Ben's Sweet 16

Sunday was a Relief Society Sunday. That meant I had to pass around sign up sheets for missionary meals and for the RS activity. I don't love doing that because I feel like I am intruding when I go into primary. After that I went back to Relief Society and sat next to a newer and younger sister in our ward. She said something to me when I sat by her like 3 times and I don't know if it was because I literally had clogged ears that day or if my brain had died on me but I couldn't figure out what she was saying and felt so stupid. I had no problem properly hearing after that so who knows what was wrong with me. I will forever relive that embarassment.

Monday we did homeschool in the morning which took much longer than usual because the girls had writing assignments that they needed me to edit. Lucy's was a short story but it was actually quite long for a school assignment (9 pages!). I did not realize how long it was until I was half way through it and decided we needed to end it sooner because the teacher might not want to grade something quite so long. It was a story about a girl with a crush on her best friend. It was definitely a story that a teenager would love to read. She has got some good writing skills.

Monday after dinner we went on a quick trip to Chuck E Cheese. The kids blew through their play points but they had all accumulated enough tickets over previous visits that they each got themselves cotton candy with their tickets. They only had the green apple cotton candy and that wasn't the best flavor I have ever tasted and Ruby ended up leaving hers in her car seat. She was not a fan.

Tuesday while the girls were at school, Ruby and I went to story time at the library. We usually keep to ourselves but for some reason I sat by 2 ladies that were a little more friendly. One was impressed by how tall Ruby was for her age- probably because her own kids were very short. During storytime Ruby made things weird by petting everyone who had soft looking clothes on. She actually petted one girls butt because she was so intrigued by the girl's soft sweat pants. I wasn't close enough to stop her and I didn't want to draw attention to it so I sat there mentally willing her to stop. Thankfully I don't think anyone saw her do that. After torytime I started chatting to a grandma who was there with her grandkids. She was a young mom, first kid at 19, but then had her next kid 7 years later. Now she is 50 with 2 grandkids. I think I might be closer to her age than to the age of a lot of the moms at storytime. I really do like connecting with the grandmas more than the moms.

Tuesday night I had a girls night with Grace, Nahoko, and Kara. I had also invited Cherish but when I sent her a text to see where she was, she said she had fogotten. This happens a lot with her and I am not really sure if she forgets things on purpose or on accident. Anyways, it was a good night. Grace, Nahoko and I colored and Kara did cross stitching. I asked Kara for some teaching stories and she shared some heartwarming stories with us. I was actually hoping more for funny stories but they were nice stories nonetheless.  Kara is honestly a much nicer person than me and I wonder how long it will be before she realizes I am a little bit more rough around the edges and she decides I am too bad of an influence for her. She actually invited Nahoko to our Relief Societ Activity Saturday and I discouraged Nahoko from coming- mostly because Nahoko seemed uncomfortable at our church before and also because this activity is probably going to be pretty boring. I really am a bad influence. 

Wednesday the girls and I ran some errands when we finished our homeschool work. First we went to Five and Below to get some little gifts for Ben to unwrap on his birthday since his big gift is tickets to a Weird Al Concert. I ended up spending more than I expected on candy for him and probably should have just gotten him 1 or 2 nicer things. It's amazing how expensive everything is these days (is that an old person thing to say?)

Wednesday night Tyler ended up at the church with the kids so it was just me and Ruby chilling. Ruby had a fun making faces for me. She really is adorable.

Thursday I was going to go for a walk with Kara and her baby outside (because the weather was beautiful) but she had to cancel because her baby got sick. We probably shared Ruby's germs with her somehow. Such a bummer. Also as a first time mom, it really worried Kara. She asked me if she should take her baby to the ER and it was nice to play the wisened mother role and advice her to wait. 1 incident of throwing up does not equal an ER visit. Shortly after that cancelation, Julie sent me a text seeing if we wanted to walk with her and her boys. Of course we did. We had a nice walk with Julie and ended up at the dog beach. Ruby kept trying to strip down and get in the water, she can't wait for summer. Julie's friend Erin met us at the dog beach as well. She brought her kids and the girl she watches, Adie. Ruby chased Adie for a bit and I could not tell if Adie loved it or hated it. Asher also had fun sharing sandy high fives with Ruby and Adie. It was a good outing and I got to know Julie's friend Erin a bit better.

Thursday night the boys had their Archery Banquet. We sat next to the Mays. I had an ok conversation with Caroline. She did ask me about my trip and actually seemed interested for a bit. But when we got talking about her life, it was like she can tell me good things that have happened to her, along with the bad, but she can only see her life as bad. She seems determined to fixate on the bad and be angry with God. It's quite sad. She said our relief society lesson about trials on Sunday had a lot of "toxic positivity." She didn't like when they said we can wallow for a bit but then we need to get on with life. We can't very well wallow forever can we? 

Besides conversing with her ,the banquet was long and boring. I really wish they would do separate banquets for the elementary, MS and HS, but I also understand that that would be difficult to execute that. I always feel out of place at these banquest because Tyler knows everyone but no one knows me. But regardless of my feelings I am proud of the boys for having a good season. Steven of course was the best 12th grade boy archer in bullseye and 3d since he is the only boy archer in 12th grade. It was fun to see his banner hanging in the high school and they also talked about each of the seniors. He must have told them about finishing his associates at OCC and then going on a mission because that's what they announced for him. So I guess he is planning on going on a mission which is good.

Friday afternoon we had Ben's 16th birthday party. We wanted to have it before his friends left on vacations for Spring Break. He had Andrea, Paulo, and AJ over to play video games, eat pizza and eat cake. His friends spoiled him with gift cards, cash and a REPO keychain. It wasn't his favorite party though. He had wanted to just do video games but AJ got antsy and said he wanted to walk to seven eleven. They ended up doing that but apparently no one had brought money except Ben, who had his debit card. But then Ben's debit card didn't work and the person behind them ended up buying their candy for them. Awkward. Ben did not enjoy that and it left him feeling flustered. He had also invited a friend from school and they ended up never showing. He was pretty disappointed by that. Kind of bummer that his 16th birthday party wasn't the best.

Also Friday, Ruby learned how to use scissors and told me to take her picture with them.

Saturday I had the Relief Society Activity at lunchtime. I came a little early and helped set out food but that was about the extent of my helpfulness. They started about 20 minutes late, and then we watched the RS Broadcast and after that, someone spoke about Easter symbols. I wish they would have let us eat while the broadcast was showing but they were cooking the meat then. I am not a fan of watching broadcasts for activities but I guess this was kind of an obligatory thing so whatever. If I was in charge activities would be different but I am also glad I am not in charge. The decor was cute and the food was good. I sat next to fancy Nancy, Melissa P and Tana. I was glad people sat with me and I wasn't alone.

After the activity I went dress shopping with Lucy. It is a bit of a struggle because she seems to only like the tiny dresses. Anytime I showed her a dress with good coverage she immediately deemed it ugly. She is very opinionated. I ended up getting her a dress and a tshirt to wear under the dress. It's cute but still a little short. Her shorts peak out beneath it. I am still not sure what I am doing as a mom of a teenage girl. I also ended up buying myself a dress so I could match the blue and white dresses of Lucy and Penny and Ruby.

That evening Tyler and I went out to the Filling Station for dinner and then I watched a movie the kids- "Arachnophobia". It was a pretty fun watch as most early 90's movies are. We hadn't done a family movie night for awhile so it was nice to bond over a silly movie together.

Sick

Steven was giving a talk Sunday and Ruby hadn't thrown up since Saturday morning so I thought we could make it to church. Unfortunately as it got closer to time to leave Ruby got more fussy and then covered her mouth like she was going to puke so I decided we would not chance it. Ruby and I stayed home and listened to Steven's talk online instead. He seemed really really nervous but he wrote a pretty decent talk about preparing for the future- he even put in a nice plug for seminary. Ruby and I also watched the movie "The Star". It was a nice nativity movie from the animals viewpoint. Ruby never did puke Sunday, but she did have some awful diarrhea.  

After everyone got back from church I had a Relief Society meeting. It was a bit revelatory. Things that I thought would be accomplished by presidency members, had not been done by them. I think one  of the counselors might be feeling a bit burned out and I am sure this calling is a challenge for our introverted, shy president. We shall see how things go as time progresses. 

Also, I thought Ruby looked so cute and small at our new (to us) kitchen table. This is my parent's old kitchen table that Mike brought to us. It is nice to finally have a table that we can all sit at.

Monday Ruby continued to have an upset tummy but no throwing up during the day, just diarrhea... That night the girls went to run some errands with Tyler and I ended up going to Chuck E Cheese with Ben. Ben had been feeling anxious and stressed so I thought this would be a good chance for him to get out and have some fun. It was also really fun for me too because I got to play games instead of just following a toddler around. That night Lucy had her last volleyball game and I decided to chance taking Ruby to watch it because Tyler wanted to go as well. Ruby had not puked since Saturday morning so it felt like we were in the clear. But shortly after the game started, Ruby covered her mouth and said she was going to cough. We were at the top of the farthest from the door bleachers (Tyler was at the bottom keeping score). Since we really didn't have anyone by us, I decided it was safer to stay at the top with her, rather than walk her down and have her puke on people. It was probably the best choice but she pretty much threw up all over me and the bench. Penny went and got Tyler and he helped me clean up the best we could and then I had to carry crying Ruby down the bleachers and past another set of bleachers and to the car. I put a jacket over my puked on clothing but I am sure everyone could smell us. It was not fun for either Ruby or me.

Tuesday I was not going to risk taking Ruby anywhere so while the girls were at school, Ruby and I spent quality time together- painting, playing with toys,reading books...That evening though I ended up taking a risk and taking Ruby out with Ben to Novi so Ben could practice parking in preparation for his driver's test on Wednesday. Tyler was helping at archery tournament so he couldn't watch Ruby. Ruby ended up falling asleep while Ben became an expert parker. After Ben was done practicing, we went to Chuck E Cheese. Ruby did not vomit so I would call that a succesful outing, lol.

Wednesday, after homeschool, Penny had a hang out with a new friend, Mia. Her mom had been trying to get the girls together for quite some time now and it had finally worked out. She lives almost 30 minutes away which was not great but I had a nice chat with Mia's mom before I went back home. Mia's mom has kids with a big age gap too. Mia is 11 and her 2 sisters are in their 20's (and both pregnant). It was nice to talk to someone who understand the complexities of parenting kids with a large age gap and I felt I was looking at my future. I would love to chat with her again sometime and pick her brain about all the age gap things.

Wednesday afternoon Tyler took Ben to his driver's test. I am too anxious of a person to go with Ben- I am pretty sure I would have made him more nervous. He only missed 3 points in parking which was what he was most nervous about. I am not sure how many points he missed on the other things but I do know that he passed and that is all that matters. As soon as he turns 16, he will be able to drive on his own! So excited to have another driver in the house! But maybe not so excited about the high insurance that is coming for us.

Wednesday evening all 4 kids went to the church for activities. I love it when that happens. Tyler went and ran a couple errands with Ruby and it was reall nice to have the house to myself for once. It also gave me some time to catch up on dishes. Our dishwasher is still broken and I just can't make a decision on what to buy- do we spend more and hope it'll last longer? Or do we buy a cheap one again and just plan on replacing every 5 years? But also I am really tired of having to wash all the dishes.

Thursday Ruby woke up very really fussy. It was a tough morning with her crying out that she needed me, even when I was right next to her. We were planning on meeting Kara and her baby at the mall around lunchtime and I was debating going because Ruby was being so challenging. We ended up going and I  am so glad we did. I had a really nice chat with Kara about all sorts of things and I really needed that chat. Kara is a good about talking about things without being negative but still supporting the fact that something can be hard. Ruby did get fussy at one point and so we went back to the play area and instead of playing she crawled into my lap and fell asleep. She defintely had some sort of bug.

Thursday night the boys (and Lucy) were off at another Archery tournament- the Shamrock Shootoff. I am so over archery. It feels like it's been a long season and it has taken Tyler out of the home a lot more this season. Unfortunately for me, they did so good at the state tournament that they will be attending the nationals in May. So I guess it still is not actually over.

Friday Mimi came over and so I chatted with her mom for a bit when she came to pick up Mimi. I really do enjoy chatting with her but I also have things to do so I never know quite how to send her off without feeling rude because she never seems to leave with Mimi unless I make some sort of hint about needing to get dinner (but even that doesn't work some times). It's tricky.

Friday evening Ruby asked for me to get Chad out. Apparently she missed him so we made him into an Easter bunny. He's way cooler than the Easter bunny at the mall.

Saturday morning I went to see "Project Hail Mary" with the older 4 kids. We had all listened to the book before so we were excited to see it. I was worried it would be a let down because movies based on books tend to be, but it was not. It ended up staying fairly true to the book and was a really good watch. I feel bad that Tyler didn't get to come watch it with us and was stuck with the baby instead. Can you tell my kids were so happy that I made them take a picture?

Saturday night I went over to Grace's house. Unfortunately I learned that Grace's sil had passed away from stage 4 cancer. They knew it was coming but it still felt like it happened so fast. Her sil had gotten the diagnosis only 9 weeks earlier. Grace usually has Thanksgiving with this family so she was close with her. It was the first time I have seen her get emotional. Grief sucks and it will be so hard for that family. Her sil was only her 50's and her sil's kids only in their 20's. Puts my problems of puking child into perspective for sure.

Mike and Oliver Visit

Sunday night Mike and Oliver arrived all the way from Arizona with gram and poppy's moving truck. We spent the evening chatting with them and then they stayed the night at gram and poppy's house. I think they enjoyed having their own space and not having to share living space and bathrooms with my crazy crew all the time.

Monday Mike worked from home (from our parent's house) so for his lunchbreak, Oliver and Mike came to Scarlet's Park with me and the girls. The weather was really lovely and it was so good to get out. Oliver was nice and hung out a bit with Ruby- they both enjoyed the zipline and swinging together. Mike was nice and played some volleyball with Lucy. 

After Mike finished work we went to work unloading the moving truck for Grams and Poppy. Ben and Steven were big helpers and when Tyler finally got home, he was able to help too. Their home now seems extra full but I am sure once they get a chance to unload things and put them in their proper places, it will feel more like a home for Grams and Poppy. Ruby was very excited by the Paw Patrol Table they brought.

Monday night Ben was working at Dairy Twist so we all went to support him (and of course to get ice cream!). I was an embarassing mom and took his picture and shouted "hello!" to him. We all ate far too much ice cream but it was delicious. Steven got grumpy because they gave him his in a cone instead of a cup so I had to be the adult,lol, and ask for a cup. Such an easy solution.

Tuesday Mike was going to go in to work at the Proving Grounds in Milford with Tyler but Oliver had a rough night- his ear was aching- so Mike ended up needing to take Oliver to Urgent Care. Poor Oliver did end up having an ear infection and came back with some antibiotics. Meanwhile, I took Ruby to storytime at the library. She still is a bit naughty- not great at sitting- but she loves it and its a nice, free way to get her out of the house.

After storytime I had the joy of taking Ben to an orthodontist appointment and Ruby came with us. It was a long appointment because they had to redo one of his pictures and then had troubles getting it to upload. Seemed like they just wasted our time trying to upload that, but whatever. By the time they went over treatment and cost, Ruby was getting quite antsy and noisy so my focus was not quite there. I mistakingly got it in my head that the numbers they were showing me included the cost of Penny's treatment and was thinking "wow! the math ain't mathing but I love it!" ha! Of course it was just the payment plan for Ben's treatment. Anyways in the end I figured it all out and basically we are going to be in debt for Penny and Ben's treatment for the rest of our lives...or maybe just 4 years. So many other things I would rather do with money but at least they will have pretty smiles when all is said and done.

Wednesday Mike went to GM in Warren and Oliver hung out with us for the most part of the day. Oliver still wasn't feeling well so he mostly just gamed on his computer. He even said "no" to my attempts to bribe him with treats at the Dollar Tree. He said he had too much candy already. Such a good kid, lol. My girls took up the bribery and went with me though. They are so candy obsessed. I also needed to get Ruby sunglasses because ever since she went forward facing in the car, the sun has gotten to bright for her. 

Wednesday night everyone was busy with various things- a senior year mtg, an extra archery practice, church activities and volleyball. Mike and Oliver ended up going to volleyball practice with Lucy, Ruby and me. It wasn't the most exciting practice to watch but they were good sports about it ;) Tatiana was also there, Lara has practice right before Lucy. She chatted a bit with me about her upcoming move and her regrets about not being closer friends with me. We have always been friendly but we are also very different personality wise so I think it's ok that we weren't closer. Not everyone is a perfect fit for a close friend. I will still miss her family though, it will leave a hole in our already small Ward.

Thursday Mike was able to go to work with Tyler at the Proving Grounds in Milford and Oliver was stuck with Ruby and me for the day. We ended up taking him to the Michigan Flight Museum. A random museum I found through googling plane museums. It was about 35 minutes away and I managed to get us in free with library passes. I am not sure it would have been worth going there if it had cost money and been further away. It was a nice museum with some cool planes but it was not very big. Their was a cockpit Oliver and Ruby could sit in and Ruby did not like that Oliver was able to make her steering wheel move- it totally creeped her out. Ruby did like this little machine they had that sucked in balls and sent them flying up though. Oliver said there was a plane he had never seen before so I think that was his favorite thing. The bummer thing was that they had these flight "simulator" things but they were all turned off because they said they had a field trip coming. Lame. If we had paid for our tickets I would have complained.

After the museum we went and got lunch at Chick-Fil-A. They enjoyed their nuggies and then Ruby wanted to play in the play area. Oliver was nice and played with Ruby and tried to convince her to go down the slide. She said she didn't want to go down because she had poop- she was not lying. Stinky girl. 

Thursday night I took Mike, Oliver, Penny and Ruby to Chuck E Cheese. We had a coupon for a cheap pizza and Mike was nice and got a cookie pizza for everyone as well. They both cost a total of like $3 thanks to the coupon and membership. We really squeeze our membership for all it's worth. Oliver spent his play points really quick because apparently he was a fan of the "gambling" games ;)

Mike was working from my parent's house on Friday. After the girls finished their school work, I took Oliver, Penny and Ruby out to a car museum (Roush Museum). This was another museum I found by googling- this time googling for cars. It was free and only 25 minutes way. Once again, I wouldn't have traveled far for this museum or paid money to go there, but it was a nice for a free outing to see some cool cars. Ruby did not love that she could not sit in any of the cars (especially the small go karts that were there) so she was a bit whiney. But we were all a fan of the Bat Mobile car that was there and it was fun to see all the different ads on the race cars.

Friday evening Steven was working and Tyler had to take the other 3 to the temple for baptisms. That left me, Ruby, Oliver and Mike at home. We decided to go to Chuck E Cheese again. Oliver liked that he would get more play points this time. I also had another great coupon for extra play points, tickets, free dip n dots and 50% food. We all got some dip n dots and Mike got some churros and drinks. Oliver used the extra tickets to get some cotton candy on his way out.

It was a really nice evening until we got back to my house and realized the power was out because of the high winds we had been having that day. I had just sat down at the kitchen table with Ruby on my lap in our super dark house when she suddenly started vomiting. Everywhere. We had no lights, and no water and a massive mess to clean up. I was very lucky Mike was there to help out. It would have been so much harder by myself. We got everything cleaned up and then Tyler came home with the kids and was able to get the generator on. We all had a very cold night- the house was 55 degrees when we woke up, not my usual 70.

In the morning, Tyler had to leave early with Steven and Ben for the State Archery Tournament. Mike went with them. With sick Ruby I didn't want to head out too early so I was going to meet them there. The morning was a bit of a disaster. We all shivered as we got ready and then left...but then I had this thought that I should probably bring extra clothes for Ruby and plastic bags in case she was still sick (divine inspiration!) So we turned around- adding about 10 minutes to our drive, not bad. Then we headed out again but we were about 20 minutes out when Mike asked if Oliver was with us. Orginally he had planned to go with them so I had assumed he was with them. He was not. We turned around and added another 40 minutes to our drive. Now, with Oliver, we were on the road to Lansing again. It is an hour and 10 minutes to get there. We were half way there when Ruby threw up all over herself in the car. I ended up pulling off the highway to clean her up. It was cold outside and changing her clothes was not fun. When we finally got there, we picked up Mike and Steven and headed to Horrock Farmers Market. The kids love the candy selection there and spent plenty of time picking out treats (treats that Mike was nice enough to spoil them with). And then we all met Tyler and Ben at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

After that, Tyler and Ben went back to the tournament and the rest of us made another stop at Preuss Pets- just so I could feel like the awful drive out there was worth it. It was fun to see all the different pets and we even saw axolotls. They were only $50 so now it looks like that has just been added to my kids long list of pets they want. After that we drove back home with no incidents.

We came back to a cold house and hung out around the generators plug so kids could charge their devices and I could try to absorb some of the heat from a space heater. I do not like the cold. Then it was time to take Mike and Oliver to the airport. The moment we left, the power came back on. We were so glad we got to hang out with Mike and Oliver and hope they weren't scared away by my vomiting toddler and our power outage.

Life Goes On

 This week I still feel like I am adjusting to being a mom and living in real life again. Sometimes I miss our life in Italy. I know vacation life is not a life one can live full time, but man it was a good break from all the things.

On Sunday I thought I would not like being back in Sunday School but it was surprisingly nice to not be in primary anymore. I didn't have to worry about helping any little children stay reverent. I was able to just sit and be. After chuch we had a Zoom Relief Society Presidency Meeting. It was long because there was a lot to cover but in the end, my responsibilities were very manageable. A sign up sheet for a Relief Society Activity, and setting up a facebook page for the Relief Society Sisters. I like being the secretary because I feel like less rests on me. I think I am going to like this calling.

On Monday Julie and Asher came over. It was nice to chat with Julie but Ruby was having a hard time sharing with Asher. Near the end they fought over control of the Toniebox. Typical toddler behavior on both their parts, although I think Ruby was a little more fiesty than Asher. Also on Monday, Ben had his first day back at Dairy Twist. He was really nervous but I think it ended up being a good first day. It wasn't too busy so he was able to easily gain his footing again. They don't pay well but they are very accommodating with his soccer/archery schedule so it feels like a good job for him for now.

Tuesday, while the girls were in school, Ruby and I went to library story time. Ususally she is one of the most well behaved toddlers there but not this time. She kept standing up so others kids couldn't see the book, a group of toddlers went running and she followed and there was a grandma and her grandson sitting off in the corner of the room that she kept bugging. Then when it was done and it was time to go home, she threw a fit. It wasn't the best. 

Tuesday night I went over to Grace's house. We had a good conversation about religion. While I was talking with her, I brought up how I had begun scripture discussions at the dinner table with my family again and she talked about how she missed having those conversations with her family. It was one of the first times in awhile that I had heard her say some positive things about religion and we actually had a pretty positive discussion after that about religion. It was really nice.

Wednesday Penny had her first orthodontist appointment. They took x-rays and pictures and scanned her teeth. In a month she will be getting braces and an expander. I am sure she will be miserable when it actually happens but a lot of her friends have braces already so for now she is excited to be joining them soon. I also set up an appointment there for Ben. He really needs braces and I am hoping we can make it work financially so that they both can get their teeth fixed this year.

Wednesday night we had kids in 3 different places. The boys were at the Hess home for young mens, Lucy had volleyball and Penny needed to be at the church for young womens. I ended up taking Penny to the church, and Ruby came with us. My tummy was bothering me so I had the joy of taking Ruby into the bathroom with me while I died. Thankfully our young women were the only ones at the church so at least no one was around to listen to Ruby talk to me about my poop issues. Besides the issues, Ruby had fun joing in with the yw making bracelets. She liked looking at all the cool beads they had brought.

Thursday morning we hit terrible traffic on our way to the girls' school. Our 20 minute drive took 40 minutes (even with us taking a slightly illegal shortcut) It was awful. The girls still made it to school on time since we leave so early, but we were at the back of the line which stresses the girls out. Afterwards I took Ruby to the Great Lakes Crossing Mall. I was on the hunt for Easter dresses for the girls, a sweater vest for me, and an italy lego postcard. I think that while being away I had forgotten how awful shopping with a toddler is. It was not a fun day like I had imagined in my mind. Mostly it was me wrangling a toddler who did not want to shop- she just wanted to play in the play area. At one point, I was looking at some dresses, and when I looked back at Ruby she was on the ground by her stroller taking off her pants. She had gotten some food on them and had decided she did not want to wear them anymore. When it was finally time to leave, she decided she did not want to leave and I had to throw her into the stroller kicking and crying. I feel too old to deal with toddler tantrums.

On Friday I decided to do some thrift store shopping while Ruby was sleeping because I needed retail therapy after all the retail trauma the day before with Ruby. It was a good choice because I found a few fun things for a good price, including some dresses for the girls (I hadn't had luck finding them at the mall the day before). That night Lucy had another middle school dance. Mostly she goes to these so she can get dressed up and hang out with friends. She also likes the snacks. It seems like she had a good time with her buddies. When I dropped Lucy off, Geli's mom -Cherish- was there as well and chatted with me for a long while. I think she might be lonely and maybe I should invite her and her husband to the game nights we do with Grace. Cherish also talked about how much her girls and her like our church and how they should come more often. I encouraged that line of thinking for sure ;)

Geli came home with Lucy after the dance and spent the night. Geli didn't stay too long the next day. I am not sure if she gets tired of Lucy or just tired of people in general. 

The weather Saturday was nice and warm so we got outside for a bit to splash in the puddles. Lucy did one big splash and was so soaked she decided that it wasn't that fun to splash in puddles, lol. Clearly Lucy is not a toddler anymore.