May 17, 2015

This week started out rough.  While I was typing up our post from the previous week, Tommy was quietly playing upstairs.  When am I going to learn that a toddler boy playing quietly for an extended period of time is NEVER a good thing?  I'm so used to the girls coloring or playing dolls for an hour that when Tommy disappears to play I don't worry at first.  Now I know I can never leave him alone again.  I came upstairs to find this......

One of my favorite colors of nail polish was painted all over Buzz Lightyear and my bedroom carpet.  When I tried to get out the polish with acetone, it just made a big red stain.  It looks like an animal died in our bedroom.  We're going to cut it out and replace it with another piece of carpet.  Good thing we hate this carpet - bad news is, we're not financially ready to refloor the upstairs yet.  Hopefully our patch job will look good and hold up for a while.  Now when Tommy sees his beloved Buzz doll he says "Oh no Buzz!" and sadly puts it down.  He hasn't really played with Buzz since the polish incident.  I know I can't get the polish off Buzz because the plastic will deteriorate.  Poor Buzz and his bloody looking wounds might be banished to the bottom of the toy box.

 Tommy was really on a roll last Monday.  He smashed crackers into the couch, spilled cereal on the kitchen table, bonked Annie in the head with a remote control, wandered off to a neighbor's house while I was pulling weeds, you get the idea.  I couldn't keep up with him and he was all over the place.  I was so happy when bedtime finally rolled around Monday night!

 Annie had her final rehearsal before her recital.  Her teacher gave us the pictures from the class photo shoot.  Cracks me up that Annie's bangs are so wacky from her personal hair cutting/styling fiasco.  I suppose now we'll forever have documented proof that four year olds cannot be trusted with scissors.

 The weather was beautiful most of the week.  The kids invited two friends over for a picnic and play date.  Lily can do front flips on the trampoline now.  She hasn't mastered landing on her feet but she can flip in the air.  I tried to get a picture of her in motion, but none of them turned out.

 

On Wednesday Jeremy left for Provo, UT to attend a CES Financial Conference at BYU.  Tommy was hoping Daddy wouldn't notice a certain two year old hiding in his suitcase.  We were all sad to see Daddy go. Tommy cried and tried to chase the car down the street as Daddy drove away.  To help lift everyone's mood, I treated the kids to lunch at Wendy's.  We had a lot of fun together and the kids ate all their food - which is unusual for our little ones.  While we had lunch, the girls took turns taking pictures of each other.  I had a good laugh after lunch seeing what they captured.

 This photo on the bottom left with Annie's tongue out is so perfect.  I laugh every time I look at it.  How I love this crazy girl!

 Lily is sweet and silly - as always.

 

Jeremy sent back a few pictures from the conference.  The above photo is on campus in front of the Wilkinson Center.  The road does not go through anymore.  It is a roundabout.  Looks nice and much safer.  BYU-Idaho did something similar years ago in front of our student center and it is so nice. On Thursday night, Jeremy went bowling with some of the conference people.  In the background is Jeremy's boss Shane Webster.  Jeremy got three strikes and a few spares.  He won the game that night.  By bed time Friday night, Daddy was back home and we were so happy to see him.  I'm so glad we have a Daddy like Jeremy; and I'm so glad when Daddy comes home!

 Wednesday night Lily had her first soccer practice of the season.  She was really nervous before practice started.  I was so proud of how bravely she stepped up to introduce herself to her coach while picking up her new uniform and gear.  She is number 5.  Coach had them run a lot and practice passing, stopping, and dribbling the ball.  Tommy and Annie were good cheerleaders - until the snacks ran out.  The next day Lily was so tired from practice that she passed out on the couch after school.  She hasn't taken an afternoon nap for a very long time.  I can't wait until Annie's soccer starts.  I love it when the kids play so hard!

 

Lily's kindergarten countdown is still going strong.  This week we had K,L,M,N, and O themed days.  On the M day, a magician came to school and did a show for the kindergarten classes.  Lily was totally impressed.  She talked about it nonstop.  N was noodle day.  The kids brought in noodles to make necklaces or art.  Lily chose a necklace and made it for me.  She couldn't wait to give it to me. It was really itchy, but I wore it all day for her.

 Tommy is finally tall enough to ride his little red bike.  He likes to wear a helmet every time he gets on the bike - but he doesn't like it to be strapped under his chin.  Every few seconds the helmet falls off and he has to put down the bike, replace the helmet, and get going again.  As you can see from his mean biker face....he takes his bike riding very seriously. 

 Lily's coach wants all the kids to run or do do 30 minutes of cardio exercise 5 times a week all season so strengthen their lungs and legs.  Serious little Lily is determined to do what coach wants.  She has been running and biking with friends all week. Saturday was pouring rain so I took her to the indoor track at BYU-I to run.  She did a whole mile in about 25 minutes.  She didn't run the entire time, but she kept a good pace and liked having me next to her to cheer her on.

 Saturday after our exercise we invited some friends over to play and make cookies.  The kids decided on chocolate chip cookies with sprinkles and M&M's.  The helped make the dough and rolled the cookies in their favorite toppings before baking.  It was a little hectic trying to manage five kids all wanting to help in our little kitchen, but we succeeded in making the cookies and the kids were super proud of their work.

 Our blackberries haven't ever yielded fruit; so Jeremy decided to try moving them to a warmer and sunnier spot.  He dug holes for the transplants and filled them with water.  While he went to retrieve the berry plants, Tommy jumped in one of the muddy holes and had a grand old time!  He was soaked and muddy all the way up to his rear end.  And he was happy as a clam.  We made him rinse off outside and remove all his clothes before he could go in the house.  He liked the rinsing just as much as the mud.

Lily's buddy Claire came over to play.  The kids were thrilled when we had a break in the rain and they could go outside.  They climbed trees and jumped and danced on the trampoline.  They needed to burn off the energy from the chocolate chip cookies!  It was a perfect Saturday afternoon with fun and friends.  A great way to finish off the week.

We had two sad things happen this week.  One of Mommy's young women leaders was recently diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer.  It ravaged her body much quicker than doctors had first anticipated.  She passed away Friday morning.  She wasn't every old - only in her fifties.  It was hard for me to see someone who I remember having such vitality slowly fade over the past month.  I am thankful for Kelly's service to me as a youth; and I pray her husband, children, and grandchildren will be comforted.

Also on Friday we got news that our baby nephew Nolan (Josh and Chelsea's son) was in the hospital on i.v. antibiotics for an infection in his abdomen.  His connection between his umbilical cord and bladder did not close completely before he was born and has caused some infection and complications.  He will be having surgery in two weeks to repair the opening.  And hopefully the antibiotics will improve his health and strength before the surgery.

So we had a wonderful week but we have two families weighing heavily on our hearts right now.  We hope and pray for strength and comfort for both of them.

May 10, 2015

 We are so enjoying the finished (almost) basement.  I let the kids have lunch down there last Monday.  It was fun to eat around the little play table together.  They girls hung their Frozen posters in the play area under the stairs.  Annie and Tommy especially are loving the little kids space.

Cinco de Mayo was a busy day in our house.  Jeremy signed up to bring a dessert for the annual work potluck.  I made him a tres leches cake because it was one of his favorite things from his mission.  And we decided to decorate it with kiwi and strawberries because those are the colors of Mexico's flag. The cake was gone in less than two hours.  I am always amazed people like this cake.  I don't like the texture and I think it doesn't have a lot of flavor, but I'm glad it made Jeremy and his coworkers happy. They told him he should bring in another cake the very next day.  He told them his wife is too busy.

After getting the cake out the door, I had to get myself and all the kids ready for school.  Lily was dancing in her Spanish immersion assembly first thing in the morning.  All the kids in her class painted their faces the colors of various flags from Spanish speaking countries.  Lily's flag was Columbia.  She wore the face paint until bed time - and still had a slightly blue nose the next morning even after lots of scrubbing.  Her dance was great.  She knew it better than anyone and had good rhythm too.  She was so excited to have us there for the performance.  I was impressed with the entire assembly.  All the immersion classes K-2nd grade participated and did a dance, song, or skit.  Kudos to the teachers for all their hard work.

After the assembly, I was preparing to go home.  Lily's teacher asked if I could stay to help with the Cinco de Mayo rotation stations the rest of the morning.  Two moms who had signed up backed out at the last minute. I told her that I had to keep my little kids with me and she assured me that wouldn't be a problem.  Well......it was! 
I was assigned the pinata making station with two other moms.  Each child was given two paper snow cone cups and a handful of candy.  We were supposed to help them fill one cup with candy and hot glue the mouths of the snow cone cups together to create a small pinata.  Then the kids were allowed to decorate the pinatas with tissue paper and glue. 
The cups would not glue together!  We were running around the classrooms and supply closets looking for making tape or duct tape to keep the darn things together.  Then the kids kept eating their candy and making a mess of the tissue paper.  Two of the classes were so rude that one of the moms made them put their heads down rather than assemble the pinatas.  Tommy was eating the candy and leaving partially eaten pieces everywhere.  Annie was upset that she couldn't go with Lily to rotate through all the other stations so she followed me around crying for almost two hours.  Then Tommy kept getting into the blocks and puzzles in the classroom and spilling them all over the floor.  I felt like a crazy person for three hours.  I was so happy when it was time to go home. 
All of us went home, had lunch and took a little rest.  Happy Cinco de Mayo to us!

Tommy is in love with this little vehicle that belongs to our neighbor boys.  He can't steer very well and gets stuck all the time, but he sure loves to try.  Lily wants to ask Santa for one of these this year for Christmas.  We tried to tell her that Santa might not be able to deliver such a big, expensive gift.  Her faith in Santa's abilites could not be swayed.  She KNOWS his elves can just make one.  Ugh!

My favorite part of the week was a Mother's Day brunch in Lily's class.  I'm amazed they let me back in the school after the messes Annie and Tommy made on Cinco de Mayo.  The moms donated foods for the brunch.  Lily made little finger sandwiches with me that morning before school.  She was so proud to pass them out to her friends.  I also bought some brownie bites at the store.  Lily made me a placemat, a book, and a salt dough hand print.  I left Tommy and Annie with a sitter so I could just focus on Lily that morning.  She appreciated the private time with Mom.  We had a wonderful little tea party.

Friday night Daddy and Tommy braved the Fathers and Sons campout.  The weather was rainy and windy.  Jeremy was in charge of the dinner - which meant I was in charge of all the shopping and prep.  The landowner who let the ward camp on his property raises horses.  When Jeremy showed up to get the fires going for dinner, a bunch of horses came running to investigate.  Tommy wanted to get near the horses, but Daddy was concerned Tommy might spook them with his squealing and quick movements.  So Bubba was confined to a camp chair until the horses left.  Tommy ate his fill of orange soda, Cheetos, watermelon, and cookies.  They both came home dirty and tired.  I guess that means it was a successful campout.

While the boys were gone, the girls did puzzles, played games, painted our finger nails, and snuggled to watch Sleeping Beauty.  Notice the big gash on Annie's chin?  She was playing tag with some friends and one of her buddies accidentally scratched Annie's chin while trying to tag her.  The scab is huge.  Hopefully it will be healed soon.

Sunday was Mother's Day.  Jeremy was determined to give me a morning off.  He brought me breakfast in bed and the kids all climbed up to help celebrate.  Tommy helped himself to my bacon and oranges.  He also opened my presents for me.

I really love my mother necklace.  It has a birthstone jewel for each child in our family - even little Peanut who hasn't arrived yet.

Tommy didn't want to leave me alone to read my new book and eat my breakfast so he got to be my companion in bed.  He loves my new necklace - probably because I rarely wear necklaces, so it's exciting and different to him.  Jeremy played with the kids all morning and got them ready for church too.  I met with the bishop to ask to be released from one of my callings.  Two callings plus three little kids and a baby on the way was starting to take a toll on me.  He was sad to release me as choir director but I know it's the best decision for this season of my life - especially while Jeremy has a leadership calling too.  I cried a lot while the bishop and I talked, I love music so much but it is hard to nurse a baby and be on time to choir, run an hour long rehearsal, and be ready during sacrament meetings for musical numbers when baby needs to eat.  I did it with Tommy and it made me a little crazy.  I hope the ward choir will understand.

This was the first Mother's Day that I got to watch the girls sing with the Primary.  I was the Primary pianist for all the years Lily and Annie have been in Primary so far.  It was great to finally sit in the congregation and see our darling girls' faces.  It is great to have so many reasons to celebrate on this holiday after many years of sadness.  Even in the midst of the craziness, I know we are truly blessed!