Swimming and Playing

 We've had a fun and busy week with swimming and school and everything else.  Monday was a usual Monday with laundry, school, family home evening, and swim practice.  

Tuesday, we had my new ministering companion and her husband over for dinner.  It was fun to get to know them a bit and of course, the kids loved them.  Evelyn also had a dentist appointment on Tuesday where she had 4 baby teeth pulled - she has had a much rougher time than Aaron - of course, she hardly has any molars to chew with right now....  In the evening, I met with Sister Arnoldson to talk about my new calling and get to know each other.  Instead of sitting around and chatting, she joined me on my evening walking of Koopa.  

Wednesday was the usual work day.  Anna had a doctor's appointment to check up on how her knee has been doing.  With Cross Country over, and with the stretches, it's been much better.  She had piano lessons in the afternoon and marching band, plus there were the youth activities in the evening.  

Thursday was back to school as usual.  It's crazy to think just how close we are getting to the end of the school year - even James feels like this school year has gone really fast.  Thursday afternoon, after Dan got home, I headed to Safeway to get my second vaccination shot.  - It's official, Dan and I are fully vaccinated, now we just need to wait for the 2 weeks to be up and we will be good to go.  

Friday, after taking James to school, David and I went to play at the park for a bit on the way home.  He loves playing there, but we can't usually stay too long in the mornings.  In the afternoon, Eileen and Anna had a swim meet.  They did well and it was a beautiful day.  There was a park right outside the pool deck and it was an outdoor pool with chain link around it, so Dan brought the kids to play at the park and watched the meet from outside.  

Friday evening, James claimed his "Make one treat with Dad" coupon and he and Dan made edible s'more slime.  I think he had a fun time doing it, but it was a MESS!  lol

On Saturday, we spent some time out working on the yard and enjoying some beautiful weather, then in the afternoon, I took the kids down to the play ground.  One of the kids who lives right next to the playground, brought out their kitten and James was loving holding the sweet little kitty!  Then in the evening, Evelyn had a birthday party with a friend from school.  Then Dan and I went on a "date" where we really just grabbed some dinner and then hit Costco and Walmart for some stuff for the weekend.  I was also hoping to get some things for Monday, but their selection was pretty lame....  

Sunday was wonderful.  We had a great Sacrament meeting and a great 5th Sunday lesson.  Then we had a fun afternoon playing together and cooking.  We had the sister missionaries over for dinner and had cinnamon rolls and an omelet - all of which were wonderful - then in the evening, we walked some of the cinnamon rolls over to the Shum's house.  David could show Dan the whole way there, though he wasn't 100% sure of which house it was, but he got us all the way to their street with out help.  

Using our Talents

 

For Family Home Evening this week, we did another family talent show.  This is rapidly becoming one of my favorite family activities!  Each of the kids is so talented!  Eileen showed off one of her recent drawings - she has been experimenting with drawing some of her characters from her stories.  Anna played a song on the piano.  Aaron showed off one of the pieces he has been working on with his Euphonium.  Evelyn played Amazing Grace for us on the flute.  James showed off his Ax that he made with dad and had dad read us a story he wrote.  David played a song and sang for us on the piano.  Dan made a yummy cherry pie and I played a song on the piano.  We had a fun evening together appreciating each other's talents!

Dan's birthday was Wednesday - once again, we skipped the surprise birthday party this year - we figure we will wait until we are vaccinated and then throw a party!  Dan asked for spice cake for his birthday this year because he wanted a cream cheese frosting - even though he has never really liked cream cheese frostings before.  :)  I got him a 7 Wonders expansion for his birthday.  I wanted to give him something that he could enjoy with the kids.  

The girls had their first high school swim meet this week.  Friday, they had a "virtual meet" which meant that they ran a meet, but only with our team at the pool - the other team would have the meet at their pool, then the scores would be put together later.  The girls were both swimming JV and did a good job considering they have only had a week or less of practicing before the meet and haven't swam competitively in a long time. 

Saturday evening, we had the bishop and his family over for dinner.  We had a fun time chatting with them and getting to know them a bit and the kids had a blast playing together.  Anna was gone babysitting Taz and Kai and Evie was at her friend's house, but the rest of us had a blast together!  

Church was wonderful - I got a new calling!  I'm back in primary and will get to serve as the 1st councilor in the primary presidency.  I'm looking forward to helping with these new changes as we look to get normal primary things back up and going.  

Dan was supposed to get his second COVID vaccine shot this afternoon, but when he got there, they had changed hours and closed early with out telling people who had appointments after the new closing time...  so now we gotta reschedule again... 

Jumping and Climbing

We've had a bit of a crazy week.  Full of school and activities and friends and family.  On one of my evening walks, I walked past a pond and saw a cute little beaver chowing down!  I guess it shouldn't surprise me that there are beavers in Beaverton, but it was so fun to just see this little guy out and about!  Now that Spring is here, there is always a ton of wildlife in this fun little pond!  Plus after that, as I was nearing out house, I saw a deer in our neighbor's yard.  I was excited, so I ran in to get Eileen and make her come out and see it.  She was excited too!  I tried to get a picture, but my phone camera doesn't do good night pictures.  

The kids had youth activities on Wednesday, but since one of needed to stay home with James and David, the bishop worked it out so that Dan could be there.  The boys have gotten used to Daddy watching movies with them on Wednesday nights, but mommy is meaner that daddy.  I found evidence of stolen candy and food in the boys bedroom, so they went to bed early.  

Swim team has started this week - Anna can't go until Track is over, but Eileen has been going to practices this week - she's sore and tired by the end of practices, but I think she is still enjoying it.  The coach seems like a great guy and is very understanding during this crazy time.  

Anna had her last track meet on Thursday, and she made her first successful pole vault this week!  She cleared the bar on her first two jumps!  She was so excited!  

Dan and I went out for a date night on Friday, we went to a Korean BBQ place that was really good, then walked around a vintage game store - apparently some of the old game boy games are worth a decent amount of money now.  lol  

Our neighbors mentioned that they have a climbing wall in their garage and that the kids are welcome to use it as long as there is an adult there with them.  James and Evelyn are SO excited!  They also scrambled up the wall like monkeys.  

 On Saturday, David, James and I woke up with sore throats and coughs....  No fevers, no other symptoms, but still not feeling the greatest.  The kids were invited to Kai's birthday party at Sandi's house, but we were worried about sending them there.  They both seemed to be feeling better and Sandi and I finally agreed that as long as the kids stayed outside and wore their masks, it would be ok. But they only stayed for an hour, then we headed home.  

Sunday, we decided to play it safe and keep James, David and me at home, so thankfully we were still able to watch church and hear the wonderful talks and a beautiful musical number!  Our afternoon was spent chatting with family and playing games.  

Less Hair... More Fun!

We've had a busy, but mostly normal week.  Anna had track all week, The kids had school, James and Caleb played together a lot, Youth Activities and lots of being outside.  It's been cool and overcast, but not rainy enough to keep us indoors.  

On Tuesday, Eileen chopped off 2 feet of hair.  She is still adjusting to the change, but the new hair cut looks super cute on her!  

We had a fun youth activity helping the young men make the Mother's Day gifts and playing dodgeball.  I spent some time at the church practicing the organ to get ready to play on Sunday.  Anna had a track meet on Thursday, and we had a swim meeting to get ready for the start of the swim season.  

The kids love the guinea pigs still.  

Friday, we did a family pizza and movie night, and then Evelyn headed to her friends house to play games.  

This weekend, we had a busy day with organ practicing, building a fort in the back yard and friends coming over to hang out.  Evelyn is concocting a babysitting business idea with her friends.  

Sunday was wonderful.  Dan made me biscuits for Mother's Day, then we had some fun together before heading to church.  Dan was sustained and set apart today as the first councilor in the bishopric and Anna gave a talk.  I played the organ - mostly ok - though the opening hymn was a bit spotty since it was changed on me last second and it was a hymn I had never played before!  It was a fun little adventure!  After church, we had our meetings.  Then I zoom called my parents so we could chat with them and wish mom a happy mother's day, then after a yummy dinner, we had fun playing games and munching on snacks.  It was a wonderful day!  

Family and Fun

We've had a bit of a busy week here.  Of course school and after school activities.  David and I walk James and his friend to school each morning and then walk down to get them in the afternoon.  Evie and Aaron and Eileen and Anna have in person school Monday and Thursday, and virtual school on Tuesday and Friday.  Eileen is getting more comfortable with school and the bus - in fact she was positively bubbly after school on Monday.  Then on Thursday after school, she stayed for Drama Club.

Wednesday was no school, but we mostly took it easy, in the evening we had youth activities, Anna's class had a talent show, and she recorded herself playing all parts of a piece on her trumpet and then played it for everyone!  Evie and I played live Among Us.  I didn't really know what was going on, but Evie and I planned it and then we played as a class and the girls had a blast.  

On Thursday, Anna had a track meet, but it was an away meet, so it kept her out pretty late.  Sandi and Julienna and I went out to celebrate Sandi's birthday, we had dinner, then headed to a Karaoke Bar - Julienna rented out a private box where we got to sing karaoke for an hour and a half.  We had a blast - Julienna has a great voice too, and Sandi and I always love singing together.  It helps that we know a lot of the same music and we sing well together.  :)  It was a fun evening though!  

Friday was a crazy day.  James has had some major behavior issues this week, so I was stressed over that - plus we were trying to get the house straightened up for company on Friday evening - and getting my craft room ready to be a bedroom.   Dan's parents got in Friday afternoon just as school was getting out and helped a bit with cleaning, and helped a lot with keeping James and David busy so I could clean and get food ready.  Then Dan and his parents took off for the temple for Caleb's receiving his endowments - unfortunately, because of Covid, they had to limit the number of people in the session.  So we invited everyone over to our house after for dinner.  It was a lot of fun to have everyone over and we ate and chatted and played and it was wonderful.  Dave had come up for the sealing also and came over for dinner and David was SO happy - he just adores "Little Dave."  When I snapped this picture, David was saying how their hair matched, but not really.  

 

After everyone left, we got the kids to bed, but somehow James managed to sneak his computer into his room - he then stayed up ALL NIGHT watching YouTube videos....  So he was rather tired the next morning, he got up enough to see Grandma and Grandpa Jones off and grab some breakfast before passing out on the stairs...  

Evelyn wanted to do her outing with mom, so she and I went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, along with a quick stop at Target for some water shoes.  While we were gone, Dan did a "boy scout thing" with David and helped him make a wood robot like he made with James.  David was so excited!  

Anna met up with a friend and went for a run and then after she got back, we all piled in the car and headed out to Multnomah Falls.  We hiked all the way up to the top of the falls and had a wonderful time!  The weather was perfect - cool and overcast.  It was a bit crowded, but overall a wonderful day and a wonderful hike.  

Church today was wonderful, our ward had it's first time meeting all together since Covid.  They are still broadcasting for those who aren't comfortable coming yet, so it's wasn't really everyone, but it was a lot closer than it's been before!  It was a wonderful Fast and Testimony meeting!  After, we headed home for second hour meetings - I got to go to Gospel Doctrine which was wonderful, and everyone had their meetings.  In the evening, Dan and I headed out to the Portland Airport for our first Vaccine Shot, so we are now half way to being vaccinated!