James' Birthday

Monday, the kids were off of school because of the holiday, so we had some friends over to hang out and play.  They all had a great time together playing games and jumping on the trampoline.  It was such a fun day!  

Tuesday was back to the regular schedule - we had piano lessons and institute.  The kids had school and Eileen had her after school play practice.  

Wednesday was James' birthday - he wanted Nachos for dinner, and a pokemon cake, so Dan made him a pikachu cake and he loved it!  It was funny - when he opened the present from Grandma and Grandpa Jones, it had been packaged in a dryer sheets box and he was rather confused about what it was that he had gotten until he realized that he had to open the box to find his actual gift!  

David is getting to a very fun and funny stage.  He is at that stage where he loves to have things happen exactly as he expects them to.  When we put his dirty diaper in a garbage bag - he has to put the diaper in while I hold the bag, then after I tie it up, he carries it to the back door and waits for me to open the door and carry him out to the big garbage can so he can drop it in.  And he has many little routines like that - and he gets upset if things don't happen the way he expects them to.  He found a scoop the other day and found the rabbit food and started scooping up food, carrying it to the rabbit house and dumping it inside - and since the bunnies hadn't been fed yet that morning, and he was putting the food mostly in the right place, I let him do it - and he did it over and over and over again!  It was so cute! 

Friday evening, Dan and I went to the temple - we needed to take the names we brought through initiatories first, then we did a session.  It was wonderful!  After, we headed home for a late dinner. 

Saturday, we started off by cleaning the building and then getting donuts.  Then we got the house cleaned up for James' birthday party.  We borrowed a bouncy castle from our real estate agent and the kids all had a blast jumping on it all day.  Anna and I decorated Poke-ball cupcakes and the kids all had a great time! 

The Sabbath was wonderful.  Church was amazing - the talks and music was beautiful!  Two of the talks were people in the ward talking about their favorite hymns and then we sung those hymns - it was beautiful!  Anna and I both wore clothes from Grandma Penny - I've been trying to remember to send pics to my Dad so that he can send them to Aunt Pam.  After church, we had choir practice, and treats, followed by lunch and naps.  In the evening, we went to the house of a family in our ward for a combined lesson from the Come Follow Me manual followed by dessert.  yum! 

Family Fun!

David loves to sing and he's been learning Baby Shark from his siblings - he sings along and tries to make a baby shark with his fingers!  He also wants to sing along anytime anyone else is singing too!  

Otherwise, we mostly had a normal and un-eventful week.  Monday was laundry day, Tuesday was piano lessons and institute, Wednesday was Activity Days, 11-year old scouts (since Aaron isn't in cubs anymore) and Young Womens, Thursday was a relief society activity.  We had our annual painting activity.  It was a lot of fun - but I'm obviously not a very good painter!! 

The kids had Friday off of school, so we had a fun and relaxing day at home.  Anna had her all-region band practice on Friday and Saturday, then the concert on Saturday afternoon.  It was really good!  She seemed to have had a really great time! 

Church was wonderful - I subbed in Evelyn's primary class.  It was fun since the class was mostly my cub scout boys.  It was nice since I already knew all their names.  We had a great lesson, and I think they even listened to some of it! 

After church, we had some friends over for dinner - We had yummy waffles and then had fun playing games! 

Back to School

Evie and Anna both decided that they wanted their hair cute, so we walked down to a nearby hair place and got appointments for the girls, then they both chopped most of their hair off.  They both love their hair cute - I think they both look really cute!  I'm glad they are happy with them.  The place and people who worked there seemed really nice.  

Thursday was Aaron's birthday.  He's 11 now and I can't believe he's less that a year from becoming a Deacon!  We had a fun time with Grandpa and Sandi, Taz and Kai coming up to eat cake and ice cream and have a fun time.  

Friday, the kids all had awards ceremonies - David and I basically spent the whole day at the school for the award ceremonies.  They were all excited to see us and it was fun.  All three of the younger kids got awards for perfect attendance.  Aaron got awards for math and P.E., Evie got awards for A honor roll and reading, and James got awards for A honor roll and reading too.  They all did a great job!  

On Saturday morning, Anna and I headed down to my parent's house to help Grandma and Aunt Sandi sort through Grandma Penny's clothes.  We actually managed to find a bunch of things to fit us. Anna had a lot of fun trying on things and picking clothes.  I picked out some things for Eileen too.  It was neat because some of the clothes had a note that she put with them on the hanger about where she bought it, or spoke of an event to which she wore it.  It was neat to get a glimpse into her life.

Sunday, each of the girls wore something of Grandma Penny's to church.  Evelyn even wore one of her scarfs.

Grandma Penny

This week was a bit rough.  I got a call from Dad on Tuesday that Grandma Penny had passed away.  We got things set up so that I could go out for the memorial service and to help Mom and Dad out with Grandma's things.  We couldn't afford to take the whole family, so I was the only one who went.  Evelyn was trying to convince me to take her until the last minute.  She was so cute and sweet despite how many times I explained to her that although I would love to take her, I couldn't. 

We had a fun New Year's Eve.  We took the kids to a family dance party that the ward had.  We went and danced and had fun and counted down to "fake New Years."   Then the younger kids went to bed and the rest of us watched Princess Bride while I did a puzzle. 

Thursday evening, I headed out to Utah - everything went wrong with my flights, but I finally made it into Las Vegas airport where I then got a shuttle to St. George.  It was a long evening, but I made it safely and got through a book.  :) 

Friday morning, I went to help mom out at Grandma's apartment.  We needed to get things packed up and decide what was coming back to Texas, which was going to be donated, and which things just needed to be thrown away (I love my Grandma, but I'm not wearing her old pantyhose)  Sandi arrived along with Taz, and We spent some time at the mortuary getting a few last minute details figured out. 

Saturday morning, we headed to Hurricane for the memorial service.  It was really neat getting to listen to my Dad talk about his mom.  We also got to meet up with some of her friends out in Utah.  There were really some wonderful people!  I am so glad that I got to meet them and that I had the chance to get a glimpse into her daily life in Hurricane - that wasn't a side I got to see - when we came to visit her - we were visiting her, not all her friends.  I am grateful that she had such wonderful people in her life!  Sandi and I sang "Amazing Grace" and after - the ladies gave a nice luncheon. 
We spent more time cleaning up in the afternoon and found this - the original recipe card for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie!!! 

Saturday morning, Dan took the kids to clean the church building - they had a good time and did a great job!

Sunday morning, bright and early, I flew back to Texas and arrived in time to miss Stake Conference.  We did get to start the Come Follow Me manual though and so far, it's been WONDERFUL!  I'm so grateful for an inspired prophet that helps learn how to better teach our children the things that are most important!