DisneyWorld, part 1

My sister planned a family vacation to DisneyWorld. We went last week. Disney was offering free dining if you stayed at one of their resorts and we took them up on that offer. We flew on JetBlue buddy passes. We spent less money than we budgeted for the trip! That right there is success. The kids had fun and we had fun watching them have fun.

Unfortunately, we have come down with the flu and when I say we, I mean the WHOLE FAMILY! Ryan started it off on Saturday as we were checking out of the hotel and it has been slowly making the rounds through the family. I believe Sabrina is well enough for school tomorrow, but not Roderic. Hyrum started a fever tonight. I'm next. So this post is going to have to suffice until I feel a lot better.

And I have good things to talk about! Character meetings, Jedi Training Academy, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Grand Gatherings, puke on airplanes, cameras breaking, Orlando Temple. Stay tuned.

Traumatized

On Saturday, we decided to make a practice bike ride to school. We went with our neighbors because I'll be riding in the mornings with the kids (Roderic goes to Kindergarten!). On our way to the school, the neighbor girl fell down and scraped up her leg. We kept pressing forward - after a break to rest and reassure the 6 year old - and thought it would be a good idea to put a first aid kit on my bicycle. We played for a while on the toys at the elementary school and then got ready to return home. On the ride home, Sabrina fell down, after making a sharp turn. She scraped up her knee - even put a hole in the capris that I made. We rested again for a while. She complained that both of her arms felt weak and they were shaking. She didn't think that she could make it home, but she did. After we were home and ate a ice cream popsicle, she still complained of her right arm. I wondered if it was broken -
she broke this arm when she was 4 while getting off of a friend's trampoline - but nothing was obvious. No swelling, no bruising, no bones sticking out. I wrapped it in an ace bandage and she said that it felt a bit better. I convinced Ryan that there was no need for us to take her to the ER because she wasn't in dire pain. We kept her arm wrapped Sunday and Monday. After school, she said that it had hurt to write and color. Tuesday afternoon I got an appointment for her to see the Dr. When I picked her up from school to go to the Dr., I asked her how her arm was and she said it wasn't so bad. I wondered why I was taking her to the Dr.

We waited for the Dr. for quite a while. Let's just say that waiting in the exam room for a half an hour at 3 pm with 2 young boys was not a joy. The Dr. looked at her arm asked her where it hurt and poked and prodded her arm. Then he ordered an x-ray. The x-ray came back and he stared at it for several minutes, then he came over to Sabrina and poked and prodded her arm and asked if what he was doing hurt. He repeated this 3 times. Then the diagnosis:


A "Green Tree" fracture. Meaning that the exterior of her bone is intact but the interior is broken. She gets to wear a splint for the next 2 weeks, after which time she should be healed. Ouch. I asked about soccer, violin and bike riding. The Dr. says that she can do anything that doesn't hurt. So she'll play soccer, but not goalie. It hurts her to hold the violin bow, so she's taking a break from lessons this month. The splint impedes her holding onto the bike handle, so she'll be riding her scooter to school for the next week and a half. We'll see what else she has troubles with.

While we were at the Dr., I asked about Roderic getting the remainder of his shots for kindergarten. The wait was agonizing for him! He received 3 in his thighs. The nurse and the doctor gave him Laffy Taffy for the pain. Then we stopped for ice cream cones on the way home. He is still complaining that his thighs hurt.

They're trying to SINK me!

I signed up Sabrina and Roderic for swimming lessons at BSU this summer on the recommendation from a few friends. Roderic was placed in level 1, which was good for him. He was so stiff, wouldn't do "bobs", tried to have a death grip on his teachers when they were working with him, etc. After the second day, he came home saying, "They're trying to sink me!" His teachers called him "Roady" - a nickname Roderic liked, but only coming from them. I am not EVER supposed to call him that. By the end of the 3 weeks, he did "bobs" at the start of the lessons, and wasn't nearly as stiff when the teachers would help him float and do strokes.

Sabrina was in level 4. She worked on several strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, sidestroke. She improved a lot over the 3 weeks of lessons. She would still like to work on her dive, and butterfly stroke (they only did that one on the last day). She said it was a lot of fun to play water polo on the last day of class.




We'll be doing lessons from them again next year, for sure!

Sew Fun

Sabrina needed a new dress. We picked out fabric and made it. Unfortunately, the size I made for her is a bit on the small side. In fact, I discovered that it would not be possible for her to be able to put it on if I sewed the sleeves, so it's sleeveless. And, it is short - knee length. Needless to say, we'll be passing it on to some friends soon. (We've already purchased some new fabric to make the larger size.)

Gibby Midway Invasion

At the end of June, we took a quick trip to Midway, UT, nestled in the mountains on the East side of the Wasatch Mountains, to spend some time with Ryan's family. We ate good food, played mini-golf, played giant chess, slept in the closet (Roderic's idea), rode the Alpine Slide and Alpine Coaster in Park City, and had a lot of fun.

Searching for a Star!

When I heard that our local music store (Dunkley Music) was having a music contest last month, I got excited about having Sabrina enter it so she could have a recording of her playing her violin. After a few hours of thinking that way, I realized that I was wanting to push her into this because I wish I had recordings of ME when I was younger. (Once again trying to relive my childhood through my children.) So then the wheels started turning in my brain. I called my friend Fe' and asked her if she'd be my accompanist (she said YES!). I called Dunkley's to schedule a time and find out more about the contest. Each contestant got 1 hour in their recording studio (recital hall), a blank CD to lay down track and a chance to win one of 6 $50 Gift Certificates.

I prepared "American Lullaby" by Gladys Rich, since I sing it so often to my children. When I went, I brought along a book of Broadway musical songs to sing and record (like it was going to take a full hour to record a song well enough to be judged).

In order to post it here, I've put the song to a photo slide show of my 3 babies - from birth to age 1. They look a lot alike.



I have received news that I did not win one of the gift certificates. I know I will enjoy the CD I recorded immensely for years to come. Oh, and I'll be preparing even more songs for next year's contest. I need more than just 3 songs performed by me on a CD.

Set the table = White Token

My parents gave us "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. I liked a lot of what he said, in fact I'd been doing quite a bit of it. What intrigued me was commission for kids. We were counseled by our bishop several years ago to provide a way for our kids to be able to learn the law of tithing. So we started to give an allowance that they could then pay tithing on. Except it felt like they were paying tithing on money that we were already paying tithing on. It wasn't their increase.

After learning all about Dave Ramsey's commission system, I made up a chart for each of the kids - at first I didn't include one for Hyrum because he is only 2, but after a month of watching Roderic and Sabrina earn tokens, he wanted to be included.



We pay the kids as they do their work in tokens (poker chips) and then once a month we have banking day where we exchange their tokens for cash. The kids get different amounts of money for their tokens. For example, Sabrina: White token $0.15, Red token $0.30, Blue token $0.60. Roderic and Hyrum: White token $0.10, Red token $0.20, Blue token $0.40. (Doesn't that sound like the money list in the Book of Mormon (Alma 11), except we don't have a token that is worth the sum of them all!)

Everyone who helps with the task earns a token, regardless of when in the process they join. (See Matthew 20:1-15) We want the family to work together. And when it works, it is wonderful! Work gets done together; the kids know what we want them to do; they are able to have money to spend and save.