Spring break 2016 - days 1&2

Yesterday was a catch up day. It was a clean up, teaching, tiring, pms'ing day. There were a few redeeming moments. The best one being Addie's awesome FHE lesson. She wanted to teach about our savior as we lead up to Easter. She found this picture matching page in The Friend and liked it. It had pictures from our Savior's life and then a line from a song and she had everyone take turns matching. Then she'd gone through and bookmarked each song, so after we matched it, we sang the corresponding song. Then she'd gone through the children's bible and found the corresponding stories, so after the song, Matt read the story. It was really cute and then she bore a sweet little testimony. Love it. 

Delaney hurt her arm on Sunday. Our sweet new home teacher picked her up by her wrists (playfully, like one would do with a cute little child) and pulled her wrist out of joint. This has happened many times before, so we all know the drill and it wasn't any big deal, but I felt so bad for our ht'er! Of course Laney-sassy pants was like "you pulled my wrist out!" and was done after that. So Matt and I babied her and brushed her teeth and all, until the pain had gone away and she was fine. So then last night she pretended to be asleep again so she could have her teeth brushed again. I can dig it to be able to brush her teeth easily.

Since yesterday was such a blah day, today needed to be fun. First off, fancy hair.

Then we headed to Ann Marie Gardens. Cute art in the park.

Then tree house making. Sadly, "they" asked if we could leave our tree houses there to show other kids how it goes. (;

It was a very cute, and big, activity.

We walked through the sculptures (no fairy houses this time of year) quickly and then played in the fairy lolly for several hours.

Laney got lost. The moms stayed sitting in the same spot the whole time, but she must have forgotten. She was kind of on her own all day (self imposed) and wandered off looking for me. Thankfully I remembered I hadn't seen her in awhile and went looking for her and found her over by the main building. Losing a child even for a few minutes is such a scary experience!

We hung out from 10--after 3, fun day.

From there we headed to see Zootopia.

It was super cute and I love my little movie mates, so I loved it.

Tonight I went to a shower for Lindsay K. It was a wonderful spring break day!

he's got himself a letter!

this is the throw-up 'do at our house. loose pony on top of head for easy sleeping and easy throwing up. when she woke up (and felt all better) she saw her reflection after she brushed her teeth and decided she had sissy hair. so we sent this to sissy. (along with the official sicky bed in mom and dads room)

look at that professional! dental class is progressing nicely.

and how fun that they all get to be guinea pigs for each other.

last week we went to the boys winter sports awards banquet. it was SO hot in that gym and I took my little buddies and they were hanging all over me. it was too much.

chris lettered this year. he was all proud of himself as he was called.

they brag on each of the kids as their names are called. they said that Christian is a leader, more by his mouth than by example (hmmm) and that he will tell you exactly what needs to be done, and they love him for it.

they said they have enjoyed watching him progress and that he loves being out there and they love having him. he's got some awesome coaches!

bubba and cc (coach cook). cc is also the pe teacher at our school, so the girls are always excited to see him. and chris is too. all my kids love cc!

da boys.

bubba and Snyder. good guys!

and 3 of my little nerdlets. Delaney and daddy had to stay home because d wasn't 24 hours past her last throw up. so over the stomach bug!

I am a blessed lady with these guys.

Another quick style

The first night Rosie slept over they quietly went to sleep right away. The second night was more wild and they stayed up playing and being silly before Rosie finally climbed in bed with Laney and crashed. And since I'm obsessed with cute sleeping kids, here.

On Saturday we watched Vera so her parents could go look for houses to move away from us. Another friend is moving and we are not happy about it. At least they'll be close by. The girls cruised the benzies to pick A&F up from ashbys birthday party.

Friday night was our first movie night at school. There were a ton of people there!

I was one of two moms in pjs cause I'm cool like that. And I like to strike poses even when no one else does.

It's so fun to walk to school events (in pajamas no less) and to know by name at least half of the people there. We love our school!

Check in

I need to get better about a quick post every day. Alllllways room to improve!

These two cuties were thrilled to match sweaters and (kind of) headbands. We got to keep Rosie for a few days because her family is moving. It's been emotional and yuck and I'm kinda really over friends moving. Why can't everyone just stay here and everyone else that I love come here too? Mmmmmkay?

Addie stayed home today. Last night she threw up. A lot. But only a few times, so that was sweet. But then she tossed and turned and whimpered all night long, so there was still no sleep to be had. So now the vomit bug has gone through all 3 little girls over a week long period. Praying this was the last of it. We're usually a pretty healthy bunch. But with the group pink eye and now the group vomiting, ok sickies.

Today we had FHE and an Ellie pie for Pi day. Yum.

Matt and I finally started Indexing. Our ward has a goal for this quarter (which I don't remember) and since the quarter ends at the end of March, I figured we should get going. It's fascinating and I have found myself more than once wanting to know more about the people involved.

And because I can't ever just blog one day because I am forever behind. Yesterday I presented an idea in ward council and gave a talk. Two brave things, I am such a big girl. But seriously, two things I stressed over and prepared long and hard for. I spoke on Tuesday at our additional meeting and then again on Sunday, so it was a busy and stressful week that I'm glad to put behind me. It was a really good day at church. Thought provoking lessons and the spirit felt strongly. For dinner we tried a variation on crescent chicken, always a winner. And that's a Sunday. 

Again

Frank's bug seemed to have run its course within about 12 hours. After she was done, she was totally fine and wanting to practice ballet with Delaney, which consisted of fast crab walking at one point, loved it. We had a good night and went to church, all was fine. Until 2:00 in the am (36 hours since last vomit) when Frankie came crying into our room, walked to her bucket that was thankfully still out, and unloaded. Apparently some stomach bugs work like this. I am reminded of a boy in Addie's class just this last week that threw up on Friday, and then again on Monday. I was thinking irresponsible parenting to send a sick child to school, so I guess this is my lesson. I don't ever remember a bug working like this. I hope this is the end! Since I can't sleep, (again) I will blog.

Sunday was a good day. Amanda taught a wonderful lesson called "drops of awesome." It was about how hard we are on ourselves and how we need to give ourselves credit for being awesome when we are. Like, I woke up at 2am (twice now) and cleaned up lots and lots of vomit and never once got annoyed or frustrated. That's pretty awesome. We went around the room and each sister said some way they'd been awesome today or yesterday and she put drops of our awesomeness into a vase. Then she filled the rest of the vase with water from the atonement. Because when we're not as awesome as we'd like to be, the atonement makes up for us. It was basically awesome. 

Chris has been such a help all weekend. I generally cringe when people say how helpful it must be to have teens and toddlers at the same time, but this weekend it payed off. He brought the girls to church so I could go to ward council and took over many of my duties yesterday. 

He went and worked our last cookie booth for me. It was either this, or stay home with a still sick Frankie, so he opted for the non-vomit choice. Which was fine by me because I was able to remain bra-less. (; they sold out!

He also took Addie shopping (with a bonus trip to chicfila) and dropped her off at her friends birthday party. Where my awesome hubs picked her up from after working his 6th day straight so I could remain bra-less all day. 

Not that my day was a walk in the park. This little chickie was sick-sick. Plus I've got two talks and a PTA meeting coming up. And a big messy house. So see, we're all working. (:

Still working backwards, thanks lanes for this shot. This was a lot of my morning on Saturday. Sweet girl would say "oh no. I don't want to throw up again..." aaaaand throw up. So sad. :(

Working backwards some more. Frank's asked that I take this to show to gramps. So there you go, gramps!

Addie had started it by climbing up on the sign. They've been running ahead of me coming home from school to play on it lately. In other news, I do believe our neighborhood is completely done building and even the model home is for sale. Such a difference from when we moved in 7 years ago!

Shopping with this one was easy last week! It isn't always, so I was very grateful. She's going through a little bratty 4-year-old patch and I'd really like my less crazy 3-year-old back. Classic "mommy, take my picture!" Who could say no?

We've been dealing with lots of Girl Scout cookies! We mailed 10 boxes up to auntie Allie, but the rest we kept local. Frankie was able to sell 107 boxes, which is pretty good if I do say so myself. Since Addie's troop was doing booth sales, she only sold 12, with another 45 or so from booth sales. I will be glad when cookie season is officially over.

And just for good measure, a pre-ballet pick up shot because she's cute.

Sick and tired

This little piggy came into our room at 2:30. "My tummy hurts..." and throw up.

It's 10:00 and she's still going strong. Nothing like a vomit bug to test mom and dads ninja skills. At the first sound of heaving it's a mad race to get to the sick child before said child messes everywhere. Thankfully I've been blessed with some well aiming throwing up kids. They rarely miss the toilet/bucket/bowl they are aiming for. That said, we've still gone through 3 towels, with 2 more in the works and my mind has been made up that we do, in fact, need to keep all of our junkier towels for a few more years. Why does any of this matter? I don't know. I'm tired. And it's a navy weekend so daddy is tired too and not here to help. Some days are like this.

Working backwards. Chris has been playing in an indoor soccer league every Friday night. Brian is the captain, and together they created team shirts and a team name. Something about Wawa. One night Dari texted me that Chris had just gotten an assist and I was like, "wait, you're at the game?" It had never occurred to me to go! I don't know why, it just never clicked till she texted me. So now I've been to both games since then. Soccer at 9:30 on Friday night? Sure. My boy is #1 and scored his first goal last week on his birthday. Super fun!

Miss D has been dressing herself. I'm chilling out in my old age and sometimes even let her leave the house in her own ensembles. And I always let her wear them if we aren't leaving the house. I liked this shirt on shirt combo yesterday.

Yesterday we also woke up to a winter wonderland. It was beautiful, big, fat flakes falling and on the branches and shrubs. And we got a 2 hour delay out of it.

Alexis came to play for the day and she and Laney got along nicely. Weirdly we didn't have anything going on. And I have stuck to my weekly menu and made lemon chicken and pasta for dinner. Solid 1 thumb up. 

On Thursday we went to playgroup at Alecia's for the first time in a long time. Because it had been so long we all stayed super late. Then I made my usual dinner to family crescent chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for a family that just had a baby. I was late with it, or course, so I didn't have time to finish our families dinner. Matt walked in, I said "please finish our dinner!" and walked out. He's a good guy. 

On Wednesday Sarah taught preschool. I dropped Alexis and Delaney off and went vt'ing with Darlaiana. Then I visited with sister Everett, who made me cry twice because of sweet things she said. I had two other visits scheduled, but both fell through. So I had time at home, hooray! I've been sticking pretty closely to my cleaning schedule as well as dinner schedule. Little things. 

I picked girls up and we picked Laney up because I had volunteered to help with daisies. It was super cute, they had Nicole come do a fitness course with them, brought healthy snacks to share (we brought little bags of popcorn), and then had a dental assistant come talk about dental health. I had Chris come get D and A and for about an hour, and then drop them back off on his way to church.

Wednesday was Dr. Suess' birthday, so we sent some book characters off to school. Laura Ingalls wilder was super cute and excited.

And then my little Cindy Lou Who was kind of a crowning hair accomplishment for this momma. We watched a couple YouTube videos, got our hairspray together, and just went for it. I think it turned out quite nicely and she got lots of compliments.

They're so fun!

And the hair held up! This was after school when she'd decided she was done with awesome hair.

The good days just keep passing by.