A Huge Thank You

I just would like to say Thank You to all of you who left such kind and encouraging comments and heartfelt words on my blog the other day.
It really helped. More than you can know.

Please dont take away my Sunbeams!

At my Church I have 4 various callings.

1. I am on the Enrichment Board for the Relief Society(our womens auxillary and Enrichment is our once a month get together. Basically I am on the board to help decide the activities and plan all that kind of stuff)

2. i am the Choir Pianist.

3. I play the organ for our meetings every other month

4. My favorite, The Sunbeams Teacher. The Sunbeams are the kids who are turning 4 years old this year. It is their Primary class (sunday school). I was called to it at the start of the year. When they first asked me to do it, I was apprehensive, I thought I would hate it. I thought "they dont know what they are talking about! Does any part of me look like i would want to teach 4 year olds? " But turns out it is the best thing I have ever done. I had the SWEETEST class and I really love those kids. I had 7 kids to teach about Jesus and get them started on their spiritual journey. I look forward to every sunday to see my kids and cant wait to hug on them and see how their week was.

WELL, 2 weeks ago a member of the Bishopric pulled me aside and extended me a FIFTH calling, Activity Days co-leader. Activity Day Girls are 8 to 11 years old and they meet 2 tuesday evenings a month. We set goals, do activities to help them achieve these goals, help them work on their faith in God awards etc. He said "remind me of what your other callings are and we can release you from one or two of them"
so I told him what they were and told him "DO NOT RELEASE ME FROM SUNBEAMS!" (My husband was there he heard me say it, i have witnesses) He said "I will talk to the bishop and get this ball rolling".

The following Sunday we were out of town when I was called to Activity Day Girls and released from my other calling...The SUNBEAMS!

I got to church yesterday and the woman behind me (Finn's Primary Teacher) said "Sarah, we are going to miss you in Primary!".

WHAT WHAT WHAT???

So I ran up to the stand and called one of them over and said "What did you release me from last week?"
He said "Primary Worker, I told you we would be releasing you from something"
"BUT I TOLD YOU NOT MY SUNBEAMS!!!"

So yesterday was my last Sunday teaching them.
So to my dear sweet kids of Sunbeams 4A, I Love you and will miss you, you guys were the BEST calling I have ever had. I am very sad to no longer be your teacher. i tried to stay, but apparently i am needed elsewhere. Hopefully the Activity Day Girls will be as much fun as you guys were!

On a related side note I will hunt down their new teacher and DEMAND i be given first dibs if she ever needs a substitute!!

Where has my sweet Finny gone??

This is Finn. He is almost 5 years old.

He is a Pill. You know, being 5 is a hard thing. The world demands so much from these little guys. (SARCASM)

Shoot being 5 is hard for ME...I have to put up with it and try to not completely lose my mind in the process. August can't come too soon. Then he starts school.

We were at a family picnic, having fun, having a cook out. The kids had an easter egg hunt, smores, a playground. The sky was beautiful., the weather was perfect.

Finn was in rare form.

1. It was too hot

2. He didnt want a hot dog, he wanted McDonalds. Then he decided to have a hot dog...only to discover he would rather have a cheeseburger(FROM MCDONALDS)

3. He didnt like THAT playground, he wanted the playgrounds at the park near our house.

4. He didnt want to go for a nature walk, he wanted to play on the playground(the very same playground he DIDNT want to play on only an hour before)

5. The Easter egg hunt wasnt fair, he only found 10 eggs(the same as all of his other cousins). He wanted more than everyone else.

6. He didnt want water, he wanted a juicebox. Juicebox was not to his liking. He wanted apple juice, not fruit punch. Bottled water was not cold enough. He wanted it straight from the fridge, not the cooler.

7. he wanted to go home

8. He didnt want to go home

9. He cried all the way home because he was having so much fun and it just wasnt fair.

10. He cried at home because he wanted eggs with jellybeans in them and instead got eggs with chocolate.

11. Was tired and wanted to go to bed.

12. Cried because he WASN'T tired and DIDNT want to go to bed.

13. Got out of bed 3 times. Once to tell me I was a mean mom and that I didnt love him because I was making him go to bed. The second to get a drink of water because he was thirsty and to remind me how mean I am because I wouldnt let him have Kool-Aid for a bedtime thirst quencher and the third time to go to the bathroom and to tell me to leave him alone he needed privacy.

14. FINALLY went to sleep.

That was just on Sunday. Lord, grant me patience.

I was going to do a whole blog on Project Runway, but realized I didnt have all the "presentation materials" I needed at just this very moment. Rest assured, gentle reader, that tomorrow there will be a FULL rundown of Project runway-the good, the bad and the ugly.

Today I will discus ... My mother.
I love her. I do. But my kids have been grounded from her.
My parents live 5 miles away. My mom and dad get to see my boys several times a week.
they love the boys, they spoil the boys.then they bring them back to me. Usually decked out with new toys, snacks or other nonsense that they don't need.

As many of you know, Transformers has been HUGE in our house.
It seems like every week they were coming home with a new transformer, a new toy, a new SOMETHING.
Yesterday My mom and Dad and I, along with my youngest son, went to Lowes to look at more shelving for my table displays.
Before they came to pick us up, this is the conversation I had with Finn:

FINN: Is Gramma coming with us?
ME: Yes she is.
FINN: Im going to ask her to get me Optimus Prime(something or other)
ME: No, Gramma is done buying you toys and stuff. It is not your birthday and it is not christmas. No more toys from Gram, so dont even ask.
FINN:(in a very snooty tone). Well, we will just wait and see, wont we?

WE WILL JUST WAIT AND SEE, WONT WE????keep in mind this child is 4 1/2. I swear I am raising a teenager sometimes.
We went to Lowes. Dad and I wandered the aisles, getting ideas while my mom and Finn wandered around in search of "kid things".
We met up again and Finn says to me, "mom, can Gram and I go pick up Peter from school? Then she says she will take us to Target....(my mom clamps her hand over Finn's mouth at this point and says "oh no, dont you be saying stuff like that!"
Stupid me, I let it drop, assuming that Finn had decided he could bully my mom into taking him to Target, but that If I told her no she would respect my opinion. (fool me once shame on you, fool me 1136 times, shame on me)

After lunch, I was dropped off at my house. Before they left again I specifically said "NO TOYS. They have enough transformers. Finn it is not your birthday and it is not christmas. Dont ask for anything else. You may not get new toys. Please do not ask, you are not allowed to have anything new". Finn started crying. He had it in his head that he was going to Finagle a new transformer out of Gram one way or the other.
I figured that since I had made my wishes known in front of my mom AND dad, that all would be right with the world.
My mom took Finn and picked Peter up from school. She took them to get haircuts. She took them back to her house to play. THEN She took them to Target."Just to look".
When they got home there was a bag with new transformers in it. Finn looked at me. his eyes were narrowed, his lips were pouty. He was shaking his head with a cocky swagger. (kind of like Stewie from Family guy)
I asked "Where did these come from??"

Very honestly and with great snootery(is that a word?) he said "From Target. Gramma bought them for us. I told you she would".(snottery snootery and more snootery)
I looked at my mom and said "What are these?"
she kind of shrugged, gave me a grimace and said(I KID YOU NOT), "I dont know. Gotta go" and ran out the door. She KNEW she had called down the thunder and didnt want to stick around for the storm.
Peter immediately started to backpedal and said, within seconds of me shutting the door and turning around, "It was Finn's Idea." Well Played Peter.

So mom, I love you. The boys love you. But no means no. You are grounded.

Dad, you should have known better. You were there in the car when I told them no more toys. You have the wallet, refuse to hand over the cash, bro! You are usually pretty good about keeping mom in line when I say no. We're you not availible for the Target Excursion? Did you HONESTLY think they were going there "just to look?". Dad, you're grounded.

sigh.