James turns 8

This has been an eventful week for us!  Monday the kids were off school.  We mostly took it easy, but Grandma and Grandpa came up during the afternoon to take the boys out for ice cream.  Then they took Aaron to pick out a present.  (James' present was going to come after his birthday)  He picked out two huge nerf guns which now reside in our back yard and the boys have fun jumping on the trampoline and shooting each other.  They have been having a blast together though. 

Tuesday was the now usual crazy - school, work out class, play time, Robotics, piano lessons.  In addition to all that, I had a hair appointment, so after the work out class, David played for a little bit, then we headed down to Frisco.  Everyone loves David there - he is such a sweet and well behaved boy usually and he just charms everyone. 

On the way home, I stopped at Micheal's to drop off the pressed cross stitches which still didn't look as good as they would stretched, but they had told me they couldn't stretch them and still put them in the frame and while I know how to stretch, I don't know anything about framing.  Thankfully, there was someone who knew more what he was doing when I went there this time.  He said he would stretch them for me and fix the matting and that we could replace the mats in the older ones to match for a cheap price.  So I left the new ones and said I would bring all the others in later in the week.   

That evening, Dan had an Elder's Quorum activity that he wanted to be able to go to.  So we hurried through dinner so he could go.  Eileen had been having a hard time with a math problem, so she took it to Dan who also couldn't figure it out, so Dan took it with him to the activity, turns out that the only other person who came was an Electrical Engineer and between them, they figured it out.  Eileen was so much happier after that and Dan had a great time getting to know him and working together to solve the problem.

Wednesday was great!  After school, it was kind of a crazy rush to get things ready for the Primary Boys activity, and in the craziness, I lost track of time and forgot to pick up Aaron from his UIL practice.  I finally got him home in just enough time to eat a quick dinner before taking Evie and James in to their activities.  The boys and I brainstormed ideas for future activities, then we made monster bookmarks and played some games.  The boys really seemed to like the bookmarks - James kept wanting to make more even after we got home.  It was cute!  Dan picked up the younger kids, dropped off the older ones and then I stayed and practiced organ.  Then I almost left Aaron again - I'm still getting used to having to take three kids home from the Youth activities....  Sigh... poor Aaron.  

Thursday was James' birthday!  My little boy isn't so little anymore.  Anna was decorating his cake for him - he gave her 5 different ideas for his birthday cake - he just couldn't seem to settle on one thing, so she picked the one that would be easiest to decorate.  She got up early on Thursday to get the rest of the decorating done, but it looked amazing!  

The girls and I had choir practice Thursday evening, so poor James didn't get as much excitement on his birthday as he wanted, but he did get pizza and ice cream and cake.  

Friday, Dan took the day off work, so he and I spent the morning running errands together.  He needed to make a stop for work, and we ran by Costco and got the boys suits for their birthday presents from Grandma and Grandpa.  Then we ran by Michael's so I could drop off the other cross stitches, at first the girl there was going to charge me $90 for the matting that the other guy had quoted me as costing $10.  Thankfully he was there and came by in time for me to get everything straightened out.  Now we just need to wait on the pick up.  

I went to get the kids from school while Dan went to see a doctor before heading down to the airport to get his parents.  Turns out Dan's mild cough and stuffiness had turned into a sinus infection, so he got some prescriptions which I tried and failed to pick up after half an hour of waiting.  So we finally all got home and had dinner together.  Grandma and Grandpa gave David his new quilt - it's BEAUTIFUL!  I gave her free reign, and I love the colors and pattern she chose!  And so does David!  

David loves having them around - he wants to sit with them, play with them, do snuggle time with them, have them get him dressed.  All things he usually only lets mommy do.   We spent what was left of the evening playing games and eating more cake and getting things ready for the baptism. 

James' baptism was wonderful.  He was so happy!  And the wonderful thing is seeing him trying to keep those covenants he's made!  He is such a sweet boy!  We are so grateful for the friends and family who were able to come and those who were with us in spirit.  

We spent the rest of our Saturday chatting and having fun together.  My parents came over for a bit after the baptism to chat.  We played lots of games and had a yummy chicken noodle soup dinner.  Then more games and chatting before the kids went to bed.  Then I went to practice the organ for a bit and Dan played with Dwayne.  

Church was wonderful!  Aaron gave his first talk and looked so good in his new suit and tie!  Dan let him borrow his pocket watch to wear in his vest!  He was feeling pretty good!  He did a wonderful job on his talk, and while he felt a little nervous, he didn't let it show!  My organ playing went mostly well.  Eileen directed the music and did a great job despite having a very hard song to direct!  Primary was wonderful - though James wasn't happy because his baptism book wasn't ready for him yet.  He sulked a bit, but I was glad.  Since I was playing piano during the baptism, I didn't have time to write him a note, so I was able to write one today and stick it in with the others.  

After, we went home for a yummy pancake dinner and some fun games and a beautiful walk around the neighborhood.  The weather has been perfect for going on walks this weekend!  David is really going to miss Grandma and Grandpa when they go home tomorrow.  It has been so wonderful having them here this weekend!  

Music, The Temple and a Wedding...Oh My!

We had a bit of a crazy week.  Monday was the usual sort of day it usually is.  Laundry, grocery shopping, school, seminary, and FHE.  Tuesdays have become regularly crazy.  There are all sorts of early drop-offs for the kids for extra-curricular activities.  Then David and I head to the church for the work out class and play time.  Then in the afternoons there are piano lessons and now Anna is doing Robotics which meets after school on Tuesdays.  So we scramble to get everywhere and then come home for dinner. 

Wednesday morning, I had some errands to run, and one of them was a stop at Michael's.  Dan had taken some needlepoint to get framed and they had framed them and sent them back to us with the folds in the fabric still clearly visible.  I was rather frustrated, so I took them back in hoping they would be willing to get these fixes done with out re-charging us for them.  Thankfully they were at least not going to charge, but they said they couldn't press it or stretch it as is usually done, so I took them home to press them and they will put them back in when I bring them back.

This week, we had MCO rehearsal on Wednesday.  And we needed to be there a bit earlier than usual.  There was a parents meeting before and both Stewart brothers were there to ring in the new season.  Rehearsal was a ton of fun - The Grand Chorus got voiced and it was amazing!  Plus he said I have a gorgeous voice!  :)  This season is going to be amazing, I'm so glad the girls get to participate in this!  plus, it ended early enough for them to still get to go to most of the youth activity that night.

Since choir was on Wednesday night, we had Thursday night open and used it to go to the temple.  Dan and I headed out after getting the kids some dinner, and had a wonderful time serving in the temple.  We stopped for a quick Ramen dinner on the way home, then got home and collapsed for a bit before bed. 

David has become obsessed with Play-dough lately.  But it keeps him happy and busy for nearly half an hour, so it's worth it the clean up.

While we were going to the temple, Anna realizes that Evie isn't her usual happy, bubbly self and tries to talk to her about it.  Evie doesn't want to talk to her about it.  She manages to get from James that Evie has been bullied some at school.  She finally gets Evie to open up to her about it - some girls have been calling her fat (I don't know any healthy kid who is further from fat than she is) and she was feeling very upset about the whole thing.  Anna handles this all like a pro while we are gone.  After, she asks if she can get Evie a journal and decorate it for her so she can use it to get through this.  So on Friday evening after all-region, I took her to Walmart to get the journal and decoration supplies, (I also took Evie to get a present for a birthday party on Saturday - then we had to try to hid the stuff from Evie!) Then Anna stayed up late that night decorating the journal's cover for her and putting inspirational quotes on the inside to help cheer her up.  My momma's heart was just swelling with love and pride for this amazing young woman and her thoughtfulness and her desire to use her talents to bless her family! 

Friday was the beginning of a busy weekend.  After getting the kids off to school, David and I headed over to the church to help a friend set up for her daughter's wedding.  His friend Addy was there with her mom also, so he had a blast running around and playing while we set up.  We had lunch with them then headed home so David could nap.  Anna had all-region band practice all day at the high school. 

Saturday began nice and crazy.  I started out the day with a quick musical number rehearsal with Brihana, then I was at the church all morning and most of the afternoon.  I was helping set up the wedding luncheon and then making sure everything was ready for the wedding.  It was kind of crazy watching the wedding party - they seemed so young (granted they are young - they are right out of high school) but it made me feel rather old!  Dan wasn't very nice and said "You know it could be just 5 years before we are looking at this."   Thankfully I don't think Eileen is the type to get married early.  Or Anna for that matter.  Life goes so fast sometime.  The wedding and reception were beautiful - I helped with set up and food prep and making sure the food didn't run out and had fun chatting with friends and trying not to cry - apparently I'm one of those people who always cry at weddings....  It was all beautiful though and our bishop did a great job with his first wedding.  After, we left to head to Anna's all-region band concert.  She was first chair trumpet in the concert band!  They did an amazing job!   We got to sit right up close to her, which was fun!

We came home and had some dinner and got kids to bed before Dan took Anna and some friends down to her first youth dance!  She called two of her friends from church and offered a ride and they had a blast together! 

Sunday was ward conference.  The talks were wonderful - my organ playing went pretty well, and my musical number went well.  I'm always amazed at how much better it goes in church, than it does when I'm practicing.  The Lord helps magnify my meager efforts to bring the spirit into the meeting!  After church, we met with the Stake Presidency for a little bit.  It was a great Sabbath day! 

Back to School

The weather was beautiful on Monday, so we used one of the last days of freedom to go to the zoo.  Anna was babysitting Taz and Kai, so I offered to pick them up and take them with us.  So we all had a fun time at the zoo, we rode the monorail and the carousel.  We ran around and played and climbed on things and had a great time!  The kids loved getting to go with cousins and the weather was just perfect! 

Tuesday was a lazy kind of day - since we knew we would be at the zoo all day on Monday, we saved most of the laundry until Tuesday, so that was laundry day and we mostly took it easy and had a fun last day together.  David managed to sneak a stamp into nap time - so when I got him up, he looked like a smurf.  

On Wednesday, the kids started school again.   Mostly they were excited.  While I miss having them around, it is nice to get back to a schedule.  After picking the kids up, we went home for an early dinner with the sister missionaries.  We realized while they were there that they both knew Bianca.  I had known that one of them served with her while she was in Oklahoma, then other came out to the mission with her.  She is heading home this week to get her back cared for and treated properly and hopefully she will be able to go back out soon.  It was wonderful having the sisters over!  After, we had Primary activities and Youth activities and organ practicing for me.  Then Dan went and hung out with some of the guys from the ward.  

Friday was Aaron's 12th birthday.  It may have been a bit anti-climatic since he was going to be picking out his presents on Saturday, so he didn't have anything to open, but he got his Naruto birthday cake made by Evelyn.  The cake was very yummy and Aaron loved it.  

Saturday morning, Anna and I went to work out with Grandma and Sandi, then we headed home.  We had forgotten to get Aaron his temple recommend interview, so we had a member of the bishopric come over to give him a recommend before we headed off to the temple.  The kids were excited to have a babysitter other than their sisters, and we had a wonderful time at the temple.  The baptistry  was full of families taking their new temple recommend holding kids to the temple - it was amazing to all these youth coming to the temple!  After, we stopped at the church bookstore so Aaron could pick out his scriptures and case and get his scriptures with his name on them.  They didn't have the CTR ring he wanted in his size, so we will have to get that online.  

Church today went great.  My organ playing wasn't too bad and the talks were wonderful.  Primary was a bit crazy - this new later time is really hard on the younger kids.  And they were all a bit talkative and crazy.  After church, Dan and Eileen and I went to visit a family that we minister to.  Their daughter had seen one of the crochet dolls I made for my kids and really liked it, so I made her one.  I brought it with me and gave it to her today and she was so excited!  She played with it the whole time we were there!  She is such a sweet little girl!  We had a great time chatting for a bit, then we headed home for dinner.  After dinner, we did scriptures and prayers, then sent kids to bed.  Then Anna creamed us all in Space Base.  :)  Well tomorrow is back to the full schedule craziness.  We calendered out this week tonight and it's a bit crazy.  Choir is starting back, piano lessons starting back and all the school activities are starting back.   But now it's on the family calendar and Anna and I have it all in our planner, so hopefully we don't forget anything....  

Welcome to the Roarin' 20's!

We've had a fun week with the kids home!  We had a great time playing games together, I beat Aaron 3 times in a row at the game of Life - he wasn't very happy about that.  But he was a good sport and we had a fun time!  We also played Apples to Apples with Evie and her friends and had a lot of fun!  Unfortunately I had so much fun I kept forgetting to move laundry :)  

Tuesday was New Year's Eve.  We had a fairly relaxed morning, then in the evening, we went to a family dace that our friends have every year at the church.  It was a ton of fun - we exhausted the younger kids and rang in the fake new year at 8:00 pm then went home and put James and David to bed.  Then I pulled out the puzzle and we watched "the Sandlot" with the rest of the kids while doing a puzzle.  The kids really seemed to like the movie - and Evelyn is especially excited to now know where "You're killin' me smalls" comes from.  We woke Dan up to help us ring in the new year at midnight, then we all went to bed.  :) 

Eileen skipped out on the family dance and went to see "Rise of Skywalker" with Grandma and Grandpa.  She had a great time - and I think she was glad of an excuse to not go to the dance. 

Wednesday morning, we had the music people all come over to do church music stuff.  First the choristers all met together to pick the music for the next couple months and figure out our schedule, Then Diane and I met with our primary music chorister to talk about the music for the upcoming year and how we would like singing time to go.  It all went very well and now hopefully we are set for a little bit now!

Dan took me to see the same movie Wednesday evening.  We really enjoyed ourselves and Eileen seemed happy to be able to talk with us about the movie after we got home. 

The rest of our week was pretty low key.  On Saturday, Anna and I went to work out with my mom and Sandi, and Evelyn went to go to a Bob Ross painting class with my Dad.  She had a great time and came home having done an awesome painting!  She was so proud of it!  

Sunday was wonderful - church was wonderful and after, Aaron was ordained a Deacon.  It was rather crazy to realize that with 3 kids in the youth program and 2 in primary, I now have more in the youth program than primary - and none in Jr. Primary.  They are all growing up so fast.  After Aaron was ordained, we joined the ward for it's first Break the Fast.  Dan made home made bread, and I made honey butter to go with them.  It was a great time and great food and a lot of fun!  

Merry Christmas 2019

We had a fun week!  On Monday, Anna went down to babysit for Taz and Kai.  While we did laundry and had fun together around the house.  We had a fun family home evening night playing a game that Evelyn taught us called "Don't Eat Petey"  I think we all had fun playing - even the older kids who were skeptical at first.  :)  Watching David was the funniest - he was so excited to eat the candy, but he got so into it!  He loved yelling "Don't eat petey" with all the rest of us, even if he didn't understand why!  

Tuesday morning, we went to see Frozen 2 with Sandi and Taz and Kai.  We went to an early show hoping to beat the mall traffic - it turned out to be a good idea.  We got there before the crowds and we had a great time together.  The movie was great and we all had fun!  

We spent the rest of the day having fun at home and getting things ready for Christmas.  There was cooking to be done and cleaning to be done and stocking stuffing to be done.  We had a fun time acting out the nativity with the kids.  Eileen was the donkey.  Anna was an angel.  Aaron and Evie were Joseph and Mary.  James was a wise man, and David was whatever he wanted to be.  Sometimes he was a shepherd with me and sometimes he was a wise man with James and sometimes he just ran around and had fun.  Dan was our narrator and I think it was a wonderful way to do it!

After we had some egg nog and the kids opened their Christmas Eve presents. We all got some fun jammies, then the younger kids headed to bed!  David just LOVED his WOODY pj's!  

  

The younger kids headed to bed and we moved the presents out and stuffed stockings and got those set up and all ready for Christmas Morning.  

Christmas morning came early, but the kids were excited!  Even Eileen and Anna didn't grumble too much about getting up before 10.  :)  We started with stockings and paused to eat some breakfast before opening the rest of the presents.  They opened their presents from Grandma and Grandpa Jones while we video chatted with them, then they opened their presents from each other, and finally their presents from us.  We had a fun time and the kids seemed happy with their gifts.  

Dan got me a printed book with 2 years worth of early blog posts - our family journal finally in paper format!  It's so much fun to read through and talk with the kids about it.  I simultaneously want the kids to all read it and not touch it.  :)  Or at least not lose it/leave it on the floor/get food on it/tear the pages....  

Wednesday evening we went down to my parents house for Christmas dinner and presents.  The kids were so excited and they love playing with their cousins.  My parents found some presents Grandma Penny had gotten for the kids and gave those out along with their gifts.  The kids were very excited!  Evie especially so since she got her luggage for her trip to Scotland!  We teamed up with my mom to get my dad some painting stuff - he is going full tilt into these Bob Ross painting classes!  It's so fun!  

Thursday, We took Eileen and Anna out to get part of their present.  Eileen had gotten some crochet patterns and was told that we would take her to pick out yarn for the pattern.  Evie got a fish tank - Gregory died recently - he lasted almost a full year and Evie was very sad, so we got her a new fancy fish tank and told her we would take her to pick out some fish.  She also used some money she got from Great Grandpa and Grandma and Grandpa Jones to pick out some decorations for the tank.  Meet Hillary and Chelsea.  She got a couple female bettas 

Friday, Anna went down to babysit again and the rest of us stayed home and played with our new toys and I enjoyed having the full run of my craft room again now that the Christmas boxes are out!  

Saturday morning, Anna and I went to work out with Grandma - and we brought Evelyn too.  After, we stopped by my parents house to pick up some things and change before heading to the American Doll store for Evelyn's present.  She loved going in there and getting to pick her doll and an outfit.  She and Anna have been having fun playing and dressing up their dolls together.  It's so fun to watch them together!  Then on the way home we had lunch with Grandma and California Pizza Kitchen.  It was a wonderful morning.  Then we had a great afternoon together.   We played some games and I cleaned up my craft room. 

In the evening, Dan and I went to the temple together.  It was great to be able to go and we ran into some people from the Frisco 6th ward.  It was a wonderful way to close out the year.  We had a quick dinner after, then headed home.  I grabbed my organ stuff and headed right back out to practice for Saturday.  I love playing, even if I'm not very good, but I will be glad with Brihanna is back and we can switch off.  

Church today was great but a bit chaotic.  The talks today were wonderful and my organ playing wasn't too bad - not too many mistakes and the ones there were weren't too big or awful!  After I headed to primary where we were missing a pianist and a lot of teachers.  Somehow it all worked and we made it through the last week of the year.  We spent the afternoon playing games together and having a good time together as a family.  Anna spent most of the afternoon and evening working on her Christmas present - she even let David "help"

We had a lot of fun playing games - but it has not been my day for games - I lost once to Evelyn, once to Eileen and twice to Dan.... sigh.... maybe next week....  

More Christmas fun!

After making all those yummy cookies, we made up cookie plates and for FHE on Monday night, we went and delivered cookies to some families in our ward and neighborhood.  We let each of the kids have a chance to pick a song to sing when we dropped off the cookies.  David got to choose first.  He chose Baby Shark.  So the first family we visited got to listen to us sing Baby Shark.  It was great though, since they have a little girl who is one of David's friends and we are good friends with their whole family, so they were very good humored about it!  The kids were so cute!  We love dropping off cookies and singing to some of the wonderful families who have blessed our lives this year!

Monday morning,  I went with a friend to go help clean up from the nativity concert.  Our kids had fun running around and playing while we packed up decorations.  David spent the rest of the day asking to go play with his friends again.

Thankfully he got to play with them all again on Tuesday while mommy exercised.  We had some errands to run though, so we headed out a bit earlier than usual and David kept telling me he wanted to go back to the church.  He's so funny.

This was the last week of school and so the kids had half days and parties and all sorts of fun.  Wednesday, I got together to practice for the Christmas Program, then took the girls to their Young Women's activity.

Thursday, Dan and I headed out to do some Christmas shopping.  It was so nice to be able to go with him!  We had a fun time picking stuff out and goofing off together.

Friday we hosted our Bagna Caulda night.  It was nice and small this year - but we had good friends, wonderful family, great food and beautiful music.  It was kinda nice having it a bit smaller this year, and we all had a great time.  The Call's came and watching Eileen and her friend Daniel together sparked a bunch of questions from my mom and sister later - we had to let them know that they are just friends.  :)

Saturday, Anna and I went to work out with my mom, Sandi couldn't make it :(  We got our butts kicked and now we are both a bit sore in some areas!  Dan and did a bit more Christmas shopping and except for letting the kids pick gifts for each other from the dollar store, we are done!!!  Now we just need to wrap and stuff!  And Dan's been working on some of that, so there's a fair amount of that done too.  In the evening, Dan's company had their holiday party.  It was a lot of fun - food catered by Chipotle and a magician who made balloon animals for the kids and did a show.  The kids loved it and it was entertaining enough even for the adults.  We had a fun time, and still got home in time to get the kids to bed and for me to practice the organ before today's program.

The Christmas Program was today.  It feels like I've been preparing like crazy for this for awhile now, and while I was excited, I was also a bit stressed that it would go ok.  I asked for who was willing to help with music or narrating and mostly got crickets.  That meant that I was heavily involved in almost every song in the program along with preparing the narration.  I was also nervous because I'm not really a great organist, or pianist (though I was doing both in the program) and my voice was not at it's best - I'd hardly been able to speak when I went to bed the night before.  Thankfully all went well.  It was awesome because my parents and Sandi and her kids all came to listen and support us!  Every one in our family but Dan participated in the music.  Even David went up with the Primary kids and sang.  He was so cute!  The kids did a great job!  Eileen sang with a small group of young women and they did an amazing job!  I had a solo - and my voice held out.  Finally, I sang in a small group with a couple other women.  Plus I was playing the organ and Eileen was directing the music!  The power of the words of the scriptures along with the beauty of the sacred music brought the spirit so strongly and people were very sweet and kind after.

As wonderful as it was, it was so nice after to be able to relax a bit!  We spent most of the rest of the day playing games with the kids and talking to family.  We had yummy pancakes for dinner and had fun playing and then read scriptures.  Then more games :)  Dan got out his old balloon animal balloons and let James have at them - he had a blast just making anything his heart desired.  He spent hours entertained by that.

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies.

It's been a crazy busy week - as might be expected at this time of the year.  Monday is laundry day as always - and David loves to help with his laundry now - He wants to put the clothes in and take them out and push the buttons.  

We made a lot of cookies and fudge this week....  like really a lot.  The kids had lots of school stuff going on.  Mommy and David had fun working out and playing with friends.  Evie and Aaron had Activity Days and Cub Scouts, Eileen and Anna had Young Women's Activities.

Anna's band concert was Tuesday night.  Their band did a great job - plus we had fun listening with all the other families in the ward whose kids were in the band.

Thursday evening, Dan and I went to the temple.  It was so nice to be there and take some time away from the craziness of life to reflect and worship.  It did mean more to do on Friday, but it was totally worth it.

I spent Thursday and Friday making cookie dough and baking cookies in preparation for our cookie cook off.  Saturday morning we went to clean the church building.  Then Anna and I went down to work out with my mom and Sandi.  Then we went home and had a quick lunch before the cookie making and decorating began.  Sandi came up with the kids and they all had a blast making and decorating cookies.  My dad came up too, but instead of decorating he mostly just sat and chatted with us, but it was great to have him there!  Then once they were decorated out, we let them watch some Christmas movies and Sandi and I finished the decorating.  The kids had a fun time, and so did the adults

After that, we had the sister missionaries over for dinner, then Anna and I were going with them to teach a sister and her daughter who are investigating.  Unfortunately they weren't there.  :(  After that, we got the kids to bed then I went to practice the organ.

Sunday began with church which was great!  We had our priesthood and temple preview for the kids turning 12 this coming year.  I went both as a member of the primary presidency who was conducting and as Aaron's mom.  I can't believe that he is almost a deacon!   I'm going to have 3 kids in the youth program in just a couple weeks.

Sunday night was the nativity concert.  The children't choir did a wonderful job!  They had a great time singing and were a huge hit.  The kids were so sweet and I gave them all little gifts after with toys and cookies.  It has been so much fun getting to do this!   The rest of the concert was great too - some of the performers were just wonderful!  and all were great!  The only downside was that it got the kids home rather late.

Music Music Music!!

This week has been packed full of Christmas music!  And I love Christmas Music!!!!   The kids had a mostly normal school week - plus a bunch of UIL tryouts for the kids and Anna's all-region band tryouts.  

Monday, we decorated the Christmas tree for Family Home Evening.  We had a fun time decorating and singing Christmas music and drinking eggnog.  I had fun telling the kids about some of the ornaments.  

Tuesday is David's favorite day because he gets to run around the gym at the church and play with friends.  Then after piano lessons, I headed down for an extra rehearsal before the concert this weekend.  

Wednesday, Anna had young womens, but Eileen didn't, so I took Anna down and I practiced the organ while she had fun with her friends.  

Thursday was crazy.  We found out on Wednesday evening that Aaron had a band concert - that he hadn't told us about - we didn't even find out from him - we found out when Anna told us - she knew because they had asked the Honor band for volunteers to help out.  But we had already bought tickets to see the high school musical for that night, and he didn't seem to care about us coming, so we dropped him off and went to the play.  The play was Frozen - and it was awesome!  The kids had fun - David sat enraptured by the whole thing.  

Friday DMCO had our final rehearsal before the concert, and Anna had all-region auditions which also happens to be a big part of her grade, Eileen went down with the Call's and I went to pick Anna up and take her down to the rehearsal.  Thankfully the rehearsal was at the performing arts center instead of our usual rehearsal site, so it was much closer.  After rehearsal - I was up late hemming Eileen's dress.  

Saturday I had to squeeze in some organ practice before the concert - but thankfully it went pretty well and I didn't have to stay too late.  We all got ready - Eileen had to wear some makeup for the concert - she hated it and didn't see any difference, but I thought it made her look all too grown up...  We all got ready and headed for the concert.  

The concerts went well - my parents came and Dan brought the kids, we also saw other friends there too.  The whole night was amazing!  It was so neat to get to do this with my girls!  Eileen's feet started killing her in her shoes - so we traded shoes, but her's were much too small for me - had it just been discomfort, I could have dealt fine, but I couldn't actually fit my feet into her shoes, so I tucked the back under my heel and made do.  We survived (even our feet) and we headed home.  The girls wanted to stop for our traditional Chili's stop for a molten lava cake.  We had a great time together and then headed home full of chocolate, happy and tired.  

Organ mostly went well, though the program was incorrect which confused the chorister and caused a disorienting moment that made me mess up one of the intros. but otherwise, it went pretty well!   Eileen and another young woman were officially called as choristers, so we now have some more help!  Primary was more Christmas music and

Thanksgiving Fun

We've had a crazy week here.  Monday morning, Eileen had a doctor's appointment.  Then in the afternoon, we took Evelyn in to see the doctor because we were worried that she might have strep.  She was put on antibiotics and sent home.  David's tummy hasn't been feeling great either and he's getting new molars in.  It was a busy day - with all the kids home from school for the week, they went a bit stir crazy with all the sick-ies going around and needing to stay home and get better and not infect everyone else.  

Tuesday morning, David and Anna and I went down to the church for the workout group and playing, then David and I went to get our hair cut.  David did so well!  He sat still and listened to Cathy and was such a sweet heart for the whole thing!  After, he looked so much older.  :(  But he's still my sweet little boy!  Then I took him home so he could nap, then I dropped Koopa off for grooming and Anna had an eye appointment and then we picked up Koopa and finally headed home.  

On Wednesday, Evie had a follow up doctors appointment where it was determined that her sickness might be Strep or it might just be a viral infection...  Sigh.   With everything going on, we were worried we might have to postpone or cancel Thanksgiving dinners.  Thankfully, the kids woke up on Thursday feeling much better.  Fevers were back down and the kids were doing well.  We went to a friendsgiving on Thursday afternoon and had a great time.  Eileen found a new Naruto friend.  It was kinda funny to watch her attach herself to her new friend - (un?)fortunately he is a grown son of friends in the ward, so he isn't around much and I think he was a little confused by the 15 year old girl following him around wanting to talk about Naruto.... 

Friday, we got things ready for Thanksgiving with my family.  We went down to my parents house earlier in the day to decorate with Grandma Penny's ornaments.  Then we headed back to our house for Dan's yummy smoked turkey and a whole bunch of other super yummy food!  Then Sandi and I had fun singing Christmas songs together. 

Saturday, Anna and I went to work out with Sandi and Mom.  Then in the afternoon, Dan and I went to donate blood at a blood drive in our area.  It was done in honor of a young man in our ward.  Dan and I had fun being there and fun together.  Anna had fun and did a great job volunteering.  Dan and I had a friendly competition to see who would finish in the least amount of time - I won.  :) 

In the evening, we went to get our Christmas tree.  We headed down to Home Depot to pick it out and their employees miraculously managed to get it tied to the top of the van even without racks.  We had fun picking it out and getting it set up inside.  Now the kids are eager to decorate it - but they will have to wait until Monday!  

It's officially December!!!  That means countdown to Christmas!  We pulled out the Advent calendar tonight and the kids are all excited about it!  This morning in church, I got to play Christmas songs.  I've been practicing them on the organ forever, so it went well this morning - and I love Christmas Music!!!  We had a great turn out for the Children's Choir again - it's going to be wonderful!  We are heading into the craziest month of the year....  but also one of the best!!