I am happy that my front room often looks like this:

This week Megan has been finishing the Hunger Games trilogy and Mariah has been frantically reading straight through the first Hunger Games.  Who says movies can't inspire better readers?  Here Sarah is even rereading some of the Hunger Games, although she's been reading other stuff this week. 

We've been having some really nice weather -- days that even I would classify as warm!  It is so nice to walk outside and not have the air bite you.  I find myself still tensing up whenever I walk outside and then --- aww, relax.  It's nice out!  The kids have been outside alot.  Especially this guy:

This bike is propped against the tree, but it still gives him the illusion of riding it!  Considering Ben has been playing outside all week, I think it's impressive that he's only been brought back by the neighbors once.  Mostly, we keep good track of him and mostly he has been staying close to where his sisters are -- who he calls, "guys."  He runs after them calling, "Guys!  Guys!"  He likes to pull the wagon up and down the street and riding his little blue "car."  He has also discovered dirt.  He sits and plays in it, making piles and doing whatever it is little boys do with dirt.  I walked up next to him this week and said, "Playing in dirt again, Ben?  That's fun!"  Bethany who was playing nearby looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No it's not, Mom!"  That's my little girl!

Savannah left us this week.  *Sob!*  She left at 4:45 Thursday morning for her long-anticipated choir tour.  You know the one that she got the job for so she could pay for it herself!  She will be gone through Monday and will get back to the high school early Tuesday morning.  They went through Las Vegas and down to California.  She has promised to do a special edition Skinner Update when she gets back to let us know what all she did!  It will be worth waiting for  . . .  Meanwhile, we miss her and find ourselves with lots more computer time than we're used to.  :(

Sarah, Megan, and I went to the church to watch the YW broadcast on Saturday night.  It was REALLY good and it was fun to be there with my girls.  Although we missed Savannah.  :)

As you may, or may not know, taxes for corporations were due on March 15th -- Thursday -- of this past week.  Kevin now has two corporations which need to file and his accountant was slacking!  Luckily, she (by which I mean "I") got on the ball this week.  On Monday I finished up the financial statements, on Tuesday I filed federal and state for Growth Climate Therapy Services, on Wednesday I filed federal and state for Therapy Support Center, and on Thursday (since I was on a roll) I filed our income taxes -- federal and state. (Then on Thursday night we went to our caucus meeting!  It was a government-filled week.)  I am very, very, very, very happy to be done with the taxes.  Just think of all the fun things I can do now that those cumbersome jobs are done!!!

We had a very lovely, spring-like week.

The kids got to spend a lot of time outdoors!  And since we haven't had rain for awhile, there wasn't even the usual spring mud problem.  (Since it is rain/snowing right now, I guess we will deal with that this upcoming week!)

We had no school on Friday because it was the end of the quarter.  We didn't do anything special, though.  The kids played with friends and read books and enjoyed being able to do whatever they wanted.  The twins in particular enjoyed the day, though, since they invited over a friend from school who is not in our neighborhood, Karlee, who brought her little sister and they all played from 2:00, then asked for a late night, and stayed until 9:00pm!  Such ecstatic fun!

Saturday was St. Patrick's day!  Most of us wore green, but the day probably would have gone by mostly uncelebrated if not for Megan who spent a large part of her day making us some St. Patrick's day cookies!

  Isn't she awesome?

In return, I spent a good part of my day Saturday sewing a pretty top for her to wear to orchestra concerts.  I actually bought it for her to sew, but it turned out that I really wanted to do it.  :)  I get that way sometimes.  We're going to put ruffles on it, too, though, and she wants to do that part, so we will see how that improvisation on our part goes! 

Hiya!!!

Yes, that is a black eye that Ben is sporting.  He split his eyebrow open again about a centimeter above where he got stitches a few months back.  This time we sealed it shut with super glue.  It wasn't as deep as last time.  He pulled a chair down on himself.  Nice, huh?  Needless to say, it hasn't slowed him down any.

In fact, he is Mr. Tough Guy around here.  Like in this picture . . .

Yes, that is Cheyenne in the wagon.  He pulled her all around the block!  He also likes to ride in the wagon, as does Beth, but apparently doing the pulling has great appeal, as well.

On Monday Savannah and Sarah went to see the high school play, The Curious Savage.  They said it was great fun!

On Wednesday Kevin and I went to temple night.

On Thursday Kevin and I took Bethany with us and we went to a wedding reception.  Bethany thought it was vastly exciting.  She got to be alone with mom and dad, she got to ride in Dad's car, she got to be out at night, she got to see the magical reception with the pretty bride, and then she even got a cookie and got to keep the clear plastic plate.  She talked nonstop the whole time.  She made it a very memorable reception.  :)

On Friday we had a YW tournament basketball game.  Kevin, as highcouncilman, was in on the meetings where the stake sports director said, "We just don't have enough interest to have a YW basketball team."  To which you may imagine Kevin's response.  So, we won again on Friday!  They played really, really, really well.  Everyone said, "Good job, coach!" to me (Kevin can't be coach because he's a man and it's a YW team and all) and I just shrugged and said, "I didn't do anything!"  The funny thing is that out of all the girls on the team, Kevin had coached all of them except two on city league teams.  Who was really responsible for how well those girls played, hmmmmm?  It was very fun for Kevin to watch.  Savannah played, too!  Three Skinners on one team!

On Saturday, I worked on Kevin's books all day (blah) except for about two hours when I took the girls to the pool.  I'm going to do a triathlon in June (have I mentioned this?) so I am trying to learn how to swim a long distance.  Cheyenne and Calianne and Bethany were out of their minds with excitement!  Oh, to swim again!!  Megan wanted to go, as well, and we convinced Sarah to come, too.  Mariah was hanging out with her new friends who moved next door at the mall.  (Wow!  She's sophisticated, huh?)  Savannah was working.  Everyone who came had a great time!

Saturday night, the YW played basketball again.  We played at 6:00 and won again!  Go team!  That meant we got to play in the Championship Game at 7:30.  Rah, rah!  Sadly, we finally met our match -- or rather we were finally quite outmatched and we lost.  Still, that put us in second place for our region.  Pretty impressive for a stake with no interest, huh?

We were hating Daylight Savings Time this morning, though.  Ugh.  Arizona is looking better and better.

Where we learn that to children, everything is a climbing toy!

Monday night Mariah had a patriotic program at school presented by the whole 5th grade.
 

She did great and we felt very patriotic afterward.  We love that girl!  She did great and sang with great enthusiasm!

Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik came back from their southern retreats this past weekend after being gone for nearly two whole months!!  We sure missed them and we are glad they are back!  They brought some tiny nailpolish pens and the girls had fun doing fancy nails.  Here are Megan's ladybugs.  I am so impressed!

On Tuesday I got to go to YW with Savannah, Sarah, and Megan and talk about accounting as a career possibility along with a massage therapist, a librarian, and an artist.  It was fun to talk about my degree and to remember all the ways it has benefitted me in the past 17 years.  My daughters even learned a little about their mother!

On Friday, Kevin gave a presentation for UAMFT (Utah Association of Marriage and Family Therapists) in Logan on the campus at USU.  It was about using technology to enhance therapy.  I went with him.  He did a great job.  What a stellar presenter he has become! 

We made our trip to Logan a getaway.  Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik watched the kids ("Hey!  Welcome back!  Will you watch our kids?")  and Kevin and I stayed at the Anniversary Inn in Logan.  We had a great time on USU campus, going out to eat, sleeping in late, and coming back home about 2:00 on Saturday.  It was really nice.

On Saturday, Megan and Sarah played in our stake's YW basketball team in the regional tournament.  They won!  They'll play again this coming week and Savannah might even play with them.  Next year, when Mariah is a Beehive . . . Well, we will almost be able to field a whole team with just Skinners.  Crazy, right?  But FUN!