Thanksgiving

Sunday was the Primary Program. It was really nice to not be in charge for once but I felt sad that I was up in the stands with my class and not able to see Penny in her first Primary Program. To make it worse the pianist was right in the way of seeing her so I had to really crane my neck if I wanted to see her antics- silly Sunbeams are always the best part of the primary program. I did catch her once trying to kiss her friend Brooks on the cheek- this girl is going to be a lot of trouble. On a more positive note, all the kids said their parts nice and clearly so that my made my mommy heart proud. Afterwards they had a series of fun activities to attend. Tyler and I were in charge of the movie and popcorn room so that was nice and easy. They also got to decorate cupcakes in another room and here are the pics someone sent me of the boys:

I had a sub job on Tuesday at the kid's old school. This one I had a heads up on so it wasn't too stressful since I already had a babysitter in place who was willing to help with bus stops. However I forgot that their days off don't always coincide with our new school's days off and I didn't realize Tuesday was their last day of school for the week. That meant the kids were a bit crazier than I had expected but somehow the day wasn't too brutal and I made it through.

Wednesday was my kids last day of school for the week. Penny had what I thought was her speech evaluation through the school district's early childhood program. Turns out it was just a screening to see if she even qualified for an evaluation- she qualified. Now I get to wait for them to call me back and set up an appointment for that. I have a feeling this is going to take awhile. 

That afternoon I watched the May kids- Ben was super excited to find his friend Andrea here when he got back from school. We picked up pizza, and then watched "Princess Bride." I think the movie was a little scary at parts for the girls- Lucy ended up in our bed the next morning because she had a nightmare. Ooops. But Ben still laughed a lot and I think overall it was a nice night to start our Thanksgiving Break. 

While I was watching the May kids I made my rolls for Thanksgiving and my make ahead mashed potatoes so come Thursday I just needed to make sweet potatoes and some mac n cheese(I decided I better bring this for my picky Penny). This year I tried a brand new sweet potato recipe and it was SO YUMMY! It was mashed sweet potatoes with a middle and top layer of brown sugar, butter and pecans and then on the very top lots of marshmallows. It was basically a dessert but I am definitely using this recipe from now on. 

Since I didn't have too much cooking to do Thursday, Tyler and I took a quick trip to Meijers to check out their black Friday deals while Steven babysat the rest of the gang. It was a nice little outing and I was able to get a good deal on a Pyrex casserole dish so I could replace the one I exploded.

Early afternoon we went to the Barney's house to eat our Thanksgiving feast. All the food was so good and I am pretty sure I exited the pre-diabetic zone and entered the officially diabetic zone because I ate so many things that are not good for me. The company was also good so all in all it was a really nice Thanksgiving. The girls especially enjoyed the pies :)

Friday morning the boys had play dates with their good friends from Kurtz (Steven with Max and Ben with Ayden). While they were socializing I left Tyler with the girls and went to Walmart and Target to check out their Black Friday deals. I had thought about going after Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday but it was EXTREMELY cold that night and I had no desire to leave the warmth of our house. The morning was much warmer but surprisingly the stores were just as busy. I ended up only getting underwear for Lucy at Walmart- super exciting right? But she has been requesting underwear for Christmas for the last few weeks- she's so funny! Target I had already ordered some things online so I really just went to check out clothes deals. I found a couple shirts that I liked but the lines were so ridiculously long that I ended up just ordering those online too. I am not quite the Black Friday shopper I used to be ;)

Friday afternoon was spent with me putting up the Christmas decorations and the kids and Tyler FINALLY cleaning up all the leaves in our yard. Our house now looks festive and our yard now looks clean. Go us! At the end of the day the kids got to decorate their own trees. Thanks to a Christmas Clearance deal now the girls have their own tree and the boys have their own. This is a very good thing because they have way too many ornaments for one tree. Even with the extra tree the boys were complaining that they had to balance out their ornaments so the tree didn't tip over. Maybe next year we need one for each kid, ha ha!

Exploding Glass, Broken Truck, Speech Eval, Thanksgiving Party

I started off my week with a substitute job at the boys' old school. Tyler was off work for Veteran's Day so he got to play Mr. Mom and watch Penny and take Steven to another Orthodontist appointment. My sub job went smoothly which it always seems to at the old school. While it's typically harder to get there (because I have to get help with bus stops too), I do prefer subbing there because it's in my comfort zone. The teachers are also much more confidence boosting- I got a sweet text the next day from the teacher saying "Thanks for being an amazing sub." Felt real nice :)

Tuesday was a really good day up until I decided to make dinner. I was in rush because I knew it was going to take awhile to make but I had Bunco that night. As I was starting to prep the food, I set my glass casserole dish on a burner and then got distracted with the fact that I need to steam some broccoli. I turned on the burner that I thought was under the pot and started chopping broccoli. I was just finishing up with the broccoli when I heard a loud boom. It turns out I turned on the wrong burner and heated up my glass casserole dish instead. There were glass pieces EVERYWHERE. So in my attempt to rush I made things ten times worse and had a huge mess to clean up. There were pieces in the burners, in the pantry, even in the bathroom- it was awful. I had already cleaned the house that day so that made for my second time cleaning the kitchen. I even ended up getting a little glass piece stuck in my foot which was fun. 

After all that frustration 6pm rolled around and I realized Tyler was still not home and I needed to leave to Bunco soon. I called him and found out that he was stranded at work because his truck wouldn't start. I wanted to just sit down and cry. After the glass craziness I was so looking forward to escaping to Bunco and now it didn't look like I was going to make it. Thankfully a great friend (and my minister) offered up her husband to watch my kids until Tyler was able to get them. I took her up on it and ended up having a great time at Bunco- even though I didn't win.

During Bunco I found out that Tyler was able to start his truck BUT on his way back the clutch gave out. He ended up having to call a tow truck and getting it towed back to our house. My friend's husband then dropped all the kids off at our house. His truck dying yet again was really disheartening. It feels like we just fixed it and now we are a one car household again. We do not have it in our monthly budget to take on another car payment so once again I have to wait for him to fix it and take him to work if I ever need the car. With our finances so tight it's really hard to get on board for having a 5th child. I'm struggling with my faith.

Wednesday morning Tyler had taken off so we could take Penny to get evaluated at a medical center for her speech. They had said two parents needed to come but they ended up sticking Tyler in another room where he observed us on a video- pretty stalkerish- but evidently he didn't need to be there. I am still glad he took off though since it's always nice to have someone around for new things. She qualified for services- she has a severe phonological delay. For a mere $45/30min we can get her help. They wanted her to come twice a week. Yet another thing not in our budget so I got my butt in gear and called the early childhood program for the schools and scheduled her a speech eval through them. Hopefully this time when she gets evaluated it will be enough for her to qualify for their FREE help.

Wednesday night Steven got to teach his Scout Den to pass off a requirement. It had been hard getting him to get the motivation to prepare for this and it had mostly been done last minute but his Scout Leader told us afterwards that he did a great job- phew! So glad that is done.

Thursday I was stranded at home since I didn't feel like dropping Tyler off at work. I had thought a friend might be able to take me and Penny to story time but it turned out she was having car issues too. It was ok because I ended up having a really productive day. I got a lot of things that needed to be done around the house done and I worked with Penny on her alphabet which I had been neglecting as of late.

Friday I got another sub job. It was at the kids' new school and was for a teacher that I had already subbed for before. I was sad she didn't personally request me but I was happy to sub for her again because she has a good class. Besides some issues with unlocking the computers (and kids who kept locking them up before we were done) it went really well. I have been having a hard time getting people to watch Penny as of late though. I want to keep subbing but I wish getting a babysitter wasn't so challenging. 

Friday night we had a Thanksgiving party for our Primary Class (Steven's class). I don't know why I do these things to myself. It was complete chaos. I am pretty sure the kids had fun- which is probably why I do it- but oh golly it was exhausting. Especially after a day of subbing. The kids did some Thanksgiving coloring, ate a Thanksgiving "feast" (turkey sandwiches and chips), did a gratitude game and then had pie. The party went extremely quickly so I guess that was the silver lining in the crazy.

Saturday morning was the Primary Program Practice. Barf. When I was in the Presidency we discontinued these and I was grateful for that. They are not my favorite thing. The kids don't want to be sitting still on a Saturday morning and so their focus is just not there. I was probably just as off task and distracting as the kids seeing how I didn't really want to be there either. I got super ADD when they insisted on practicing this one song for the FOURTH time. Seriously. They really shouldn't have complicated the song so much with so many different people singing different parts but I'm sure it will sound amazing tomorrow. It better after so many practices.

Tonight Tyler and I are headed to a friend's house to hang out- it should be a nice way to end the week :)

Bronner's and Snow

On Monday I got a last minute sub job at the kid's school. I hate last minute sub jobs because I find it stressful trying to get some one to watch Penny. The 2 people close by that I like to call on for help both had sick kids that day and so I started to panic that I wouldn't be able to find anyone to watch her. Thankfully my friend in Milford was able to watch her. I also had to ask Tyler to take Steven to his Orthodontist Appointment (where Steven got his braces off!). It felt so complicated just to work for one day. I miss the days when I used to get asked ahead of time which made things way more simple. At least the sub job itself went really smoothly and it was overall a good day. 

Tuesday the kids and Tyler had off for Election Day. After Tyler did his civic duty we went to Bronner's to fulfill our tradition of the kids picking out a Christmas Ornament to buy. It's so nice to go before Thanksgiving because we totally miss the chaos and crowds. For once our kids were real decisive and they all picked out their ornaments quickly. Usually they take FOREVER to make a decision but we were done in under a half hour and then we actually had some time to stroll the store and look at fun Christmas decorations. It was a good outing. 

The kids look freezing in the pictures because it was colder than expected and they did not wear proper jackets. Definitely less outside posing for photos this year.

I always plan to take photos of the ornaments after we buy them and I always forget that they box them up so we can't take photos until we get home. Below is the ornament reveal. Lucy was planning on getting a mermaid marshmallow snowman but was immediately distracted by this "big sister" one and did not want anything else. It's clear she loves being Penny's big sister. Penny kept saying she didn't know what she wanted while the other's were picking out theirs. She started to get upset but then she saw a horse and was smitten. The first horse ornament she saw was breakable so we managed to redirect her to this one.

Ben had picked out a marshmallow snowman in a fishing boat and was all set until he saw this Spartan one while we were strolling the store. Even though we don't root for Michigan State he had to have this this one so he ended up switching ornaments. I'm pretty sure it was the sword and armor that persuaded him to choose this one.  And Steven was set on getting a bird from the beginning and when he saw this GIANT owl he had to have it. I warned him that it is the same size as their tree- he said he'd just put it on the bottom branch. Their tree will look real amazing this year ;)

After we were done with our ornament shopping we had to head home so that I could get Lucy to a birthday party for her friend Camille from school. The party was at Build a Bear and Lucy got quite spoiled. All the party guests got to pick out any bear they wanted, a sound to put in it, an outfit and shoes for it and then they were given a tote bag to put it in. Apparently Lucy was still in a decisive mood from our ornament picking because she picked everything out quickly which is very unlike her. I appreciated her quickness though. While she was "building" the bear I got to have a nice chat with my friend Stacie (Jenna's mom) and we even went to Bath and Body Works (since Build a Bear was in the mall) to sniff (and buy) candles. I think both Lucy and I had a good time at this party. 

Here's Miss Lucy and her bear (Kylie) and also her friend Jenna :)

Tuesday night we celebrated Laci's 30th Birthday at the Cheesecake Factory. It was not my most fun outing ever because there was some tension with one girl that was there and then when she left the others felt the need to talk not super nicely about her. It was really off putting. While I agree that the one girl has some issues, I also don't think a group saying not nice things about her behind her back is ok. I probably should have been a better person and stopped that talking altogether but instead I sat in uncomfortable silence. Honestly I feel like taking neutral ground and jumping onto my own little island away from it all. I feel too old for this silliness. 

Wednesday I got my permanent crown put on my tooth and it didn't go well. I have already been in once to get the bite fixed and it is still not feeling like it fits in right. My teeth hurt and my jaw aches but I hate to go back in for a third time. Tyler tells me I need to just stop grinding my teeth at night. He's probably right but that's not happening anytime soon.

I subbed again Wednesday afternoon. This time I was asked ahead of time and it was at my kid's old school. It was so nice to be back in that familiar territory and I got to catch up with Mrs. Boyd- both boys had her for a teacher.

Wednesday night the boys learned the dreadful truth that the Tooth Fairy isn't real. They were really questioning it so Tyler felt it was time they knew. They both thought it was pretty funny that it was us doing it and they both promised to keep it secret from the girls- we'll see how that goes. This almost led to the Santa conversation but I made worried eyes at Tyler and forced him to abort. I am not ready to loose the magic of this one yet- at least not for Ben. 

Thursday was spent running errands, going to story time at the library and making a meal for a friend that was taking her family practitioner boards. Then came Friday and on Friday came SNOW. It really is a beautiful thing and it was the perfect packing snow and the weather was actually such that you could go outside and not freeze BUT it's November. And it's really hard for me to get excited about snow in November because I know it's just the beginning. I also had kept Lucy home from school that day because she had been coughing all night and all she wanted to do was go play in the snow. I was trying so hard to get her to relax and feel better but finally I relented and let her play in it.

Friday night Tyler and I had a Temple Date so I can continue to get the confirmation and peace I need about having another baby. That confirmation is still there and I am beginning to be excited about the prospect of another one- it's just my darn logical brain that gets in the way constantly and scares me to death. I've been thinking we'll start trying in the spring. That way I will have a little bit of time where all the kids are in school before the baby comes. I was testing the waters with the kids the other night and asked them how they would feel about another baby. Steven said that he wished I would have triplets- that's an awful thing to say. Penny said she wants to be the baby forever so if we are able to have another one she is in for a rude awakening.

Saturday was super busy. The boys had a canned food drive with scouts and I had Super Saturday at the church that morning. The classes were meh but I got in some good socializing so that was nice. Then that afternoon I took Penny to a birthday party while Tyler had to once again take the boys to another scout activity- it was about first aid emergency response and held at the home of a dad who is an ER Dr, very fitting. 

Penny was super shy at the birthday party at first but it was at Air Time and as soon as it was time to jump she had lots of fun. She loved running in circles on the trampolines and jumping unto the foam pit. However, she wanted nothing to do with the basketball hoops- she told me she didn't know how to do that stuff. She so takes after me. When they were done there we all drove down to a Frozen Yogurt place and the kids sugared out. It was a good time for Penny.

Pumpkins, Halloween, Lucy's Birthday

 On Sunday we carved our pumpkins. This year we decided to do a girl's pumpkin and boy's pumpkin instead of having everyone do a pumpkin. This was supposed to make things easier since the reality is we are the ones doing all the pumpkin carving. Well Tyler got a grand idea to do a "snowman" pumpkin so this meant that we still had 4 pumpkins to empty out. I guess it was still easier than carving faces for 4 pumpkins though. 

So here was the girl's choice in pumpkin face, carved by me (I goofed on the mouth, I am not an expert carver):

The boys picked out the face for their snowman pumpkin and Tyler carved it:

While we worked hard removing pumpkin guts (which Penny found terrifying) and carving the pumpkins- the kids enjoyed watching "Hocus Pocus." I feel like it's not officially Halloween until we watch that movie- such a classic for me.

Monday afternoon I had the weirdest subbing job ever. I came into the class to sub and the teacher informed me that he didn't need me for another 2 hours. It was super awkward and I ended up in the office being sent to different classes to help out- I felt more like a parent volunteer than a sub. Finally the time came that the other teacher needed me and he gave his class a big long list of independent tasks to do until he came back. After 45 minutes of working quietly they started to loose it. I told them that I used to be a kid once too and I understood that it was hard to sit that long and then we got into a guessing age of how old I was- someone thought I was 19, I'm going to log that one in for when I am having a hard day, ha ha. After about an hour he came back and I was left with 30 minutes until the school day was over. They ended up sending me to Lucy's class to help out for the remaining time- that was fun.

Monday evening Grams and I had one final dinner out to PF Changs. It was so yummy and so nice to have a quiet dinner out.

Tuesday was a busy day. We started off with a quick trip to the Milford Bakery. My mom (and me) really wanted an orange zest muffin before she left but sadly they had zero muffins when we got there. It was so disappointing. Instead she got a doughnut and Penny was lucky enough to get a sugar cookie for breakfast- spoiled kid!

After the bakery it was time for me to volunteer and it was a surprisingly pleasant time. Ben was not in trouble for once and I felt like I was able to be properly helpful for once. 

When I finished up volunteering it was time for Penny to go to the doctor for her check up. Grams was nice enough to tag along for moral support- I was really worried about getting that not nice nurse again and I know Penny always melts down at the doctor's office. Well both things did happen- I did have that nurse again and Penny did melt down. It's so frustrating because I talked with Penny beforehand about the weighing and measuring and how that's not scary and she still freaked out as soon as we went back. The nurse wasn't as awful as last time but he still wasn't great. It was mostly me- not him- that coaxed her to do the hearing test (I told her she could say "poop" when she heard the beeps- her pathetic little voice saying "poop" was pretty adorable). I also got her through the vision test (where she kept calling the pic of a flag a timer). Thankfully he wasn't the one who gave her shots and the nurse who did was so much more understanding and kind. 

I also expressed my speech concerns to the dr and without even really hearing Penny talk she gave me a speech referral. I don't really get this dr but whatever, I have a speech eval scheduled for Penny in week and a half. Unfortunately this is not a free place and I'm not sure we'll be able to do anything further than the evaluation. Our insurance won't cover until the deductible is met so it could get pricey.

Our last Tuesday task was to take Grams to the airport. This was a very sad task. We all came home feeling gloomy (the rain and thunderstorm didn't help) but thankfully Tyler was prepared with pizza so we could eat our feelings. 

Wednesday was Halloween and after I dropped the kids off at the bus stop I rushed to Kohl's to get a Halloween shirt for myself because for some reason I just really wanted it. I thought it was funny even if nobody else commented on it.

After my selfish little errand I finished last minute preparations for Lucy's class party. I was in charge of her party which hadn't been an easy task because her teacher was not fabulous about returning emails. Her teacher also almost failed to get me a volunteer pass which would have been tragic since they only allow you in the building before the party if you have a pass- it's a big school and they have a lot of rules and regulations for holidays. Thankfully I got the pass and everything worked out well. I was able to get to the school before the parking lot filled up, I was able to set up for the party and still make it to see the kids in the parade and the party itself turned out really well. 

For Kindergarten they have a Nursery Rhyme themed party for Halloween so I came up with 5 stations under that theme. We had Nursery Rhyme Yoga, finding Little Bo Peep's lost sheep, Nursery Rhyme Bingo, an Itsy Bitsy Spider Craft and decorating the Muffin Man's Muffins (aka cupcakes). My biggest fault was asking for 5 parent volunteers because I ended up with nothing to do since they all ran the stations.

Also costume. It was easy and cheap- we stuck stars on black shirt and made her a star headband. Grams also found some star leggings for her!

Because I was in charge of Lucy's party I did not go to the boy's Halloween parties but a friend was nice enough to send me a picture of Ben at his party. 

After the party's school was out (it was a half day) so we came home and I made some pumpkin pancakes for the kids- their job was to give the pumpkins faces. It was funny to see their different faces- Steven still makes a face that includes as many chocolate chips as possible and Penny didn't even attempt to make hers look like a face.

When we finished our "lunch" the kids and I sat down to watch "Monster Family." It was on Netflix and I thought it could be a good Halloween movie- it was not so good but at least it killed an afternoon of anxiously waiting to go trick or treating.

At last the time came to trick or treat and it was probably the warmest (and non rainy) Halloween we've had since moving here. I was hoping Tyler would work on Lucy's birthday cake so I actually volunteered to take the kids trick or treating. He didn't work on the cake while we were out but I actually didn't mind taking them because I wasn't freezing for once! The kids got way too much candy- I ended up stashing chips in my jacket to make space in their buckets. It was super fun when I would lean over to grab something the kids dropped and chips would fall out of my jacket, ha ha! It was also more fun trick or treating this year because we actually knew people so it was nice to see familiar faces. 

Thursday was Lucy's 6th Birthday! We started the day with her opening presents- per tradition. She got spoiled with princess bedding, some doll accessories and a dog bone game from us. Grams and Poppy Hatch got her a Rapunzel bow and arrow. Grams and Poppy Brady got her a Princess Scooter and small Hatchimal.

Then after having some Unicorn cereal and getting ready she was off to school. For school I had packed her a special lunchable (they get so excited by the lunchables, it's silly) and I sent her with a book to gift to her class (Back to School with Bigfoot). I felt bad that I was home all day and I didn't come visit in her class but it's so hard to coordinate with her teacher and I had just been in her class the day before so I tried to squash my guilt with those reasons. Instead Penny and I spent the morning at the library with friends and then that afternoon we took a nap. It was a much needed chill day.

After school Lucy had her school friend Jenna over to celebrate her birthday with pizza and cake. Jenna's brother Evan is friends with Steven so he came over too. It was a totally laid back birthday and I think she had a ton fun. She loved playing with friends, licking up every last drop of cake and ice cream and her friend Jenna spoiled her with a giant Lego set. 

Friday I spent babysitting for a friend and got to experience having 3 littles at home during the day. It went smoothly so go me! Penny gets along so well with Brooks and his baby sister, Adelaide was in a good mood so it made for a nice day.