Happy Together!

We've been busy this week

Monday the kids were off school - we had a fun day hanging out together at home.  I had an insane day trying to get everything ready for the blue and gold. 

Tuesday was the big night.  The blue and gold.  I think everything went pretty well since it was my first attempt at being a cubmaster.  But everyone seemed to have fun and we had a great turn out even though it was pouring rain down the whole night!  Things seemed to work out well and everyone seemed to have a good time. 

Wednesday, Eileen had her young women's night and had a good time, but otherwise, Wednesday was normal. 

Thursday, I went visiting teaching.  I got to visit both sisters.  It was fun getting to know them both a bit better.  Missy couldn't go last minute, so I went anyway and had a nice time! 

Friday was our Ward Temple Night - we went and did a session - Eileen watched the kids and my mom came up to help out with David for a bit.  After, we went for ice cream with some of the others from the ward - it was so nice!  Eileen did a great job! 

Saturday was a normal busy day full of cleaning and playing.  Dan did his home teaching in the evening and we all had a good time together! 

Sunday before church - we finally got to start with ward choir!  I'm so happy - I've missed singing!  In the evening, Sandi came up - Jon had gone down to San Diego early, so Sandi came up and stayed the night here so she could get a ride early with Dan down to the airport and to leave Griz here with us. 

Fun and Flour

This has been a mostly easy going week.  Monday was the usual - laundry and grocery shopping and school work and such.  We are trying to get David on a sleep schedule, but it's been hard going.  He doesn't ever want to go to sleep....  I finally gave up nursing - I'm now pumping bottles for him.  He was hurting me too much and he wouldn't sit still to eat and I was afraid my milk supply would dry up if he kept it up.  It turned out to be a good thing since his first tooth popped through this week!  Thursday he finally got it and his second one isn't going to be far behind. 

Valentine's Day was Wednesday.  We had a fun heart shaped biscuit breakfast in the morning before school and the kids got some cute little chocolate filled hearts.  In the evening was the usual Wednesday night stuff.  Anna and Evie had activity days and Aaron had cub scouts - I subbed in his cub scout den and had fun with the boys.  Eileen had a mutual activity that included dancing and loud music and Eileen absolutely hated it.... 

Evelyn had a big school project this week about the planet Saturn and she had her presentation this week and got 100%!!  She did an awesome job and she was so cute practicing for it!  She did a great job!

Friday the kids had no school, so we had some fun riding bikes and taking walks and jumping on the trampoline and playing games. 

Eileen said she would watch David and the other kids so that Dan and I could go on a date for Valentine's Day, so on Saturday, Dan and I left the kids and went out to dinner.  Eileen did a great job - but David got really fussy at the end of the night and was screaming inconsolably and Eileen couldn't handle it.  She doesn't like loud noises....  We were on our way home by then anyway - but it was a good test to see how well it would work - so it looks like we still need a David baby sitter for temple trips and longer dates. 

Church today was great!!  I subbed in James' primary class today which was lots of fun - I had David with me and the girls in the class all just adored him!  I was supposed to speak in Sacrament meeting, but they had a high council speaker come, so I got moved to next week.  But all the talks were wonderful! 

The older kids got some time up since there is no school tomorrow, so we played Carcassonne and Dan won, but it was a pretty close game all around.  Then Anna and Aaron went to bed and Eileen stayed up and helped me make some cookies for the blue and gold this week - we all ended up with flour all over us (it started with the usual amounts that you get from using lots of flour, but ended with Eileen putting a big hand print on Dan's shoulder and a big flour-y group hug and Dan making sure our black shirts were really covered.) 

Movin' On Up

We had a fun week here.  James was sick for the first couple days of the week and was home from school Monday - Wednesday.  By Thursday he was ready to go back to school - mostly because I'm a mean mommy and I won't just let him play video games and watch movies all day just because he's sick.  He did spend a good chunk of the day on Tuesday taking a nap, but otherwise - he wasn't really acting sick, just coughing and running a fever.  Thankfully he is feeling much better now, though he still coughs once in a while.  David on the other hand, now has the cold.  Mostly just a bit of congestion and coughing - he had a fever, but it's mostly gone now - the problem is that when he doesn't feel well, he doesn't sleep well, which means mommy doesn't sleep well either.  Thankfully Daddy is sweet and awesome and helps out to let mommy get some extra sleep to make up for it.  

David found the stairs this week - and began trying to climb them - so we got gates set up to keep him from climbing and falling.  And don't worry - I was keeping a close eye on him - he didn't actually get up on the stair - he just got the one leg and couldn't get any further before going back down, but it was enough to give us warning to get gates up!

Monday was laundry day.  James went out for Ice cream with Grandpa in the afternoon.  He had a blast and came home with some fun birthday presents - that he hasn't wanted to let go of since he got them.  

On Wednesday, in the evening, I went to the church with Aaron for cub scouts, and then after, I stayed with Eileen for Young Women's to teach the beehives how to crochet.  They are cute girls and we had a fun time, and they did a great job!  After, I met with the former pack master to learn a bit more about cub scouts and scout book.  I still feel a bit like I don't know what I'm doing, but I feel like I know where to start. 

Friday, I went down to meet my mom and sister for brunch - or as I like to call it breakfast.  :P  It was a fun outing!  After school, Eileen and I ran the library books back - yey for on time returns!  :)  Then in the evening, the older kids had fun playing games for their hour up. 

Saturday started with me sleeping in while Dan took David so I could recover from a long night.  We had a fun time playing board games and going for a walk together.  In the evening, Dan took me out for some Ice Cream before we headed to bed.  It was nice to get out for a bit together. 

Today was wonderful.  Once again David had kept me up most of the night, so in the morning, Dan took over so I could sleep.  Dan and Eileen had talks to give in Sacrament meeting today - they both did a great job!  I'm sure the rest of the lessons were wonderful, but I spent most of them either nursing David or walking the halls with him, so I didn't get to hear them much, but I did just happen to be out in the hall way in time to talk to the primary president so I could ask her a couple questions that I had!  Tonight, we had some fun doing Sudoku puzzles together, then Eileen played Settlers of Catan with us before bed.  I'm ready for bed now, but David is not.... 

February Feasting!

Monday morning, Dan took the van to get it fixed up to pass inspections so that we could get it registered in Texas.  It ended up taking him all day to get it done, so I had to get the kids to and from school with just the mini.  Dropping them off wasn't a problem, since Eileen and Anna start later and I can leave them at home with David while I drop off the younger ones and then take the girls with David after.  Picking up was harder - I ended up calling my mom to see if she could come and watch the younger ones while I went to pick up the older ones from school.  Monday was also laundry day and grocery shopping.  David came with me and hung out making cute faces at everyone in the store.  He was so cute just chilling in the cart - but it made me a bit nervous...  

Tuesday morning after getting the kids to school, I went visiting teaching.  It was fun getting to know my companion and the sweet sister I get to visit teach!  Now I just gotta get the other sister to answer my calls.  :)  In the evening, we got the kids to bed, then I headed down with a bunch of others from the ward to help clean the temple.  It was such a neat experience - we worked from 10 to about 11:30 then headed home - tired but happy.  It was so neat to be able to serve that way and we carpooled, so I got to know some people in the ward a bit better too! 

The next morning, I was exhausted!  Dan was sweet and got the kids all to school so I could sleep in some.  In the evening, Aaron had cub scouts.  I went with him - I'm trying to get a better understanding of how cub scouts works since I'm now a pack master!  After, Dan and the kids met us at the church for New Beginnings.  I can't believe Anna will be joining Young Women's this year.  I can't believe how fast they are growing up. 

Thursday was the first day of February - I'm not sure where January went...  most of the day was pretty normal, school and such.  Our ward is doing what they call February Feast month - they are challenging us to read the scriptures every day this month.  We are challenging the kids to do personal scripture reading every day instead of just counting our family reading for the challenge.  I made a family chart for us (mostly so that we would have one pinned to the fridge that wouldn't get lost) It's been so awesome to watch the kids read and put star stickers on the chart and watch the charts fill up!  Even James has been getting in on it - I sit down with him and we alternate verses - his reading is improving so much!  This picture was so cute of Evie and James reading together! 

Thursday evening, I went and played volleyball again - it's been fun to play and get a bit of exercise and have fun, and get to know some more people in the area! 

Friday, the Relief Society presidency came to visit in the morning to get to know a new sister a bit more.  We got on the topic of family history and pulled out our apps to find if we were related - and sure enough - I was related to both of them distantly!  It was fun!  :)  After, I fed David, then headed down to Allen.  I dropped off Anna's glasses to get fixed, then met up with Dan for lunch.  We had some yummy Japanese food, then hit Costco for some more chicken and diapers.  Then I ran by Walmart for a couple things and got home in time to feed David and put everything away before I got the kids from school.  In the evening, we just had fun together! 

Saturday, we had some friends coming over in the evening for dinner and games, so we spent the morning doing a bit of clean up - getting the front couple rooms straightened up and the boxes all cleared out of the main rooms.  Dan took the kids for a walk and they had a fun time.  In the evening, we had Chicken Tiki Masala for dinner, then played Puerto Rico.  Dan and I got smashed - we need to play more and work on our strategies for next time....  The kids all seemed to have a great time playing together too. 

This morning, we took it easy and had a nice morning, We are trying to get the kids doing Faith in God and Personal Progress stuff in the mornings.  Dan and Eileen and I all got called to speak.  Dan and Eileen next week and me the week after.  I got together with some of the other pack leaders to plan the Blue and Gold for this month.  I'm now starting to feel a bit more like I know what's going on - though I still need to figure out Scoutbook....  Then church in the afternoon.  It was a wonderful day - the testimonies were beautiful and the lessons were wonderful.   After church, we had coffee cake and scrambled eggs for dinner before reading scriptures and putting the kids to bed.