half dozen cuties

One busy Wednesday


Let me apologize first for the fact that I have yet to figure out how to format my pictures. I don't know if something is messed up in my settings but tomorrow Lucy will have to show me how to do this. Anyway, Yesterday was the day of madness for me as I rushed around doing all the last minute details for our Stake Primary Leadership meeting. No matter how prepared I am (and this is the most I've ever been prepared) there still are a million details to work through. At one point I was quite panicked because I couldn't reach my music leader and I had no idea what we were doing for the opening song. I finally reached her at 3:00 pm and she broke into tears as soon as she heard my voice. It turns out that her pianist was sick and she couldn't find anyone to replace her. Luckily I was able to find someone and we all calmed down. After all, you can't have a primary meeting without a pianist. For a minute I thought I would have to call Lucy but I knew we would have people there who could do it. On Sunday night I went with one of the primary presidents in our stake to visit a less active family with primary children. We had such a GREAT visit. This primary president made the cutest packet with an Article of Faith card, a CTR ring and some CTR stickers. The little girls loved it and felt so special and I thought it was a great idea. I decided to make a packet for all our primary presidents and encourage them to visit a family in their ward. The meeting went great and I was so relieved when it was over. I have had to ignore Jason for about 10 days straight because every night after the kids go to bed I am on the computer working on the meeting. He was as happy as I was that the meeting was over.

Today was jam packed. I don't think the day could have been busier. I literally went from one thing to another. Here's my day:

Wake up at 6:00 am with two kids in bed and one sleeping on the floor covered with a towel for a blanket. I don't know how or when they got there. I was seriously in the deepest, sleep-deprived, induced sleep.

At some point I remembered that today is picture day and immediately order all the kids in the shower so I can do their hair. Yesterday I did all the laundry except for one load that was still in the dryer. For some reason that was where all the best shirts were so I had to dig through the load to find something decent for the kids to wear. Next, I had to dig for the picture order forms.

Take Lily to speech, which only lasts 30 minutes, but I had to drive back home because Jack found a piece of candy in the car and Anna couldn't stand the injustice of it all. There was nothing else to do anyway.

Went to the Children's Museum to meet Carolyn. Anna has been begging to play with Natalie so we met at the Children's Museum. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for Anna and Carolyn was so kind and offered to let Anna come over.

I rushed from the Children's Museum to pick up my babysitter. This is the family that was new in our ward on Sunday. We had them over for Family Home Evening on Monday night and when I found out that the mom home schools I knew I had just struck gold. For years I was spoiled by my niece Christie who was also homeschooled and used to babysit for me once a week. I have now found another home schooling babysitter. I love people who home school for this reason. She did a great job. They moved in just in time since I had a lunch date planned for today for a couple of weeks and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to swing it.

Went to the school to have lunch with Emma. She was very cute and glad I came to see her.

Then I went to my REAL lunch. Liz, Sarah and I have been doing lunch for years. When Eli was in Kindergarten we would meet every Monday at McDonalds and let the kids eat and play in the play structure. I hate McDonalds but the company was good. Liz and Sarah are both in a totally different phase of life than me. Both of them have three kids and their youngest children are both in 4th grade with Jonah. In other words, they have a lot more freedom than I do. But we have managed to stay friends and we try and meet for our birthdays. We always go to Luna and we always order the same thing. The Luna Sampler plate which comes with soup, salad and a sandwich. Then we order coconut cake for dessert. We always eat way too much and say too much but it's fun to catch up with them. Today we were celebrating my birthday which is July 23. Like I said, they have a lot more freedom than I do.

After lunch I went and picked up Anna, dropped off the babysitter and came home for just a few minutes before it was time to take Emma to her last soccer practice. Hooray! By this time in the soccer season I am thrilled it's over. Although, I must say I think we've had the best fall I can remember. I think the majority of the games had great weather. The girls had so much fun playing in the fall leaves at the end of practice.

Tonight was Math night for Mrs. Harvey's class. Emma has been excited about this for a week and keeps coming home with fun math games for us to play. Today she informed me that she wanted only Jason and I to go to the math night with her. That meant that I had to kick it into high gear. After my yummy lunch at Luna I was in no mood to make dinner so I poured the kids a bowl of cereal and called it good. I hurried and got the little kids in bed and left Eli and Jonah to babysit. Eli had Mrs. Harvey for 2nd grade and still remembers the math night. He really wanted to come. I think the best part about Mrs. Harvey is how she teaches math. She has all these fun games to help the kids master their math facts using face cards. They are so fun, even for adults. We played a couple tonight and then she gave us a pakcet of games and a deck of cards. It's something extra she does for her kids and after putting on my big meeting last night I really appreciate the effort she went to for the kids in her class.

I'm so glad that today is over. I'm off to bed to read "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." It's our book group book this month. I haven't been able to read it yet because I knew I'd be hooked so I'm excited to get going on it.