Family and Fun

We've had a busy week.  School of course - David already wakes up most days asking if he has school or not - he loves school and is excited to go, but not to wake up.  He's my little sunglasses buddy and we still have fun walking to and from school and talking about our days!  

Our water polo team had it's first league game on Tuesday and it was a bit of a mess.  The kids played their hearts out - especially the boys who had a strong first quarter, but were down to only 5 players total shortly after the second half started.  The girls were struggling to communicate and having a hard time against their defense.  

Between that and knowing that it would have been different if not for the inclusivity placement mess ups, and the very low attendance at practices this week, i've really been struggling this week.  It's so frustrating feeling like I'm doing all I can for these kids, and it's not enough.... 

On Friday, Dan and I's combined Birthday/Christmas gift arrived and Dan and the boys had a fun time putting it together, then we all enjoyed eating dinner outside together.  David especially loves it and were it not for the rain, would be eating every meal out there! 

Friday and Saturday, Anna and Evelyn were at the Encore retreat.  They had a wonderful time and came home tired and with exhausted voices, but happy and amazing! 

Saturday morning, Dan and I went to the sealing of some friends from the ward.  They were sealed, then their sweet son was sealed to them.  When he came in he was so excited to see so many of his favorite people there!  He didn't know my name, but called me his teacher and kept coming to talk to me and give me hugs and tell me jokes.  After, we went to lunch at Olive Garden and Andrew and I had fun coloring together and chatting.  He's such a sweet bright boy!  

In the evening, Anna and Aaron and I went to open polo and had fun - though I think Anna was pretty tired after the retreat.  

Church on Sunday was busy, but great.  The choir sang and did an amazing job along with our amazing violinist Jinger!  Then I was subbing in primary for singing time and we had fun practicing our music for the choir program.  

Eileen went over to Bianca and Huistean's house for dinner and made yummy food for them!  I'm so glad that she's finding her own life and joy and I'm so grateful for Bianca!  We had fun chatting with her in the evening and over text and we still hear from her a lot which is nice!  

We also had the Blanchards over for games and fun in the evening!  

A New Normal

 Eileen seems to be settling in well.  She loves her roommates kitty and she is enjoying classes.  She has been calling regularly to chat, which has been wonderful!  I'm so glad things are going well for her!  

This week has been typically busy.  The kids have had school and are settling into the new school year and it's rythms.  Anna still hasn't started college classes yet and is getting a bit bored, and she's ready to start her full schedule.  Evelyn is still loving band and doing so well!  

Water Polo is going well - we are having some attendance issues, but the team is learning and growing - we will see how our next game goes, we have a game on Tuesday against Sunset.  Hopefully we have a full team....  

Thursday was my birthday!  I spent the morning at the Temple with Melissa and Sara, then we went to lunch at Thai Basil after.  We had a wonderful time together and it was a beautiful start to my birthday.  I got my birthday freebies and my sweet friend Erika dropped off a YUMMY apple crisp.  Anna made a pineapple upside down cake for me and of course, I made cupcakes for the team as usual.  Dan got me a new sling bag and a succulent Lego's set!  

Saturday was crazy busy.  Evelyn was at band stuff most of the day.  Anna, Aaron, David and I were at the Water Polo car wash most of the day.  David was so excited when we got to wash a firetruck!  He told the firemen that they made his day!  Apparently he made theirs too, because they posted about our car wash on their facebook page!  They posted this pic of him and he was so excited when he found out jumping around yelling "I'm Famous!!!!"

The kids did an amazing job and worked hard - and also may have had some fun soaking eachother....  

There was an FSY Reflection activity for the stake and Anna and Aaron went and had a great time, Evelyn was still at band stuff, so she didn't make it.  After, she had a bunch of friends over for a birthday dinner/party.  She had a bunch of other friends with September birthdays, so she had a little party with food and treats and presents for all the September birthdays and then the older ones went to the dance.  

While the kids went and danced, I went to open polo.  It was fun as always - a bunch of the recently graduated guys are leaving for college soon, so hopefully we will still have numbers to play.  

Today, I had a lifeguarding re-certification class I needed to go to.  The other girls in the class were all young, but very nice!  Even though I was the oldest (by far) I still had the fastest time on the brick retrieval!  :)  This evening, we had fun playing games and chatting.  We did crepes for dinner - James made them almost entirely by himself - and he did an amazing job!  

And She's Gone....

It's been a crazy busy week.  The first half of the week was mostly crazy busy preparations for the rest of the week.  Wednesday, we had our Team Dinner before the first game of the season.  We had a blast - David had half the team wrapped around his finger and following him around the house.   

Thursday morning we got Eileen loaded up into the car and she and Dan headed out to Idaho.  They stayed the night in Meridian and then headed on to Rexburg the next day.  

They got her unpacked and her room set up.  She got to meet roommates and she was excited that one of them also liked crocheting and had an emotional support cat.  She left Thursday morning very nervous and anxious about everything.  By Friday, she was feeling like she had found her people and was happy and more excited again.  

They also met up with Bianca and Huistean who will also be in the area.  And she got to look at the Ceramics classrooms.  

Meanwhile, back in Oregon, the water polo team had it's first game of the season.  We played Tigard and mostly it went pretty well - we lost by 2 points, but there were times in the game where we were up also, so we could have won it, and overall they played pretty well for a first game.  Both teams were playing Co-ed so that worked well too since we were down a couple players.  There were a couple sketchy moments with one of the Tigard kids acting like a jerk, but mostly the kids did well.  And I think they now have a better understanding of how things work.  

Friday was a bit sparse on attendance for water polo, so we mostly had a fun workout.  

Saturday was busy,  On Friday, the band had sent out an email that they still needed a driver, and since Parkrose had been cancelled, I emailed and said I was available if they still needed a driver.  They did.  So I met up at the school and walked around with High School band kids for 6 hours while they asked for donations and played songs.  Evelyn joined me after she got back from the youth temple trip that Anna and Aaron and Evelyn went to in the morning.  It was a nice day, and fun to be out walking around.  

Then we had the sister missionaries over for dinner Saturday night, then in the evening, after putting James and David to bed, I took Anna and Aaron to Open Polo.  It was a good turnout and we had fun!  

Sunday was wonderful!  I got to sub in primary for a teacher who was out sick.  Dan went to his parent's ward (and having forgot to pack church clothes, he found his Dad's don't fit him and wore this) before heading back home.  

Just the boys having some fun out in the back yard!  

It's so good to have Dan home. We spent the evening playing some games before calling it a night.  

We have all had times where we missed Eileen this week, though I think I've done well - I have only cried twice.  :) 

Back to School Already?

I can't believe summer is already over.  Monday morning, Evelyn, then David and finally James headed off to their first day of school.  Evelyn starting as a freshman at Mountainside, David back at Cooper Mountain for 1st grade and James braving the middle school as a 6th grader.  Their first days went well and they came home excited!  

In the evening, after dinner, we did back to school blessings for the kids.  It was wonderful!  David was so excited and wanted to go first, so he brought the chair over and claimed it until we were ready to begin. 

On Tuesday, Anna and Aaron started school and Seminary started too.  Anna just had band and Aaron was starting his sophmore year.  Anna won't start her early college classes until later in September.  

Water polo is going well, we officially have both a girls team and a boys team, and we even have a sub on both teams....  They are doing so well though and learning and growing!  

On Thursday, I took Anna and Eileen out to Bonneville Dam.  Eileen has been wanting to go there all summer, but I thought she might enjoy it more if we didn't have all the younger siblings there too, so we went after school started.  It was a chilly, rainy day, but we had a great time, we got to see lots of fishies - we even got to watch salmon going up the fish ladders - heading back up river to their spawning grounds.  After, we stopped for lunch on the way home.   

David and James used their gift cards from Aunt Sandi to get stuffies, They have begun arriving and David was very happy and wanted a picture with his new stuffies.  

David loved his first week of school and is loving his teacher and his class.  He is making new friends and having fun with old ones.  The rest of the kids seem to be settling in well also.  

On Friday with the water polo team, we did an intersquad scrimmage.  I divided the kids into teams and we had parents running the clock and Chris and I acted as refs and the kids played and played well!  It was a fun day and they did amazingly well.  Girls who last year couldn't even have done a single quarter played 3 quarters and kept up - it was awesome!   We ran out of time and couldn't finish the last quarter, but a good time was had by all and it helped the kids get the idea of what an actual game will be like.  

Saturday was crazy busy, but wonderful!  We had friends taking out their endowments in the morning, so Dan and I went to the temple in the morning, then I took Eileen out shopping to spend her gift card from Aunt Sandi (mostly on yarn and wire for wire wrapping) and we had a nice afternoon together.  Then we game home and we went to a baptism for one of David's friends in the ward.  It was wonderful!  After, we went to dinner with some friends, then came back so I could grab kids and head to open polo.  I told the team about it, and a whole bunch of them showed up!  It was awesome, we had fun together and I think they had fun getting to play and getting to meet some of the kids from other schools.  

Church today was wonderful - we were out sunbeam teachers, so I went in to help out there, and then in the afternoon, choir went so well.  I love directing the ward choir and I love music!!!  In the evening, Sandi and James came over to play games for a bit, we had a fun time playing Wingspan one last time with Eileen before she leaves for college.