FHE

The next four weeks are going to be CRAZY with either swim club, baseball and/or soccer every single night.  We took the chance to go walk around the temple for our family home evening.

 The couple in the Visitor's Center asked us if Emma and Ben are twins.  They are so close to the same height now!

 They offered to take a family picture for us, so we took the chance!

 The kids took turns taking pictures of each other.  Ben was just happy to give me bunny ears - he was giggling so much that I knew exactly what was going on.  Too funny.

Sure love this forever family!

New Bishopric

We had a new bishopric called today!  Cody Toone is our new Bishop.  Duane French is his 1st counselor and Jeff Redford is his 2nd counselor.  Lennard is the Executive Secretary and Greg Salmon is the Ward Clerk.

My parents came in for Sacrament meeting (with Rachel's kids) and then, afterwards, mom took the kids home to feed them while Dad stayed with us for Lennard to get set apart.

Once everyone was set apart, I left Lennard at the church - since he still had to do tithing!  The craziness has started!  He didn't get home until after 5:00 and then had to go out again to meet with the previous Executive Secretary for some training.  Busy, busy, busy!

Piano Recital

The kids had their piano recital tonight.  My mom came in and brought Lauren (she's babysitting Rachel's kids) so she could see them.  

Ben did a number called "Half-Time Show".  It was cute watching him keep time by bobbing his head in time to the music.

 Emma played "Haunted Mouse" and did a good job.

The kids love Kaci as their teacher.  We'll get her for one more year and then we'll have to find a new teacher.  She's getting re-married in June!

 

 The kids have done so well with piano this year.  They both had their pieces memorized and we couldn't be prouder of them.

Visit with the Stake President

Last night Lennard answered the phone and was asked if he could please meet with the Stake President the next night.  Yikes!  Since our bishop was put in as the new Stake President, we knew that changes were going to be made and a new bishopric called.  Lennard said he was 'safe' because he's the Ward Financial Clerk, but then he got the phone call and he started stressing!  

Neither of us slept very well last night and the last hour or so before we were to go up to the church felt like they took forever.  The appointment wasn't until 8:45pm, so we were able to get the kids to sleep and then have a neighbor boy come sit in the house while we went up.  Sitting in the waiting area, not knowing what calling is coming your way is an unnerving feeling!

Then, I was asked to come in.  The Stake President asked me about Lennard and then excused me. He then talked to Lennard for a minute and then I was asked to go back  in.  The entire Stake Presidency was there.  They started talking about how a new bishop is called and how inspiration/revelation works, etc.  They kept talking about bishops and I think both of us were getting really scared! Thankfully, he then told us that the new bishop who had been called had asked for Lennard to serve as the Executive Secretary.  Whew!  Still a super busy calling, but not the bishop!

Lennard said that he would accept the calling and I said I would support him.

This Sunday will be busy with all the changes!

(Written after the callings were announced in church and Lennard was set apart.)

Front Entry Progress

After a number of coats of paint yesterday, we were finally ready to install the bench and closet doors!  It's looking so good!  The kids were excited to try out the bench and Ben made all of us sit on it to make sure we all fit (we do!).

 We even have a shelf inside the closet for our shoes.  I love having closet doors (finally!).  Now we just have to get door handles to finish it off.  I think we may end up adding molding around the door to finish it off too.

 This is what the (almost) finished project looks like so far!  SO happy with it!

The piece of wood sitting on the bench will be a shelf on top of the molding and then I'm hoping to put some pictures/decorations above that.  It's coming together!

Field Trip to the Farm

I haven't got to help out in Kindergarten as much this year with Ben, so when he found out they were going on a field trip he asked if I could come along.  He was so excited to walk to school with me and then ask Mrs. Bennett if I could tag along.  Of course, she said yes and Ben was beaming!

We took a bus to a farm just outside of Cardston that had all kinds of animals.  They saw horses, cows, goats, chickens, rabbits, birds, etc.  I was given a little group to supervise and two of the little girls (Fay & Eden) that got assigned to our group were pretty excited to be with Ben!  lol  He's quite the ladies man!

We went on a wagon ride through the fields and had the horses following us.  Ben thought it was pretty cool to see how close they came.

The baby goat was only a week old.

Once they saw all the animals, they got to play tag on the front lawn for a while and then eat their snack that they'd brought.  They all had lots of fun running around and exploring.  Ben kept running and jumping into my arms.  I'm glad he loves being with me because I sure love being with him.

What Do YOU Do on a Long Weekend?

Last Saturday afternoon (May 13), my mom called and said that she had time to help us with our bench that we want to build for our front entry.  We've been wanting to work on this project for a long time, so we raced out, bought the wood, and headed to the hangar!  Of course, I tend to make things a little more difficult than needed sometimes, so we had to figure out how to do a stop dado on the top and bottom of the bench pieces.  We only had to redo one of them...

My mom wasn't feeling great with kidney stones, so as soon as all the pieces were cut, we took them home to assemble.  We didn't get time to do anything with the pieces that day... or the next... or the next.  lol.  I finally pulled all the pieces into the house (18th) and set them in place to see how it would look. So exciting! 

The kids had a day off school on Friday, so Lennard took the day off work so we could work on the front entry.  We built the kick plate and got the molding figured out behind the wall.  There's a large concrete footing that we had to figure out how to cover, so it took a bit of fiddling around, but we got it and it looks good!

Saturday - We had to break off some of the concrete so the bench would fit against the wall better. Of course, the wall isn't straight, so we took a long time trying to fit the bench to the wall better.  Lots of trips back and forth to the garage.

While we worked, the kids played!  I love their little 'gang' that always congregates together.  Today it was all about bikes.

By the end of the day, we'd fitted in the bench and got all the molding put up on the wall. We were both excited how it was turning out!

Monday was another full day of work.  We got the closet doors installed!  Hooray!  It makes such a huge difference in how the front entry looks.  Love it!

First step to installing the doors...

 We started painting and it ended up taking multiple coats to get a good coverage on the walls.

 We also got a few coats on all the other pieces needed for the front entry - the kickplate, closet doors and all the pieces for the bench.

Not the most relaxing long weekend we've ever had, but it sure feels good to have made so much progress on this project!

Mother's Day

The kids were SO excited to give me my Mother's Day gifts that they'd made that the second I opened my eyes, they were handing me things!

 Ben made a cute 'flower' for me, as well as a picture of himself to hang on the fridge.

 The questionnaires they do in kindergarten are always interesting...

 Who knew that I was already 60 years old and afraid of biting zombies!

 Ben wanted to give me more than just what he'd made at school, so he had Lennard help him write a letter to me.  What a sweet boy!

 Then it was Emma's turn!  She'd actually given me what she made at school the day she brought it home, but then she took it back so she could give it to me this morning. lol

 She colored lots of items for me - even a bookmark with her picture on it!

 She made a few extra things for me at home.

 I have to 'love' the note on the back of her card... "You and I get mad but when we are happy we feel better."  Guess I need to work harder on not getting mad.  Emma and I sometimes clash (oh the drama!) and I hope she'll forget all the craziness and only remember the happy times (one can only hope).

This year at church, they gave each woman a potted plant.  The chances of me keeping it alive are slim, so I took a picture of it now so that I can remember how pretty it once was!  ha! ha!

We had invited my parents over for dinner after church, but I got a phone call saying that my mom was in the ER with kidney stones.  NOT fun!  I offered to bring a plate of food down for my dad at least, but they ended up having to go in to Lethbridge for a CT scan.  The kids were sad that grandma wasn't feeling well and that they couldn't come for dinner.  We had a good dinner with the four of us- although way too much food for just us!  

I got a bit of a rest after dinner and then the kids decided to come visit.  Since we hadn't got a good picture of us earlier, we decided to take a selfie.  I sure love these two crazy kids of ours.  I am so blessed to be their mom.

Father-Son Time

Lennard had an Elder's Quorum activity this morning to go out shooting gophers.  Since Emma had got a night out with me this week, he decided to take Ben with him.  When Ben discovered that they were going to go shoot guns, he was ecstatic!  He watched as Lennard cleaned the gun and gathered the ammo, etc.  He got to carry the gun to the truck (don't worry - the trigger lock was on!).

I love seeing these moments of bonding and complete contentment.  My handsome men.

Really, Honestly and Truly...

Emma came racing into the house in tears exclaiming, "___ said that you traded for me and that I'm not really part of the Nichols' family!  That's not true, is it mom?!"  I of course assured her that she is truly part of our family and then had to go on to explain that sometimes kids don't understand what adoption is all about.  She knows that she is adopted.  She knows she has a birth mom and a birth dad and that we love them.  She knows that we've been sealed together in the temple and that we will be together forever.  I think she just needed some reassurance that everything was still okay - even after those kinds of comments.  How anyone could think she's not part of our family is heartbreaking. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that she will hear those kinds of comments again. I pray that she will know that she can always come to us and KNOW that she is ours forever.  I just didn't think we'd have to deal with comments like this until she was a little older. My heart hurts a little.

Martial Arts Tournament

Ben had his tournament in martial arts this evening.  I had to run Emma up to soccer, so I ended up missing seeing Ben test his Form 2 with the group, but I did make it there in time to see him awarded with the gold medal!  Look at his face!  He's worked so hard this semester and it payed off!

He was sure proud of himself!

 He also got a bronze medal in the group forms and then he got a chance to spar.  He's only done it once before, so he didn't win any of his matches, but it was a good opportunity for him to try.

 I love seeing how proud he is of his medals.

 Seriously... such a cute boy!  We are so happy that he's loving martial arts and learning lots.