I Want a Robot!

Sariah has been telling us since August that she wants a robot for her birthday. She is always very specific about what this robot must or must not have. Here are just some of the things she's mentioned:

It must talk.

It can't have wheels so it can go down the stairs.

It must be big, but not too big.

She wants it to play with her toys with her (I'm starting to wonder if she thinks she's getting a life sized android.)

Then we had a conversation about naming the robot because then it will know if it's a boy or a girl because "Robots don't have hair."

(As an aside, when I asked her how she knows that a certain friend that is a girl but has very short hair is a girl, she told me it is because she wears girl clothes, but "robots don't wear clothes.")

So the grand question is, where am I going to find this magical robot? It's the only thing she wants, but I'm afraid anything I get won't live up to the robot vision in her head.

I've looked online without avail so our next stop is the local shops. I think maybe I should have her draw a picture for us, too. Anybody have any ideas?

*edited to add a photo of the picture Sariah drew for me of what the robot (on the left) should look like. Oh my. Anybody seen one?

Big School, Little Girl

I agonized over this decision (I still do) but we decided that Sariah would attend 4 year old kindergarden (known as 4K) this year through the school district.  This is the first year that they are doing 4K, so its new for everyone.  She goes 4 days a week Tuesday-Friday for 4 hours.  They have a morning & an afternoon program.  We're doing the afternoon so we can still attend our morning activites like story time and dance class. 

Sariah is really excited for this.  She feels like such a big kid.  I feel like she's such a little girl to throw her into public school already.  She's doing pretty good, though.  They eat lunch at school, have class time and recess at the end.  I hope its a good step for her before attending full day kindergarden next year. 

I bought her a new dress for school while we were in Texas and painted her nails esp. for school.  She's been very excited all week.  I'm getting use to the schedule, but it does work out well, because Sariah is gone while Bryson naps, so I have some time every day to get things done for me.

We weren't going to buy Sariah a new backpack for this year, because her old one is still pretty good, but we saw this one at Whistler and had to buy it.  You can't see it from this pic, but its got a cute bear & moose on it.  She likes it way more than she would've liked a t-shirt or something. 

There she is, my big-little girl.  She has learned so much already, and she's going to do great at school.  The first week so far has been crazy.  Lots to learn for both her and me.  I'm still trying to get use to the schedule.  Thurdsay was crazy because I took Sariah and her friend to school and her friend's mom picked them up.  Friday there was construction blocking my way and I couldn't get to school on time.  Its the peril of choosing the elementary school that I want the kids to be in and not going to the closest one. 

Sariah's teacher is Ms. Pirkel.  Sariah really likes her so far.  She was excited to eat school lunch, too until she found out that her friend brings her lunch, so now she wants to bring her lunch, too.  I'm not excited so much about that, because I'm horrible at packing a lunch, but we bought her a lunch box, and we'll be doing a mixture of the two. 

Sariah is doing well with the rest of school, too.  She's gotten to pick prizes from the treasure box twice already, and she told me Wed. that she is awesome because she never had to sit next to the wall during recess for not listening and following directions. 

By Friday, I think we both felt overwhelmed.  Its a big change, but one I know she can handle.  She's ready to be challenged and learn.  She's growing up before my eyes!

Sabbitical Blog

http://epiccanada.blogspot.com/

Click this if you want to read about our amazing vacation to Canada via Texas.  We spent 12 days sans kids basking in the glow of Vancouver and the surrounding areas.  I've split the blog into 3 parts,  Part 1 is our trip down to Texas.  Part 2 chronicles the fun we had in Canada.  Part 3 wraps up our trip home.  It was a blast.  I hope you enjoy reading it!

Happy Birthday Husband

Doug had a fabulous 29th Birthday, which I have neglected to blog. My camera is unavailable at the moment, but imagine pictures of Doug & Sariah at the PBS Open House seeing Mr. Steve (of Stevesongs) sing, meeting the Cat in the Hat & more!. Then follow it up with him getting neat gifts like an expansion pack for our Settlers of Catan game, and a new stratigy card game, Dominion, plus a new DS game, Fire Emblem (all which he has really enjoyed.)

The next night we had friends over to enjoy one of Doug's favorite dishes, Noodles Romanoff, and play games. But before the kids went to bed, we had to eat this amazing, awesome & fantastic Settlers of Catan cake, made by my friend Heather.


Doug likes being 29, but if you ask him, he'll tell you he's 24. Sigh. Last year he always answered that he was 26, so somehow he got younger. Oh well. Happy Birthday to my magnificant man!

The Day the Music...

About two months into my calling as Primary Chorister, I remember making a joke about once I knew all the kids names and figured out how to do this calling properly, they'd release me.  Who knew it would only take about a year and a half to accomplish that?

See, I planned on having that calling forever.  I loved it.  Every Sunday my day was filled with music & laughter & smiling children.  Its the best calling ever.  Children can be a much more forgiving audience than adults.  I was busy planning for the program this year, plus some of the kids had been asked to sing at a special Stake Conference on Father's Day. 

So it was somewhat of a surprise when we got called into the Bishop's office and I got a new calling.  Okay, that's putting it nicely.  I was totally blindsided.  I was in love with my calling, I didn't want a new one, but who am I to say no when I got asked?  So I agreed.  Then I had to keep it in for a whole week before the release.  Did I mention that I found this out before church, so I had to keep quiet for 3 hours knowing that it was going to be one of the last times I got to perform my favoritest calling ever?  Needless to say, I kept it in (almost) and then bawled the whole way home.  For at least a day, I was devestated.

Then I got over myself a bit.  I still had this special musical number to work on with some of the kids for stake conference.  We were singing "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home" (not my choice) and "Love is Spoken Here" (def. my choice, but that's another blog post entirely.)  Elder Cook from the twelve apostles presided at the conference.  The kids sang beautifully.  It was fantastic.  I was so touched by those beautiful spirits. 

After that, I kind of needed to let primary music go and start focusing on my new calling.  It was easy & hard at the same time.  I subbed a couple of times for the new chorister.  (His wife had a baby, and they had a vacation, yes I said his.)  I had also committed our primary to sing "Love is Spoke Here" again in sacrament meeting the second Sunday in July, so I filled in (it was one of those Sundays the new chorister was gone.)  Those kids sang that song for me.  I really appreciate their voices, from the oldest 11 year olds to the youngest sunbeams.  After that Sunday, I felt I could finally let go. 

It hasn't been easy.  On the one hand, church is a lot more serious when you're not in primary.  Sometimes I just want to stand up and sing a wiggle song.  On the other hand, its been better.  I'm not the chorister anymore, so I don't receive the revelation or responsiblity for that calling.  I didn't realize what a weight it had been on my shoulders until it was lifted.  Of course I miss those kids, but I still see them and they say "hi!" to me.  And I'm free to subsitute on Sundays now (like I will be for the next two weeks.)  So its not really goodbye.

(But if they ever want to call me back to the Primary Chorister, I'd be there in a heartbeat...)

Poof! What do you need?

Almost a month ago I was released from my calling as Primary Chorister (more on that next week) and was called to be the Relief Society Compassionate Services Coordinator.  It has required quite the shift in focus on my part.  But that's really not what this post is about.

See in my ward we have a lot (a lot, A LOT) of pregnant woman because we have a lot of young families that move into our ward.  That being the case, there is a great need for service.  We also had a bishopric change in the last year and with all these changes, evaluations are made and questions are asked on how we can best serve each other verses being more self reliant.  But that's really not what this post is about either.

I've had a meeting with our Relief Society President where we discussed how we go about serving a sister in the ward once she's had a baby.  In the church we are really good at bringing meals.  Often meals are a wonderful service.  I've been the beneficiary of some incredibly tasty meals.  I'm not knocking meals. But meals aren't what this post is about.

What this post IS about is how do we go beyond or how do we customize our service for those we are serving?  Here's some more questions to ponder:

Is service more than a meal?
Is our service (as a ward) "rote"?  (Think Matt 6:7-8 where the Lord talks about repetitious prayer and sub service for prayer)
Poof!  What do you need? (Think the Genie in Aladdin)
Everyone could use a friend?
Who isn't lonely?
Customize your service?
What kind of service are we giving?
Are we giving the correct service?
Where should service start from? (from the Visiting Teachers/RS/friends?)

The purpose of this is not to give anyone a guilt trip or to get down on ourselves.  Rather I'm looking for your opinions on how to best help others to serve others. 

Esp. when it comes to having new babies, every experience is different and I don't want to try and squish round pegs into square holes.  For example:  I know Sisters that when they are expecting a baby they have a freezer full of food prepared and family coming for 3 weeks to help.  Those sisters probably won't benefit from a meal right away, or maybe ever?  What do those sisters need?  Maybe some sort of contact to let them know they are thought of?  Maybe two or three months later they might just need someone adult to talk to, or hold the baby so they can shower, or do their dishes.  Maybe sometimes we're that person and we are just to embarrassed or scared of rejection to admit that we need help. 

Here are two scriptures that I think really pertain to this topic:
Mosiah 8:18  Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings.  (I like this one so much, it might be my motto while I have this calling.)

Doctrine & Covenants 81:5  Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strenghten the feeble knees.

Okay, now you (and maybe myself) are asking at this point, what is her point?  What is she trying to do?  What does she want from me? 

So these are the short term goals:  Write a 200 word "article" to go into the RS newsletter about service.  Create some sort of  "assessment worksheets"  that visiting teachers can use when someone they visit is expecting a baby (or in several cases in our ward, babies.)

Will you share with me your thoughts to any or all of the questions I've raised, and/or share experiences of service that was rendered unto you when you were having a baby (or any other time that could be relevant.)  If you are uncomfortable sharing on the blog, you can email me (sisterrigby (at) yahoo (dot) com)  or message me on facebook. 

I appreciate any help.  Its a strange, new, scary calling, but I want to make the best out of it.

Circus Star!

We have a pretty awesome library nearby. Every Summer they put on super special events that coincide with the theme for the reading program. (Which Sariah is also working on.)  This year's theme is "One World, Many Stories." 

Every Thursday they have free performances.  We went two weeks ago for the hula dancing, and today we attended the performance of Circus Manduhai: A Mongolian Circus troupe.  They are a family group, with 4 performers.  There was lots of acrobatics, a contortionist, jugglers, unicycle tricks and so much more.  The kids loved it! 

This kid had balance!

There was lots of audience participation. Usually Sariah doesn't seem that interested when they ask for volunteers, but this time she willingly raised her hand. It was the first trick, so most of the kids were sort of uncertain about volunteering, so Sariah was choosen! She got to go up to the front and do a handstand on two metal pillars. This was one of the tricks that a boy (he had to be 8 or 9) did.

Here's Sariah after she tried it out.

  Here's her big moment!

 

Most of the acts were really cool, although the unicycle was a little scary.  Check this out!

They had a kid in the audience do this afterwards, I'm glad Sariah didn't get choosen for this one.

All in all a neat way to spend the afternoon.