spring break & good mail

Today was the first day of our Spring break and, as if on cue, the Spring weather arrived! I'm not sure how warm it actually got today, but the forecast was for 76 degrees. Let's not forget that we had 3. snowfalls. last. week. I've been waiting and waiting for the Spring weather, but I've gotta say, I'm not a fan of the instantly hot weather. Where are the weeks of 60 degrees, my ultimate temperature? Utah weather is schizophrenic during the season changes -- I know this -- so why am I always taken by surprise? I know it happens suddenly. I just was not prepared for it to happen this suddenly. That's all I'm saying.

Lucas made a list of possible fun things to do this week. Max didn't seem to have anything to add, so we're going with Lucas's list. And at the top of his list was going to the "wooden park", otherwise known as Pleasant Grove's Discovery Park, where all of the structures are made of wood.

Max decided that he was finally ready for a foray outside of the house (after 9 days of being sick inside).
He did get tired easily. Good thing he brought along the Sudoku book that Jill gave him, it's been his trusty companion all week.


Eva's favorite activities were playing with the echo box, the musical stations, and getting her brothers to play with her.


It was a beautiful day, and it seemed like a good idea until we saw that at least 50 other kids had had the same idea. The kids were not deterred, but after an hour and a half they were so hot and thirsty they wanted to leave. You don't have to ask me twice.

We stopped at Walmart on the way home for drinks and treats for the week, as well as a few other staples. They were having such a great time scouting for treats they didn't seem to notice we were grocery shopping! When we left, Eva said, "It's fun shopping with Lucas and Max!". Truth be told, it was. They never go on errands with us anymore because we always do them when the boys are in school.

We had lunch at home and Eva went down for her nap. The boys were playing a game together and I ran out to buy a gift for a baby shower tomorrow. I browsed at Barnes & Noble for awhile and just generally enjoyed some quality alone time at last -- it's been too long.

I had to wake Eva up because her nap was going on too long. Seriously. And after my little alone outing, I had the energy to make dinner -- for all of us.

This is where you are rewarded for reading this long post by my shamefaced admission that we very rarely eat a family dinner all together. My kids are terribly picky eaters, they never want to eat what I cook, and it all seems like just so much effort. I've made attempts in the past to get family dinners going, but my family was not supportive of it at all. Yet it keeps weighing on me. Every time I read about one of those studies showing the many benefits of sharing mealtimes, a fresh wave of guilt washes over me. Every time I wonder how they're going to learn good table manners, or appreciate vegetables or foods with more than 2 ingredients.

The final straw was when I opened up my Conference notebook before the first session of Conference last weekend. I glanced through the last page of notes I had taken from the October conference. Elder Oaks had reiterated how important family mealtimes are and said "What your family wants for dinner is you!". That combined with Elder Bednar's talk about praying with the intent to act made me determined to make this change that I've been ruminating over literally for years now.

So. We've had dinner together for two nights in a row now! I decided not to wait around until my family became more supportive and just go ahead with it. I didn't say a word about it, I just asked the boys to set the table and we sat down together. (By then it was too late for anyone to complain!) I don't know that we'll do it every single night, but I know that it will definitely be more the rule than the exception. It does take more effort, but I am seeing good things coming of it already: the boys are setting the table and clearing the dishes, Max has tried pork chops and liked them, Lucas has eaten sugar snap peas, Eva pronounced cauliflower to be yummy, and we've had some laughs together. Victory will be mine.

For Family Home Evening tonight, we watched The Bee Movie (funnier than I expected) and ate popcorn with Wild Cherry m&ms. Everyone but Lucas liked them.

In addition, I have some good mail to report:

I got some Royal Mail from Amanda! What a treat. Decorative napkins (always a favorite), cute post-its, and one of her painfully cute cards made with artwork from an old children's book. I am now on a quest for a book like that!

Tasha sent Eva this adorable Gymboree shirt and some ponytail holders to match. She said the sale was too good not to share. I think it's just plain nice!

Amie sent me a belated birthday card with a Sonic gift card inside -- my first Sonic gift card! I can definitely put that to good use. Thanks to my friends for thinking of me!

Other happenings from today:

We actually had to turn on our air conditioner -- even though we had the heat on until two days ago. Would it surprise you to know that it wasn't functioning properly? Even though we replaced the air conditioning unit about 5 years ago? Even though the furnace motherboard died and we replaced it right after Christmas? We turned it on and nothing much happened, just the faintest of breezes came from the vents. I changed the filter, just in case. As the interior temperature climbed 4 more degrees and I could hear the unit limping along, I decided to just turn it off in case it was causing more harm than good. Guess what? After I turned it off, a little cool air started to come out of the vents. No joke. Luckily, snow and rain are in the forecast for tomorrow!

And a little mouse update. Recently I discovered new mouse activity under the kitchen sink. I immediately cleaned out the cupboard -- again -- and set a trap (one of the old-fashioned ones, Dad). When I checked it today, I saw that the cheese had been completely cleaned out of the trap, yet the trap had not been triggered. Really? The super-mice had to choose our house to try out their powers?!

I could be wrong, but we could be in for a long week here.