End of Year Picnic, High School Musical

Sunday was Mother's Day. Tyler made me his amazing crepes and spoiled me- I got 2 pairs of jean shorts and linen pants(yes I picked them out and bought them with his money), the Up House Lego set, a bamboo Lego set, and 2 candles. The kids had a card for me. At church the primary kids did a cute song and gave us flowers made with cupcake liners. Then all the Sisters got to skip out on their second hour callings and listen to the Bishop tell us how amazing we are and eat food. I ended up at a table with just Caroline and me. I guess no one wanted to sit by us. The food was nothing special but I guess it was nice to not have to teach and just socialize with Caroline. She told me about her trip to the UK when she was a teenager and gave me some ideas for when I travel there. After church I got my nap and Tyler made dinner. When we finished eating, I made everyone go on a walk with me through the neighborhood. They bickered and annoyed each other (and me) but it was nice to have some family time. I wish we did stuff like that more often.

Monday after we finished our school work, we went to Skyzone with Mimi. We had the whole place to our selves which makes me feel a little awkward. While there Mimi's mom was telling me that her mother in law was coming in to town and so I asked her if they have a good relationship. I thought her response was funny- she said that it's good because they both mostly contribute one another's faults/quirks to the fact that they are from different countries (Mimi's mom is Japanese and her mil is American). The workers were all clearing out a foam pit while we were there and didn't notice a customer come in so I yelled at them that someone was at the register. That was awkward. By the time we finished jumping Ruby was very ready for a nap, but the girls had to get a picture together by the photo booth before we left since I wouldn't pay $10 for them to buy a picture from the booth.

Tuesday I made a poor choice and subbed for someone for Bunco. It was at Nancy's and it was a hot mess. Only 8 out of the 12 people showed up. We didn't eat for almost an hour after we got there because they were waiting for 2 more people to show up. But those people didn't show up until even later. One of them came super late because Nancy text them telling them that they had to come, even though they forgot and at that point the night was close to done. Nancy has issues and so do her kids. One of her sons was having a melt down (he has autism) and one point I saw him on the upstairs balcony flipping everyone off. Awkward. Nancy made us play all the rounds and there were some people who were tired and wanted to go home so they cheated to make the rounds finish faster (they pretended to roll a Bunco at the head table). Then after all that, there was dessert and she insisted on taking multiple pictures. She also gave everyone prizes- bracelets and earrings- that weren't really my style. The night did not end until 9:30. It was a LONG night.

Wednesday was a bit of a rough morning with homeschooling. I discovered that Penny had been copying from the answer key for her math work for months. There had been some things that made me suspicious over the last few weeks but I kind of ignored the suspicions because I did not want it to be true. But Wednesday when Penny was showing no work for a multiplication problem that clearly needed work and when she told me she just did it in her head but then could not show me how she did that---she was busted. She was really upset and kept calling herself stupid so I had to tell her she was not stupid, she just made a bad choice. It really was a bad choice for both of us because now I will have to be teaching math and she will have to be learning math in the summer.

After that homeschool fun, we picked up Claire and her 2 brothers and went to the the Renaissance end of school year picnic. The drive was awkward because Claire's older brother was in the front seat and I do not know him. I hate making small talk so I attempted for a little bit but it didn't last long so we sat in silence most of the way. At the picnic I hung out with Mimi's mom and another parent/teacher for a bit in the beginning. This mom/teacher has 5 kids spread out so her oldest is in his 20's and the youngest is Penny's age so it was fun to converse with her about the challenges of having kids in different stages of life. We chatted until Ruby got bored of the small toddler playground and wanted to go on the big playground so I had to go follow Ruby. Then later I chatted with one of Penny's friends moms- Penny has been desperate for us to meet so she can hang with this friend outside of school. This mom has a husband that is a pastor and I am not sure she loves the fact that we are Mormons so we will see if the girls end up getting together this summer. And then it was time to go home, which meant another awkward drive with Claire's brother in the front seat.

Thursday was warm so after homeschool Ruby, Penny and me went to the beach for a little bit (while Lucy stayed home and shaved her legs for the first time- my girl is turning into a teen). Ruby loves the water and also had fun climbing to the top of the giant pile of sand that was there.

Thursday night we had the missionaires over for dinner. It has been ages since we had them over, I figured it was time to do something good. I made chicken ranch enchiladas, bean salsa, cut up some fruit and did brownies and ice cream for dessert. The missionaries were alright with making conversation but they really are just babies- although the one said he's 23. After they left...they came back again and had Steven join in on one of their phone calls with an investigator. Ruby also wanted to join in with them, so I took her on a really long walk.

Friday was another warm day so I decided to take the girls to 7-11. Bribing them with candy seems to be the only way I can get them to take a walk these days. There was a cool wind so it didn't feel too hot. Ruby mostly sat in her stroller but she did walk on the trail through the woods. The last narrow stretch to 7-11, when you are right by the road, is not ideal with a stroller (the ground is slanted and the strollet gets stuck in the dirt) but we survived. On our way back from 7-11 we stopped at the library for a bit of a break and then headed home. Overall it was a good outing.

Friday night I took Penny, Lucy and Claire to go see "High School Musical" by the Renaissance Players. Lucy's friend, Geli, was in it. Mimi's family came too. I ended up sitting by Mimi's parents and then the kids all sat together. The high schoolers were a lot of fun to watch and they seemed to really enjoy themselves but they were not super talented singers. Some of them were very flat and the harmonies were not so harmonious. It was a little rough at moments. Afterwards the girls got some of the people from the show to sign their programs- it was cute.

Saturday the weather cooled off and Ruby and I got pretty cold at Penny's soccer game in the morning. There was a very cold wind blowing. Penny's team did fantastic as usual and won 3 to 1. After her game I came home for a little bit and fed Ruby and tried to get some house cleaning done and then it was off to Ben's soccer game. It was in Livonia and he drove. He didn't scare me too much on the drive, he's doing better. The wind persisted during his game and I got rained on at times. I wanted to go back to my car when it rained but the field was gated, the shoulder was narrow and I would have had to walk past many people with my camping chair to get out so I stayed and shivered. Ben's team did not fare as well as Penny's- they lost 2 to 4.

After all the soccer games, I finished cleaning the house and then we went to the Davie's house for Luke's mission farewell get together (Tyler and I taught him seminary). They had a nacho bar, some fruit and delicious Tres Leche Cake but I didn't get to eat too much of anything because I had a busy toddler to manage. Kellie Davies was nice and let Ruby go see their dog for a bit. It was a little one and Ruby actually gave it some love. Then I sat at a table with Melissa Witt and caught up with her while Ruby crushed some Mexican candy all over me and the table. Then Ruby played, or rather kept stealing toys from, the Davies grand daughter. She is the same age as Ruby but definitely a little better at sharing. I really need to work on that with Ruby. The little girl had two stuffies and would share one with Ruby but then Ruby would try to take the other stuffie too. *sigh* The little girl's mom was super nice- she is from Argentina and they are teaching their daughter Spanish only. 

My last stop of the day was Grace's where I got to unload from a long week with her. I also found out she had been in a minor car accident the day before- such a bummer for her!

And some misc pictures...as you can see Steven survived his first week without the computer. Still no job but he did spend a little more time with his siblings.