I am a WINNER!

I never win anything. I am just not a prize winning lucky person. Don't you all know someone who always seems to win everything? I know people like that, but I am not one of those people. BUT, I am a winner. I won a contest- I was so excited, you would've thought I had won the lottery.

My good friend Melody

from Las Vegas did a contest on her blog for her 100th post.

She asked 13 questions about herself/family, and the person who answered the most correct, won a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries from Shari's Berries. Check these out!

Well, I got 9 of the 13 correct, and I was the winner. I knew some of the answers, and got lucky on the others. They were random info. questions, and it was fun to find out the answers and find out some new things about her. So, she e-mailed me and said that they would be delivered last Friday. I have to admit, that I have never had anything like this before. Being the practical, thrifty, and financially challenged girl that I am, I would never do anything like this for myself. And Kent- well, it would never even occur to him. So getting these strawberries was such a treat.

So, the Fed-Ex man knocks at my door, and delivers this box. I LOVED what it said on the outside of the box. Oh, if I could have only have REALLY followed the instructions. It made me laugh.

So I opened the big box, to find the cutest box inside.

Then I opened it up. Those chocolate strawberries were beautiful! I almost hated to eat them. Not really though. I used every ounce of gumption I could muster and waited until Kent got home from work, so he could enjoy them with me. Nice, huh? :) The strawberries were so yummy! I wish each of you were here to share them with me. It was such a fun diversion from the norm. I felt so----pampered, eating them. And in case you wonder.....7. Not all at once though. :) Thanks Melody. You are such a great person, I am glad you are my friend. That was so much fun. It made my day.

Spunky Girl

This little one cracks me up. She definitely has a mind of her own. I may need to buy a book.
Ha! Ha!
(Sorry about the sideways video. I need to remember to shoot it the right direction.)

A Beautiful Day

It is amazing how your perspective changes after a long winter of being cooped up inside. Today has been a beautiful day! We can see a little concrete, we haven't had any snow for a few days, and it was warm enough to play. ( High 30's or low 40's?) The kids rode bikes and played in the snow a little. (PS. How do you like Reed's hand me down "Dream Journey" bike? Poor kid, we need to get him something a little more boyish. He has been teased sometimes when he has ridden it to school- that boy is riding a girls bike. We just tell him he is lucky because he gets to have a 4 wheeler. That seems to do the trick. :) )

Even Morgan and I were out for about an hour enjoying the day. I have to admit that I was the first to wimp out and go inside, but hey, an hour isn't bad.

I love Saturdays. We are all home together, and no running in and out the door heading off to work. We have had fun. We went to the mall, which rarely happens, and cashed in a gift certificate we had for See's chocolate. We got toffee. Yummm! I wish you were here Mom, we could share it! The kids were pretty happy because they got to ride on an escalator. It is so nice when your kids are easily pleased. We are having stake conference this weekend so Kent has meetings this afternoon, and another one tonight. Now it is time to come back to reality and do some Saturday's work.

Sweet Freedom

Morgan is so happy to be outside. Every time we open the door, she says "coat, coat." She wants to be outside SO bad. Today was her lucky day. About 2 minutes into playing she took a nose dive, and skinned her face all up. But that didn't stop her. She had a ball. She is going to LOVE being outside this summer.

Piano Lessons

Introducing..... Maria Miles' Piano Students

Student #1- This young lady's name is Camille. She likes to play duets with her teacher, and she is great at practicing. I am not trying to get too attached to having her as my student. She will be better than her teacher before too long at this rate!- 

Student #2- Morgan is my next student. She is one of the hardest to keep on task. She wiggles and squirms all over, and we can never seem to get the lessons started, much less finished.

McCray is student #3. With some kids, its always a "battle". Literally. He comes into lessons, and sets up the guys. Dark vs. Light. Every time, it's a different story. The outcome is usually the same- light wins.

Poor student #4 is Reed. He never gets a chance to show me what he has got. He has a hard time squeezing in his turn at the piano. We have to play his lessons, "by ear."

If I didn't already have enough to do....

Before... and After
Sorry about the dark shot. McCray was my photographer, and I feel pretty lucky that I made it in there at all! It took an hour and a half to do this, and it still wasn't a great job.

The nerve! It snowed yesterday, on a weekday. That is bad for me. Kent leaves for work at 6 am and gets home at 7 pm because of overtime right now, so if it snows during the week, I am the lucky shoveler. Or unlucky shoveler, I guess. It snowed about 8 inches yesterday morning. It was a really windy, bad storm. The news said there was over 200 accidents in the valley. Unbelieveable! I got out and shoveled, and survived. BUT... I am going to keep praying for storms only on the weekends! :) ( And pining for St George and Las Vegas winters)

The Price you Pay....

We decided to hold McCray back a year and not have him start Kindergarten until next year. We are VERY happy with our decision. McCray is a gentle guy and loves being home with his Mom. We thought that letting him mature for another year would help him socially and academically. He is a smart kid, but just has not been interested much in coloring, writing, etc. We have worried about him being taller than his kindergarten teacher if we hold him back, but he is going to be big no matter when he starts school. Preschool would have been wonderful for him, just not financially possible for us this year. So, we have preschool at home 2 days a week, and lucky guys, Mom is their teacher. We have had fun, and McCray eats it up! He LOVES every minute of it. Reed likes it for about 5 minutes, and then he has had enough. It's an age thing. Lately McCray is not satisfied with just a lesson, an activity and a craft. He wants to do crafts all day long. It wears me out some days. Just this week, he has made a dinosaur diorama, we've made and played with play doh, we've made jabber jabbers, done lacing cards, colored, made cookies, and on and on...... He is continually wanting to DO something. I guess this is the price I have to pay for keeping McCray home for an extra year. He keeps me busy, but what a great way to spend my time- playing with my kids. And the rewards? Priceless.