Are you sure today isn't April 1st?

The weather seems to think today is April Fool's Day. We've had some bizarre weather today. The forecast called for rain, but we woke up to snow. It's not so unusual for the weather man to be a little off. The snow was coming down hard this morning. It finally stopped about 11:30 this morning and we had a little sunshine. About 1:30 some dark clouds started rolling in. It got so dark that I had to turn on some lights to be able to read stories to the girls. As we were reading I kept hearing a rumbling noise and didn't really think much of it. It got a little louder and then all of a sudden, there was a flash of light and a big boom. I thought, "Oh, thunder, it must be raining." I turned around to look out the window and saw great big fat snow flakes like you expect to see at Christmas time. And wind. Then more lightning and thunder. Then hail. 15 minutes later the sun was out again and the dark clouds were moving off in the distance. It was crazy!

Our Much Loved Friend

On Sunday afternoon, Ellen asked me to read one of her favorite stories from the Friend. It is called Escaping from the Hole, and was in the August 2008 issue of the Friend. As soon as I started reading, all the other kids came to listen. (Noah was taking a nap, or he would have been right there as well.) This is how James found us.

You can see that our copy of the Friend has lost its cover and is pretty worn out. They all get to looking like that. The Friend goes to bed with people at night, it goes in the van, it is read and loved pretty much every day. What would we ever do without our Friend?

Art and Chocolate

Here are a couple of sidewalk art pictures. The kids were out all afternoon drawing with the chalk yesterday, but most of it was actually done on our neighbors driveway with their kids and I don't have pictures of that. I haven't seen it, but I heard that Stephen even made a hopscotch game that goes to 150 and hopped all the way through it.

Annie left this message for me on the front porch.

A very cute little house.



I don't know what this is, but it's very colorful!


And I made some chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and had to post this picture of Noah. He is a big fan of cookies.

Sidewalk Chalk

One of the first sure signs of spring at our house is that we finally get to break out the new sidewalk chalk. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post some pictures of our freshly decorated driveway.

Spring has Sprung!

Happy first day of Spring everyone! Yesterday was one of the first real springy days we have had. And today is just as wonderful. The kids have been playing outside most of the day. Even Noah got to really play outside.

Dancin' for Joy!

It's Spring Break this week and we are excited!

All 5

The other night I got out the cars and trucks to hopefully distract Noah while I made dinner. The next time I looked in the living room I saw this:




I think it was the first time all 5 of them have come together to play on their own. It was great!

Dragonfly

I discovered this poem last week while sorting through some papers. Stephen actually wrote it in 2nd grade, but I don't remember seeing it. It's so good, though, that I had to post it. I'll type it just as it is written.

Dragonfly

by Stephen Mobley

Down, up down and up goes dragonfly.

Rain is falling, but the dragonfly dodges every drop.

A dragonfly is zooming and it's wings are so bright.

Go, go dragonfly high in the air.

Oh that dragonfly is so colorful.

No, no do not fly there. That is a frog

Fly high over the hill and under the bridge.

Light in the air, you are light as a feather.

Yay! Yay! Go do the dragon fly dance.

Happy Birthday James!

Can We Have a Picnic?

Yesterday was beautiful! The sun was shining and it was 47 degrees! Ellen and Naomi played outside for a while and then when it was time for lunch they REALLY wanted to have a picnic.





Today we woke up to this.




We're supposed to get about 6 inches of snow today and the wind is blowing like crazy. No picnics today!

Stories about Mom

Last night for Family Home Evening we celebrated Mom's birthday by telling some stories about her and listening to one of our favorite tapes. I'm sure you all know the one...Mom was about three and was laughing and singing Oh, My Darlin' Clementine and Doggy in the Window and saying (in her adorable little southern accent) "Clap your hands, Daddy." I have always loved listening to it, and my kids do to. (Sorry, Mom, I know it embarrasses you, but it really is wonderful!)

As I was preparing for last night and trying to come up with some stories about Mom as a kid, I could only think of one thing! That was that when the family moved to Twin Falls the neighborhood children took Mom around to all the houses so that everyone could hear her southern accent. I'm thinking she was about 4 at the time. Is that right, can anyone add anything to the story? Since that was all I could come up with, I had to call Gran, and I got a little bit more. I just had to share them, they are so good. I wish I had a picture to go with them. I'll have to work on that.

When Mom was born, Grandaddy was a popular radio announcer and so he dedicated a song to Gran during his radio show. It was "Daddy's Little Girl" by Eddy Arnold. I put it in my sidebar on the right, all you have to do is click play. It is such a sweet song.

Lots of people heard the dedication and wanted to see the new baby. Mom was born in a new hospital that had a nice big nursery with big windows so everyone could look at the babies. Gran's room was just across the hall and down one door from the nursery so she could hear all the people come. "Which one is the Haeberle baby? Oh, there she is! Isn't she a purty baby?" Lots of things like that. Then they would say, "I wonder which is her room? What is she like?" So Gran would sit up, and read her magazine and look pretty and smile nicely at all the people.

We all know that Mom doesn't like confrontation. She was born that way. When she was young, 3, 4, and 5 years old, and some contention or problem would arise, she would quietly go into her bedroom and close the door. Sometimes she had two doors to her bedroom, and would close both. She would stay there for about 15 minutes and then come out, happy and ready to move on. (I have to say that this story made quite an impression on my children!)

The last is not so much about Mom as a child, but about who she is. When Gran and Grandaddy joined the Church, their missionaries gave them a leather bound triple combination and wrote an inscription inside the cover. They mentioned their love for the family and their hope that the boys would serve missions. They also wrote about Mom becoming a lovely mother and an angel in Zion. What prophetic words! She is a lovely mother, and she truly is an angel to so many people.

Busy Week

Last week was just crazy! I'm not quite sure how it happened. It seemed like there was something going on every day and night. It was so nice when Sunday came and all we had to do was go to church! Here are a few highlights (this is not everything we did):

• I got to go to bookclub on Tuesday.
• Stephen spent all day Wednesday on the UofI campus for the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. His band got second place in their age group!
• We all went to the Blue and Gold Banquet on Thursday night and Annie pulled out a tooth right in the middle of dinner.
• On Friday Stephen and Annie had Bookabunga Day at school which meant they got to bring some of their favorite books from home and read all day. The school does this every year to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. Then right after school Stephen went to a "lateover" (almost like a sleepover, but they come home after the movie instead of staying up ALL night.) for his friend's birthday. Stephen got home about 9:45. Annie left at 7:30 that night to go to the big Jazz Festival Concert with her friend Samantha. They got to hear The Monty Alexander Trio and Bobby McFerrin. She had a good time, but didn't get home until 11:45. It was my first experience "waiting up" for one of my children and I have to say that although I was sleepy I really enjoyed being able to spend some time with just Annie when she got home. We talked about way more than just the concert!
• On Saturday James had to work for a little while, but was done by noon so he and Stephen went ice fishing and caught 11 fish. They made a great Sunday dinner. Also on Saturday Anne pulled out yet another tooth! She has 5 empty spaces right now and can hardly eat anything.

This week is looking much calmer! I'm so excited!