Wednesday April 30

I spent all morning cleaning up :)

At some point I should have everything nice and super clean so I will only have to maintain!

But we had some people (Plumber/electrician/ac/heater) coming over with our builder to check things out to see how it will all work out when we get going on this remodel.

So I wanted things to be clean in the laundry room area and places that don't usually get a good cleaning :)

Port played with Cannon at his house all morning and then Cannon came over and I watched him for Stacia until the girls got home.

It is so nice that those boys get along so well.

*****

Girls got home and I went for a run.

I do like running in the mornings better, but it is nice to at least get out.

The kids were all outside playing when I got home.

It was beautiful outside.

Elsie didn't last too long out there once I got home, but the other three had fun playing ball games with each other.

And Elsie spent her time reading to Wuvey.

Which is awesome.

I love when she sits and reads, and she has been doing it a lot more lately.

More confident with it.

Makes me happy :)

 

Tuesday April 29

Elsie is always in her own little make believe world....

She has the best imagination :)

Lately, her world has included singing.

It is so fun to watch and listen to her.

She brightens my day!

Joanne came over tonight for Speech Therapy.

It has been several weeks since we have had Joanne over....

With being out of town, Joanne sick, and other odds and ends not working out.

But Elsie worked like a pro and did a very good job.

She is a good little worker :)

*****

I am doing another Wellness Challenge with some of my sisters.

Madi and Cassi wanted to do it with me.

It is such a well rounded challenge that encourages such great habits, that I had no problem with them doing it too.

I have seen some great things happen.

Tonight, for one, they went running together.

They went two miles!

WHAT!!!

Wowza!

And they had fun and can't wait to do it again!

But the biggest change we have noticed is with Madi.

She used to come home every day after school with terrible headaches and stomach cramping.

But all last week she was so great with no problems!

Ya'all know how much I LOVE my water and think it is the cure for everything.....

And in this case, I really think that is what has made the difference!

So good for her!

They are some pretty great kiddos :)

 

Monday April 28

So Port and I had a surprise when dad showed back at home after he had left to go teach his class.

Apparently the city had issues with payment from the 101st civil support team (specialized group of military personal).

Brent is beyond frustrated!

He has been working with to cultivate this relationship with them...it's taken 4 years to get to this point.

And the dumb city starts messing it up because they don't accept credit cards!

The government pays in credit cards and the city government only takes checks.

Anyway...needless to say, dad was home with us today.

Which we loved, but it is a bummer to miss out on the overtime, and all the preparation that he has put into it too :(

And Brent hopes this doesn't make the support team so mad they don't want to work together anymore.

Dumb!

So Dad came with us to get Port his Happy Meal for earning his stickers from going to preschool and church and speech this month.

He was bummed that they no longer gave out Skylander toys, but he was okay with the Spiderman stuff.

After that, dad took Port home and I went grocery shopping.

Dad went over all his Captains stuff over and over again today.

It is his Oral Captains interview tomorrow.

I know that I am not the only one who will be happy when this thing is all over.

So best of luck to him tomorrow.

I left to go get Elsie and take her to PT about 3:30, and asked Madi if she would help with dishes and cleaning up so Dad didn't have to do it, and he could continue studying.

When I came home, Dad was out mowing the lawn and I told him he should get back in there, and he said he needed a break.

I went inside and the kitchen was spotless.

Like 'Dad cleaned it' spotless!

I was mad....I didn't want him to be the one to clean it!!!!

So I went on a hunt for the big girls.

They were downstairs folding our basket of socks....like a million socks that I NEVER fold!

And apparently Dad didn't touch the kitchen!

It was all Madi.

AND she straightened the playroom.

AND she cleaned the living room downstairs.

AND she sorted the laundry.

AND she got Cass to sort socks with her.

I was beyond impressed!

And they were getting along!

It was such an awesome thing.

Made this mamas heart swell :)

I came home (messed up Madi's beautifully cleaned kitchen) and made dinner.

I have to say, I have been kinda rocking the dinner thing.

Feeding them all nice healthy stuff, stuff they aren't really used to, and they are eating it up!

Makes me super happy :)

Then Madi and Port did the FHE for us.

Madi got the 'One drop at a Time' book by M. Russell Ballard for Easter.

And she based the FHE on bees and how with just one bee they only make about 1/12 of a teaspoon in it's lifetime of just a few weeks to 4 months.

But with the whole hive working together, they can make so much more!

And they used that and talked about our individual affect on our family.

If we each contribute our little bit of 'honey', then our little hive will be overflowing :)

 

 

Port drew the flower, bee and hive.

Just adorable :)

Sunday April 27

It was a wonderful Sunday :)

I made the family take a family picture when we got home from church...just cause they were all wearing their Easter best.....

And me in my lounge pant/skirt :)

I think it turned out good, if I do say so myself!

It was Ward conference today....meaning the stake primary presidency was in there for sharing time....MY sharing time!

I have tried not to think too much about that part, and I think I did good.

I have definitely gotten WAAAAYYYY better at this public speaking thing.

I am not saying I am good at it, just less nervous about it :)

But I think it did go really well today and the kids were engaged and I think they went home with the message I wanted them to get (we can show love to our family members).

After dinner, we headed outside.

Dad will be gone again all week, teaching another class.

And it was so nice outside...

Elsie and I had a little Buffalo hunt and picked some Lilacs.

I am so glad they are blooming this year :)

Last year there was a frost that killed them, so no blooms.

I love the lilacs and the smell.

We cut some to put in the house....and will continue to do it until they aren't blooming anymore!

We played basketball, did some tire-swingin', played fetch with Mater, and he also got cuddles from Elsie.

Oh, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt wearing!

That is the shirt Port got for Dad on his birthday and he gets so happy every time dad throws it on :)

It's the little things in life, right!

It was a great evening.

Madi went to a Fireside later on....it is still weird that she is so old :(

Its good and bad, I guess.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day.

 

Saturday April 26

Oh man....it's been a work filled Saturday.

I told the kids last night that they could sleep in, but at 9:00 we were starting chores.

I made little cards for each place that needed cleaning, and what needed to be done in that space.

Then the kids picked the cards they wanted to do :)

Worked out pretty great.....maybe it is a good plan to stick with!

Dad was happy that it wasn't rainy outside so he could get some stuff done that he has been itching to do all week while teaching this class.

He didn't do EVERYTHING he wanted to do....but he never does.

His list is just too long :)

I went for a run later in the day, which was so nice, but super windy!

I guess it could be resistance training.....ha ha :)

Once we got showered and cleaned up, Dad took me out on a date.

We met Drew and Heather at Famous Dave's and had some yummy BBQ.

We stayed and talked for a while....it will be fun when it is summer time and we can get our families together more often!

Thanks for the fun night guys.

After that we made a run to Target.....I never get to that end of town, so you have to take advantage when you do!

I got some shoes that I wanted to get when we were in Utah, but good thing I didn't get them then, cause now they are 50% off!

Awesome!

But really I needed a skirt.

I found the perfect one..........except, they were lounge pants.

So.......

Yep, I bought them and I am turning it into a skirt.

Oh, believe me, I kinda annoy myself too.

Honestly, it is hard for me to go and buy something without thinking of a way I would like to alter it.....dumb.

Drives me crazy.

No pictures today.....bummer :(



Friday April 25

This morning was the Student of the Month assembly.

They split the school in half and the younger half does their assembly in the morning, and the other half does it later in the day.

But before the Student of the Month stuff, the Drama club performed their play.

I guess the boy who Cassi was going to take over for, decided he wanted to do it.

Bummer.

But she was told she could do the part for the afternoon assembly.....

So the play started.

It was a Greek mythology play....it was a cute little play.

They did a good job and it was performed well.

Cassi was one of the 'Monsters' in the morning play.

She was cute :)

We really need to put her into more theatre stuff.

She is so good at it, but I can see some 'timid-ness' creeping in....

I would hate for her to lose that confidence that she has always had!

Anyway....

Then it was time for Student of the Month.

Mrs. Peterson had so many nice things to say about Elsie.

Mostly about her being so happy all the time :)

And diligent about getting her work done.

I didn't know if she would get up in front of everyone...

But she hopped up and was prancing her way up, arms up in the air.

She made everyone smile, like always :)

She is a sweet girl and we sure love her!

Then later in the day, I drug Port back to the school in hopes that Cassi would really get to play the part of Poseidon.

I was happy to see her all dressed up as him instead of a 'monster'.

She did a great job and had a good loud voice.

Port was pretty good too, even though he was seeing it for the second time :)

That pretty much sums up my day, besides all the laundry I did between!

Cassi went home with a friend after school.

They were going to pick their pigs up for FFA.

She was pretty excited about that.

Dad came home a little bit earlier today than he has this past week.

So we had dinner and now we are just relaxing together...minus Cass.

But she should be home in not too long.

 

 

Thursday April 24

It was Cassi's 4th grade music concert tonight.

They did a great job.

They are doing the whole Rendezvous this year, so it was fun for them to incorporate the wild west music.

The kids were pretty excited about it too.

Cassi was part of a 6 person group playing the recorder together.

They did so good.

Cassi also got to close the show with the last speaking part :)

She is a cute girlie!

*****

Port and I did some pretty great cleaning today :)

That makes me happy!

We went through all the toys in the playroom and got rid of a bunch of stuff and threw away a few garbage bags full.

Then we went through and organized everything in his room too.

Got a bunch thrown away and put into the donate pile.

It sure feels good to go through stuff.

Ports preschool as cancelled....and I didn't think I would get anything done because Port has been so whiny and grumpy.

Seriously....I don't know what is up with that kid.

But I got him distracted and we got the rooms done.

Hopefully tomorrow can be productive too :)

 

Wednesday April 23

Cassi is so excited.

She is in a play for Drama club...and didn't get a very big part, because she didn't practice the lines very well and didn't perform well for try-outs.

Well, lucky her....a kid backed out and she took his spot.

She has the parts memorized and she is excited to be a bigger part in the play.

Oh, and the play is Friday :)

So she is going over everything as much as she can so that she does a good job.

And she will.

Because she loves performing!

She also got that part of playing the recorder in a small group for her music performance tomorrow night.

So she is excited about that too.

She is definitely a performer!

*****

 And there were a bunch of pictures from dads phone sent to out dropbox....

So I am posting these just for me, cause I like watching him do his thang ;)

I kinda have a crush on that Fireman....

 

*****

 

Tuesday April 22

Port has had a hard time adjusting back to real life.

He has been bouncing off walls, super talkative and really grumpy....

Kind of odd.

He did go to preschool today, so I am glad we didn't lose that momentum :)

Anyway....once the girls got home, he was worse than he had been all day....

I got him to calm down by watching a show.

I had to laugh when I watched him sitting there....he was such a wiggle worm.

It is always an adjustment to go from playing with cousins and having attention all the time to just Mom.....

Guess I need to do better.

I have been cuddling him a lot.....guess I need to stop doing laundry and cuddle him more :)

There is so much cleaning I need to do.......

Still have a basket full of stuff that I pulled out from when I cleaned the car out from our trip.

I just can't believe how fast the days are going by!!!

But I did make a yummy dinner for the family tonight.

It was a apple sausage/sweet potato/onion skillet thing.

I was worried that maybe they wouldn't like it, but they gobbled it up.

That makes me happy :)

One thing about Dad being gone and coming home at dinner time, I have been planning dinner out better so that it is ready for when he comes home.

I like planning it out...maybe I can stick with it....

Maybe...

 

Monday April 21

Now the task of trying to get back to normal.

I had a primary meeting all morning....

Then Port and I cleaned the car out.

He was pretty whiny today.

But the late night last night.....and not sleeping in, that will do it to a kid :)

I still didn't get to laundry.

Guess that will be tomorrows plan.

I took Elsie to PT today....she did good.

Her little body is definitely worn out....but she did most everything they asked.

Dad came home close to 6:30....and we all had dinner together, mixed with some FHE and then homework.

Madi cracked me up...I pulled out my camera for a picture and she gave me a winner, for sure!

Hope she's not mad, but I just could not stop laughing!!!!!

*****

Dad started his first round of teaching classes today.

This week he is teaching 'Structural Collapse'.

He built this crazy maze with mattresses, bed frames and fridges along the way that the guys had to cut their way out.

I think it would have been fun to watch....but just looking at the pictures and thinking of climbing through that makes me feel all nervous and claustrophobic.....

But it was fun to see pictures of Drew taking the class.

Fun stuff!