And a Happy New Year

This week has been very snowy - we have tons of snow on the ground and it just seems to keep falling.  The kids have been going stir crazy not being able to play outside as much as they would like to.  I told the kids on Monday that if they would get their rooms clean and the play area clean, then I would take them to the museum.  Tuesday morning, we packed up, braved the awful roads and headed to the museum. We spent almost the whole day there - not leaving until I needed to start home to make dinner.  The kids had a blast - we saw the whales exhibit which was pretty cool - we went to the silk road exhibit which was really neat, ate lunch, played in the discovery zone and closed off with gems and minerals.  

Our New Years Eve was pretty boring - but good boring :)  We just hung out and played games and worked on a puzzle.  We toasted with sparkling cider at midnight and crashed.

Our mattress is getting old and it's been causing Dan back problems, but we can't really afford a new one (at least not a nice one like we have now) with all the stuff going on right now, so Dan has been looking for other solutions - this week he decided to build a bed frame that would give the mattress a bit more support - so far the best he can say is that it might be working....

Since Eileen turned 10, we have been letting her stay up until 9 on non-school nights.  Generally that means it only happens on Friday nights.  Dan and I have really been enjoying this time with just her.  We've been introducing her to Star Trek and teaching her some of our favorite games.  It's been really fun to have a 3rd player for those games that don't really work well with 2 players.  I think Eileen has really enjoyed feeling like a grown up and playing games with us.  That has been one of my favorite parts of this Christmas break - she's gotten to stay up playing with us every night but Saturdays (because of church) and it's been awesome!

Last night, I headed out in the snow again for an audition - our choir is helping put on a production of the Lamb of God and they were holding auditions for soloists.  I got there early, partially because i mistook the time, and partially because I had left myself a long time for getting there.  I had fun playing with Christina's little boys while her husband auditioned and we had a blast trying to scare monsters away.

This morning Dan took off for Atlanta (I think) for a quick business trip.  When I woke up a bit later, to get the kids ready for church, we noticed a paramedic fire truck outside in front of the neighbors house.  On talking to our neighbor's son, we found out that our neighbor had passed away.  It's so hard to believe - just a couple weeks ago we were dropping off Christmas cookies and talking about Christmas plans and he seemed healthy and happy.  They are such a sweet older couple and my heart aches for her and their family.

The kids weren't quite ready for an early church time - I don't think they believed me when I said that they needed to go right to bed....  They all woke up rather tired this morning.  Church was wonderful though.  A young lady talked about how God doesn't make mistakes.  It was something I need to be reminded of and it was really a wonderful meeting!

After church, my cousins who are in town for the holiday came over to play.  We mostly hung out and played games and goofed off.  Here's Aaron trying to photo bomb (which he thinks is the funniest thing in the world)  We all had a great time though and when they had to leave, I told the kids that it was time to play the "lets clean up the front room game" - Eileen told me she would rather play the "go out and get Mark and Julia to come back and play some more game"

It's hard to believe Christmas break is over and a new year is here....  Welcome to 2015!

Merry Christmas!

The kids spent the first part of the week down at Uncle Frank and Aunt Tina's house, and honestly, I'm not sure we would have been ready for Christmas unless they had been.  I spent most of Monday running errands in the morning, then I met up with Dan and some of his friends from work for lunch, then I went home and frosted cookies all afternoon before making up plates of cookies to take to people.  Then when Dan got home, we grabbed the cookie plates and for our own little FHE activity, we dropped cookies off!  It was a lot of fun to visit with friends and spread some yummy Christmas goodies!  

Tuesday morning, Dan and I went to the temple, then Dan dropped me off at the mall to finish some Christmas shopping while he went to test drive a mini cooper.  We finished up and got home in time to get some wrapping done and be here when my parents arrived.  My dad had some last minute assembly and painting to do on one of the presents for the kids (not sure how he would have gotten it done with the kids running around)  Dan and I finished with our wrapping and made some shortbread for Wednesday.  

Wednesday was spent in helping my parents get ready for Christmas.  So lot of shopping at lots of busy stores.  The evening was filled with my parents wrapping, my dad painting and me cooking.  That evening we headed down to Frank and Tina's for Bagna Caulda and Christmas Singing.  It was great being with family and enjoying some of our traditions.  Then we brought our kids home - let them open some slippers for Christmas Eve and sent them to bed. 

My parents had always sorted their Christmas presents into piles by person - we were too lazy to do that this year - but it made it fun - we made the kids hand out presents which they enjoyed almost as much as opening them.

James was one happy camper - he wanted to do everything, play with everything, eat everything and tell me about everything.  The kids paused after stockings to eat some breakfast before opening the pile of presents from each other, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, Great Grandma Penny, and their cousins.  

My dad always wants to make sure that he documents the kids opening the presents from Grandma Penny well so that she can see it and enjoy their excitement. Here they are all lined up and ready to go!

Aaron showing of some of his new clothes from Grandma Penny.

Grandpa's gift was a big hit with all the kids - he built (with some help from cousin Taz) a train table for the kids.  We've all been having a fun time seeing how awesome of a train track we can build (even mom and dad)  This one was mine - the girls helped decorate it with trains and trees for me.  And that's Anna in a vest that she got from Great Grandma Penny - which she has worn all day and all night since....

Thursday night, we had family over for dinner.  We cooked a huge turkey and a lot more food than we ended up needing for how many people came!  Frank and Tina and Frankie all stayed home sick :(  Some of Dan's cousins who were coming also ended up staying home sick.

Friday we went out to Costco to get me my new phone - after all the garbage we went through with the Sprint store - we got it at Costco for less money - more accessories, better service and more quickly... never going to the sprint store again.....  Other than that, we spent the next couple days playing.  We took the kids to Toys R Us to spend the money they had gotten from Aunt Pam and Grandma and Grandpa Jones.  The younger 5 had a great time picking toys out.  Eileen just walked around and looked since she had already spent her money that morning on a Kindle.  She is so excited to have it arrive next week.  She is excited about her green case that is coming with it and mom and dad are excited that she is getting this instead of more toys.

My parents left bright and early (or dark and early) this morning.  The kids all wanted to say goodbye and were all up early (which made for cranky kids later on...) Church was great, I've really been enjoying teaching the senior primary kids - they are so smart and so amazing!  It's so fun to be able to share my love of the scriptures with them!  This afternoon, we started out with an early dinner, followed by lots of playing and roughhousing on the floor, which dissolved into lots of giggling on the floor.  Finally we let the kids have a snack and then started trying to settle them down with puzzles and books.

Christmas Bustle

We're in the homestretch.  The kids had their last day of school until 2015 and all the parties and goodies that go along with it.  We also got to have friends come over to play on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday!  Addie came over Monday, Heather came over with Chasity to help me out with getting all the kids home from school.  When Addie's daddy Nate, came to pick her up - we asked him to stay for dinner, then we had a fun FHE watching the "He is the Gift" video.  

Tuesday, Meredith came over after school.  The kids all play well with her and she's a great kid.  Even Eileen likes playing with her and she rarely likes playing with kids that are much younger than she is.  That evening, I went to hang out with a bunch of my old friends in Peoria ward.  A friend is moving out of state and a friend who had moved was visiting, so we celebrated with lots of good food and lots of fun chatter!  

Wednesday was normal, morning, late start school day for the kids, followed by a trip to the library for story time.  We had fun there with Nicole and Riley and Tayanna.  We also bumped into Heather and Chasity there.  That evening, the girls had activity days, I dropped them off, then went to run a few errands.  I'm finally feeling kinda ready for Christmas....

Thursday was the last day of school for the kids - they had parties, and came home excited to be out for a couple weeks!  Then piano lessons after school, plus Meredith came over to play.  Then in the evening I went to go Visiting Teaching.  

Friday, the kids were all home and crazy!  We had the Crockett kids over to play and hang out with us.  We had fun playing with stickers and coloring, and decorating gingerbread cookies and playing outside.  Sister Crockett was kind enough to hang out for a bit after and watch the kids so I could clean up the disaster that was my kitchen!  The kids all had a great time together though.  

Then Saturday night, we did our Christmas cookie cook out - we made our cutout cookies and had fun decorating them.  We let the kids do a few each, then sent them downstairs to watch a Christmas movie while we cleaned up and did some decorating too.

This was what we got done (not including the ones that the kids ate) and the plan is to do the rest tomorrow....  Then we get to distribute cookie plates with some of these, some shortbread, some ginger cookies, and some spritz cookies for FHE.

Today was the Christmas program at church.  It went well, but ran short.  The music was beautiful and I think the spirit was felt.  Then after church, we ate a quick lunch/dinner and then packed the kids up and headed to Grandpa's for the Christmas Carol Sing Along.  It was a lot of fun - the kids all got to play the piano for us (though Aaron refused) and did well!  Then Dan and I headed home and Frank and Tina took the kids - now I have a couple days to get everything ready.  I'm still not sure I will be able to get it all done, but now I have a chance!

Holiday Fun

The weather this week has been just gorgeous!  We have spent most of the week outside - going on walks, bike rides, and just playing in the backyard.  We had the TAPS worker come over this week - James had her wrapped around his cute fingers.  She was happy with how things are going for us and told our case worker that she didn't feel she was necessary.  

James and I had lots of fun taking walks around the block.  Also, there were some workmen in the street, tearing up the street and working on a pipe.  James just loved staring out the window and watching the trucks do their thing.  

Wednesday we had fun at the library as usual - James usually just wants to sit in my lap and have me read to him - but he's slowly starting to participate and enjoy the story time too.  

Thursday was the normal piano lessons and stuff.  Rose came over with Sister Hendrickson, which made James happy.  He  loves playing with her.

Friday was my final Christmas concert with the Chorale - I brought Anna and Eileen with me.  They both seemed to really enjoy the concert and did a really good job behaving.  After, I took them to Chili's for a Molten Chocolate Cake.  They liked it :)  Alot..... :)  I think they would have used their fingers to clean the plate if I would have let them.

Unfortunately, keeping Anna out that late made her a bit cranky the next day.  Dan and I went to the temple in the morning to be there when my friend's son was sealed to her and her husband.  Tina watched the kids for us, then we picked them up and headed home for lunch, cleaning, online Christmas shopping, cooking food and then heading out to the Christmas party.  The party was a lot of fun - fun hanging out with friends, great food and the kids had a blast with their friends.

Sunday, church was really nice, but James was cranky!!!  I did a musical number today, I think it went well and James even sat quietly for the whole thing, but that was the high point for him.  Tina came over in the evening to watch the kids so Dan and I could go to his company Christmas Party.  It was fun chatting with his co-workers. It's really a great bunch of people.

Takin' it Easy

We have mostly been taking it easy this week - as a result, I have no pictures.... oops...

The week started off normal and busy.  The older kids had school and piano practicing and playing outside (weather has been beautiful.)  Tuesday morning, Heather came over to help me get some primary stuff done.  Then in the afternoon, the Chorale sang at the Aurora Tree Lighting ceremony, which was a fun event - but not one of our best performances - we didn't really have much of a keyboard for accompaniment, and we couldn't hear each other or the accompaniment, but it was still a fun little event!  Thankfully it was early and close by, because by the time I got home, the Elders were over and everyone was eating dinner.  We made some yummy crock pot chili which I had been smelling all day, and thankfully there was still plenty left!

Wednesday was the library in the morning, James is starting to actually participate in story time some - usually he just wants to sit on my lap and have me read to him.  Then that evening, I had rehearsal - which was over by Grandpa's house and went late so I ended up getting home really late.

Thursday, was busy, I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, the piano lessons after school, then after dinner I made a quick run to the grocery store to grab the meds - one required the buyer to be over 18 - and I got carded :)  (made my day!)  Then I met up with some of the people from church to get a musical number ready for the Christmas program - I think it's going to work out really well - I think our group blends well together and I think it's going to sound really nice!  After the ladies of the group ended up just hanging out and chatting - it was a lot of fun - such a great group of women!

Friday, the TAPS lady came out - we mostly chatted, she took notes, but actually admitted that she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing here - so hopefully that means that they are seeing that we really are good parents trying to be better and trying to care for our kids the best way possible.

Friday night was the Chorale's first Christmas Concert.  We sang with the Lakewood Symphony which was a really neat experience - they were really awesome to sing with and the concert really felt like it went well!  My solo felt like it went really well and I got lots of positive feed back.  I brought Eileen with me, thinking that she would really like to see the Orchestra - plus Grandpa, Frank and Tina were all going to be there too.  She had a really good time and then we grabbed some dinner together on the way home.  It was fun to have some time with just her - she's getting to a fun age (well, ok they are all fun in some ways, but this is a new experience to be able to do things with her almost as a friend AND a daughter)

Saturday with the weather so nice, Dan took the kids to the park for a bit to tire them out while I worked on some Christmas stuff and church stuff.  Then he took a nap (along with James) and I took Evie to grab some groceries before the Sabbath, then took Aaron to grab some stuff for Christmas for the girls.  It was fun having some one on one time with them!  Our second concert also went well.  It was at our Stake Center, so nice and close, and it was PACKED - the chapel and the cultural hall were all full!  The concert went well too!  Eileen came again.

Poor Anna has been sick the last few days, she has been running a fever and coughing a lot.  I had planned on taking her to the concerts too, but she wasn't feeling up to it.  She has been napping most of the day and we took her and James (who had a slight fever) home after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday.  Anna had to stay home from school on Friday because of the fever and if she's not better tomorrow, I'm thinking of trying to get her in to the doctor's since it seems to be hanging on a long time.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving week!  My Dad made it in safely on Wednesday, I spent most of the evening cooking - Dan got off early to come home and play with us.  

Tuesday was Chorale rehearsal for me - we had solo auditions and I got a solo - despite being VERY NERVOUS during auditions - and I'm very excited since I will be singing it in the church building right next to my Grandpa's home and so he and some of my other family will be there! 

James found the white board and markers on Wednesday and spent nearly an hour concentrating on coloring his beautiful pictures - he was so focused and intent on his picture!!  He wouldn't even look at the camera! 

Evie gave Grandpa a concert and played all her favorite songs for him.  

Thursday morning, we took the day easy - we didn't have much cooking to do since dinner was going to be at Stuart and Rebecca's - so we spent the day enjoying the amazing weather.  We took the kids to the church parking lot to ride around on their bikes.  Aaron has finally gotten motivated to learn to ride a 2-wheeler and is getting pretty good now!  Now we just gotta teach him to brake with the brakes instead of his shoes....  Evie is getting pretty good too, though we had a near accident when she was heading for a snow bank and couldn't figure out how to steer or turn and so she let go and fell backwards - fortunately I was right there to catch her and she didn't even scratch herself.  

Anna had lots of fun making "Olaf" and made him a snow home and everything.   

Dan tried to ride off on Evie's balance bike....

All in all, we all enjoyed the GORGEOUS weather!  Then in the evening we headed over to a wonderful dinner with the family.  The food was delicious and we all had a wonderful time! 

The next day we spent some time in the morning running some errands and getting our Christmas Tree with Grandpa.  Then in the evening, we spent time decorating it.  The kids have so much fun looking at their ornaments and looking at my old ornaments.  

Saturday morning, Grandpa left to head back to Texas and we settled back into our normal day - mostly, we started the morning with a trip to the park since the weather was still just amazing - the kids had a ton of fun running around, riding bikes around and playing.  Then I took Eileen to flute lessons - her teacher says she is VERY happy with her progress and it usually takes students much longer to produce the nice sound she is producing!  We then spent the afternoon cleaning up before letting the kids finish watching "Free Birds"

Sunday was wonderful - I've been teaching Eileen's primary class lately and it's been so much fun - I love the Old Testament stories and I love showing the kids how they relate to the Book of Mormon, the New Testament and our lives today.  It's so neat to feel the spirit teaching the kids and to see understanding and to watch the excitement as they get it!

I also had the neat opportunity today to chat online with a friend of Dan and I's who is a member of our church and has faith but is struggling with some of the LDS culture.  It was really neat to talk to him and hopefully help him remember that faith in the gospel is the important part.

My craft room has been occupied by our wonderful family for the past month now, so when my mom and dad went home this weekend, I was a bit excited to get to use it again and spent some of James' nap time sewing and working on my niece's quilt and had some fun teaching Eileen and Anna to sew and letting them sew a bit using some of my old scraps of fabric.

Relief

After a crazy Monday full of grocery shopping, dentist visits and laundry, we got up early Tuesday to meet with Amber after we dropped the kids off at school.  Tina came to sit in on the meeting and help out.  We got things altered some so that we can start actually being parents to our kids again, instead of just helping others do it for us.  I reveled in the pleasure of it by taking James to my Allergy Shot with out Grandma having to tag along.  It's amazing what you take for granted, and what you miss when it's gone.  It's been nice to be able to take the older ones out for some one-on-one time too.  I've been able to go bike riding with Eileen, take James and Evie for walks around the block, and take Aaron to get a birthday present for a party he was invited to.

Having Grandma around has meant that I could put James down for a nap and still pick up the kids from school.  Choir was fun - always nice to get out and get time to sing, and I'm grateful to now have an assistant section leader to help out.

Last night, Dan and I took advantage of our in house baby sitter to go out to a movie with Newel and Becky.  We saw "Interstellar" and had a great time together.

My Grandpa is doing a Christmas Carol Sing at his Retirement Home and thought the kids might be able to do something this year.  I talked to their Piano teacher, Stephanie, about helping them get some music ready for it.  Today after church, Anna started playing Away in A Manger, and Eileen started playing the flute along with her!!   It was so fun to watch them make beautiful music together!

While they did that, Daddy and the younger three made beautiful cookies together.

Our ward choir performed today, and I think it went really well!  Bonnie is doing such a good job taking over and she is so willing to serve and to try and be what the Lord needs her to be!  I've been worrying about getting the Christmas Program ready and I think I'm finally starting to pull things together.  

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving - this month has just whizzed by.  But the kids only have 2 more days of school, my Dad gets into town on Wednesday and then Thanksgiving.  

Wishing and Hoping

These changes are starting to feel normal, and the craziness is starting to feel routine.  Our week has mostly been normal stuff.  Grandpa has been coming over in the afternoon to help with picking the kids up from school so that we could let James nap.  James is much more pleasant when he is allowed to nap when he needs to nap.  The funny thing is that I feel like we are a lot less busy right now.  In September and Fall, it seemed like James and I were always busy - allergy shots, babysitting, driving friends to doc appts, helping people in the ward, and visiting friends.  In comparison, this week seems rather slow....

Weather turned south on us this week.  Lots of snow (well - lots of snow for November in CO) and some really cold temperatures.  Eileen has been having fun measuring the amount of snow in our back yard.  She has been taking a reading every morning and recording it.  It made driving a bit dicey, but so far, we are all safe and sound! 

James still likes me to come in and read books to him before naps and bed time and sometimes, he doesn't want me to leave - and sometimes, that means that we doze off together, and sometimes that means that Dan feels the need to snap a pictures of our nap.....

Friday evening, Newell and Becky came over with their family to make Jam.  We ended up making about 13 1/2 gallons of jam with them.  Turns out we didn't really have to, but now, at least, we probably won't have to make jam for another 3 years, and we will have some yummy home-made gifts to give this Christmas..... (umm I mean - no - family members who read this.... we won't be doing that.....ummmm)

Today was wonderful - I've started getting ready for the Ward Christmas Program which is exciting!  We had some wonderful talks in Sacrament meeting, and I got to give a fun lesson in primary.  We started by talking about journals and how they help us remember things that have happened - then we talked about how the scriptures can serve the same purpose - to help us remember.  We talked about some cook Old Testament people and some cool Book of Mormon people and it was really neat to talk to the kids and teach them.  I love the Old Testament and I love teaching it to these 8-9 and 10 year old SMART kids!

Tonight we headed over to Frank and Tina's for Frankie's birthday.  The kids just love playing with cousins and it was fun to see and chat with family.

This week is going to be a bit busier, but at least I've got help.

Lately I've felt a bit redundant.  There's so much help that I feel a bit useless at times.  At least James still makes me feel necessary by demanding that I do everything with him.  I've felt like I haven't gotten to spend as much time with the older kids though because James wants my attention and the older kids are happy with Daddy, or Grandma or Aunt Tina or Great Grandpa or Uncle Frank.  Feeling like Supermom may leave me exhausted, but it also make me feel good about myself.  Or maybe being busy just leaves me with less time to dwell on the things that upset me.  Either way - I think I need to put myself to work...

Recovery

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Jones this week.  Ann and I got the kids clothes sorted and moved to the right drawers - We made sure everyone had clothes in the right sizes and none of the wrong sizes anymore, their drawers were neat and clean - we'll see how long that lasts!!  Dan and Gene took down the rest of the fence in the back yard.  We think we might have finally gotten rid of all our mouse house guests.  Tina came up Friday night to mind the gap between grandparents, then my Mom got in Friday evening.  The kids are getting spoiled rotten with all this attention and grandparent time!  Saturday was mostly spent cooking and running errands.  My mom came out intending to stay as long as we needed her - knowing that it might mean months.  So we are trying to make sure she is as comfortable as it is possible to be in someone else's home.  

Saturday night was the ward Chili Cook Off - Dan made Chili, I made dessert and corn bread.  Dan brushed up and his balloon animals and I practiced for my song with Crystal.  Then we went to the church building with my mom, Frankie and Logan and Frank and Tina for a yummy and fun night.  We all came home stuffed and tired!  

Church today was wonderful.  We had some great talks from our High Council speakers.  The first was about following the prophets council to get our food storage and finances in order.  I felt strongly during the talk that our ability to pay for a lawyer when we needed one was a blessing we received for trying to follow that council and faithfully paying our tithing.  Just one more (of the many things) we have had to be grateful for as we have gone through this ordeal.  

So here's Dan doing his balloon animals for all the kids (even some not-so-little kids) The kids just LOVE it!  (and I think Dan likes being the "cool dad")  

The kids were playing games waiting for the chili judging to be done - including "Duck Duck, Goose"  James only got the "Duck Duck" part - so he walked around the circle patting everyone on the head and saying "Duck" I finally came over and helped him with the next part :)

......

How do you attempt to place a title on a post like this.....  or on a week like this....

This week was fall break - it started out like a normal happy crazy week.  Monday we had a few extra kiddos playing around the house and hanging out with us.  The kids had a blast running around and playing together.  Then in the evening, Eileen's friend Morgan came over to spend the night.  The kids had a blast carving pumpkins together.

Tuesday started out normal enough.  Dan headed out to help out with a young women's activity, and the kids were in and out of the house playing in the yard.  In the afternoon, all the kids came inside and I asked where James was.  The kids didn't know, so we started looking around, then we started searching the house and back yard top to bottom.  Not finding him anywhere we started combing the neighborhood - then we began calling in neighbors and church friends to help comb the neighborhood.  Eventually I called the police and we learned that he had escaped on his tricycle and gotten a couple blocks away before being found by a neighbor and taken to the police department.  They put him in foster care for the night and Child Protection Services started calling and investigating.  They came over Wednesday afternoon and examined our house, talked to the kids, put a "Safety Plan" into action and finally got James home to us, safe and sound on Wednesday evening.

Now Dan and I are being investigated by CPS, charged with child neglect and we are not allowed to be with our children unless an approved "Safety Monitor" is present.  Currently that means Aunt Tina or Uncle Frank.  We are working and getting other family members approved so that they can have a break and get on with their normal lives.

Friday morning, we had a meeting with the CPS people again to try and nail down a bit better what is going on and how it's going to work.  We think it went as well as could be expected.  Grandma and Grandpa Jones came out Saturday morning to help out - with 5 adults and 5 kids in the house, it's a bit crazy here, but at least it's not a bad crazy.

Friday night was Halloween, we took the kids to the ward truck-or-treat.  The kids had a blast playing with friends and collecting more candy than any child should ever have..... multiply that by 5 and our home is now overflowing with junk.....

Saturday morning, while Dan was picking up Gene and Ann from the airport, I was at the temple for a wedding.  It was so nice to have a bit of peace amid all the heart break and pain and worry of the last week.  Best of all was the reminder that regardless of what happens here, we are an eternal family.  Saturday evening, we went to the wedding reception, then went home exhausted from a long day.

Church today was wonderful.  Fast and Testimony meeting was wonderful, the support and love offered by the ward was wonderful.  When CPS is telling you that you are an awful parent, it's kinda nice to have 30 people telling you that you aren't.  

Today is Eileen's birthday, poor girl has had a rough week leading up to her birthday, but she is an amazing girl.  I can hardly believe that I am the mother of a 10 year old - but she is the best oldest daughter anyone could wish for.  She is intelligent, sweet, loving, creative, talented, and beautiful.  I am so glad she joined our family 10 years ago and I love getting to watch her grow and become more amazing every day.

Booo!

It's been a crazy week - but life is always a bit more crazy with out Dan.  We had all the usual things - Choir, school, laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, piano, homework.  Eileen had a field trip to the the Denver Symphony which she LOVED.  Evie got to go to a farm and came home with lots of veggies. 

James has been a bit cranky with Daddy gone, but I did discover that when he's tired and not willing to admit it, he might be willing to curl up on the couch and snuggle up and snooze with mommy!  So James and I got in some good cuddle time!

Friday night I had a concert.  We got to sing at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in downtown Denver.  It's a beautiful old cathedral with beautiful stained glass and a wonderful sound!  We got to sing with an amazing group of bell ringers.  The concert went well and was a lot of fun.

Saturday, I told the kids that if they could get their stuff cleaned up by a certain time, I would take them to Boo at the Zoo.  So after Eileen's flute lessons, the kids got all dressed up and we went to the Denver Zoo for trick or treating and fun events and stuff.  The kids loved it (at least they said they did between all the whining about being thirsty and hungry...) 

After we met Dan at home - he having got home while we were out.  Then I left to go sing with our Stake Choir at our stake's new building dedication.  It was beautiful - I went feeling stressed out and sick, I left feeling wonderful!  

Saturday, I also had to take Eileen to the doctor, she woke up complaining about her ear hurting, so we took her in, found an ear infection, and then went to the zoo.  After the dedication, I went to try picking up her medication again (Dan had tried earlier, but our usual pharmacy had been closed due to an electrical fire) But it was still closed, so we had to go through a LOT of hassle to try and get the prescription sent to another pharmacy so we could get her medicine and get her feeling better.  

Today was a wonderful day at church - it was exciting to see a bunch of new faces!  After our ward had a little social which I left early to go to our final CMC concert.  The concert was again wonderful and because it was earlier in the day - we got to see the light coming in through the stained glass image of Christ as we sang!  I got home in time to play with the kids a bit and then put them to bed.  When I got home I asked the kids if they had saved any dinner for me.  Evie gives me her big brown puppy dog eyes and says "I'm sorry mommy!!!"  over and over - it was so cute I had to forgive them - plus Dan still made me a bite to eat to make up for it :)  

After we put the kids to bed, we had the missionaries over to teach a lesson to an investigator - she seems like a really great person - it was really neat to get to know her and it's ALWAYS great to get to sit in on these lessons and feel the spirit and bear my own testimony!  

Just Breathe

After the insanity of last week, we spent this week just chillin'  - and after doing so good at taking pictures last week, I didn't take any this week :)

We took Aaron in to the doctor first thing Monday morning and it turned out he had strep, so we got him on antibiotics and I was glad to have him back to school on Wednesday after the thread of infecting others was over because he was bouncing off walls.  We got Aaron back to normal only to find that James was running a fever, but oddly enough it made things easier - James wanted medicine every time Aaron got any - and since he had a fever, we felt justified in giving him some Tylenol for it :)  Plus one morning, after we sent the big kids off to school, James climbed into bed with me and we snuggled up and slept in.  James slept until almost 11, and not wanting to wake him, I mostly lazed in bed.  After 3 kids who wouldn't sit still with me for more than 30 seconds once they got mobile, it's kinda nice to have some cuddlers!  Some of my favorite parts of every day are are the times I get to snuggle up with some of my kiddos!  (as long as they don't start fighting over me...)

Eileen and Anna are in the school choir this year and they started practices this week.  They seem excited about it and I hope they enjoy it!

Friday, Dan headed off on another trip - this time to New Orleans.  :(  The kids keep seeing his car out front and saying "Daddy's home!"  Or hearing a noisy car nearby and going "Daddy's coming!"

This weekend was Stake Conference.  We sat with Deb and Marion and James parked himself with Marion and didn't even fuss when I went to sing with the stake choir (this is nothing short of miraculous - he's not even that good with Dan)  Weather was beautiful for our walk there and back and we had a wonderful afternoon and evening together.  Our Stake made some big changes - with some small ones affecting our ward, so it will be exciting next week to see some new faces!

Now I just need to survive this week.... I MISS YOU DAN!

Fun Times

Look at me - I took pictures this week - I even managed to get a picture of everyone in this post - don't know if that has ever happened before.... Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday was the usual busy-ness.  Allergy Shots, dentist appointments, piano, homework, school, doctors appointments, reading, playing, school, choir, etc.  Thursday night, the kids had a Skate City Night.  As usual they had a blast and didn't want to leave.  Evie and Anna both won a door prize of ice cream - they were very excited since mommy is too cheap to buy any.  Evie mostly spent her time clinging to walls, mommy, or any other thing she could get her hands on.  Aaron started out that way - but gradually got more confident.  

Friday, the kids were off school.  We had our friends Piper and Claire come play in the morning, then Addie came and played in the afternoon.  As soon as the kids got stuff cleaned up, we loaded up the cars and met up with Grandpa to go to a pumpkin patch.  We helped Grandpa get a BIG pumpkin and the kids had fun picking out little pumpkins.

The kids loved wandering around finding pumpkins and bugs and whatever else they could find - thankfully they stayed mostly out of the mud.

The pumpkin patch had an admission fee, but they offered LOTS of fun for the price.  The kids got to sit on a cow (Anna's has plastic vampire teeth from a booth in her mouth)

They had pony rides - which Eileen, who is always happy to get on a pony or horse, was ecstatic about and Even James loved it.

They had lots of bouncy house fun - the kids could have stayed there all night.  I practically had to drag James out.

Saturday I was helping throw a bridal shower for a friend.  We spent the morning cleaning, then I spent the afternoon cooking and getting stuff ready.  I think it came out really nice and I think we all had fun!

Today was nice, Dan gave a talk in church - James only let me hear the first half, but what I did hear was great!  After church I had choir and Stake Choir.  Other than that we spent the afternoon playing games with the kids and having fun with them.

Aaron is sick though, so tomorrow is going to begin a whole new adventure....

General Conference Weekend

 We've had another busy week.  Life is always a bit crazy when Dan is out of town - for starters, we miss him!  But also, he is such a good husband, and helps so much around the house that it is difficult for me to keep up with out him.  But in addition to all this - there is the tendency for other things to go wrong when ever he is out of town.  Monday, Anna and Aaron were both home from school sick.  Tuesday, it was Aaron and Evie.  All had been kept home with stomach bugs - the poor kiddos were throwing up :(  Thankfully they managed to get most of it into toilets, but I still felt bad for them.  I felt a bit sick to the stomach most of the week, but only threw up on Monday.  Thankfully my mom was still here to help out.  She left Wednesday morning, but by then most of the sickies were better.

James was tired enough after a couple long days to tell me to lay down on one chair in our front room while he curled up on the other and took a nap.

Friday, Dan got home - I went to get my allergy shot, took Heather to run an errand and got home just in time to have lunch with him!  He came home exhausted though, so I sent him to take a nap along with James while I got some groceries and the kids from school.

Yesterday, we discovered that Evie had gone around the house claiming it as her own.... in sharpie.  We found her name in sharpie in 5 different locations including 3 separate counter surfaces, the refrigerator, the table and Aaron's piano book. We had a little talk.....

Saturday General Conference was wonderful!!  It is always a much needed uplift - plus a weekend mostly off of other things is nice too.  I still took some time to mow the lawn between sessions, but mostly we relaxed!  In the evening we had some friends over for pizza and brownies during the priesthood session.  It was nice having a friend over to chat with - and it was nice sending the kids down to watch a movie and have some adult chat time!  :)

Eileen and Anna were very cute and built a LEGO conference center and temple and they they would go and arrange it every time something happened or changed - so they would move them to be walking out when it ended and have them sitting down during talks.

Then Anna decided a LEGO temple wasn't enough, so she also created a block one with some help from Evie.  

The weather has been gorgeous the last couple days, so after the final session, we spent some time in the back yard playing together and having fun!  Eileen and Anna have been learning how to throw a frisbee at school, so we pulled out the frisbees and had fun throwing to each other and then trying to get it through the hole on the tire swing.

Bye Bye Diaper Pail!

That's right - James seems to have gotten it - he wears his underwear to bed and naps even and does just fine - he is telling me when he needs to go potty and had been accident free all week!  He's even done well with going in public restrooms.  Dan and I are throwing out the stinky diaper pail!!!!  For the first time in almost 10 years, I don't have a kid in diapers.

What makes James' success with the potty even more remarkable is that he did it while managing to keep up with an incredibly busy schedule.

Monday was the usual allergy shot, laundry, groceries.  Plus Eileen had another Orthodontist appointment in the afternoon.  (By the way - I did lousy at taking pictures this week...sorry)

Tuesday, James and I went to help a Sister in our ward pack up her house to move.  Then in the evening I got to go visiting teaching!

Wednesday was late start, library, allergy shot and choir.  All the ladies at the clinic love James - as I was leaving one day - I said to one of them on the way out "Thank you much!" and James of course copied me - which was followed by a chorus of female "Awwwwww"s  He's generally so perky and happy when he's there - he's charmed them all!

Thursday morning, Dan left for Boston.  James and I went to help the same Sister with some more packing - then picked up the kids for piano lessons.

Friday, I dropped the kids off at school and then went to get my allergy shot for the day, then I headed out to the airport to pick up my Mom!  The kids were so excited to see her!  James even told us as we were walking around the grocery store "Mommy, I like Grandma!"  which made her day.

Saturday, Eileen had flute lessons and then Grandma took the kids to a movie - We all loaded up on popcorn and watched "How to Train Your Dragon 2"  The kids had a lot of fun, and mommy and Grandma didn't pull ALL their hair out.  Then in the evening, I took Eileen and Anna to the Women's General Broadcast.  It was wonderful!  We got to see friends and chat and the conference was just amazing!

Today, after church, I had Stake choir practice, which I had to leave early to go to the Chorale's performance at the Temple Worker's Devotional which was also wonderful!

Aaron wasn't feeling well today and stayed home from church with my mom and slept most of the time - he was running a fever, but hopefully he's on the mend now.  But Anna was throwing up tonight, so it's starting to look like I will have a couple kids home sick with me tomorrow....