BIZTOWN by Cat

                           Okay, Cat here. I don't know if my mom has talked a lot about me, (I'm kidding. She talks about me a LOT because I am so awesome!!!!!) So I will introduce myself in my own way. I am a soccer player. (Pride team!!!!) And I am a piano player. (An unenthusiastic piano player.) And I am a big sister of three. And I am one of the youngest ones in my class at school and at church.
                       Okay. So the reason I am actually talking to you ( or writing to you to be more technical,)  is because my mom wanted me to do a post about the most awesome field trip of my ten year old life ever. We went to... (Drum roll please,) BIZTOWN!!!!!!!!!!! Or  if you are more formal, Junior Achievement City. But  right now I am not in the formal mood, so I will refer to it as BIZTOWN. ( Yes I always have to capitalize it. It's THAT awesome.) BIZTOWN is a place not where a kid can be a kid, ( Reference is from Chuck e cheese.) It is actually where a kid can be an adult for three hours.
                         Well to start the moment of awesomeness off, you have to basically train for it for a few weeks before you can go to the actual thing. You have to fill out a packet about the business life, apply for your top three job wishes, apply for your very own bank account and apply for insurance. ( This is all before you get a job.) Then you find out your job and work with your business to prepare for business. ( I got the very lucky job of CFO (( C-Chief F-Financial O-Officer)) of Chick-Fil-A.)
Then you apply for a lot more things that I can not remember. You also have to get together as a business and write a paragraph long essay of sorts to give to your CEO (C-Chief E-Executive O-Officer.) To read on the news that is always broadcasting live.
                             When you get there you get an introduction before you step on the Larry H. Miller bridge. The bridge is supposed to  turn you from a kid to an adult. ( Just so you know I didn't really feel the difference when I crossed that bridge.) And then you get a long lecture about how to behave and rules and such and such. Then you get to go to your business. I got my very own desk, stamps, binder and PRINTER!!!! Everything was so real. Except for the fact that it was not real. (SAD FACE!!!)  Here is a picture of me at my desk.

                                     So, I had a LOT of fun. I printed paychecks. ( I make 8.50 an hour. My boss, CEO makes 9.00 an hour and the Sales Manager makes 7.00 or 7.50 and hour.)   Yelled in frustration at my printer trying to change the fact that I still had a TON of bills to pay. And that more were coming. I did not even get to finish all of the deposits that we got. We were so popular! Man!! Business was good. ( SMILEY FACE) I also had to try not to scare off customers when they came and my CEO was on break and my Sales Manager was out advertising  and I was in the middle of finishing the fifteenth to last deposit that we had gotten, ten minutes before closing time. So ya, I had a really easy going day at my first day of work.  So anyway, I had a lot of fun and I would choose BIZTOWN over any field trip any day. I Love you BIZTOWN!!!!!

From the Mouth of Babes

"Mommy, dis game is so hard."

Baby Burritos

The Flower Birthday

Eliza has been really excited about her birthday, and I think it ended up being a pretty good day.  In the morning, Cat was very sweet and Jack did Eliza's morning job for her.  We had breakfast burritos, per her request.

Eliza's class went on a field trip to the aquarium in the morning, so that made it pretty special right away.  I wasn't able to chaperone the field trip, but she had a great time.  She told me about the sharks and fish she saw, as well as the penguins and otters and turtles.  She loved being in her teacher's group and was touched that her teacher let her choose which place she wanted to go to first since it was her birthday.  When a worker at the aquarium found out it was her birthday, he brought her a badge that has an otter with a birthday hat on and says "You otter know it's my birthday." She's told everyone about the badge.  Love it.

While Eliza was at the field trip, Luke hung out with me while I finished a gift for Eliza and he helped me bake her birthday cake.  When Eliza got home and the kids had had lunch, Luke took a nap and Eliza and I decorated the cake.  She loved getting to help make flowers on the cake.

We picked up Cat and Jack from school, then it was off to piano lessons before we had our family party.  Eliza wanted pizza and chocolate milk for dinner, so that's what we had.  She put the birthday candles in the cake herself and Ben let her light them herself, too.  Then we sang to her and everyone ate cake except Eliza, because she was too excited about opening presents.

She'd been asking all day if she could open her presents.  She received thoughtful and much-appreciated gifts from all of her grandparents.  From us she received some clothes, a toy set, and a doll with pillow and blanket that Cat and I made together.  (She made the blanket and I made the pillow and doll.)  Cat also made a picture for her.

Saturday

Eliza did my hair for me.

We had a Mommy Daughter date to Chuck E. Cheese's, which Eliza loved.

And once everyone finally finished piano practice and cleaning jobs, we rode bikes/scooters or walked to a playground near our house and enjoyed some sunny 50 degree weather.  It was so good to be outside and just having fun as a family.  We played on the playground equipment, used Cat's dragon kite, and passed around a soccer ball and a frisbee.  Oh, I'm ready for winter to be over.

"I see dead people."

Sometimes Luke likes to open up all of the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen.

Every time he does, I think of the Sixth Sense.

Iron Man Jr.

It's not the armor that makes the hero, but the man inside.

One More

On Saturday night my kids really wanted to have some movie time together before they went to sleep, so I let them each choose a Pixar short to watch.  They set themselves up on Eliza's bed and were having a great time.  Meanwhile, Whit was having a hard time settling down in the room down the hall.  I shouldn't have been surprised when I went downstairs to check on my big kids to find a fourth kid squeezed on the bed, loveys and all, enjoying some cousin movie time.

It was fun to see how all the kids played together during this visit.  Whit just fit right in with everyone, only having a little trouble with Luke, since Luke thought he was actually the older of the two.

Valentine's Festivations

It was a fun weekend full of Valentine's-y things.  On Friday, the kids had their class parties, which meant handing out Valentines, and bringing in boxes (for Cat and Jack).  Nobody's Valentine candy lasted more than 24 hours.

I helped out with Cat's class party and this is the project I planned: a collage poster for Cat's
teacher for his birthday the following week, as he wasn't at school the day of the party.
Each kid at the party drew something for their teacher in one of the squares.

Eliza brought these crafts home from her class party.

That night, a YW in the ward watched all the kids while the adults attended a ward adults-only Valentine's Party.  I was asked to sing a couple of songs and really enjoyed it.  I decided on an Italian art song, "Caro Mio Ben," as the theme was "That's Amore" and then the woman in charge wanted me to sing "Someone to Watch Over Me," which is another favorite.

The next night we had heart-shaped pizza for a pre-Valentine's dinner.

I decorated the kitchen table with a little note for the kids to find when they woke up in the morning.  Then I got a big surprise because Ben had bought waffle dough from our favorite Belgian Liege waffle place.  I added some heart-shaped bacon to the meal and we had ourselves quite a feast before church.

That morning we were told that young single women, along with girls ages 8-18 and their mothers from our ward were invited to a special tour of the Provo City Center Temple.  Cat and I drove down to Provo in the afternoon and watched this cool video as an introduction, then saw the bride's room (which is not on the usual tour of the temple), the Celestial room, a sealing room, and the marriage waiting area.  When we finished the tour, the bishops of the wards in the tour were handing out special embroidered handkerchiefs for the girls.  It was really special and I'm so glad I was able to do that with Cat.  She was mostly impressed with how beautiful it was and the peacefulness in the temple.  What a great experience.

When we came home from the temple, Eliza was eager to show me what she'd created during her quiet time.  Can you tell what shape that is?

With lots of help from Ben (including baking the bread, since I had to be at the temple during the time it needed to be baked), we were able to still enjoy a delicious fondue dinner, followed by partner dancing, and chocolate fondue dessert.  We loved getting to share this fun tradition with Ben and Suz and Whit.  We had so much fun.

Sometimes Ben had more than one partner...

The Double Cake Birthday

Ben and the kids did a great job of making my birthday special.  I was at choir rehearsal the night before and was surprised to smell cake when I came home at 10:30.  Then I saw all of the decorations!  Cat, with Ben's help, had stayed up making me a birthday cake, putting up streamers and things, and blowing up balloons.  What a fun surprise!

The next morning Ben skipped his usual gym time so that he could get the kids ready for school and I could sleep in.  When I was finally getting up at the very lazy school-day hour of about 7:15, the power was out.  I realized that we had little to eat in the way of breakfast food that could be enjoyably consumed without electricity and decided to reverse the originally planned order of things and have cake for breakfast.  There were no complaints.  And, as luck would have it, the power stayed off just long enough for us to enjoy our birthday breakfast and then it came back on.  Worked out just fine.

Ben got the kids to school and the rest of the day was pretty routine, but with lots of fun phone calls, text messages, FB messages, cards, treats, and other surprises mixed in.  A stealthy group of YW with unfortunate timing even heart-attacked our door and left us a plate of cookies during family scripture reading.  When Jack and Eliza heard them scuffling at the door they immediately investigated, and the youth ran away yelling, "You can't see us!  We're invisible!" It was great.

Ben arranged his schedule so that he could be home early enough to help with dinner and enjoy a second cake (oy!) before going to the church for mutual.  In addition to the beautiful roses, I received a Costco-pack of cinnamon gum (yum!) and a new watch from Ben and the kids.  Life is good!

Double Date

"Take my picture!"

Well, okay.

If you insist.

Fat Tuesday

I made it a point to remember Fat Tuesday this year so we could have Cajun Chicken Pasta for dinner and beignets for dessert.  Well, when Susannah and her family ended up coming into town for a visit, Susannah ran with the idea of a Fat Tuesday celebration and put up streamers, bought beads and supplies to decorate masks, and even made a King Cake.  And then I didn't even end up finishing the pasta dish before I had to leave for choir, so she did that too.  Wow, having a sister around is helpful, and fun!

I missed out on all the fun this evening because I was gone, so thank you to Susannah for not only putting on the party but documenting it as well.  Good times!

And for the record, we decided that since there wasn't a good time to make beignets today when everyone would be home, we would postpone it until a later date.  Nobody complained, though, because that King Cake was delicious.