Another Week

On Sunday we made doughnuts and then went to Lizzy’s “It’s Great to be Eight” activity at church.  They explained how baptisms are handled in our ward.  They also gave Lizzy a pair of white socks with a cute poem about making covenants.  Lizzy is so excited to be baptized!

Sammi was sick on Monday.  Here she is hanging out with Joy.  And our Bella girl.  She was sick on Monday too.  Other than this second, she was crying all day long.

Family Home Evening was about baptism (again).  Only two more FHEs till Lizzy’s big day!      An adorable picture of my Bella Boo!

Jessi got a Certificate of Merit for her artwork.  After all the recognition that Lizzy has been getting, this made Jessi very happy.  Jumping on the trampoline!!

Our expensive excitement for the week.  On Wednesday on the way to preschool, the van just died at a red light.  Being stuck was not fun.  I came up with a new mantra.  “It is better to help than to honk.”  Half an hour later, the tow truck got there and towed us off to the auto repair place.  Fuel  pump – bummer.  Oh well, since it was in there, they looked around and we fixed a couple of  other things.  Grand total : $2400 and a car that is in top working condition.  That is a good thing.

Playing around:

Becca working on her quilt – and it all laid out (except the bottom yellow strip)

Playing outside:

Coloring and working with clay:

We had a busy Saturday.  The girls had a basketball game while the rest of us were cleaning the church.  Then the middle two got to attend Stake Primary Activity Day’s “Happily Ever After.”  They had a wonderful time.  Lizzy was so excited – it was her first Activity Day activity.

Then in the afternoon, Becca went babysitting and Katie came over and we made something I have been wanting – a raised garden bed and a square foot garden!  Yeah – I’m excited!  Now we have to order our soil.  I am looking forward to our garden this year!  Jason still had energy to make us Chinese for dinner.  Yeah!  Of course, the kids still had plenty of energy for the trampoline, even in the dark!

 

 

Lizzy had a piece of art chosen for display at our local McDonald’s.  She was thrilled.  She also received a certificate for a free hamburger – which we redeemed on Saturday.  One happy girl!

Our Week

Becca loves this song.  People have asked me if I had known how hard having Bella would be and everything we would go through, would I have adopted her.  That is a hard question, but I think so.  My 15 year old believes that trials make you stronger when you rely on God (go back and listen to the song).  My 12 year old is compassionate and focuses on others.  She tells me that she has learned to listen to the Spirit.  We have been blessed – we have our beautiful girl and my children have learned huge life lessons.  We have learned that life is about getting back to Heavenly Father, but also about helping those around us.  We have learned the value of a life.  Bella is a double blessing.

Our friend Linda fell and hurt herself.  We weren’t comfortable leaving her alone, so one of the kids stayed with her every night last weekend and Monday.    Linda thinks they were helping her.  They were really having a wonderful time.  I asked Lizzy how she felt after helping Linda all day on Monday and she said, “Sweet, like a lollipop.”  Sweet girl.

Meanwhile at home on Monday:

Becca is working on a quilt.  We designed it on Excel.  It’s what I know.

Sammi and Jessi being creative:

And Family Home Evening’s dessert – an original cookie creation by Jessi.

Tuesday – my sweet girls playing, Bella had a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the day, so Sam spent Monday night and Tuesday day with Linda.  It was so weird for me to only have the two little ones.  I decided that if I only had these two home all day, I would have no excuse to not have a clean house – I had so much free time on my hands.  I tackled the changing of the sizes.  It’s my least favorite chore – going through the old clothes, packing them away, and putting in the new size.  For some reason it’s an emotional chore for me.  There are memories associated with clothes to me.  And I still keep everything – until the family is complete. One day someone will inherit all of these bins of clothes.

Wednesday Joy went back to the ENT.  Her hearing has improved a little on the right, but they still want another test.   Sammi and Jessi spent the day on the couch.  There is a lot of junk going around, fortunately most of it is short lived!   That night  Becca and I went to Young Women.  It was a special combined YM/YW Bonfire and Theme Introduction.  The Mutual has a theme every year and Salt Lake sends a wonderful DVD for us to use in association with the theme.  We watched clips from the DVD, then moved outside around a bonfire.  The Bishop spoke and then the kids had a testimony meeting.  I marvel at these youth.  They are so strong. 

Thursday – healthy again!!  Thursday night was the Rodeo Art Show.  Lizzy was a finalist for elementary.  Way to go babe!  Joy was so excited to see her OT – we had to cancel on Tuesday.  She was thrilled the entire hour of therapy! Sammi’s art club started back up – they used sand paint.  It has a very interesting texture.

Friday Sammi and I spent some time at the library.  She is doing a research essay on bento boxes.  Come to find out one of the librarians used to live in Japan –Sammi  was delighted and could have talked to her for hours.  After that we decided we needed to do some more “research” and check out a local restaurant that the librarian told us about.  This is one happy girl who loves “research.”

Friday was pizza and movie night.  Really, I cannot express Joy’s love of pizza.  She just adores it!  She eats more than I do.  Saturday Jason and I attended another class – this one on behavior modification and physical restraints.  Fun.  We did meet another LDS couple going through the same agency.  It was great to talk to them about our desires and concerns.    Jason and I stopped and bought some big kid games, Apples to Apples Family and Rummikub.  We had so much fun playing – lots of laughing and giggling.

 

With a voice of gladness I call your attention to this picture.  All of my children are around the table playing – all of them.  Wahoo!!