Keeping Busy

Well with the kids at school all day, I've been finding ways to keep busy during the day.  Since David wants lots of attention, that's not hard to do!  Monday, I had a friend over for lunch while David napped.  It was really nice to chat with her and enjoy a yummy lunch!  In the evening, we had a family home evening lesson provided by Aaron on Prayer.  He did a great job, then we played some games.

David figured out how to open doors this week - or at least he finally figured he was tall enough to reach them.  He went in and out of the door over and over again - so proud of himself each time!  After, he got mad when ever he found a door that he couldn't open because it was locked or a different type of door.  

Tuesday morning, I went down to Frisco to get my hair cut.  Usually he does fine sitting with my mom while Kathy cuts my hair, but this week, he was having none of it!  He just wanted to sit and snuggle with me.  He screamed any time I tried to put him down or hand him off.  But he was sweet and quiet and still while he sat in my lap, so I left it be.  In the evening, I had institute - we had a great lesson on the beginnings of the Restoration.

Wednesday was a down day to recover for David - he really needed a good nap!  In the evening, Dan had Seminary kick off and the girls had a beehive activity.

Thursday, David and I went down to Allen to meet up with my Mom and Sandi for lunch.  We had a nice time together and David actually went down for a bit of a nap before we went to lunch, and then again when waiting to pick the kids up from school!  In the evening, Dan went to a meeting for Aaron's grade at school about their overnight trip at the end of the school year.  I was amazed at how quick they made the meeting - the ones that Quest did for the Cal-Wood trips were much longer and more tedious.

Friday was an easy going day.  We had dinner with the kids, then left Eileen and Anna in charge and went to the temple!  It was so nice getting to go with the ward and getting to do a session and Anna and Eileen did great!  After, we went to Chick-fil-a for ice cream and then headed home to the girls relaxing and watching tv.

Saturday morning, the girls and I went down to meet with Grandma and Aunt Sandi and Kai to get pedicures.  Then Anna and I took her trumpet down to drop it off to get fixed.  Then we ran by the grocery store before heading home.  Then we all headed out to the pool for a fun afternoon of swimming, then we did pizza for dinner and watched "Kung Fu Panda" after.  Eileen wanted a fruit salad with dinner, so we told her that if she wanted it, she could ride her bike to the grocery store and get what she needed to make it.  So she did!  After the younger kids went to bed, We watched "My Big Fat Greet Wedding" with the girls - they seemed to really like it.  We had a fun time together!  

This morning was nice and quiet - we played some games and made some cinnamon rolls and helped Dan get Seminary stuff ready, then got ready for church.  The talks in Sacrament meeting were wonderful.  What I heard of the Sunday School and Relief Society lessons were also wonderful - but David is at that stage, where he doesn't sit still - and while he's not loud (usually) he is distracting, so I usually end up roaming the halls with him and trying to keep him from taking things out of the garbage cans. 

Anna is doing cross country now - so she has practice early in the morning, She's burning crazy amounts of calories now so she eats a ton of food!  She really seems to be enjoying cross country though.  I think she is also really glad it's in the mornings so that it's not so hot.

Back to School

I can't believe that our Summer Vacation has come to an end - I immediately felt like my house was way too quiet and texted a friend and my mom and sister to see about doing lunch.  Our Monday and Tuesday ended up being pretty quiet - the kids mostly just wanted to spend their last days hanging out at home together.  We made Kay's tortellini soup for dinner on Tuesday and I've been enjoying the leftovers ever since!  The older three kids made the most out of their last few nights of staying up late and we have now gotten everything in order for school.  

Wednesday was the kids first day of school.  I sent dropped them off mostly excited about a new school year.  They came home excited and happy and liking their teachers and their classes (mostly - Eileen wasn't too happy about not having any classes with her friend, but at least we had gotten her schedule fixed so she was happy with the classes she had.)  The girls had a youth activity in the evening and it was over all a great day!  

So I had some fun taking pictures of David since he was my only kid at home during the day - I caught this cute one of David using a toy spoon to feed Koopa.  The rest I'm having a hard time getting off my phone... 

Thursday evening, we actually managed to get a volleyball group together again.  It was a ton of fun - I'm just sad that I probably won't get to go to many more of them since choir will we starting again soon!  I am really looking forward to choir, but I will miss volleyball nights. 

Friday I started a roast in the crock pot for pulled pork and we had some friends over for dinner and games!  They are a new family in our ward with a daughter close to Eileen's age and Eileen asked if we could invite them over.  They have just moved back from South Africa and it was neat to get to know them! 

When I picked the kids up from school on Friday - James' teacher came over to the car to tell me what a great kid James is and how he's a great leader!  He was beaming from ear to ear.  :) 

Anna had volleyball tryouts on Thursday and Friday.  She got cut on Friday :(  But she had a great attitude about it - she found out on Friday that Volleyball and Cross Country were at the same time and that she would have to choose one or the other, so she was actually glad when the choice was made for her. 

Saturday was a beautiful day!  We had a nice morning, Dan went to help a family in the ward with moving and I stayed home with the kids, then when we put David down for a nap, and Dan let me take a nap and took the rest of the kids to the library for a fun little fair they were having.  The kids had lots of fun - Eileen especially loved the snakes.  She and Aaron have been wanting pet snakes ever since...  They also had face painting and lots of other fun things to see and do. 

After, we all headed over to the pool to play for a couple hours.  The weather was hot and the cool pool felt wonderful!  Best of all - the kids got along well with hardly any arguing at all.  We all had a great time - then after a yummy dinner, we got the kids ready for bed and headed there too. 

Today was a nice day - a fun morning of playing games with the kids and some crocheting.  Church was wonderful - I even got to listen to a lot of the Relief Society lesson.  David has taken to being a bit of a distracting though so often, I end up in the halls walking around with him.  But what we did hear was wonderful!  The choir sang in Sacrament Meeting and it went well.  Thankfully we had more people show up than usual - over all it went really well!  It's kinda weird getting back into the kids having to go to bed earlier again routine - so we got the kids to bed for school tomorrow (Anna even chose to go to bed before her bedtime since she has cross country tomorrow morning) and played a game together.  (for the record - I smashed Dan)  :) 

Summer's Almost Over

Monday was rather crazy.  It was laundry day - and I got lots of help.  David thinks it's tons of fun to drag the laundry detergent all over the place.  We knew we weren't going to have much time for laundry in the evening, so I had the kids fold their laundry as the load finished.  I also needed to get the kitchen counters emptied off so that we could have room for all the canning things.  The Gustaveson's came over to have dinner and Family Home Evening and then can peaches with us!  We had a blast playing Secret Hitler together and canned a ton of peaches and had a great time.  

Tuesday, I needed to head to the middle school to get Eileen and Anna's schedules.  Eileen's ended up being all messed up, so hopefully we can get that fixed.  Then in the evening, Eileen and Anna were left in charge while Dan and I headed down to Allen for a company party.  We did bowling and some games and ate.  The bowling was fun - though I am a lousy bowler.  We had fun playing games, and got some candy with our tickets, then headed home and watched The Greatest Showman with the girls.  

Wednesday, we got the Elementary school kids registered and ready for school, then headed to the park for a bit.  They had fun - David loves the swing (even if it doesn't look like it from his face) Then in the evening, the girls had a Young Women's activity and Dan had a seminary meeting.

Eileen and Anna got up early on Thursday to go to the temple with some of the other Beehives.  When they got home, we headed down to the Tilton's house for Eileen and Anna's cake decoration class with Sister Tilton.  They had a great time and made some beautiful cakes!  While they decorated, I took the younger kids to a nearby splash pad.  They loved it - except David - it was just too crazy and noisy for him.

On Friday, we headed down to the zoo.  It was rainy and drizzly the whole time, but since that meant that it was cool and not crowded - it was really nice!  We got ponchos for the kids and they had a great time!

Saturday was more rain - all day!  In the morning, Dan took the kids to get school supplies.  In the afternoon, the kids and I had some fun jumping on the trampoline in the rain - we got soaked quickly, but it was lots of fun.

Aaron and Anna built themselves a massive train track all over the play room - but had a blast doing it, and most of the kids have been having lots of fun playing with it.

This morning, we had some fun playing some games - I won Ticket to Ride for the first time ever - then in the afternoon, we headed to church.  It was wonderful.  David is getting to the stage where he doesn't want to sit still or stay in one place, so we often end up pacing the halls so that he's not distracting everyone.  But what I do get to listen to is always wonderful!

Lots of Driving...

We've had a bit of a busy week this week.  Monday, I took the kids to the library, we got there and found out that they were playing a movie that had just started, so the kids and I went and watched "The Rescuers."   The kids enjoyed it and we had a fun afternoon together.  Otherwise, Monday was a normal day full of laundry and grocery shopping and the like.  

Tuesday was a mostly quiet day, David took a nice long nap!  Otherwise, we took it easy and got a bit of clean up done.  In the evening, I had institute which was great!  

Wednesday, Anna was scheduled for a doctor's visit for shots, but they called and said she was up to date, so that got cancelled.  In the evening, the girls had Young Women's activity.  It's been awesome to watch Anna get motivated to do her personal progress!  

Thursday we decided to exhaust ourselves.  We met up with Sandi and her kids and my Dad and went out on the boat. The kids mostly had a great time - Anna tried wakeboarding and Evie tried water skiing and both did a great job!  After, we took the kids home and got them dinner, then Dan and I left Eileen and Anna in charge and headed out for our anniversary date.  Dan took me to The Melting Pot where we both ate way too much food, but it was SO YUMMY!  We had a great time together.  I am so happy that I get to be married to him!  I can hardly believe it's been 16 years of marriage - I don't feel old enough for that!  

Friday was a hot and sunny day, so the kids went out and jumped on the trampoline with the sprinklers on for a bit.  Evie took David out for a bit of gently bouncing and he had a great time!  Friday morning, we headed out to what we thought was a pick your own peach place, but when we got there, it wasn't - so we bought their peaches so we had some for canning - but it was a long drive just to go buy peaches at a market.... it took an hour and a half to get there. 

Saturday Dan had a seminary training meeting, so most of the day felt like a regular week day.  When Dan got home, we took the afternoon and went to the pool.  We had plans to go to the Tilton's house, but Megan got sick, so we had to postpone.  :( 

Church today was wonderful.  Fast and testimony meeting was wonderful.  I got to enjoy a bit of Sunday school which was about Elijah, before I ended up in the hall with a cranky David.  The I ended up helping out in nursery for the last hour of church.  It was fun!  We spent a lot of time today playing games - and I managed to lose every game - pretty badly, so to help me feel better, Dan pulled out Mille Bornes - and true to form, I won.