Busy Fun

We have had a fun and busy week - we started with our usual busy Mondays - full of laundry, grocery shopping, school and family home evening.  James and Evie really seem to enjoy getting more mommy attention with less kids around the house, but somehow, I still don't ever seem to be able to get anything done - but we do a lot of reading and playing and I get to see lots of these cute smiles!!!  

On Tuesday, I went out with my friend Heather to get some stuff for Primary - she hung out with us and ran errands with us - and when we stopped by her apartment, she brought her cat out to meet the kids - James LOVED the cat - he was gentle and soft and petted the kitty, but when Heather tried to take him back to her apartment, he didn't want to let go - he wanted to keep the kitty for himself!   He threw a good solid 20 minute tantrum over the loss of the cat.  

I was finally able to get my medicine on Tuesday and I have actually had a week of feeling pretty good - little to no congestion, and mostly decent sleep!  It's been nice - we will see how this next week goes....

James found this clown wig in the dress-up bin and thought it was the best thing ever - and loved having his picture taken with it on.

Tuesday night, we had Dwayne, Nicole and the missionaries over for dinner - and then discussion - Nicole had sent me a list of questions - she doesn't have any religious background, and the language of the scriptures can be hard to understand.  It was so neat to answer questions and bear testimony to her and to see understanding and interest!

Wednesday, Nicole and I took the Littles to the Library - we went and enjoyed the kids area and the new lego table they have there.  The kids love going - and even Tayanna was eager to go (as opposed to last time when she didn't want to get in a strange car!  Wednesday night was back to choir night for me - it was great to be back and to be singing again!

Thursday, the Littles and I headed down to Ikea - I have been wanting to set up a school area for the kids to work at when they get home from school.  The kitchen table has always been where they worked before - but I had a hard time getting them to sit there and a hard time getting them to keep their papers in one place (instead of all over the floor, table and counters) and it was feeling like it wasn't working well for them.  So after checking out different options and trying to find the cheapest one that would suit our needs, we found some cheap desks at Ikea that fit the bill.  Evie and James loved checking out the kids area - Evie thought the little beds were awesome - especially the pink one!  James found a slide and something to push around and never wanted to leave.  We finally got our little desks and headed home.  Then after getting the kids from school, we headed over to piano lessons.  Then I snagged a quick dinner and headed over to the Relief Society Meeting.

Friday was a normal-ish day, the kids had school, Evie and James had fun attacking mommy and climbing on me and snuggling with me.  Heather came over in the afternoon to help me finish up some primary stuff (or entertain the kids while I actually managed to get something done)  and then stayed to babysit the kids so Dan and I could go to the temple!  Dan hadn't been feeling very good, so we went and did sealings and had a wonderful time!!  After we got some dinner at a Pho place and then headed home - where Dan promptly passed out.

Saturday, Dan and a friend spent most of the morning and early afternoon fixing something on the car to help stop the oil leaking - the kids had fun hanging out with the guys while I spent my time cleaning up the craft room and getting the pile of mending done - it went a lot more quickly and I expected and it's so nice to not have a big pile of clothes.  Plus now I'm feeling like we are almost ready for Steve and Claire to come visit next week!  YEY!

And more Back to School

So Monday we went to a Kindergarten Orientation for Aaron - they went through the curriculum for the first quarter and all I could think was "Aaron is going to be SOOOO bored!!"  He is so far beyond that already!  So Aaron started school on Tuesday and yes this was the best pictures I could get out of him - trust me - it's better than the other attempts!!   He was SO excited to start school though and has loved it every day since - he loves to tell be about his new friend and about all the things they did in class.  We spent the first couple days trying to sort out how to get 3 kids from two different schools at the same time - but we are making it work.  And despite how he looks in the pictures - he is happy as a clam to be a big kid who goes to school!!

The other big even of the week (or at least the only other thing i managed to get a picture of besides one of James' many massive fits)  was the discovery of this butterfly - the kids found it injured and spent a whole afternoon carrying it around the back yard and loving it!  

This week has been busy - Dan has been gone a lot - most of it was trying to find a new car and then getting the car he eventually found (I'll get a picture next week)  Then this weekend was spent in meetings.  We had some Primary stuff to keep us busy and of course piano lessons.  We went to the library with Nicole and Riley and Tayanna and had fun - it's kinda nice having enough room in my car to be able to pick friends.  

It's been strange only having 2 kids at home for part of the day - it was nice, one morning, James slept in late and Evie came and curled up with me and so we all got to sleep in some - Evie now wants to spend all her time with me now that Aaron isn't around to play with, but she is also perfectly content to snuggle up with some books and a blanket or 3.  James is the tough one - he is busy busy busy - and he has figured out how to push chairs and the stool around the kitchen in order to get what he wants off the counters - which means, nothing is safe anymore.  So he either needs to be constantly watched or he needs to be somewhere that he can't get into trouble.  He is getting pretty good at communicating what he wants and at understanding what we say.  Dan came home the other night and saw James and said "are you ready for a bath and bed time?"  and James immediately ran to the bathroom saying "baaaaa, baaa!"  He has also figured out that he can grab our hands and take us where he wants to go - like outside, or for a walk or downstairs or if we are at church to the drinking fountain.  

The only problem with all this freedom of having only 2 kids all morning is that I can't enjoy it.  My allergies are still REALLY bugging me - to the point where I can't get a good nights sleep and I can hardly function during the day.  I had an appointment with the allergist on Friday, but problems have made me unable to pick up the prescriptions until Monday - and the over-the-counter stuff he suggested hasn't helped at all.  I can only hope that I can get the meds tomorrow and that for once they actually do something..... I can't take another 3 months of this.....

Back to School

This week has been totally nuts - Dan was out of town, and if my mom hadn't been here, I don't know how I would have managed!!  In addition to all the craziness this week - my allergies decided to kick in full force this week and I've been struggling with itchy eyes, sneezing, congestion, runny nose, and being totally tired from not being able to sleep through all that.....  I just wish I could find some type of medication that would actually help.....

Monday, we went out to visit my Grandpa and see his new place - it's really nice and he seems very comfortable and happy there.  I've always thought that it would be a great idea to move into a place like that when we get to be his age - and after checking out his place, I'm kinda looking forward to it!   After the grand tour, we went out to lunch with Grandpa - we ate at Firehouse Subs and we discovered that James likes pickles - after trying to figure out what he was trying to get from me - he reached over and grabbed the pickle spear they automatically include and he chewed on it for the next 15 minutes until it was mostly gone.   So far, I think he's the only one in the family who likes them.  

Monday night, I took Eileen and Anna to their Back to School night - we met their teachers and the girls got really excited about starting school.  Monday night, we also had Rylee and Taylee come over to stay with us for a couple days while their mom was out of town.  They are both really nice girls - but I think out house might have been rather uneventful for them - plus my kids go to bed around 7:30 - I don't make the older ones go to sleep - but it's still quiet time in their bed room - I think they thought that was really early - and the younger one was having mommy withdrawals and some how she and Anna ended up in my bed - leaving no room for me.... 

Tuesday morning, Aaron, Eileen and Anna all had evaluations at their schools - Aaron did really well on his (I wasn't allowed to watch the girls) he impressed his teacher with his reading and counting by 2's.  We got back from that to have lunch with Grandpa, Frank and Doug who was in town to help out at the cabin.  Tina was sweet and stayed at the house with the kids!

Wednesday morning we went to the park and met some friends from the ward - it was really nice having Rylee there with us since she is more than happy to play with James and help out with him and he loves her too!  That night was back to school night at Aaron's school and Rylee and Taylee went home that night.  Which was good timing since the girls went back to school the next day and needed a decent night sleep.

Thursday was Eileen and Anna's first day back to school - It's hard to believe I have a big 2nd grader and a big 3rd grader!  They were both really excited - I had taken them out to get their school supplies and they had picked their back packs - packed up their supplies and their lunches - and gotten their hair curled by Grandma!  After school, we headed out to Piano Lessons.

on Friday, Grandma left to head home, and Daddy got back and we tried to get life back in order.  Dan and I had a nice dinner in together after putting the kids down.  Then Saturday morning we went to the park for the Ward Picnic - the kids all had a blast playing on the playground with their friends and climbing trees - my kids are all turning into little monkeys.  

Yep - that is Aaron - way up there - and that's not even the highest point he reached..... Part of me gets rather nervous, and the rest of me remembers LOVING to climb trees as a kid.  At least these are good easy climbing trees!

I can't believe Summer is almost over - I'm really not ready for it to be fall or winter yet - I love summer!  We have been getting a lot of rain this week though which has been nice - I even had to mow on Friday - between watering restrictions and little rain - I haven't had to mow it much recently!

Survival

We are now less than a week from the start of school for my kids - it's hard to believe summer is almost over - we have had a fun and busy summer - but I have found that having a fun and busy summer is exhausting for the parents....  I'm ready for a bit more quiet around the house - I hope I will have a bit more time for getting things done with 3 less kids for part of the day - but somehow I'm afraid that things really aren't going to slow down at all.

This week we didn't do as much as we have been - but it wasn't by my choice - the kids have been told that in order to do fun stuff (like go to the library, go to the park or go anywhere else fun) that they have to have their rooms clean and the play room clean and have finished their piano lessons - this rule has been in place all summer - but this week - the girls just couldn't get their room clean - I had some fun stuff planned, but we ended up not going anywhere while we waited for Eileen and Anna to clean their room - 4 days later, with help from me they finally got it done.

Friday was a busy day for me - we had a big Primary Activity planned for Saturday and Friday was the final day of prep work.  Heather spent most of the day over here so we could get stuff done.

Wednesday evening, my mom got into town, Dan left Thursday morning, then Thursday evening my mom went up to the cabin to help my grandpa.  Then Friday night, Eileen's friend Morgan came over to spend the night and go to the activity the next day.

Saturday was our Primary Articles of Faith Carnival!  We got faces painted, (Evie got a Kool-Aid Mustache) we played with Balloons, we threw whipped cream pies at the bishop and did a whole bunch of fun games themed around the Articles of Faith!  We had a great turn out and a lot of fun!

Now I'm in survival mode - I love my kids - but my world is just a bit more gray when Dan is out of town.  Next week is going to be absolutely nuts - all I gotta do is survive.....