A new calling and a ride with a creepy alien.

1/26—The kids decided we needed a couple friends in our bed.  lol.

1/27—I had to run to the store to get a couple things, and found these for Ella.  I couldn’t resist buying them.  I now understand why girls have so many pairs of shoes. 

Luke had Ethan over to play, and I made granola.  I’d never made it before, but feel it turned out pretty good. 

I got tired of doing all the work around here, so I made up a new job system.  So far it’s worked pretty well.  I’m still trying to figure out how much “allowance” they get each week, but it’s always good to mix it up and help them earn a little bit of money. 

Afternoon snuggles with mom after her nap.

Every girl loves her accessories. 

After the kids were in bed, I went to Target to have some alone time.  And of course, found a bunch of stuff to buy that I didn’t really need.  That’s the problem with Target. 

1/28—Hudson and Bennett came to play.  They had fun playing trains, cars, and blocks.  And Bennett loved pushing the stroller around. 

Ella is all of the sudden very interested in books.  She loves this one.  And it’s a fun one to read.  Check them out!

We had Panda for dinner to support the school.  I tried to be healthy about it by not getting rice, but not sure if Orange Chicken will ever be healthy…with rice or without.  

Then we went to Josh’s basketball game.  He made one basket and had a couple assists.  Not sure what the final score ended up being because technically they don’t keep score yet.  It was close, I think.

1/29—I volunteered.  Found this on the wall by Josh’s classroom.  He compared and contrasted his bear with another student’s stuffed animal. 

Had to open up the last jar of freezer jam that I made several years ago.  On the pectin package it says the jam is good for one year in the freezer…not so.  But I guess I’m going to have to buckle down this summer and make a batch to last another 3 years.  lol.

1/30—Thursday and Friday there was no school because it’s the end of the semester. 

So the kids spent a lot of time like this.  And Ella’s decided that she needs to sit on the lap of anyone playing this game and help them.  They let her for awhile. 

Over the last several weeks a dear friend has been going through a miscarriage which has caused me to think back to all my miscarriage experiences.  Some of it is hard to think about, and I’m surprised I survived it.  Other parts of it are sweet; especially when I think about how the Lord strengthen me and sustained me through that difficult time.  I have this posted in my kitchen.  It pretty much sums up the experience in a nut shell.  I am a stronger tree because of it.  And I guess that’s what this life is all about. 

Since the kids were home I decided to enlist their help and exchange the toys.  We got out the box with the duplo legos.  They are always a fav even by Darrin :)

1/31—All of the sudden we’ve seen this cat around our house a lot lately.  I’ve since figured out that it lives across the street, but it comes over all the time.  Ella LOVES watching it out the back door.  Every time it leaves, she cries and cries for the kitty to come back.  It’s cute for a minute.  

Friday we had the missionaries and some neighbors over for dinner.  Since the weather was nice (mid 40s), I sent the kids outside so I could get some dinner prep done during Ella’s nap. 

What a wonderful experience it was to have the missionaries in our home and listen to them share a message with us and our neighbors.  The spirit was strong, and I know Elder Davis spoke the words Heavenly Father wanted him to that day.  It touched me to see them in action.  I’d never really seen that before.  I need to follow up and see what our neighbors thought.  It definitely brings happiness to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2/1—For Christmas, Darrin’s parents gave us some money to do something fun together.  We all voted and gave suggestions about what to do with the money.  As a family we decided to go to John’s Incredible Pizza.  It was a lot of fun!!  The kids loved the food, all the games, and rides. 

Ella loved riding in this car with the creepy alien.  She rode it about 10 times. 

She also enjoyed the simulated roller coaster ride.  I thought she would hate it cause it shakes and is loud, but every time it would get bumpy she would laugh.  It cracked me up.

The kids found this blackjack game that gave them tons of tickets.  Hopefully we didn’t just turn them on to gambling. 

They got quite a few cool prizes.  Andrew and Luke put their tickets together to buy a 700 point bouncy soccer ball as big as 3 normal soccer balls put together. 

Then-as if we hadn’t had enough fun, we stopped by JoAnn’s on the way home so Josh could buy the rainbow loom he’s been saving his money for.  He lost a tooth this past week and the tooth fairy forgot to come for about 3 days which equaled more money for his tooth which allowed him to have enough for the loom. 

Then we walked down to Payless to buy Andrew some new church shoes…and on the way back we couldn’t walk past the pet store without going in.  Ella was in heaven.  Needless to say, we were tired when we got home!!! 

 

The boys got haircuts and had baths and were sent to bed. 

Darrin and I settled in to watch TV and work on homework (me) and think about the new calling I was getting the next day. 

I was released as a primary teacher and was made the primary pianist today.  My big mouth pretty much volunteered for that one in front of the bishop…    I am sad to leave my primary class, but being the pianist is fun too.   Now if we could just get Ella to love nursery so I don’t worry about her in there, we’ll be set.  The boys and I fasted for her today that we would find a way to help her like it.  I thought that was very sweet of her brothers to do for her. 

Well, better go practice the piano :)     XOXOXOXOXO