Cub Scout Kaleb!

Tonight was Kaleb's first Pack Meeting. He was so excited! He came with me to the scout shop to buy his shirt and the initially needed patches. (Man those are a bugger to sew on!) :) Kaleb is excited to start earning badges and awards. Our ward provides a Wolf Book for him, so as soon as we get it, we'll start working on passing things off.

"Magic" was the theme of the night. The boys got a couple of cool toy magic tricks to take home. One of the priests in the ward did a magic show that was pretty good for an amateur. I liked his "mind reading" trick- he went out of the room while a volunteer placed a bouncy ball under a paper cup. Then he came back and concentrated on "reading the mind" of the volunteer while hovering his hand over each cup to determine where the ball was hidden. I think he was able to guess 7 or 8 in a row before he messed up.


We're all excited for this new adventure in Kaleb's life!

What's in a name?

Apparently there are 3,039 people in the United States with the name Kayleen. I've met four or five of them. 99.9% of people named Kayleen are female... lol!

There are 13,766 people with the last name Pemberton. However, no one is named Kayleen Pemberton, besides me. Or at least the likelihood is 0%. It's good to be unique.

Any guesses on the name Robert? Duh da da DA! 4,787,573 people in the US are named Robert. Big shocker, eh? There are possibly 217 people named Robert Pemberton.

Check your name out, it's kinda fun! (Thanks for the link, Kris!)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Happy B-day to Rob!

Rob's birthday was Saturday, the 5th. He shares a birthday with my Grandfather Ted, and my Great-Uncle Larry. We had family come over on Sunday for dinner. Ethan & Emily, my parents and siblings, and Rob's friend Darren came. We had lasagna, Frog Eye Salad, Green Salad, Garlic Bread, and those who didn't have lasagna had North African Chicken. (Thanks for the recipe, Courtney!) Dessert was Lemon Meringue Pie (Robert has been dropping hints about wanting this for a couple of months now), and chocolate cupcakes with penuche frosting.

Robert got money to put towards buying a bike, since he's the only one who doesn't have one. Then we can go on family bike rides!

I asked the kids some questions about Robert, and these are their answers.

Questions:
How old is Daddy?
What do you like most about Daddy?
What is your favorite activity with Daddy?
If you could do anything with Daddy, what would you do?
What do you want to say to Daddy on his birthday?

Kaleb:
30
He’s fun
Playing games
Go skiing
“I love you and have a good birthday!”

Elise:
36? Wait, 27
That he takes care of us.
Go to the park and take walks with him
Go skiing
“I love you Dad! You’re the best dad I ever had!”

Isaak:
Hmmm… I think he is 5
When he plays with me
Watch him play games on his computer. He has two computers.
“I want to help him know which way to go. I want to wrap him a present. I love him when he fixes the lights.”

Macy:
14 81
That he bought us new blinds
Play a game, like the house game
Go roller-skating
“I like how he plays with me. I like going Trick or Treating with him. I love you!”

Easter Celebrations

Ahhh... the beauty of commercialization. We took the kids to the City-sponsored Easter Egg "Hunt"... (actually a wild free-for-all where kids stand around wondering what's going on while the parents madly dash about the field picking up eggs, toys, etc and stuffing them into their kids baskets saying, "Here you go Billy, good job!")

We arrived with 5 minutes to spare, or so we thought. (Macy's dad TJ was in town for the weekend, too.) The hunt was supposed to begin at 10:00 a.m., announced by the Fire Engine Siren going off. However, the Fire Engine had not yet arrived, and city officials, including my Mom, were getting a little nervous and wanted to reassure parents that the hunt would start on time. So, meaning well, Mom picked up the microphone as someone turned it on and there was a HUGE blast of feedback from the speakers. Um, can you say, "RUN! THE HUNT HAS BEGUN!"?? Well, apparently that's what everyone thought. Immediately the fields (which were cordoned off according to age groups) were full of bodies (mostly MUCH too big to be "hunting" eggs), and within about 20 seconds, the grass was clean.



I think Macy and Isaak managed to snag 3 or 4 eggs each from the 18 month- 2 year old field. We were nowhere near the 3-5 year old field. Kaleb and Elise both missed out, since they weren't near their field either. The kids were pretty disappointed, as were the families that were still walking in from the parking lot, assuming they still had 3 minutes.

So, Mom and Dad were generous and sweet enough to sponsor a repeat hunt at their house after church on Sunday. It was MUCH better. The kids were actually able to use their powers of reasoning and deduction, as well as eyesight, to hunt the eggs for themselves. They all ended up with a pretty equal amount of loot... candy, and pocket change. Mom also had a little bucket full of other treats for them. She bought the girls some cute sun dresses, and the boys pajamas. It was a fun day. We enjoyed spending time with them and having dinner as well. We watched "How to Eat Fried Worms"... a must-see for any 7-13 year old boys. It was cute, but also quite disgusting.


Happy Easter, everyone!

Roller Derby, Anyone?

So, we've been trying to figure out how to get the kids to help out a little more around the house. A couple of weeks ago on Saturday, I made a chart with various chores on it, and told the kids they could choose to help or not. Any chore they did got a sticker in the box. Whoever had the most stickers at the end of the weekend would get a special surprise.

ALL of the kids did chores! It was GREAT! We didn't have to bug them at all. The girls were especially gung ho about it, and were running around cleaning like mad-women. When Kaleb saw how many stickers the girls were getting, he said, "Hey Isaak, come on, let's go clean our room!" :) It worked like a charm.

We had a simpler chart for Sunday morning- mostly just tidying up and getting ready for church. That night we told the kids that they had ALL earned our special surprise and that the next weekend we would take them roller skating.



I found a coupon on the internet for Classic Skating... 5 people could skate for free. I didn't want to skate anyway, since I'm the world's biggest klutz, so that was perfect! On St. Patrick's Day, we bought pizza and ate it in the car on the way. We got in free and then they gave us coupons for free skate rentals. So the only thing we paid for there was a $3 pitcher of soda since we didn't have drinks with our pizza.

The kids all had a great time. Robert had fun taking turns with Macy and Isaak around the rink. His back was pretty sore the next day from bending over and holding them to keep them from falling. I had fun watching and taking pictures. We'll have to do it again sometime!

Schnee!!!

This was our biggest storm - on Jan 21st... Until yesterday! I don't have any pics of yesterday, though. So, anyone know when Spring will be here? No More SCHNEE!!!
Well, at least the kids had fun with shoveling, throwing, and making snow angels.

Macy's Birthday

Macy graduated from the Twinkle Variations on Jan. 17th. She played all 6 variations with about 50 other children on stage at Cottonwood High School. I got to be one of the teachers leading the Twinkle group, and Macy was on the front row right by me. She did a very good job. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards Macy, Rob and I went to get ice cream with TJ and his friend Jon. We celebrated Macy's birthday on Jan. 20th. Mom, Dad, and my siblings came over for dinner and to open presents and eat cake. Enjoy the pics!