I need more sleep!

This week has been rather crazy.  Mostly because, I am still more tired that usual, but I don't want to be - I want to be back to normal so I keep trying to do the usual stuff and then find that I'm exhausted.  We had a friend  who ended up in the ER in a lot of pain, so we were watching her little boy while she was there with her husband, but he was feeling a bit under the weather too, so he was kinda tired and really just wanted to be home with his mom and dad.  Otherwise, Monday was the usual crazy.  I told the kids that I would only do their laundry if they put their dirty clothes in their hampers. So I did me and Dan's laundry and the kids attempted to do theirs.  I helped them sort it and showed those that didn't know how to work the machines to start them, so they got the clothes mostly clean, but they didn't get any of them folded, so they spent the whole week complaining about not having clean clothes.

The girls are having fun at choir after school and it's fun to listen to them sing when they get home.  Otherwise, Tuesday was a long exhausting day!

Wednesday was eventful!  We went to the library as usual with Tayanna and Nicole.  After the library, we went home and my friend Debbie and her daughter Brynleigh came over for lunch, it was so nice getting to see her and chat with her again!  Then we picked up the kids from school and got through all the after school stuff.  In the evening, Aaron had cub scouts, Anna had activity days, and Eileen had new beginnings.  Since she will be going in to young women's this year, she was invited to go to new beginnings and they did a cute little get to know you activity with the two new girls for this year.  After, I headed over as fast as I could for the last 45 minutes of choir.

Thursday was crazy.  Preschool was cancelled for James so he and I spent the morning snuggled up on the couch, then the craziness began.  After school, the kids had piano lessons, and then in the evening Anna had trumpet lessons, finally I had institute in the evening.  Institute was wonderful!  I finally finished the fingerless gloves for Anna and she has worn them everyday since.

Friday was fun, but busy.  James and I went to my allergy shot, then stopped by Costco on my way home.  We got the kids from school and went through all the post school craziness.  Dan went to play Dungeons and Dragons with Becca and Jeremiah.  The kids and I had dinner, then I sent the younger kids went to bed while Eileen and I watched Star Wars: Episode VII.  Eileen was so cute!  She loved the Ewoks and loved the ending - she told me after "I'm actually so happy, I'm crying!"  Dan ended up getting home really late, but he had a lot of fun!

Saturday was mostly a cleaning day.  I helped the kids clean up their rooms, and I spent some time cleaning up my craft room.  In the evening, Dan and I played a game together and then took it easy.

Today was great!  Dan didn't have any early morning meetings so he got to be with us before church and during Sacrament meeting!  Which was good, because James and Evie were determined to be a handful today.  Sunday school went well, then I made camp announcements in young women's.  While I was headed to Relief Society, I saw James throwing a fit in the hall way, he was refusing to go to class.  So I took him in and stayed with him for the rest of church.  In the afternoon, Dan taught the older kids to play scrabble before bed time.  After we put the kids to bed, Dan creamed me at Suburbia.

We are still having problems with Koopa and house breaking.  Part of the problem is that it's cold outside and neither the dog nor I really want to be out there, the other part is that I'm supposed to keep a close eye on him and that's kinda difficult when I've also got kids at the house that need my supervision.

Another Birthday Boy

This week was mostly recovery for me.  Tina stayed Monday to help, but had to go Tuesday after dropping the kids off.  Thankfully, I was mostly feeling good by then.  Tired easily, but otherwise good.  I hardly used any of the pain meds they sent me home with, and what I did use was the ibproufin, not the stronger stuff.  I was grateful that James had preschool on Tuesday and Thursday though since that meant I could take a nap during the morning!  The kids were mostly a big help too.  I tried to get laundry done on Monday, but I didn't get all the loads washed and I really didn't get much folding done at all.  

Wednesday was late start (yey for sleeping in a little!)  Then James and I went to the library for a little bit.  The afternoon was filled with the usual busies, then Dwayne came over to baby sit and I went to choir.  It was a great rehearsal, but I spent a lot more time sitting than usual.  

Thursday was a normal school day and preschool day for the kids.  Dan got to come home a day early and got in Thursday afternoon.  The kids had piano lessons and we got some cleaning up done. 

Friday Dan stayed home, and we spent the day trying to get the house in order.  I am still needing to slow down and rest more often than I would like, but it's getting better.  Friday night, Dan and Eileen and I watched Star Wars Episode V.  It's been fun watching them with her and seeing them again - it's been awhile.  

Saturday was more get the house in order fun, followed by get ready for James' birthday fun and then of course, birthday fun!  James was so excited - he spent so much of the day asking when he could have cake and when he could open presents.  He wanted a pizza party for his birthday dinner, so Dan and the kids made pizza and then we all ate downstairs while watching James' choice of movies - Wild Kratts.  After we came up for cupcakes and ice cream and presents.  Anna was so cute helping him - he sat on her lap the whole time he was opening presents.   He was so cute and so excited about his presents.  

And a picture of Koopa just cuz he's cute.  We are still struggling a bit with housebreaking.  Any time the kids leave pieces of paper on the floor, he thinks it's a piddle pad....  We're getting there though, today was better.  Church was wonderful!  Such great talks and lessons!  Dan was released today - he's got a new calling coming up soon.  Dan made sure that Bishop knew that he couldn't release me as girls camp director though!  We spent the afternoon playing and talking on the phone and having fun together.

Recovery...

Bright and early Monday morning, my family headed back to Texas.  We miss having them, but it's also nice to get our house back.  Gene and Ann came over from the hotel and spent most of the day with us cleaning up and getting our house back to normal.  They had family home evening with us, played a game with Dan and I and then Dan and I finished the day with our usual laundry and grocery shopping for the week.  

Tuesday was normal, we had Payton over in the afternoon.  He just loves our new little puppy and was following Koopa around the whole time he was here.  The girls had choir after school.  Anna used her own money to buy a recorder from her teacher and has been playing it ever since.  The first day, she just played a couple notes, after that, she started learning some songs.  :)  Anna also had her Trumpet lessons again - stuff got so mixed up and forgotten over the holidays!  

Wednesday James and I headed to the library with Nicole and Tayanna after dropping the kids at school.  James had fun during story time and we had fun picking out books.  Then in the evening, Aaron had his first cub scouts activity and the girls had activity days.  Aaron was so funny.  He was reminding me all week about having cub scouts this week.  He was so excited and had such a fun time!  I had choir too, we are getting started preparing for the Lamb of God again.  It's going to be so amazing! 

Thursday was piano lessons for the kids after school again.  It's so neat to watch and listen to them get better and especially fun to watch them learn songs from the Children's Song Book and the Hymn Book.  

Friday was normal busy.  School, homework, puppy fun, games.  James had a bit of a cold so he and I cuddled and rested most of the morning, which was really nice.  We snuggled up together with blankets and books and took it easy!  Eileen and Dan and I watched Star Wars Episode IV together for Eileen's hour up.  It was so fun to watch it with her!  She's so cute! 

Saturday morning, Eileen had a meeting at the school.  The school is working to put in a garden, and wanted student input and invited her to come to their meetings.  She was so excited!  Excited enough to get up for an 8 AM meeting on a Saturday morning!  After, she had flute lessons, then she came home.  Dan and I had been hoping to go to the temple Saturday since it would be closing for cleaning next week, but we were having a hard time finding a babysitter.  In desperation, I had prayed that we would find a way to be able to go.  Finally at about 10:00, Valerie called wanting to know if we still needed a baby sitter!  She came over at 11 and Dan and I left!  We first headed over so I could audition for the Lamb of God solo part, and then headed down to the temple for a session.  It was so wonderful to be in the temple and to start our year off right!  After, we stopped by Kneaders on the way home for a lunch/dinner type meal thingy.... :)  Then we took the kids home and tried to con them into cleaning up.  I had told Evie we could get her ears pierced, so I took her out and we got her ears pierced!  She was SO EXCITED!  She was so brave - she didn't cry at all (and was so proud that she hadn't cried at all like her big sister Eileen!)  She has been so eager in taking care of the piercings and so excited to have her cute little pink flower earrings.  We finally got the kids to bed and Dan got his run in, then made a trip to the grocery store to get us ready for this coming week with him gone.  

While he was gone I noticed that I had started bleeding for real and that it looked like my body was taking charge and getting things done.  Then I realized that I was bleeding a lot.  Around 9:30 I called Sandi and Jon to ask what I should do.  Jon advised calling my doctor to get in touch with an off-hours nurse who told me that if it kept bleeding this heavily for another hour, that I needed to go in to the ER.  An hour later, it had gotten worse, not better.  I headed in to the ER.  Dan called Tina to come help out with the kids and he came in to be with me later.  After deciding that I was bleeding way too much and was becoming anemic, they decided to do an emergency D&C (about 4 in the morning.) I sent Dan home to get a little rest.  Then they put me under and got things fixed up.  I woke up, was moved in to recovery, and I was released in time to get home and see Dan off for his trip.  I told him to go.  Thus far recovery is going well.  I'm tired, but that's expected.  There's been little to no pain and I think really all I need now is to take it easy and let my body do it's job. Speaking of which. it's time for bed!  

Tonight, I am truly grateful for the outpouring of love from family and friends.  I am also grateful for the amazing, friendly, kind and understanding staff at the ER.  They made what could have been a miserable experience bearable.

Busy and Amazing Week!

Monday morning, I had a doctor's appointment to try and figure out what steps to take concerning my miscarriage, and what steps to take to try and keep this from happening anymore.  It was a necessary, but depressing way to spend the morning.  The rest of the day was uneventful.  Tuesday was the usual.  School and preschool, choir for Eileen and Anna and then in the evening, my parents, sister and niece and nephew arrived.  We sent all the kids downstairs, then surprised them with their main Christmas present - an adorable little yorkie terrier named Koopa.  The kids were all excited - though at first they didn't realize that the dog was for our family and would stay with us after Grandma and Grandpa went home.  James would say "wait... so he's going to live with us forever??"  

Eileen was especially excited.  She has wanted a pet so badly for so long that this is her dream come true and she has excitedly tried to do as much puppy care as she can.  So much so that Anna has grumped a bit about not getting to do anything because Eileen does it all.

Anna got her suitcase for her trip to Scotland with Grandpa, she also got to have a lot of fun talking about their plans.  Anna's suitcase had come in a big box that the kids had a blast playing in until they broke it - then they kept having fun playing with it until mommy made them clean up all the little pieces.  I called them my "3 boys in a tub" which they thought was pretty funny.  

Wednesday we spent a little time at the library with Sandi and Grandpa and the kids - it was fun and the kids enjoyed it.  Sandi doesn't like to stay home with the kids because they get a bit crazy with out something to do. We had some fun there before heading home for lunch.

Thursday we got snow and Sandi took the kids out to play in the snow and shovel snow.  I went and took a friends daughter to her doctor's appointment and then after, I met Dan for lunch before heading to pick up the kids from school.

Friday while the kids were at school, we all tried to go to Walmart so my parents could get some birthday presents for the boys, we could get some food items, and I could refill a prescription.  I was done and ready to go home after about 25 minutes.  We left about 2 hours later....  Sandi really likes being out, but James and I would mostly rather be at home.  The kids have been having tons of fun together.  Kai has really been loving hanging out with the big girls.  Friday night, after dinner, Dan and I left the kids with Sandi and my parents and went to see the new Star Wars movie.  We really enjoyed it and really enjoyed getting out of the house with no kids and just us.

Saturday, Dan and I had meetings in the morning, (mine was for girls camp!!)  and then in the afternoon, we headed for the museum.  The kids spent most of their time in the Space Odessey, (which James adores - he loves the sand and he loves dressing up as an astronaut) and in the Discovery Zone getting wet and digging up dinosaur bones and banging on drums.  Finally, Grandpa Cox and I took the Eileen, Anna and Aaron up to the Sherlock Holmes exhibit.  It was so much fun!  It was really well put together and we all had a blast!

Saturday evening, we waited for Grandma and Grandpa Jones to get in (unfortunatly they had all sorts of trouble with flights and car rentals and were late) then we had a birthday party for Aaron.  We did cake and Ice Cream, then he got to open his presents.  He got all his cub scout stuff from Grandma and Grandpa Jones and some new Skylanders from Grandma and Grandpa Cox.  He got some new clothes from Great Grandma Penny and some new scriptures and a book from mom and dad.  

Church today was wonderful.  The talks were wonderful and the lessons were wonderful!  After, we all (all = our family, my parents, sister and her family, Dan's parents, Steve and Claire and their family) gathered at our house for pancakes and bacon and eggs and fruit.  Then we played some games, chatted, I finished Kai's quilt and then we headed to the church.  It was so amazing getting to be there with so much family and so many friends.   I was surprised by the turn out, and grateful for the wonderful people who helped bring refreshments.  There are few feelings better than sitting with your son while he is preparing to make his first covenant with God, surrounded by people I care about!  My heart is so full!

Here is my amazing oldest son - choosing to follow his Savior!  I am so proud of this boy and the choices he is making and the person his is becoming!

After, we went home and tried to put the kids to bed.  Some of Steve and Claire's boys stayed with us and so we let Eileen stay up to play Killer Bunnies with us.  Tomorrow, my family heads home.  I will be sad to see them go, but it will be nice to have my house back!

And a Happy New Year!

This weeks collection of pictures is mostly a hodge podge of fun stuff from our week together.  

Monday morning, Dan headed back into work - he had a project that needed doing and it kept him busy for most of the week.  Thankfully he got Thursday and Friday off for the holiday.  Tuesday morning, I had a doctors appointment - Dan hung around to watch the kids until I got back.  I was having a second ultrasound, only to find out that there was no heart beat and no growth since the last one.  This is my 3rd known miscarriage in a year and a half.  Got another appointment tomorrow to try and figure out what is going on.  

Wednesday was a normal everyday, hangout and go try and convince the kids to play outside and enjoy the sunny (if not exactly warm) days.  Wednesday night, Dan took Aaron out to spend his gift card on the new Skylanders game.  He has wanted to play it every minute since....  Dan took Evie and James and Eileen out on Thursday and after, I took Anna to Michael's where she got a grownup coloring book and nice colored pencils, plus a sand bottle craft kit.  Dan took some time to put up some shelves in the girls rooms under their beds.  Eileen and Anna both have some stuff that they don't want shared around and they need someplace to keep it.  Dan let them have fun painting them shelves - mommy just tried to keep James out of the acrylic paints....  Aaron's friend Isaac came over on Thursday morning, and the boys spent the whole time playing Skylanders and having a blast together.  

Thursday night, we let Eileen stay up with us to celebrate the new year, we ate pie, drank sparkling cider, did a puzzle (well I did the puzzle, Eileen got distracted by the movie) watched "The Princess Bride" and then played a game of 7 Wonders.  (picture below is my piece of pie after Dan got done putting whipped cream on it.... no I did not eat all of the whipped cream.)

Friday we tried to go to the museum with the kids, but it was so packed that we gave up and just went and played in the snow and threw snowballs at each other instead.  In the evening, Dan's brother Steve came by.  He had dropped his oldest daughter at the airport and wanted to wait in town to make sure she got off ok, so he came and had dinner with us and played a game of Dominion and creamed Dan and I.  

Saturday was mostly spent cleaning.  The kids HAD to clean up their bathrooms to get ready for guests next week and I spent some time cleaning and organizing the craft room and working through a few clothes and stuffed animal repairs to get it ready for family coming into town on Monday.

Church today was wonderful!  Eileen and Anna chose to fast with us for President Monson and they were so amazing to watch their faithfulness even though they were really hungry!  After church, Aaron had his baptism interview.  I can't believe he's getting baptized in just 1 week!  I put some fun glow sticks in the kids stockings and tonight the kids had fun breaking them and running around in the dark basement.
Here's Eileen and Evie with their glow glasses

Aaron being a robot.

James throwing a tantrum (probably because I said no to something or other)

And the only pic I managed to get of Anna while we were out playing in the snow.