Monday morning my parents started their drive back home with Lucy and Steven. Since they have left they have been to the Lincoln Heritage Museum, Fantastic Caverns, Uranus, Art Cartopia, Aunt Irene and Uncle Charlie's house and today they will make it to my parent's house in Arizona. They have also gotten to swim in many hotel pools which has definitely been a highlight for them. They have been begging to swim in a pool all summer but we just don't have the access to any free pools here. However, Lucy and Penny's friend just moved somewhere with a pool so that might change things for us. Here are some pictures from their adventures.
Meanwhile things have been very quiet and easy here. It's been a good break from the crazy busy I was feeling before. Plus it's given me a chance to recover from my backache and headaches. I am finally feeling better and I even did a couple small workouts this week. It was nice to get my body moving again.
While I am enjoying the quiet, Penny is struggling with it a bit. She is used to noise and siblings. She was feeling lonely. So this week she had two playdates with Isla. When I picked her up from one of the play dates I got to have my own "play date" with Grace and hear about her amazing trip to Spain. We talked about how different the culture is there. Like how being topless at a beach in Spain is no big deal, so different from here in the states! Penny also got an an all day playdate with Luna this week. They had a water balloon fight in which I mistakenly got involved and ended up slipping and having a good fall because I was dumb enough to fill up water balloons on a tarp. Of course the tarp got slippery and of course I was the dummy to run on it.
This week Penny and I also had some fun getting some things ready for her birthday party next month. It's going to be a spa theme so we tried making cocoa face masks to see if they would work. While they were too bitter to eat, we did enjoy making ourselves look silly.
We also went to the Dollar Tree and Walmart and found some things for the goodie bags-a pedicure kit and lip balm. It reminded me how much I enjoy shopping with Penny. She's fun company because she is just a silly kid. After our shopping in store, we ordered some hair chalk from Amazon and had some fun trying it out once it came. It was pretty tricky to use and I am not sure it'll work out with just me trying to do all her party guests' hair but if anything my girls will enjoy it.
This week Ben kept busy. Monday morning I took him and Jacob to someone's house to pick weeds (he was referred to her by a lady he mows lawns for). This lady was really kind and let me read my book on her deck instead of in my car- which was what I had been planning to do. It took them 2 hours to pick all the weeds- it was definitely a lot of work. They were lucky it was a cool morning and there was plenty of shade. Afterwards the bags were pretty heavy due to the amount of dirt they took out with the weeds; they're still learning. They got $25 each so she paid very well. I love that he is willing to work hard.
Ben spent Tues-Thurs volunteering at Scout Day Camp with Andrea. They had a lot of fun running the craft booth and apparently they were a hit with all the campers and got quite a few compliments. I'm glad they did a good job and didn't just mess around...like they're prone to do. I'm also glad it got him out of the house and doing something other than playing the Switch or Minecraft. He's a good kid.
Thursday night I was asked to bring someone at church a meal. I was trying to skimp on groceries this week so I could save a little money because life has been expensive so I kind of wanted to say no. But I thought of the Bible story of the lady who gave her last meal to the prophet Elijah and decided I was being ridiculous, I am not that destitute. It turned out ok because the casserole I made was plenty big enough to feed us and the couple we were bringing the meal to.
Friday I decided to take Ben and Penny to Belle Isle. Traffic has been insane since it is orange cone season, construction everywhere and on the journey there and back we of course encountered some of those orange cones. It makes me not want to leave the house. Other than that it was a nice outing. With these 2, there is no fighting and they are typically in good spirits. We were given a little scavenger hunt to do in the Aquarium and they were very diligent about finding the right fish. It kept them busy. After the aquarium we walked through the conservatory. The plants are always fun to see and it was nice to talk about how cool it is that God has created such amazing and diverse plants. Our last stop was a quick walk to the lighthouse on the island and to the lake where we sat on some rocks and ate a snack. On the walk back the kids were getting a little hot and just as they were starting to complain, a cloud hid the sun and cooled things down amazingly. It was a tender mercy.
Saturday morning Ben stayed home to mow lawns while the rest of us attended a baptism. They mostly kept things simple at this baptism and that was appreciated. Penny will be the next one to be baptized in our ward, it's coming quickly. Saturday afternoon Tyler took Ben somewhere he could go shooting. Ben said it was great that he got to go shoot guns but the hand gun was a little tricky for him too shoot. Later Saturday Tyler and I went out on a date. We got some dinner and then some candy at 5 and Below and had some deep thought discussions about teaching the Gospel to our kids. We are super exciting people ;)
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