It's Magic!

The ward activity last night was a magic show put on by Dave and Helen Emery. They are professionals, so don't try their stunts on your own. It was a great turn out - standing room only. I was called up on stage to participate in a mind reading trick, and I don't know how he did it. Dave even cut a girl in half! It was so fun to watch the faces on the kids as he turned a dove into a rabbit! Today is the ward Easter Egg Hunt, and of course it is a little wet outside. (It always seems to rain on Easter.) Andrew, Aaron, and I will head on down to help with that, while Ed and Edward go to Edward's basketball game. I'm not sure yet what Jennifer has on the agenda.

Speaking of Jennifer, we attended her Cheerleading Year-End Banquet last Wednesday. She was voted by her peers to be the "Most Inspirational" cheerleader for both the Fall and Winter seasons! She was also voted to be the "Hardest Worker" for the Winter season. It was nice to see that the coaches and other cheerleaders recognize all that she puts into her sport. She is looking forward to next year and finally being on varsity. Try outs start in the next few weeks.

More Spring Break Fun!

As a family we drove to Long Beach, Washington and walked through the shops trying on funny hats and glasses. The kids all wanted to go horse back riding on the beach, but at $25 a person we decided we could find other things to do with $100. From Long Beach we drove down the coast to Seaside, Oregon for lunch. We again walked through the shops and picked up a few trinkets.

The kids decided that they didn't get enough time to play on the beach, so we drove on down to Haystack Rock and the Tollavana State Park where they actually got their feet wet in the surf (at least Jennifer and Aaron did). The weather was simply gorgeous. We had dinner in Tillamook, and then it was time to go home. It was a great day.

Spring Break Fun

Wednesday Aaron and I spent almost the whole day doing "Science the Cub Scout Way." As the Bear Den Leader, I set up a bunch of science experiments to teach the boys about air pressure and space (Electives 1 and 6 in their books). As Sister Souders told them, "Remember, experiments don't always work out the way you think they should." This is something we always have to take into account when Sister Mueller is leading the experiment. Half the time it doesn't work out right. We taught them how hot air raises and demonstrated the fact with a hot air balloon. We shot off Alka-Seltzer rockets, Mentos and Coke, and then had a couple of modified Space Derbies using paper air planes and flying saucers. All in all I think the boys had a great time.

Yesterday Jennifer said that we needed to go somewhere. Since we had planned to go to the beach on Friday after Ed got home from Chicago, we decided to head in another direction. We pointed the car north and said we would stop at each "Historical Marker" we came across. We made it all the way to Centralia before we actually saw one. The problem was, there were only the signs indicating the historical marker, just no marker itself - only an empty lot. We had a great time making up our own reasons why an historical marker would be needed for the place. We also stopped off at the Great Wolf Lodge to take a look around. Aaron wanted to stay the night, but we had to get back home to pick up Ed from the airport. We raced home to be there in time for Grandma & Grandpa Greenfield to come over and take the kids out for ice cream.

Today, as I said earlier, we are heading to the coast. The weather is supposed to be nice, but I'm not counting on it. We'll bring our coats.

We just got home from seeing "WICKED" at the Keller Auditorium. It was 'wicked' cool! Jennifer and I both had seen it in Chicago, but Edward and my good friend Ingela had not. It was a treat to be able to share such a wonderful evening with them. Our seats were front row of the first balcony, off to the side. There was some restricted views, but it was still amazing.

I took Edward and Andrew to a Coin Collecting Merit Badge fair yesterday at the Oregon Convention Center. The boys were excited by all the free coins they were given. I also purchased each of the children a United States Proof Set for their birth years. For the first time in her life, Jennifer was less expensive than her brothers. Her set only cost me $5 while each of the boys were at least $22, with Aaron's coming in at a whopping $33!

The Young Men were supposed to do lawn aerations yesterday for their camp fund raiser, but neither the weather nor a couple of the stores we were getting the machines from cooperated. Once again it is raining. It worked out in Edward's favor though for it allowed him the time to go to the merit badge fair.

The weather can't seem to make up its mind these days here in the great northwest. The other day it was sunny and 60 degrees one minute and the next it was snowing again! Today we have seen some sun, but mostly it is grey clouds and sprinkles (with an occasional down pour). Ed and Edward flew back east Tuesday morning and encountered more snow. Edward said that Providence, RI was a "winter wonderland." Today they were going to drive over to Boston and see Fenway Park before they drive down to Philidelphia. Aaron told me that since today was the 100th day of school there are only 80 days left before summer break! He is counting down the days. He has tested for the excel program in the Evergreen School District, but is leaning toward going back to homeschooling. (Just when I thought I had them all back in public school next year.)

Jennifer celebrated her 17th birthday this week. Her friends from school brought her 6 mylar balloons which she insisted on carrying around with her to her classes all day. (Nothing like wanting to be the center of attention.) For her birthday we upgraded her cell phone and she now has unlimited texting. She is probably going to get carpal tunnel due to all the repetitive movement she is doing now.

Happy New Year! Well, we did end up with a white Christmas after all. We experienced the most snow the area had seen in 40 years. I was surprised that the children weren't out playing in it as much as I did when I was their age. I don't think we even had a snowman in our yard. We did lose Dapple's favorite toy in all that snow and had to wait for it to melt before we could find it again. Today the temp got as high as 47, but had dropped as low as 28 last night. Ed and Jennifer are out camping (or yurtzing) with the Laurel class tonight. Still a bit cold for me.