New School

     Two weeks ago the girls switched to a school in town called Pierce.  We had just decided to buy the Whitmer's house (located in the Pierce district) and it was the start of a new trimester so we decided it was the perfect time to change schools.  The girls were a little nervous but also a little excited.  Friday night, when they were tired, they cried about leaving their friends, teachers, librarian, and everything they loved about Inyokern School.
     Luckily, all 3 of them LOVE their new teachers and new classes.  They are making friends and they are learning to enjoy the positive aspects of attending a larger school.  There were some neat things about the smaller school that we really liked, but now we get to experience the fun things about a big school.  For example, yesterday was Jr. Olympics.  The school went all out!  Each class chose a country to represent.  They spent time learning about their country and making flags.  They were asked to wear their countries' colors on the day of the olympics and they had a parade of countries.  After the parade each class did a cheer for their country and then there was a tug o' war.  Since there are 2 classes for each grade, each class went against another class of it's own age.  The kids had so much fun and I think they are really going to love this tradition.
     Another new thing about Pierce is that the kids can wear school uniforms.  They aren't required to wear them, but if they do, they can earn rewards.  Natalee wasn't excited about it and since she only has 1 trimester left in the school, I didn't feel terribly inclined to buy her a new school wardrobe.  She also said after the first day of school, that only one kid in her class had worn a uniform and it was a boy.  Haylee doesn't seem to care one way or the other.  Mackenzie is insistent on wearing the uniform.  It consists of either navy or khaki bottoms (shorts, pants, skirt, skort, or jumper) and any solid-colored polo shirt.
     A few days ago, Mackenzie climbed into the car after school and she was so excited to tell me some news.  I forget their names but it went something like this:  "Mom!!!!  Today I was wearing the same pants as Susie and the same shirt as Laura!!!  And yesterday I had the same pants as Betty!"...followed by a big giggle.  She is going to have a great year if she loves wearing the same clothes as her classmates and she keeps wearing her uniform!

Baby Grandpa



Grandpa, a.k.a. Max Lee Moffitt, Jr. (1961)

      A couple of Sundays ago, I asked some of the parents and grandparents of the primary children to come in and share a story about when they or one of their ancestors chose the right and how it blessed their life.  My dad came in and told about himself as a youth.  At first he was the only active member of his family because he was invited by a friend to come to primary and scouts.  He told about how, even though he didn't realize it at the time, the friends he chose to hang out with made such a huge difference in his life.  Because he was telling a story from his childhood, he brought a picture of himself as a primary kid to show to the children.  Even my kids really enjoyed seeing the picture.  I don't think they had ever seen it before.

     Last Sunday, Kelsey was drawing in a notebook during Sacrament Meeting.  Then she showed me her finished product and said, "This is Grandpa when he was a baby."  I asked her if she had ever seen Grandpa when he was a baby.  She nodded while answering, "Yes, he showed the picture last time." (or something like that.)  I realized she was talking about the picture he brought the week before.  I think he was 10 or 11 in that picture but in Kelsey's mind I guess he was just a baby.  And her picture was so adorable I had to share it.  I especially enjoy the different eye sizes. :)

Busy Birthday

     Mackenzie's birthday is this Saturday, and unfortunately, it is one of the busiest days of the year for us.  It is the stake relief society women's conference which Daren always has some responsibility in, due to his calling.  This year he is responsible for the children's class and the luncheon following the conference.  Then, later in the evening, one of Natalee's friends from elementary school, Nicole Martin, is getting baptized.  We absolutely cannot miss her baptism.  Her baptism is at 6:00pm, right about dinner time.
     Yesterday I decided to explain the situation to Mackenzie.  I told her what a busy day it was and said maybe we should go out for dinner as a family.  Before I could finish my sentence she stopped me and said, "But I really wanted that special dinner that Haylee made one time."  The dinner she was referring to is basically a hot dog surrounded by refried beans and American cheese, wrapped in a burrito shell and heated up.  Another reason why going out to dinner sounded like a great plan.  I told her we could go to John's Pizza and she informed me that she only likes the fun factory, not the food.  So Natalee suggested we go to McDonald's and Mackenzie thought that was a great idea.  We "talked her into it", she told us.  So.....I continued explaining to her that because Saturday is so busy, we could go to McDonald's on Friday night.  With a very concerned/disappointed look on her face she informed me, "But that's someone else's birthday."
     Poor thing.  Of all my kids, Mackenzie is the most likely to care if we don't celebrate her birthday on her actual birthday.  It looks like we will be working around the baptism.

Chinese Chicken Nuggets

     I really wish I had a cute picture to go with this post.  Not only has my blogging suffered, but my camera is gathering dust as well.
     Our house closed escrow!  We told the kids awhile back that we would go out to a celebratory dinner when we got the money from the house.  The kids had been bugging us to go ever since they knew we had gotten the money.  Well, we finally had a free night and no dinner plans.  It seemed the perfect time.  We could hardly agree on a resaurant.  Natalee was in tears at the thought of not getting Chinese food.  Haylee and Mackenzie were in tears at the thought of having Chinese food.  Well, we finally decided Sizzler is a place we all like.  Well, Sizzler is closed.  There was a place called Ridgecrest Steaks and Salads in its place for awhile but I was pretty sure it was closed too.  The kids wanted to drive by and I told them I would, but if it was closed, we were going to the Golden Dragon-yes, a Chinese restaurant.
     Sure enough, the place was closed and off to the Golden Dragon we headed.  I expected some tears but, surprisingly, everyone seemed pretty excited.  Natalee didn't even need a menu to know that she wanted orange chicken.  I knew I wanted walnut chicken.  Haylee wanted something Daren makes sometimes called "Dragon Balls."  There was an appetizer that seemed similar so Haylee ordered that.  Mackenzie got the sweet and sour chicken, Daren got the Moo Goo Gai Pan (spelling?), and we decided to order Nate some lemon chicken.  Almost done, except, wait!  What do we order Kelsey?  Kelsey rarely even joins us at the dinner table because she is such a picky eater.  Her diet is pretty much entirely quesadillas, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and maybe a banana or fruit snacks.  She used to be the best eater I had but somehow became the pickiest by far!  The only reason she was sitting peacefully at the table with us is because her sweet little 4 year old mind thinks all restaurants serve chicken nuggets.
     We ordered some sweet and sour chicken for her as well.  I noticed her trying to tell the waiter every time he passed us, "Chicken nuggets, please!"  But he didn't notice her.  I turned to her and said we already ordered her food and we got her "Chinese" chicken nuggets with "Chinese" ketchup.  She gave me the happiest smile and the biggest hug.  Luckily, she absolutely loved her "chicken nuggets."  She even ate some rice!  Now she keeps asking for Chinese chicken nuggets every day at lunch.  I'll have to take her back for them again sometime!

Practically Homeless

Well, this is a pretty long story but I'll try to keep it as short as possible.  Back in November (2011) we started talking about selling our house.  I mentioned on facebook that we were looking to move into town and one of my friends asked me for more information.  I gave it to her but didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks.  Daren and I decided to get serious and start preparing the house to sell.  We made a list of projects that needed to be done and decided to spend Thanksgiving break giving the house a fresh coat of paint.  The second or third day of painting I got a message from my friend on facebook saying she knew someone who wanted to see our house.  We got into contact and showed them the house the very next week.
     They really liked the house and came back again to see it a couple of days later and we started the negotiation process.  We finally came to an agreement on the price.  They had thought about buying the land next door as well but with the price they said they could afford, we said we couldn't sell them James' land.  They said okay, and we went into escrow.  We also finally transferred the land next door into James' name.  And escrow finally closed on February 13!  Only 11 days late.  Before escrow closed (actually even before escrow was supposed to close), we moved out of our house and into Grandma Poetschlag's house.  Most of our stuff is in storage.  We are so grateful to Grandma for letting us crash here while we figure things out.
    Now, for the story of the next house.  We put an offer on a short sale in Heritage Village.  But it's been going really strange and now we're thinking of rescinding our offer.  Unfortunately, the owners of the house live in the house next door.  The bank says we have to pay 90% of the back association dues which have sky-rocketed to about $3300 since Heritage sent it to their attorneys to get it collected.  Not only that, we think the owners have been renting the place out under the table.  Admittedly, we are jumping to conclusions about people we don't really know.  But all the same, we're concerned about moving next door.  There is another house we really like.  It's a For Sale By Owner and it's a fabulous house.  However, it is quite a bit more expensive than the Heritage house.  But it's definitely a lot nicer so we're thinking that it's worth the extra money.
     So here's where we're currently at.  We made an offer on the house not in Heritage (we call it the Sydnor house).  It was $14,000 less than their asking price and we still haven't heard back from them about whether they'll take it or not.  We pretty much worded it as a take it or leave it kind of thing.  So we'll see if they take it.  In the meantime, we haven't rescinded the offer on the Heritage house yet but I'm thinking we'll probably do that tomorrow.  If we don't get the Sydnor house, we'll probably rent for awhile and see if prices come down at all.  And who knows, if we're ever supposed to leave Ridgecrest, not being tied to a house would be a good thing.  In the meantime, it's nice to be living in town for now.

Auditions

Awhile ago I noticed a page on facebook announcing that a local theater group was putting on a production of Beauty and the Beast in the fall and was having auditions the beginning of February.  Daren and I have been thinking that Natalee needed an outlet for her more dramatic side. :)  This seemed like the perfect opportunity.  The age limit for auditioning was 8 and up so Haylee decided she would like to tryout too.  Then we found out that they were desperate for adult men to try out so we talked Daren into joining in as well.

The first night of auditions was February 2, a Thursday night.  I was so proud of the girls.  Natalee learned to sing the song "Tomorrow" from Annie.  Haylee learned "A Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins.  We downloaded a karaoke track of each song for them to sing to.  They were both nervous to go in front of the judges but they did great!  I was so proud of them.  I was so happy that I got to go and watch them.  Unfortunately Daren was sick the first night of auditions so he didn't get to sing his song.  But I admit that I would have been very disappointed if I hadn't been able to go watch the girls audition.

The second night of auditions was dancing and readings.  They told me to have Daren come to that night and they would find a time for him to sing for them at the end.  Unfortunately Haylee had picked up Daren's cold by then and wasn't feeling too well.  She went to the beginning of the audition but called me about halfway through to ask me to pick her up.  She had been able to do the dancing but hadn't read for any parts.  Natalee read for the part of Chip and Daren read for the part of Maurice, Belle's father.  They were told that the 3rd night of auditions was 'call backs' and they would post a list on the News Review the next morning saying who needed to be there.  Daren and Natalee were both asked to return for call backs.  They both did some more reading and then were told that the final cast list would be posted on the News Review on Monday evening.

For our Family Home Evening activity we went to check the cast list and then went out for ice cream.  We were so happy to see that Natalee and Haylee both made it to the list of villagers/enchanted objects.  Natalee was also the understudy for Chip and Daren got the understudy part for Maurice.  Daren says he's not a villager but I think since he got an understudy part they are definitely planning on using him elsewhere in the meantime.

The play isn't until September or October so we'll be spending lots of time at rehearsals.  Well, Daren, Natalee, and Haylee will. :)  I am so looking forward to being a bit of a stage mom/wife and watching them perform.  I can't wait to blog about it all and post pictures.

My Brave New Sunbeam

      Kelsey was so excited to go to church today because she is finally a Sunbeam!  She loves the song, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and was very excited to actually start going to the sunbeam class.  Daren was staying home this morning because unfortunately Nathan has a bad cold.  Today was supposed to be Nathan's first official day in the nursery too but he has gone the last couple of Sundays and done very well.  Haylee and Mackenzie decided that they weren't feeling too well either.  Haylee was first to claim that her cold was making her sick enough to stay home with Daddy and Nathan.  Mackenzie got all dressed for church before she told us that her head was hurting and she thought she needed to stay home too.  "Yeah right Mackenzie!" was Haylee's response.  I could see that Haylee was looking forward to some alone time with Daddy but reminded her that Mackenzie's claim to sickness was as valid as her own.
     Just before it was time to go, Kelsey said, "I have to go poop!"  A few minutes later I could hear my name being shouted from the bathroom.  "Mommy!!  Wipe me!!"  Sigh!  I went to do my motherly duties and paused.  Uh oh.  This wasn't just poop.  She had some diarrhea.  "I think you'd better stay home from church too Kelsey."  Out came the frown.  I started to think she might burst into tears.  She was so excited to go be a sunbeam and she was all ready to go in her favorite dress that her cousin Audrey gave her.  So I gave in and decided to take her to church.  After all, how often do kids cry when you suggest they need to stay home from church?  It was really hard to turn that down!  All too soon the fight will be in the other direction.
     Natalee, Kelsey, and I headed off to church, just the three of us.  Everything was great.  Primary seemed to have a very smooth first Sunday.  I was doing sharing time.  There was about 10 minutes left to go when things got crazy.  I was just wrapping up senior primary sharing time when I saw Kelsey and her class walk past the primary room down the hall.  A few seconds later I heard a loud bang and Kelsey bursting into tears.  I could hardly keep my train of thought and I really just wanted to walk out of the room and see what was going on but wasn't sure if I should.  If she wasn't hurt badly, her teachers could handle it and I could finish my last couple of thoughts.  I was looking at the door and started moving that direction when suddenly her teacher (Brother Grover) started to walk past, froze when he saw me, and motioned for me to come.  I could tell by the look on his face that it was not good.  I just walked out at that point and went to go see what was wrong.
     Kelsey's class was going to take a little stroll around the church for the last few minutes.  But just as they were heading out the door, Kelsey tripped and smacked head-first into the corner of the metal door jam of the outer church door.  She split her forehead open in a nice line.  We grabbed the first aid kit out of the primary closet and carried her into the bathroom.  There was so much blood I was having a hard time finding the wound.  As soon as I saw it I knew she would need to go to the ER and get stitches.  Alyssa Grover bandaged her forehead and stopped the bleeding while I grabbed my stuff and told Natalee to go home with my mom.
     Kelsey was such a brave little girl at the hospital.  While we waited I bought her a couple of cookies out of the vending machine.  She drew me a picture of a stick figure with a frowning face and said that it was a picture of her 'grumpy.'  But she wasn't crying at all anymore and was very cooperative for the nurses.
     My sharing time today was about agency and emphasizing the fact that we can make our own choices but we don't get to choose the consequences that are tied to those choices.  For one split second, I thought about that and I thought about my choice to let Kelsey come to church today even though her tummy was having some trouble.  "If I'd made her stay home, this wouldn't have happened," I thought.  But it did only last a split second.  How can I regret letting my child who was begging to go to church have her way.  But I might have regretted spoiling her excitement of being a brand new sunbeam. 
     When the doctor finally came in and asked her to sit on the bed, she got a little nervous.  But she did it and then got a fun ride while he made the bed go up nice and high so he could clean the wound and get a really good look at it.  This is where it got hard for Kelsey.  She didn't say anything and didn't try to move away, but she got a big frown on her face while he was cleaning it off.  He noticed too and asked if he was hurting her.  She nodded her head and he said he was sorry and would try to be more careful but he had to get it all cleaned out.  I tried to keep her mind on other things while he finished cleaning it out.  Thankfully he said that he thought glue was actually the best option for that wound.  It would keep the cut together just as well as stitches and wouldn't cause any extra damage to the skin.
     So that was it!  He glued it together, we waited for the nurse to come discharge us, and we were on our way.  We went to Grandma's house to pick up Natalee and found that everyone was there.  I had left my cell phone at home and Daren was getting concerned that he couldn't get a hold of me and was just about to pull out of their yard when we drove in.  So we had a nice afternoon visiting more with Jeff and Amber and their kids, Grandma and Grandpa Moffitt, and Grandma Poetschlag.  We had a nice mexican lunch/dinner then lit up some sparklers that Amber and Jeff brought.
     What a way to start off the year!  Happy New Year 2012!


 

Kelsey's Self Portrait, "Feeling Grumpy"