The girls did not have school on Monday March 27th which I thought was kind of odd because they had spring break the following week so they went back for 4 days then off for a week. The even trickier part was it rained all day so we could not even go outside and enjoy the day, but the girls still managed to have a nice day off. They got their chores done early in the morning and then they read and colored all day. Andrew of course loves having them home.
Tuesday I got a text from Steve's sister Stephanie saying her kids were on spring break and they were coming up to the Aerospace Museum in Ogden. They were going to get there about 2 which is when Marcus naps and then the girls would be home soon so I told her that I didn't think we could meet her there, but to come over after and we would do dinner and hangout. The kids pulled out Lord of the Rings Monopoly and played that. I whipped together a chicken salad and we had a nice visit.
Steve's been painting more doors. We bought doors to replace the ones that have holes in them (they were like that when we bought the house and we just always planned on replacing them when we bought doors for the basement so here we are). He spent all day Wednesday painting and hanging doors. They look nice!
Thursday Lila had a field trip to the aquarium and asked if we would go so we could run into her. I had planned on going to the aquarium that week so we obliged and went that day. I texted one of my visiting teachees who wanted to go and I told her we'd go together and she could get in on my pass. So we wandered around the aquarium for an hour and half. Andrew was in really cranky mood that morning and then a trout bit him while he was feeding them and well he was ready to go after that, but we hadn't seen Lila yet so we wandered around said Hi then went home.
That afternoon I decided to deep clean the kitchen in preparation for Lila's baptism and company coming over next weekend (with it being spring break I didn't want the girls to feel like we spent the whole time cleaning so I was trying to plan ahead). This also meant go through a stack of mail I had been putting off for a while. We had just received our tax papers so it was good timing. Also in the stack of mail I found a letter from the IRS saying we had already filed our taxes . . . so I called our accountant and he said no he hadn't filed to call the number and see what they say. I called the IRS number they said my answers didn't match what they have on file and I need to make an appointment with an IRS tax specialist. So I have an appointment later to try and figure this all out. I was fighting a little headache that day, but after that it turned into a migraine and Steve was working late in Draper so I was worried about how the night would play out, but the girls watched the boys so I could rest with an ice pack for a minute. I had made a dinner earlier in the week and then just stored it in the fridge and was glad to have it to pull out and cook that night. The kids didn't shower, but they were fed and I let them watch Master Chef Junior.
Friday I did some credit checks just to make sure we had no other identity fraud issues. Fortunately, I didn't see anything and I'll keep a close eye on it. Then I went and graded spelling for Mrs. Johnson (Lila's English teacher--I do that every Friday). Another one of Steve's sisters Melanie and her daughter Natalie were coming over for dinner so I had put in some beef carnitas in the crockpot and Andrew and I made cheesecake cookie bars for dessert. They were running late so we turned on a movie to distract the kids while we waited--we watched "While You Were Sleeping". Cute show. We had a nice visit with them then everyone went to bed.
April 1st was on Saturday and with it being General Conference I decided to do a brunch Fools Cafe during the first session. I told the kids they could have a bowl of cereal when they woke up to hold them over then I began preparations. Steve went to help a family move at 9am and didn't get back until 11, but the kids were looking forward to it so at 10:15 I began without him and it turned out fine. The girls helped Andrew order and they enjoyed figuring out what was on the menu.
It was a nice day of watching conference and resting.
We decided to go for a hike after the afternoon session. Andrew was in a feisty mood after his nap and I didn't know if we could get him to go. I finally told him he could where my watch and be our timer. He thought that was great and excitedly got read (seriously this was after 20 minutes of discussion with him and him throwing a fit at everything). When we got hiking he was loving it. He was out in front and never once did he slow down. Since we got a later start we new time would be our limiting factor so we didn't make it all the way to the falls, we turned around with probably a mile left to go. It was crazy because Steve said the way back should be easier because it's mostly down hill and I said, "yeah, but that can be the most difficult part for kids." And as soon as we turned around Andrew had a little fall and then he was whining and complaining the whole way back. He held my hand the whole way back and we stayed at the back of the group. I would distract him by saying yell out how many steps we need to take so he would yell up, "20 more steps." "4 more steps." We sang primary songs and played I spy with my little eye to distract him.
The girls wanted to take a picture on this rock as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. Then we stop and got ice cream cones on the way home. It was a great day and the kids kept saying how much fun they had on the hike. They really are good hikers. We came home bathed them and let Steve watch the Priesthood session. I fed Andrew some dinner since in his fiestiness he refused to eat before we left on the hike. I gave him a soft boiled egg leftover from our Fools Brunch and he happily said, "Mom is this a Humpty Dumpty." That's what I called the egg on the menu. I'm glad he enjoyed our cafe and the food. :)