The first week of February was set to be a doozy. My Dad had surgery early Tuesday, February 3rd. I was grateful my sister Venessa could be up there to be with them. Things went pretty smoothly. His blood pressure has been low so they did an EKG before surgery and then he was complaining of chest pain after surgery so they did another EKG. The stone they removed from his bladder was so slippery from infection that it slipped out of the doctor's hands and he had to find it inside my Dad which took him an extra 30 minutes. They came home Wednesday and are getting into new rythyms and routines. So grateful for the power of prayer and that we could fast for him.
Wednesday, February 4th Lila had dance at Ririe Woodbury so Steve graciously drove her down there after school then went to work while I drove the boys around to all of their after school activities which included an open house at the Jr High for Andrew. Can you believe it? His schedule is going to be packed so he is going to try to do PE online over the summer to make space in his schedule for everything.
Friday, February 6th I went in for Marcus's class's Fun Friday activity. I had planned to do some Olympic games with the kids since it was the night of opening ceremonies. We did a torch run with a tissue paper on top of a pool noodle, we did a curling activity where they pushed a paper plate as far as they could with a pool noodle, then we did speed skating on paper plates as I was demonstrating this activity I managed to slide out and did a superman across the gym floor 😂I'm grateful I didn't get too hurt (Marcus thinks we should get the footage and submit it to AFV but I don't know if it's worth any kind of prize). We did a couple of other activities then we went back to the classroom where everyone sang Happy Birthday to Marcus and we passed out cupcakes. I was glad I could go in that day even with the injury to my pride with my fall.
Saturday, February 7th, Steve took Andrew to his final VEX Robotics competition while I went to the baptism of one of my cute primary kids from last year (the final one had a December birthday). It was so special! I came home and checked in with Steve. Andrew's team was not doing great but then just as Marcus and I were loading up to go watch they scored 101 points a new district record. They went on to score 94, then 109, and their final run was 111 (so they broke their own record two more times). They also got the high score in skills. They were a little frustrated with the skills judge because she wasn't going to give them the 100 points so they went and did another competition and knew they should be getting that many points so they went to the skills judge and politely advocated for themselves and they did in fact score over 100 points in the skills. I told Steve they have learned some great life skills: diligence in problem solving, adapting to the problems they were experiencing, and self advocating. So proud of them! They were so happy and the qualified for state! 🙌 As they were being given their awards this cute Mom & Grandma in front of us turned around and say they had noticed Andrew and his teammates and how gracious they were and how they congratulated the teams they played with; they said they were very polite and gracious winners. Another win for my Mama heart!
Then we came home and took Marcus to his afternoon basketball game. When we got home we began preparations for Sweethearts. Lila had been working on her hair while we were at basketball and it turned out beautiful but was frustrated with her nails and didn't think we had time to do anything but we setup a station and I did my left hand nails with a bunch of options so she could choose a color. We all pitched in and got to work.
Here are some pictures. It was a balmy 57 that day but Lila was still freezing outside.
Steve and I did a workout then I started cooking dinner because I had begged Lila to let me host dinner. I was having a hard time deciding what to make for the dinner and the kids were not any help. So I finally decided I did not need to cook everything from scratch so I went to Sam's and got Chicken Cordon Blue, Scalloped Potatoes, Salad, and two Trifle Cakes then I made Lila's favorite garlic croissant bread. It turned out so yummy and the kids enjoyed themselves.
The dance was from 8-10pm so I fed them dessert around 7:30pm giving them time to get to the dance but then they went downstairs and were playing and swing dancing.
So Steve had to finagle a car out of the garage to get Andrew to his 8:30pm basketball game. They left around 9pm for the dance after the girls all changed into their tennis shoes because you can't wear high heels on the gym floor. Then they went to Macey's after the dance to play games. They all had good time and I'm so glad they worked and planned it out together. They did their day date on Friday, they did a craft which I still have not seen yet. I'll have to ask about that. Anyway, cute group of kids.
After they left for the dance, I began wrapping presents and changing the decor from sweetheart to football birthday. I kept teasing Marcus that I had not bought him any presents and when I took dessert up to the boys I told him this was it, the only cake he was getting. So he was not for sure if we was getting presents or not. He did get a little early present, I let the boys each open a pack of football cards on Saturday to entertain them while I setup for sweethearts. Then there was a giant football card on top of his presents and when he opened it he was delighted to find it was of his favorite football player, Christian McCaffrey (so lucky!). He kept asking me if I picked that and I said no we just got lucky, maybe I should have said yes and claimed a small Mom victory point. 😉
Steve made the requested pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Marcus wanted to skip church because it was his birthday but I said we all go to church when our birthday lands on Sunday so we went. We took the dog for a quick walk after church. Then we had super bowl snack foods per Marcus's request. All he wanted to do was watch the Super Bowl for his birthday. I did managed to gather the family to play Family Feud Football and we all had a lot of fun. I think we need to do that more together and maybe as extended family that could be fun at holiday gatherings.
Steve ran the game for us and about halfway through Ellie realized he had the same name as Steve Harvey the host of family feud and started making it funny comments like, "well Steve I think I'm going to go with. . ." We were all laughing.
I knew the weekend would be crazy so we scheduled an escape room for Monday and we had a blast. I was impressed with how well the kids think through things. We have some coupons to go do one in Ogden that everyone says is the best but we had to do this one and Ellie had already done it on a date so it worked out to do this one for Marcus's birthday.
What a week. I love my family and am so grateful for the time we get to spend together! I'm grateful for Steve who not only puts up with my crazy ideas but helps them become a reality (playing family feud or decorating for sweethearts). Life is good and crazy and I'm just trying to soak up every minute. Lila is graduating next year. . .I try not to think about it too much. She is so amazing and working so hard this year. Andrew is going to Jr High and becoming and official teenager this year. And my baby Marcus just turned 10. . .double digits! YIKES! He is so kind and loving and a little crazy but we love him for being our crazy caboose and keeping us on our toes and full of life.