Growing Up

 A few things happened this month for Eva that are a part of getting older. First, she had an appointment to update her military ID. We got a slurpee on the way there. It made her lips very red. I didn't think it was a big deal because the IDs are in black and white. Little did I know that they changed the format and they are now in color. So she looks like she had red lipstick on in her ID photo. We joked that it could've been worse - she could've had a blue slurpee.

There was also the Franklin High School Open House recently. I took Eva to the gym where she could see all the clubs and sports that were available. She was pretty overwhelmed. Students would pop out from their tables and say, "Do you want to join cheerleading?  or "Come join the Spanish Club!" Franklin has A LOT of clubs and sports. It was fun to play with the robots from the Robotics Club but she wasn't very interested in joining. Then one of the people from the High Q table asked, "Do you like trivia?" She perked right up at that. She DOES. She got information from them about the club and told me that one sounds like the one she wants to join when school starts up again. It's a quiz bowl type club that competes in local and state tournaments. We also got maps of the campus. Franklin has two campuses separated by the parking lot and football field. It's a HUGE campus for a high school. Eva is worried about making it to her classes. 

Lastly, she was asked to teach her YW class lesson this Sunday. I got to sit in since one of the leaders was sick and they needed another woman in the room. I think it went pretty well. Some of the older girls were goofing off but, for the most part they participated. She was pleased with how it went. 

Barbie Adventures

The girls are at it again. Earlier this week they made another vignette for the Barbies. This one is a beach scene that took up the whole living room.  I was upstairs and heard, "Mom! Come down and see what we did. We promise to clean it up when we are done." Any mom knows THAT is foreboding. 

Here is what I found downstairs - a beach scene complete with kayaking, sunscreen, ice cream, trash in the ocean and even a port-a-potty. They named it McDaniel Beach. I took two videos of Paige explaining it all:

"This is the part of the sea. So she is going boating with her puppy. And this guy is surfing toward that wave that is just rising up. She is just floating in the sea. These are some dolphins. This guy is just swimming. Oh no! Ocean trash! No, no, no. (and she tosses the tire away from the camera) This is a person kayaking. And shhhh, there is a mermaid. Nobody can see her. And then this is the awesome guy who is surfing on a wave. Hang ten, dude! There's also sun and clouds. That is all for the sea part."

"This is the video of the beach. This is the ice cream place where a little kid is buying some ice cream. This other one has a cooler of soda. She went in the beach and is now cold and has a towel. These two are a the beach. See? There is sunscreen. He has special manly sunscreen and this is her womanly sunscreen. She is getting out of the car and her dad is dropping her off and also the dog. Here is the potty. This one was making a sand castle and she was giving her advice on how to make it. She has one of those sun tanning things where you can tan yourself. She is rubbing the sunscreen on herself. This is just a dog. And then this is somebody reading a book. It's her favorite book and she loves learning. Here is another one making a sand castle. And she is taking care of the baby."

"And here is a view of the whole thing. Ta-da!"

Today Darby made a zip line for Skipper in the kitchen. Too bad she kept falling out of the basket on the  way down. 

 

Easter Egg Hunt

Some of my kids are "too old" for egg hunts but Darby and Paige enjoyed the ward Easter Picnic egg hunt. Darby was discretely helping little kids find eggs too. 

 The rest of us enjoyed the picnic part and hanging out with friends from the ward. We met a new couple we just moved here. She is from Australia and they met while they were both serving a mission in Sacramento. They have a toddler named Leo who the girls all went ga-ga over. Its nice to meet new people. 

Family Olympics

 

Our ward had a Family Olympics event this weekend. There were several fun mini-games and challenges. The person with the most points won.  There was a balloon toss, Oreo face challenge and a cup stacking event to name a few.

 There was a nerf challenge that Paige completely dominated. It was funny to see her whole demeanor change when she picked up the gun. 

Jason ended up getting second and a primary kid got first. But everyone had a good time. 

At home, the kids thought it was funny to put Dad's medal on the dog.

El Paso Drivers

One thing that I think I will always remember about El Paso is the horrible driving. Seriously, we have never been in a place that had worse drivers and we have lived near San Francisco and DC. I cannot fully explain it but I think part comes from many drivers here learning to drive in another country with different rules/culture. 

You are lucky if people use turn signals and you will routinely see people run red lights. In fact, I saw a school bus do that. Also, the right of way is usually lost on most drivers here. You have to drive very defensively. There is one thing that Jason calls The El Paso Maneuver. That is when someone from the far right lane crosses several lanes of traffic to get into the turn lane. He sees it frequently on the way to work. Our car insurance rates went way up when we moved her so it is not just confirmation bias. 

But today I had an experience that cemented my feelings about El Paso drivers. I came out of the grocery store to find that someone had parked behind me in my parking spot. They had a license plate from Chihuahua, Mexico. I've seen double parking before and could maybe understand it if there weren't at least five other open spots close by. I was totally blocked in. There was enough room to open my trunk so I put groceries in and figured I'd have to go back inside the store with the license plate number and have them announce it. As I was returning my cart someone came out, got in the car, and drove away. I wish I had seen who it was. I was flabbergasted about this but then again, we are in El Paso. 

 

Jui Jitsu Junior

Paige has decided to try jiu jitsu as well. She has had a few classes but a lot of what she knows comes from horsing around with her dad at bedtime. It's funny to see her do a rear-naked choke on him. She's also pretty cute in her gi.

Her class is made up of kids around her age. She's making friends, especially with the other girls in the class. Jason helps out with the class as well. I think she likes it and I hope she will stick with it. 

 

General Conference

I always enjoy General Conference. We try to make it fun for the kids too while encouraging them to listen. It's easier now that they are all older. We still do bingo. I got bingo in three places one time. 

The girls dressed up for the Sunday session. Aren't they cute? When I said they looked like Rosie the Riveter I got this pose. 

Eva and I used this Conference weekend to try our hand at making cheesecake. It wasn't perfect but turned out delicious. 

Still hoping for an announcement of a temple in El Paso. ;)