Sacrifice is like a volcano?

Sacrifice-- what does it mean? This is the question Amber came up with, seemingly out of the blue. I'm sure she had been thinking about it for awhile. She was so serious. My explanation-- Sacrifice is when you give up something for something better! As I was trying to give her examples, she says "Like a volcano?" My first reaction was, what does a volcano have to do with sacrifice? Then it hit me. Amber understands! She got it, she knew what we were saying about sacrifice. Lest you think I am crazy, all I need to say is Madagascar 2! Amber loves that movie and has watched it a gazillion times in the past couple of months. Thanks to my dad for letting us borrow the movie! For those of you who have seen the movie, you probably get it now. For those who haven't, there is a part in the movie where the water hole has dried up. The lemur says that they need to sacrifice something to the water god. So the giraffe becomes the sacrifice inside the volcano. This is why Amber relates sacrifice to a volcano. But she understood the basic concept of sacrifice. I am in awe of my daughter. She amazes me with her gift of understanding complex issues.

Sabbath-- not Salad-- day

It was Emma's turn to say family prayer on Sunday. Usually she can pray by herself, but lately she has been asking for help. This creates an interesting phenomenon during family prayer. I whisper something to her, and in her sweet, quiet voice, she will repeat what I whisper. But sometimes she doesn't quite understand what I said so she will make something up. Well, this particular day, I had whispered, "Help us have a good Sabbath Day" which Emma, in her infinite wisdom :) repeated "Help us have a good SALAD day!" Laughter nearly escaped me right then, but I held it in. Emma finished the prayer without further incident. As soon as she said Amen, I heard peals of laughter from John. That got me started and we had a good laugh about the pending Salad Day! It was too funny.
It sort of reminds me of a game I've played. I've heard it called many things, but here's the basics of the game. You have a group of people sit in a line. The first person whispers something to the next person in line. That person repeats it to the next person, on down the line until it gets to the last person in the line. Then the last person in the line tells everyone what the message is. It is funny to hear what comes out of it, and it is usually very different than the original message! Hearing Emma pray about Salad day, instead of Sabbath day, reminded me how easy it is to change a message, especially when you don't quite understand what is being said. My children do such a good job at reminding me how I can do better.

This week has been a flurry of activity. We have all been busy. Here's a short (I'm using that term loosely, mind you!) synopsis of our week!

Sunday- We took a day trip to Nephi to support Chantelle. She has done amazing things despite her disabilities. She has risen above her challenges and we're so proud of her.

Monday- Despite Amber being out of school for the week, we still had to make a special trip to school for Amber's post assessment test. I hate having her tested just for them to tell me she is reading above level. No duh! She's a McAuliffe, do they really expect her to not read well?

Tuesday- I think this was our only non-busy day. I honestly don't really remember what happened this day! Maybe this is the day we planted the little tree saplings Verree gave me about a month ago. Finally, they are planted outside. I hope they survive.

Wednesday- Emma's birthday! Emma had her end of the year preschool program! It was so cute. The birthday bear made her day when he (and everybody else) sang Happy Birthday to her at the beginning of the program! Pure delight filled her face when she got the spotlight for a bit! We like to take our kids out for dinner on their birthday and they usually pick where to go. I sort of guided Emma in her choice this year as funds have been severely limited. So she said she wanted pizza! Easy for me, I could go pick it up, bring it home, and everybody could enjoy the joy of her birthday dinner! Yay for Emma being so easygoing about it all. Then I did a small cake for just us. It was enough for 5 small pieces, one for each of us! Emma had just wanted a simple square cake with sprinkles, so I cut off the end of the rectangle for Wednesday night and put the rest away for the family party on Thursday.

Thursday- Emma's field trip. They went to the West Valley Fitness Center and played for about an hour. Then we went back to the school where the kids had popsicles and said good bye to their friends! Like Amber, Emma loved the bus. She kept saying, "I'm riding the bus!" What fun to watch her.
We had all the family over last night for cake and icecream! What an adventure, always is when my family is involved!

Friday- (Okay, so we're not done yet!) We finally have a day with no definite plans. Yay. But these are the hard days. The kids get so bored, hungry, sleepy, etc., etc. Here's to a good rest of the week!

Homemade bracelets, etc.

Check out this other blog. She is giving away a watchband or bracelet that she made herself. They are so cute. I think it would be fun to win one of these, but hey, go on over and check it out yourself.

Book giveaway!

To be consistent with my entries in giveaways, here is another one. I just happened upon this one this morning, and she has lots of book giveaways. This one is for the audio book of "The Horse Boy." The contest runs until May 26th so go on over and check it out here.

Fresh Rhubarb

My neighbor gave us some fresh cut rhubarb. I'm not sure how to cook it, but it is sitting my kitchen table in a bag. I guess my girls thought it was celery (except they don't like celery!) and they asked if they could have some. So, thinking I would be funny, I sliced off a small piece for each of my three children! HAHAHA! I couldn't stop laughing. I knew they wouldn't like it. Amber took one bite and spit it out! Yuck, ick, ick! She tried to spit it out for a few minutes! HEHE! Then there was Timothy. He took his piece, chewed on it, then took another bite! That's my boy, he'll eat anything that looks like food! I think he ate the entire piece, but maybe I'll find it on the floor in awhile! Then there's Emma. She had been in the other room when Amber spit it out so she didn't know it was gross. But, Amber, trying to be a good big sister, warned her of the yuck factor! "It's yucky!" Amber, be quiet. I wanted Emma to try it and decide for herself if it was yucky! of course, I wouldn't take a piece myself. So I made Emma try it for herself. She would only lick it like a lollipop and decided it was yucky! So I told her it might be ok if she took a bite. She didn't totally believe me, but took a bite anyway. At least she didn't have to spit as much as Amber did!

Call me mean, but I laughed so hard at their reactions. I delighted in their pain! This comes with drawbacks though. Now I can't cook the rhubarb and tell them what it is! They won't eat it. I can't make a strawberry rhubarb pie! But it is worth these drawbacks to have a few laughs in my house today!

Check out these giveaways!

Okay, to risk being annoying, I had to tell you about the awesome giveaways over on Mormon Mommy Blogs! There is a pedi party set, photographs, jewelry, books, music, and more. Wonderful stuff! Check it out. Enter the giveaway. I know, if you enter, it will lower my chances of winning, but hey, I want you all to check it out! Seriously, if you don't check it out, you'll never know. These are being given away! Just enter the drawing, no strings attached. Come on, I know you can do it! Join in on the excitement. See for yourself why I am addicted to giveaways! I love, love, love it.

I didn't poke the worms!

Just this morning, the girls were enjoying some time outside. They had all the buckets and shovels out, digging in the pile of dirt in the middle of the lawn in the front yard. I don't mind that they were digging there, the grass hasn't grown there since oh, I can't remember when there was grass on that patch. But, I looked out just to make sure they were all okay and Emma had my gardening shovel with a sharp point on it! Ack! Then, choosing my battles, I told her she could use it just as long as she was careful and didn't hit anybody with it or poke anybody with it! I thought I had my bases covered. Then she asked the quintessential question, "Why?" I attempted to explain about the sharp point and that it could hurt someone. While I was still watching, she dug up a little dirt, turned around, and said, "See, I was careful, I didn't poke any worms!" I was about ready to die laughing. She was so serious about not poking the worms. So I looked at her and said "Thank you for being careful!" Then I had to turn and go to another room. I could not let her know I was laughing!

Neighborhood Cleanup!

Every year I am the skeptic, but every year I am turned into a believer. My ward sponsors a neighborhood cleanup day each year in May! Why am I such a skeptic? Because I don't ever think there is much enthusiasm for the labor involved in cleaning up the neighborhood. But each year I come away believing in the concept more and more. But what is so great about it? We are spending all day out in the sun, weeding gardens, mowing lawns, dragging tree branches. It isn't light work. But, I always come away a believer because we get to rub shoulders with wonderful people in the neighborhood. We get to see what it means to people to have work done that they are not able to do themselves. We are forging bonds with each other that creates a closer knit community. This year I once again spent time with the young women. Their enthusiasm and willingness to just jump in and do a job I didn't think they would want to do spilled over into me. It is hard not to be enthusiastic about a project when surrounded by enthusiastic people!

Field Trip to the Zoo!

Call me sentimental, but I really try to be there for my kids field trips and special programs at school. I have also had many opportunities to help out in their classes. Amber always asks if I'm coming in to her class. There were a few months there where I was so busy with other activities that I didn't make it into her class, but I did make it into Emma's class. I know Amber was disappointed every time she asked for me to come into class and I couldn't. She has even started asking John to come in when I can't.
But, that wasn't the point of this post. I just got a little sidetracked, sorry. What I meant to write about was Amber's field trip to the zoo yesterday! It was such a blast. She was so excited to ride the bus. I think that was her favorite part. I have to explain a little about the bus thing.
Rewind a couple of years. When I was working full time, I had Amber in the Boys and Girls club for daycare/preschool when she turned three. The daycare had three different classes, one class was for the kindergarten kids. Those kids got to ride the bus to and from school every day. So Amber always told me, "When I go to Kindergarten, I get to ride the bus!" The idea of the bus appealed to her a lot.
Last year she had the opportunity to ride a school bus for her preschool field trip. I wouldn't have had enough jars to bottle up her excitement at that time! But, she was still holding on the hope that she would be riding a bus to school the next year for Kindergarten. Little did she know that I was going to put her in the Neighborhood elementary school which is well withing walking distance! Hmmm . . . way to go me. Shatter her perfect dreams of riding a bus every day!

Fast forward to now! So, this is why she is excited to ride the bus! Even though she has accepted the fact that we either walk or drive to school, she has never given up the allure of the school bus. There is something about a big yellow bus and then no seatbelts! For most of those kids, the bus was the most exciting thing about the whole trip.

Anyway, we went to the zoo. Honestly, I sort of dreaded having to keep track of even five kindergarten kids! I was so relieved to find that each group would only be two kids. Amber's teacher paired her with her favorite friend, Imanol. What was funny about that was, Amber had just finished telling me that she wanted to sit with Imanol on the bus! Imagine Amber's delight when she got to spend the entire field trip hanging out with Imanol.

Side note: I think I have my work cut out for me if Amber already likes boys this much. I am not going to discourage any friendship, but . . . Ahhh, the joys of being six!

I was exhausted by the end of the trip. But we had fun. I love watching Amber, although the joy is bittersweet as I hate to watch her grow up! Time flies too fast. Before I know it, Kindergarten will be over and Amber will be moving on once again.

Yes, I was complaining in my last post. But then I thought I would have a little fun. As you all know, I am a giveaway aficionado. I am so addicted. But it is a lot of fun, so I will keep up.

Do any of you love Avon? I do. I love the Bond girl perfume and the kids soaps. But there is so much more. I am so excited about another giveaway, you can find the details here. It is for an Avon gift basket. Check it out and enter. It didn't look like there were many entries yet, so you will have a good chance at winning!

Mother's Day, Bah humbug!

I really set out to do a Mother's day post, but I just couldn't. I could not write a wonderful flowing piece when I have such a distaste for Mother's day. Everything I started to write made me begin to feel like such a hypocrite. I detest Mother's day, yet wrote a grand tribute to mothers, myself, yada yada yada. So yes, I have a serious dislike for Mother's day and I'll tell you why!

1. On Mother's day my kids and husband are forced to profess their undying love and adoration for me. Shouldn't that be happening more than just one day a year? I do much more than can be appreciated in one measly day!

2. After professing their love and adoration, I still have to get up and do everything. Even if I dream of putting my feet up and having a relaxing day celebrating being a mom, ha! Who am I kidding every year? Oh yeah, that would be me!

3. At the same time, I dislike being put on a pedestal because I am eons away from being the perfect mom and I am aware of all the mistakes I am making!

4. Mother's day is one day that I tend to get jealous. You heard that right. Jealous. I am forced to see others celebrate with their own moms, and I am forced to remember that the only way I can give my mom flowers is to go visit a cold piece of earth and leave flowers next to the stone bearing her name. I struggle to fight the jealousy of all you who can visit your mom and profess your undying love towards her (despite being forced to do it by reason of a holiday called Mother's Day)!

So, those are a few of the reasons I dislike mother's day! I know, I know, get over it, right? Easier said than done but it does get better. This year wasn't quite so bad. But I still do not enjoy the day! I do suck it up and try to enjoy myself. After all, it was warm yesterday and we had a picnic in the backyard. And we all worked together to make my favorite dinner-- Chicken rolls.

Turns out that great minds think alike. Jeff and Cori made chicken rolls for her mom! Ha ha! Too funny. I couldn't stop laughing when Jeff told me that!

So, the best celebration was when Jeff and Cori stopped by. We didn't have to talk about mother's day, so we didn't. We didn't have to talk about anything. So we shared stories of our youth! I think I laughed hard enough to burn all the calories from the last week of meals!

Giveaway winnings!

As most of you know by now, I have been entering lots of giveaways. This has been a lot of fun. I enter not expecting anything as there are usually lots of other entries! But I have been winning! All it takes is a couple of seconds to make a comment on each blog. So here's some of the stuff I've won:

-- Quilting Book
-- Book and CD (if you remember, this was the Anne Bradshaw giveaway I wrote about!)
-- A quiet book baq
-- A CD of kid's music
I think there was something else, but for the life of me I can't recall what it was! But this is a pretty good start!

This has all been in about the last month that I have won all of this stuff. Seriously, I am hooked. I am a true fan of giveaways! I can't win on the radio but I can win on the blogs! The secret? I don't really have a secret. Honestly, I haven't really expected anything from any of these. What a wonderful surprise when I log in and find that I have won!