Mom's Weekend

I had planned to do Time Out for Women with my Mom, sister, and sister-in-law this whole weekend, but Lila had planned an activity day mother-daughter activity for the Friday night so I went with her to that and she was so happy to give me a pedicure, make chapstick and bath salts and enjoy a treat together. It was a fun night and I'm glad we got to spend that time together.

Then I spent all Saturday at TOFW with the girls and had a great experience with them being spiritually uplifted. It was nice to take a break from responsibilities and fill our buckets with good spiritual messages.

I came back to a sick husband how was barely holding it together and may or may not have forgotten to pick up Lila after dance. I felt bad leaving him when he wasn't feeling well.

A Mom Birthday

Steve had planned to take me out to dinner Friday night but one crazy thing led to another and I wanted to play a game with the kids so we went out late Friday night to grab a burger at Red Robin. It was fun for the two of us to get out for a bit and it's nice that we have the girls who are both responsible enough to watch the boys. That night I woke up at 1am with a sharp pain in my shoulder. I must have pinched a nerve or something and it hurt so bad that I couldn't sleep so it was a rough night. The next morning I got up with the kids for a bit but then went back to bed. The weather was lovely Saturday and I kept thinking that we should go outside and enjoy it but I think we all needed a little down time. Ellie was recovering from a fall out mountain biking with Steve and Lila was fighting a cold and I was just plain tired so we took it easy. Steve managed to finish the windowsills for downstairs and those look great. Then Sunday was a normal day of church and meetings and we had the Face to Face with Elder Gong we watched after church.

So on my birthday I had scheduled a massage for 9 after the kids were in school which I was so grateful to help work out that soreness in my shoulder still. Then the rest of the day was low key which is what a Mom wants. My ministering sisters and friends had come Crumbl cookies delivered which were divine (I love cookies), Steve brought home lunch, I got several texts and emails from friends and neighbors which meant a lot to me, and the kids left me several cute notes. Andrew even gave me a 10 minute massage from Dad. I tried to explain that it wasn't a gift from him if Dad gave me the massage but he was totally perplexed because it was his idea and he made the card for it. 

The kids sang happy birthday in Chinese over one of the delicious cookies.

 

Then at the end of the day Andrew slipped me another homemade card that brought tears to my eyes, "I love you Mom and all the things we do. Love Andrew"

Steve's card was humorous about farts but the inside was a tenderly written card -- I love his notes to me they mean so much.

So there you have it, it was mostly a regular day with school carpool, dance, violin lessons, but the people around me made it special just as they do every day. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing people who care for me and my family. Life is good (even if it includes getting up 3 times in the night with a 6 year old who is having bad dreams and finding your 3 year old fevering and cranky in the morning -- hopefully it's just a cold bug that will pass quickly) I'm glad I get to celebrate another year!

Pieces of Life

Do you ever have those weeks where you have nothing big scheduled but all the small things make the week crazier than you anticipated? Well that happened this week. With Young Women in Excellence done (which by the way I was grateful Ellie was feeling better to attend this year because last year she was sick and missed her first one ever and I was in charge and then when she got sick the Wednesday before I prayed she'd get better quick which she did thank goodness so she was able to attend and she was given an honor bee at this year's event) and boys birthdays over I thought this week would be a walk in the park, but Parent Teacher Conferences, taking Ellie to the temple, and just lots of little things made it a bit crazier. Andrew kept asking me every day to help him finish one of the crafts in his kiwico crate but I kept putting him off. I finally decided I need to change a few things and enjoy the time I have with my kids so we started playing games after dinner and before the boys go to bed which has been great -- the TV is off more and we're connecting and bonding and I'm really grateful for the little kick in the pants to re-prioritize a few things. So here you have it a few of our little life moments this past week:

Marcus and his friend Max crafting during our playdate (love him and his family and we've been trading off so we can attend the temple during the day such a great thing for Moms and boys)

The time change with the end of daylight savings really messing up our sleep schedules. Boys get up at 6:30 because their bodies think it's 7:30 and they already go to bed at 7pm so I can't put them to bed earlier. . . oh the joys.

Story time -- there is this great story time at the library the kids just love and this week it was all about veterans and she had setup a baby boot camp obstacle course.

I volunteer every Friday in Andrew's classroom and Marcus loves to sit with Mickey and play on his leapster while I grade homework and do baggy books then we go into the computer class where we (well I) help the kids login.

Animal Andrew is 6

Here's the birthday boy patiently waiting for everyone else to come up so he can open his present.

he was excited to get a new bigger violin

After school he came running in and threw his backpack down and said I can't wait to play my new game and he did play it for a while. We had planned to go to the zoo after kindergarten but the friends we invited informed us it was a free day (every Wednesday in Nov & Dec) so we decided to not go fight the crowd. Andrew was a little disappointed so we went for a bike ride and then out to lunch which he loved.

After lunch we went to the store and let Andrew pick out a couple of flavors of ice cream. We were getting home about the same time as Lila (Ellie was already home sick -- she was downstairs resting). So we decided to do cake and ice cream before Lila had to go to dance.

Then Friday we invited a couple of friends and go to the zoo. Andrew invited Wes and Marcus and I invited our friends Jen and Emi and we had a great afternoon at the zoo.

Mimi and Grandpa bought the kids kiwico crates and we finally got around to opening them on Sunday. They loved it! Marcus went straight to bed with his new rainbow pillow, Andrew tried putting his socks and shoes on with his claw, Ellie has been playing her ukulele a lot, and Lila learned a lot of fun facts like cookie monster is yam monster in Nigeria.

There you have it, my little guy is growing up and would not like to be called a little guy, he's 6, in kindergarten and learning Chinese and he loves it. He likes to count in Chinese or say his shapes in Chinese. He's a good kid with a tumultuous relationship with his brother and he knows it. We are so grateful for him in our lives and the opportunity we had to celebrate his birthday, "you get it, 'birth' day the day I was born." says Andrew.

StevO is FourO

The kids did not have school today on Steve's birthday (it tends to happen that way a lot since it follows Halloween) so we decided to go out to lunch on our way to the play The Addams family at the Hale Center Theater. 

We chose to eat at The Cheesecake Factory since we had a couple of giftcards and it's yummy and I didn't have to make a cake because we could just order cheesecake. I felt a little guilty leaving Marcus behind with a babysitter for so long, but as soon as the cute girl got here he took her hand and said let's go upstairs and play so it was a win-win, he got some special attention and we got to enjoy something he definitely would not have enjoyed. ;)

The kids thought it was great to be out to eat and kept saying, "thank you for bringing us along".  We also really enjoyed the play. It was a fun outing and change of pace. We came home with our cheesecakes that we got to go because we were stuffed and sang Happy Birthday to Steve.

Happy Birthday Stevo! We love you and are so grateful for all you do for our family! Here's to another great year and adventure together.

Grueling Week of Ghostly Feats

Andrew went on his first field trip the week before Halloween. They went to Black Island Farms and he got to take a lunch and ride a bus and it was all awesome. Then we had the chance to go to Black Island Farms as a family on Friday, Oct 26, Lila's dance team offered a discounted ticket for that evening and the weather was lovely so we went. Since the weather was nice - Ellie, Steve, and I went out to do some yard work quickly before leaving (we had a short window when Ellie got home to get some things done). So we started up the mowers and blowers and raked leaves and mowed for the last time and then we managed to fill the garbage twice with leaves and half of our trees still have leaves. Then we were off to the pumpkin patch. Andrew was so excited tot tell us all the stuff that was there (since he had been there the week before) it made him feel like the big kid. ;) We first went out to the pumpkin patch (the sun was in our eyes as I tried to take pictures on the hayride).

Everyone found their pumpkin and we took them to the car then went to the courtyard for some fun. Andrew was stoked that the big slide was open and went running straight for it! and they all went down a couple of times.

Then off to the corn maze where Andrew swears we were going in a circle which you kind of do to get really get out. ;)

The kids had a blast just running around on the slides and playing. I love to see Marcus run as fast as he could to keep up with everyone and he would always come back and ask, "one more time, please?" Lila found some dance friends to hangout with for a bit. Then when it was dark and we had had a couple of hours of fun, we decided to call it good and went home.

 



The next morning Saturday, Oct 26, we got up and got ready to make a one day trip to Idaho so the kids could do the Harry Potter experience with Mimi and Grandpa. I decided to leave Steve at home working on a few projects (hoping to get a few things done before ski season is starts -- there are a few Saturdays that fall in a weird zone where it's too cold to be outside doing stuff and soccer is over but ski season hasn't started so I'm hoping we can capitalize on those and get a few lingering basement projects done). The trip up was pretty uneventful. The kids watched a movie and I listened to a book. We pulled into Rupert and met my parents at Burgers Etc for lunch where they then took the 3 older kids to Harry Potter and I proceeded on to Twin to visit with a college friend who recently had her 5th boy -- it was fun to catch up with her and I hope to see her more this winter as I learned they come to ski Snowbasin on occasion. The kids loved Harry Potter and we are grateful to Mimi and Grandpa who arranged their schedule to take them.

 





Andrew was the person selected to be measured for a wand. He thought that was great. He said at one point somebody asked him if he was Harry Potter and before he could say anything Anson said, "No that's Andrew."

 



They came home and were playing with their wands and Andrew was getting frustrated it wasn't working like ti did at the Harry Potter experience. I finally had to tell him that it was pretend and he could just have fun pretending or not play at all. I felt bad bursting his bubble, but seriously he was mad when the lights wouldn't turn on with his wand. . .


Then on Halloween Andrew had a little costume parade with the other kindergarten classes that Marcus and I went up to watch. Then we went to story time at the library and did a little trick or treating. 

Did I tell you that it was freezing all week? Like the morning temps were 11-12 degrees and highs were in the 20s. . .So when everyone came home I didn't really want to go outside and carve pumpkins like we had planned and I didn't want the mess inside so we decided to watch a Halloween movie and relax then we made Mummy dogs and got ready for trick or treating.

  
My dynamic duo :) Boy am I glad their costumes were a little big this year because we put them on top of snow suits.

They went out for an hour and had a good time. They of course had to go by the Johnsons to get a fresh homemade donut then they came home. A few minutes after they had been together a group of Ellie's friends came to the door and she decided to go back out with them and they watched a movie at a friend's house. She had fun. Lila got some one-on-one time with us after we put the boys to bed. I think the cold weather really affected trick or treating because we did not get that many trick or treaters and now we have a lot of leftover candy. . .