The Last Dollar

Today Ruth lost her very last tooth EVER! She is such a tooth loosing pro that she knows exactly where the Tooth Fairy keeps her money, so upon losing her tooth, she just went and collected her dollar and then informed the Tooth Fairy of the transaction.



Six Sigma

Chuck just finished his second class in Six Sigma. This time in Lean Six Sigma. He was voted to be the classes project manager and led the class in their project scenario. It stressed him out a little but he said that it went well. Now he has to complete a real project at his work to finish his certification. We are glad that he got this opportunity, but will be happy to have him home at night more often.



Happy Spring

Ruth made this cake for Family Home Evening. While we haven't had much warm weather yet, our crocus are in bloom, our tulips and daffodils are a few inches high and our peas and lettuce are up.

My Name is Inigo Montoya

Kaitlin had to make a movie poster for her Spanish class and in one afternoon made this one. Even if you don't speak Spanish you can guess what it says. (click to see a bigger size). I'm trying to talk Kaitlin into starting an art class for all the little kids in our neighborhood this summer to help her earn some extra money.


You're Not Wearing Green!

St. Patrick's day was this week. Chuck was sitting at the counter and Jared came up to him and said, "You're not wearing green!" and started to pinch him. No matter how much Chuck insisted he was wearing green, Jared didn't believe him. We all got a good chuckle out of it. For those of you that don't know, Jared is Green/Brown color blind. It's never much of a problem, but on this occasion, Chuck's shirt looked Grey to Jared and you'll notice what color Jared chose to wear. (Photo is a reenactment of the actual event)


Grand Opening at the Rec. Center

We braved the crowds to attend the grand opening of our community rec. center. On Friday night we took a tour and tried out all the equipment. I was amazed at the technology in the tredmills, steppers and bikes. They have preprogramed work outs, ipod docks and Direct TV. Our rec. center also has a room with four Xbox Kinects. You should have seen Chuck getting down with the homeboys. The next day we went back to get some free breakfast and do a 1 mile run on their new track. In the afternoon we had wristbands that let us in to swim. The kids had a great time and we were glad that we had plunked down the big bucks to buy the annual pass. (I've circled in the picture Jared, Kaitlin and Ruth in the lazy river)


Prom

Chaz went to Prom this weekend and said it was one of the best times of his life. That's about all the details I have. If I ever get a picture I'll post it here. Chaz also had a job interview this week. We are all crossing our fingers.


Quote of the Week

Jared, upon putting on his swimsuit: "Look, I have a flower over my loin!"

Home and Garden Show

I won free tickets to the local Home and Garden Show from a local radio gardening show. We were excited to go because we are planning on redoing the kitchen and putting in hardwood floors this summer and wanted some ideas. We talked to several different people while we were there. We quickly learned to avoid booths that used the word "custom" or "designer" or used Papyrus Font in their signage. We did get a chance to look at a lot of flooring samples. It was nice to have large squares of flooring to look at, rather than the little sample blocks they have at the box store. I think we've settled on bamboo. We are also still trying to decided whether to get all new cabinets or just buy new doors for the ones we have. If we bought the new doors, it would be about 1/3 the cost, but we'd basically be limiting our choices to white. Some people would think that making these sort of choices would be fun, but to Chuck and I they are torture. If you have any opinions and advice for us and our kitchen we'd be happy to hear it. We spent several hours at the show and Ruth and Jared filled up bags of free pencils, candy and hats.


Random Thoughts

I lost my regular schedule at my job and am back to strictly sub work. To broaden my horizons I took a few shifts in the kitchen and discovered that I enjoy the kitchen work more than being a cashier. So far between the two jobs I've been offered as much work as I want.

I've been swapping piano lessons with my neighbor this school year. Jared has really taken off in piano and is very excited to have finished his first piano book.

This next week they are opening a new pool and recreation center just a couple miles from our house. We've been wavering on whether to buy a family membership, as the cost is quite expensive. We calculated that our entire family would have to attend 13 times and one of us would have to attend 10 classes to break even. I think we are leaning to buying the membership, our thought being that if we put money into it we'll feel obligated to use it.