Sunday Best & Ben Turns 8

Since we have General Conference on Easter, I had the kids do their Easter Sunday Best pictures the week before Easter. I did buy identical dresses for Penny and Lucy this year but I took a risk and bought them off Amazon from a place based in China. They took a month to arrive and Penny's dress was just as long as Lucy's. I could have tried to exchange Penny's but it would have taken another month which would have it coming way past Easter. Instead I just went to Walmart and got Penny a dress that at least matched Lucy. 

The kids are always super difficult to get group pictures of and these ones were no different, as you can see Penny was in a dancing mood. I finally had to let her take a "dance break" and then we did group shots. They are some crazy monkeys but they sure are cute, crazy monkeys.

Monday I about had a nervous breakdown due to Walmart being ridiculous. Here goes the extremely long story... So I have been doing grocery pick up at Walmart since about December and I have had zero problems with it. I order the groceries, I get an email that they are ready and I go get them. They have always been ready right on time and they always come out promptly. Well on Monday I had chosen the 9-10am slot and 10am came and I still hadn't gotten an email. This is really weird because I always get one right at the beginning of the time slot. So I called the store to see what was up. Well after some time I finally got a hold of someone who said they would look into it and then call me back. 30 minutes later still no call so I decided to call the corporate Walmart grocery line. They had me on hold for twenty minutes and then they told me that my groceries were ready and they were coming outside to give them to me. I explained that I was still at home but I would head over asasp. So I called the store again and said I would be there in 10 minutes. Well I arrive and these people come out with one small basket which I know isn't mine. They say sorry, wrong person and disappear. 15 minutes later still no one else comes out. I am the only one in the lot and I am feeling frustrated so I call the store. As I am talking to someone in the store a lady comes out- with NO groceries. She explains she just came in and doesn't know what's going on. I try to, without being to mean, explain the situation. She comes back out with the manager who says my groceries are still not ready. I ask how much longer and she says 15 minutes. I figure I can wait 15 minutes because it still beats me having to go in and do this myself. However, 30 minutes later she comes out with still NO groceries. I am so frustrated that I tell her just to cancel it, she says she'll give me a $20 giftcard as an apology. I figure fine, whatever. Well later when I use said gift card it turns out it only has $10 on it. Argh. The whole thing was just so frustrating. Really all I wanted to know was when my groceries were going to be ready so I could plan accordingly. Instead I wasted my time (that I could have been grocery shopping) waiting in vain for them. I have loved using their pick up and now I am scared to try it again. I realize places can have off days, they said they were understaffed that day and that it was the managers first day but some honesty could have gone a LONG ways. I had to leave that disaster to pick up Tyler from the airport and then we went grocery shopping together which made it somewhat better but still, I am at a loss of what to do next week. 

Tuesday and Wednesday I subbed and by the end of those 2 days I was worn out. Thankfully no work for me Thursday! Me and Penny took it very easy, besides a dentist appointment in which I had a red spot on her gum looked out. She melted down so bad and it was a really rough appointment but the good news- the redness was from a scratch on the gum, not an infected tooth.

Also Thursday was Ben's eight birthday! To start his day he got to open his gifts. He had asked his Grams and Poppy Hatch for a Pikachu doll and Pokemon cards and they provided. His best friend Andrea is super into Pokemon and so he seems to have caught the Pokemon bug from her. He was so excited to finally have some Pokemon cards and he seemed way more into those then he did the Lego set and TMNT sword and mask we got him. He even used Grams and Poppy Brady's birthday money to buy more cards.

Ben had jammie day at school and brought a treat to share. I wasn't able to come in because of Penny's dentist appointment but he seemed like he had a good day. After school, his best friend Andrea came over and we had pizza and a Lloyd Ninjago cake (made by Tyler). 

After we stuffed ourselves we changed into swimsuits and went to Splash Universe. Traffic was awful so it took a LONG time to get there but once there, everyone had a blast. Ben and Andrea were everywhere- the splash playground, the lazy river, the slides... Giggling and being goof balls. Steven took Lucy under his wing and managed to get her to finally try the big slides. She of course loved them. They also spent a lot of time on the Splash Playground. And Penny made us do at least 15 laps in the lazy river and then spent a ton of time going on the slide in the toddler splash area. They had so much fun that we didn't head home until 9pm which made for a late night but totally worth it.

Ben really is a sweet boy who will still give me hugs and cuddle with me. He also loves when I am subbing and visit him at lunch, he still isn't too cool to hang with his mom. He really does not like getting in trouble and can easily be redirected to the right thing. I love this boy and can't wait for him to be baptized in 2 weeks!

Easter Egg Hunt

On Tuesday Steven began his treatment for his overbite at the orthodontist. This meant we had to fork over $1800 to the place, it was painful. All they did for his first visit was stick a rubber band around two of his teeth. This is to create space so they can put rings around these teeth that will attach to an expander. It was a lot of effort to get him out of school and to this appt, only to have one of the rubber bands fall out a few hours later *sigh*. Apparently they will fall out if there is already space around the tooth.

Tuesday night I went to a class on "Spring Doodles" with a couple ladies from church. I love hand lettering but the doodles I add can definitely use some work. I learned at the class that my watercolor pencils can actually be used like watercolors. You draw it on the paper and then the color can be spread with a water brush. It was pretty cool to learn how I was supposed to be using something that I've had forever. I had a good time hanging with some friends and learning new things. 

Wednesday I subbed for a fourth grade class and it wasn't a super fun day. I was in the hallway taking the class back to their room when we hit a traffic jam. It got kind of noisy due to their being 3 classes in the hall but as soon as the 2 cleared out and we were able to start moving, a teacher came out and decided to chew out the class I was subbing for. She went on and on about how they were being bad examples to her Kindergarten students. The Principal happened to walk by and stop and listen to some of the lecture, super fun. It was frustrating because it really hadn't been just them making the noise. After we got back to our classroom, the principal came in and decided to observe for a bit. Thankfully it was DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read) and all the kids were quiet and reading so hopefully he doesn't think I am a completely hopeless sub.

Thursday Lucy went to the dentist and we finished off her dental work. Despite the issues I've had with that place I was really impressed with the dentist that did her work- we had a different one do it this time. She was able to really calm down Lucy and get her through getting 4 cavities filled. Afterwards we got Frosty's and it was fun to watch Lucy drool some major Frosty drool since both sides of her mouth were numb.

Thursday night I went to a friend's house. Her husband was out of town so I kept her company, we worked on a Michigan puzzle that my mom had given me. It was super relaxing to make a puzzle and chat the night away. This is my friend that miscarried and she really opened up about things. I know I said this before but every time I talk with her I realize just how blessed I am with my 4 healthy babies. She really helps put my life in perspective and keep me grateful. And I really really want her husband to find a job here so they don't have to move to Boston.

Friday Tyler was off work because he was flying to AZ for his dad's surprise party that weekend. He ran some errands with Penny and me that morning and it was super nice just hanging out with him. We got some succulents to put on a new shelf I got for the downstairs bathroom (I was so not into the over the toilet metal shelf we had before). I am really feeling happy with our downstairs bathroom now.

That afternoon I drove Tyler to the airport, only to have him wait there for a million hours because he ended up taking a flight that left 4 hours later. They asked if anyone was willing to go on a later flight, and he was. He basically made back the cost of his flight because they gave him a $400 gift card to do it- pretty awesome! I view it as a tender mercy. It was kind of a struggle to give up that money for him to fly home for the party but he did a good thing going and it all worked out.

Today, Saturday, I wanted to keep busy so they day wouldn't drag on and I feel like I've been successful. We went to an Easter Egg hunt in the morning that was fun for the kids. It was super cold but it didn't bother me as much as it normally does (maybe I am finally learning how to layer correctly?). There were a ton of kids on the younger age field so the girls didn't get a lot of eggs- Penny only got 3- but I was ok with that. They don't need a lot. The older kid field was a disaster. The kids in the front of the line did not listen and started getting eggs before they were supposed to so the lady just said to go ahead. I thought that was so terrible that the older kids were the ones not to listen but the boys still ended up with too many eggs. I had them toss some back because I knew there were some late comers but these awful kids with overflowing baskets immediately snatched them up. Urgh. 

After the Easter Egg hunt we had lunch, and then went to the library. All these things helped to fill up the day and now it's almost over. Now to just get through Sunday without a husband. He'll be back Monday so I am almost halfway through!

And funny note- the kids finished the first Percy Jackson book so I let them watch the movie. There is a character they call smelly Gabe and Lucy exclaimed, "I wish I was smelly Lucy!" 

And sweet moment- Ben is having Andrea over for his birthday this week and when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted he said chocolate at first and then quickly changed to vanilla because he knew Andrea doesn't like chocolate. He's a good friend.

Things

On Saturday Tyler got a fancy Ham Radio polo shirt because he can now administer Ham Radio tests. I thought he looked real nice in the shirt and I actually got him to smile nicely. 

Apparently winter germs are not letting up here in Michigan, this week I had lots of requests to sub but because of previous requests or plans I had to turn down a lot of jobs. I ended up just subbing Monday and Friday afternoon- both days for the same teacher, Mrs. Rupp. I swear she keeps me employed, I feel like I sub for her on a weekly basis. Her class used to be better but they seem to be getting crazier as we approach the end of the year. Lots of fighting over silly things like who is first in line and also lots of side conversations when I am trying to teach- super fun.

Tuesday was my only calm day. I was able to buy Ben new snow pants (he blew out the crotch in his old ones- don't ask me how). I was grateful that I found a pair for $3 at Salvation Army since winter is almost over. I tried to get Penny to nap that afternoon but she refused, maybe she is done with naps again? That night I had Bunco and had a blast as always. I got a prize for having the second highest score. Somehow I got lucky and got a Bunco literally the last roll of one round and another Bunco the first roll of a different round. It's always fun when that happens! My prize was a candy dish with a bunny in the middle, a nice Easter decoration for our house.

Wednesday Steven went to the dentist to get a cavity fixed and -thanks to the Orthodontist- we were able to point out another bum tooth. He ended up having to get that tooth pulled- I am seriously doubting the abilities of our current dentist. How on earth do they keep missing these things? Thankfully it doesn't look like he will need a spacer since the adult tooth should be coming in soon. I know I should probably leave this dentist but it is such an ordeal to start all 4 kids up at a new dentist, I stupidly am wanting to give them just one more chance before I leave. I will probably regret that.

Wednesday night we had the Laci's family over for dinner (her hubby was out of town). I made my usual spaghetti pizza because I figured it's super kid friendly. Unfortunately I was incorrect- neither of her kids wanted anything to do with it. It made me feel a little bit better about my picky eaters, ha ha!

Thursday was a crazy day. I had a primary meeting in the morning and then I watched a friend's kid- same kid I spoke about last time that does not get along with Penny. They really, really, really don't get along. And she is also super needy and she kept insisting I play with her since Penny wouldn't. This meant no break for me.

After she had been over for a couple hours, I had to take her along with us to take Laci to the airport. Laci's grandma had passed away and so with her husband out of town she needed a ride to the airport and Laci's kids, of course, came along with. It was a rough ride. Laci's kids started crying as soon as I dropped Laci off and the kid I was watching began freaking out because "it was too loud" and in protest threw a granola bar at one of Laci's kids making her sob louder and just a really awful car ride. 

When I got home from dropping off Laci's kids and my other friend's kid off, I had to rush to feed the kids and get them ready for Leadership Night. Oi. The kids each sang a cute song with their grade level about one of the 7 habits and I was really proud of them because they were actually singing and smiling. I think I would've enjoyed it more if hadn't been such a super long day.

Friday I did a lot of socializing. I hung out with my friend who had miscarried and I felt good to be able to keep her company and pull her out of her sadness a bit. We have a lot of similar feelings about things so I enjoy hanging with her, plus she's a working mom which I can totally sympathize with. 

After that I went to another friend's house, Sarah. Sadly Sarah is moving so we talked a lot about that. It makes me sad that people keep moving away. At noon I left Penny with Sarah so I could go sub. 

Then Friday night I went to Stefanie's house and we spent several hours eating brownies and catching up. I really miss having her as a neighbor, it was so much easier to get together then!

And today, Saturday, I went to Stake Women's Conference. The theme was "joy" and they had a lot of great thoughts about how trials increase our joy and how we can find joy in the journey. It was good and the lunch after the talks was super good too. I don't know why I love chicken salad and crescent buns so much but I do, I really do! 

Also, this happened in our house this week- Our Wall of Shopkins!

Teeth, Fancy Nancy, Mystery Reader

Monday was my usual clean house day and I also watched my friend's son, Brooks. I love watching him because he and Penny get along really well, it makes for an easy day. 

Tuesday I had a sub job and Tyler worked from home so he could take Penny to the dentist to get all her teeth fixed. I am actually glad I didn't have to take her because he said she was really upset the whole time and that's really hard for me to watch. Thankfully the medicine did it's job and she doesn't seem to remember being traumatized and thankfully she didn't lose any teeth. And now, $500 later, she has a very pretty smile and a couple more silver teeth.  

Wednesday morning I got a reminder that it was "dress like your favorite storybook character" day. I don't remember ever hearing about this before but that's ok, we made it work! We decided she would be Fancy Nancy and we accessorized like crazy. I just wish I knew how to curl hair so she could've been a more legit Fancy Nancy.  

Wednesday afternoon I got to be the Mystery Reader in Ben's class. It was a lot of fun! The teacher gave them some clues and Ben was able to guess it was me coming. Then I came in and read them 2 books: Creepy Underwear and The Princess and the Pony. They really seemed to love these silly books and I really enjoyed reading them. I wish I made more time to volunteer in my kid's classrooms, I really like being in them and not being the substitute ;)

On Thursday I subbed for a fifth grade teacher that I had never subbed for before. It was such an easy morning- he team teaches with another teacher so I basically was just there for crowd control while she taught. And since the class is really well behaved, it was super easy. The teacher came back early (it was just a morning sub job) and his class was at PE so I went to see if Ben's teacher needed anything. When I hit time to go I went to go check out and found out the office had been looking for me. It turned out this teacher's son was sick and they needed me to stay the whole day. I was glad I hadn't tried to skip out early and I was happy to stay the whole day since it was such an easy job. During read aloud that afternoon I read this book called "Fish in a Tree". The main character has dyslexia and get's teased a lot. I loved a line in it that said, "Just because someone says it, doesn't mean it's true." I had been talking to a friend whose daughter had gotten teased earlier and it had made me wonder what I would tell my own kids if they were in that situation. This is definitely one thing I will tell them. I want to read the whole book now because I feel like it might give me some good talking points with my kids.

On Friday we had a friend and her daughter over. My friend is super nice and complimented my house a lot, it was a welcome change. I feel like her positivity is good for me- I just wish our kids got along better. They never wanted to do the same thing and had some fights over sharing things. Penny was extra irritable (tired) that morning so it probably didn't help but I just feel like they typically don't get along well anyways which stinks.

Friday afternoon the kids had a half day so we rented "Coco." I really liked that movie, I felt like it was a good one to push the importance of family history, good overall theme.

Also this week we started listening to "Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief" in the car. The kids had saw a preview to the movie and said they wanted to watch it, I told them they had to read the book first. We couldn't find the book at the library but we did find the audio book and it's been fun. The boys have both really seemed to enjoy the story and there is a lot less fighting in the car now- not to mention that actually get excited to get in the car. I am just super happy that Steven is finally "reading" a book that is not a graphic novel. At the pace we're going we should be done in less than 2 weeks. I hope the excitement for the story continues! 

And my chairs came this week! I am so happy that I finally have  matching chairs at the dining room table and I am really happy with the chairs themselves. They look nice, they're actually pretty comfy and the legs can be stained so we could actually stain them to match the table. I was weary based on some of the reviews that I might get some lemons in the bunch but all 8 of our chairs are good to go and I literally could not have beaten the price. I paid $180 for 8 chairs, everywhere I had been looking I would have had to pay at least $60 a chair. So yes, I am quite proud of myself :)

Last note, we took the boys to the Orthodontist today and I knew it wouldn't be cheap but I didn't realize just how bad it would be. With our insurance, which has the lowest LIFETIME maximum, it will cost $1800 for Steven to get an expander and another mouth device that is to help prevent thumb sucking (yes he still does this at nights). He also might get a couple braces on his front teeth. And this is all just precursor work. Eventually, down the road, he will still need the whole shebang. It's not that we don't have the money, it's just there a million other things I would rather spend it on and a part of me is just not sure it's worth it. Ugh, why must my children have the most expensive teeth ever?

Another Zoo, and a Broken Tooth

It has been another bipolar weather week in Michigan- I guess that's a sign that spring is here? We started off the week with gorgeous weather- temperatures in the 60's, the sun was out for a couple of those days- it was great! After cleaning the house Monday, Penny and I took a walk and played on the swings in the backyard- I seriously love having a swing set right in our yard.

Tuesday morning I went to Home Goods store with Penny to look for some things and instead I left with an Easter bunny that was definitely not on my list. It was cute and I am a sucker- can you see it on our mantel?

I have been making lots of visits to home stores lately trying to decide what I want to spend my sub money on and just been struggling. There are SO many things I want for the new house. I am grateful for a talk we had in Stake Conference that put things in to a better perspective. He actually quoted Will Smith of all people and it has stuck with me "Too many people spend money that haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." It hit me that some of the things I "want" for our house are actually things that I want to impress others. I thought about getting a new rug in the living room because the one we have is old fashioned. The reality is that I don't really mind the rug, I only feel bad about it when a trendy friend comes over. And the reality is that is a silly way to spend my money. So in the end I used my money to get things that I wanted- matching dining room chairs, a new bath mat and a cactus hamper. Then I took the rest of my money and signed the boys up for a basketball skills class because really all this stuff is just stuff and we can't take it with us. I need to stop worrying about impressing others with a trendy house and instead focus on creating memories.

Back to my week, Tuesday afternoon I went over to a friend's house to watch her youngest while he napped. It was nice to have an afternoon where I was forced to be unproductive. While her youngest napped Penny and I worked on her workbook, played together and I re-read "A Wrinkle in Time." A movie based on that book is coming out soon so I was trying to refresh my memory and see if I wanted to go to the movie. I do. I am interested to see how they portray a book that has a very Christian message and also doesn't have a lot of action. I think I'll take Steven to it.

Wednesday, Tyler took the day off. I had told him he should take a day off this week so we could enjoy the nice weather and pretend we only had one kid. He surprisingly did and I am so grateful. We had such a nice day. We went to Lansing and had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and afterwards we went to Potter Park Zoo. I love that small zoo. All the animals are easy to see and there is not an excessive amount of walking. Plus the price is right- for Winter it is only $3 for adults and $2 for kids. You can't beat that! Our favorites were probably the friendly llamas and the snoozing lions.

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Wednesday night tragedy struck. We were in the middle of our night time routine and Penny comes running to me crying and saying "Tooth! Tooth!" I of course freaked out when she hands me a piece of her tooth. After searching her mouth for the broken tooth I realized it was the crown from her front tooth. It had popped out when she tried to floss it and there was a cavity under where the crown had been. I called the dentist's emergency line in a panic and they said they would have her in the next day and that they would call me that morning to let me know when. I had a sub job for Thursday so I ended up cancelling it so I could take her in. 

The next morning things got frustrating. They tell me I have two options. I can take Penny in and have it fixed with no medicine (the medicine that subdues and helps her forget) or I can wait until the appt we have for her in April. I was so upset with those 2 crappy options. I could either have my 3 year old get her tooth fixed unmedicated which would never work or wait over a month and see how bad that tooth gets. I was so mad, after many frustrated words (in which I tried to be as polite as possible) they finally said they could move things around and get her in Tuesday. I am still not happy. I took off work so I could get this fixed, and now I have to wait and hope it doesn't get worse. Double whammy is that I have another sub job Tuesday so now Tyler is going to take off work to take Penny in. I am so worried Penny is going to lose her front tooth like Lucy lost her molar and I am definitely feeling like I need to ditch this dentist. Argh.

So Thursday was a poop day. No fix from the dentist, no sub job and the temperatures decided to drop and dump down 5 inches of snow on us. I was grumpy that day and feeling sorry for myself and then I found out a good friend of mine had just had a miscarriage and I suddenly realized how minimal my problems were. It's amazing how quickly things can be put into perspective. My heart hurts for her and I find myself grateful that I had 4 healthy babies.

Friday was a Snow Day. Once again it seemed unnecessary but they keep blaming these snow days on homes that are off back roads, who knows. We made the best of it and had some friends over. It helped the day go by quickly. The snow was great packing snow and the kids made some fun forts and a snowman and had a good time.

Friday night Tyler had a cold weather camp out for his Scouts and Steven was able to tag along. Steven was apparently super tough in the cold temperatures and I am pretty proud of him. Especially because there was a boy older than him that was crying because of the cold. While they were out that night I brought dinner to my friend that had miscarried. Her husband was out of town and his flight home had been cancelled, my week is nothing compared to the week she has been having. I was glad I was able to help her, I just wish Tyler had been home so that I could've stayed with her longer.

And to end this post on a lighter note, Lucy brought home some pictures in which she drew boobies on the women (Grandma and me). The boys saw the pictures and were so giggly that I suggested maybe she didn't draw boobies on girls anymore. Lucy burst out into tears and said "But girls have boobies! I need to draw them so people know they are girls!" Hard to argue that logic, ha ha!