On The Road Again

Monday and Tuesday this week were filled up with getting ready to leave again. We returned library books, ate lots of leftover food and stocked up on snack food for the car. Wednesday Dan took off for Florida and the kids and I packed the car (VERY poorly....) and took off for Colorado. The trip was a familiar one to me - having made it many times in college to visit my grandparents. It was also short after our trip down to Texas. We passed the hospital where Eileen was born and I pointed it out to the kids - Eileen thought that was really interesting and said "I guess I was born here - that's the hospital i was born at mommy said!" We arrived that evening before bed time and made ourselves at home with Paul and Candace. We have had a wonderful few days with them - playing at the park, playing outside in the sand box and just wreaking general mayhem - which was copious with 9 kids under one roof! The kids all had a blast playing with cousins. Aaron loved having boys around - and Cannon and Christian were great at playing with a boy many years younger than they are. Bianca, who is 11, is vying hard for position of favorite cousin with Evie and has spent lots of time holding her, playing with her and spoiling her! I promise i took pictures, but I'm too lazy right now to go get the camera. :) This evening we had a surprise visit from Logan and Ashley and family. (Candace's brother) I haven't seen them since we moved out of Utah - so it was fun to see them and meet their kids. They were as surprised to see us as we were to see them! But throwing 2 more kids into the mix could hardly increase the amount of craziness! Friday, I met up with a friend from college and we had fun playing and chatting. It's been a fun and busy week - and the kids are all tired! The girls kept wanting to stay up late the first couple of nights and play with their cousins, but now they can barely stay awake until bed time! Tomorrow we take off for Idaho and Grandpa and Grandma's house!

Another Week in Paradise... sorta

Well after the last few weeks of big events happening and big stuff to announce and fun stuff - this week seems downright normal and boring. But sometimes normal and boring is good. We spent most of the week being lazy. A couple of the highlights....

Tuesday was a free day at the Denver Botanical Gardens - so we met some friends there and walked around and played for a bit and had lunch there. It was nice, but a bit hot. They had a water play area for the kids - which they loved and mostly soaked themselves in, while I roasted... After, mommy (and the kids too for that matter) were just plain tired - so we rested and took it easy all afternoon.

Thursday morning we went to the library. The idea was to return the book and then just look at books - not check any out since we leave next week. However I am a sucker when it comes to my kids reading. So they ended up checking out a couple books anyway. Eileen had finished one of her Magic Tree House Books by one o'clock that afternoon. Then we went home, had lunch and waited eagerly for our friends to come. Becky came by with Adena and Zoe and we had fun playing and talking. Then Becky and Adena went home and Zoe spent the night. She is such a well behaved girl and she and Eileen get along so well together - you hardly even notice there is an extra person in the house.

The kids opened up the dress up trunk and have had a lot of fun this week dressing up and having their pictures taken. Then they would walk around playing games and chasing each other. It's so fun to watch them use their imaginations!

Friday night Dan took me out for our Anniversary - it isn't until August 2nd - but we will be in different states on the day of. We went to the Melting Pot - I mean honestly - cheese, chocolate - what more could a person ask for! It was my first time and I thoroughly enjoyed it - I think one of my favorite foods in all the world is a good chocolate covered strawberry! After dinner, we went to see the final Harry Potter movie. Loved it - of course - now I need to go back and read them again.... :)

Stories from Church

We had a couple of those priceless stories yesterday at church - not the "AWWWW how sweet" priceless kind - the "I'm gonna blackmail you with these stories" kind :)

I took Aaron in to go to the bathroom at the end of church, he is usually pretty good - and generally won't let me near him when he's going potty. So I was waiting outside the stall when I hear what sounds a lot like liquid splattering on the floor. I quickly open the door. He is sitting on the toilet happy as a clam, and on the floor near the toilet is a slightly yellow-ish puddle. I ask him "Aaron - what is that - is that pee-pee? He doesn't answer (which is his usual reaction when he doesn't like the answer he would have to give.) "Aaron - was that you - did you do that?" He looks at me and says "No - it was my peanut!"

I was sitting in Relief Society enjoying a lovely lesson when the door opens and i auto check to see if it is about one of mine. It is - my oldest is outside crying like she has suffered a mortal wound. I hurry outside, full of concern, to see what is wrong. I hold her and ask what happened. "Anna ripped my band-aid!!!" I ask "What? This is about a ripped band-aid???" She sat crying inconsolably for another 5 minutes with me getting less and less patient the whole time. I asked her if she was hurt, she said no. I asked her if she had lost something or someone really special, she said no. Then I told her that she was letting herself get really upset over something that wasn't really important. I told her that there are times when it's ok to be upset - but that ripped band-aids aren't worth the effort. She continued to cry and gasp and pant how upset she was. I finally made her look me in the face and said - "Eileen I don't really have any sympathy for you - this isn't worth getting upset over - you need to calm yourself down now" We took deep breaths together and I sent her back in. I talked to her teacher after church who had fortunately found the whole thing rather amusing. After I had sent Eileen back in - Eileen had apparently turned to her teacher and said "Sister Boyer, why doesn't my mom have any sympathy for me???" Sister Boyer had a very hard time not laughing.

SOLD!!

Well, we did it, we are officially rid of our house. Friday we signed all the papers and closed on our Texas house.

Other than that, we had a fun week - We went to the library - Eileen devours books, so we were hoping to keep her happy for a week or so. But we had a good time - this library is a lot smaller than the Frisco one, and has late fees, so we don't go as often as we used to, but still, it was nice.

Thursday we went to a Rockie's Game with a bunch of people from Dan's work. It was a lot of fun! The kids loved the fun and the atmosphere and the treat of getting to do something different. They didn't really get the game - but the Rockies were doing well (we left after the 5th inning to get the kids to bed) but they ended up winning and it's always fun when you get to cheer because they are doing well. :) So here's a big THANK YOU!!! To Dan's boss who set this all up for us, and even got the kids little souvenir Rockies balls! GO ROCKIES! It had been raining all day and amazingly it cleared up just as we parked and walked over - so it was perfect weather - not too hot and not too cold and not too wet!

Saturday was cleaning and errands day - but the kids loved it, because Dan took them with him to Walmart and let them spend their chore money (lot of coloring books) and Anna used a gift card she got for her birthday to get some dolls that she has played with non-stop ever since - THANK YOU TOLBERTS!!!

Home Again

We made it in safely late Monday night - and even got to enjoy fireworks for the last hour or so of the drive. It was a fairly enjoyable drive (more for me than for Dan since he drove) The kids were mostly very well behaved, and I got a lot accomplished - I promise I will show pictures once it's done - and it's getting close now which is exciting!

This week has been busy with re-adjusting and getting back to normal. On Tuesday my Grandpa came over and kept the kids busy all morning so I could get the car cleaned out, bags unpacked, laundry done, and stuff like that. All in all, it was a very productive day - so much so that I spent the next 2 days recovering :P


Thursday the kids were going stir crazy so we went to the park - and managed to stay long enough to have some fun before the sprinkling started. Most of the week has been sunny and beautiful in the morning and then turns to drizzly and stormy in the late afternoon and evening.

Eileen has been going through books like a starving man goes through food, so on Friday we tried to make a library trip to feed her insatiable appetite, but apparently the library is closed on Fridays.... oh well - we'll try again on Tuesday or Wednesday or when ever we get a break.


Saturday we cleaned the car and then spent most of the afternoon at the Bessendorfers. The girls just LOVE playing with Zoe and they had a little pool set up in the back yard which the kids just loved. We all enjoyed a super yummy lunch and great company. The kids all came home nice and exhausted so they went to bed a bit early and easily (YEY!!!)

Some exciting bits of news for our little family:

- First of all - we are expecting another little Jones - I join the ranks of pregnant Jones women again (and as usual, I'm not alone!) The due date looks to be mid-January ish....

- Second - we are under contract on our house and the closing date has been set for Thursday - the people buying the house are pre-qualified and all that is left now is for stuff to happen. At the risk of getting too confident - this is FINALLY looking like it will work - pray for us and keep fingers and toes crossed.

Ready to go Home

Well it has been a long, fun and exhausting week! We spent a couple days out on the boat and the days between 'recovering' but since the kids would sit at the window and say stuff like "It's a really nice day out mommy" (which means 'lets go swimming' in Anna-talk) recovering usually included afternoons spent in the pool. The kids have all had a blast and are already looking forward to a visit next year and already missing the friends they leave behind. Despite all this, we are all looking forward to getting home. Dan and I miss our bed as usual, Eileen says she is used to sleeping in her sleeping bag and will continue to do so at home, but we'll see... :) Evie is the most ready to get home as she has achieved a state of perma-cranky (defined as the state a child gets into when they have been gone from home too long and spend every waking minute wanting to be held) Perma Cranky state is only interrupted for eating. So tonight, we pack and get ready for the long trip home.

Monday was Anna's Birthday and involved a couple friends coming over to eat and swim. Anna loved it! Especially her all pink cake with yellow frosting....


We had a blast out on the boat, and on Friday, we took Dan's friend Chuck and his son Sam. The kids had a great time with them and Dan and I had fun showing off our mad wakeboarding skills..... well - maybe that was just Dan - I just had fun wakeboarding.


The older girls, and mommy and grandma all went out for manis and pedis on Tuesday - it was a nice morning of relaxing and pampering and the girls just LOVED it. Well, Momma and Grandma might have enjoyed it a bit too.... :)



Wednesday the adults went to Medieval Times and had fun eating good food and cheering on the yellow knight, who didn't win... but oh well!


Now it's time to pack up and head home. And believe it or not - the kids are still excited to watch the same barbie movies over and over again... here's hoping it lasts for all 16 hours. :)