Weekly Review April 10 '10

Saturday evening, Frank and the oldest two boys went to the priesthood session of General Conference. They had a little activity for the YM and their fathers at the church before the session started—they did a free throw contest and ate ice cream sundaes. Scott came home from the meeting and told me that one of the counselors in the bishopric had pulled him aside and asked him to be the new Teacher’s Quorum president. I think he will be sustained tomorrow. While they were gone to their meeting, the younger two boys and I watched a movie together.

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer Easter. The weather was perfect! Sorry those of you in Utah got snow—we woke up to sunshine and very warm temperatures. The daffodils and tulips in the front yard were all in bloom. It was beautiful!! As always, the Easter bunny brought us tons of candy. We each had a basket on the table, and it was fun to see Seth’s reaction when he came downstairs. He was chattering away, but when he spotted the table he stopped mid-sentence, and said “Hey! That’s Easter over there!” The boys tried to convince him that the Easter bunny brought the candy, but he’s far too wise for that. When they asked him where his chocolate bunny came from, he said “the grocery store.” When they said “Did the Easter bunny bring you that candy?” he said “No, she did!”, pointing at me. It was pretty funny. We had a wonderful day relaxing, listening to General Conference, and enjoying a delicious Easter meal. We have so much, and we are grateful!!

The boys were out of school on Monday; it was the last day of their Spring Break. It was beautiful weather again (actually, a little on the hot side) so they were able to play outside as well as in. Jared had an orthodontist appointment that afternoon—it was a consultation to decide what steps we need to take next. His mouth is a big mess—he has a small mouth and large teeth!! He has four adult teeth that haven’t come in yet because there isn’t any room for them to come in. So the orthodontist determined that he needs to have two more baby teeth fall out (they are loose already) and then he will probably have to have 4 adult teeth pulled so that the other teeth can come in. He said he will probably be ready for braces the end of this year or early next year. I am starting to save up already! After we got home and had dinner, we played speed Uno and ate ice cream for family night.

It was back to work and school as usual on Tuesday. Jared had his first soccer practice of the season that afternoon. He has the same coach as last season, and a lot of the same kids are on his team as well, including his best friend from school, Sage. I’m not sure if that is good or bad, since his team didn’t do so well last season! That evening one of my good friends called Frank and asked him to help her set up a new laptop she just purchased. Seth and I went with him (Seth had taken a very late nap, so we knew he was going to be up late anyway). While Frank worked on the computer my friend and I talked—she has been going through some really horrible things lately and was having a particularly bad day. I was so sorry to hear about the way her life has been going; I knew things weren’t great, but they are much worse than I had imagined. I’m glad we ended up going over there, though—I really think she needed to talk and get some things off her chest. On Wednesday we met at the park for lunch and so our kids could play, and we were able to talk some more. She seemed to be doing a little better that day. I really admire her for the courage she is showing in a very difficult situation. Wednesday evening the boys had scouts as usual, and I had a Primary presidency meeting.

Tanner had a field trip to Annapolis on Thursday. They visited the state capitol building, the Naval Academy, and went on a harbor cruise. He had a fun time, but came home exhausted. He and Frank went home teaching that evening. We had kind of a funny incident happen that morning when I was taking the boys to school. Jared took Seth out with him to get the car started, as he often does, but this time he came back inside the house to get something, and the crazy boy left Seth out in the car by himself, not even buckled into his car seat. Seth climbed into the front seat, locked the doors, and proceeded to turn on the hazard lights, the windshield wipers, and kept pushing the button to wash the windows, heedless of our petitions to unlock the door! It was frustrating, but I couldn’t help laughing also. He went all the way through the windshield washer fluid before we managed to get the door unlocked; I kind of lost my head and was trying to remember the code to unlock the door (dodging windshield wiper fluid, since it was spraying everywhere)—I forgot that Frank has a set of keys that he doesn’t take with him when he’s not driving that car!! Tanner remembered before I did. I’m just thankful Seth didn’t figure out how to put the car in gear—that would NOT have been so funny!

We had a cold front come in Thursday evening, which means we got some rain. We didn’t get the predicted thunderstorms, though. Friday was significantly cooler than the day before—it was actually pretty chilly (never got above the high 50’s, and windy) which was a big change from the 90’s we’d been enjoying up until then. I spent all day Friday, while the kids were at school, getting caught up on a lot of little things that have been piling up. Frank and I had planned to go to the temple that night, but he wasn’t feeling well. He had a bad headache and chills all day long. He took a nap in the late afternoon and after that he started to feel a little bit better. The oldest two boys went to spend the night with their friend Ryan. We got Seth to sleep and then Jared, Frank and I watched New Moon (we rented it). I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would—I remember the book was kind of annoying!

It’s still pretty chilly today, although not as windy. Scott and Tanner spent the morning doing yard work for a ward member to help earn money for scout camp. Scott mowed our lawn, as well. I’ve been busy getting some things ready for Primary—I’m doing Sharing Time tomorrow for one of my counselors who is out of town. I also made copies of flyers for our Easter egg hunt, and had to find someone to play the piano since our pianist’s one month old son had to have surgery today. (Not too serious, thankfully, and he came through the surgery fine.) Now it is very quiet because Frank took the 3 older boys to see Avatar at the dollar theater and Seth fell asleep at 5:00—I hope he doesn’t wake up at 1:00 am, ready to start the day!! I got the floors cleaned and now I am going to watch the first half of The Two Towers. Frank and the boys won’t be back until pretty late.

I spent some time organizing the kitchen this week—I’m still not done, but I’m making progress. One of the things I still want to do is create some kind of recipe index for all the recipes I use the most. Then when I am planning meals, I can just consult the index for ideas instead of thumbing through all the cook books. I got a lot of work done on Seth’s quiet book—I worked on that while I listened to Conference; it was the perfect project since I could be attentive, but it helped me stay awake! I also read all of Man’s Search for Meaning—great book; I highly recommend it—and I’m well into the 4^th Harry Potter book. Seth and I also spent a lot of time at the park. He loves to go there! The days that we had temperatures in the 90’s felt more like summer than spring.

Speaking of being at the park, I get such a kick out of kids! One of the days that we were at the park there were a lot of other preschool kids there. I heard one little boy say (with a smile on his face) “There’s a monster over there!” Then another little boy came running over with a piece of mulch in his hand and said (very excited and with wonder in his tone) “Look! I found a dinosaur bone!!” That really tickled my funny bone. Speaking of monsters, Seth imagines monsters all over the place, but they are all his friends and he talks to them. “Come on monster” he’ll say, “let’s go upstairs!”

My tulips and daffodils are dying already (I think they would have lasted longer if it hadn’t been so hot) so the yard doesn’t look so nice now. But the first couple of iris bloomed this week, so that part of the yard looks pretty.

Happy Birthday to Taran and Julia!