Week Nineteen

On Monday, Brooklen had another baseball game. The weather was amazing and the girls just played in the sand and on the swings at Sturgeon Field. Brooklen had to skip hockey because of the game, but I will admit, I was glad to be outside on such a gorgeous day. The boys lost their game, but they played really well. Their coach is awesome and they have a lot of talented dads that contribute (including Rob) so they are learning a lot. Jill and I were talking at the game on Monday and I mentioned that it is so funny how in baseball, EVERY single one of the dads hangs out in the dugout. They are all SO in to the game and so many of them show up at practice. It is really great.

On Tuesday, Zaya's preschool was at our house. I had also planned to watch Ellie Jones because Nicol was going to go help out on the Habitat for Humanity build. That morning, Danielle VanWagoner also called and asked if I could watch her baby while she ran to a dentist appointment. So, the morning was filled with lots of kids. We didn't do any "work" at school, but the kids had a great time and all of the babies were so awesome. None of them cried and they just played together downstairs.

On Wednesday, I spent the morning running errands and then I worked on painting our dining chairs outside. I borrowed a Critter spray gun from my friend, Nicol, and it definitely made the job a lot easier. I don't think I'll ever brush paint anything again. I've gotta get one of those! There was, however, a bit of a learning curve to using it and because I am painting six chairs, it took a lot longer than I thought it would. I still have to do a second coat this week. I'm excited to get that project done.

On Thursday we had preschool at our house again. It was beautiful and sunny outside and so we spent about half of the time outside playing. It was so nice to get those kids outside running around! We talked about the number 6. They colored a picture of the number 6 and then we did an activity where they were given a sheet of paper with 6 bowls printed on it. They had to put 1 goldfish in the bowl with a "1" on it and so on . . .

On Friday night, I had my spring piano recital. I had 9 of my students play, as well as my three oldest kids. Everyone played so well! I am so proud to teach piano to all of these kids. I really love helping them learn to understand and love music. I teamed up with Kathy Holden, a lady in my ward, to hold our recitals together. We held it at the Center for the Arts. The small lecture room there is perfect for small recitals like ours. Brooklen play "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Kites in the Sky" from Faber level 1 books. Hurley played "Sailing in the Sun" and "Ferris Wheel" from the Faber level 1 books and Zaya played "Hot Cross Buns" (she sang it too; so cute).

On Saturday morning, we went to the Civic Arena for Brooklen's hockey skills class. On the way home we stopped at Target so that we could pick up a gift for a birthday party that Brooklen was invited to. Later that afternoon, Brooklen went to Jordyn's birthday party at Northern Lanes. While he was gone, I took the other kids to Meijer to do some grocery shopping. Rob stayed at home an worked on some shelves for our basement.

Today was Mother's Day. I accompanied the primary children and a little girl in Sacrament meeting. We had a nice quiet afternoon at home. Zaya made me a card. Hurley made me a tile trivet and a little story. One of the things that stuck out to me in the story was that she said that she loves going shopping with me. She drew a picture of us at the grocery store. I felt so bad because yesterday it was so overwhelming to take all three of the younger kids to Meijer alone. At the end of the trip, I told them that I couldn't take them again. I felt really bad this afternoon after I read how much she loves it. It was a simple reminder that sometimes we should do things because they are right or because they make someone else happy, not necessarily because they are the easiest or most enjoyable things for us to do.