Leadership Assembly, Kensington Farm, Encouraging Pictures

Another week down in the books! Yesterday felt like Spring, today feels more like winter- crazy Michigan weather! I only hope it gets itself under control for Spring Break which is only a week away! I would love to spend it outdoors!

Monday and Tuesday were spent cleaning and running errands. Wednesday night was book club and it was one of the best ones I have gone to since they actually discussed the book! A lot of the ones I have been to before end up being more socializing then book discussing. It's not that I don't like socializing but it's nice to actually have a good discussion about a book. 

Thursday I was the BEST sub- where you sub in different classes so teachers can meet with the Resource teacher. That was the very first sub job I did here in Michigan and it was fun to do it again, now with some more experience under my belt. I still experienced some challenging classes but I definitely felt more confident this time around. 

Thursday night the kids had a Leadership assembly. Each grade level does a special song to teach us one of the leadership characteristics that they learn at school. Since it get's too crowded in the cafeteria, they split it so half met in the gym and half in the cafeteria. Tyler and I each took a girl and went to a different room so that the boys would have someone in the audience each time they performed. 

Unfortunately for me, I picked the delayed room (they performed in the other room first and then came to mine). Not only did I get the delayed room but I sat in a spot not ideal for leaving so I couldn't easily just slip out after the boys' grade levels had both performed. Tyler, who hates crowds and events, was so cranky by the time me and Lucy came out and Ben was having conniptions because he had thought I had left without him. It ended in kind of a disaster of bad emotions but the performances themselves were really cute and fun.

Friday the weather was absolute perfection! I was kind of feeling pooped, I still have some fun sinus/cough problems, but I knew we had to go out and enjoy the lovely temperatures. We ended up at the farm in Kensington and I am so glad we went. It was fun to see how excited Penny got about riding on a rocking horse there but how she got even more excited when she saw a real horse. She is definitely getting older and more interested in these things. We saw all the animals and then spent most of our time in a little play area that had a wooden tractor and a play house. There were bugs surrounding that play house and some in it too which totally grossed me out but didn't seem to bother the girls. I guess they're not scared of no bugs.

Friday night we went to the going away party of our friends, the Chappell's. They leave us next week which is sad since their daughter Audrey is one of Lucy's favorite friends and Penny loves their littlest, Felicity. The party was fun until my tummy started bothering me and we ended up having to leave out early. Ugh, it is not fun having an easily upset tummy. 

This week we also have been making some things for Mariah's husband Jeff who is taking the MCAT's and needs a little encouragement because he is feeling nervous. I am super proud of these photo's I made :)

Prayer Answered, Dental Work, Math Competition, Etc

So as you know, I have had some rough sub jobs lately and I have had a hard time wanting to sub again. These rough jobs also left me doubting myself and my ability to teach and manage children. Sunday night I was really starting to wonder if I was on the wrong career path and if I should start looking somewhere else to make extra income for my family. So that night I prayed, spilling out all my worries and asking if I should continue to substitute teach. Early the next morning a sub job came up at the boy's school and I took it. It turned out to be one of the best sub jobs I have had since starting up here. The class was well behaved and lots of fun. It was everything I loved about subbing and it was an answer to my prayers. I am so grateful that despite all my imperfections my Heavenly Father listens to and answers my prayers.

On Tuesday it was time to give Lucy's dental work a retry but this time with laughing gas. I don't know if she wasn't breathing in the laughing gas through her nose correctly or if just wasn't affecting her for some reason but it was not a success. I had to hold down her hands, another person held her face still and periodically another lady came in and helped hold down her legs. It was the saddest thing ever. Somehow we made it through the hour long process but it was excruciating to see her so upset the whole time. Afterwards, she was awarded for surviving with a trip to Target where she got to pick out a toy. Penny did such a phenomenal job of entertaining herself while I was holding Lucy down so she got a toy too. Below is Lucy having a hard time mustering enthusiasm about her new Shopkins because her mouth is numb.

Later that day Lucy was eating Spaghetti O's and she informed me that the Spaghetti O's had fixed her teeth and everything was all better now. Apparently the numbing had finally worn off.

Wednesday night was Bunco and I won the loser prize for the second week in a row! I scored so little that everyone was genuinely surprised when I told them my score- it's so nice to be good at loosing ;)

Thursday night the boys had their Math Pentathlon Competition. They played math games against other students in their District. The way it works is that you can't be where they are playing unless you are a monitor and since I wasn't signed up to be one but a friend in my Ward was, she took them. If we had gone we would have just had to wait outside the room forever so I am grateful she took them. When they came back home they were super excited to show me the coupons they got in their goody bag- even more excited to show me those than to share the fact that their school won first place in the competition. It was super funny- I guess they know how much their mom loves a good coupon!

Friday was St. Patrick's day and we kept it simple, we had Lucky Charms for breakfast (although Lucy didn't because we have terrified her about getting more sugar bugs and having to go back to the dentist- we are such good parents). I took the girls to the library that morning and they had some fun St. Patrick's day crafts the girls got to do. And of course all my kids wore green to avoid being pinched!

That afternoon we watched one of Lucy's friends and because they needed something to do and I have been trying to do at least one educational thing a week (I aim high guys) I had Lucy and her friend make shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks.

Later that day, because we live in Michigan and the weather is crazy, we got snow. It was my favorite- big, fluffy flakes- and because it looked so pretty and we've gotten so little of it and it wasn't enough to warrant shoveling, I didn't mind it one bit. It made my drive to go see the new "Beauty and the Beast" with friends even more magical. By the way, there was this big controversy over the movie, they claimed that it had some super inappropriate gay insinuations. Honestly, I doubt my kids will notice those insinuations, and call me naive, but I am not sure I would have noticed them if I hadn't been told about them. It was a really fantastically done remake and I LOVED it! Plus it was fun to hang out with my buddies and have a night out.

Today I was looking at houses for sale on my phone, a girl can dream right? Lucy was looking with me and decided she wanted to buy one. I told her that we needed lots and lots of money to buy it. She thought for a moment and then said "Idea!" and ran off. When she came back she was holding my wallet and said, "You have money in here!" Smart girl- too bad my wallet falls several hundred thousand short.

Also today Lucy went to an art birthday party- it was super fun with painting a canvas and drawing blindfolded and playing "paint, paint, brush." It also inspired Lucy to paint... Penny. Penny is only crying in the picture because she didn't want me to take her picture- she actually loved having Lucy paint her- goofballs!

Better

This week was significantly better than last week. The only unhealthy person this week has been me. I have had some yucky sinus issues and a yucky cough but I can deal with all that way better than stomach bug issues.

Mostly this week was filled with the normal chores and errands of every day life and sprinkled with some fun moments of hanging out with friends. It was a good, mostly uneventful, week. 

Monday morning Lucy shared a story with me about how when Grandma was watching her she climbed up a tree and got stuck in it like a cat. Then the fire department came and got her down with a ladder. She said the firemen called her a silly coconut for being stuck in the tree. It sounded so real that I almost believed that maybe Grandma was hiding something from us...until she said it was a candy tree and had lots of lollipops. This girl has quite the imagination!

Tuesday we spent the whole morning with friends that are moving away next month. It will be so hard to see them go. Lucy is such great buddies with Audrey, so much so that Audrey sat at the door and whimpered when it was time for us to go. Penny also loves hanging with them and threw a royal fit, screaming the entire way home when we left. Ugh, why must people leave us?

Tuesday night, I was pooped. I made Tyler take everyone to a Cub Scout pack meeting and I stayed home and took a walk to the library and Kroger's. I was so grateful he took all the kids. It was so nice to have a peaceful stroll after dealing with Penny's tantrums that day.

Wednesday was one of the windiest days ever in Michigan. There were many a trees knocked down and lots of garbage cans rolling around in the streets. Somehow, despite hundreds of thousands of people losing power in Michigan that day, we kept our power and the boy's school didn't lose power either. I feel so blessed. We have some people in our ward who were without power for days, one family just got theirs back on yesterday, Saturday. The worst part for all these poor families is that our temp's here have been bitter cold (20's). Once again I feel so blessed that we did not lose electricity.

Friday Tyler was off of work to make up for working last weekend and I was going to try to sub but I have been feeling really unhappy with subbing so I ended up not taking a job. Instead I had a really exciting day of filing our taxes while Tyler fixed the rotors and brake pads on my car. It was a productive day, I'll give you that! 

Saturday I went out to run errands thinking I would just be out a couple of hours...5 hours later I was on my way home. I guess I had too much fun strolling every single aisle in every single store I went into. I didn't even buy anything for me. I just got some Easter Basket things for the kids. I am not sure what's going on with me but I have really been needing a lot of "me" time lately and I am so lucky to have a husband who let's me have it.

And a Lucy story... Lucy had gotten into the habit of saying the word "forever" constantly. I would say "We need to go to Walmart," and her response would be, "Forever!?" It was super driving me crazy so I told her I would take away a jewel every time she says it. The funny thing is that she just randomly puts jewels in the jar for the most part and we don't actually have her use them for TV time but she would get so broken hearted if she had to lose them. There was many a time that she would say, "Forev- No! I don't want to lose my jewels!" before she finally stopped saying it all the time.

And a Penny story...this morning Penny threw an epic tantrum when I was trying to give her pigtails. I have given her pigtails like a billion times before so I couldn't figure out what her problem was. It turns out she didn't want pigtails, she wanted A ponytail. I hate how opinionated she already is about her hair *sigh*

Rough Week

This week started off rough. Monday morning I subbed for a super challenging kindergarten class that I had subbed for before. I had this one kid who was having a hard day who kept getting upset and hiding- one time he ran off into the empty classroom next to us. Then that afternoon I subbed for Steven's class. The bribery I used with them last time (handing out tickets for drawings for a prize) did not work this time. They could not, for the life of them, cease talking and listen. I ended up making them all write me apology notes before they could go out to recess. My favorite one was from someone who told me that I didn't deserve such an awful class. Ha ha, so sweet. After recess, they actually started to act much better, probably because we watched a movie. Such a long rough day. 

On Tuesday Grams left us. The girls and I took her out for a yummy breakfast that morning. Before we took her to the airport we ran to a couple of stores which was a bad idea. Penny screamed most of the way to the airport, helping Grams to be more excited about leaving us. It was so hard for me to say goodbye to Grams. She has been an amazing help- watching the kids while me and Tyler went away, watching the kids while I subbed, helping with sick kids, helping when I was a sick kid myself, and so on and so forth. Not to mention it was so nice to have her company when Tyler was away. The kids already miss her and Lucy keeps asking me when it will be warm again so we can go to AZ (I told her we are going in the summer, when it's hot out). It's going to be a long 4 months until we get to see Grams (or as Penny called her, Nana) again :(

I just loved that Benny always loved snuggling with Grams and that Steven loved learning how to do the things that Grams was doing (like Sodoku and Cross Stitching):

We had the hardest time getting a picture of all 4 kids with Grams before she left. Steven kept closing his eyes, Lucy is silly, Penny never looks at the camera, and Ben has issues with light in his eyes (it's too bright!). 

The rest of our week we continued to get haunted by the stomach bug. Ben finally recovered from it Monday but then it was Steven's turn. Steven was complaining about not feeling well Tuesday night but he kept telling me he was just car sick from reading a book on the way home from Scouts. That night I woke up and heard the bathroom fan running downstairs. I had a feeling this was an ominous sign and that feeling was confirmed when I went to check it out. Steven was on his bed crying and their was throw up everywhere. That kid cannot make it to the bathroom for the life of him- probably because he refuses to admit he's going to puke until it's much too late. He managed to aim it just right that he got his bedding, it fell through the cracks and into the drawers under his bed and he got the rug. It took me almost an hour to clean it up. Thankfully he only threw up that once and by the end of Wednesday he was just fine.

Penny was the last kid to get hit with the bug. Early Thursday morning she woke up super cranky and then she threw up. Thankfully, she made it in the toilet. Also, thankfully, her bug was super short lived too. She only threw up that once and then she was just kind of an emotional roller coaster for the day and then she was fine by Friday.

With all our sick we had to cancel our fun plans with friends for the week and it ended up being just a super boring, cabin fever sort of week- made especially more cabin feverish with Tyler being away. 

At least Ben had some fun at school- celebrating Dr. Seuss's Birthday and he took a field trip to the Dentist's office where they had a performance with TMNT's teaching them about taking care of their teeth. Also Penny decided she wanted to learn how to use scissors. With my help, she cut out that Barbie she's holding in the picture below- she did such a good job ;)

Silly Lucy kept picking at a scab on her nose and making it bleed so she was constantly putting band aides on her nose. She looked so funny with band aides on her nose! Also, one morning Lucy was singing a 21 pilots song to me, only she thought the words said, "I'm lonely! I'm lonely!" (instead of "I'm falling!") Well after being downstairs for a bit she came back up and cried to me that everyone was being mean. I told her to just go play by herself but she replied, "But I don't want to play alone. Remember that song? I'm lonely at the table!"