Busy Times

I find myself amazed at how busy things are these days. I keep thinking that things will slow down and I'll be able to get caught up on everything, but it's yet to happen. I always feel like taking time to sit down and blog is a frivolous use of my time, but I want to have a record for our family to look back on some day to remember this crazy, busy, wonderful time in our lives. So, I'm pausing my work on house cleaning and laundry to sit and report on this past week.

Friday night Scott and I wanted to get out for a date night, but discovered when trying to find a babysitter, that it was Eagle High's Homecoming game. So, we gave up trying to find a babysitter, and just did a family date night. We took all the kids out to dinner with us, then went shopping at Home Depot for lumber for a home improvement project we have in the works.

Saturday was another day of football. Josh's team won again. And this time, Josh actually got to touch the ball--like three times! He got one really good run in, and would have made it for a touch down, but he forgot to tuck in his shirt, and a kid grabbed his shirt tail and wouldn't let go, so he couldn't get away. But, Josh came away feeling so happy and proud of his game. I love seeing his excitement and love for this game.

This past week brought sad news. My brother-in-law's parents have been serving a mission in Texas, and on Thursday night, there was a fire and his mother was badly burned. She passed away the next morning. Thankfully, his father was unharmed. I can only imagine how hard it has been on my sister's family. I cry every time I think about it. Her funeral is tomorrow in Utah.

Saturday evening brought a visit from my parents. When we had planned to go to Sun Valley three weeks ago, we had reserved two nights in a hotel room in McCall for my parents, to say thank you for watching our kids. But then my Grandma died, so I didn't get to go to Sun Valley. We called the hotel in McCall, and they let us move the reserved dates. Scott had another work trip to Sun Valley planned for this week, so my parents agreed to come watch our kids so I could go with him. We moved their hotel reservation to this past Sunday and Monday night. They came on Saturday, stayed the night, went to church with us Sunday morning, then drove up to McCall. The plan was for them to come back Tuesday night, then I'd leave with Scott Wednesday morning for Sun Valley and they'd watch our kids till we came home Friday night. Then they'd be here on Saturday for Josh's football game, and here on Sunday for Savannah's 10th birthday.

But....they needed to go to Utah for Shauna's mother-in-law's funeral. So, once again, my planned get-away with my husband to Sun Valley got canceled. My parents came back from McCall Tuesday evening. And on Wednesday morning, I sent Scott off by himself to Sun Valley and sent my parents off to Utah, and I'm on my own with the kids for three days. I think I'm just going to stop planning vacations alone with my husband. Scott and I did sneak a date in on Tuesday night while my parents were still here, so we did get a little bit of time out together.

Today after school, Savannah gets to go to a friend's birthday party, and then we've got Joshua's football practice. Tomorrow I get to take treats into Savannah's class for her birthday. And I'm trying to get invitations done and plan a party for her next week while they are out of school (school is out Thursday and Friday for Teacher In-service). This weekend we've got more football and Savannah's birthday, so things won't be slowing down quite yet. I'll just be glad to get Scott home tomorrow night. Then we've got just one week before his big Alaska trip.

Ok, now back to the laundry....

Tired Little Nate

On Saturday after our full day of football games, I found Nathan on the stairs asleep. Yes, that is Sara's nightgown (he LOVES wearing her nightgowns). All the kids had been sent up to bed. Apparently, he was too tired to make it up the stairs. What a sweet little boy he is!

Scissors

Now that Aaron is in Kindergarten, he gets to use scissors. He uses them in school, and comes home with homework assignments that have to be cut. The other night, he was doing one such assignment. Scott and I were busy putting kids in bed, and Aaron was in the kitchen finishing his homework. When he finished, he went straight to bed. The next morning I woke him up and was shocked to see his hair. He had taken the scissors to his hair and cut a big patch of hair off the top of his head. He claimed it was an accident. I'm not sure how much of an accident it really was, but it earned him a nice short buzz cut on Saturday (I had to send him to school that day looking like this). The hair cut almost hides it, but not quite. I couldn't go short enough to even it up (I would have had to shave his head to get it as short as he cut it), but it looks alright (I still need to get a picture of his new haircut). I don't think we'll have him cutting his hair ever again, he's learned his lesson.

Getting Better

I'm happy to report that after about 6 weeks of being sick, I am getting better. I started out with a cough, then the cough got worse and I came down with a full blown cold. It stretched on forever. Then the headache and fever came. Finally last Wednesday the doctor called in an antibiotic prescription for me. And that has done the trick. I'm still a little congested, but on the whole I'm better. It really felt like I had been sick forever. My house has suffered through it because I just didn't have the energy to pull things together. And during the time I was sick, Scott traveled on three different trips, and I took the kids to Eastern Idaho. Scott was always too busy through it all to take off any time to give me a break or give me time to rest. I just powered through it the best I could. But my being sick really took a toll on everyone and everything. So now that I am feeling better, I'm trying really hard to get everything pulled back together, cleaned, and organized. I'm hoping by the end of the week that I'll feel like I've got everything back under control. Wish me luck!

Football

Josh had his first football games on Saturday. His team played their first game last Saturday (and won!), but we were in Eastern Idaho for my grandma's funeral, so we missed it. So, this Saturday was Josh's first game. We played a double header, one game at 1:00 and one at 3:00. Josh needed to be there at 12:15, so we went and spent most of our day at the football field (and all came home more than just a little tired and sunburned).



Sara got to spend her morning with Grandma Jo doing her "birthday shopping with Grandma". I love that Scott's mom does this. She takes each kid for their birthday out for some shopping and lunch. The kids look forward to this special time every year. Sara was especially excited to go shopping with Grandma. I was creating a list of things she needed that she and Grandma could look for (tights, socks, etc). Sara stopped me and asked, "Do I have to just get things that I need, or can I look for things I want". I told her she could look for things she wanted. She got excited and said, "Good! Cuz there is this bracelet at Old Navy....". And she did come home from shopping with all sorts of fun things (headbands, belts, bracelets, etc). Grandma Jo does a great job spoiling my kids.

After the morning of shopping, Scott's parents came with Sara to watch Josh's first game. Scott had volunteered to be the downskeeper for the game, so Scott's parents sat with me and the kids and helped keep the kids in line.






Josh's team won their first game! After the game, we said goodbye to Scott's parents, and just hung out for an hour till Josh's next game. This time Scott had to keep score, so he took Aaron over with him so I wouldn't have to keep track of as many kids. By this game, Owen was really tired, and finally fell asleep half-way through the game.





Josh's team won their second game (they are undefeated!). I love seeing how much Josh is loving playing football. He LOVES football. And he loves that he's on a real team and plays real games. I think Scott's loving getting involved, too--one of the joys of having a son. He takes Josh out in the backyard and throws the football with him and goes over the plays. It makes this mom very happy seeing her boys happy.

Sara's Surprise Party

On Friday we had a surprise party for Sara (to make up for having to go to a funeral on her actual birthday). Scott came home a little early, and took Sara with him to run an errand. In the meantime, we had three of Sara's friends come and everyone hid till she got home. When she walked in the door, everyone jumped out and yelled "Surprise"! It took her a minute to realize what was happening.


Three of Sara's favorite friends, Emily R., Emily M. and Ady.

We made our own individual pizzas and the kids thought it was great that they got to create their own any way they liked. While the pizzas baked, we painted fingernails, then the kids played outside till it was time to come in and eat.


After we ate pizza, the kids decorated their own cupcake and ate it (I didn't get any pictures of that). Then we went in the living room for presents.





It was a fun little party, and I love that Sara was surprised. I think she felt really special knowing that I had gone to the work of giving her this party. She is very special, and I'm so glad she's part of our family!

Scott's 35th Birthday

Scott's birthday was last Thursday. It was a crazy busy day, but we did find time to do a little bit of celebrating. He had to work all day. After school, Savannah had gymnastics from 4:15-5:15. From there, I took Josh to football at 5:30. Then I came home and got dinner ready (but stuck it in the fridge instead of the oven). Scott went straight from work to pick up Josh at football and they got back just minutes before 7. In the meantime, I'd had Claire come over to babysit the kids. As soon as Scott pulled up, Josh hopped out of the truck and I hopped in it, and Scott and I headed off to "Meet the Teacher" night at the kids' school. I left instructions for Claire to put dinner in the oven while we were gone, so it would be ready when we got home. We got back from teacher night just before 8:30, and that's when the celebrating began.

We had dinner, then went in the living room to open presents.


Scott got all his favorite treats--Whoppers (I love how he tried to fake surprise when he opened them--he gets them every single year), Dr. Pepper, and Baby Ruth candy bars. He also got some aftershave.







Then we headed into the kitchen for his birthday brownies and ice cream.


Happy Birthday Scott! We love you!

This is What Happens When a 3 Year Old Dresses Himself

Nate tried to put his shorts on by himself. It didn't quite work. He got both legs in the same opening, and this was the result.

Labor Day

We spent Labor Day this year doing yard work. We pruned all of the bushes in our yard. That's a job that is usually saved for me to do by myself while Scott spends a month in Alaska. But this year, Scott decided to push it up a bit and do it while he was still home so he could help me. We got the kids involved and worked all day long (we have a LOT of bushes). (Savannah and Sara grabbed the camera and documented the day).










To reward the kids for working, Scott took the kids to the swimming pool that evening (I stayed home with Owen and cleaned up inside). All in all, not the most exciting way to spend a holiday, but I'm so thankful that it's all done.