Friends, Family and Fun Times

The kids had a extra fun morning today when their friend from gymnastics class got to come over for the day!  They played with Briley all morning and then we headed out to go to Stay and Play.  On our way we picked up Liam which made Ben very happy! 

They all played so well together at Stay and Play.  There weren’t very many other kids (which was nice).  With Izzy and Auri there too it was a perfect morning!  They had gak (?) to play with and learned how to blow huge bubbles with it.  Emma especially loved it and put as many googly eyes in it as she could.

 

Once Briley got picked up this afternoon, we loaded up and headed in to Lethbridge.  The kids both fell asleep in the van so when we stopped to get something to eat it took them a bit to wake up.  Emma was okay, but Ben layed down on the bench, put his head in my lap and fell asleep again!  He slept until the food arrived and finally woke up and polished off his food!  They both ate so well.

Unfortunately, as soon as we left the restaurant Emma started complaining that she wasn’t feeling well.  We sort of brushed it off and got her into the van.  She kept crying as I was trying to get the seatbelt on and when I asked her if she was going to throw up, she said yes.  I quickly grabbed her out of the van (just in case) and a few seconds later she lost everything on the pavement.  Over and over and over.  YUCK!  Thankfully I’d managed to get her hair out of the way and we didn’t have to worry about any clean up. (There wasn’t anything I could do to clean up the pavement, but at least it wasn’t all over her or the van!)  After that, she felt fine! 

We went on to get the groceries we needed at Costco and Wal Mart and thankfully there were no further issues.  Of course, by the time we got in the van to head home, Emma was starving and we didn’t dare give her anything in the van.  We’d got some water for her earlier, but she ended up waiting until we were home to eat.  She’s been fine since then so we’re thinking it must have been something she ate… maybe the ice cream?  Who knows.  At least she’s feeling better now.

Wild Times

I got a call last night saying that my secretary is sick and wouldn’t be at church today.  Her husband brought the agenda and roles over last night so that I had them.  Then, this morning, I got a text from my 2nd counsellor saying that her kids were sick and that she wouldn’t be at church.  That was fine, conducting doesn’t add too much to the plate.

I headed up to church early for Ward Counsel and thankfully got out early enough that I could go set up the Primary room.  I got everything set up and just sat down when Lennard arrived with the kids.  I had bought a pop up tent for nursery last night and Lennard had dropped it off in nursery.  I decided I’d better go down and let them know where this random tent had come from and it was a good thing I did!  No leaders were in Nursery!  No lights on, no toys out, and one little visitor!  While her mom was still there I raced back to the Primary room and grabbed my keys so that I could unlock the toy cupboard.  Before too much longer I had about seven little ones and no teachers.  I couldn’t leave the kids to let my 1st counsellor know where I even was or that no one else in the Presidency was going to be there!  I finally snagged a sister that was in the hallway to stay with the kids while I raced back to Primary to let Jen (my 1st counsellor) know what was going on!  Thankfully, she’d found the agenda that I’d set out and had started Primary without me.  I told her what was happening and headed over to Relief Society where I begged for volunteers!  I then headed back to Nursery to relieve the temporary sister.  It was another ten minutes before the scheduled sub arrived (I’d got a message earlier in the week telling me that one of the Nursery leaders wouldn’t be there but that she’d arranged a substitute.).  She panicked when she realized that she was the only leader so far!  Just as the volunteers arrived from Relief Society, the other couple called to Nursery finally showed up!  Thankfully, they were good to take over.

I got back to Primary only to discover that one of our other teachers was sick and the other teacher was trying to teach a large class of 4 year olds by herself.  I left Primary and headed in to her class to help out where I could.  After about 15 minutes there, I realized that I hadn’t taken attendance yet!  I popped out of her class, which she had under control, and headed back in to Primary.  I didn’t make it in to the Primary room before the substitute Nursery leader brought one of the kids to me to find his parents!  After interrupting two Sunday School classes I finally found his mom!  Getting in to the Primary room, I got the role done and then realized that a few kids that we’ve been trying to get pictures of were actually at Primary today!  I grabbed my camera and made my rounds into the classes to get the last five kids that we were missing photos for.  Once that was done, it was time for Senior and Junior Primary to switch places.  I waited with the CTR4 class while the other teacher did bathroom runs with kids and then it was time to go in for Sharing Time.

I managed to conduct this time!  The kids were very restless and quite busy.  I don’t think any of them heard most of what was being said.  Ben had a talk, so I helped him with that.  The rest of the time was spent getting attendance done, getting the Great to Be 8 invitations ready to be handed out, juggling Emma and Ben as they were back and forth from their seats to me and back again.  Both of them were complaining that they were thirsty, or hungry, or tired, etc.  Whatever excuse they could come up with… they did!  We had half the junior primary in tears when they didn’t get to have a turn or get an invite.  It was quite the show!

Finally, Primary was over!  We got the chairs all put away and we headed in to Sacrament meeting.  The second we sat down, the kids were asking for treats or coloring books.  Since we are ‘mean parents’, they had to wait until after the Sacrament was passed before they could have anything else.  Oh joy!  In and amongst all this, I realized that I had two new teachers called to Primary!  (Didn’t know that was going to happen today.) 

After an excellent Sacrament meeting, I had the kids stay with Lennard in the clerk’s office while I went to be with the new teachers while they were set apart.  One teacher looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in Primary… too bad.  His son is the biggest reason he got called to that class!  His biggest thing was asking if he had to be in Primary every Sunday.  When I said yes, I got an eye roll and a huff.  Yikes!

When I finally got to head home I was more than a little relieved!  Lennard had put dinner in the crockpot for us.  The kids went off to play with their toys, and I am going to curl up with a good book and enjoy the rest of my day!  Oh, the joys of being Primary President! 

Life at the Hangar (AKA: Our Home Away From Home)

After spending lots and lots of time out at the hangar this week and the entire day yesterday, the kids needed a reward for being so good.  We told them that we would have a surprise for them and they were more than excited to find out what it was!  We got home from the airport just after 5:00 and after a quick dinner, we set up the tent in the family room, turned on a movie and pulled out some treats!  The kids thought it was awesome that we were ‘camping’!  Emma kept asking when it is going to be spring so that we can set the tent up in the backyard! 

After most of the movie, we tried to get them to settle down, but they were so over stimulated from treats and the excitement of sleeping somewhere other than their beds, that it took a long time for them to calm down and go to sleep.  We had thought about setting up the air mattress for Lennard and I to sleep on, but we finally just decided that I would stay downstairs with the kids on the couch and Lennard would go to sleep upstairs.  I definitely didn’t sleep well… but at least the kids had fun and we made some fun memories together!

Today, we were back out at the hangar.  The kids were not happy about going back out, but we promised them it would only be for 3 hours at the most.  We managed to finish the rest of the West wall!  Now, everything except one section by the electrical panel is complete!  Lennard is out working on the little section over the door that needs done, some electrical that needs finished and then we’ll be able to have the walls completed.  Then we’ll start on taking lights down, putting vapor barrier up on the ceiling and putting OSB up.  It’s getting closer!

What will we do when the hangar is done… (don’t answer that!).

Family Day

We have had such a wonderful day today.  After a late night last night we were happy when the kids ‘slept in’ until 7:30!  We had a lazy morning and eventually had poached eggs in cream for breakfast.  Emma and Ben both ate so much!  Ben would have eaten three eggs if I’d had any more cooked!  Ben was quite the helper too and ‘washed’ dishes (and himself and the floor).

We headed out to the airport shortly after dinner and got going on the East wall.  After figuring out the first upper piece that had to go under a piece of the door and over a different one and then have a part cut out to fit around a beam, the rest of the pieces were easy!  We completed the entire East wall before lunch and started on the door! 

While we were working, Ben was ‘doing his exercises’ and watching a movie in the trailer (aka: staying warm in the only place that has heat!).  Emma popped in and out of the trailer, ‘helped’ us off and on, and visited with grandma and grandpa in their hangar.

Mom made us all lunch and then at about 1:00 the Toone’s came out for some airplane rides!  My dad had already given two others rides this morning, so the plane was out and ready for more fun.  Lawson and Wyatt had a lot of fun, but I think Shannon had the most fun… at least that’s what Lennard said from all the shrieks of excitement!  Izzy didn’t want anything to do with the airplane and Auri was too little to go yet.

Once everyone left, we got working on the hangar door and managed to get it all done too!  It’s amazing how different it looks having the OSB up on the walls.  It looks SO tall!

To finish off a fantastic day, we treated my parents to dinner at The Keg in Lethbridge for their 41st wedding anniversary!  The kids were so excited to ‘go to grandma and grandpa’s anniversary’!  It was really cold where we were seated, hence the coats in the picture, but thankfully they finally got it warmed up about half way through the meal.  The food was fantastic. 

I feel so blessed to live close to my parents and to get to see them so often.  Today has been the best ‘Family’ day ever. 

Fun With Friends

We were invited over to the Toone’s this evening for a potluck Chinese dinner.  It ended up being a very full house!  They also invited Henline’s, Olsen’s, Hill’s, and Katie!  There were 20 kids and 11 adults!  While the food was getting ready, the guys all disappeared over to Shannon and Cody’s new house for a tour.  We (the women) thought it would only be right to leave the guys to clean up with the kids after dinner, but we never actually did it.  We had such a huge spread of food and it was all delicious!  I was surprised that the kids ate as well as they did with all the chaos. 

After dinner, all the adults played a huge game of Nerts.  It was a blast, but I am way too slow in watching all the different piles and getting my cards out.  There was a lot of hip checking, yelling and cards flying across the table.  It was awesome! Eventually, a few families started heading home with their kids and we changed the game to Scum.  We could have stayed a lot longer, but by 9:00 we knew we were pushing our luck with the kids.  They are going to be so cranky tomorrow!  We are definitely going to have to do some more game nights.  This was so much fun.

Pre-Valentine’s Fun

I invited Shannon and Dina over with their kids to ‘paint’ sugar cookies.  I think we should have skipped the cookies and just let them play!  The weather was so nice that they played in the backyard for quite a while before we ‘made’ them come in to do cookies.  Most of the kids quickly painted a few and then raced back outside or downstairs to play.  Emma was the diehard fan.  She finished off the rest of the cookies before we baked them!

While Dina was here, she invited us to go to Lethbridge for dinner tonight for James’ birthday.  I called my parents and ‘begged’ them to take the kids and they willingly jumped at the chance!  My brother and his family were going to be arriving this evening, so they just took the kids home with them and let them have a sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa’s!  (Bonus for us!) 

Even though it was an evening for James’ birthday, it was so nice to get to go out with Lennard.  Especially since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day!  We were all supposed to meet at The Keg for dinner, but since they don’t take reservations on the weekend, it would have been a 2 1/2 hour wait.  Dina managed to get us in to Moxie’s instead.  The dinner was great and the company was even better.  Happy Birthday, James!

Do I or Don’t I?

Over the last month I’ve really struggled as to whether or not to continue doing this blog.  Life has a way of keeping me busy… or at least that’s one excuse.  I love being able to go back and print my blog and have a family ‘journal’ for the year.  I love being able to share what’s going on in our family with my extended family and in-laws.  I love capturing all the little stories that would otherwise be lost.  I love using the blog as my journal so that I can feel like I’m at least trying to do what we’ve been counselled to do.

As for the dislikes… well, taking the time to do it when I’m already doing a ‘picture a day’ project and documenting things there.  Do I really need another project?  Do I need complete strangers reading about my life?  Does anyone really even read it?  And do I care if anyone does?  How much information is too much?  What can I share and what can’t I?  It’s been going around and around in my mind.  What to do?!

Well, I’ve decided that even though I’m documenting things elsewhere, it is pretty minimal.  To get all the stories and pictures documented that I want, I am going to have to continue putting things somewhere – and this blog is the easiest way to do that.  So without further ado… I will be going back the last month and documenting our lives.  For those of you who are anxiously awaiting those posts, like my father-in-law (my one dedicated reader), check back for January posts for all the craziness that is our life!

Family Time at the Hangar

The last few nights I haven’t slept very well, so when I sat down this afternoon to read a book I was quickly nodding off.  Emma came in to ask if she could play on the iPad and that is the last thing I remember until Ben came in asking where Emma was.  I looked up at the clock and it was 5:00!  I had slept for 2 1/2 hours!  Totally unheard of!  I might get a few minutes here and there, but usually the second I close my eyes the kids are there waking me up and wanting something.

I got up and started wandering around the house with Ben looking for Emma and Lennard.  We went in to every single room, but they weren’t there!  I started to get a little nervous when I couldn’t find a note from Lennard anywhere and then I decided to check my phone.  Sure enough, he had sent me a text message saying that he’d taken Emma with him to the hangar since Ben and I were both asleep when he’d got home from work.

A quick telephone call confirmed that they were both at the airport and that Emma had a request for me.  She asked if I could bring out Subway sandwiches so that we could eat at the hangar.  Ben and I got ready, picked up some sandwiches and a few other things and were on our way to the airport. 

Lennard had been working hard at finishing up the vapor barrier on the door and was just about ready to put up the first sheet of OSB!  We had our dinner in the trailer, which made the kids very happy, and then while the kids watched a show (and stayed warm), we got going on the OSB.  Thankfully, it went up really easily!  Within 25 minutes we had as many full sheets put up on the door that we could do.  The rest of the sheets will have to be cut now.

I took the kids home to get them in bed while Lennard finished off putting more screws in and then putting up two more sheets on the East wall.  He’s pretty excited to see sheeting being put up.  It’s sure changing the look of the hangar quickly! 

Learning

I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to get Ben to hold a pencil or pen and just color.  He just doesn’t do it very often.  You can imagine my surprise when we were out at the hangar visiting with my parents for a bit and looked over to see that Ben had written his name!  I’ve never sat with him to do letters (oops) and although I point out the letters and he recognizes them all, he’s never attempted to write them.  I was even more shocked when I watched him and noticed that he wrote it with his left hand.  Maybe that’s why we’ve had so much trouble holding a pencil?  Who knows.  I had him switch hands and write his name again… and he did!  Both ways and just as clear with both hands.  It’s like a light bulb clicked for him.  He was so proud of himself and so was I!

Craft Time

Lennard went in to the gun/truck show in Lethbridge with James this morning and, after sitting at home for a while, I decided that if I stayed home I wouldn’t get anything done, so I loaded up the kids and went in to Lethbridge too!  Crazy, I know, but oh well. 

I went over to Shauna’s and we made a fun craft together for Valentine’s Day.  It was so nice to have a few hours to just sit and visit and actually accomplish something at the same time!  I saw this idea on-line and had mom cut the letters out for me.  I told Shauna what I was going to do and she said she’d like to do it too… so mom cut two sets out!  I think they turned out really cute and the kids had fun playing with their cousins.

Lennard ended up getting two guns at the show (I knew I should have gone to supervise! lol!)  He and James spent the afternoon at the gun range trying them out.  Lennard has a huge bruise on his shoulder from the shotgun.  I think my afternoon of crafting was a lot less expensive… and a lot less painful!  Love you, Lennard!

Time for an Oil Change

I needed to get an oil change done on the truck, so after we had a fun morning at the library and ate some lunch, we headed out to Mountain View.  Every time we go out the kids fight to see who gets to push the button to make the hoist go up.  They love watching the oil come out and are very curious of all the different steps.  This time, Ben was really in to everything going on.  He pulled the step ladder over to look in and then ended up climbing up onto the bumper to get a better look.  Emma peeked in and was done, but Ben stood there while my dad explained all the different parts.  Ben was even pointing to each part as my dad would ask him where something was.  It made my heart melt a bit as I watched them together.  I love that Ben is getting to have these kinds of moments with his grandpa.  Thanks for the oil change… and the memories we made!