Spring Break

It's feeling like I say this every week... but this week was nuts!  Sunday night, Eileen's friend Morgan came over to sleep over and hang out.  The kids had a blast all day Monday - and had so much fun that she stayed again on Monday night.  Then Tuesday morning, the great granddaughter of the lady next door came over to play for a while, then in the afternoon, we went to the zoo.  We had fun checking out the animals (and I took some pictures but I'm too lazy to go out to the car to get the camera....)  Morgan went home Tuesday evening and the kids all missed her when she left.  

Wednesday, I went visiting teaching (yes, with all 5 kids in tow) and I had choir practice in the evening, Thursday was piano lessons in the morning, and errands in the afternoon.  I took Eileen out to get some training bras - she doesn't really need them yet - but she's getting close enough that I would rather she had them than not.  She was very excited about it and had a lot of fun picking them out.  She was so excited that she let me take a picture to embarrass her for posterity.  ;)

While all of this was going on I needed to prepare to leave for Texas.  I needed to do all the laundry, cleaning, packing, lawn mowing, cleaning the spare room for Tina, and getting some computer work done.  I managed to get the essentials done and ready and James and I took off Friday morning.  The trip was long, but easy.  James loved getting to watch movies the whole way.  Everytime one ended, I would ask him what he wanted to watch next and he would respond in an adorable voice "I don't know!"  Road trips and rest stops are a lot easier with just one kid.  James and I arrived late on Friday night and soon went to bed.  

Dan spent Friday home with the kids - and Aaron proved he could ride his bike to the park and back and got to go pick out his new bike.  He also got all the kids new helmets which they were very excited about!  

Saturday here was mostly quiet - James and I slept in and then got up to go see my mom at the hospital and get her checked out and drive her home.  We spent most of the day playing and reading books and getting on a pill schedule.

Sunday my dad and I tried to work a schedule so we could get to church and not leave mom alone too long.  Church was really nice - Dad's ward was doing their Easter program too and it was really nice.  It's a really great ward and it was fun to see familiar faces.  Sandi came over after church with Taz and Kai.  Taz and James just had a blast together.  We went for a walk and played in the back yard and around 6:15 James was done - Taz had exhausted him, and he threw a massive tantrum because I wanted him to go potty - so he went potty and then went to bed too.  :)

Music.....

This week has been totally nuts.  The Colorado Mormon Chorale's Easter Concerts were this week.  So after the usual craziness of a day of laundry, grocery shopping and kids, I took off in the evening for our dress rehearsal and got home in time to go to bed.

Tuesday was once again the usual kids, school, and fun - followed by the Chorale's first concert.  We performed at Denver University's Newman Center.  The performance went well and everyone said it was amazing!  Evie and Aaron also had their class concerts that night.  Dan took the kids to the concerts and tried to record them - but since he hadn't slept at all the night before, he might have dozed off a bit....

Wednesday we had the kids piano lessons after school along with our usual late start, library for story time and then watching a friends kids for a couple hours.  James LOVES having friends over to play!  Then in the evening was another concert for me.

Thursday was our "day off" So Eileen conned me into driving her all the way up to boulder so that she could meet Brandon Mull and get her favorite Fablehaven book signed.  We had a really fun time and I didn't even keep the girls up too late.  He was going to be in Denver on Friday, but I had another concert on Friday, so that wasn't going to work....

Friday, I took the girls to our final performance of "Lamb of God" the girls really enjoyed the concert - Eileen loves watching the flutes and they love having some special out with mommy time.  These concerts have been amazing and wonderful to be a part of.  They have also been amazingly well attended - they estimated over 1000 people at our Friday night concert - and we probably could have done one more night and packed it too.  After the concert, I took the kids for dinner and dessert at Chili's.

Saturday, Dan had Boy Scout training in the morning - he got home just in time for me to be able to take Eileen to flute lessons with out all the other kids in tow.  Then we spent the afternoon cleaning up before I had to leave for yet another CMC event.  We provided some entertainment for a charity event/auction.  It was just a small group of us since the venue wasn't that big, but it was a really nice event and they provided a yummy dinner.  

Today was nice - Church was wonderful - weather was beautiful so we walked to and from church.  I sang a musical number and helped out in primary again.  It's been amazing how much better behaved my kids have been for me - I can't help but think that it's a blessing from the Lord to help us survive Dan's new calling.  After church, Eileen wanted me to text her friend Morgan's mom to see if she could sleep over sometime during spring break.  So she came over this evening and the kids had tons of fun running around yelling and playing until we banished the younger ones to bed and played a game of Settlers of Catan with Eileen and Morgan.  Now I just gotta make it though next week....

Long Week....

I was a bad mom this week and took no pictures....  but in my defense, it was a LONG week.  Bright and early on Monday morning (as in 6 AM) I got a phone call from the school letting us know that school had been cancelled for the day due to a power outage.  Thankfully weather was nice, so we spent a LOT of the day playing in the back yard.  Having all the kids home prevented me from running a couple errands that I wanted to get done.  

Tuesday was back to normal - James and I took our friend to her appointment in the morning, then we ate lunch and got the other kids from school - a mostly normal day - except Aaron fell asleep in the car on the way home.  I checked him and he had a fever, so I gave him some tylenol and put him to bed.  The next morning though, his temp was back to normal and he seemed fine.  

Wednesday was the usual late start school day for the kids, followed by a library trip for James and I, then home for lunch.  I went to choir practice in the evening - our concerts are next week - so rehearsals are the the fun stage when things really start to take shape.  

Thursday, I woke up feeling lousy, but hoping that I could shake it off with lots of water and some rest, I didn't worry about it too much.  I gave myself a break and let James watch Wild Kratts for a bit so I could rest.  After school, the kids had piano lessons, then in the evening, I went to a Relief Society activity.  Dan took the school age kids to Skate City.  I didn't have a whole lot of energy still though, so I headed home and went to bed early.  

Friday, I felt worse,  I decided that I couldn't just wait it out and that I'd better get it checked - I have too much happening next week to wait and see any longer (especially with the weekend coming up)  So I got a doctors appointment and tested positive for Strep Throat.  I got my antibiotics and then at the suggestion of my doctor, We took all the kids in to get tested too.  (Thankfully they were out of school for a teacher work day)  the 4 younger kids all tested positive for strep also.  So we picked up their meds and finally headed home.  We had plans for some friends to come over, but we postponed until we were all better, then spent the evening taking it easy.  

Saturday was mostly taking it easy too - the girls got their room cleaned in record time, then Eileen proceeded to do some extra chores so she could get a water snail.  Dan took the kids to the pet store to check out prices and see how much they would need to save up.  Then they came home all excited.  Anna then did a superb and speedy clean up of the play room so she could go with Dan to the craft store.  He took her to look at models - she picked a WWII army jeep model that she and Dan have been working on together.  Then Dan stayed home with the kids so I could go to Stake Conference.  It was wonderful and a great end to a hectic week.  

Today was the main part of Stake Confrence - so the kids and I got there early (James with no shoes on *mom fail*) for stake choir which was wonderful - then enjoyed a wonderful conference with the kids mostly reverent.  Then after we had Ward Choir practice, then Eileen and I headed home, Dan went home teaching and the kids ate a quick dinner before we headed to Frank and Tina's for a big family birthday party!  

Thankfully, the medicine is doing it's job, we are all feeling much better and ready to face the insane week ahead of us....

Family Fun

I have a fun and spunky 5 year old girl.  As part of her homework, she needs to write in this book a couple times a week.  In trying to figure out what to write about, she decided to do a "Who Am I" and proceeded to do this drawing.  *Note - this is after I made her edit it.*  She came up to me asking what the bumpy part on the front.  I was trying to figure out what she was talking about - when I did, we had a talk about how that isn't an appropriate thing to write about and we came up with a different thing to write about.  Not sure what that says about mermaids when my daughter thinks their most distinguishing characteristics are a tail, bellybutton and seashell bra.....

Tuesday, Eileen and Anna had their concert.  Eileen had her 4th Grade concert (where she even got to play a recorder)  and both girls had their school choir concert.  It was a lot of fun and the girls did great - now i just need to get Eileen to look at her teacher/director instead of playing with her recorder, talking to friends and goofing off....

Wednesday I had my rehearsal with the chorale - we are getting close to the concerts, so we had a full rehearsal with the orchestra.  It's getting exciting and really awesome!

Thursday and Friday were nuts - Thursday included me getting an allergy shot, making a quick stop at the yarn shop near by, then picking up my friend Debbie to take her across town to a doctor's appointment, then picking the kids up from school, piano lessons and homework and such.  Friday started early with a doctors appointment for me (with lots of help from James) just a follow up to check if some meds I'm on are working.  Then I went to pick up some medical supplies for a friend and dropped them off at her house, followed by getting home in time to have James' little friend Addie come over for the afternoon.  Then we picked the kids up from school - got all the homework and piano and reading done, then we dropped off dinner for the sister missionaries before heading over to have dinner and play games with a friend of Dan's from work and his fun family.  We all had a great time - but we kept the kids up rather late.

Saturday was mostly doing some clean-up around the house and car and playing outside.  Weather has been gorgeous here - outside is a great place to be right now - as long as you avoid the massive amounts of mud courtesy of the melting snow piles.  

Sunday was wonderful - church was wonderful - James was mostly cooperative today.  After church was choir, then home for lunch with the kids and play time before Dan got home - then Eileen and I headed out to Stake Choir and Dan watched the kids of some friends of ours so they could come too.  Then we all went back to our house for a fun and yummy Sunday dinner.  Their boys all thought the muffins we had with dinner were cupcakes - I think they liked having "cupcakes" for dinner :)

Lost and Found: A story of my driveway....

So Dan left town for Orlando last Saturday.  While he was gone we got the most snow in a one week period since we have lived here.  I don't think it totaled more than a foot and half - but we had days in between with some of it melting off.  Though we have a 3 foot high area in front of our house which is in the area that gets piled up during shoveling and is in the shade so it doesn't melt.  The snowing set in again in earnest on Wednesday afternoon and snowed until Friday morning.  I don't mind shoveling snow, but I do mind having to get up and 6:15 in the morning for 2 days in a row to clear a driveway so I can take the kids to snow - partially because I'm losing sleep and partially because there's no sun and it's COLD!  When Dan is out of town, I go into survival mode - which means I just try and not fail too epic-ly.  I was really stressed out about Thursday night - we were supposed to have piano lessons after school, Eileen and Anna's choir concert, AND Activity Days.  I was worried about how to get it all done and how timing would work.  I've never been more grateful for snow.  It snowed all afternoon and everything got cancelled!!!  Instead we spent a quiet night at home snuggling up together!  Stuff got rescheduled - and I didn't have to stress about it.  The Activity Day's activity got rescheduled for Friday night - they were going to see a bunch of the youth from our ward in "Seussical the Musical" I went and watched too.  It was a lot of fun and really well done.

Dan came home safe and sound on Friday afternoon.  It's so good to have him back, and this should be the last trip of anything longer than a couple days.  He's much more needed in the office than on the road, and we all prefer having him home!

The kids have been having fun playing in the snow and getting cold and dirty.  James needs constant reminders that it's not summer and he needs a coat and shoes.

Evie came home from school one day and promptly went to sleep - I checked on her and she was running a fever.  She was still with fever the next morning, so I kept her home from school - and instead took her on all the errands that I needed to run.  We needed bread for lunches and I needed to go do my allergy shot.  Fortunately, there didn't seem to be anything else wrong with her - she wanted to sleep more - but didn't seem sick otherwise.

Church was great today!  Dan conducted in Sacrament meeting for his first time.  He did great - no mistakes and no sticking his foot in his mouth.  Sacrament was wonderful - would have been better if I got to hear all of it - but that doesn't happen much with 5 young kids. :)  I got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society today, it was really nice!  The lessons were wonderful!  After church, the kids had lunch - James took a nap.  Eileen and I went to Stake Choir and then we had dinner and put the kids to bed.  Eileen stayed up with Dan and I to play 7 Wonders - Eileen and I both lost BADLY to Dan.  Then we called Dan's brother Steve to chat for a bit.  Steve and Claire are going to be moving out to Laramie and we are so excited to have them only a couple hours away!