Pink Chicken

We had an amazing dinner for Easter which included ham.  Ella wasn't very fond of it (or really any food other than pizza and waffles for that matter).  Crazy me, I kept calling it ham and she informed me that it was actually pink chicken.  

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes.  Pink chicken.  It comes from a cow."

And now you know the truth about "ham."

Ben's New Job!!!!

Okay, so I realize that Ben is going from working for Cisco to working for Cisco.  No big whoop, right?

WRONG!!!!!

This is a very huge deal for our family.  You may or may not remember when Ben was first hired by a contract company that worked for Cisco.  It is still one of Ben's and my favorite stories ever because of how crazy it was.  You can read all about it HERE.

Back in 2012 when we had to choose between the Cisco job and the other job when they were offering us the same salary at the same time, we felt strongly impressed that the Cisco job would hold the best potential for Ben's future.  Little did we know just how great it would be.

Ben's contracting job wasn't like a usual contracting job.  It was long term instead of being limited to a specific amount of time.  But we always knew that the end goal was to be hired on by Cisco itself, because then we would have better benefits, actual vacation time, and an annual bonus.  

There have been times in the 3 1/2 years that Ben has been somewhat close to getting a position at Cisco, but then it never worked out.  It's pretty difficult getting hired by Cisco, so we knew it could take a while.  

But then we heard about this new possibility, and somehow we knew that this was the one.  We asked our families to pray and fast for us so that Ben could get this position.  After a couple of months of prepping for it and interviewing, Ben got the job!  We are so excited!

It was actually really funny, because just like 3 1/2 years ago, the day we were waiting for the phone call saying that Ben got the job, a different recruiter called Ben and offered him a job on the phone.  They were offering a competitive salary to what Ben would be making with his new job.  Ben told them his situation and that he had been working toward this Cisco job for years, and then turned them down.  10 minutes later they called back offering more money and we had to turn them down again.  We never would have even considered it but we got a good laugh out of it since it reminded us so much of last time.  He then got 3 more job offers that week.  Go figure.

I will write a little bit more about this story in a future post -- because there's more to it than what I've said -- but all I want to say is this:  If the Lord asks you to do something that is way outside of your comfort zone and makes you ask, "Is there no other way?" you really need to do that thing.  Because sometimes the answer to your obedience is a job that you've waited your entire career for.

Ballet Observation Week

When I took Lily to ballet yesterday, I was thrilled to find out it was observation week.  Normally I only get to see Lily practice her ballet through the one way mirror in the wall.  But once a semester they let the parents in the room.  I missed her first one of the year because I was in Hong Kong and I was so bummed.  But I was thrilled I didn't miss it this time!  And Ella was even more excited than I was.  Unfortunately since I didn't know about this ahead of time, I was only armed with my iPhone instead of my camera -- hence, the lame-o pictures.  We can also put some of the blame of my unsteady hand on Ella because she kept grabbing me and saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, etc." over and over again.  I'm sure you fellow moms know the feeling.

Also, I learned that Lily's two teacher assistants are named Miss Eliza and Miss Bennett.  Enough said.

I am so excited for Lily's recital in June.  Now that she's 7, she gets to perform at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.  Her class will be dancing to music from the new Cinderella movie and all their costumes look like her blue dress.  They're gorgeous!

And for the record, I got completely teary-eyed during class.  Oh man.  Being a mom is rough on the hormones.

A Very Unhealthy Valentines Day

Valentines Day was fun this year.  We did the usual and the kids thought the day was one of the best ever.

Daddy spoiled us with pink heart shaped pancakes, bacon, and hot chocolate.

Then the kids got to open their mailboxes to read their love notes.  This is the second year that we have dedicated the FHE before V-Day to writing each other love notes.  Every person in the family has to say something that they like about every other person in the family and then put it in their mailbox.  It definitely unifies our family, even when Ella's note to each person said, "I love you because you play with me."

They each were also surprised with a Hostess heart shaped cake.  We never buy those kinds of treats for the kids and so they were thrilled.  Sometimes happiness is as simple as a Hostess cake, y'all.

Daddy reading his love notes.

Then we went off to church where I had to give a talk.  I'm one of those weirdos who actually enjoys speaking in church because I learn so much from the preparation.  It was actually a pretty great V-Day gift to myself.  So obviously I wanted to look nice, and while I was getting ready upstairs, Ben surprised me by baking me something, and telling me not to check the oven.  I obeyed and when we got home from church I found out that Ben had made me a cheesecake that I had been craving for a month!  (I'm telling y'all, I don't think we ate a single healthy thing other than broccoli on V-Day.  Ha!)

Becca, Preston, and Colby were in town for 10 days so that Preston could take his dental boards (which he passed -- hooray!  One step closer to them moving to NC in a couple of years!)  I unfortunately didn't get ANY pictures with them while they were here.  But, as usual, Lily and Skyler were counting down the days until they were here because Aunt Becca and Uncle Preston are some of their favorite playmates.

Lily wrote this for Preston:

Baby Colby got sick and so they weren't able to spend Valentines Day with us.  But my cousin's husband, Chris, was in town and so he spent the day with us instead.  It was a blast and I know Ben especially loved having an in depth Star Wars conversation with someone who knows waaaaay more about all the backstories and history than I do.

*nerd alert*

The fondue was good and since we only do this once a year, I didn't feel at all bad about how gross it really is to dip all your food in melted cheese or chocolate.  :)

Rainy Recess

Ever since Christmas it has been really cold.  On some days it has been really, really cold for an NC winter.  But on one day between a couple of ice storms, we had a glorious 70 degree afternoon full of thunderstorms.  Before the thunder started, I had the kids run outside for their recess.  I think they were thrilled that for the first time in a while they didn't have to bother putting on shoes and coats.

He was very proud of himself for creating a mud puddle.

They had a nice long game of hide and seek and without fail, someone always tried to hide behind this sapling tree.

Don't worry kiddos.  It'll only be another month or two before we'll be doing this all the time and we can pack away the winter coats.

The Greatest Show on Earth

As you can imagine, buying "things" for 4 kids on birthdays and Christmas all add up.  Our house is so overflowing with toys that the kids can barely function in it all.  Two Christmases ago, Ben and I decided it was time to stop giving lots of "things" and giving more experiences.  So when Ticketmaster had a buy one get one free deal on tickets on Black Friday, we bought the kids tickets to the circus.  It was their big Christmas present this past year.

I have never seen the PNC arena so empty before.  It was crazy.  But we bought the kids popcorn and sat down to watch the show.

Skyler's favorite part was watching a girl get shot out of the cannon.

Ben and I agree that the circus isn't really our thing, but all the animal shows made it worth it.  The elephants were amazing!  I'm so glad we took the kids to the circus before they retire their elephants this May.

The elephants bounced beach balls into the crowd.  It was so adorable!

I didn't get any pictures of the BMX bike riders at the end.  They were Ben's favorite part.  To be fair I missed a lot of the show because a certain public bathroom enthusiast of ours *cough* Ella *cough* decided that going to the bathroom 6 times was just right.  "Mommy, it's so much fun to go to the bathroom here," Ella said as we left the acrobatic mermaids.  

But the kids all had a great time and passed out on the way home.  And now Ben and I can say that we have taken our kids to the circus and we never have to do it again.  ;)

Kiddo Craziness

One of the perks of going on business trips is that when you come home from NYC, your kids can't wait to show you how much they love you by sitting on top of you during family scripture study.  Hop on Pop, anyone?

Lily's Primary leaders gave each of the kids a journal to write their thoughts in as they read their scriptures each day.  Lily has been reading on her own and as of a week ago when I last asked, she has read 16 pages from the Book of Mormon -- not bad for a 7 year-old.  She asked me if everything in the scriptures actually happened, and I told her yes -- the one exception being the parables that Christ used to teach his disciples.  She apparently took it the wrong way (as seen in the red writing above).  I laughed so hard about that all day.

Ella struggled going into nursery until she became a Sunbeam.  So naturally I was worried that she wouldn't do very well in Primary.  I am in Junior Primary so I get to watch her and she is miraculously doing great!  But she loves calling herself a sunbeam and is more than happy to tell Lily, Skyler, and Thad that they AREN'T sunbeams.  This week at Costco, Sun Chips were on sale so I got them for the kids as a rare treat.  Ella has been calling them "sunbeam chips."  Today she saw a Sun Chips truck and said, "There are my sunshine chips!"

Lily and Skyler were house destroyers as toddlers.  Ella has been our first picky eater.  And Thad?  Thad is really mischievous.  He does things I would never imagine my other kids doing (like painting the bathroom walls with a paint brush and toilet water).  The boys and girls' rooms each have their own en suite bathroom attached and so I have feared the day when Thad was no longer in a crib and would have access to all kinds of mischief.  It was getting to be time to transition him.  Skyler has been a great brother in this process.  During the first night when Thad fell out of bed, Skyler was already getting up to help him by the time I came in.  He has been reporting to me each day how Thad's been sleeping at night.  But after Skyler's show and tell presentation at Classical Conversations today -- about losing a tooth, getting money from the tooth fairy, and actually seeing her and her pixie dust for the first time -- I'm not sure if I can consider his reports valid...