Well Steve's birthday is always exciting because as usual the kids didn't have school. We slept in a little and then made breakfast. Steve opened presents with fancy Amazon wrapping. 😂 Marcus got the birthday hat out of the crafting area and had Steve wear it, I didn't get a good picture of that.
We had talked about going down to have lunch with Ellie but she needed to stay after in a lab for homework help so the timing wasn't going to work. Steve and I went for an afternoon run then made crunch wraps for lunch which everyone enjoyed. Then it was back to normal work and getting ready for the crazy evening. I took Andrew to his call time for his first orchestra concert. The orchestra conductor has been trying to schedule her final cello concert for her masters for 4 years, it was first postponed due to COVID then they have moved 3 times and had 4 kids so life just got crazy. After getting him settled, I came home and got Lila ready to go to her first live performance of Scrooge. We dropped Steve off at the orchestra concert then Marcus and I drove Lila up for her call time on Weber campus. Then Marcus and I managed to make it back in time to hear Andrew perform their big number. Dr Ryan Murphy was in attendance too.
Steve really enjoyed the concert which I'm glad because it was his birthday. Then we brought the boys home and they started doing our puzzles that came in the mail. I always try to get them to restart around Steve's birthday because I know he loves puzzles. Miles even joined in and almost finished the puzzle while the boys were in bed so he took apart some sections so they could do more the next day.
Lila texted around 9:15 that they were going on for bows so I headed out to pick her up. We didn't have time to do Steve's birthday dessert so I decided to save it for Sunday. As I was going to bed I sent him this text, "I love you! Sorry today wasn't anything special but I sure do like spending every day with you. 💕🎉🎂"
Saturday, November 2nd, Lila had 2 Scrooge performances. So I got up early got her breakfast and ran her again up to Weber campus (I drove up and back 10 times this week 😜). Then I cam home and got Marcus ready for basketball. We sent him and Steve early for their scheduled pictures which only 4 people showed up for so they ended up not doing any. I got a few things done around the house then Andrew and I ran to Home Depot to get the kids craft for the day before heading to their game. It is always fun to watch and they played a few kids we know from the neighboring elementary school so that was fun. Towards the end of the game he got hit in the knee with a ball and his little scab started bleeding. It happened at practice on Monday too and the coach put a bandaid on, I thought it had healed enough wouldn't bleed again, but next thing we know Marcus is holding his knee practically up to his chest and hoppping down the court with tears in his eyes. The ref scooped him up and ran him to the bench where we could see blood running down his leg. I ran over with a bandaid and just like that he was better. I wish I would have taken a picture of him being scooped off the court. Our friends have a son that refs for the city and he said the number one rule they repeat over and over is never touch the kids. . .whoopsie. It made for a funny moment and story. When I picked Lila up I told her Marcus was carried off the court do to an injury. 😂 We picked up Burly Burgers on our way home for Steve's special birthday meal. We had talked about going to Lagoon for a couple of hours but I think everyone was a little tired and looking forward to relaxing a bit. The boys were playing upstairs nicely so we just chilled.
Then at 5pm I sent Steve and the boys to Andrew's basketball game. Then Lila and I picked up a friend in the neighborhood who was going to see Scrooge with me that night. She and I had so much fun and actually really enjoyed the show. It was a definitely and interpretive dance version but we enjoyed it. They had learned the dance three different ways to accommodate a mixture of girls who wanted to attend the school's Harvest dance that was also that weekend. This evening Lila ended up having a little solo center stage and she said it was the best team performance of the weekend (the first night one of the girls who had not attended any dress rehearsals split with the wrong group and ended up winging it 😧).
Then home to change clocks for the end of day light savings. Sunday was a low key day. We had a yummy Reeses lava cakes after dinner to celebrate Steve's birthday.
Monday was life as usual. The dance company Lila has been dancing with on Mondays is changing things so that was a little frustrating and tricky to figure out while I was also helping with the music for the play after school. Then Marcus went straight to basketball practice. Tuesday, November 5th, I checked the boys out early to go to the orthodontist. Things are looking good. Marcus needs to get his two bottom canine teeth pulled so I need to call and get that scheduled. They had a game to guess the score of the BYU vs UofU Football game. The orthodontist asked them what they guessed and who they are rooting for. I told him our oldest is at the U but the boys are rooting for BYU and he told them their secret was safe with him. 😂 Marcus of course got some time on the Ipads while he waited for his exam. Then we had piano lessons, violin group lessons, and Andrew had a volleyball game. He managed to get to overhead serves in and a couple of passes back over the net so some good skills being practiced. I stayed home and made his birthday cake for the next day. Steve video called me for the first set so I could watch for a bit.
Andrew had a few minor requests for his birthday: 1. he wanted a collapsible staff. 2. an escape room adventure. 3. to not go to school on his birthday. Well he woke up not feeling well so he stayed home. Marcus was totally upset he still had to go to school. 😂 He opened the small box from us which happened to be the collapsible staff and when he opened the plastic that thing shot out. Glad nobody was next to him to get hit by it. I think Steve accidentally triggered it when he opened the box to look at while wrapping it up.
Miles left a few Taiwan birthday surprises out for Andrew.
After everyone was at school, he read and did some computer time then I sent him to take a nap and he slept for 2 hours. He woke up with a low grade fever (which none of the rest of us had). Gave him some Advil and he felt fine so we went ahead and booked an escape room. It was only going to be us in the room anyway so we wouldn't be getting anyone else sick. Ellie recommended one that had a good time for us. Steve went and picked up R&R BBQ for dinner and Andrew ate his pulled pork sliders which I was grateful for because he hadn't eaten much all day. Then we loaded up and headed to the escape room. Marcus was a little nervous about it being scary and the room was a little dark. We all had a lot of fun!
We came home and had cake and ice cream then took Lila to her youth activity. The boys skipped activity days to do the birthday celebrations (and Andrew wasn't feeling well so it was probably for the best). However as we were getting ready for bed, Andrew really took a turn for the worse. His throat really hurt and he even threwup. He woke up on Thursday really early. I gave him some Advil, got him to eat a banana, and then sent him back to bed where he slept until noon. He woke up feeling a lot better but low energy still so we did online violin lessons and skipped that evening's volleyball game. Marcus came home and told us that he spent 25 tickets at school the next day for a reward that included going around and talking to everyone and he told everyone about the escape room. Love it! After dinner we had a relaxing evening watching the first half of the Jazz game before putting the boys to bed. So there you have it, 1 birthday on 1 Nov and Andrew turned 1-1. I almost titled it 9-1-1 because of how crazy everything was but we had fun. I hope these boys know how much I love them and how grateful I am for their role in our family.