Getting Back to Normal

 Monday morning, I took James to get his pictures done - while Grandma and Grandpa Jones took a quick nap (since they had already been working all morning)  They came out SO CUTE!  This is just one of them.  He was so cute and sweet during the pictures then after threw a grand-mal tantrum when I wouldn't carry him around the store to pick up a couple things.  Grandma and Grandpa Jones took off Monday evening to head back home for a quick rest before heading out to visit Stephen and Claire and their new baby!  We are so glad they were able to make it out - even if only for a couple days.

My cheese ball was so excited about taking pictures that he insisted on me taking more pictures... lighting isn't as good.... :P  

Tuesday we went to meet a friend who I will be helping take her daughter to therapy appointments.   The girls had choir after school and as usual it was a bit crazy.  

Wednesday was the usual fun - library, school, choir.  

Thursday we had Addie come over and play with us.  She and James get along really well, so it's fun to have her over.  She's a sweet, quiet girl just a few months younger than James and they play well together.  After Dan got home, we made hamburgers and guac for dinner and had Addie's parent join us before her mom (Ally) and I headed out to the Relief Society Activity.  It was a fun little getting to know you activity, and it was a lot of fun to get out and hang out with friends.  

Friday was our normal business.  The kids had a lot of fun enjoying some great weather.  Dan got home a bit early - but then left again to go give a blessing to a friend's baby who was sick.  

Saturday was flute lessons, cleaning house, watching the snow fall and working on this.  I've been working on this quilt for over 9 years - not consistently - I get a bunch done, then it sits and waits for me to move on to the next part - I think it spent at least 3 years waiting for me to get it quilted... and at least another year waiting for me to start working on the binding - but it's now 100% finished!  The Sunbonnet Sue squares were found in my Grandma's basement after she passed away - we're not really sure who started them - but we think it might have been my Grandmother's grandmother.  So to me its' a bit of family history - now we gotta find a place to hang it... 

Today went well - Heather sat with us and helped out with the kids so  Sacrament wasn't too bad.  There are lots of wonderful people willing to help out the families of our bishopbric members - all of whom are 40 and under and all of whom have young kids.  It's really a great ward to be in!  Fast and Testimony meeting was wonderful - Anna fasted through breakfast with us - but I don't think I did a good job explaining why or what exactly we were doing - so I think she was less than excited about being hungry...

And More Visitors.

This has been a fun and eventful week. I had an extra kiddo around the house on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  She and James had a lot of fun playing together.  The kids were all obsessed with play-doh this week and had fun making big messes all over the kitchen with it.  Hopefully they have gotten it out of their system for a bit now.  

Tuesday was just normal, around the house crazyness - followed by a phone call that threw us into even more crazyness.  We were asked to come meet with the Stake President that evening.  So we made and ate  dinner, then headed over to the church so Dan could get a new calling.  

Wednesday we went to the library and the kids had a lot of fun as usual.  They have lots of fun noise makers that they let the kids use during story time - James LOVED it.  In the evening I had choir - but attendance was a bit sparse with all the snow we had gotten earlier that day.  

Thursday morning James and I met up with some friends at the Museum of Nature and Science.  James loved it there - it was fun being able to go with friends and it was SO EASY with only 1 kid to look out for!  James and I stayed until we had to leave to get the other kids from school.  Then of course piano lessons in the afternoon.  

Friday was James' birthday.  I can't believe my little boy is already 3 years old - he is so fun and full of energy and personality!  Grandpa came and took him out for ice cream after lunch which he LOVED (and then tried to con grandpa into taking him out again)  We decided to save the rest of his celebration for Saturday night when Grandma and Grandpa Jones would be here.  

Saturday was NUTS.  Eileen had flute lessons as usual,  Anna had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon, Dwayne and Nicole came over to hangout and make food with us.  (We made the final batches of jam, and re-stocked our freezer with burritos and taquitos.  Then Gene and Ann arrived in time for dinner.  After dinner, James got to open his presents followed by his green cupcakes.  As usual Great Grandpa hit a home run with a sand box.  Grandma Penny send some handsome outfits, Grandma and Grandpa Jones made a card-table-house (another home run), and mommy and daddy made him an angry birds blanket and his own little doll (finally)  

 Sunday, was a big day for us.  Eileen and I headed over to church early for choir.  Her debut performance with the ward choir was today.  She accompanied the ward choir on her flute.  She did such a great job - especially for having only been playing the flute for 4 months - but she worked really hard, and it paid off.  I also got a new calling (in addition to ward music chair person) as the ward Young Women Camp Director!  I'm so excited to get to be part of girls camp - our young women are awesome and I love girls camp!!  Dan also got a new calling this week - he was called to be the second counselor in the bishopbric.  Which also means that he was ordained as a High Priest.  Gene and Ann came out so that Dan could be ordained by his father.  This new calling is going to mean a lot of crazyness - a busy daddy, and maybe some stressful Sacrament Meetings, but Dan is going to be serving with an awesome group of guys and I trust that the Lord with help me survive it!  :)  I do have to say that I feel a bit old now though....  :)

We had a fun afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa, playing games and the kids had fun playing with (in) James' new presents.

Visitors!

Monday we had the pleasure of having Sandi and Jon and Taz and Kai come to visit us for a few days.  James and I picked them up from the airport and headed home for lunch and laundry and to get them settled in.  They came to talk to Dan about a programming project that they want to put in motion - to flesh out the ideas and get an idea of time frames and all that fun stuff.  But we got to enjoy playing and hanging out with them for a few days because of it - so YEY!  

We used our museum pass to head to the museum for a day of fun - we packed lunches and everything.... after we had been there for half an hour, the whole museum lost power.  They herded us in to sunlight areas of the museum to await the solution to the problem.  The solution ended up being that they shut down and evacuated the building.  We walked around outside and decided we could brave the zoo - so we headed over there and the kids had a blast!  

We went to the tropical discovery area (because it's a large indoor area and Kai had no coat) and the kids loved all the fish and frogs.  The kids had fun sneaking up on a peacock and managed to not scare it too badly.  The day was nice - a little chilly to be outside for a long time, but there were enough indoor areas to make it still a nice place to be.  We headed up to get the rest of the kids from school, then spent the afternoon playing.  

The kids all had a blast at home together too - but especially James and Taz.  They are at the age and both big enough, and close enough in age that they got along great.  They had a blast together!!  I'm so glad my kids have cousins that they can play with.  Sandi and I didn't ever have cousins our age as kids - I'm so glad my kids do!  Dan took Wednesday off to work on the program and work with Jon.  They started the morning off nicely by going to a gourmet donuts shop and getting us all breakfast.  Sandi and I tried to take the kids to the library for story time and get them out from under Jon and Dan's feet.  They had a great time - our library is good for little kids.  

Here's a massive doggie pile - I think Dan is under there somewhere.....  

I just loved this picture of James and Kai in a little plastic tub, playing together.

Sandi and Jon had to head back home on Thursday afternoon.  We're glad they came and hope to be able to have them out here again soon!

Thursday night, Anna had her class music concert.  She sang beautifully!  Sorry for the bad picture - I forgot my camera... this was a phone picture.

Saturday was busy - Eileen had flute lessons, I had a baby shower, Aaron was getting his 7 year old pictures taken, and around all of that, I did a purge on the girls room.  We cleaned off everything - the floor, the desks, the dressers, the beds (kinda) and sorted through it - threw away 3 big bags of garbage and now mommy is happy with an organized and neat room!  After all that hard work - we had a pizza party!  We had pizza and watched "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" I loved that movie as a kid and wanted to watch it with my kids.  They LOVED it.  I don't know that I have ever heard them laugh so hard at a movie!

Church today was wonderful!  We had a couple of just amazing talks today.  We had some cranky kids, but somehow I still managed to hear and be uplifted by the talks.  After church, we had choir practice and Eileen tried out the flute part with the choir.  She is working so hard on it - I hope we can have it ready by next week.  I also got another calling today - I'll talk about it more next week when I'm actually called - but I'm so excited about this that I've been grinning ear to ear about it all day - it's something I've been wanting to do as long as we've been in family wards!!!

Why Must They Keep Growing Up?

After all the snow we have gotten recently, the kids were very excited when they found Monday after school, that the snow was now wet and soft enough for a snow man.  They had a blast building this guy and dressing him (and fighting over which sticks should be his arms) But just like the popular snow man (tall, tall, tall) the next day he had melted (small, small, small) along with most of the other snow in the yard.  Since that fateful day, our back yard has been filled with more mud than snow....  

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, all passed normally enough.  Homework, piano, reading, playing, reading (yes I know it's in there twice - we did a lot of that)  Anna has become obsessed with the Ramona Quimby books and throws a fit anytime I try and make her do anything else.  Eileen has to be reminded to finish up other things before she can use her kindle.  James has officially entered the stage where he wants to have one book read to him over and over and over again.  It doesn't really matter which book, as soon as I finish reading a book to him - he promptly goes back to the beginning and asks me to read it again . 

Saturday was Aaron's 7th birthday.  He was so funny!  He spent the whole day telling us that it was his birthday (about once every 10 seconds)  He had a school friend over to play for a while and got his Chocolate Cake with ice cream and some fun presents.  I left the one I'd been making for him at church though - so that one is going to be a few days late (thankfully we found it today, but it's not quite done yet)  

And here's my birthday boy, all excited for his yummy cake made by daddy!

Church today was wonderful - we had some General Authorities in our ward with some awesome talks.  The sister missionaries did a gorgeous musical number and the lessons in primary were wonderful and uplifting.  I'm always amazed at how uplifting and enlightening primary lessons can be - even for a 35 year old woman raised in the church.

The nice thing about morning church is that we have the rest of the day to spend together, enjoying family time.  We nap, play games and have fun together - its such a nice way to spend the rest of the day.  Eileen is learning the flute part for a number that the ward choir is working on - she is getting really excited about it - we are going to work this week together so she can play the flute part while I play the piano part.

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.