 4.0 last semester, but we should have remained vigilant!  Yikes!  It is so unlike him to have academic problems, and he's so laid back, I think he really didn't know what exactly was wrong and figured he could work it out.  But 7th grade isn't like 4th; once you get behind, it's hard to figure it out.  Especially in math, that builds upon itself.  We were pretty alarmed, and sad that he hadn't told us that he was struggling, but we moved forward, consulted with his teachers and have a good plan in place as we go ahead with the semester.

Thursday I thought I was feeling well *enough* for a return to normalcy, and thought I'd try a run at the gym.  By the end of my little workout (I really wasn't pushing hard!), I was dry heaving, my head felt like it weighed 50 pounds and I was sapped of all energy to move.  When I got home, I just laid on the cold kitchen floor for awhile trying to get back to baseline.  Dummy!  I'm not always so great at listening to my body, especially when it is sick.  I just don't like taking, nor have, the time to be sick!  After he was picked up from preschool, I was still so drained, I let Tommy pick a movie on Netflix that we could watch together so I could rest.  His choice: Super Buddies. {groan}  Penance for stupidity done!

Here is Ben waiting for the soccer carpool on Thursday afternoon.  He has decided that he wants to majorly improve his game as he heads into the spring season.  Over several mornings, he's asked to be woken early so he can practice before school and then cannot wait for the time when he gets to head to team practice after school three days a week.  I love how Ben is so self-motivated and pushes himself to reach for the things he wants.  When his passion is ignited, watch out!

These boys.  I love their friendship!  They can be bickering one minute and then playing and interacting so sweetly the next.  When they are home, they are together.  Tommy adores Luke and sees him as his peer, and Luke loves being that special friend/big brother for Tommy, guiding him along.  I hope they are always the best of buddies as they are now.

Fresh-from-the-oven zucchini bread...mmmmm....  Two loaves baked, and one was gone within 25 minutes after the boys arrived home from school on Friday.  It was a perfect snack for our snowy afternoon.

Ruby looks so put out.  The expression on her face cracks me up.  Ha!  Clearly she does not love having to do her toilet business outdoors during a snowstorm.

Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise, with four inches of nice wet snow on the ground.  Drink up grasses and flowers, it's nearly spring!  Well, kind of...we are in Colorado.  It was a warm day and the snow was gone by 2pm, but the air couldn't have been cleaner and bright when we opened our eyes to the marshmallow-covered morning.

Saturday, after the 4 oldest Conlin men spent the morning helping friends with a move and I spent the morning watching their two littles to keep them out of the way of said move, we turned our attention to our sweet Josh!  First up, the Pinewood Derby!  Josh named his car "The Pizza Car" and ended up with a lovely 5th place finish out of 18 racers.  I love that Adam is just hands-on enough that the car is sure to move, but he really lets the boys do their thing, and they usually do well!  Josh, of course, wanted to place top three like last year, but was still happy with Pizza Car's races and had a great time.

While Zac and Ben went ice skating and trampolining with friends, and Adam got the little boys fed and in bed, Josh and I went to our YMCA to celebrate the swimmers of the Briargate Barracuda Swim Team at the annual swim banquet.  Josh has really enjoyed being a part of the swim team and is hoping to get faster and improve over the next few months.  The Colorado state races all just took place, so it's kind of the start of the new swim-year.  Next week is the first of the mini-meets and Josh is already invited to attend and excited to swim.  What a fun few months it has been for him in the pool!  It was a great day for our magic middle!

I remember my dad teaching me how to tie a tie when I was a kid.  He's been in sales forever, and always wore a tie to work to give himself that polished, professional look.  I'm pretty sure he had a million ties in his closet.  He let me practice tying his ties on him from time to time, which I'm sure he had to fix after I was finished, and would let me tie some on myself at times too, which is a completely different skill than tying it on someone else.  I wasn't ever good back then, but I knew how to do it.  Who knew, all those years ago, how often I'd be putting my tie tying skills to work today?  You can bet that these days, I'm a pro.

After a long day with ward conference ward council starting at 7am (on Daylight Savings Time Sunday, nonetheless!), followed by church, then lunch with the stake and ward leaders and finally, ministering visits, I was happy to sit down for a bit and play a tight game of Battleship with Ben.  That darn little patrol boat!  We were all tied up with only that tiny little ship to find for both of us, but my armada went down when Ben found mine first.

500 pictures later, Zac and I got this selfie with Rube.  Note to the world: selfies with big dogs are not easy.

We couldn't resist the pull of the summery day!  Sun, 68 degrees, no wind.  Wow.  Although I was pretty sure I just wanted to nap all afternoon after a very early wake-up call and a busy ward conference Sunday, instead we slipped on the slippahs and went for a walk around the block, visiting with our wonderful neighbors along the way.

What a perfect ending to a perfectly wonderful, even if busy, day.