butterfly in the sky

i can go twice as high!  take a look, it's in a book!  a reading rainbow!

how's that for quality children's programming???

if i were at some sort of conference, now everyone would clap enthusiastically... : )  (for the show, not me! : )  i remember that being a favorite.  there were special favorite episodes, too.  for me i loved the one where levar worked as a short order cook in the diner and he got confused by the names they had for things.  i also liked the story "meanwhile, back at the ranch."  i also remember "follow the drinking gourd" and an episode with storm chasers.  my favorite ending (can't remember anything else about the episode) was one where the guys with the steel drums play the theme song and you see the sunset.  but, you don't have to take my word for it : )


anyway, we've been doing a butterfly unit at school.  we've read books, poems, done art projects, etc.  a few weeks ago will was going to get dropped off at home so it was ok that my errands were taking a little longer than planned.  he beat me home by a few minutes, but when i was running into the grocery store for something on my last stop before home i saw he texted, "did you order live insects?"  i texted back, "no, but april did... they're caterpillars for school!!!"  by having them sent to our house it wouldn't really matter what day they arrived because then i could take them to the school easily.  it was perfect timing, though, because i was going back the next day.  the kids were so excited!  they made observation journals so we started right away drawing pictures and writing what we saw.

the last day before spring break (so THAT'S why she's blogging so much! : ) we got to see the caterpillars, who had grown from skinny little caterpillars into big fat caterpillars, build their chrysalises!  like, really, throughout the day we could see the changes happening!  it was so cool!!!!  there was one whose chrysalis was on the floor of the container and most kids (most boys) were convinced it was dead.  one girl in particular was convinced it WAS NOT dead.  by the time i carefully carried the container out with me at the end of the day 4 were in chrysalis with the last one attached to the ceiling/lid but not having done anything and not moving.  i worried that maybe he had lost his oomph and that was it for him... BUT throughout the course of the evening he did his thing!  that was cool that he pulled through and we could see the changes at home that evening!  i felt like a proud parent! : )

a few days ago i transferred the paper from the lid into the collapsible net thing and carefully put the one from the bottom onto the bottom of the enclosure on a paper towel (as the instructions said to do with any that had fallen).

then today after i returned home from my marathon meeting (not that kind of marathon! : ) and was talking with brett on the phone i passed it and saw something flutter!  the one on the floor of the enclosure had come out!  he wasn't dead!  he made it!!  how exciting!!!

THEN i was walking past for i don't even remember what and i saw that another one was coming out of its chrysalis that very moment!!!!  i saw nature happening!!!!  well.. kind of  : )  part of me wanted to grab the camera to take a picture for the kids, but there was no way that i could step away and stop watching.  i didn't want to miss it!  i watched his crumpled up wings get uncrumpled and slowly smooth out and stretch out.  i watched him open and close his little proboscis what seemed like 100 times.. uncurl, recurl, uncurl, recurl... i didn't want to miss the next ones so i stood there a loooong time just in case... and i've walked by the check on them 20some times! : )  hopefully i won't miss the others!  i texted will the good news and told him i've already named them as well: nicky and ricky : )  hahaha... it's just what came to mind...


throughout all of our butterfly studies i can't help but be so amazed by the metamorphosis that takes place from caterpillar to butterfly.  it's a testament to me of Heavenly Father's love for us in one of his simple (and yet so complex!), beautiful creations.  it's a nice symbol of spring, growth, and progression, not to mention so amazing that the little multi-leg creatures hide out in their cocoon for a week or so and while they're in there grow wings and all the other body parts, changing shape, etc!  there are so many amazing creations we've been blessed with!

i will consider your name suggestions for the remaining 3 if you are fast enough... : )  now it's time to go make my gluten free dinner!  i'll see ya next time! (doo doot doot : )

bang bang you're dead! brush your teeth and go to bed!

housekeeping:  i feel like i need to clarify... it's not like i've never had a spiritual Easter before... : )  this year has been a beautiful season that has stretched out and been joyful meaningful time despite other challenges.  i have loved having it in my heart and mind for more than a weekend or day and having personal, meaningful experiences throughout.  i hope it's brought you much joy as well.  and like us, hope you're enjoying your candy! : )


so, in this family we have an unspoken rule about talking at bedtime... ha  we have our bedtime routine and rituals down.  generally if we haven't read yet, that's first.  then it's the ol' floss, brush, face wash, prayers, lights out.  will does whatever he does while i take longer...  yes, i do happen to watch the clock and brush for 2 minutes : )  sometimes i need to go turn off a light or take care of something else, so the 2 minutes get fuzzy.  anyway, once the lights are out and we've crawled into bed it's time to finish talking about whatever we were talking about, declare that we need to start going to bed earlier, etc, and say our usual goodnight dialogue.

then it's supposed to be over... : )

you can guess who usually breaks the unofficial rule : ).  if someone remembers something or thinks of something funny and thinks it's worthy of being spoken (ha) or anything of the like, then it's ok to be said, BUT it's said quickly because we've entered the sleep-time zone.  this is the time to lay quietly, listen to the other person roll over/yank the sheets, listen to the clock tick, think about everything that needs taken care of, and see who hears the other person fall asleep first.

is this way too intimate???

so last night it's been quiet for a few short minutes.  then there's this long (6-10 seconds?) relatively high pitched moaning sound.  will says, "was that a cat??"  i said, "no, that was my stomach!" ahahahaha

and then i heard him fall asleep first : )

HAPPY Easter! : )

i feel like this has been my best Easter yet!  i have lots of great memories of candy, baskets, eggs, primary activities, egg hunts, dinners at grandma's, tv specials, etc.  i wouldn't trade those memories away, but i'm grateful that i've started to grow up enough to appreciate Easter for what it really is.  Jesus Christ has always been part of Easter to me, but as a child those talks, lessons, and even watching Easter Dream were all things just to be gotten through or endured so that i could dig around the fake grass to find the "good" candies : )

here we are at the temple this last saturday!  we enjoyed a really nice endowment session then went to the interstake center on the temple grounds right after for an afternoon performance of "Lamb of God."  it was a beautiful musical representation of the Savior's final days, the Atonement, and Resurrection.  complete with a full choir, soloists, narration, an orchestra, we really liked it!

i saw a link on facebook from LDS Living that was something like 4 ways to.. ok, i just looked it up for you : )  it's, "4 Easter Traditions to Bring Your Family Closer to Christ."  i liked their suggestions and felt like will and i had already pretty much been doing those things, so i felt good about it and thought something like, "yeah, no wonder Easter has been so good this year!"

a long time ago, like 1 1/2 to 2 years ago (that kind of long time ago : ), a good friend said something about how her family did this thing where they started at Christmas and went through Easter following the Savior's life.  they did it for family home evening and it included reading scriptures/looking at pictures/watching videos/etc.  so then this last Christmas season i remembered that and was interested so i asked her about it.  she sent us her basic schedule and some notes that she used for teaching their young son.  we were excited about it, so we started using it right after Christmas and each week in family home evening read scriptures and watched Life of Christ Bible videos to go along with it.  sometimes we'd stretch it out and do more throughout the week as part of our reading.  this probably goes without saying, but it was REALLY nice!  especially these last few weeks leading up to Easter as we've read about the last weeks and days of the Savior's mortal life.  i found myself all throughout the beginning of april so excited to get to Easter because i knew what was coming!

along with our devotionals about the Savior's life we've had our "normal" music, but a few other things, too.  a few times we've watched Music and the Spoken Word, there was General Conference music, and we've probably heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir cd (Consider the Lillies) that's in the car 23523 times now.. : )  it usually just runs on sundays and when we're driving to/from the temple, but we haven't changed it out for a while, so we've heard it a lot.  there are many nice songs on there most of which are about Christ.  my favorite one on there is I Believe in Christ.  i'm always hoping that we'll get to track 13 while we're in the car!  (i know i could skip... : )  my favorite verse in it right now is the fourth:

I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!
From him I'll gain my fondest dream;
And while I strive through grief and pain,
His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."
I believe in Christ; so come what may,
With him I'll stand in that great day
When on this earth he comes again
To rule among the sons of men.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did an online campaign called "Because of Him."  (with a hashtag : )  i think that verse means a lot to me right now because i know that because of Him everything will be made right in the end.  every promised blessing will come.  everything that is hard now can be and will be made "light" because of Him.  because i know that i will be resurrected just like our Savior and i can live with my family forever and have eternal joy and increase i can be strengthened through my challenges now.  because our Savior lived a perfect life and submitted His will to the Father and atoned for my sins and shortcomings i can be redeemed if i choose to follow Him.

it's still the Easter season!  it's not over!  the signs of spring and renewal are still all around.  these reminders of rebirth and God's love for us are abundant and i'm so grateful!  keep celebrating Easter!  keep gratitude and faith in our Savior strong in your heart!  this is what it's all about!

a couple days ago i read a thing or two online where the writers said they liked Easter better than Christmas.  i don't think i would have understood that most of  my life.  now i do.  i completely understand it!  Christmas will always be special and i will love it for many reasons, but the JOY of Easter is what it's all about.  it's about eternal families LIVING happily together with our souls and perfect bodies reunited living in Celestial glory in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.  i know this is true and i am so grateful for our loving Heavenly Father and His perfect plan for us, His children!

In a Christmas message in 2000, President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter.  The baby Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection."


so... i'm not saying don't have fun family traditions!  i love traditions!  we've enjoyed eating our "easter" candy and we dyed eggs.  just keep in mind what it's really all about!  it really is a joyful holiday - much more than i understood as a child!  i found this while preparing for a primary lesson i subbed on sunday...

HAPPY Easter! : )

The Twilight Bark

It took over a year to get all of the paperwork and trainings done for our adoption home study.  That's mostly because our background clearance from New Mexico took over 8 months for some reason.  We were told several times that it was unusual to take so long and they weren't sure why.  For the state of California they do background checks in any other states you've lived in in the past 5 years.  Well now that it's almost been 5 years since we lived in NM, of course it came back : )  Sometimes it felt like it'd never come... : /  but we've gotten used to waiting...

Anyway, now that it came back last week, we're completely 100% done and approved for adoption!  We have an official, legal home study!!  We were thrilled to find out last Friday!  Our case worker was out last Friday afternoon, though, so it wasn't "in the computer" yet... of course... that's how it would go for us... : )  It took until Tuesday afternoon, but then our profile was finally up!!  You can view it here:

Will and Ashley's adoption profile!

We've looked forward to and talked about when we could finally share our profile, but like I said, it just seemed like one of those distant things... like when you're in high school and you just can't imagine yourself in college or getting married or anything like that... just too hard to wrap your head around!  (or was that just me? ha : )

Anyway, we've spent the last few days trying to share with all our family and friends in many different ways.  We have been absolutely overwhelmed with all the support!  We feel so loved and supported!!  I know I said supported twice, but adoption is still a new thing for us and it feels really good to have so many people willing to back you up and help you out, even if they don't know you!  So far our profile has been shared 60 some times on facebook, we have tons of "likes", and our profile on itsaboutlove.org itself has 900 views already!!

So... I already know that I'm some special kind of Disney nerd, but it's made me think of the Twilight Bark from 101 Dalmatians... ha : )  Do you remember this?

Nobody has stolen our kids, and we're not looking for puppies, but we might take 15 kids if we could find them.... : )  ok, we might not be ready for that quite yet...

BUT, like so many were willing to jump right in and help them find their kids and spread the word, I feel like every time someone shares it on facebook, or wherever now we're branching out across the country and into all sorts of social and familial circles.  How exciting!!!  THANK YOU!!!!!!!! : )

Again, it's still uncharted territory for us, but WE ARE SO EXCITED to finally be to the "real waiting"!!  We are excited to have our kids come to our family at the right time.  We know that Heavenly Father is over all and all promised blessings will be fulfilled!  Neither of us grew up expecting this path, but we are happy for all the blessings of adoption that will come to us, our kids, our birth families, and everyone else involved!

Thank you, again, so much for your help and support!

woof woof : ) ha

don't forget the oatmeal!

generally speaking, when it comes to anything artificially banana flavored my rule of thumb is: EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION!!!!!!  the worst, which probably fuels this, is banana laffy taffy.  i once was dating a guy who that was his favorite (i think).... now we know why that didn't work out!  banana laffy taffy just seem to be the epitome of sugary fake nastiness.

now, when it comes to real bananas, we, in this house, are fans.  we usually buy enough each week that we can each have one each weekday morning with breakfast.  i guess a banana a day keeps us fed until lunch (and the doctor away?).

this last Saturday we had a combination of things that caused us to decide to do our grocery shopping at walmart while we were there for something else.  i'm not a walmart hater and that's actually a pet peeve of mine.  we just aren't used to shopping there and every time we end up buying groceries there we feel "off" because it's not the same products in the same places we're used to.  but we live because it's really ok.  the main thing we don't love is their produce.  small selection, lower quality, and some higher prices than we're used to.  so when we saw the dwindling banana supply that was also lacking in appeal so much that others were commenting and turning them down we decided to skip the bananas this week.  we did, however, find a bag of mandarin oranges that were a good price instead (point walmart).

having not had a banana for days now i decided this morning that i'd try the "bananas 'n cream" oatmeal packet that i've been avoiding for months.  (apparently will has too.. : )  now, i did mix it with some plain oatmeal (which toned it down) because that's just how we do it, but my overall analysis is: not bad.  it did start to taste a little more fakey as i was almost done with the bowl, and it's not like it never tasted at least a little fakey, but for what it could have been, it was all right.  actually, my first bite or two i convinced myself it could have a little bit of a banana bread taste... : )

conclusion: if you're curious or stuck in a pinch and it's the last meal on earth, you'll be fine.  unless of course your artificial flavor meter (especially for banana) is super sensitive... but i can only speak for my own taste buds!  (and they're my buds all right! : ) ha

now that i still have plenty to do, but can think about it while at home half the week again, i can treat you to part two of my deepest and most important thoughts... : )

about the microwave:
when our microwave beeps it flashes some message like, "food is ready."  i always think this is a little weird, because how do they know if it's really ready or not? (like the oatmeal i had to put back in...)  so i started to think about what they could have chosen instead... "food is nice and hot"... well, maybe not always.  how about, "food is warmer than when you put it in."  that would probably cover it.  but just to be safe, how about something like, "food should be warmer than when you put it in.  regardless, the container it's in sure as heck is!  careful!"

about oatmeal:
we used to like hearing dad read us "don't forget the oatmeal!"  lucky for us and our kids i have secured a used copy of the book from our library book sale!!!!  along with some other childhood favorites! : )

i remember waking up "early" enough to see dad eat his breakfast before he left and sometimes eat with him - oatmeal and milk in that green plastic cup with a handle.  i liked the oatmeal cold with just milk or water on it.... mmmmmm : )  i still love oatmeal cold with just water on it!!! : )  (will thinks i'm crazy)

also about oatmeal:
jeff and i used to profess that we could make perfect oatmeal.  this was when i decided i liked cooked oatmeal.  i can't remember if we'd measure a specific amount into the bowl or just shake some in.  then you'd carefully hold it under the running water to get just the right amount (also not scientific : )  then it was important that you stick your face over the bowl and carefully slurp out "excess" water... until it looked right... : )  then we had some magical amount we'd nuke it for (one minute?).... as magical as you could get with that dinosaur microwave with the dial... (it WAS cool because it was still the one mom and dad got when they got married.)  then you  had to pour a layer of milk on top of the cooked oatmeal and then whip it up with the spoon so it was a beautiful smooth consistency - NO CHUNKS ALLOWED!!!!!  that was very important and still is.  i can hardly think of a food texture faux pas worse than chunks of cooked oatmeal swimming in a lake of milk or any other liquid.....

if you do it right, no brown sugar needed!  i do like it with some fruit, though - blueberries and/or pomegranate seeds from the freezer have been some of my favorites lately.

about bananas:
last week i made banana waffles... mmm : )
maybe it's time to use some of the bananas in the freezer to make banana milk... another childhood treat!

and there you have it... : )

now time to grade tests....