School's Out for Summer

Well, it's been a busy week, with Dan out of town, life is always more tiring - he is such an amazing husband and father that there is truly a big hole in our lives when he's gone.  Monday included laundry and grocery shopping and all the usual school and home fun.  I tried to get most of the laundry folded, but after grocery shopping, I just couldn't stay up that late.  So I headed to bed and finished it later.

Tuesday was more tired me.  Becca came over which was fun and we had fun chatting and crafting stuff.  After school was the usual, and then in the evening was institute.  Class was wonderful!!!  I love getting to go and dive into the scriptures every week!

Wednesday was field day for the kids.  I sent them off to school covered in sunscreen and with more to apply during the day and for once they came home mostly sunburn free - Anna, despite bringing a hat managed to lose it early on and get a sunburn on her head, but other than that - they did pretty good this year!  In the evening, Eileen had her YW activity and Anna had her Activity Day girls activity.

Thursday was the kids last day of school!  It was overcast most of the day - but rain held off long enough to allow the kids to all get together at the park after school with their friends.  They had a great time and now they are excited about the end of school.  After school was mostly the usual.  Aaron had cub scouts, Anna took him there and got him after on bikes (thankfully weather was mostly good though they got a bit rained on on the way home, and the sun is going down late enough for it to still be light at 8) and I had a baby shower that I went to for a bit.

Friday was the first official day of summer break and we celebrated by starting the day off with piano lessons.  :)  After, Nevaeh came over to play for the day.  The kids had a fun day of playing outside and making crafts for their American Girl type dolls.  Dan got home just in time for dinner and some fun together in the evening.  We started watching "The Flash" with Eileen since she's been on a superhero kick lately.  So far, she's really enjoying it.

Saturday morning, Eileen had flute lessons, then we spent the morning taking it a bit easy and getting some stuff done around the house.  In the evening, we went over to the church for a pot luck dinner with the Crockett's visiting from Kansas City and had a great time!  Dan got some more practice in for the big test next week.  And we ended the day with a quiet evening getting ready for the Sabbath.

Church today was wonderful.   The talks given in Sacrament meeting were wonderful and the rest of church went great - and for once I didn't get called out of class to try and help one of my kids make better choices...  :)  After church, Dan did some home teaching and then I had choir practice, then Dan did some more home teaching.  There was a bit of napping that happened and then a yummy dinner with the family.  I picked Doug up from the airport - he had gone out for Julia's graduation - and had a nice conversation with him on the way home.  Then in the evening, Dan beat us soundly at Killer Bunnies and then took great joy in rubbing it in to Eileen.  While I just looked on and laughed.  :)  Now it's time for bed!!  just over 1 week before we go to Utah and 4 weeks to baby!

Almost Done

Well - the kids are in the final stretch.  They survived immersion and now they have less than a week left of school.  Monday was the kids first day of immersion and they loved it!  For James and I, it was full of books, games, laundry, daddy fun (Dan worked mostly from home) family home evening, grocery shopping and a trip to Costco to get ready for the weekend.

Tuesday, James and I went to his final preschool day - we did a fun little field day and had a fun snack together and just had fun.  James and I got there early to play at the park for a bit and ran into some friends from the Peoria ward!

After preschool, James and I headed over to Quest to be there for Evie and Aaron's Hogwarts End Feast and the other fun.  It was a blast to watch them have fun and play quidditch.  Then we grabbed the rest of the kids and headed home.  In the evening, I had Institute which was so awesome!

Wednesday was late start.  James and I mostly hung out and read books and played games.  In the evening, Dan and Eileen had youth activities and I hung out with the younger three.  

Thursday was much the same, but with out the late start.  In the evening, Aaron had cub scouts and the rest of us tried to work some on getting the house cleaned up.  

Friday was more clean up and get ready stuff, then in the evening, we went over to Dwayne and Nicole's house for a yummy birthday dinner for Dan.  Dwayne made curried chicken (SO YUMMY) and I brought a pineapple upside down cake.  We all had a blast - the kids playing and the grownups chatting and laughing.  

Saturday was long and exhausting, but lots of fun too.  It started off with Flute lessons for Eileen.  Piano lessons for the kids, a doctor's appointment for Evie to get a wart burned off and then we all met up at a graduation party for one of the young men in our ward.  Then we headed home to get everything finally set up and ready for Dan's birthday party.  I meant to take pictures, but failed.  We had a great turn out and got a lot of the food eaten.  I made 12 avocados worth of guacamole and it mostly got eaten.  We got to see lots of friends and had lots of fun.  After, we did some clean up and then Dan ran some quick errands to get ready for his trip and the Sabbath, then we crashed.  

We got up for church the next morning, not quite recovered from our Saturday, but happy to be there.  The choir sang and they did a great job, we had some great lessons and then we headed home.  Dan had just enough time to get home and grab his stuff and kiss us good by before heading to the airport.  He will be gone most of next week in San Francisco.  :(  The kids let me take a little Sunday nap, then we played a game of Life (I won!)  Then we did dinner and had fun playing together.  Our home teacher stopped by with some popsicles, so we had popsicles and played outside until bed time.  

Less than 2 Weeks

The kids have less than 2 weeks of school left - so of course they are very excited about all the fun stuff happening.  This week included lots of fun stuff.  Monday, Dan took the day off (kinda - that usually means that he just ends up working from home anyway) and got some stuff done around the house that he's been meaning to get done.  Other than that, it was a usual Monday full of laundry and grocery shopping and school and homework and piano practicing.

Tuesday was Stake Temple night.  We had preschool here during the day - but with a small turn out.  We had fun though!  After, we got the kids from school and had our usual crazy afternoons.  Then after dinner, Dan and I went to the temple for a session.  It was a wonderful evening!

Wednesday was a normal late-start day.  Anna's grade did their special "Author's Tea" where they get to present the books they wrote during the year to their family and friends.  So we headed over to the school early to be with Anna and have her read her book to us!  James was happy because he got a cookie...

In the evening, Dan and Eileen had Youth Activities, Anna had Activity Day Girls, and I had one last Chorale Executive Committee meeting.  We had an early dinner, then I took the younger 3 kids and they watched a movie on my tablet while I was at the meeting.  Then we headed home for bed!  

Thursday was preschool again - this time we were down to 2 kids, but we still had fun playing and learning!  In the evening Eileen and Anna had their Prism Concert at the school which is the big performance for the band and both choirs at the end of the school year.  The girls both did a great job!  Aaron also had cub scouts in the evening, So he and Dan had to leave a little early to get there, but it was a great night.  James just loved the music and was doing his best to do some interpretive dance.  

Friday, I had a doctors appointment.  My friend watched James for me during my appointment, so he got to have fun playing with his friend and I got a little bit of peace and quiet.  All is going well with the pregnancy so far - I'm healthy and baby is healthy!  After school, the kids had the usual practicing and such, then when Dan got home, the boys all left for the father-son camp out.  The boys had a great time - though I don't think Dan slept at all.  Then he got them home early enough in the morning to be ready for piano lessons and for Dan to crash and get a nap in during the morning.  After piano lessons and lunch, I took Eileen and Anna to my baby shower given by my sweet visiting teacher and a couple other friends from the ward.  We had fun playing games and chatting and eating a gorgeous and yummy cake!  It was so much fun!  

After, we went home and Eileen babysat so that Dan and I could go out for dinner together.  We had a great evening eating yummy food and chatting.  

Today was Mother's Day.  It started off with Dan getting up a bit early to make a yummy breakfast for me along with some wonderful cards and an awesome Ravenclaw t-shirt from Dan.  (now I just need to get rid of the pregnant belly so I can fit into it!!)  Then we headed to church for a wonderful sacrament meeting.  Class I think went well and then the women in the ward got pie and fruit for Mother's Day.  It was great!  After, I took the kids home for lunch, then Dan and I headed back to the church so I could give a talk on the joy of motherhood in the singles ward.  After, Dan let me take a nap while playing with the kids and making me a yummy dinner.  He is such an amazing husband and father!  We spent the time before bed playing outside and enjoying the mild weather and having fun together.  

The older four kids are all excited about the upcoming week - enough so that Evie has been praying about immersion (which is Monday and Tuesday) at the school and all the fun things they will get to do.  

6 weeks from now I will be heading into the hospital - it seems like such a short time away and yet so far too.  

It's the final countdown!

Well we are officially heading into the end of school year craziness.  The kids have tons of stuff going on at school this month and this week was just the beginning.  Monday was just the usual crazy - laundry, grocery shopping and such.   I took Eileen with me to the grocery store and ended up getting her some face wash and talking about make-up.  She's growing up so fast!

Tuesday, James had preschool, and Becca came over.  Her sister had some car trouble so Becca went to pick her up and brought her back so we could all have lunch together.  And Dan even came home for some of it.  :)  Normally I would have had institute on Tuesday, but the Chorale's rehearsal was moved to Tuesday to be able to do a tech rehearsal at the church that our concerts would be at.

Wednesday was late start for the kids, plus it was the day that Anna and her class at school headed off to CalWood for a few days.  She was so excited.  I didn't have choir that night since I had it on Tuesday, but Dan and Eileen still had their youth activity in the evening.

Thursday was preschool for James again and of course cub scouts in the evening for Aaron.  Plus Eileen had her final Teens for Oceans meeting - which was apparently a end of year party that she didn't enjoy...  I also tried to take advantage of the nice weather to get some yard work done.

Friday, Anna got back from CalWood and she needed to be picked up early from school - which gave us just enough time to get her home to shower (so of course James had to also) and change before going to get the rest of the kids from school.  It's so nice to have Anna back.  You might think that with 4 other kids at the house that one less kid wouldn't make that much of a difference, but she was much missed.  Then in the evening, Sister Cottrell came and watched the younger kids while Dan and Eileen came with me to my concert.  The concert over all went really well.  Eileen was so cute - after she said that the reason she likes Easter and Christmas so much is not because of the candy and presents, but because of the concerts.  :)  The three of us made a quick stop at Chili's for the molten lava cake before heading home for the night.

Saturday was long and tiring and fun.  Dan left first to go on a hike with the scouts - there ended up being only one scout - but it was still a great hike and a great experience.  Eileen left second - I dropped her off at 8:30 at the school for a day at Elitches with her school band and choir groups for a music festival.  Unfortunately for Eileen, she doesn't have a very strong stomach and threw up after the first ride and didn't go on many after that.  She kept sending me texts throughout the day that she hated it and didn't want to go again.  But the choir and the band both performed well and got a gold rating, so she was excited about that at least!  The younger kids still had piano lessons in the morning, then in the afternoon, we headed over to the church for the graduation party for one of the young women.  It was a lot of fun and there was of course great food!  After we headed home in time for me to get ready for my last pre-baby concert and head out.  The concert again went well and after I went home and begged for a food massage....

Sunday was wonderful.  It was fast and testimony meeting day and Evie and Anna both got up and bore testimony.  Sunday School was great and Relief Society was wonderful.  Aaron had a bit of a hard day and I got called out to talk to him near the end of church, but otherwise all was well!  After church was lunch and I was getting some stuff ready for choir then we had choir practice.  It went well and I'm excited about getting to be in this calling.  I may not be a great director - but I love the music and I love the chance to share that love and excitement!  We had the elders over for dinner tonight and had a wonderful lesson from them.