What a Week

Monday
Labor day. And boy did we labor!! We had found strawberries on sale by the flat and bought 3 flats! We made 4 batches of strawberry jam for our food storage. About 24 jars. Yummy! We froze the rest. We also canned some pickles. And then we cleaned the house together in preparation for guests! A first for us in the 3 years we've lived here. We had friends over!!! We used to be so social and party animals, but things have just been different in every part of our lives since we moved here. It was so nice to feel like the old us again... Rich has a buddy who is now an independent contractor in his office. We knew Mindy and Lucas at Chiropractic school, and I knew Mindy long before that. She was one of my first roommates at Ricks College 10 years ago!!! They have 2 kids Sophie and Peter's age and we all had a great night. I hope we will be able to do this more often - having friends over. So watch out friends...




Tuesday

Sophie started school all by herself. She was SO EXCITED!! No tears or fears from her today!!! And after school she also started tumbling class. It was a big day for Sophie! And a big day for me. The first of shuffling and toting around to the various activities for my kids.






















Wednesday
What a fun day it was on Wednesday! Peter started preschool and couldn't have had more fun! I wanted to say goodbye after we got into his classroom, but he was too busy playing with toys and new friends. I had to force him to stop so I could get a hug and kiss! He really is a social butterfly. Today was also Gavin's ONE MONTH BIRTHDAY! This time last month I was in the hospital...






Thursday
Just your typical day. But Peter had his neighbor friend, Josh, walk with us to take Sophie to kindergarten. On the way home Josh smashed a bug on the sidewalk. Typical boy, right? Well out of nowhere Peter lectures Josh. "Josh, that bug is one of Heavenly Father's creations. If you kill it then you are killing Heavenly Father's creations and that makes you not have the Holy Ghost with you, and you don't want that - do you?" I kind of stopped and looked around for Peter because those words were not the words of my bug catching, wing pulling, snail smashing boy. Come to find out later that Grandpa had given this very lecture to Peter the day before when he was caught in the act of bug killing himself. I was surprised at how well Peter listened!




Friday
A fun day for sure. Sophie came home and was a little bummed because on Friday's she doesn't have recess at school. She has already decided that recess is her favorite part of school. Smart girl!!
But after school she got to start ballet/tap dance class. I am going to be honest and tell you that I am living out my dreams in my daughter when it comes to ballet. I ALWAYS wanted to be a ballerina, but by the time my mom could put me in dance I was too old. So it was so important to me to have Sophie in ballet NOW. And my mom always wishes I could have been in ballet too, so she decided she wanted to help put Sophie in ballet. THANK YOU MOM!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!! I hope she loves it! And how couldn't she?? She is adorable in her little outfit!
Today was also a grand day because Rich took Peter and Maxwell on a father's and son's camping trip over night!! Oh yeah!! Grandma took us girls out to dinner! And then Sophie played at a friends before the two of us watched a little TV together and wrote in our journals. I taught her how to draw stars. And she got to have a sleepover in my bed! It was a great girls night!!






Saturday
Sophie had a cute idea this morning to make the boys cinnamon rolls for a surprise when they came home from camping. I said yes, but that we should get ourselves ready for the day first. They came home just as I was blow drying my hair! NO FAIR!! Sophie was disappointed. Later in the day we caught Max sitting on the table eating the remaining fruit in our fruit bowl. 2 nectarines at the same time. One for each hand of course! We tried to get him down, but he popped right back up again! So the fruit bowl is moved - and Max is officially our earliest climber at 19 months old. I went to get Peter some shoes today and found out that he wears a size 11. Sophie, who is 16 months older, wears a size 10. She also thought this was unfair.






Sunday
After having a 6 week hibernation from church I made a reappearance. Gavin had a little bit of a cough and we wanted to keep him home so I sent Rich with the rest of the kids and he came home and we traded places during sunday school. I made it for Relief Society. It was so good to be back. I was really lacking in the spirituality department. This was just what I needed. My friend Holly gave a great lesson on Standing for Truth and Righteousness. The whole lesson was good, but it is what I felt impressed to do, that is why I am mentioning it here. I have been noticing and thinking for a couple weeks now that TV is too much for my little family. No matter what the amount or content I feel like it has been bringing contention into my home. Cartoons are not what they used to be when I was a kid. Just because it is cartoon does not mean it is appropriate for kids of any age - or any kids for that matter. I will not name shows, but there are so many that tease, lie, call names, are rude, etc. And I think that influence has been rubbing off on my kids and I don't like it. I get sucked in too. My shows are better, but I find that I leave chores undone and parent a little lazier when the TV is on. One show leads to another and Rich and I have been staying up way too late doing nothing but lying in bed staring at the tube. My impression was very distinct. UNPLUG THE TV FOR ONE WEEK. Not just turn it off or monitor the shows and time better, but actually make it inaccessible to all of us for the week. So here goes nothing. We had a little lesson with the kids before we did it and made it feel like a family decision. I am so excited to see the changes in all of us, and in our home. Wish us luck!