It’s been a while since I posted a personal post so I thought I would break the dry spell. Things have been exciting here. My baby got the chicken pox this past week. He is the last to get them. The oldest of the five youngest got it four weeks ago, then two weeks later, two more of the kids got it, then my towhead boy had it, and now the baby. I call him my baby but he’s almost three. I am glad that we are almost done. In the midst of this, my older kids and I held a simulation for youth. That was hard and fun and we learned a lot and I am so glad it is done! If we do another one it will be a lot better. I purposefully haven’t blogged about it because I don’t want to relive the painful parts. It was kind of like one of those experiences where you go into it wondering how it’s going to all work, then during it you have little moments of panic, and you can’t wait for it to be over. Hmm, sounds a little like birth sometimes!

My dh and I also got to go on an overnighter in the Alpinesque hotel called the Zermatt up in Midway. That was fun but way too short. I remember the days when I totally envied my friend who had kids old enough to babysit the younger ones while they stole away for the night. Now it’s our turn! Hooray! The room was free because my husband was there for a public defender conference. Then this past week Honor had a week long simulation to attend because he won a scholarship for it by winning the Freedom Bowl. So we’ve been carpooling the hour drive one way for that. I thought my life was busy with all of this but then I found out my friend, a mother of ten, had two daughters in a Miss Syracuse pageant last weekend, did the Ragnar relay this weekend and is going camping on Monday. And I thought I was busy!

As far as chicken pox goes, what we’ve found works best to soothe the itch is oatmeal baths, with tea tree and lavendar oil drops in the water (20-30 drops each). My six year old little girl freaked out at the prospect of oatmeal touching her skin  and would not get in the tub at 4 AM with the prospect of slimy oatmeal touching her. We were both exhausted because we hadn’t been able to fall asleep with a constant round of itchiness, apply the calamine, and then take a bath. I learned that if you put the oatmeal in a nylon, the milkiness can come out and soothe the itch and the slimy oatmeal doesn’t get out. Then we also apply oregano oil and then Redmond clay after the child gets out of the tub. All of that helps a lot more than baking soda and calamine lotion. Mr. Towhead Boy only had the pox for two days and then they started scabbing over.

We have this robin who decided to build a nest on the ladder that somebody forgot to put right away and left leaning against the front of the house. By the time the somebody decided to put it away, that person discovered a nest on the top of the ladder, snuggled against our home. A robin has built a nest on our front porch. Every time she hears the door open or shut, she gets spooked and flies away.

I finally moved the ladder carefully and climbed up and was delighted to discover these pretty eggs. I have never seen robin egg blue in person. Talk about a natural thrill! It really is fun to see in real life things I’ve always read about or seen in books.

So I’ve been thinking about how spring and early summer is my favorite time of year, because of the symbolism of eggs and seeds being planted for gardens. I myself have some eggs that I am working on hatching to bring forth new life, in the form of goals and dreams. I am using my vision board like I learned from Kirk Duncan. My daughter really took his words to heart and put hers up. She got to hear him speak about vision boards and goals at the last Master of Influence in May. She decided she wanted to go to a modern dance camp at BYU. It was hundreds of dollars, out of our reach for signing her up. When we lived in Provo she took creative dance classes at BYU. BYU has an excellent dance program, and she really enjoyed it. We were so sad to leave Provo! Right before we moved she had just achieved a high enough level in the dance program that she had made the company class, so she got to go to class twice a week. We always dreamed about moving back to Provo so our kids could return to their creative dance classes. The roses in the photo above come from a gift her dad gave to her of a little potted rose bush he gave to her after she choreographed her first dance that got picked to be in a recital. We planted it in our flower bed at our new home. It’s such a joy to see it bloom again every spring. It reminds me of dreams that are tucked away, waiting to bloom every year when the time is right.

She looked at her vision board every day and did her declarations, which is something else Kirk teaches that I haven’t done yet. Well, I was wondering how she would be able to go. Unbeknownst to me, she figured out how to apply for a scholarship. She just got news this week that she got the scholarship, and also that by working for her grandma over the summer, grandma would pay the difference. So she’s going on Monday, for two weeks! I also put on my vision board that my son would be able to go to Youth for Freedom this week, as this is the only week he can go. We didn’t know for weeks if he would be going. And now he’s going! My older son is a counselor for it and is loving it. He was there this past week for the first session.

To learn more about vision boards, go here http://3keyelements.com/new/audio.php