February, March, April, and May

I know.  There's been a hole in your life the past 6 months without my regular posts.  Well, despair no more.  It's catch up time.  Lucky for you, about 2 months of pictures got deleted from my phone, so this'll be shorter than it would be otherwise. 

February

Pics deleted

As far as I can tell from looking at my calendar, February was full of the usual business, plus a lot of sickness, including another round of stomach bugs.  We babysat a few kids who threw up 15 times in 12 hours.  This was the grand finale to 3 months of non-stop illness. Bleh. 

March

Ira hid leprechauns all over the house.  I'm writing this in July, and I'm pretty sure there are still a few lurking in the cabinets and bookshelves.

Easter

I kept e-mailing our ward about the "Esther Egg" hunt.  Oops. 

We kept the Easter Egg hunt super simple, because the Primary Temple trip was also in March and we devoted the majority of our time to that instead. (See last post.)

This was the month that Esther started going crazy for solids!

Caught enjoying broccoli.

Bean face

Post-nap hand print sleep mark

April

We started the month with our trip to Japan! (Post pending.)  On the way there, we dropped off the boys at Grandma's house in Utah where they had some quality cousin time.

Tiff and Valley demonstrating the lap change

I couldn't have married into a better family

Esther decided on this trip, that she hates car rides with a passion.

The boys enjoying their gifts from Japan.

Hug mugs!

We've been inspired to try our hand at some tasty Japanese dishes including Onigiri and...

Korokke.

 Eliot isn't our most adventurous eater at the moment.  Not even when offered yummy Japanese potato croquettes.

Movie Night at the school.  The Peanuts Movie

Our new tree survived getting knocked over by a snow plow!  It was down to about a 45 degree angle, and we just kind of shoved it back up. 

Nest discovery

Esther's head is huge.  On the chart, it looked far beyond the 97th percentile line...higher than I imaged the 100 mark to be.  Meh.  Anyway, this helmet is sized for kids 3-5.

In case you wondered what birth class at the Quinn's looks like. :)

Esther trying on a hoodie I wore as a little 80s baby.

9th Familiversary.  Since we celebrated earlier on our trip, Ant and I almost forgot our actual Anniversary, and ended up going out spontaneously to a restaurant we've been meaning to try.  The Palm Palace....

...with these guys.

Eliot found a mutant dandelion outside the preschool.

Graduation party x 3!

I hosted a little celebration for these three lovely people.

Esther figured out stairs!  At least going up them.

Father Sons Campout

Apparently Eliot didn't sleep too well during the night, and caught up a little in the car.

May

Mother's Day dinner!  Check out Anthony's presentation skills!

Since we were out of town for Eliot's b-day, we celebrated his 4th a month late.

The Party

Dejavu!  Fortunately for me, Eliot wanted a repeat of Ira's birthday.  

If this looks familiar, you're not crazy.

New scooter

Esther enjoying Spring rain

We took the kids to the Young People's Theatre production of Tarzan.  They did great!  Especially for a cast aged 18 and under.

Eliot decided to spend his birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth on pirating it up.

Ira and his friend Vicenzo at their friend's Cheyanna's B-day party.

Esther's unicurl.

No explanation

The boys participated in the community's "Squirt Sports." It's six weeks sampling soccer, flag football and basketball.  They loved it! 

The Primary heart attacked the bishop's office with a few strings of hearts like this.  Each heart represents a week that a child remembered to bring their scriptures to church.  I sewed them together so we could decorate with speed, and so that bishop wouldn't hate us forever when he eventually had to clean them up. 

Food For Thought

Back in March we started a little discussion group.  We meet once a month with friends to potluck and chat about a predetermined topic.  Different people have hosted topics including Cultural Appropriation, Artificial Intelligence, Identity, and Civil Disobedience.  It's been really fun. Here are pics from a couple.

Kyra's Birthday cake.  This was a mathematical pun, that I'm not mathematical enough to remember or completely comprehend.  I kept it in here for you numbers people.

These pics crack me up.  Everyone looks really bored and uncomfortable.  But at least in my memory, we were just all really engrossed in the conversation. On the other hand, it wouldn't hurt to eventually get comfortable furniture. 

Sorry that was kind of Travel log-y.  I haven't been budgeting time well for documenting life.  Anyway, I hope Summer is treating you all splendidly.  Till next time.  

Temple Field Trip

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to share a highlight from March.

We were able to take our Primary to the Detroit Temple.  Organizing this event was work.  But we had lots of help, and it was worth every bit of effort. 

Here's how the day played out.

Set up:  Anthony was on photo duty, and was using Ira to test things out.  These aren't Ira's most "reverent" photos, but since we may as well call him He Who Hates to be Photographed, I decided to keep them.  The ham was uncharacteristically on.

Arrival

I took this pic later, as evident by my tiny bare foot.  

One of my councilors made these cute name tags for everyone to fill out as they arrived.

The Detroit Temple is an hour away from us, so I was excited so many children attended, and so many families were willing to use their Saturday this way.

Phase 1

I taught the first portion.  We compared the temple to other buildings, and highlighted the temple as a place to make covenants, receive blessings, and to serve the Lord.

Then to teach a little about vicarious work, we did an activity where kids found a partner.  One of the partners had to stay within a giant rectangle I made with painters tape.  The other partner could move freely.  Then I whipped out a big bag of candy across the room, and told children that they could come get a piece, but only those outside the rectangle.  The kids who were stuck were kind of freaking out. So we met together to brainstorm solutions.  "This is a problem!  What can we do to help our friends?"  And finally one of the kids suggested those outside the rectangle could get candy for those inside.  Everyone was relieved.  Candy for everyone!  Then we brought it back to baptism for the dead, and helping those who cannot help themselves.  I'm hoping that it was a powerful and memorable lesson, and that kids weren't too distracted by the intense fear of candy inequity.

Phase 2

The next part, we broke up into groups and had three rotating events.

First was photographs with Anthony.  He took pictures of each individual child, and then one with their family members present.  Here are a couple.

The second, was the family history center.  I didn't get to see what was happening here, but I heard it was pretty great.  The Family History workers helped kids do some actual research and introduced fan charts. 

The third event was an outside tour of the temple with President Hedquist, the Detroit Temple President. He was very generous with his time.  While waiting for the tour to start, each group waited inside the lobby.  I'm so glad they got to do this!  We weren't so sure it would be possible if it was a busy day at the Temple.  But it all worked out, and they were able to go inside and feel peace there.  Then President Hedquist walked the children around the temple grounds and would stop to explain what happens inside  each part using photographs of rooms inside.  For those unfamiliar with LDS temples, typically children aren't able to go inside the temple until they're 12 years old.

President Hedquist referred to this quote below by President Monson, 

and asked the children if they'd like to touch the temple. 

"As we touch the temple and love the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation."  

Then we took our group photo.  

Here I am trying to get everyone photo-ready.  The good one is at the top of the post.

Phase 3

Lunch, treats, and closing remarks.

This is our Bishop.  He helped a lot as the leader of our ward, and also as the husband of my councilor. :)  Somehow she avoided getting in a single picture, but made these awesome bags for children to take home.

Inside, was a family history chart, a cookie, and a little craft.

Our Stake President, President Ward made the closing remarks, and was able to sum everything up beautifully.  I was glad that he emphasized some important things that I didn't get to in my opening lesson.

There you have it.  It was a beautiful day.  If I could do this again, I'd tweak and adjust things a little, but in all, I think it went really well.  We're grateful for all the help from teachers, parents, and leaders.  I hope this is an experience the children treasure.