Spring Break

So this was our book club book last month. I recommend it just for some great thoughts on how to decide what things to keep in your house.  Her main theme is to surround yourself with things that give you joy - so if you have ____ lying around your house and it doesn't spark joy or help make you happy - get rid of it.  There were some funny things in there that seemed a bit extreme but it really has helped me de-clutter a bunch of my stuff.  I'm not done, but I'm working on it.  I wish I could put the rest of my normal life on hold so I could just tackle the whole house, but I guess I'll just have to take it a little at a time.  

SPRING BREAK

So when the kids are home I love that I don't have a time frame to get them out the door and that we can relax a bit and I can make them special breakfasts, however I don't love the noise and constant fighting all the time.  Now my kids are for the most part pretty good, but they are normal siblings with plenty of teasing, shouting, poking, etc.  But for the most part we had a good week.

Monday: We cleaned out the toys!  We brought all of the toys out and sorted them and then the kids helped decide which ones they were done with.  The nicer ones I have posted on FB and have already sold a few of them.  

It was a gorgeous day and the hottest day yet so we broke out the swimsuits and put the sprinkler under the tramp.   

Tuesday was not as warm - cloudy and windy but still warm.  We drove down to Galveston to play at the beach.  The traffic was not ideal.  It took about an hour and 40 minutes to get there and 2 hours back.  The kids had a great time.  I wished we had gotten there sooner so we could have had more time.  We left at 3:00 to try and beat the traffic, I don't know if we succeeded because it was still pretty bad - but it probably would have been worse at 4 or 5.  

The bad part about the day was that I didn't put sunscreen on very well.  I put it on everyone's faces and shoulders.  Tyler and Chris were wearing their t-shirts then, but when they took them off I didn't put any on their backs.  Soooo we all got pretty burned.  Tyler, Chris and I all had very red backs.  The girls were red on their legs a bit, but it wasn't as bad.  Damon kept his swim shirt on their whole time so he was good.  I need to go get some of those for Tyler and Chris.  Anyway I felt like a terrible mom since it was my fault and I hated hearing the boys complain of their backs hurting for the rest of the week.  Lesson learned.  :)  We are all peeling now. 

Jenna learned to ride her big bike without training wheels this week.  Doug decided to give it a try and see how see would do.  It took her two days to get it.  She can almost start on her own, but she is so excited that she can ride "all by myself!"   Kaylee has tried a couple of times now.  She is still pretty nervous (Jenna was too at first), but she will get it. 

 Wednesday we went through clothes.  I did Tyler and Chris's  I still need to do the girls'.  The kids enjoyed having a bit more screen time over the break - the girls are getting into Minecraft which I don't love very much.  But when I watch them play they are just building houses and digging around so I guess that's not too bad.  

Thursday I went visiting teaching and then we went up to the mall.  The kids love looking at the LEGO store.  I let them ride on the carousel for a special treat.  Then in the afternoon Damon and Tyler had their well-child doctor visits.  They are both doing well. Tyler is off the chart on height.  He is the average height of an 11 1/2 year old.  (he is almost 9)

 The boys played with Legos a bunch over the week and came up with some cool space ships.  Last week Doug and I stayed up with the boys and let them watch Episode 3 of Star Wars.  We just skipped a few scenes.  They were quite thrilled to watch it.  Damon wants the new episode 7 Wii game, but I'm pretty sure they only make it for the Wii U and not the regular system.  The boys want an XBox and we have thought about giving them one for their birthday, but I just don't know if this is the right time.  We'll have to keep thinking about it.  

We did some cleaning on Friday and just stayed at home again.  We really didn't do a whole lot over the break, but I think the kids were glad to just take it easy.  

Doug and I were able to go to the temple on Saturday.  It was a great session.  The temple worker saying the prayer was truly inspired and it touched both Doug and I about some things that we had been praying about.  It had been too long since we had be able to go together.  I'm so glad that we went.  We even went out to dinner after with some members of the ward.  I tried a stuffed avacado.  It was good but a little bit too rich/greasy - especially since I had already eaten so much chips and dip.  

Odds and Ends and a Great Saturday

So this is the second week of March.  Doug left early Monday morning for a quick work trip.  He went to a Halliburton facility about 3 hours away, he got home Tuesday late afternoon.  I don't like going to sleep when Doug is gone, but I do like that I don't have to cook or tidy up the house as much.  We did have to pick up a bunch before he came home though. :)  

This week I finished Jenna's dress.  I sewed Kaylee's the week before.  So doing something the second time is always easier than the first and I figured out a better way to sew the dress, so of course the perfectionist in me had to make Kaylee's match.  So I unpicked all of Kaylee's skirt and re-sewed it.  It was kind of a pain, but I'm glad that I did.  The girls looked so cute going to church in their new dresses.  

This is how they started - shirt I bought awhile ago online with some fabric (shopping for fabric with little kids is NOT my favorite thing to do!) 

You can't really tell but this is a woodpecker flying away from our window.  Every once in awhile we will get a wood pecker knocking on our window or house.  Or sometimes they will try to fly into the window - silly birds. 

 So the kids are learning about state history right now and yep the folks here sure do love Texas. It's fun though.  Chris learned the song: "Deep in the heart of Texas," which I had heard maybe once or twice before.  Anyway, it's been fun to hear him and the other kids that I take to school in the morning belt out the song full of Texas pride.  :)

We had a storm roll through this week - it was supposed to rain a lot, it did rain, but nothing crazy.  But because of the forecast they postponed Damon's big research event until after Spring Break.  So I worked quite a bit over the weekend and Monday evening getting his costume ready, and then I find out that I had two more weeks to get it done.  Oh well, it's finished now.  He did his report on Theodore Roosevelt - I'll post about it later. 

So on Saturday Doug let me have my last birthday present - a day off shopping!!  I had so much fun with my friend Kari and I have never spent so much on myself at one time before.  It was a lot of fun.  I tried not to feel too bad about it.  I really did need a bunch of new things and after doing the math at home I calculated it out to average about $13 per item.  I bought 18 clothing items and a new purse.  We went to the Houston Outlets and it was a great place.  We really only went to 2-3 stores though.  I bought all of my things at Banana Republic and Gap.  Thanks Kari for the fabulous day and thanks to Doug for letting me go!

First Week of March

I have a just a few minutes before church and I thought I would try to tackle this week's events.  It was a pretty good week that wasn't too busy.  The girls have been good to take naps a little more often than normal, it's about 3 times a week now that they fall asleep.  

Kaylee was funny to fall asleep in the laundry basket.

Monday was laundry and a quick trip to the mall to play and JoAnn's to get some supplies to make a present for my friend's birthday.  I made one of those nest necklace's.  I'll have to take a picture and add it later.

Tuesday was dance class and scout committee meeting in the evening.

Wednesday I spent the day at home doing things around the house and I worked on a dress for Kaylee.  I got hers done, but now I need to start Jenna's.  I'll post when they are both done. Scouts in the evening.

Thursday the girls had preschool and I went to the dentist for a cleaning.  My teeth looked good so I was glad for that.  That evening I had a GNO with some friends to celebrate my birthday a little bit late and another friends birthday was that day.  We went to a cute bakery/cafe.  I ordered a lemon tart that was very good.  It was probably too big for one setting, but I just kept nibbling at it while we talked and of course it just disappeared. :)  I have some great friend here and I am so grateful that Doug lets me get out and have some girl fun sometimes.  

Friday we went to the park for playgroup, we rode our bikes since it was close.  We played outside in the afternoon since it was such a beautiful day.  Damon and Chris went to friends houses after school and I played soccer with Tyler.  Then we found out that we had a birthday party to go to.  I had totally forgotten to give the mom my email so I hadn't received an evite, but we ate a quick dinner and loaded up to the go the Pump It Up.  The kids played hard and we so tired.  It was pretty late - eating pizza at 7:30.  We didn't get home until 8:30.  

Saturday I had primary training with Sister Wixom - general Primary President.  It was really good.  They also had a fireside in the evening that was good too.  Tyler had his last basketball game and they finally won a game - their first.  They were all very excited about that.  Tyler has done really well with basketball and he likes it.  I love that it is indoors. :)  He keeps going back and forth what he wants to do next basketball or soccer, we will see.  

I started a goal to get up early and exercise this week.  I did 4 out of 5 days, so not too bad.  I like exercising, but I get pretty tired getting up around 5:00, and we usually go to bed around 11:00.  But I know it's important so I will keep going.  I got a fun binder to record my goals and progress in so that helps.  

Fun hair on the tramp!

3rd week of February

Tuesday Tyler went in to see the orthodontist and they decided to take his expander out.  When they took it out one of Tyler's molars came out with it.  His under-bite is now pretty well fixed.  I think we will wait until more of his teeth come in before we do braces or anything.  Tyler teeth can't touch when he closes his mouth, but the doctor said that it would fix itself over time.  

I've been busy getting ready for the Blue and Gold banquet for Cub Scouts this week.  Wednesday I had to make a trip to a cake store to get some Styrofoam cake dummies.  I wanted to make a cool cake, but I wanted it to be just for display with the hopes of using it again in the future.  I should have ordered it online earlier in the month, but the cheaper shipping options for this week meant that it might not come in time - so that meant I had to drive about 50 minutes to get to one of the cake supply stores in Houston.  But I realized it was close to the zoo, so I thought I would make a trip out of it.  One other friend was able to join me and we went to the zoo.  The parking lot was already filling up at opening time and some schools were there for field trips, but it didn't feel too crowded.  It was great weather - jackets at first then short sleeves by the end.  We checked out the elephants getting their morning bath and the girls also enjoyed the mongoose tunnels.  We played at the playground and went inside the petting zoo.  I had left our lunches back at the van so we ate after we were all done.  I rented a double stroller - it just makes it so much easier than listening to whines, and I can't carry both of them. :) 

 It was a fun day with my girls.  We have a zoo membership that is just for 4 people and I had in mind that I would come down with the girls frequently.  But this trip reminded me of why I haven't, the drive is just a bit too long and the traffic a bit too stressful for me.  So I don't think we will be renewing our membership.

 So after the zoo is where the rest of my adventures take over.  I put in my phone the address of the cake supply store.  It seemed pretty close on the map, but with traffic and everything it took us about 20 minutes to get there.  I found it pretty easily - I'm so thankful for Google Maps!!  I walked in and literally said 'Whoa!'  If I lived any closer to this store I think I would spend a lot of time and money there.  They had everything you could ever need to make, decorate, or store baked goods.  The girls were being good so I had fun slowly walking each isle checking the place out.  I found a few extra things for me and found the things I needed for the Blue and Gold.  We got ready to check out and found out that the store didn't take Discover card.  I only carry my phone with me that holds my driver's liscence and my Discover card.  I had put some cash in the van for just such emergencies, but Doug didn't know why I had put it there and had removed it.  So as I'm feeling tired from a morning at the zoo and driving around a busy city, I load the girls back into the van to go get some cash from somewhere.  I'm crying at the point, but I recover and find a Randall's nearby.  I navigate the weird streets in this area and get the girls again out of the car.  They are getting tired and cranky by this point too.  I think Kaylee fell and skinned her knee which was exactly what we needed.  I carry her into the store and buy a pack of gum and get some cash back.  I tried to get $100 buy it was denied.  I don't know if there is a limit that Discover lets you get or maybe it was the store.  But I try again getting $60 and it worked.  I get a text from Discover asking me to validate this transaction - they could tell this was not a normal activity.  So we load back in the van and drive back to the cake store so I could buy the supplies with cash.  Whew!  It was 2:00 by this time and I was so tired.  I put on a movie for the girls to watch on the way home.  I was hoping that traffic wouldn't be too bad leaving at this time.  It was ok, but not great.  I'm just not familiar with the intersections and merging so I never know what lane to be in.  I had a couple of close calls - too many places to look at all at once.  I was so glad to get home.  The girls had fallen asleep and I just let them sleep in the car while I checked emails until the boys came home from school around 3:15.  Crazy crazy day - glad that I don't have to drive downtown all the time.

Friday a friend came over in the morning and we worked on the cake for the Blue and Gold together.  It made it so much less stressful.  We had some major problems, but it didn't seem as bad because there was someone else to help and strategize with.  I didn't the finishing touches the following week, but here's a completed picture so you can see it.

The bummer part was that during the few day between decorating on friday and the event on the following Wednesday the fondant faded a bit.  I had put it in our bathroom on a ledge that is out of the way.  The sunlight from the window made the upper layers on two sides get lighter.  Oh well, now I know to cover it in the future.

Friday afternoon Tyler painted his costume so that he could camouflage in with the scenery for his DI skit.  

 Doug went out of town this weekend and I usually don't mind very much, but it was just bad timing with the things we had going on.  Tyler's DI competition was Saturday and it was one of those all day things.  The rest of the kids were pretty good, but we really did just sit at the high school for about 4 hours in all.  I had brought some games and snacks, but the electronic devices were pulled out in the end.  I didn't bring all of them, so they had to take turns.  There was another family there as well that they played with a bit.

Tyler's team did a great job.  They did their Instant Challenge in the morning - they had to work as a team to build tower out of pencils.  Tyler was a bit discourage because his idea didn't work as well and he wanted it to.  We went to a nearby playground at a school after that and had lunch.  I realized that we hadn't brought Tyler's pants to go with his costume so we made a quick trip to a thrift shop to buy him some brown pants.  They were too big in the waist but I had brought some safety pins so we made do.  They we were back to the high-school for the team skit part of the competition.  This was the first time I had seen it, so it was pretty interesting.  They had to write it all by themselves and make the scenery and costumes by themselves as well.  You could tell. :)  The plot was a bit confusing and pretty silly at times.  It was about some spiders and snakes going to school and they go to play outside.  The snakes were chasing the spiders but then they can't see them because the spiders use their camouflage.  Then the snakes leave.  The final song they made up when like this: "He ate a rock (clap clap) It's not a spider, we're alive!"  Yeah, doesn't make much sense, but I guess that's why it's so funny.  I was proud of Tyler and all of the work that he did. The previous month they were staying after school two times a week to get everything finished.  I was grateful to one of the moms for being their coach and using her time to help them.  Their team was called:  Lightning Thieves.

Doug went to Nashville, this was where he was having his meetings - not bad. 

Chris is really taking off with his reading.  He read Go Dog Go to Jenna.  He can sound words out well and reads with inflection.  It's so fun to watch them grow and progress. 

2nd week of February

I can't remember many specifics now so this will mostly be pictures.

Damon had his field trip this week to BizTown.  His assignment was in the Technology center.  He had to go around to the different businesses and see if they wanted to place buy an advertisement.  I helped at State Farm helping kids be insurance agents and stock brokers.  It was a pretty crazy day, there was a lot to try and explain to the kids.  They managers had to write out pay checks and enter bills and deliver checks and it was just kind of crazy keeping it all straight.  Damon had a fun time though.  

Enjoying warm Texas days: 

These three have lots of fun with Play doh.

 Kaylee fell asleep at lunch even while putting her thumb on an ice cube.  She must have touched something hot.

 Friday was Valentine's Day parties at school.  The girls sure lucked out going to both Chris's and Tyler's parties.  They got lots of treats.

 Doug treated me to flowers and chocolates!

 I made cookies for Tyler's basketball game.

 Tyler was getting ready for his Destination Imagination competition.  He had to make his own costume.  I showed him how to work the sewing machine, but he did it all by himself.  Way to go Tyler! He was a spider.

 Sunday was Valentine's so we did something fun with Jenna's hair.  Kaylee didn't want hearts.