Any ideas?

Today hasn’t been exciting or anything. I wish I was being sarcastic, but I’m not. :) I have done laundry most of the day. While not doing laundry, I have been cleaning the kitchen and living room. The best part is that by the time Mike gets home from work, he will not be able to tell I did a thing today. Wait, take that back. He will know I did laundry because the boys STILL haven’t put away their laundry and I don’t expect that to change before he gets home. :)


I have been trying to get the girls to clean their room in preparation for this weekend. Grandma, Uncle Alan, Abbie and Austin are coming for Elaina’s birthday. I have been trying to think of something fun for the girls to do. I have yet to think of anything. After talking to Elaina, she decided she wants a princess tea party. I’m not sure what that will entail, but I know it will be fun. Any ideas would be most helpful. I have suggested shopping or going to a movie. She isn’t too keen on either of these ideas. Let me know what you think. She’s turning 7, loves most anything girly and is extremely excited about this weekend. :)

Happy Birthday Mike

Today Mike is old. He is officially as old as me now. Yes, I know I just admitted that I’m old. I feel every bit as old as I am!

He had a good day, I think. Josh has a presidency meeting every Sunday an hour before church. Usually Mike (if he’s in town) will take him early and then the rest of us will follow later. This morning we all went together early since the girls and I had to be early as well. The kids did really well in their program for Mike. ;) After church we made a quick lunch. The kids didn’t fight or anything. Them being in their rooms while we were cooking had something to do with that I think. :) Then Mike was able to take a quick nap~ his one request of the day. He opened gifts after his nap. He got lots of great stuff…

Homemade magazine rack from Emma…

Homemade crossbow from Josh…

Car tools…

Pans to bake bread on so he doesn’t ruin my pans again…

More care tools…

And finally a back massager for when he gets home late and his back hurts…

After all his impressive gifts, he attempted to blow out the candles on his cake. His cake was not as cool as it’s been in the past. He wanted half German Chocolate (his favorite), and half chocolate (something the kids would eat). Elaina helped me count the candles. I was proud of her for counting so high. :)

It only took two tries to blow out all of the candles. :) 

It was really nice to have Mike in town for his birthday. I’m glad his trip was cancelled/postponed. I know that means Halloween will all be on me, but that’s alright. I’ll take him being home for birthdays anytime!

Our fun Saturday

Last night Josh and Mike went camping. Then Jake went to his friends’ house. Emma, Elaina and I were able to spend a quiet night at home alone most of the night. It was really nice. The girls talked me into bringing the table into the living room and draping blankets on it for a tent. The girls wanted to sleep in their “tent”, so I let them stay up watching TV until Jake got home. I figured we could sleep in this morning (well until 8 anyway). Jake got home @ 11:15. Emma decided she wanted to sleep in her bed, thus leaving Elaina alone in the living room. Elaina freaked out and started bawling. I went ahead and let her sleep with me. I normally don’t let her sleep in my bed when Mike is gone but she ends up there anyway. She is up at least a couple of times a night. When she sleeps in my bed, she stays down all night.


When I finally got them all to bed, Jake reminded me that he needed to be to Albertsons at 7 this morning. YEAH! I love teenagers.

We made it just fine this morning. I even got the girls to the primary program practice on time. Tomorrow should be interesting. Half the primary kids and teachers weren’t there. I’m not sure that only 1 practice was such a good idea.

Tonight we went with Mike to a Chinese restaurant for his birthday. It is a tradition that for birthdays we go out to eat at the birthday person’s place of choice. Mike always picks Chinese. Emma wasn’t too excited about Chinese, but she didn’t pitch a fit. That was nice. We all walked (more like waddled) out having eaten way more than necessary. Even Elaina had her fill.

The kids are really excited for Mike's birthday tomorrow. We don’t have big plans since it is Sunday. I do think it was really nice of the primary to put on this special program for his birthday, though (at least that’s what we keep telling him). Hopefully he will have a good day. We all have worked hard to try to make it a good day for him.

Up for another Campout?

Today Mike took half a day off from work. Josh had a campout for scouts. It seems like one boy or another is always camping, doesn’t it? Anyways, Mike took off so he could go with Josh. Luckily for me, I married a handyman. My shower started leaking and Mike had to fix it before he left. It was a bit harder than expected, but Mike was able to get it taken care of and still get to the campout on time.
Here is a pic of one of the new handles. There are two of them, but I only took a picture of one.  Alright, I took pictures of both of them, but Mike wanted me to clean the wall before taking the picture, which I of course was too lazy to do, so you get to see the one instead of two. :)  They are nice and shiny for now...

It also seems that tomorrow isn’t going to be a drama filled as I thought it would be. Apparently Emma doesn’t have show choir practice. That’s helpful. I was wondering how to be at two different places at once since Mike is camping with Josh. Now both girls will get to have their ice cream and practice for the program. Why is it the Primary Presidency feels the need to fill them up with sugar then make them sit still for 2 hours? I’m dreading having to try to corral those kids tomorrow. I know it isn’t very nice of me, but I’m just thankful I’m not sitting with the class I have been teaching for the last couple of weeks. I still am not sure why I am in primary. I’m sure Heavenly Father knows what he is doing, but hopefully no one is injured in the process.

Big news in our house

Today I got a call from the girls’ school. Apparently Emma has been chosen to be in an all-district show choir. She is very excited. I think she is really going to enjoy herself. She has been singing most of the afternoon. Now if we can just get Elaina to be a bit more cooperative with Emma singing, that would be helpful. Emma is a bit torn, though. The primary is having their program this Sunday. The kids have been practicing with the goal of an ice cream party this Saturday. Of course, this Saturday is the only day that the primary is practicing their program. It’s also the first practice for the show choir. Mike told her that we could take her for a sundae after her show choir practice. I’m sure she will do fine Sunday. Her part isn’t large and she already has it memorized. I have to be there (yep, I’ve been asked to sit in for a teacher) so I can see where she needs to go and then help her Sunday.

Mike also had big news today. He isn’t going out of town next week. His trip got cancelled and postponed. He’s going to be able to be here for his and Elaina’s birthdays after all. He was supposed to leave Sunday (his birthday) and be gone till the following Monday (Elaina’s birthday is Saturday ~ the24th). We are all really excited about getting to have him around a bit more. Now if his job can keep him in town for a few days in a row that would be great.

Here's what's happening in my world. Jealous?

Not much to write about. Life is hectic as usual. Mike made it home, but hasn’t been here too much. He is gone again (just for the day, I think). The girls are still getting out early from school which makes my day feel cut in half.


Jake is continuing with his “I need to transfer” bit. I finally told him that if he writes me a paper with legitimate reasons, I will consider it. All I ever get from him is “I don’t have any friends”. That won’t cut it for me. Yes, I’m probably cruel, but I honestly don’t think moving to a bigger, new school is going to help him make friends. I'm pretty sure actually talking to kids is the answer to that problem.  Oh well, I’m sure things will work out. Somehow.

Josh is doing good. He, thankfully, has said he doesn’t wish to transfer. I am extremely grateful for that.

Emma is dying. At least she thinks she is. She has allergies. I’m sure they are unpleasant. I’ve been dealing with them myself, but I’m also sure she isn’t going to kill over in the next day or two like she’s acting. She had me write a note for her to get out of gym and was much better that afternoon. It was a true miracle. Unfortunately, she had gym again today, so yes. She is on her deathbed again.

Elaina is up to her usual good natured self. Yes, that was sarcasm. She hasn’t been bad, but she has been getting more and more active lately and less able to handle things. If we could bottle up her energy and share it with the world, we would run out of things needing to be accomplished. Oh well. I’ll just have to keep re-directing her and getting on to the other kids who sing… or hum… or whistle… or snap… or etc. You get the idea.

My weird morning

Today is one of the weird days where the boys have the day off school and the girls have school. It's nice and bad all at the same time. Today was a bit different than it has been in the past. Usually the boys start bugging me to entertain them while the girls whine because they aren't staying home as well. Today the girls went to school with no problems. I'm sure it helps that they are getting out of school at 1 PM all week due to parent teacher conferences. Then when I got back from taking the girls, Jake let me take a shower and take a nap. He didn’t even mention that I was to entertain him today as is his style on days like today. I woke up to him on the phone discussing his plans for the day with a friend. He didn't wake me like he usually does. He let me sleep. I was shocked and extremely appreciative. I think if he had asked me to drive him to the moon I would have tried to do it. I of course didn't let him know that... but I did let him know how much I appreciated the uninterrupted nap. When Mike is out of town, I don't sleep well. I wish I did. Thankfully he comes home today after being gone for a week. I don't know how many more nights of getting 3 to 4 hours of sleep my old body can take. Usually napping during the day keeps me up at night.  I figured since Mike is coming home tonight I should be OK. Plus, I was about to pass out. Haha