Spring!!!!

Spring Break and beautiful spring weather!!  With all 5 kids home all week, this week has been a bit nuts!!  We've kept ourselves busy with piano lessons, playing with friends, choir, meetings, missionary discussions, a sick daddy and of course, Easter!  We had all sorts of spring break plans - library, museum, play dates, visiting teaching... etc - but most of it didn't happen.  The kids have mostly just had fun playing - especially as the weather got warmer, playing outside.  They also had fun changing sleeping arrangements and having sleepovers with each other.  James' favorite toy is my phone - he thinks it's the funniest thing when he pushes the button and Siri talks to him.  

The kids all had fun coloring, building things and reading/being read to.  I didn't get hardly anything useful done - but we had fun anyway :)

Any time I pull out the camera, the kids all want to have their picture taken - Evie just wants me to take her picture so that she can see the picture.  Aaron just kinda stands there grinning at me, Eileen and Anna both want to build stuff to take a picture of first (or grab a stuffed animal to take a picture with) and James is figuring out that when Mommy grabs a camera and points it at him that he needs to raise his arms in the air and say "CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE"  Course, he does it so quickly, that I rarely have the camera ready in time :)

Friday afternoon, Dan came home from work not feeling good - he slept all after noon and roused himself long enough to have the second discussion with Dwayne and Nicole and get a blessing from the elders, and eat two bits of the soup I made for him and then he went back to bed. 

Saturday, Dan was still feeling pretty sick and so he slept most of the day - so the kids and I decorated eggs (or tried to.....) and then when Dan got up for a bit, he went out and hid Easter eggs so they could hunt for them - the kids had a blast and Eileen declared that she LOVES Easter - They had fun anyway - and we had a nice time talking about what Easter is REALLY about the next day 

The kids with their cheap $5.00 Easter baskets - which they adored since they came with bubbles, crayons, paints and chalk - amazing how little things can make a big difference and a big impression when you make the effort to spend time together.  We also all enjoyed eating spring colored egg salad sandwiches and deviled eggs today :)

We went up to Newell and Becky's house to have an Easter dinner with them and Deb and Marion. The kids all had fun running amok - James ate half the food there and we all had a fun time together.

And there it goes again....

Well - the weather got beautiful and sunny and we were loving being outside and playing in the sun and it was really starting to feel like spring..... then starting Friday night, and going through most of Saturday, we lost out back yard again under 6-7 inches of snow.  We do need the moisture and the snow is beautiful.... but I am ready for spring!!!!  Especially since Spring Break starts tomorrow.  Dan and I got our Tax Rebate check and used it to get a play set for the back yard - we planned to have friends over to help get it built on Saturday so that the kids could spend all of spring break outside playing on it - instead it's sitting in boxes in our garage.....  Eileen braved the snow (which is already turning slushy under warmer weather) and made herself an ice castle - it's a mini ice castle.....  but she is very proud of it :)

Our week has been busy with piano lessons, choir concerts and family fun.  On Monday for Family Home Evening, we had the missionaries over for dinner and Dwayne and Nicole's family over for dinner also - we talked about the gospel with them and sent them home with a Book of Mormon!  It was a fun and wonderful evening!

Friday was my final Easter concert with the Chorale - the concerts this season went so well and were so much fun - we had a brass quartet play with us and it added so much to the performance - it felt like one of our most solid concerts (at least that I've been in!)

Saturday, we spent the whole day cooking and cleaning - however our house is now clean (even after 2 days it's still mostly clean)  It's so nice to have it looking good again!  I had a bit of a talk with Anna, who was throwing a tantrum about hating to clean, about how cleaning is just part of life and how she had better get used to it since she will be doing it for the rest of hers - and she certainly spent all day Saturday doing it.  I know I was no better as a kid - but I keep hoping that this time when I tell them to put their dirty clothes in the clothes hamper, that maybe, just maybe, they will do it.

Today was exhausting, as usual, I got a new calling - I think it's my 4th since we have been in this ward (which is just about a year and a half) but I will probably be in this one for a while.  The bishopbric offered the calling to me over a month ago - but between Stake Conference, a Snow Day with no church at the building, and the necessary time needed for calling counselors, I was just sustained and set apart today as the primary president.  This should be an adventure - but one I'm nervously looking forward to.  I've come to love these kids so much in the past few months as their chorister and I'm excited to get to stay with them!

I had a good time visiting teaching this week - I was finally able to get over to see Jill, and the kids had a blast playing over there with her kids and we had a nice chat.  She and I get along so well and have fun when we get together, but it always takes a few tries before it works out!  I also was finally able to really visit a sister that has been on my route for awhile now, but due to phone number issues, i was never able to get a hold of her - I am SO glad that I was able to spend some time chatting with her and getting to know her better!!  I am already looking forward to next months visit!

Here Comes the Sun

And yes - as I type that title, I can't help sing the Beatles song....  We have had some beautiful weather for the last few days!!!  We got a bit more snow this week, but soon it all melted  (including our big old snow man - prompting many renditions of "Once there was a Snowman") and we have been enjoying days with highs in the 60's and lows in the 50's - we have been having a blast playing in the back yard, working in the back yard - running around and riding bikes!

Friday was the Colorado Mormon Chorale's first Easter concert - it went really well!  I really enjoy singing with the group - often I have people who hear that I sing with the group and wonder how I manage - but really it's my escape - it provides me with a place to go be an adult and do what i love for a couple hours a week and to do it in a way that spreads the gospel message to all who hear it and brings me home almost as refreshed and ready for the next day as Church does.

Saturday, our ward had a luau - we all got dressed up with our sarongs and flowers and went for food and fun.  The primary kids did some Hawaiian dances and were so cute!!!  Evie was so funny to watch, since she really didn't know what was going on, so she stood there for the first half and just stared, then she realized that she was supposed to be dancing and she started dancing (but always a step behind of course)  So here we are - all us girls in our Hawaiian get-up.

Here are the boys lined up for their dance - they did an awesome job!  Aaron's favorite part was at the end where they all jumped off the stage.

And Dan and James - James found a ball early on and spent the whole night chasing it.   You can't tell from the picture, but Dan is wearing the sarong that he got from his parent's when they came back from Malaysia - he got lots of comments about wearing a skirt - but we all had fun getting dressed up and hanging out with friends!

.....And Snow Again

 Most of the week has actually been sunny and mostly warm - we even managed to get rid of our ice slab in front of our house (just in time for the snow to create a new one....) The kids had fun playing out in the back yard and most of the snow back there had melted.  With Dan still out of town, it was kind of a crazy week.

Tuesday we went out for piano lessons, then stopped at Pizza Hut for a quick dinner before heading to a little surprise birthday for Grandpa Francone.  We couldn't stay for too long - but we wanted to do something for him for his birthday!  Then Tuesday night, after the kids were in bed, Susan dropped off my quilts!  She really did a gorgeous job with them!  This quilt was started by my great great grandmother or my great great great aunt (we're not sure which)  I found the blocks in varying states of done-ness after my grandma passes away about 7 or so years ago.  I finished piecing the top about 5 years ago, and now it's finally quilted - all I have to do is bind it and it's finished!!!  I'm so excited to have this piece of family history done!

Wednesday was my choir practice, Tina came over to watch the kids and I enjoyed a couple hours of singing!  I think i must have been starved for adult conversation by that point, because I talked off the ears of my car pool and of poor Tina when she was trying to leave :)

Thursday morning, we had some friends come over to play and have lunch with us - Brigg and Emery came and played with us while their mom went to go run an errand - the kids really get along well together - and the only negative consequence was in the mess that the play room became before long.

Thursday night we started having problems - James had had a high fever when i left him with Tina on Wednesday night - but it seemed to be gone by the next morning, however, that night, James wouldn't sleep - he was up fussing for half the night and I only managed about 4 hours of interrupted sleep.  That always makes the next day rough!

Friday was long and exhausting - I had a doctors appointment in the morning - It was my follow up with the allergist who ended up giving me a new prescription (which i still haven't managed to pick up....) So hopefully this works out - the kids were really good during the appointment, but James was really tired and in need of a nap, so he was a bit cranky.  That evening we had a vacuum salesman show up and entertained the kids for a good solid hour with his demonstration and we ended up with a new vacuum at a really good price.  The kids all thing it's the best thing since home made jelly.  Even James who kept trying to chase it around and check out the light on the front while Dan was vacuuming on Saturday.

Friday night/Saturday morning, the snow started - thankfully it stayed off long enough for Dan to get in safely - but we had blizzard warnings and we got 4-5 inches of snow - it is already starting to melt off though - the kids had fun building a snowman with Dan today and he's already "melting small, small small."   But they had fun!  We had stake conference today and there were some really great talks!  One recently returned missionary told a really neat story about 4 men who each grabbed hold of a different part of an elephant - one grabbed the tail and decided that elephants were like ropes, one grabbed the foot and decided that elephants were round and rough, one grabbed the trunk and decided that elephants were like large snakes and one grabbed the tusk and decided elephants were like spears - each man had a small portion of the truth - but not the whole picture - so often we get bogged down in little details that we miss the bigger picture - this last week, I got bogged down in my little fatigues and sometimes forgot the bigger picture of the wonderful family and home and friends I have.

Here are some fun pictures of our snow adventures - the girls had a fun snow fight with Daddy and Aaron stood by and watched because he couldn't find gloves - but he obligingly smiled and the camera for me :)

....And Snow....

We got more snow this week - but as the week has come to a close - it has gotten warm and lovely - now we just need another 2 weeks of this to melt all the snow and ice in our shadowed front yard!  :)  I'm about ready for spring!  

Our brave little James has become a climber - he loves going up the stairs (though can't go down them)  and he has discovered how to climb up the stool we keep in the kitchen for the kids to use.  He decided after watching Aaron help with the dishes, that he wanted to help also.  :) 

Wednesday, Dan had to leave for his first trip of the year - it's been so nice having him around this long - and now we are all missing him a lot.  Plus it was kinda a rude surprise since we all thought (inclduing Dan) that he wasn't leaving until Thursday - however on Monday we found out that we were wrong....

On Friday, Anna had a Dr. Seuss Day Snuggly Read-a-thon where she got to wear pajamas to school (and bring a doll and blanket and pillow) She wanted to bring her American Doll, and to help counter the disappointment at not being able to go to the Skate City Night on Thursday, I made a little set of pajamas for her doll to wear too.  

 Well we managed to survive to the weekend - Saturday was busy with Play and primary stuff - the kids had an activity where they got to learn a Hawaiian dance for the ward Luau in a couple weeks.  I had to wake James up to go to it and he just sat there in a stupor for the first 45 minutes or so.  I've never seen him sit so still for so long!

The kids spent the afternoon playing outside - the weather was beautiful and sunny and warm - but there was still plenty of snow to play with in our front yard (which is in the shade all day so it takes forever to melt)

Sunday has been exhausting  - it always is - standing and waving my arm and running around and being enthusiastic for 2 hours (and that's after battling my kids during Sacrament Meeting) always is - but it's about a million times worse when Dan isn't here - because then there is only one person to battle with all 5 kids - one being a very tired and wiggly baby and because I have to try and contain and hold said wiggly baby while doing all the other music stuff!  The kids really are good kids - but I have a finite amount of energy and it was gone by the end of Sacrament Meeting - I'm just running on fumes now.

So now just one more week - Dan will be back on Friday - at which point i'm taking a 1 day vacation.... even if it's just to lock myself in my craft room for a day!

I finally managed to get 2 quilts that I had done to a quilter to be quilted about 2 months ago and they are done!!!!  I'm so excited to get them back and get the binding done!!  Plus I have another one to drop off!!  Yey!