Ladybugs!!

Part of living in a lush and green part of the country, is dealing with an endless amount and variety of insects. Most of them stay outside, but aaaallll through the winter we have an infestation of ladybugs that wake up and live in our windows.

This is much to Elena's delight. She has become the master hunter of ladybugs and is constantly crawling up on any furniture to look for them in all the windows. Mostly they live in the two windows in our bedroom because of the sunlight we get on that side of the house, so she gets up early just to hunt in our windows. (Above is one of her hauls.) I was concerned for the welfare of the ladybugs she captured, so we made it a game that she relocates them to be with their "friends" in our potted plants in the kitchen windows dowstairs. My hope is that they'll eat the ants which are just beginning to appear indoors. (Noooooo!) I doubt they will, I think they mostly eat aphids. But I am trying a new trick that I read about- spreading cornmeal for the ants. Apparently they take it home and they can't digest it. Supposedly an organic way to deal with them. We'll see.

I also wanted to share a short clip of a day in the life with toddlers...because it makes me laugh.

At least baby powder smells good!

New Calling

I was recently released as Sunday school teacher to the 20 or so youth in our ward. (Almost two years of 12-13 year olds- felt like I was teaching release-time seminary!) My new church calling in which I have been called to serve is as the newly reinstated Activities Committe Chair. We haven't had a committee for a while, so I am the one they've decided to trust to keep it all on track. Needless to say, I am very humbled. I want very much to have some awesome ward activities, so I feel a lot of weight on my shoulders. So, I was hoping that I could get some ideas from everyone- just tell me about your favorite activities that you have had in your wards! Thanks!