Weekly Review November 25 '11

Good morning! Only Seth, Tanner and I are up (and Tanner is in the shower), so the house is fairly quiet. Tanner just got up a few minutes ago. I was very surprised to see him this early--he is NOT a morning person and we all had a late night last night (some of us later than others). Our original plan was for Frank and I to get up early this morning so we could go to the temple, but Seth is sick so we didn't want to leave him. The boys are good at taking care of him, but he needs extra attention when he's sick. He has a terrible cough and a fever. He's had a bit of a cough most of the week, but yesterday the cough got much worse and the fever appeared. It seems like all of our efforts to go to the temple have been thwarted lately, which is discouraging, but hopefully we will get there soon. We may take turns going, if it comes to that! But it is a long enough drive that we really prefer to go together as much as possible (and of course we enjoy being at the temple together).

In spite of Seth being sick, we still had a nice Thanksgiving. Some friends in our ward invited us to their house for dinner. When Seth got sick, we thought we were going to need to take turns going over there so that one of us could stay home with him, but our friends insisted that they didn't mind if we brought him, so we decided to give it a try. We gave him Tylenol shortly before we left, so he perked up quite a bit and actually played most of the time we were there. He didn't eat much, though. When we got home last night he was pretty tired and lay on the couch watching Monsters, Inc. which was on television. When I put him to bed, he went to sleep very quickly in spite of the fact that he was also coughing a lot.

Anyway, dinner yesterday was nice. Our friends had also invited over a couple that he knows from work. They were very nice and it was fun to get to know them. We brough homemade rolls, four pies (apple, lemon, chocolate cream, and pumpkin), layered banana pudding, sweet potato casserole, and an appetizer (sweet & sour keilbasa). Our friends made the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, carrots, jello, and broccoli casserole. The other couple brought apple crisp and a fruit salad. It was all very yummy! After several days of cold rain, yesterday was sunny and the high was in the low 60's, so it was really quite pleasant and mild. After dinner, the three women went on a walk. It was nice to get a little bit of fresh air and exercise! The kids were in the basement most of the afternoon playing games and so forth--we barely saw them.

I had the foresight to bring our camera with me, but then I left it in my purse and forgot about it, so I didn't take a single picture! It's a shame, too, because the Thanksgiving tables looked very nice (much nicer than I could ever do it)!

Last night we were up late because of some "Black Friday" shopping. There was one thing we wanted to get for Tanner for his birthday which was on sale for a really good price starting at 10:00 last night, and there were a few other things that we wanted to get for the kids for Christmas that were also on sale, so Frank decided he might as well brave the crowds and try to go get those things. Tanner and Jared wanted to go too, which made it complicated, but they separated once they got to the store. Frank says it was absolutely insane, but he was successful in getting the things we wanted to get, so I guess it was worth it. I stayed home with Seth and got him to bed. Scott also wanted to go shopping, but he arranged to go with some friends and one of the YM leaders. Frank and the boys got home around 11:30 and we were all in bed by 12:30, but Scott didn't get home until around 3:15. Since he was with an adult, we did not stay up waiting for him, but I did hear him come in. I'm not sure what he bought except there's a coat in the closet (covered with a bag) that wasn't there before, so I he must have bought that. He's been needing a coat and I did tell him that if he found a coat he liked for less than a certain price that he could get it and I'd pay him back, so I guess he did. We'll have to wait until he gets up to find out if he got anything else, but I'm not expecting him to be up anytime soon.

Last Saturday we did a lot of shopping also. All of the boys needed various new clothing items, so we took them all shopping to get what they needed (except for Scott; he was doing the sound for the last two performances of the play at school so he was gone most of the day). Everyone needed socks and underwear, Tanner needed shoes, the older three boys needed coats, and Seth needed pants, shirts, pajamas, and a jacket. I decided to get Seth new pants because they have this new rule at his school that the teachers can't help them zip or snap their pants. He still has trouble doing that; we've been working on it with him for the last few weeks, but he's just not getting the hang of it. One day last week when I picked him up I discovered that his pants were undone and had been that way for most of the morning. Ridiculous! I understand the reason behind the rule (another case of bad people messing it up for everybody else) but I think walking around with your pants undone for hours is a much greater invasion of a child's privacy than having a teacher snap his pants for him. He's been growing out of his pants anyway, so I decided to try to find him jeans and other pants that had elastic rather than a snap and zipper. Thankfully, we were successful, so now I don't have to worry about that anymore. (He still has a few pair that snap so we can have him wear those on weekends and still work on teaching him how to snap.) We found everything we needed for the boys but it took two shopping trips to do it.

The rest of our week has been pretty busy, too. On Monday afternoon I went to my visiting teaching companion's house so we could make cookies for the women we teach. Tuesday evening we had the Elders over for dinner and I had choir practice. Wednesday the boys were out of school two hours early. Frank got off work an hour early, too. We spent a lot of time Wednesday evening and Thursday morning making the pies, rolls, etc. for Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice not to have to do the whole dinner this year, but I was surprised how much time it took to do the things we did! Of course, we fit all that stuff in between the usual grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc that we always have to do so most days were quite busy.

Tomorrow is Tanner's birthday, so tonight we are having two of his friends over for pizza, cake, and presents. He wanted to have them spend the night, so we are doing it tonight instead of tomorrow.

We hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! We thought of you all and wished we could celebrate with you, since one of the things we are most thankful for is our wonderful family!

Weekly Review November 18 '11

Frank and I did not go on a fun and somewhat spontaneous road trip this week, so I don't think there is much to write about. We had some beautiful warm days the beginning of the week, but yesterday it got cold again. Today was sunny, though, and I've been enjoying what is left of the fall colors. This is our next door neighbor's tree--it's practically right outside our front door.

I love this tree; it looks fabulous this time of year and in the spring it has beautiful pink flowers. When I got out the camera to get pictures of the tree, Seth insisted on taking a few too. He tried taking some of himself. I told him they wouldn't be good because the camera was too close, but I actually kind of like this one:

Yes, the flash washes him out a bit, but I like how it captured the beautiful color of his eyes! Seth took a picture of me, too. I love how all the pictures he takes of me are from the perspective of looking up at me. Reminds me of Shellie's funny story about one of her boys being shocked when she mentioned that she is short--from his perspective, he thinks she is tall! :)

So back to Sunday...Frank and I drove home that morning. We got home around 2:00, the same time that our church meetings end. Maggie and the boys arrived home a short while later. Maggie had funny stories to tell us, such as the time Seth found her putting on eyeliner and asked what she was doing. She explained that wearing eyeliner made her feel better about herself, and asked which eye looked prettier (she had only applied eyeliner to one eye so far). After contemplating her for a minute, Seth finally decided "They both look ugly!"

We've spent the week getting caught up with chores and trying to keep up with the regular flow of life. Scott has been extra busy because he was doing the sound for another play at school. He had late rehearsals every day, and last night was the first performance. He has another one tonight, and two more tomorrow.

I had a busy week, too. I was out of the house three nights in a row--choir on Tuesday, YW on Wednesday, and Auxiliary Training Meeting for YW last night. (That last meeting had been rescheduled from the Saturday that it snowed.) Tonight Frank and I planned to go to the temple, but his stomach is bothering him, so we are going to go another time. Maybe tomorrow morning, if he is feeling up to it.

This morning I helped at Seth's school all morning. I took kids to the restroom and helped get the snack ready. It is always fun to see what's going on it Seth's classroom. Seth is making great progress with reading. He brings home a reading book every day and this week he read a whole book with hardly any help from me! He was able to sound out all the words except for the word "the". I took a video of him reading today--I will try to post it on here, but it may not work since it is about 3 1/2 minutes long.

Frank is enjoying his job, and all is going well there. We are still playing "catch up" with finances, but we'll be able to start saving again soon. Last week I watched the movie "Cinderella Man" (it's really good, if you haven't seen it) and I couldn't help thinking how fortunate we are that even when we were unemployed for four months we still had a roof over our heads and plenty to eat. (That movie takes place during the Great Depression.)

One of the things Frank brought back with him from NC was a Kitchenaid that his mom had but wasn't using very much. He's been wanting one of those for a long time. He couldn't wait to try it out, so on Tuesday he made cinnamon rolls, complete with homemade cream cheese frosting. They were delicious! That's one of the differences between Frank and I--he sees cooking / baking as a fun hobby. I see it as a chore! We are lucky that we get to benefit from the yummy results of his hobby.

I told you there wasn't much to write about--I think that is it! We hope Mom had a wonderful birthday on Monday!

Weekly Review November 12 '11

So I'm getting our weekly post done late this week because Frank and I were gone this week end. I can't remember a lot about last week now except that it was insanely busy. Our weather here alternates between being cold (remember we had snow already?) and being gorgeous. The picture above is my attempt to show what I see out my front window every day as I am sitting on the couch getting various tasks done on my laptop. As usual, the photo really doesn't capture how beautiful the view is. On sunny days especially, when I look up from my computer screen my eyes are drawn to the window where I see nothing but a mass of green, gold, and red, blazing in sunlight. I love it!

Last week was busy because besides all the usual things I have to do, I was also trying to get everything ready for our trip. "Getting ready" included doing some de-cluttering and some maintenance-type cleaning (like cleaning the oven) because I'm a little crazy and don't like the idea of someone coming to stay at my house when it is messy! Therefore, I had a list of about 20-30 things to do each day. (I got through most of it.) I was also busy writing down all the things I thought Maggie (the babysitter) would need to know. The boys dubbed it "the book" because it was several pages long.

Snickers had to go to the vet for a vaccine on Tuesday; I also had choir that night. On Wednesday we had YW in Excellence. Thankfully, I didn't have to do much for that--two of the Laurels and the Personal Progress Leader did all the planning and preparing, and the other counselor made a salad. All I had to do was show up a little early to help with some of the set up and to say a few words on behalf of the YW president, who was out of town. It was a nice evening, overall.

There were several activities for the YW on Saturday (sorting at the food bank, a Priest / Laurel regional activity and a regional dance) which meant we had a lot of rides to coordinate. That caused me a bit of stress throughout the week, but it all came together finally. Then Thursday morning we got an email from the YW president--as she and her husband were coming home from the airport early that morning (returning from a 10 day trip to Mexico) they hit a deer which demolished their car and gave her minor injuries. Since she was supposed to be driving and chaperoning for the activity and dance, that put a kink in things, but she was able to find someone else to take her place so it all worked out.

Frank and I left Frederick about 4:30 Thursday afternoon. We drove about half way to North Carolina that night--we had a reservation at a hotel just outside Roanoke, Virginia. The drive went fast and it was really fun to talk the whole way without interruptions! Below are a couple of pictures of the magnificent sunset we got to watch as we drove. As always, not as good as in real life!:

We stayed at a Fairfield Inn because we could get a Marriott "friends and family" rate through one of Frank's co-workers. When we checked in, Frank was chatting with the girl at the front desk about how he works for Marriott right now as a contractor. He showed her his Marriott ID badge, and she said "Wait a minute! If you have that, I can give you the employee rate." She put us in a suite, too, so that night we stayed in a huge room with a king bed and sitting area for only $35--doesn't get any better than that! I intended to take photos of the room, but I forgot. Trust me, it was enormous! We could have put about 10 people in sleeping bags on the floor.

Our internal alarm clocks went off at a very early hour (around 4:30) and we never went back to sleep, so we texted Scott and Tanner to see how they were doing (they get up at 5:00 am for Seminary). We got ready for the day and enjoyed the free breakfast, then headed down the road. We had about a 4 hour drive to Brevard, so we arrived around lunch time. We had to make a stop for a few things at Wal-Mart, so we picked up Harry Potter 7, part 2 while we were there, too. After getting to Brevard, we visited with Frank's parents for a few hours and then went to his sister Dawn's house to unload our stuff (we were staying there that night) and to get changed for the wedding. The wedding was held in a restaurant in Saluda, NC--about a half hour drive. Dawn and her husband Mike came with us; we followed Frank's mom & dad. It was a cold and windy day--I wished I had brought my coat! (I only brought a sweater. I checked the weather for Brevard before we left Frederick, but it turned out to be colder than the weather forecast.) Thankfully, we didn't have to be outside much.

The wedding was very sweet. As you can see from the photos below, they had fall colors, which I thought was very pretty. The reason they both have orange on is because of a dream the bride had several years ago, shortly after a divorce where she was wearing white with orange trimmings and there was a boy in the dream who was also in white with orange--so they "matched". She woke up from the dream feeling like there really was someone out there for her and that she would someday find love again.

Both Frank's brother and his bride (Joelle) attend a small non-denominational Christian church. The owner of the restaurant also goes to church with them. The pastor of this little church performed the ceremony. It was very nice. It was interesting, though--at the very beginning, the pastor stood up and welcomed us all to "this celebration of eternal, covenant love". That statement got me thinking about my own wedding, and I spent the whole ceremony feeling tearful because I was so grateful that I was married by someone who had to authority to actually seal Frank and I together in an eternal, covenant relationship. Clearly, the members of this church have the right idea. They are a small group, like a family, and their love for each other and for Christ was obvious. They know how important marriage is. It was so close to the right thing! The ceremony included a sacrament of sorts as well. The pastor spoke of the symbolism of bread and wine and gave some to the bride and groom. But he didn't attempt to bless it, and I was reminded of my own boys preparing, blessing, and passing the sacrament. What an amazing thing that they have the authority from God to do that. Again, I felt grateful for what I have. I hope this doesn't sound negative about the wedding. I'm not criticizing; as a matter of fact, I was really impressed. It was special and there was a beautiful spirit there.

So enough contemplating--here are the pictures! The lighting in the restaurant was similar to the lighting at my kids' school--in other words, it was terrible for photographs but Frank did his best!

Here is Frank's mom, holding Joelle's 3 week old grandson. Yes, she's a grandma! (Although I don't think she's much older than me.) Her oldest daughter (who's 18) just had a baby. Joelle has four children from previous marriages. James has one from his previous marriage. His son, AJ, was best man and can be seen in the photograph below (between James and Joelle, with the "alien" eyes!):

They are exchanging rings here.

And here, obviously, they are kissing!

Mr. & Mrs. James Cleveland

Cutting the cake. The little girl is Joelle's youngest daughter, Selah. She is a cutie!

First dance.

Brothers! Frank is younger, but as you can see, he is the taller one.

There was a nice dinner after the ceremony. We had the chance to talk to Joelle for a few minutes (had not met her before the ceremony) and she was very gracious and nice. When Frank walked up to her, he didn't have to introduce himself. Joelle took one look at him and said "You're Frank, aren't you?"

We got back to Dawn's house around 9:30, and Frank and I were both so tired (remember, we got up at 4:30) that we were both out by shortly after 10:00.

Saturday we had a relaxing morning at Dawn's house. Then we went to visit with Frank's parents for a few more hours before we had to leave. We had a reservation at a Fairfield Inn in Wytheville, Virginia that evening. Again, the drive went quickly and we enjoyed talking the whole way. We got to the hotel around 8:30. We watched the new Harry Potter movie on my computer and then we watched the first half of the BYU-Idaho game. We were too tired to stay up for the whole thing (that would have been about 1:00 or 1:30 am out here) and it looked like BYU had it under control, ahead 28-0 at the half. (We were glad to hear the next morning that BYU did indeed win the game.)

Meanwhile, at home the boys kept busy. Jared helped with scouting for food collection and sorting in the morning. Tanner was going to help too, but he wasn't feeling too great so he didn't go. He did go to the regional dance that evening, though. Scott wanted to have a quiet week end at home for once (he's been pretty busy the last several weeks) so he ditched all the Saturday activities. He did go to a party at a friend's house Friday evening, though--she said she had to have a party to celebrate that it was 11-11-11! Maggie's family was going to the Baltimore Aquarium on Saturday, so she took Seth with her to do that. He had a great time (told me all about the dolphin show on the phone that evening) and her family got a big kick out of all the funny things he said. (Such as claiming that he is a faster runner than everyone in the family--except for me!)

Everyone did great while we were gone, and we are really grateful that we had a chance to get away for a whole week end! We will have to do that again sometime, for sure. We missed our kids, though, and it is good to be home again!

Weekly Review November 4 '11

Ok, so this week I am trying to make up for the lack of photographs I've had in the last several posts. First of all, above is the gorgeous centerpiece I have sitting on my table right now. How did I end up with a beautiful centerpiece? Well, yesterday there was a special luncheon held at our church for a bunch of leaders of charitable organizations in our community. This event was organized by a member of our ward who is the head of the local chapter of the United Way. He wanted to help the leaders in our community become more aware of the kind of charitable work the church is doing as well as to give everyone a chance to discuss ways we can work together. Anyway, they asked the sisters in our ward to plan and prepare the luncheon. I volunteered to make a salad and I also went over to the church for about an hour to help with set up. I was given one of the table centerpieces as a "thank you". I'm not sure why I got one--there were only 6 tables and there were certainly more than 6 women who helped (and many who helped more than I did)--but I am happy to have it! I have absolutely no ability when it comes to arranging flowers or anything like that, so I particularly enjoy beautiful flower arrangements when I receive them. That was a long explanation for one photo! The rest won't be as long.

I didn't get many pictures of the beautiful fall leaves this year, but here are a few. They never look as good in photos as they do in real life! (Unless you are an amazing photographer like Anna.) In the above picture, the sky was so blue and the red against the blue was particularly striking.

In this one, I loved the sunlight bringing out the gold / green of the trees and grass.

Last Friday was International Children's Day at Seth & Jared's school. They had a little costume parade and a short program. Seth was representing France; in the above photo you can see him holding up the flag he made.

Jared's class (the whole middle school) sang a song called "Love In Any Language" and made signs that said "I love you" in different languages. Jared is holding up the spanish sign. I was acutally really impressed with his class's performance. They sounded really good! The lighting in the sanctuary (where they hold all their programs) is really bad, so I can never get good pictures in there.

Here is Seth's costume that he wore to represent France (3 Musketeer). If it looks familiar to you, that's because I "recycled" it. Jared wore the same costume several years ago for International Children's Day. No time to make a new costume this year!

After I took Jared's picture several times, he insisted that it was his turn to take mine. So here are the ones Seth took of me:

(Yes, I was texting someone!)

Friday was also Jared's 13th birthday. Three teenage boys in one house! He had his friends Bryson and Sage over after school. We had pizza and cake, and they spent the night. Here he is opening presents. Here is his "crazy excited" face! He was happy to get a Air Hog remote control helicopter! It is a bit tricky to maneuver, but he is learning how to do it.

Here's the cake--not fancy at all! He wanted a red velvet cake this year.

On Saturday there was snow in the forecast, and we did get some. They said we might get 4-6 inches, and if it had snowed continuously, we probably would have got that much. We got a mixture, though--some snow, some sleet, some freezing rain....It kind of alternated all day, so the end result was 2-3 inches of slush. These pictures were taken near the beginning of the day. We did get more snow later on.

We were scheduled to have a chili dinner and trunk or treat at the church that evening. I was surprised when they didn't cancel that (although the trick or treating was moved to indoors) but I'm glad they didn't because it was very fun for the kids and a lot of people came. The roads were cleared up by then, too. I'm mad that I forgot to take a camera.

Saturday was very relaxing, otherwise. I was supposed to have stake Auxiliary training that morning from 9-11 for YW, but they did cancel that. I'm sure it would have been a good meeting, but I was happy to go back to bed!

Sunday was busier but still nice. I went to Sunday School for the first time in over 3 years--that was kind of strange, but I did enjoy it. Then they had a combined RS / Priesthood for the adults. The YM and YW met together, and I thought I was going to stay with them, but after the opening announcements, the 2 members of the bishopric who were teaching the youth that day said they wanted all of the leaders to go to the adult meeting, so I ended up going to that. It was really good. It did seem different not to go to Primary, but I'm sure I'll adjust soon.

Monday was Halloween, of course. The older boys stayed home and passed out candy while Frank and I took Seth around the neighborhood. This was his first year to really go trick or treating, since Halloween was on Sunday last year. He wanted to wear the same costume he wore to the trunk or treat last year, which was fine with me! Last year, that tail was dragging on the ground--he's grown!

We had him wear his shoes under the socks so his feet wouldn't get cold and wet. We knew it would probably ruin the socks, and it did. You can see his shoe showing through the big hole he wore in the sock!

The rest of the week has been fairly low key. I've been fighting a cold, so I tried to take it easy. Thankfully, I have been well enough to be functional! I've been in the coughing stage the last few days, which isn't fun but means I'm getting better.

Scott worked on Tuesday and yesterday, but those were his last two days. He planned to give his two week notice a few weeks ago, but then his boss told him he had finally found a replacement for him so that worked out perfect. He has a few more plays coming up that he needs to do the sound for, so we don't want him to be too busy. It was very crazy the last few weeks when he was trying to work and do the play at the same time. They left on good terms, so we're glad he got some experience and now has someone who will give him a good reference. It was a good experience for him, overall.

Wednesday was class activities for YW. I had the Laurel class as well as the Mia Maid class because the YW president is out of town. We made taffy and put together some bags of goodies and thank you cards to give to the leaders who were just released.

Yesterday I already mentioned I was busy helping with the luncheon. When I took the boys to school after Seminary, the sun was rising and everything was really misty. It was so beautiful! I tried to get a picture after I got home, but it really didn't come out. Here is my attempt:

The sky was pink, and there was a thick mist hanging on the ground. Neither of those things really came out in the photo.

Today there isn't any school. It was very nice to sleep in! I forgot to mention last week that I have to take the boys to seminary as well as pick them up now. The person giving them a ride to seminary was one of the seminary teachers, and he found out that it's against church policy for him to give any of the kids rides--there are liability isssues. So I've been getting up an hour earlier every day the last two weeks.

Scott and Tanner are at a Teacher / Priest retreat right now; they left last night. They are staying at a cabin that belongs to a member of our ward. They won't be back until tomorrow evening. Jared spent the night with Bryson last night, so it's just Seth and I at home today.

Frank's brother James is getting married a week from today and we got this crazy idea that Frank and I could go to his wedding (leave the kids here). We weren't sure it would work out, but things seem to be coming together. At work they are willing to let him work four 10 hour days so that he can have Friday off, and a young lady in our ward who is leaving for a mission the end of the month has agreed to come stay with the boys and drive them all the places they need to go. We're planning to leave Thursday evening (drive part way down to NC) and come back Sunday evening. I have a lot of work to get done in between then and now to get ready, but I'm really excited that we will get to go somewhere alone together for a whole weekend! We have actually never been away from the kids (both of us together) for more than one night since we started having kids. (And there have been precious few of those nights, too.) Sad, I know! I think it will be really good for us, and for the kids too.

I think that's all the important stuff for this week. Seth is waiting for me to peel an orange for him, so I'd better go do that before he tries to do it himself. :)