Is it time for clash?

Remember the good old days of elementary school when you could wear any combination of clothes and nobody cared? Here's Allie living out those days in a purple polka dot shirt with turquoise and black striped pants. I am not too concerned, she will start to worry about her clothes soon enough.

Palm Sunday Dresses??

I started working on the Easter dresses more than a week ago. I was so proud of myself, I was just going to work on them sporadically for 2 weeks until Easter. I would do a couple of seams here and then a few more there. I had the dresses about 1/3 completed on Friday, but I still had more than a week until Easter. That's when it dawned on me. Easter Sunday was General Conference. We don't get dressed for church for General Conference. What is the point of an Easter dress if you can't wear it on Easter? But I have to make dresses, it is a tradition. I thought about wearing them the week after Easter, but that seemed a little anti-climatic. So I decided to kick it into high gear and finish the dresses before Palm Sunday and wear them then. It wasn't easy, I worked on those dresses everywhere without stopping. I brought them to ward activities, and baseball games. Finally at 1:00 in the morning I was finished. Here they are, don't they look great!

All I Want Is for Easter is Gabe's Front Tooth

As I was thinking about what to post last week, I thought about Gabe's tooth. His top teeth were just about to come out, and have been hanging and dangling in his mouth for about 3 weeks now. I thought to myself, "I will write about the garage this week, then his teeth should be out and I can write about his teeth next week." Here we are, the next week and those teeth are still hanging on! I am very frustrated, but still too squeamish to do anything about it! Maybe I will post toothless pictures next week!

Side by Side Play

The construction on our garage is moving right along. The walls are up, the electrical is strung, the roof is solid and about half of the shingles are on. As the building structure continues to grow, so does the pile of construction discards in my front yard. The yard is littered with sawdust (somewhat resembling snow), nails (much more hazardous than sawdust), boards of all shapes and sizes along with misc other construction materials, most of which I don't even know what they are used for. However, I have forgotten the old addage "One's garbage may be another man's treasure." What the construction workers have viewed as trash and placed in a refuse pile, my children have regarded as an opportunity presenting itself. They have begun to construct some sort of fort in the front yard. I am not sure of the details, but they were hard at work the other night. They continued after dark, using Jeff's spotlight to provide light. I just laughed, snapped a few pictures, and figured if they were happy, then I was happy.

On top of LA

The kids had a random day off of school this last Friday. If you ask the kids, they will tell you that I always make them clean when we have a day off school. Not true! I often try to visit one of the many museums and other establishments that are peppered throughout the entertainment capital of the world.
This week, I selected the Getty Museum. It is an art museum perched high on the hill bordering the Sepulveda Pass (the thoroughfare from Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley). The Getty Center has is a multi-faceted cultural center. The museum is dedicated to the display of many European art treasures, there are 500 year old original manuscripts, bronze and marble sculptures, beautifully carved furniture and stiff state portraits and delicate paintings of every day life. The architecture of the buildings makes you feel as if you have been lifted out of the daily world of city life to an area of beauty and culture. The gardens are spectacular, especially in the spring when the azaleas of the central garden are in full bloom. To top it off, there is a spectacular view of Los Angeles.
Whereas the beauty of art is still trying to find it's way into my children's hearts, we enjoyed the time we spent together. I think their favorite activity was rolling down the grass hill. We did enjoy the gardens, Gabe liked the cactus garden, viewed from above, Maddie and Jayd enjoyed determining how to complete the maze in the central garden. They indulged me and quickly passed by all of the art exhibits, pausing once in a while to look at something in detail. Allie liked the family room, where the kids could experience hands on activities reinforcing the antiquities they had already seen. All in all, it was a good day for the family.

Rain Rain Go Away!

This year we have had a substantial amount of rain, and we have felt the effects. A few ill-placed nails rusted out on the roof, thereby leaving holes for the rain to penetrate. We had a large leak in the living room on Saturday. Then a few days later, we awoke to a puddle in the boys room from another leak in the ceiling. This one was due to the construction for the garage. Twelve years of home ownership and no leaks, then in one week we have two! Ah, the joys of home ownership!