Happy 4th of July!

We've had a fun and busy week.  Monday was the usual laundry day.  Tuesday was a usual day.  Some of the kids had check ups - they are doing well and growing up way too fast.  I've started getting accustomed to the fact that Eileen and Anna are teenagers and look like it, but now Aaron is starting to look older and even Evie when she got dressed up for church this week looked way too grown up.  

Wednesday, we spent the evening at the pool with the Johnsons, and then invited them over for dinner.  We had a fun evening.  Eileen and Anna didn't have a youth activity, it was cancelled.  So we had a nice evening at home together.  

Thursday morning was the 4th of July ward breakfast.  They asked me to sing the national anthem to start us off, then we had a yummy breakfast and had fun games.  We had fun doing sack races and playing on the playground and in the splash pad.  Eileen kept to herself, and went home early (most of the kids rode their bikes) but overall, we had a fun morning.  The rest of the day was pretty normal (though it felt like a Saturday since Dan was home.)  In the evening, we watched the fireworks from an upstairs window with the kids for a little bit, then sent them to bed.  

Friday was long and busy, but fun.  We got up to got to David and James' checkups, both are doing well.  Then we headed down to the lake to meet up with my Dad and Sandi and spend some time on the boat.  The lake was busy and rather choppy, so mostly the kids had fun on the tube, but I went out on water skis - the water was no good for wake boarding, but skiing was do-able.  We had a fun time and went home tired and happy.  After we got home and changed, Dan and I went to the temple with some friends and then went to dinner with them after.  We had a fun evening with them and dinner and it's always wonderful to be in the temple! 

Saturday morning, Anna and I headed out to do our Bob Ross Painting class. We were there pretty much all day - but we had a good time and came home with a couple of pretty neat paintings that are still drying....  It was really neat, and I was surprised by what really was as easy as he makes it look and what wasn't. 

Church today was wonderful, but I was still a bit burnt out from the long weekend, so I took a nap after church.  Then in the evening, we had some new ward members over for dinner - they have a little girl about David's age, so I'm looking forward to some play dates when the kids go back to school. 

Birthdays Galore!

We've had a fun week!  The weather has been hot, so we have really been enjoying spending some time at the pool - we go almost every day, even if just for an hour.  The kids all love it and since most of the kids are fine with minimal attention, and David is much easier than last year, it's a great way for all of us to get outside, burn off excess energy and cool off!  

Anna had her sports camp Monday-Thursday and did some runs with the cross country team on a few of the mornings too.  She comes home on those days rather tired.

Wednesday our baby boy turned 2.  I can't believe it's been two years but I can't imagine our family with out him.  He has so much spunk!  The kids all love him and he is learning so much, so fast!  He talks a ton - unfortunately some of the words he has learned include "NO NO NO" and "MINE" and "STOP IT" and all said very loudly when he wants to have his own way.  We planned a family get together for both kids birthdays on Thursday, but we didn't want to totally ignore David's birthday, so we got a few little cupcakes and let him open his present from Grandma and Grandpa Jones and his present from us.  He loves his tricycle and I just adore that smile!  Watching him blow out the candles was hilarious, but he managed it finally without help from James.  David said he wanted Cookies for his birthday dinner, but mommy vetoed that.

Thursday morning, we had our friends over to swim and then do lunch after.  It was a lot of fun!  Anna wanted to decorate her own birthday cake.  Evie wanted to help.  So they had a lot of fun decorating.  Then in the evening Grandma and Wicket, and Aunt Sandi and Taz and Kai all came up to celebrate and have dinner and cake and ice cream.  Anna chose bean burritos for her birthday dinner and we had that and grilled chicken with salad for dinner.  yum!  

David got some fun toys and had a blast playing with them.  Once again - I just love this little boy's smile!

Anna got some nice art supplies from Grandma and Grandpa (which she has been using almost constantly ever since) and some make up from Sandi and a bike from mom and dad.  Dan wrapped up an old barbie bike for her to unwrap.  Then we explained that we would walk down to Walmart with her in the evening so she could pick her bike.

 We had a nice walk down to Walmart after we got the younger kids in bed.  Dan and Anna decided to pretend to be anime characters  and walk and run like them.  We had a lot of fun walking and talking and goofing off together.

Evie tucked David into the chair with every single baby blanket she could find and then insisted on taking a picture of him - but it was pretty cute, so I couldn't argue too much.

Friday, we had our friends over to play for a bit.  The kids all had fun together and we filled up the water in the water play toy outside, but I didn't have energy to go to the pool.  

Saturday was a fun day of work and play.  Aaron went out and offered to remove tree stakes for $5 around the neighborhood and earned some money.  It's so neat to see him working hard and being responsible!  He's getting so grown up.  Dan took the kids to the pool in the afternoon for a bit while Eileen and I cleaned out the game closet - and now it looks pretty!  

David loves to sing.  And I love to listen to him sing.  He makes these serious faces when he sings and listening to him makes my heart happy!  I got the cutest video of him singing along to "Let It Go" while Anna played on the piano.  I don't think it will fit here though and I'm not tech savvy enough to figure out how to make it shorter.  

Summer Fun!

We've had a fun and crazy week.  Tuesday, we went out on the boat with Grandpa.  Most of the kids just wanted to go on the tube, but Aaron wanted to try wake boarding and he did awesome - he got up, but is still working on figuring out how to stay up.  

Evie wanted to try water skiing again.  She did so good and stayed up for so long - she even let go with one hand and waved at us and put her hand in the water and went outside the wake.  She was on a roll!  

Eileen got her first chance at driving the boat - she puttered around the lake for a bit at the end of the day and the kids all had a great time!  

If that wasn't enough excitement for one week, we also went to the Zoo with Grandpa on Wednesday.  The kids loved getting to see the dinosaurs and all the live animals too.  David loved it all - but it was HOT!  Texas summer has finally arrived.  We tried our best to keep cool, but by 3:00 we were ready to head home. 

Thursday, we had Sandi and the kids over to go swim in the pool and have dinner together.  The kids had a blast in the pool - it was a wonderful hot day - perfect for swimming.  We grilled hot dogs and had potato salad.  It was a fun evening!  After, I headed off to a Relief Society Activity with Eileen and Anna who had volunteered to help babysit.  It was a fun activity!  After, the primary presidency met together for a bit before heading home for the night. 

Friday we had a mostly slow day.  After the busy week, I was eager for a bit of down time.  The kids read, played with play dough, crocheted and we mostly took it easy.  In the evening, Dan and I went to the temple and then to dinner on our way home. 

Saturday was mostly low-key.  Dan took some of the kids to the library to return books and pick new ones.  Anna asked for book recommendations for the reading challenge at the library, so I dragged her into our library and loaded her up with books.  :)  In the evening, we all watched the new "How to Train Your Dragon" Movie together and ate popcorn.  It was a fun family evening! 

Sunday was wonderful!  I headed out early to go to ward council - the Lord has organized His church in such a wonderful away - it's amazing to watch so many people work together for the physical and spiritual welfare of others!  After, I took off my primary hat, and put on my chorister hat.  I had a musical number in Sacrament meeting.  I wasn't sure how well my voice would work since it's still not back at full strength, but the song went well - I picked one that wasn't as vocally challenging and I made it through with out my voice cracking or cutting out or dying.  :)  After Sacrament Meeting, I changed hats again back to primary for the second hour of church.  The kids are wonderful and it's been fun getting to know them and work with them.  Dan spent a lot of the last 2 days baking.  He made Lemon Meringue Pies and Breakfast cake and fresh bread.  The whole house smelled SO YUMMY!  We invited our friends the Gustavesons' over to help us eat some of it and play games.  We had a great time! 

Busy Summer

We've had a busy summer so far.  Eileen and Anna were at girls camp until Thursday afternoon.  They both seem to have had a great time.  They came back full of the fun stories and full of excitement.  

We finally got James his bike - he was so excited and all he has wanted to do since is ride his bike.  He loves it - and of course Evie is a bit jealous since her bike is not so new any more.  It's been fun watching him so excited to ride his bike though.  

We missed the girls this week - I had a hair appointment on Tuesday and the four younger ones all got to come - thankfully they were well behaved while they waited for me to get it done.  

We spent some time in the pool most days - but I finally had to tell the kids that I wouldn't take them to the pool unless it was over 85 degrees outside - it's been unusually cool so far this summer.  Friday morning, we had our friends the Carpenters over to swim and play.  It was a blast! 

Summer is Fly Season in Texas and with 6 kids running around, and leaving doors open, we have a TON of flies in the house.  David's new favorite thing is to walk around trying to hit the flies with the fly swatter and saying "get the flies!" over and over again. 

Dan's company had a big work event this weekend - they were putting on a conference and so Dan was out late Friday and all day Saturday. 

Saturday was rather insane.  I had to be at Cub Scout Camp Saturday morning, so Eileen and Anna were left in charge.  The took the kids to the splash pad nearby and Aaron and I had fun Canoeing, Fishing, and Shooting bows and arrows and BB guns.  He had a great time (mostly - he didn't catch any fish when most of the other boys did and that upset him quite a bit for a little while.) Then when I got home, I picked up the kids, and we went to our friend Patty's birthday for a bit.  It was winding down by the time we got there, but we wanted to stop by and celebrate with him a bit.  Then we went down to my parents house, my mom was watching Taz and Kai while Sandi and Jon were at the conference, and she thought Taz and Kai might like some more kids to play with, so we headed down there for some swimming and playing and had dinner there before taking Taz and Kai home and then heading home our selves.  Then we got the kids to bed and I headed out to get some groceries to get us through the weekend. 

Today was Father's Day - Dan's gift still hasn't arrived from Amazon.... so I'm kinda failing in the gift department lately....  But we did a biscuit breakfast with peaches and honey butter and I got him a little bit of chicken seasoning.  Church was great - Anna gave a great talk and James gave a great talk in primary.  I had fun filling in for singing time in primary.  In the evening, my parents came up for dinner and we had a fun time eating and chatting.  Then after getting the kids to bed Dan and I played a few games of Dominion with Aaron - each of us one a game, and we had fun.  :) 

The Cabin and Home

Monday morning bright and early, Dan and I headed to the airport - I stopped in Colorado and he continued on to Texas.  I picked up the older girls and we got some supplies before heading up to the cabin to meet up with the rest of the kids and Grandpa.  There was still a bunch of snow on the ground around the cabin, but the weather was finally warming up!  We had a fire and toasted marshmallows for s'mores - David loved it!  

We spent our days doing crafts and playing around the cabin.  David wanted to go on walks and point out all the rocks and he loved it when he figured out he could load the back of these toy trucks with rocks and then dump them out and start all over. 

Anna and I went to run an errand into Fairplay and on the way back, we saw a moose!!!  Since we hadn't packed well for such cold weather - Grandpa helped out by hitting up some thrift stores for boots and sweaters - among the other wonderful things he found - he found this epic sweater for James!  James loves it!

We spent a bit of time down in Breckenridge and the kids got excited because we all got to ride the trolley car. 

We got to see and visit with Kay for a bit but she wasn't comfortable with staying the night at that high altitude.  I was surprised at how quickly I got tired too - I should remember by now, but each time it gets me.  It was beautiful up there though - the aspen trees still hadn't realized that Spring should have come - I haven't ever gone up so early in the season before.

Thursday we headed back to Texas - the big elevation drop was a bit rough (especially on me with my head cold) but we survived the trip and it went by surprisingly fast. 

Friday was a laundry and grocery day, so it felt like a Monday, but it wasn't.  The kids were all excited to get back home and to be able to go in the pool again. 

Saturday morning, Anna and I went down to my mom's house to work out a bit, then we had to spend the rest of the day with me napping and the girls getting ready for Girl's camp - they had an activity for that in the evening and then headed home. 

Sunday was great!  Church was great - the talks were wonderful and we enjoyed talking about them with the kids later that evening.  Primary was a bit rocky - we are just getting things organized with new teachers, so it took a while to make sure that we had teachers everywhere they needed to be.  Otherwise it went pretty well - hopefully things will start to run a bit more smoothly now! 

This morning I found out that Sandi had to put her sweet little dog down last night - he's been having a lot of trouble breathing and he wasn't eating - my heart breaks for her - he was such a sweet dog and I know she is hurting. 

James lost another tooth today - I had him say "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" and it was the cutest thing ever.  He was very excited!  We also had some friends over for dinner and games - it was a lot of fun, but I'm afraid I wasn't a very good hostess since I'm still not quite feeling up to par....

Colorado and Idaho

We have had a crazy busy week!  Monday morning, we met up with Newell and Becky and Natasha and Eldon at a park for lunch and playing.  The kids had a great time, they had an old metal merry-go-round that Eileen had a blast on.  James didn't like it nearly as much.  

After, we headed over to Stuart and Rebecca's for a Memorial Day party.  We had a fun time playing Bocce Ball, Croquet and ping pong.  We had yummy food, great conversation and a lot of fun!  After, we walked to get some ice cream with Stuart, Rebecca and Thomas, then headed home.  

Tuesday, we headed down to Colorado Springs to visit with Sister Cottrell.  We had a fun time at the Ghost Town museum - David loved the stuffed buffalo - he kept calling it a cow.  The kids had fun panning for gold, Eileen and Evie even found a couple little flakes. 

After, we ate our lunches and then we headed to Garden of the Gods for a little bit.  We walked around the visitors center, then walked along one of the trails for a bit - David LOVED all the rocks - he was in seventh heaven.  Then it started sleeting, so we quickly headed back to the car before heading home. 

In the evening, I went to visit my friend for a bit - it was so nice to see her and chat with her for awhile.  Her kids are getting so big and David was a big charmer! 

Wednesday morning, I packed up the kids and their lunches and we went to the Denver Aquarium.  It was a beautiful and fun aquarium.  The kids and all mostly had a great time - David was a little bit afraid of the really big fish and sharks and didn't much like the really big tanks either.  I took the kids to the 4-D little video after, the older kids loved it, but it was a bit much for David, he curled up in my lap while I covered his eyes.  He was really sweet about it though. 

After, we headed back to the house and spent some time at the park.  

Thursday, we tried to go to the book fair, but it wasn't open yet - I can't read websites very well... Then after lunch, we met up with Grandpa and went to Cold Stone for ice cream and then to Barnes and Noble.  David loved Barnes and Noble and loved Grandpa - he kept calling him Papi. It was really cute!  

The kids all had a blast picking out their gifts, except Anna who couldn't decide on anything... 

Thursday evening, we went to the Pavillion behind the Laredo building and met up with friends for a pot luck dinner.  It was wonderful seeing friends again! 

Friday morning, we dropped kids off - Eileen and Anna stayed with some friends and the younger 4 stayed with Aunt Tina and Uncle Frank.  They have been having a great time - though I think Eileen is feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I've been missing them all though.  Dan and I got on a plane to Idaho and headed to Gene and Ann's house.  We had time to unpack and have some dinner before heading to the baptism of Jessica's dad - it was beautiful.  It was also beautiful to see how the two families are embracing each other! 

Saturday morning, we headed to the temple for the wedding.  The ceremony was beautiful!  Then we had a luncheon for close friends and family.  Finally we went to the beautiful reception in the evening.  Tasi's family is partly from New Zealand and Jessica's is from China and the whole reception was a beautiful blending of traditions from both cultures.  It was amazing! 

After the reception, we headed to Sarah and Rob's house for a fun evening of chatting, celebrating Sarah's birthday and just being together. 

Church today was wonderful - we had a great discussion in Sunday School which we then managed to continue through the rest of the day.  Dan and I spent the rest of the evening with Gene and Ann - playing games, eating yummy food and chatting about the gospel.  We got to go to Olivia's Seminary graduation and all in all, it was a wonderful day! 

Summer Break is ON!

The last week of school - it was rather crazy and insane.  Monday was the elementary school talent show - Evie was performing in it, so David and I went - and sat through all 2 1/2 hours of it.  Some of it was pretty cute and some of it was fun.  Evie did a great job!  Eileen and Anna had a band trip for most of the day and had a great time, but came home rather tired!   We had the Perkins family over for dinner - her husband is out of town and so we invited her and her kids to join us for dinner and FHE.  It was really nice!

On Tuesday, Evie had her year end STUCO trip.  She had a BLAST - they were gone all day and did all sorts of fun stuff. James had piano lessons that day, but Evie had to miss, since they still weren't back.

Wednesday morning, I met with the primary presidency to prepare and discuss.  What a wonderful group of women!! I'm so excited to get to serve with them.  I will be working with the cub scouts and 11-year old scouts.  It will be a blast!  I left that to go pick up Anna and Eileen who got out early, then headed home for a late lunch and a nap for David before getting the elementary school kids.  In the evening, the youth activity for the night was the seminary graduation, so Dan also needed to go, So I took the younger 4 kids to the pool for a bit.  The weather is finally getting nice and warm for the pool!

Thursday was the last day of school.  I met up with the other music ladies to figure out the music stuff for June, then  I watched the Perkins boys while their mom went to her PT.  Then we picked up the kids from school.  After dinner we headed to the local ice cream shop. They do free jr sno-cones on the last day of school.  The kids had a blast and we had some yummy cold treats on a hot day!

Friday was a day of packing and prepping.  We did laundry, packing and preparing food stuff and straightening up the house some.  The kids are so excited about this trip!  After dinner, we went to the pool again for an hour or so before heading back, putting the kids to bed and finishing the packing as much as possible.

Saturday morning, we loaded the food and kids into the car and headed off.  The trip went pretty smoothly.  David did as well as could be expected.  We stopped at a park and had a yummy lunch and stopped at IHOP for dinner.  After snacking in the car all day, I didn't expect them to eat much dinner, but they polished off pretty much everything!  We got in at a half decent hour and got the kids to bed before passing out!

Today we went to the Sable ward for church and it was wonderful to see old friends and catch up!  Then in the evening, Kay and Reggie came over for dinner and games.  It was so good to see them again!!!

Now we are looking forward to lots of fun time with family and friends next week!

Before the Storm

Apparently I didn't do a good job of taking pictures this week, but except for this weekend, this week was pretty slow - it felt a bit like the calm before the insano-storm.  Next week is the last week of school and I'm already exhausted looking at the calendar.

Friday night, we took Eileen to see Avengers: Endgame.  Eileen cried for almost the whole 3 hours.  But we had a great time together as usual.

Saturday morning, Anna and I went to go work out with Grandma, then I dropped Anna and Evie off at Sandi and Jon's house for Kai's birthday party.  We spent the rest of the afternoon getting the house and everything ready for Dan's birthday party.  His surprise birthday party was a success, we had a great turn out, but still ended up with a bunch of leftovers!

I got a new calling this week - in addition to being a chorister in Sacrament meeting, I will be serving the kiddos in primary as the second councilor in the primary presidency.  Last Sunday was the calling of the presidents of all the organizations, this week was the calling of the councilors.  It's all going to be wonderful!

Now we just gotta brace for next week and all the crazies of the end of the school year plus getting ready for our trip to CO.

Excitement!

Monday was beautiful - so we spent our Family Home Evening time working in the front yard together.  We put stone around our flower bed and around the tree and planted some flowers and got the front of our house looking much nicer!  It's so exciting!  

Tuesday I drove over to Frisco to meet up with Lori for lunch.  We had such a great time!  She could just spare a lunch break, but it was so great to get to see her! 

The weather this week started out great and sunny, but it took a turn for the cold and the last half of the week has been chilly and rainy.  David still always wants to take his walks, so unless it is actually raining, we are out and about most mornings and some afternoons.  Evie put him in Aaron's coat to keep him warm one afternoon and I just thought he looked so cute!  

Friday, we had friends over for dinner and games, but by the time dinner was over, we were all tired, so we just sat and chatted for a bit, but we still had a great time with them! 

Saturday was rather crazy.  Dan too James and Evie to the PJ's and Pastries thing at the elementary school, but there was hardly anyone there, so they got some donuts and headed home.  I had our Stake Women's conference in the morning.  I was singing during the meeting with a few other ladies - it went really well and they were a wonderful group to sing with!  After, Anna had a friends birthday party - she was there all afternoon and late into the night!  But she had a blast.  Dan took the van to get a movie player put in, while he was gone, James fell off his scooter and split his chin open, so I took him to the urgent care to get stitched up - just 2 stitches on his chin.  Evie was so cute and got very solicitous and nurturing with James while he went through this.  He was a little nervous, so while we waited for the doctor, I told him about my stitches and how it would all happen.  He was so brave and did a great job - Evie came to help and was fascinated watching the stitches get put in. 

Then in the evening, Dan and I went to the temple, we did some sealings and got dinner and headed home.  It was a wonderful way to spend an evening together.  

Today was Mother's Day.  Dan made my Heart Shaped Biscuits breakfast - it was wonderful - and gave me a neat book about women teaching in the church.  Church was wonderful and a bit crazy.  I've been called as a ward chorister and got to start today.  It was a lot of fun - David stood on Dan's lap and helped me direct the music from the pews.  It was really cute! 

In the afternoon, we played some games and took some naps and had fun together.  We learned and shared and read.  My mom came up for dinner and we had a wonderful time with her.  I am truly so blessed by the amazing women in my life! 

I'll finish by posting this bit of fun - David can be so fun to play with - and while he can also be a bit of a tyrant, he can be adorable too!  I'm so glad these kids are part of my family!

Big Changes

We have had a crazy busy week.   Monday night for Family Home Evening, we went to Eileen's induction ceremony - she was inducted into NJHS.  

They were supposed to dress up for the ceremony - so they put on these dresses - dresses that have been worn by both me and my mom!  

Tuesday was a typical Tuesday with piano lessons and institute.  

Wednesday was the full busy day with the kids - activity days, scouts and Young Womens.  It was a bit bitter sweet knowing that it was the last such event with our ward they way it is.  

Thursday we all headed to the high school for the year end band concert.  Both the girls bands performed very well - it was a fun evening and David loved clapping and pointing out his sisters on stage.  It was really cute - Eileen even had a little solo-type part and she did super well on it!!  

Friday, we had our ward family party - it was going to be a camp out, but the weather threatened rain all week, so it got moved to Melissa High School and we had a fun dinner together with a fun slide show remembering the ward fun time - but Dan and I left with the kids a bit early so we could get them to bed at a decent hour, and so by the time we left, we had just barely gotten to about the time we moved into the ward :)  It was a fun evening though!  

 Saturday morning was crazy busy, but at least we finally got to have a bit of a quiet night - We got up early to clean the church building, then I had a rehearsal for a musical number next weekend.  Dan took the kids to the library.  Anna and I went to work out with Grandma and Aunt Sandi.  Anna then spent the rest of the day with Sandi and her kids.  Dan and I took the younger 3 with us to Home Depot to get some stuff for our flower bed and then to Costco before heading home and starting dinner.  When Sandi dropped off Anna, we invited her and the kids to stay for dinner since Jon is out of town, then after we did scriptures and prayers, we sent the kids to bed, then I made a dessert for Sunday and then we crashed! 

As part of the Come Follow me program, we have been asking each of the kids (except David) to share something they have learned from the weeks's lessons.  It's been great having them participate more!  James told us about how the Lord doesn't care about what we look like on the outside - he cares about our hearts - so Dan got his face all dirty with frosting to illustrate the point - James thought it was hilarious!!  

This morning, we got up bright and early for church.  There was a big meeting with the two Melissa wards for the purpose of creating a new ward.  We are now part of the Anna ward.  It's exciting!  It will be a big change, but it will be amazing.  After church, we headed to our friends house for lunch and games.  We made a special gluten-free dessert to bring with us since half their family can't tolerate gluten.  It was a lot of fun!  

After, we headed home and some of us took naps, then we had a lesson about sheep and shepherds and apparently dinosaurs...  It was fun and a great lesson from Dan!  Then we spent the evening outside enjoying the amazing weather!  We played on the trampoline, played catch and then did our family scriptures and prayers out on the trampoline.  After getting the younger kids to bed, Dan and I played Code Names with Eileen and Anna.  the teams were Dan and Anna vs. Eileen and I.  We did 6 rounds and each won 3.  It was such a wonderful day!  Truly the Sabbath is a delight!