I Even Left Some Stuff Out

So, I was going to just type a few sentences about our week, but Gary keeps playing hymns and not going to bed, so I kept typing, and things just spiraled . . .

Preschool, Lissy's birthday, Josh's show, last science club, Katie came, preschool party, Halloween costumes, Josh's flu shot, last soccer games, Andrew's birthday.

Okay, that was last week. I felt a little nutty at the beginning of the week just thinking about how we'd get through it . . . BUT, we are yet alive. And Gary is listening to many relaxing songs in preparation for his calling, so it's all good. On Monday we had lots of kids over. The usual classroom volunteering switch, and then in the afternoon some other little girls. It was so adorable to watch all of the kids play in the back yard. My boys have been a little obsessed with sports and capture the flag lately, so it was good to see things changed to leaf-gathering and snail hunting. The kids painstakingly picked up leaves and put them into their shovels so they could dump them in their small pile. It was too small to get a good jump in, but my they were proud. Also, while the kids were running back and forth from the garage getting various implements to gather leaves, Andrew decided to run down the street about 10 houses down and ask to play. I didn't know until I got a phone call. I guess he was proud of that, too. I was not.

It's all the neighborhood boys in the fall! Of course Josh and Ben are hiding, but aren't they so cute? These boys can play and play and play ALL day. They were having a pretty great time in these leaves across the street, so my neighbor snapped a picture. Pretty great, huh?

Did I mention before that I'm taking another online class for teacher certification? Well, I am. It's called financial literacy in the classroom, and it's pretty good. Unfortunately, it keeps me up late . . . or in the middle of the night when I fall asleep with Andrew then realize I still have to do the class at 1 a.m. So awesome.

So, I take pictures, but just can't post them. Yet. When I do, I may take this post apart. But until then . . . Tuesday dear little Elisabeth turned 1! She is really too cute. I can't believe how quickly she went from just sitting on the floor babbling and sucking on toys to being EVERYWHERE! And update: I posted the pictures so removed two paragraphs from this post and put them with the pics. Hooray!

On Wednesday Josh was a hit as the fifth pumpkin in the Five Little Pumpkins number in his class Halloween show. I also thought he was adorable dancing around to their witches brew song. There was a little drama making sure he had the right orange shirt to feel the part of fifth pumpkin, but we borrowed one, and things went great. I was worried about bringing little kids to the show, but I think it was like watching PBS kids for them, so phew. We also had the last science club day, and since lots of kids didn't come Noah and Andrew got to do the experiments. Noah felt very big. I mean, he was very big. Then, that night I got to pick up Katie and Lily at the airport! They are so adorable! Katie and Gary grilled each other late into the night while I stared into space and drooled. (The night before mas my middle of the night assignment stint.)

The big preschool Halloween party I was in charge of was on Thursday, which I had told Katie about, but I guess I didn't tell her there would be around 20 kids and it would be at the church. Oops. So, it was a big old bash, and the kids had fun, so that's good, right? Lily was exhausted, and disappointed that her dream of running like a horse with Andrew was not being fulfilled, so Katie fixed that by taking both of them to the nursery to play. Dreams came true! Later Dylan came to pick Katie and Lily up, and he got to meet Noah and Andrew. Noah was completely enthralled. He felt very special getting to hold him. Josh, however, was very dismayed when he came home from school and everyone was gone. Sad.

Speaking of Josh, he had two super-embarrassing moments in school this week. The first was when he got his flu shot. He was the only one to not get flu mist, and then they gave him a pink bandaid. The pinkness was the problem, not the shot. Then on Friday I was in a super rush to get him to school, and I forgot to put his sandwich in a bag before I put it in his lunch box. He says the kids made fun of him for that, and he was very ticked at me. Also, I wrote, "See you, soon, honey child," on his napkin, and all the kids read it. I am awful, I guess.

On Thursday night the weather was awful, so nobody showed up for soccer practice but Gary and Noah. So, Gary just played some one-on-one with Noah. I guess Noah was laughing the entire time, he was so pleased with his chance to get to play alone with his dad.

Noah decided he'd like to be a Ninja Turtle again for Halloween this year, so that's easy. But the others . . . yikes. Luckily I decided to try to sell our bed rail thing to a kids' used clothing store, and in the process found a coat for Andrew and a little ladybug costume for Lissy. Andrew tried on tons of costumes there, but didn't want to be any of them. I don't think most kids like stuff with heads on top of their head. Too bad, he'd be a good giraffe. I found an amazing orangutan suit that is Josh's size, but Noah insisted Josh would not want it. Turns out he was right, good thing I didn't buy it. On Friday night we went to Pizza Hut to get Josh's book-it pizza, and a little pizza for the rest of us, as well. It always reminds me of when Cindy used to sing Land Before Time songs and Sarah wanted Eternal Flame on the juke box. Anyway, fun. Then we went to the D.I. to look for a football player costume for Josh, which is what he decided he wanted. Turns out there were a million jr. Jazz jerseys there, and even a pair of Jazz shorts, so Josh decided he'd like to be a Jazz player. The outfit is waaay too big for him, and it's pretty cold outside, but he has been wearing that thing and playing basketball ever since Friday night. Slept in it, and only took it off for soccer and church. I had worried about costumes, but for $4 Josh is over the moon excited. Sweet. Oh, and Gary also got Josh a plastic sandwich holder at the D.I. so the bag incident would not occur again. He thinks this is fabulous.

Then last but totally not least was Mr. Andrew's birthday!  Hooray for the fact that 6 months later I cut the text here and put it in a post WITH the pictures. Boo-yeah.

So then it's Sunday and church is always great. I will not be teaching gospel doctrine for a month, because I'm doing a special teacher-teaching class for the Jr. Primary teachers. It will be held while the kids are in Sharing Time. I'm actually pretty excited about this, because I love Primary, and I think it really helps to have a little toolbox of ideas of how to make Primary great when you are teaching. Also, it is late, and I need to be asleep. Also, Lissy has been way ornery for a few days so I wonder if whole milk isn't happy in her tummy? My kids and their tummies . . .