Chills and Thrills

I seriously cannot remember the last time I checked-in at Sjolseth Update. 

Here some updating that is seriously overdo.  I'll start with me.   :)

I am busy with several things.  One:  being a wife to an awesome man.  Two:  being a mom to the boys.  Those two priorities keep me hopping.

Other stuff that I do: 

• I am the voice of Pennies of Time.  This is where I spend most of my writing time, um, free time, um, time volunteering to help others.  I have felt a heavenly call to share what we do every day with our boys when we go out and serve.  I serve every day with my young boys.  I don't write up every service act, but I do jot down quite a few.  Pennies of Time has seen quite a bit of traffic over the past couple of months.  I am glad that others are seeing how kids can serve and are serving with their own families.
• Not surprisingly, serving with my boys has motivated me to crank up my own volunteering.  I've been looking for more ways to help in the community for 7 months now and have centered my time with 1)  I help women that are looking for employment (most I help are transitioning to the workplace after being out for quite a while), 2) I help out nonprofits that have a focus on children. (I have recently been helping with grant writing and newsletters.), and 3) I am serving in my church's women's group called Relief Society.
• I swim several times a week.  I continue to move toward being grain free.

Everett recently had his first phone interview with a service oriented nonprofit!  I had to write up some biographical information on him and then figure out headshots for this guy.  He is doing amazing things with his service work, and others want to talk to him to find out more.  He is loving school.  He is reading.  He wants to get more seriously with the swimming, and he is one of the kindest kids I know.  Today, he tried riding his bike without training wheels for the first time, with some success.

Merritt is a sweet, sweet fast-moving boy.  He cracks all of us up!  He still going to his nature preschool class once a week.  Several months back he graduated from speech.  YAY!  He is constantly putting his brother's needs before his own.  Whenever Evy is at school, Merritt is always the first to make sure that we don't forget to include Everett in what we are doing. He loves to fully accessorize.  Most days, he is dressed better than I am. 

The boys recently transitioned to bunkbeds, and they are LOVING it!  They are both tall, love writing bikes, and they keep me hopping.  It was so much fun to watch them with the Easter Egg Hunt this weekend.  Both boys found eggs for the other one!  They are great friends!

Erik is busy as usual.  This year he is still Ward Employment Specialist and is Everett's Primary teacher.  Everett loves it!  Erik is also working on several projects in the house and has a personal vendetta to get green grass growing again in the yard.

This week we celebrated Erik's birthday early.  He decided to do 42 acts of kindness in one day.  It was an amazing experience that I am sure to write out soon.  His favorite acts of the day 1) paying for the gentleman behind him at the donut store and 2) spending an hour clearing out weeds at a complete stranger's home (and, no, the stranger will never know who cleaned up the yard).  The boys and I really enjoyed burying treasure in a sandplayground.  That was so much fun!

Here are a couple of posts that highlight what we have been up to this week:
Egging Someone for Easter
Making Easter Bird Nests
Making Busy Books for the Children's Medical Center

Here is the most popular post on Pennies of Time right now:
Making Chemo Care Packages