40

In honor of his 40th birthday Tony Lundberg spent the night camping in sub zero temperatures with five 12 year old scouts, finishing several household odd jobs to please his wife and impressing his children by doing 17 chin ups in a row. This guy knows how to party! I say he looks better than ever and the next forty will be better than the last.

Marcos is on the cusp of being an official walker. He is 17 months on May 1 and has been home 6 months. No child has ever received such accolades for walking. He gets a standing ovation every time he goes more than three steps and waits now to recieve his applause.

The home schooling experience continues. It has in no way transformed Wilson into the model student, but it has sure alleviated a ton of family stress. Wilson was held in at recess the other day (my least favorite tactic) to finish his work. At the end of recess he hadn't done a thing. I received a note in Wilson's handwriting and clearly dictated by the teacher informing me that he had done NOTHING all recess. I knew better, so I asked Wilson exactly what he had been doing. He proudly annonced that he had spent his time practicing writing his name microscopically. Sure enough, at the bottom of the page, were the teeny tiny letters of his name. I wonder if there is a college scholarship for that.

Every day without fail Max asks, "this is a great day, isn't it Mom!" and every night he asks, "when is it going to morning?" I think he is the kid I most frequently forget to enjoy.

Cooper surprised us by announcing that he will not be playing baseball this year. He said he'd rather spend his time fishing.

Ivy is official. Her sealing was beautiful; it was a treat to be a part of it.

Wilson, Cooper and Eliza performed at a lovely piano recital last weekend. Cooper and Wilson played a cute duet of "The Entertainer" and stole the show. Some day they'll thank me for the torture.

My quest this week is to try and figure out what it is that turns me into "Chihuahua Mom." I just start nipping at everyone's heels and yapping my head off. I think even my eyes start bugging out of my head. It is not an attractive look or behavior for me and it needs to stop.

bipolar weather

We've gone from shorts to parkas in 24 hours. The suspense of the weather is killing me. We never know what season we will wake up to.

Eliza shared a profound thought yesterday. Mondays are the day when she and Max are best buddies and play beautifully together. It only seems to happen on Mondays, but it is enchanting to watch. I asked if she would like to mop the floor with me and she smiled and said, "Mommy, Max and I are very busy doing things we love!" I thought about it all day and tried to be busy doing the same.

Last Monday I came to the realization that I could not live another day with carpet in the kitchen. I start dry heaving when I think of the filth mashed into this heinous carpet. Thankfully, my little brother Cameron came to the rescue. He and I marched into Ziggy's home improvement center last week and requested the cheapest laminate flooring. I bought 23 boxes and Cameron and his employees came the next day to lay it. They laid it right over the top of the barfy carpet. Yesterday I vacuumed and mopped and then sat on the floor admiring the hygenic cleaness of it all. I haven't given up my dream of a central vac with hard wood floors, I just realized I could be happy right now with a less expensive, more realistic dream. Now Marcos entertains himself for large chunks of time in the kitchen, a car in each hand, zooming around and around the island and up and down the walls.

Sunday I got a parenting payoff, albeit a little one. I served Indian food for dinner, Chicken in spicy Indian sauce with Naan bread and steamed broccoli. My kids wolfed it down and Wilson commented, "Mom this is good, but it would really be delicious with chick peas!" Hooray for no picky eaters (aka very hungry children) at my house.

butter butter butter

There appears to be a direct correlation with the amount of butter we consume and the amount of fun we are having. This spring break we consumed a lot of butter. I feel satisfied with the results of the Lundberg first annual "Spring Break of Service." The highest rated activities were: playing with the animals at the animal shelter, picking up beer cans and trash along the highway (kind of like an Easter Egg hunt, except we plugged our noses and wore rubber gloves), and the bake sale. I think secretly paying for movie tickets for the people in line behind us was fun too, but didn't expend energy. The kids liked serving Grandma and Grandpa, but Grandma was too easy on us and the jobs were easy. Next year I'll demand the kind of work that brings child labor laws into question. The least successful was the sidewalk sweeping activity which ended in broom fights and tears on main street. We stopped at the Ronald McDonald house and made a donation and I hope next year we could make dinner and stay for a little while. The feeling there is so sacred. Better yet, I hope nbext year our whole family is in Mexico building houses for the poor. As long as they don't ask us to sweep sidewalks, we'll be OK.

Our trip to Utah was positive on so many levels. It is amazing to travel with one, fully capable 12 year old child. It gave me great hopes for the future and a tiny glimpse at how most of my friends live. It was nice to spend time with Debbie and Rand and their children as well as Tyler and Chelsea and their kids. I particularly enjoyed seeing Adam, Debbie's youngest, fat and healthy and smiling after his life threatening experience with meningitis. Debbie and I enjoyed a little thrift store shopping (for old times sake) and she indulged me in my favorite past time of rearranging furniture at 1:00 in the morning. As for Tony and Wilson, their highlight was Thursday night when they got word from Hainsworths (also vacationing in Utah) that the BYU football team was giving a fireside in American Fork. We stuffed down a quick dinner at a yummy Thai restaurant and off they went to strengthen their testimonies that BYU football is true. Wilson liked hearing Bronco's stories and hearing the whole team sing Army of Helaman.

Tyler, Wilson and Tony spent Friday on the slopes giving Wilson a chance to master the snowboard this year. Tony said it was a great day. They also went to Kate's swimming birthday party and I had baby Beck all to myself for almost 2 hours. At risk of sounding like a weird Mom, holding him made me teary at the thought of never having a baby again. In the words of my friend Betina, his cuteness was suffocating. Evan is the delightful age of 7. His antics included: sticking gum in his hair, subsequentlly horrifying his Mom by chopping it out with a pair of scissors, and clogging the toilet by flushing down a bar of soap. These activities are hysterical and endearing when they are done by your brother's kids. I enjoyed every minute of Kate who embraced her birthday with fervor and gusto. She so easily could have been the inspiration for our favorite "Fancy Nancy" books and is best described by the word "Pink." Tyler and Chelsea introduced us to two new foods that are going to make my top 10 list: Blue cheese and avacado pizza and buttermilk walnut cinnamon cake.

It was a delight to attend the solemn assembly on Saturday morning. I was so anxious for Wilson to feel the spirit testify that President Monson is a prophet of God that I almost forgot to enjoy it for myself. All of the talks of conference seemed so applicable this session. Elder Ballard's talk for young mother's will secure his spot as favorite apostle for a long time. Our only regret was that we didn't get to sit together at the session, however, under the circumstances we were thrilled to get a seat. We are blessed to have had this opportunity. I really look forward to having the experience with each of my kids.

Also of note this month, Eliza is officially 6. Her birthday was on the day of her dance recital, so her party was a rather informal "get ready for dress rehearsal" event. Audrey Kolb made the most beatuiful ballet slipper cake in birthday history, and Callie was a life saver for doing the girls hair and make up. Grandma and Grandpa came for dinner and the recital. I wouldn't describe Eliza as a naturally graceful primadonna, but she had to have been the strongest, leanest girl on stage. "Blendy pens", paperdolls, a stuffed animal from her brothers and a giant horse with real hair from Callie (not to mention $20.00 from Grandma and Grandpa Poodle) made all her birthday dreams come true.

Wilson's conference trip

I went to a fire side with eli and jonah i saw unga and all the other tongans and they were singing and were awsome. I also went skiing and got sun stroke the affects of it is dizziness and shaking feeling like your going to throw up and its miserable. I wake up at night every night and my face is pealing. I also went to confernce live. You could realy feel the sprit strongly. They even sang my favorite song, "Praise To The Man."