Go Team Claire-Bear!

This year I decided that I wanted to try something different for the benefit of others. I have a friend whose niece has epilepsy. She invited me to walk with her in the National Walk for Epilepsy. It is the second year that they have had a walk for Epilepsy. The cherry blossoms were in bloom.

There were about 4,000 people there for the walk. People could also do a "virtual" walk if they wanted.

Greg Grunberg, from Heroes, was there as a spokesperson for epilepsy. He told the story of his son who suffers from epilepsy. I love this picture because of the US Capitol behind him.

It was a really good experience and made me think outside of myself and my little box. It was so cold, and of course I didn't bring a coat, but all in all it was a good time.

Megan

Peter came home from school today grinning from ear to ear because he got to bring home the class bear to spend the weekend with us! Peter wanted to name her "Spike" when they voted on a name, but Megan won out. She went with us to the library and the park. At home she watched Night at the Museum with us and helped us wake up our yard. Here some pics with the sweet bear, Megan.

science project......homework from outerdarkness

For the last couple of months Hannah and I have been working on her science project. (Don't we look like we are having fun?!!) She wanted to see how high bouncy balls bounced. Her teacher didn't approve it though, so we changed it around a bit until it was. Her final question was,

Does size of the ball and the height at which the ball drop effect how
high the ball will bounce?"

We video taped her bouncing 7 balls, 4 times each, at different heights.

It was a long process, but the data that we collected will probably change the world as we know it! No longer will the Boss family buy big bouncy balls thinking that they will bounce higher than smaller ones, unless we are bouncing them on carpet then, and only then, would we want big ones. Interesting stuff.....causes the mind to think.

When putting together the presentation portion of this project, it didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. We had an incident with the "free" graph program I downloaded from the Internet. It would only allow you to print twice. Curses!! When we were finished typing up all of the information we had Alan look it over. Doing what he does best, he started changing some things around to make it better. I had to remind him a couple of times that it needed to look like a 3rd grader wrote it. I think the hardest part was to not completely take over. Alan made the comment that he would give "me" an A+ for this project.

To be truthful in all things.......I really didn't enjoy this process at all. In fact if I never had to do it again, I would be very happy! Just getting the question approved was a trial. Hannah said, "I could just do this again for my project next year!" Wouldn't that just make life so much easier! I explained that you can't do that, because they want you to do a different one every year. So then she said, "Then we can let Peter use it." Too much work for one project, even a third grader can recognize that! I just thought of a fabulous idea.....if they had no other homework for the three weeks while we worked on the science project, I could handle that. But unfortunately no one asked for my thoughts or opinions!! Anyway, it did make it all worth it when last night about 9:00 p.m. (two hours past bedtime) Hannah said, "This night is really special Mom. Thanks for helping me." That comment alone made it all worth it.

The Presidents House.....well his lawn

We went to the Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn this year in DC. It was quite the experience just getting the tickets. I went down on Friday night with some lady friends and camped out in line to be awakened (we weren't really sleeping) at 3:00 for a 30 minute wake up call and then again at 6:30 to get everything packed up and put away so that we could once again stand in line. Thanks Lindsay for coming early so we could get a good place in line!


It was one of those experiences that you don't know if you would like to repeat. Was it worth it?? I think for one year it was definitely worth it. Would I do it again?? Maybe...but probably not.


The kids were so excited to go and we found out later that it was because they thought that they were going to get to go inside the president's house and meet him. Shouldn't you meet the person to whom the house belongs? In most cases, yes, but not this one. We did get to see Barbara Bush up on the balcony, and even though we didn't see him, Bush Senior was down talking to people and signing their tickets.

Between all the many dressed up characters that we saw and the many activities that we did, the biggest hit was the magic show and the Yo-Yo man in the bright blue jacket. The highlight for me was getting to see a master at work: Mr Wyland (the whaling wall artist) was there doing a masterpiece. The kids got to help with one of his master pieces! Alan thought it was great to have Carlos Gutierrez, the Seceratary of Commerce of The United States of America, read a childeren's book to us.

Easter Morn

This year, instead of just leaving candy on the couch, the Easter Bunny decided to leave clues around the house so that we had to search for a basket full of yummy candy! It lead us outside, upstairs, downstairs, bedrooms, and to the turtles. It ended up being in the oven! The kids really enjoyed trying to find it. Here are the kids in their Easter outfits, my favorite part about Easter!!

11 years and 4 kids later

Time has a way of going so quickly, and at the same time it distorts your thoughts and memories. For example I can't image a time that I didn't know Alan. He's always been there, hasn't he?? I often times think of him hanging out with the different High School groups that I hung out with, or going places that I would go. But I have only known Alan for 11 1/2 years, so that can't be. Crazy!!

It's been wonderful to be married to a man who adores me, and loves me for who I am, even with my many faults. Here are the some best qualities that I have found in him over the last 11 years:

• His passion for music
• His love for finances
• His devotion to cleanliness
• His to-do lists
• His sense of humor
• His desire to make holidays special
• His love for Jesus Christ
• His ability to be reliable

We dropped off all 4 kids at a friends house and went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. The wait wasn't as long as we thought it would be, the service was good, and the company was fabulous! It wasn't until we went and picked up the kids and were driving home that I realized how quiet our little date was...an added bonus! I love you, Al! Here's to another year!

We believe!

The other day we were eating lunch as a family and Alan unexpectedly announced to the kids that he was, in fact, Santa Claus. They all scoffed at him as they always do when he tries to convince them that he is Santa. Joseph then yelled out "You can't be Santa Claus, cause you don't make toys, you throw them away!!" No swaying him!

Let them eat Pie!

Pi=3.14=March 14=PiePie Day has become an instant tradition in our family. There is a wonderful family in our ward that introduced us to this fabulous day celebrated by math fanatics worldwide. We wanted to have a get together, but unfortunately we had ward temple night so we didn't feel like we should make people choose. Although it would be a hard decision.....Pie at the Boss's or serving in the temple? We ended up inviting everyone over after the temple for pie. We had pumpkin, dutch apple, cherry, cheesecake, chocolate cream, banana cream, Oreo, pecan, peach, blueberry, coconut cream, lemon cream, and apple. It was delicious! It was also fun having so many people over. (I love having people over, it's one of my favorite things!) The kids were disappointed that we were going to eat pie after they went to bed but they were good sports about it! They helped us make 7 of those pies.

16 Candles...already???

Tonight at dinner Hannah told her brothers that her first car was going to be a limo. Alan said that "Actually, it will probably be a old, beat up 1999 Toyota Camry." She cocked her head, scrunched up her nose, and said, "The one you drive?" "Yup." "Well, then you had better take good care of it Daddy!"

The Circus, The Circus, I love The Circus!

About a month ago I saw an advertisement for the circus and I remembered going to the circus as a kid and thought it would be fun to go as a family. I was so excited to share that excitement with my kids. I bought the tickets for a Wednesday evening and put it on the calendar. Alan put it on his calendar, and we talked about it at each of our planning meetings up until the week of. The day came and it turned out to be a go, go, go kind of day. I was so happy just to have a relaxing evening. It was about 6:00p.m., dinner was in the oven, I went downstairs and asked Alan what his plans were. He said he had none (which is very rare). I asked if he wanted to spend the evening with the family. He all of a sudden asked what day it was. I told him the 12th and he said, "Don't we have tickets for the circus tonight??" I freaked out, thinking it started at 7:oo and that there was no way that we were going to make it to Baltimore, find parking, and eat before it started.
Well it didn't start until 7:30, and we just had lots of snacks for dinner in the car on the way there. We parked at the arena so that we didn't have to walk far. We made it in time for the pre-show, which included getting to meet some of the performers. Alan was the Hero of the Day! Thanks for remembering! I would have kicked myself for a long time if we had missed it.
We had a great time and really enjoyed it. Hannah's favorite part was the elephants sitting down with there front legs up in the air while people were riding them. Peter's favorite was the trapeze artists. Joseph's favorite part was "all of it!"

Grandpa Boss

My first memory of Grandpa Boss was when Alan took me to meet his grandma and grandpa after they had returned home from their mission to Hawaii. We were standing in their kitchen and Grandpa leaned over and asked Alan if he could hug me. He was always so complimentary, especially to women. No wonder he had 4 wives, who all loved and adored him.

He was also a hard worker. He had a shop in his backyard that had so many things stored in it at a level that he could reach. Grandpa wasn't very tall so you had to be extra careful not to hit your head. He was always out there no matter the weather. It was his way of going to work. He made and invented many things. Another thing that Grandpa was famous for was his tomatoes, every year Grandpa would plant tomato plants and end up with tons of gorgeous tomato's. His key was to throw in a banana peel while planting the plants.

Grandpa was always laughing at his own jokes. He was such a tease. It was always fun to go to Grandpa's house. Last summer Alan and I went to visit with him. He wasn't doing well at the time, and slept for a good portion of the time we were there. He did get a little bit of energy toward the end and wanted to dance with Alan, we were lucky enough to catch it on video.

Sweet Grandpa Russel Herbert Boss died on Saturday, March 1. Alan and I were able to attend the funeral the following weekend with just 1 of our 4 children thanks to wonderful friends we have here in Maryland. The kids had a wonderful time, and after talking with them and listening to all they did we asked who their favorite person was to watch them? Peter immediately replied, "Mom and Dad."

It was wonderful to see all 19 of Alan's cousins together to honor this great man. It was great to catch up with them and to see their beautiful children. At the funeral they all sang. It sounded incredible.
This is a picture of Grandpa's 4 children.

I learned things this weekend that I could have probably learned another way, but to have it happen this way makes it that much sweeter:

• Family matters, all of them! (cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, grandparents)
• I am loved! (by those that live close and those that live far away)
• Alan and I will always have wonderful friends that will always be near and dear to us.
• We have cute, well behaved kids, most of the time (there are always those moments)
• How grateful I am to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.
• That the family is meant to be eternal, as well as the friendships that we develop in this lifetime.
• My favorite part about funerals, other then seeing family and loved ones, is the flowers!

roll over, roll over, so they all rolled over....

Eden finally rolled over from back to front. I haven't had her spend much time on her tummy, probably because she is a 4th child and if she is happy I leave her be. I suspect that it won't take long for her to roll the other way. She gets frustrated after about 3-5 minutes on her tummy.

Happy Birthday Love~

Today Alan turned 37, What an old man! Happy Birthday!

Alan taught today, and what better way to celebrate than to bring a treat for the whole class. I got all the kiddies dressed up and we baked cookies. The kids were very fun and got lots of oooo's and aahhh's. They instantly became shy.......I know with my kids that is hard to believe, but it's true. They were so well behaved, I was so proud. After seeing Dad's new office, we went out to dinner at Don Pablos. Then presents and cake and ice cream, It was a full afternoon / evening.

I found this picture of Alan on his first birthday! It's amazing what can happen in such little time!