Home Sweet Home

We started home bright and early Monday morning, we made pretty good time and got home around 11 PM.  The kids were great as usual and we had a nice drive back.

We spent most of Tuesday recovering and unpacking and cleaning out the car.

Wednesday after Eileen got home from school, we packed lunches and headed to the water park.  The kids had fun - but they spent more time on the play ground than at the splash park part.  There was a large summer camp group, so the kids had plenty of kids to play with and they all had a great time.

Wednesday evening, we headed to the church building for activities.  The girls had Activity Days, Aaron had cub scouts, I had Young Women's and Dan had Young Men's and Evie and James ran around and had fun.  The kids and I rode bikes and then rode home again.  

Thursday we went for Piano lessons after Eileen was done with school and we had eaten lunch.  This will be the last lessons until August - travel schedules and vacation schedules aren't lining up.  

Friday, I picked up Eileen and Mallory from school so Mallory could babysit while Dan and I went to the temple.  We had a really nice time - though I'm still recovering from this silly cold and still a bit under the weather.  Then in the evening, we let Eileen babysit so Dan and I could go play D&D with Becca, Jeremiah and their friend Chris.  It was fun, but we got home late and poor Eileen was really tired... :(  

Saturday was crazy,  Dan left early to go hiking at Garden of the Gods with the Young Men and I got busy prepping for the baby shower.  Becca and Natasha came early to help set up and Eileen and Anna were big helps too.  The baby shower went well - we did the whole "decorating onesies" thing and it seemed to go really well and was a big hit.  They came out really cute and Eileen and Anna each did one too.  

After, I was so tired, that once Dan got home, I took a long nap.... And was still ready to call it a night pretty early.  

Today was great!  Church was wonderful, I got to substitute on the piano in primary during 3rd hour, which I love doing!  After was ward choir and then camp stuff.  Tomorrow is going to be long and exhausting!

Burnt Texas Toast

We kept ourselves pretty busy this week!  We went with Sandi and the cousins to the Dallas Zoo.   The kids had a blast riding the merry-go-round, 

Climbing and playing on every available surface, 

Feeding the birds - and holding them - and having them land on Aaron's head, 

And of course, playing in the water, seeing the animals, petting the goats and whining about the heat (well maybe not that last one...)

We had our friends the Tolberts come over to play and we walked over to the turtle pond to feed the turtles.  It was so good to see them again!  They were out of town last year and we weren't able to get to see them.  Weather wasn't really good for swimming, but it was perfect for a walk and chatting!

Wednesday night, we finally got to pick up Anna and Grandpa from the Airport.  Eileen came with me and practically jumped on Anna - it's so cute to see that she missed her sister!  Anna is still recovering from Jet Lag - she's been exhausted most nights and getting up early.

Thursday was our only real day for going to the lake.  Weekends are too busy and crazy and awful - so even though Anna was a bit tired and cranky, we headed out to the lake around 10 and stayed until 5 PM.  By the end of 7 hours in the sun - despite numerous applications of sunscreen, we were all burnt.  I got to do some wake boarding, the kids had a blast in the tube and Anna and Aaron even tried wake boarding.  Anna was able to get up and get going, but struggled with balance once she got there, Aaron was almost able to get up - but everyone else was exhausted and we didn't really have the time to give him a full lesson - we tried some more the next day in the pool.  After we got home from the lake, the kids all promptly jumped in the pool again....

Friday, the Tiltons came over to swim and play. We all had a blast (except for the sunburns - though that didn't stop them from wanting to get in the pool.  It was great to get to see and hang out with them again!  I don't miss the Texas heat, but I do miss out friends.  It's fun to watch friendships pick right up where they left off - I just wish we didn't have to leave off...  Evie has finally been wanting to take swim lessons from Grandpa and has made huge leaps forward in her swimming this year!  It was so exciting to watch her finally really start to get comfortable in the water!  

Saturday was nice and crazy busy.  The kids did some swimming and swim lessons in the morning, I did some errands to get ready for the trip home, and then we met up at a nail place to get pedicures.  The girls were really looking forward to this and had a blast (at least until they found that they had to wait for the adults to finish... :)  They still did a good job and had fun.  Kai was deemed old enough to come this year and she LOVED it - she was so cute sitting there pampered and adorable!  

After, Evie went with Sandi to have a sleep over along with James and Aaron and Sandi's kids, while Grandma, Grandpa, Eileen, Anna and I went to Medieval Times.  The girls really seemed to love it.  Eileen's favorite part was probably the Falconer - but she didn't remember to bring her glasses to Texas, so she borrowed mine and I wore my sunglasses.  It was a lot of fun though!  We all had a great time cheering - though Eileen and Anna both got scared during some of the fighting scenes.  

Sunday we went to my Dad's ward which was at 1PM - so before church, we had a bit brunch and a little birthday party for Kai and Anna/Father's Day for Grandpa.  Anna got a scooter and Kai got a cabbage patch doll with accessories.  We all had fun eating yummy cupcakes right after filling up on waffles, eggs, potatoes, and bacon... :)  Church was wonderful, though James didn't want to go to Primary.  The girls went up to sing with the primary and sang beautifully.  Then the kids went to primary, and James came with me, he actually did pretty good at being reverent and snuggly, though by the end he was getting a little more rambunctious and flirty with the ladies in Relief Society.  The lessons were wonderful and the kids made cute little things for Daddy.  We had fun, but I can't wait to get back home to Dan.  

Texas Toast

Monday we packed a lunch and headed to Dinosaur Ridge.  Most of the kids were complaining about the heat before long, so Claire took the kids and headed for the visitor's center and Elise and I did the whole walk.  I've wanted to do the whole thing for a while and was eager for the excuse.  We all had a good time and headed home tired, but happy.  After dinner, we had an evening of packing and playing games and then Evie said she was hurting, and it seemed bad enough that Dan took her in to the ER who ended up having to check for everything from kidney stones to appendicitis, only to find that it was nothing and sent them home around 3 AM.  

Tuesday morning, bright and early, we packed up the car, loaded up the kids and headed for Texas.  The trip was long, but the kids were good and Koopa did a great job travelling.  We arrived around 1 AM then unpacked the necessities and went to bed.  

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were mostly spent in the pool. Some of Saturday was also spent in the pool.  Sandi came over with Taz and Kai to play in the pool with us.  The kids have been having so much fun.  We've been lathering up with sunscreen, but we are still growing more tan every day.  

Today we went to our old Frisco ward for church.  It's always so fun seeing old friends.  It was nice getting to go to Gospel Doctrine this week - I love getting to study and learn about the scriptures - as awesome as teaching youth Sunday school class, it was a nice little break.  We spent the afternoon playing games and having fun together.

Summer!

The beginning of this week was mostly not too crazy.  We've gotten enough rain that I had to mow the lawn twice this week.  Monday was the usual laundry and grocery shopping, The kids played at home and we took it pretty easy.  In the evening, I took Eileen with me to go pick out stuff for the car trip at the dollar store.  She had fun helping to pick stuff and then filling the car carriers.  Evie spent the rest of the week telling me how she couldn't wait to go to to Texas, and James kept telling me that he wanted his "surprise"

Tuesday was the usual summer crazies.  The kids practicing piano, playing outside and having fun together.  Dan and I also spent some time getting stuff ready for the Youth Activity.

Wednesday Eileen started Summer Math class.  It's really strange not having her around during the mornings - and I just think it's awesome that she is choosing to do this. After, we got the house cleaned up and kids got their piano practicing done and such.  In the evening, we had the Youth Activity at our house, we played games, practiced building fires and built a real fire to roast marshmallows and made s'mores.  I think the activity went well.

Thursday was piano lessons,  we headed over after Eileen's math class, then after lessons, we hung out and played so Rose and Evie could have a play date together.  They still weren't happy because all the other kids were there too, but oh well - you can't have everything.  :)  The kids had a ton of fun playing together, then we headed home for dinner and fun, then I headed out for institute.  Class went really well - I was teaching for Sarah and got to talk about some really awesome parts of the OT.

Friday morning after Eileen's class, we headed to the used book sale.  We all had fun combing the stacks and finding treasures.  Now we just need to figure out where we will put another book shelf...

Saturday was mostly spent doing house work and getting things ready for our trip to Texas.  We did laundry, packed up the kids clothes and cleaned out the car.

Sunday we had a great day at church, then after church, Claire and the kids arrived from Wyoming to spend a day with us.  We had fun eating dinner and playing games and hanging out together.  I had fun getting my hair done :)

School's End

It's been an insanely busy week.  We started out Monday still needing to recover from last weekend, and of course doing laundry, grocery shopping and school and piano practicing and such for the kids.  In the evening for Family Home Evening, we went to a park and took some ice and went ice blocking.  The kids mostly had a great time.  We spent some time after the ice broke into pieces that were too small to use any more, playing on the nearby play ground, and they had a great time, but when it was time to go home, James was not happy and when Evie realized that our friends the Crockett's weren't meeting us there after all, she bawled the whole way home.  

Tuesday was another rather busy day.  James had preschool, I had stuff to get done around the house, the kids had school, after school was piano practicing and then we had the Elders over for dinner, and after that the Crockett kids came over to play while Dan went over to their house to help them load up the truck for their move.  The kids all had a ton of fun playing together outside and were so sad to have to separate at the end of the evening.  I made pudding for them and they had a blast. They loved playing with the chickens, so Eileen took a bunch of pictures with the kids with the chickens on their heads and shoulders and other silly places (I'm just glad that none of them got pooped on!)

Wednesday was field day for the big kids.  They were all so excited - they love field day.  I'm glad we had something fun planned for James or he would have been very upset when i told him he couldn't go on the big inflatable water slide that was visible when I dropped the kids off at school.  After dropping them off, we picked up Tayanna and Nicole and headed to the zoo.  We all had a great time, we even got to see some baby goslings and had a lot of fun seeing things that we don't always get to see when the older kids are here.  In the evening, Dan had a service project with the young men and Aaron had cub scouts and Eileen and Anna had Activity Days.  We let the kids ride their bikes to the church and home after since it is still light out at night when they are coming home.  It was a good thing too since Evie and James were really tired and cranky and Dan didn't get home until after 9.  

Thursday we had James' end of preschool party.  The kids had a ton of fun playing, the adults had fun chatting and we all enjoyed yummy food.  After, we cleaned up a bit, but didn't worry about it too much - James and I were both tired, so we snuggled up together and took a little nap.  When we got up to get the kids from school, it was pouring and hailing (and I'd left the picnic blanket and chairs outside getting wet....)  

Here's James' preschool class!

We got the kids from school - the hail had mostly stopped, but it was still pouring, so no after school party and no pictures with teachers (who were all inside - kids were being shuttled out to cars by school employees with umbrellas.) So here they all on their last day of school, with out their teachers with the (once again) crazy Colorado May weather on the last day of school.

Friday was long and stressful.  The kids had to get some things done before we could go have fun - but instead of doing them and then going, they spent the whole morning fighting over stuff and arguing with me, despite that, they managed to pull it together enough to still be able to go to the museum for a couple hours.  Then we headed home and dropped the kids off with their babysitter so Dan and I could go to the temple.  Dan and I had a wonderful time, and the kids did too.  Apparently James flirted with all the girls there...

Saturday included cleaning the house, running a ton of errands, getting Anna packed and ready for Scotland, picking my dad up from the air port, Eileen's flute lessons, cleaning the kids rooms, doing laundry for Anna and having fun with Grandpa.

Sunday, we walked to church and had a wonderful sacrament meeting - it's nice that the kids are finally getting old enough to mostly be reverent during the sacrament and that we can usually listen to most of the talks now.  :)  After church, we walked home, had a quick late lunch/early dinner with Grandpa and Anna before taking them to the airport.  Their flight was delayed so they got in to Texas late - but Anna will have tomorrow to recover before the long flight to Scotland.  She is so excited about her trip!  (Grandpa might be a bit excited too)

After dropping them off, Eileen said she would miss Anna - and I know I will too.  We played some games and played outside, then put the littles to bed and Eileen and Dan and I stayed up playing games together.  This is such a fun age with Eileen, and it's so fun to have this one on one time with her.

The Penultimate Week of School

I can't believe that the school year is almost over.  The kids have been busy with all the end of year fun and James and I have just been busy with our normal stuff.  

Monday was the usual, we had a fun family home evening lesson and a got the usual shopping and laundry done, and Payton came and played as usual.  I took Eileen out with me for a quick trip to Goodwill and Walmart to get her some new pants and PJ's - all her's are getting too short.  It's crazy how big she is getting so fast - she is starting to look more like a young woman and less like a girl.  

Tuesday, James had preschool during the day and then we had Payton over after.  While James was at preschool, I picked up a food order for a friend from the Bishop's Storehouse.  It was a neat experience to see how it's done and I was so grateful that she let me help her in this little way.  After school, Anna had her dentist check up, Evie was being beastly, so I let Eileen stay at the house and get her piano and flute done instead of having to come along and listening to Evie's tanturm.  

Wednesday was late start for the kids school, after dropping them off, I picked up Nicole and Tayanna and we headed for the Museum.  Nicole agrees with my philosophy of not telling the kids where we are going until we get there so they don't throw a tantrum, so she had only told Tayanna that they were going on an adventure, so Tayanna decided that McDonalds would be a good adventure, but was understanding when we told her today was a different adventure, and she could go to McD's another time. The kids both had a blast at the Museum.  James loves that place - no matter how many times we go.  After school, Eileen had her dentist appointment, and then in the evening, Dan and Aaron headed to the church for their stuff.  

Thursday was Dan's birthday.  He took the morning off, but James had preschool, I had some errands to run and he was getting some work done around the house, so I didn't get to see much more of him than usual.  After preschool, we picked up Payton and had lunch at the park.  Dan joined us and we met up with our friends the Reese's.  The boys all had so much fun playing together, and they did not want to leave.  After school was piano lessons, I made Dan's cake and after, Dwayne and Nicole came over bringing Dan's birthday dinner - Dwayne's YUMMY chicken curry.  The kids first was reaction was that it looked gross - but then they tasted it and realized how good it was!  

Thursday and Friday were immersion for the kids at school.  Friday, I went in with James to help out for Anna and Aaron's Hogwarts End of Year Feast.  The parents really outdid them selves and we all had a lot of fun.  Then I got to watch them play "Quidditch" which was really fun to watch, then we got to see the house cup awarded to Anna and Aaron's Slytherin house.  They all had a blast!  After school

Friday, evening, the boys headed up to the Father/Son camp out.  They had a great time getting wet and playing around - so much so that Aaron got to stay up way past his bed time!  Then Saturday morning, they headed home.  The girls and I had some favorite food, cleaned up a bit then watched movies until bedtime.  Eileen got her house up and watched Star Trek then I hustled her and Anna (who wasn't asleep yet) to bed.

Saturday started out with getting up around 8 so we could get Eileen to her flute lesson - this was apparently too much for Anna to handle because she spent the better part of the day thinking that I was the worst mommy in the whole world.  Then she managed to get a little nap in and felt better.  I let Eileen watch the girls while I went to my camp meeting and then after that we had lunch and started getting everything ready for Dan's surprise party.  The party went great - we had a great turn out and the food was great.  The kids had lots of fun playing with their friends.  Then Dan and I did a minimalist clean up after getting the kids to bed - we both were tired with sore feet, and headed to bed.

Sunday morning came a bit too soon, but it was still a wonderful day.  Church was awesome.  The talks were wonderful - my lesson would have been a lot better if I hadn't been so scatter brained as to leave half of my lesson at home...  Oh well - maybe we will start next week out with that... Relief Society was great and after church, choir was wonderful.  Weather has been amazing, so we walked to and from church.  Then Dan gave the kids motor cycle rides and we had dinner and sent the kids to bed - they (especially James) were tired and cranky and needed sleep and getting back to a routine.  Oh wait - school is ending and it's time to throw routines out the window... oh well!

Busy at Home

This has been an insanely busy week!  Dan had Monday and Tuesday off, and he spent them building our new chicken coop for the chickens who are big enough and well and ready to be in more spacious living quarters.  He got most of it done Monday and Tuesday, then finished it up on Saturday and in the evenings.  The chickens are now happily settled in.

Monday was the usual laundry, babysitting Payton, grocery shopping, school for the kids and practicing and homework and such after school.  We had a fun little family home evening together and had s'mores around the campfire.

Tuesday was Preschool here - James loves his preschool friends and we all had a fun time learning and playing.  Then after, Payton was over again in the afternoon, finally an afternoon of homework, piano practicing, and helping daddy outside.

Wednesday was late start for the school kids, then James and I picked up Tayanna and Nicole and headed to the library.  After a fun morning where James played on the computer at the library the whole time we were there.... we headed home for lunch.  In the evening, I had a girls camp activity, Dan had Young Men's Eileen and Anna had Activity Days, Aaron had cub scounts and James and Evie came and played pretend victims while I taught girls camp first aid certification stuff.  They both had fun showing off and being center of attention.  :)  James of course loved flirting with the girls...

Thursday was another fun day of preschool and Payton coming over to play.  We made a quick trip to give our friends daughter a quick ride to a dentist appointment then dropped her off with time to go pick up the kids from school.  The kids had piano lessons, I mowed the lawn and then after getting the kids to bed Dan got me some weed and feed which I put on the lawn to hopefully get rid of the dandelions.

Friday we had Adeline over to play and we went to get my allergy shot, then went home for lunch and play until we picked the kids up from school.  The afternoon was the usual homework and piano practicing, then we did a quick dinner of hot dogs around the campfire.  Dan went to go play D&D with friends and i made cupcakes for the kids while they cleaned up and watched a movie.

Saturday was full of yard work.  Finishing the chicken coop - Tina came and picked up her chickens and so we are now down to our own 6 chickens.  And we planted a peach tree in our yard.  After a long day, we had dinner and headed to bed.

Today was church which was awesome as usual - we have a really great ward.  Ward choir was great - after, we played games and played outside and rested.

I was awful about taking pictures this week.... I will do better next week... probably....

Half a World Away

We had a crazy busy week.  Getting ready for Dan to be gone takes some prep work!  Monday was laundry and grocery shopping as usual.  Eileen and Anna had needle arts club after school and Payton came to play with us.  James and I also made a Costco trip after taking Payton to preschool in the morning.  

Tuesday James and I had his preschool field trip in the morning, then in the afternoon, we went to the park with some friends.  Eileen and Anna had choir after school - they are getting excited for their big concert next week!  

Wednesday the kids had late start, then James and I went to the Teddy Bear Picnic special story time at the library - it was a little chilly - but not too bad and James had a blast.  After school Eileen and Anna had orthodontist appointments.  Anna got her retainer and is slowly getting used to how it feels and talking with it.  They mostly just looked at Eileen's mouth and said "yep - your teeth got pulled - now we gotta wait and see if your other teeth move into place."which was kinda what we expected.  In the evening, Eileen and Anna had Activity Days, Aaron had Cub Scouts, Dan had Young Men's and I had choir.  

Thursday was again, crazy busy.  Preschool for James, then picking up Payton, then piano lessons, then Evie had her 1st grade music night, followed by getting the basement cleaned up and the kids to bed before I headed to Institute.  

Friday morning, really really early, Dan headed out of town to Korea.  I went and got my allergy shot, then after lunch, James and I headed to the school for Eileen's "Author's Tea" where we got to eat cookies and drink water - and best of all, we got to see Eileen's awesome book that she wrote and got published through her class.  We had lots of fun, then headed home after to wait for Grandma to arrive.  My mom drove up from Texas to help out while Dan is gone, she had hoped to be on time for Eileen's thing, but she hit some really bad weather on the way up.  It snowed Friday, Saturday and some of today.  It barely stuck at all up here, but it was falling constantly.  

Saturday mornng, Eileen had flute lessons, and we spent some time getting the house cleaned up and nice.  My mom brought their new puppy up with her and the kids have been loving having another puppy around - and Koopa had been loving having him around too.  They play together all day and then get exhausted and collapse to rest before the next bout of play.  Evie and James were having fun being silly - so they wanted pictures taken.  My silly kiddos!  

Church today was awesome!  Fast and Testimony meeting was wonderful.  Sunday school was great - I hope the students got as much out of my lesson as I did.  And Relief Society was wonderful too!  After, was choir which was great and then when Eileen and I got home from choir, Grandma and the younger kids already had dinner started for us!  We spent the afternoon resting and playing and then cleaning.  We got to talk to Dan for a bit and he showed us a bit about where he is (we Face Timed) and it was fun to talk to him and see the diversity that is Korea!
Now I'm kinda ready for the next week...

Fun with Friends

 We've had a fun, but really busy week - though it's starting to seem like they are all busy...  Monday was the usual.  James and Payton playing together, laundry, school, piano practicing, grocery shopping.  We had the Sister missionaries over for dinner and had a fun family home evening lesson with them about giving your fears and shortcomings over to God and letting him help carry them.

Tuesday, James had preschool.  He got ready and picked two stuffed animals for show-and-tell and then he shoved the stuffed animals in his shirt and said "Look at me mommy - I have BIIIIG BIBS"  (no that's not a typo)  He was so cute and so funny!   He loves preschool!  After, we picked up Payton and then played until we went to get the kids from school.

Wednesday, Dan took Aaron in for his orthodontist appointment - Anna's had to be moved because the appliance hadn't arrived yet.  After dropping the older kids off at school, James and I went home - Tayanna and Nicole couldn't go to the library today and James was not in a great mood.  So he and I just hung out and read stories and took it easy.  After school was the usual and then I had choir, Aaron had cub scouts and Dan had Young Men's in the evening.

Thursday was another fun day of preschool for James.  After, I met with Christina for a bit to talk about some Choir stuff, then I had to rush over to pick up Payton.  After lunch, we had a bit of an adventure involving kid poop in the yard, but I was washed away with a hose with out too much trouble and all was mostly well.  :)   The kids had piano lessons after school and Eileen had an appointment to get her teeth pulled.  She was not happy, but Dan helped her feel better by getting her a new watch and a milk shake after.  She got home just in time for piano lessons.  In the evening, I went to Becca's Gender Reveal Party.  Becky and Natasha were there too which was fun and I got to meet Natasha's sister, just back from a mission in France.  Becca is having a GIRL!!!  And now I'm happily planning girl baby blanket and accessories.  :)  After, I stopped by Becca's house for a bit and said hi to Jeremiah, then headed home.

Friday was school as usual for the kids,  We watched Adeline and I went for my allergy shot, then the kids came home and the insanity ensued.  After doing their post-school stuff, they had to get stuff cleaned up for the pizza party.  Then we made pizza while Dan went with Nate to help out a lady in our ward.  After, Nate and Ally joined us for dinner and the kids ate pizza and watched "Jem and the Holograms"  It was awesome!  :)  Morgan came over in the evening, Her family is going to be moving soon and we are trying to get them some time to hangout together before she moves.

Saturday, Eileen had flute lessons in the morning, then I took her straight to the mall where we met up with the rest of our family and Morgan for Eileen and Anna's concert.  They both sang, and Anna did a trumpet solo with one of the pieces - and she did awesome!!  She was nervous, but she worked hard and she did amazing!  After, we let the younger kids play in the play area for a bit, and I took the older kids and we walked around for a bit - only to find ourselves in Claire's where I got suckered into getting the girls "Best Friend" necklaces along with some other fun little stuff for the kids since they were buy 3 get 3 free.

We have video of this, but it was too long for me to embed - I will have to figure out something else. 

After that, we all met up at Cold Stone for ice cream.  And a dance show by Evie and James....  

The kids all spent most of the rest of the afternoon playing outside with the chicks and helping Dan out with yard work.  Dan put in a lot of hard work taking out a stump, chopping up wood, helping a sweet older neighbor lady with her fence and building us a fire pit.  He had some help from a young man in the ward (and his dad) but he was tired by the end of the day!  I took Anna out shopping for some stuff for the weekend, then to trumpet lessons.  

After dinner, we built a fire in our new fire pit and roasted marshmallows and had s'mores

Sunday was great!  Sacrament meeting was wonderful with wonderful talks, I think my Sunday School lesson went well, and the Relief Society lesson was wonderful.  After was choir, then we went home for dinner and playing outside.  Morgan's mom picked her up and

Adventure Time

This week was an adventure.  Dan got a new bike on Saturday, but I didn't get a picture taken of him on his new bike until Monday - so here it is.  :)  Monday was a bit crazy for us.  The van wouldn't start in the morning, we tried charging the battery and it worked in time to drop Payton off at Preschool and it worked to pick him up, but when I went out to try to go get the kids from school, it wouldn't start.  I called Dan a bit desperate and he came and picked up the kids from school, and Payton's mom came to pick him up after.  We had the missionaries over for dinner that night, we had hamburgers and guacamole and salad.  

Well after that battery trouble, Dan took the car in the next day to get a new battery.  James had preschool in the morning, and then Payton came over to play in the afternoon before we picked up the kids from school.  Eileen and Anna had choir, then in the evening, Anna had her trumpet lessons.

Wednesday morning, Anna and Aaron had an orthodontist visit - Aaron was getting spacers and Anna was getting fitted for a retainer.  She won't actually have to wear braces at all, and Aaron will hopefully get away with only wearing them for a little while.  They were still able to make it in time to school since it was a late start day.  I dropped off Evie and Eileen and then James and I picked up Tayanna and Nicole and headed to the library.  James actually participated some this time and was really sweet about sharing and helping out.  He had a lot of fun after in the kids room playing around and singing for me while I took a video.  After was the usual get kids from school, do piano practicing and homework and such.  The evening was, as usual, packed with Scouts, Cub Scouts, Activity Days, and Choir.

Thursday, James had preschool again and as always had a blast!!  After, we stopped by the park for a little bit before we had to go pick up Payton.  The boys always have so much fun together!  After school was piano lessons and in the evening, I had institute.  I've really been enjoying Institute and taking some extra time in the week to study the scriptures.  I've also been enjoying getting to know our teacher - Sister Ker - better. She's in our ward and I've always thought that we had a lot in common and would get along well together, but she had 5 kids and I have 5 kids and so we haven't had as much time to get to know each other before.

Friday, started out with a Dentist visit and an allergy shot.  James is a social kid and loves having kids to play with or adults to chat with.  After, we took it easy for the day and then got the older kids from school.  Weather was supposed to be getting bad, but it stayed pretty nice until the night when it started raining.

By Saturday it had turned to snow and was falling good and hard.  A lot of the things we had scheduled for Saturday ended up getting cancelled - though the roads never really got that bad.  So in stead of being crazy busy all day Saturday, we just had Eileen's flute lessons, driving Doug to the airport to go visit Julia and then a date night in the evening.  Dan went to help clean the church in the morning and then grabbed some groceries for the weekend.  Other than that we spent the day cleaning the house and getting it presentable.  In the evening, Dan and I went to dinner with the Kers.  We went to Texas de Brazil and ate WAY too much food and had a great time chatting and hanging out together.

The snow continued all Saturday and through Sunday morning, but thankfully the roads weren't too bad, so we still got to go to church - which I was grateful for because the talks in Sacrament meeting were wonderful, the musical number was wonderful and the lessons in R,S, was wonderful.  I hope my lesson was also good and that they learned something that will help them.  After church was choir, then we had the Crocketts over for dinner.  I got to spend a bunch of time holding their new baby and the kids had fun together and the adults had fun playing games together.  Now thankfully the weather is supposed to warm up and melt all this snow!

Don't my kids ever go to school??

So after have all last week off for Spring Break, and two snow days the week before, my kids also had Monday off for a teacher work day - hence the title of the post....  But we had a fun day Monday.  We went to the Wildlife Refuge with a friend who was hanging out with us for the morning.  The Visitor's Center is closed on Mondays, but we drove around and walked around the lake area a bit.  We got to see the buffalo and saw lots of animal tracks and drove past a ton of deer hanging out really close to the road.  The kids loved it and loved getting to see and take pictures of the wildlife.  After, we stopped by the house to grab water and lunches and Koopa and headed to the park.  We all had fun playing and the kids also had fun climbing trees (I skipped that part) All went well and then we came home and played around the house in the afternoon.  I didn't get much laundry done though... :(  

Tuesday morning, James decided that he was going to do the dishes.  He carefully wiped down each one and put them in the dishwasher.  He was so cute and helpful!  And he liked doing it so much that he has wanted to do the dishes every day since...  After that he had preschool and then we picked up Payton.  The boys always have fun together, but on Tuesday they forgot the rule about not taking off clothes.  After we picked up the kids from school and choir, Anna had her trumpet lessons in the evening.  The girls school choir is doing a song that has a trumpet part and Anna is trying hard to learn it in time to play with the choir!  She is so dedicated and hard working when she wants something.

Wednesday, James and I had to go to the library alone, Riley was sick :(  James is so funny because he wants to go to Story Time, but he wants to sit in my lap and read other books during story time, then once it's over, he wants to go play.  After school was the usual craziness and then I had choir, Dan had Young Men, Aaron had cub scouts and Eileen played babysitter for us.

Thursday, James had preschool again.  He loves his preschool friends!!  After, we picked up Payton again - he now gets to come play 3 days a week and James is happy about that.  After school was piano lessons.  The kids did well and had fun.  We let Eileen take some of the chicks outside - the weather was nice and we figure it's about time to start getting them used to being outside.  They are really getting big and getting lots of feathers, it's exciting and the kids love them!

Friday I went over to my friend's house to help out with her son while she took her daughter to surgery.  He hadn't gotten a good night sleep the night before though, so he took a nap most of the time I was there, so James and I played together and ate lunch with her older daughter and mostly got to take it easy.  After, I picked up the kids from school and we headed home for the usual after school stuff.

Saturday was a busy and fun day. We all went to Gateway High School for a 5K (Dan) and Fun Run (all of us - including Dan who ended up doing both) We all got superhero capes, t-shirts and waterbottles along with breakfast.  Plus best of all we got to listen to Gateway's Jazz band play at the finish line.  They were really good and I had a lot of fun listening to them and Aaron was in 7th heaven getting to play on the drums a bit between songs.  Dan did really well - he got 3rd (we think - it's wasn't really well organized) overall and he did awesome!

After, we headed home and I did some yard work - first lawn mow of the season - and he went to go help a friend cut down some trees.  After that, he went with our friend Nate to go get a motorcycle.  It's not huge, but it's good looking and he's really excited about it!
Dan also got Anna a bike.  She had needed a new one for awhile, and he found the perfect bike for her!  Hopefully it will last her a few years!  She was so excited - all she has wanted to do since is ride her bike.
After that crazy Saturday, we were all exhausted and fell asleep quickly!

 Sunday was wonderful!  Church was awesome.  Anna and Evie bore their testimonies.  I talked too much during my lesson and went over - but it was good stuff!!  We had a combined RS/Priesthood meeting during 3rd hour about BSA and fundraising.  We spent our afternoon indexing and playing games and doing some fun craft stuff.  Dan and I had fun playing a game after the kids went to bed, and he was nice enough to let me win.

Spring Break and General Conference

Well the kids had the whole week off and thankfully we had good weather all week so we could have fun playing outside!  We started out Monday going to the DMNS.  I took the kids to the robot exhibit and they had a blast!  It was really pretty cool, but my favorite part was that it was all in one room so I could let the kids check out the whole thing and stay with James while still keeping an eye on all the others.  Eileen's favorite was the vacuum cleaning robot.... :)  

Dan wasn't feeling well that night so I sent him to bed while I did the grocery shopping and finished folding the laundry.  Got to bed a bit late (early) but it was survive-able and Dan felt a lot better the next day.  

Tuesday, we went to the zoo.  The kids had tons of fun.  They forgot the lunches though, so we had a rather expensive zoo lunch.  We ran into the Haight's there and had fun chatting with them for a bit and hung out with them for a little while, but then the kids wanted to go back to the reptiles and fish area and the sea lion show.

In the evening, Julie came over to babysit while Dan and I headed down to the temple.  We did sealings and it was wonderful.  It really felt like the right place to be.  We were able to help some people get a lot of family names done and got some done ourselves.

Wednesday, we took it a bit easy - I was a bit tired out!  And the kids just enjoyed the back yard for the day.  In the evening, the girls had Activity Days, Dan had Young Men and I had choir.

Thursday and Friday, Eileen had her STEM camp at Buckly AFB.  She had a BLAST!  She loved it and really wants to go again next year.  Anna, Aaron and Evie had piano lessons on Thursday in the morning and we tried the library in the afternoon.

Friday the younger kids and I packed lunches and headed to the park on our bikes.  James rode in the bike trailer.  We tried to bring Koopa, but he didn't like the bike trailer, so I ended up carrying him and he didn't much like it.  The kids had a ton of fun at the park and made some friends and got all their wiggles out.  We headed home in time to Eileen to get back and had a fun evening together.

Saturday was the start of General Conference.  We had a great day being uplifted and encouraged and taught.  The kids were great!  Becca came over shortly after Dan left for priesthood and then we hung out and played some games while the guys were gone, then when they got back we had dessert and played another game together.

Sunday was just as wonderful as Saturday.  Evie's primary teacher (and favorite person) came over to watch the morning session with us.  After 8 hours of conference, the kids did amazingly well, then Dan took them all outside for a fun evening of playing in the sun after dinner.  They played catch and it was really funny to watch and listen.  Then since the kids have Monday off, Eileen got to stay up and play a game with us again.  :)  Now we need to go to bed - and I really need this pain in my back to go away!!