Madigan Matters: May 2012

Have I mentioned that JJ HATES having his hair cut short and styled up off his forehead or really styled at all? Well I won't say it is the bane of my existence but I do find it irritating that he won't let me style his hair. He has REALLY thick hair and tons of it - so different from the rest of us. So today I put my foot down metaphorically and insisted that he get his hair cut. I threw out the notion that I would take him to Walmart after so he could spend some of his money IF he got his hair cut in a style we could do off his forehead. He jumped at it so I think he must have been thinking about doing that anyway but didn't want to just give in easily. That's my boy, the bargainer. So off we went with Asher and Hannah in tow to the local Great Clips. Asher wanted to get his hair cut and really likes for me to style it so he was excited and wanted to go first. We knew we wanted a faux hawk 'do for him because he has had that in the past and it looks really cute on him. JJ and I spent some time looking at haircut style books and finally settled on a hair style that we both thought would work. I think JJ was a bit shocked when he saw how short it was but I think it looks awesome. Now we will just have to see if he will let me style it. Hannah helped out a lot by commenting over and over how awesome he looks. She is my cheerleader. If anybody needs to be cheered on- she is the one to do it, without ever being asked.

Now back to the BRIBE! Next we headed over to the good ol Walmart. All three kids had brought their own money to spend. As is typical, JJ picked out something about 5 bucks over the amount of money he had. Now comes the hard part. I really do want him to have the toy he wants but I decided long ago that now is the time for the kids to start learning about living within their means. So when he whines and bargains with me that he will do extra work to make up for the extra money I would have to pay, I say no. I remind him that he can only spend what he has right now, in hand. So in the end he picked something that he liked equally well but cost less. Next we moved on to Hannah. As is typical of her, she has a WAD of money - nearly 50 dollars! She found something that cost way less than what she had and was happy. Asher only had 5 dollars and it is tough to find much in the Lego section that is only 5 bucks. He found something that was just a dollar more and JJ tried to bargain on behalf of Asher but I stuck to my guns and said no. So in the end he too found something that fit within his means. I am hoping that if we keep being consistent that this lesson will stick because it will make a huge difference in their lives if they learn to live with in their means.

Speaking of means, Lance decided to donate his old red Honda to the National Kidney Foundation. Lance used to work there so he knows how much the kidney kars program helps people with kidney disease. My dad passed away due to kidney disease caused by diabetes. So I am also grateful of the great work the NKF does in educating and assisting those with kidney disease. Since we inherited my mother's car a load of worry was taken off our shoulders because the red Honda had some mechanical problems that would cost more than it was worth to fix. Hopefully our donation will help us next spring when tax season comes around and the money that the NKF gets will help someone who is suffering from kidney disease.

I have been a lame blogger lately. Every time I think about blogging I think either that no one (except Julie :) reads my blog anyway or that I don't have anything interesting to say or what I do have to say is too depressing to record anyway. Sad huh! Well in the interest of recording what is going on in our lives right now I am going to blog about life in general. Our lives have been some what segmented into categories right now: school, church, social, soccer, work and home.

School: The kids are finishing up this school year. JJ has had several school projects that I think fall under the category of "parent projects". He had a rock project where he needed to collect a variety of types of rocks - Grandpa Jake help out with this one. Thankfully he insisted hauling his enormous collection of rocks that he has collected for eons all the way to Utah when them moved here. Another project was a report and diorama on Grand County. I got to help him with this one and create a float out of a shoe box about Grand County. Lastly he had his "wax museum" report where he had to write a report and then dress up and pretend to be Jedidiah Smith. I was amazed to find out that he already knows all the tricks to writing a report, ie: plagiarizing info off the internet, making 3 inch margins on his report and making the type size 24. He wasn't too happy when I nixed all three. Let the weeping and wailing commence! He finally got his report done and then we had to create a button for people to push to "activate" him during the wax museum. He also needed a costume and Grandpa and Grandma Madigan come to the rescue again with the top half of Grandpa's mountain man costume (the pants were way too big), moccasins and a coon skin hat. The wax museum was fun to see. All the kids in his class were dressed up like their "famous" Utahn and we could go around and push their button and then listen to them tell in first person about them selves.

Hannah's class has been through a great deal of turmoil this year. Her teacher became too ill to return to school after Christmas break. Unfortunately she kept the class and principal hanging, waiting to see if she would come back. All this time they have had an uncertified teacher's aid/substitute filling in. Finally the sub decided that she really wasn't qualified to try and teach the class. They still couldn't hire someone else because the real teacher was still saying she would come back at some point. So they split the class up some of the time and farmed them out to the 2nd grade teachers classes. It has been really hard for the kids, other second grade teachers and the sub but they have tried to do their best. Friday Lance and I did the year end class party. It is always enlightening to spend time in the kids classes. I learn so much about the kids and the dynamic in the class. For activities we did the freckle game, signed shirts with fabric markers and had ice cream sundaes. Some of the kids didn't like the freckle game. I was really surprised when two of the boys kinda freaked out. All the freckle game consists of is dots from a hole punch and small bowls of water for each group of two. The kids take turns sticking as many wet dots to their partners face as they can in a 1 min period. All the other kids giggled and had great fun with the game.

Asher's preschool experience this year has been amazing. I am so grateful that we made the choice to hold him back and put him in the Eaglecrest preschool. He has made huge leaps in his speech and abilities. He is so much more outgoing and confident now too. He LOVES his school and the friends he has made there. He writes his name very well now, knows most of his letters and the sounds they make, can read a few words. He knows and can write lots of numbers, knows how to add and subtract. He knows all about hundreds of birds, animals, and bugs. He has a great singing voice and has asked to be with Hannah in her next play! So we signed him up with her to do Aristocats at the Lehi Arts Council. JJ is also doing a play at the Arts council this summer - Little Mermaid.

Lance and I have lots of responsibilities in our callings that require time and effort. I am enjoying being in the primary presidency and getting to know the teachers and kids better. I really love the ladies I serve with. They are so wonderful each in their own ways. I am doing the best to do what my calling requires - I am not always sure what I am supposed to do but I try to be committed to the calling. Lance works hard in the Elders quorum serving and helping the people of the ward. There are so many inactive people in this ward it can be a daunting task to make contact with all of them but we are both trying to reach out to the people we come in contact with.

As far as social life is concerned, for me that means book club, GNOs, and "group therapy". My friends started up group therapy after my mom passed. They invited a group of our friends to go out to dinner and talk. We all have things in our lives that we struggle with. I am not the only one who is struggling through grief and loss. We talk and cry and help each other talk about the issues we are dealing with. I have wonderful support from these amazing girls. I am grateful what each of them add to my life. They are all so different and yet fill a spot in my life that would be so empty with out them. Lance and I really enjoy doing sushi with our friends the Zellers. We never laugh so hard as when we are with them. We really look forward to our "double dates".

Soccer has taken up our Thursday evenings and Saturdays since April. We had the last games this last week. The boys have really enjoyed playing. Lance has been Asher's coach this year. He has really enjoyed it aside from not sharing the same "philosophy" about coaching with his assistant coach. Coaching with her was NOT enjoyable for him. She was very intense and pushed the kids way too hard. He really wanted the kids to have fun as well as learn. She got into it with parents of opposing teams at games too. It was frustrating for him. JJ loved having Kynlee on his team this year. She was the only girl in an all boys league but their team was struggling for players so the powers that be let her play. It was awesome!

Lance has been working hard doing what he does best- getting information on health out to the masses. He also has done PR for the Lehi Arts Council and our school PTA. He has had interviews here and there for PR positions with other companies. He loves his job but has no room for advancement and therefore is keeping his options open. I wouldn't want him to take another job unless he was sure that it would be better for him than then one he has.

Here at home we have been working on our garden and yard in the nice weather. There are still lots of weeds but I think it is coming along nicely and I really love our yard. For Mother's Day Lance got me an outdoor table and chairs set. This weekend we put that together and put together the fire pit I got for Christmas. It was so fun roasting marshmallows in the back yard! At home we are also dealing with training a naughty puppy, working with a jealous older dog and taking care of 3 new baby chicks. Our older chickens are really cranking out the eggs- so much so that I am able to give away or sell a dozen eggs every few days.