Christmas Music

So Monday was a survival day where I tried to get laundry done and tried to get some grocery shopping done and tried to do a little family home evening with the kids.  Dan being out of town is always a bit rough.  Anna had a doctors appointment after school, Eileen watched the other kids while I took her.  Then we had a fun time for Family Home Evening, the light the world idea for the day was to help the sick, so we made get well cards...  well what that really means with my kids is that they stamped a lot of random things on paper and punched decorative holes in that same paper and maybe wrote "get well" somewhere on it.  But it was cute and sweet and they had fun.  

Tuesday James had preschool in the morning, then in the afternoon, Anna had her all-state choir practice.  In the evening was the Relief Society Cookie Exchange.  Eileen wanted to make and bring her very own cookies - and she had a blast making them Monday night and bringing them on Tuesday.  The activity was a lot of fun and we had a good time together.  After, I dropped her and the other kids off at home and had her babysit so I could go to Institute.  Class was wonderful!  

Wednesday, the kids were so excited knowing that Dan would get home that day.  After school, Anna had a dentist appointment and then we got home in time to get dinner ready and eaten before Sister Cotrell came to babysit the little kids while everyone else was at all the events.  Me at choir, Dan got home just in time for Young Men, Eileen at Young Women, Anna at activity days, Aaron at cub scouts.  Choir practice ran late even on top of the extra half hour of time added for a tech rehearsal.  But it was wonderful!  

Thursday James had his preschool trip in the morning.  One of his little friends wasn't going to be able to make it because of a not happy baby sister, so I offered to pick her up and take her with us.  We all went to Hammond's Candy Factory and were lucky enough to get there on a day when they had some extra crafts and stuff for the kids to do because of the holidays.  The kids had a great time!  After school, Eileen had her teens for oceans meeting.  Plus Dan was home all day so we got to hang out with daddy.  Dan spent some of his day off building a back drop for a sister in our ward - he is such a good man!!!  I love how willing he is to help and serve others!  

Thursday night was our first concert of the season.  It went pretty well and it was a lot of fun.  Eileen came along with me - it's fun to have her want to come with me to these things!

Friday was a typical school day.  James and I had to run some errands in the morning, then after school, Anna had robotics and the rest of the kids had their piano and homework and such.  Then Dan picked Anna up a little early from Robotics to come home and have a quick dinner before I took her and Eileen to my concert.  They both enjoyed it, and Grandpa came too - so after we went with him back to his place to have hot cocoa and chat for a bit.  Then on the way home we made a little stop at Chili's for a dessert.  Yes it kept them out late - but it was a very fun night.

Saturday started out with the usual Flute lessons, then piano lessons followed by getting some cleaning done around the house.  We played a bit of maple story together, then in the evening, Dan took the kids to the ward Christmas party which was wonderful.  Eileen ditched her family early on to spend most of her time with a new girl in the ward.  I left about the same time to head to my final concert of the season.  The concert went well and was probably the best sung performance of the season.  It's always a little sad and a bit of a relief when the last concert is over.

Sunday was church.  I wore my cloak, so the kids spent most of Sacrament meeting snuggling up to me and stealing my cloak to use as a blanket.  But the meeting was wonderful!  The speakers were wonderful and there was a gorgeous musical number by a newer member of our ward on the violin.  After was class and relief society - another wonderful lesson!  After church, we had ward choir practice and then we headed home for our usual early dinner and family time.  Then in the evening, Eileen and I picked her friend up and headed to the Stake Christmas music fireside.  The fireside was wonderful with lots of good music and lots of good friends.