Weekly Review February 26 '11

The question of the week is: Will the day come that everyone in the Cleveland household is well? I'm sure that wonderful day will come some day, but it hasn't yet. Frank and I both started getting our energy back on Monday. I have some lingering mild stomach upset still, but other than that I feel pretty good. It's nice to be back on my feet! Frank was able to go to work on Tuesday and he has worked hard all week. Meanwhile, Seth threw up once early Monday morning. He seemed to be fine that day and ate whatever he wanted, but he started having some diarrhea that day, which lingered throughout most of the week. I didn't feel comfortable sending him to school until Friday. Jared threw up several times early Wednesday morning, so he spent Wednesday and Thursday at home. Tanner and Scott both felt sick Thursday morning and stayed home from Seminary. I made Scott go to his chemistry class, which is 2nd block (starts at 9:00) and he stayed at school for the rest of the day, even staying after to make up a quiz he missed last week, but he didn't feel very well and after he came home from school he laid around all evening and didn't eat much. Tanner stayed home all day but didn't seem to be all that sick; I was about to tell him Thursday evening that he needed to go to school on Friday but then he started throwing up, so he stayed home Friday also. Scott went to school on Friday, to my surprise, and when he came home he said he was feeling better. Tanner was feeling mostly back to normal by last night, but then Frank started feeling sick to his stomach and he is still feeling pretty sick today.



No one had school on Monday because of President's Day. Frank had the day off as well. We didn't do anything special because we were just trying to recuperate from being sick (or just getting sick, depending on who you are).



No one had school on Tuesday, either, because Monday night we got about 4-5 inches of snow and freezing rain. Tanner and Jared went to help shovel snow at the church that morning and then spent most of the day at Ryan & Bryson's house. It was strange to have all that snow again after our warm temperatures of last week--almost all the snow had finally melted! I'm still mad that I was too sick to really enjoy the beautiful weather we had last week! We've had some really cold days this week, but the temperatures are back up a little now, and yesterday it rained most of the day and most of the snow melted again. I hope we get some more nice days soon!



Other than people being sick, this week was pretty uneventful. I've been trying to get caught up on things I didn't do last week. I went visiting teaching on both Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I had a presidency meeting Thursday morning. Last week when I was sick, I finished the book for book club (Evidence of Things Unseen) and also finished a newberry medal winner called Rifles for Watie. I started another newberry winner--M.C. Higgins the Great, but haven't got very far into it yet.

Last night we had a ward activity--a light dinner and a talent show. For dinner we had soups, salad, and rolls along with some appetizers and desserts. The talent show was long, but what I saw of it was very good. There was a variety of talents including singing, piano solos, dancing, magic tricks, etc. They also had displays of talents--photography, artwork, needlework, crafts, etc. (I displayed my friendship quilt and some embroidered pillowcases.) I didn't see a lot of the talent show because I was making trips home. First I took Frank home because that's when he started feeling sick. Then I took Seth home because he was getting tired and restless. I went back to get Jared and by the time I got back home, Seth was sound asleep on the couch! Scott was invited by our bishop's daughter to go to her house, along with some of the other youth, to play some games after the talent show. Then he went to Ryan's house to spend the night.

The sister missionaries got transferred out of our ward this week and now we have Elders again. We haven't had Elders for about 5 years. We were sitting next to them last night and while getting acquainted with them and introducing them to our boys, we discovered that their first names are Scott and Tanner--we thought that was pretty cool!!

Frank and I had planned to go to the temple today. He wasn't feeling up to it, but I still went and really enjoyed being there again. There is such a great feeling in the temple; it can't be beat! Scott had a basketball game; they lost as usual. Now all the boys are playing games. Jared's friend Joseph, from church, is here because his parents had to go to a swim meet for his older brother and I am going to give him a ride, along with our three oldest boys, over to an activity tonight. The activity is a reward dinner for all the youth in our ward who met a scripture reading challenge that our bishop gave them last year. I am really proud of all of our boys for meeting the challenge!

I think that is everything for this week. Two things I forgot to mention last week: Scott had to get his blood drawn (for some acne medication he was starting) and to my surprise he wanted me to go back with him. I jokingly offered to hold his hand, and he said "actually, I really want you to do that. I hate needles!" So I held his hand. The lady who drew his blood thought that was so sweet! She also expressed surprise that I was his mother--she was assuming I was his older sister. I love it when that happens! The other thing I forgot is that Seth had a rough day at school one day. His teacher called and asked us to come inside when we picked him up because he had refused to do his work that day and to clean up the work he was supposed to be doing. She told him he couldn't have a snack if he didn't clean up, and he refused and didn't get a snack. So she told him he needed to clean up or he couldn't go outside to play, and he still refused to clean up. So she told him he was not going to be able to go home until he cleaned up! That's why she asked us to come inside. I was sick that day so Frank picked him up and by the time he got there, Seth had decided to clean up. We never could find out what got into him, but he has been very cooperative ever since. The next day he brought home a big paper sun with a note saying that he did all his work and cleaned up; he was pretty happy about that. Who knows what gets into his little head sometimes!

We hope you are all happy and much healthier than we have been!

Weekly Review February 19 '11

When I left off last week, we were about to go to Scott's basketball game. That game turned out to be a very frustrating experience. The other team was very good and no doubt would have beat Scott's team pretty soundly no matter what, but we were all pretty unhappy with one of the referees. Frank heard the two referees conversing at half time. The first one said to the other "you need to call the fouls that you see". The second one replied "Look at the score...it won't make a difference if I do". Scott came home very upset because he was pretty blatantly fouled while making a shot but no foul was called. He said "I looked right in the eyes of that referee and he looked right back at me and didn't call the foul." It's frustrating when things like that happen, but we try to use them as learning experiences!

Sunday was busy; I had ward council before church (while I was at the meeting my counselors and secretaries were busy putting up hearts on the Primary teachers' classroom doors--we had the kids make valentines for their teachers) and that evening we had a Baptism Fireside for all the kids who are turning 8 this year. The fireside went well, in spite of several "glitches" that came up at the last minute--among them a sick teacher who was supposed to give one of the talks (I did it instead) and a misunderstanding about talk topics so that two people prepared talks on the same topic (my counselor gave an amazing talk that she came up with on the spur of the moment!)

Valentine's Day dawned beautiful:

The boys received cards, chocolates, and lollipops:

I had my hair done that day, which is always fun for Seth because he gets to play with his good friend Tyler while Tyler's mom cuts my hair. Tyler gave Seth one of those fun dip candy things. Can you tell what color the powdery stuff was?

I made Valentine cookies for family night treat:

Seth took care of the leftover frosting!:

These roses arrived that evening; we've been enjoying them all week!:

Tuesday morning, after getting the kids to school, Frank and I went out for a belated Valentine's Day breakfast date. (We had originally planned to go Monday morning, but Frank had too much work to do that day). We also had to take the Expedition into the shop to get fixed. I had noticed that morning when I picked the boys up from Seminary that it was unusually "bouncy" so I mentioned it to Frank. He checked it and discovered that there was a problem with the air suspension system in the back. (The Expedition does not have shocks and springs like many cars do, it has air bags.) One of the bags has corroded and needs to be replaced. The part has been ordered but won't arrive until Monday, so we've been down to one car all week.

Having one car has not been as big a problem as it normally would have been because Frank and I have both been sick most of the week. I started feeling sick Tuesday evening and was down and out by Wednesday morning. Frank started feeling sick Wednesday afternoon and was truly miserable by Wednesday evening. We have both had high fevers, chills, body aches, cough, congestion, and stomach upset. When I nearly fainted on Friday morning, Frank decided I needed to go to the doctor. I was diagnosed with "flu-like illness"--they tested me for influenza, but it came back negative. Since then, we have both been improving and most of our symptoms have abated but we are both extremely weak and exhausted. That was one nasty illness!

We are both home from church today, recuperating. I feel really bad about not being there because one of my counselors and my secretary are both out of town this week end and my other counselor has been very sick all week also. We had to call one one of the counselors in the stake primary presidency (who is also in our ward) to ask her if she could conduct for us today and for sharing time the kids are going to watch a movie. We didn't know what else to do! How often does it happen that the entire Primary presidency is out?!

Meanwhile, the boys have mostly been going strong. Tanner is home with us today because he says he isn't feeling too well and Scott and Jared both stayed home from school on Thursday because they had sore throats but other than that they have been fine and none of them seems to be falling victim to the same nasty bug that Frank and I have had.

Scott and Tanner had an overnighter at their YM president's house Friday night. They were originally going to go camping in snow caves, but we had a really beautiful "warm snap" this week and all the snow melted! (It's too bad Frank and I were feeling well enough to get outside and enjoy it. We've had temperatures in the high 60's and it feels like spring!) They were disappointed about not being able to build and sleep in the snow caves, but I think they had fun anyway. Jared spent Friday night at his friend Bryson's house, so we only had Seth which was nice since we were feeling pretty yucky.

Jared had a basketball game Saturday afternoon--he got a ride with one of the other boys and his family. They lost their game; neither one of our ward's teams is doing well this year! Tanner and Scott both went to a youth dance in West Virginia last night--they say they had fun.

This morning Frank, Tanner and I listened to a talk from last General Conference and since then I've been listening to music from past General Conferences--very beautiful and uplifting!

We hope we're all back on our feet this week, with two working vehicles! We are very grateful that we don't get sick very often. Everyone enjoy your President's Day!

Weekly Review February 12 '11

This is the only picture that was taken this week, and I didn't take it. Jared had Tanner take it so that he could have a new profile picture on Facebook. He wanted an interesting photo, and I think he succeeded!



I take that back--I did take one picture, but it's on my phone because I forgot to take the camera with me. It's the last picture I have of Jared before he got braces on. I haven't taken one of him with braces yet, but there'll be plenty of chances to do that over the next year or two. I did remember to take the camera with me one morning when I went to pick up the boys from Seminary. I've been thinking I should do that so I could get some good sunrise photos. Then of course that morning there wasn't much of a sunrise! (Unlike the morning before, when the whole eastern sky was a vivid pink / red! It was gorgeous, but of course I didn't have a camera with me that morning.)



Anyway, back to the beginning of the week. Sunday was nice. The youth in our ward recently completed a scripture reading challenge and our bishop invited them to share during testimony meeting what they had experienced while completing the challenge. We heard a lot of great testimonies from many of the youth in our ward, including Scott and Tanner, so that was extra nice. I got up too--that's probably the third time I've done that in the last 6 months, which is a lot for me. I'm finding it gets easier if I don't put it off too long! Scott was set apart as the 1st assistant to the bishop in the priest's quorum at the end of our meeting block. Frank got to help with that and I got to be there, too. Scott is very excited about the opportunity to serve and we are glad he feels that way!



I forgot to mention last week that we had a really great sharing time with the senior primary kids. We talked about the scriptures throughout the month of January, and for that last week my counselor had asked a few of the kids to share how they feel about the scriptures. Then she invited any of the other kids who wanted to share their feelings to do it also. Several kids got up--mostly from the oldest class--and the things they had to say were amazing! Not only are they reading them, but they are finding that reading the scriptures gives them strength to make correct choices. You had to be there, but it was so powerful. I was particularly happy about this because that oldest class has been a real handful and they have been the subject of a lot of discussion and prayer as well as fasting on my part. They've been doing a lot better the last month or so, and we finally feel like we are figuring out things to do to reach them better. After that week, one of my counselors had the idea to have the bishop come to visit senior primary and give them their own scripture reading challenge, like he did for the youth. So he did that on Sunday and we are hopeful that many of the older kids will choose to meet the challenge. The youth are working on a new challenge now, also.



Now that I have talked extensively about Sunday, I will try to sum up the rest of the week in a few short paragraphs! I had book club on Tuesday. The boys had basketball practice and scouts on Wednesday. Frank coached the practice--their regular coach has a class that just started on Wednesday nights, so he asked Frank to take over the practices for the rest of the season. While the boys had scouts, I had a RS meeting. We had a mini lesson on 72 hour kits and then we talked about depression--recognizing the signs, mostly, and things that are helpful or not helpful to say to someone who is suffering from depression. I was sitting there thinking about all the people I know who have in the past or are currently suffering from depression, and it was amazing how many there are. It really is something everyone should know about because it touches so many people in this day and age. Afterwards, several of us were talking in the hall; I think that's the part of RS meetings I enjoy the most--the social interaction! I always come away from conversations with other women feeling blessed and happier.



Jared got his braces on Thursday morning. He only has them on the top teeth so far, but they will be putting them on the bottom in a few months, probably. His teeth have been very sore since then, so we've been eating soft foods like macaroni & cheese, eggs, and stroganoff. I stopped at Burger King on the way back from the orthodontist's office and bought him a milkshake. I can feel empathy because I can remember how much my teeth hurt when I first got braces!



Tanner went home from school with his friend Ryan on Tuesday and Thursday--they lift weights together. Tanner wants to get in better shape, and I don't want to discourage that desire! I took him Thursday evening to get some new jeans because he is growing out of his. We only found one pair that fit--typical! I'm going to have to order some online, I think. He got a couple of t-shirts also, which made him happy. Tanner and Scott both had to register for their classes for next year this week. Scott's last year--so hard to believe!



Frank has been working long hours again this week, which I guess is good since braces are not cheap! We would like to have him home more often, but really appreciate how hard he works and of course we are grateful he has a job, and a good one at that.



The weather has mostly been nasty this week--very cold and on some days windy also. There have also been a lot of gray days, but we have had some sunshine, too. On those days, I open all the blinds and let the sunshine in! Snickers likes to find the sunshine patches on the floor to curl up and take his naps. Smart dog!



Seth says cute things all the time and I forget most of them. He brought home some things he cut out at school and when I asked him about them, he said that he cut them out with his "zizzors from my supplies box". I love the way he says "scissors"! One day this week I heard him say to Scott "you're killing me!" and just so you know that drama is not totally lacking in this house of all boys, a few weeks ago Seth came sobbing to me that "Scott is ruining my life!"



Good movies I've seen this last week: How to Train Your Dragon and The Young Victoria. (After I watched that second one, I had to go online and read about the real Queen Victoria to see how accurate the movie was. I always end up doing that when I see anything historical; it always piques my interest! It turns out that the movie was pretty on target with what actually happened, except for a few minor details.) I've also been enjoying watching the television show Eureka, starting with the first episode. I watch that while I'm folding clothes. We are really enjoying our Netflix trial!

Last night we were invited over by another family in our ward to play games and eat snacks. That turned out to be a lot of fun, although to our disappointment Frank wasn't able to go. He had been on the phone with tech support for the couple of hours before we needed to leave trying to resolve a problem for a client but they were unsuccessful. They bumped the problem up to the next level and promised they would call back "within two hours", so he had to stay home for when they called back. They didn't call back until 3:30 am, though! Wish we had known that; Frank could have come with us. They did get the problem solved, but not until about 5:30 am.

I had to get up at 6:00 to attend the Worldwide Leadership Training Broadcast, which was at 8:00. It was very good, though. The rest of the day has been a blur of errands, chores (I had a very long list of things to do), and basketball games. Jared's team played this afternoon and lost by 4 points. It was frustrating because they were actually ahead by about 12 points when there was only about 4 minutes left in the game. They played well, though, and I was proud of them--they only had 6 players and the other team had 10, so they got more chances to rest. We are leaving to go watch Scott's game in a few minutes.

We hope everyone has a very happy Valentine's Day--we love you!

Weekly Review February 5 '11

Happy Birthday to Ben!! I had to say that before I forget!


I'll start out with some photos I forgot to post last week. First, here is Snickers with his nice new hair cut:

Doesn't he look cute? He is one handsome dog! I admit I don't really understand dogs. I wonder every day when I take him outside, why he has to sniff and sniff to find the spot that "smells right" before he'll poop. Wouldn't any patch of grass do? (Preferably, one right next to the front door!) When it is cold outside, I would especially like it if he were not so picky! He is fun, though, and I admit that it is good that he gets me outside a lot more than I would be otherwise. I think the outdoors is beautiful, but I tend to stay inside too much. Anyway, here is a picture of Scott and Tanner, also with new haircuts:

I meant to post that one last week. Now, on to this week! One of the benefits of being up early to pick up the boys from Seminary, as well as being forced to take the dog out early every morning, is that I see a lot more sunrises than I used to see. (While Snickers has his nose to the ground, sniffing for the "right" spot, I am looking up at the sky!) Like this one, on the last day of January:

As always, the pictures don't do it justice. These photos were taken after I got back from taking the boys to school. On the way to pick them up, it looked incredible also--the sky was a little pinker and a little sliver of a moon was still up. I didn't have a camara then, though!

Now for the weather report. Today it is "misting". It is wet, cold and miserable. It rained on Wednesday but the temperatures were in the mid 40's, so it felt a bit balmy and after the sun came out if was actually quite nice--until the sun went down and the temperatures dropped. The rest of the week has been cold gray winter. The huge storm we were supposed to get did not really materialize. We did get some freezing rain Monday night and it was a bit icy Tuesday morning, but everyone was still surprised when Frederick County cancelled school that day. What was that about? The kids were thrilled, of course, but I found that day rather trying. I had a lot of work to do and the boys weren't too happy about helping with that. They also weren't happy that I made them do some scouts and some Duty to God stuff, but I am a mean mom so I made them do it anyway. We got a lot done, but it took most of the day and I was exhausted from all the contention! Seth got ahold of the camera and took this blurry photo of Scott playing games (after the work got done):

That's Jared in the background, and in the foreground you can see that Tanner is on facebook, getting caught up with "his peeps", as he calls them.

I think even the kids were glad when normal life resumed on Wednesday and they were able to go to school, basketball practice, and YM. I had a presidency meeting that evening while they were at YM. Frank had work to do, so Seth came with me.

Scott started a new class on Wednesday--he transferred out of his AP Environmental Science class because he found out he was supposed to take Chemistry first, which he hasn't taken. He wanted to take Physics instead, but the counselor insisted that he take Chemistry and he is not happy about it. It's not going to be a fun semester. He can be very stubborn when he doesn't get what he wants. We are already struggling to get him caught up on the things he missed before he transferred into the class. He thinks there is no way that he can pass the class, which is not a very good attitude to have going into it.

Tanner and Jared went to spend the night with Ryan and Bryson last night, so it was just Seth, Scott and I after school. I took this picture of Scott holding Snickers because I thought it was so cute:

Scott had some friends over last night. I've been encouraging him to do some group dating, and he finally got around to getting something organized with some of his other friends. Each of the boys invited a girl and they all came to our house to make dinner, play games, and watch a movie. Scott made lasagna and cheddar biscuits (with my help), Neil (boy in the center) brought a salad, and Ricardo (on the far left) made a cake. They are playing tennis with Collette and Ellen in the picture (yes, that's me with Snickers on my lap in the background):

Scott and Abbie (the girl he invited) are watching:

Ellen came with Ricardo and Neil came with Collette. (Ellen is the girl that Scott took out once this summer--they have the same birthday).

After dinner, they watched a movie (How to Train Your Dragon). Seth really enjoyed having all the "big kids" over. He flirted shamelessly with all the girls. Here he is making himself at home in between Scott and Abbie:

I think everyone had a good time, judging by the amount of laughing going on and how long they stayed up (about 11:00 before everyone started heading home). When I was cleaning up the dishes, I found this on one of the cake pans:

Cute, eh?! I have no idea who wrote it, although it doesn't look like Scott's handwriting.

Since we were up pretty late, we slept in this morning. It's been a bit of a stressful day (mostly because of chemistry) but we are hoping to relax and have some fun together as a family this evening. I have a baptism to attend in a few minutes, so we are waiting until I get back.

The rest of this week was the usual busy stuff. Frank had a lot of work to do. I also did a whole lot of cleaning and organizing on the main level and although I wore myself out a bit, the house does look a lot better. It's amazing how little time it takes for the house to get messy and unorganized! But for now, it looks great, and I breath a deep sigh of satisfaction every time I look around. (But don't ask me to go down to the basement!)

We feel very blessed and we are glad that it is February!