Our Week

We’ve had a busy week that has flown by! Monday was the slowest day. We did our grocery shopping, and ran some other errands. That night we had FHE and talked about a story from “The Friend.”

Tuesday morning we had preschool at our house. It was fun for B-man to be back in preschool. We focused on the letter “O” and also did a little about Martin Luther King Jr. The time flew by and the kids all did great together. Tuesday night M had a basketball game for the ward team. They lost by just a few points, but were missing some key players.

Wednesday morning I watched a friend’s little boy while she went to a doctor’s appointment. After he was picked up I had just enough time to get a very basic shower in and get ready before David was dropped off. We never really go anywhere when David is over, and it was no different on this day. B-man really enjoys having him over though. That night M had Spanish and stayed late at work. B-man and I ate dinner alone and then headed over to the church where M met us for basketball practice. We let B-man run around for a while before M took him home. I stayed for Young Women’s. It was a class activity and I didn’t feel like I was contributing very much.

Thursday we woke up to our first accumulation of snow. It was seriously a dusting, not even enough to make a snowball, but we were all excited. The schools even had a one hour delay because of it. B-man was so excited that we pulled out all his snow gear and put him in it. He played out on the deck for about twenty minuets before deciding that he wanted to come in. There wasn’t enough snow (and it was bitterly cold) to keep him occupied for long periods. We then got ready for preschool. We had a slightly shorter day because of the school delays, but it worked out great for me. I was all planned out, but for some reason everything took way less time than I had anticipated. It worked out great with the shortened time, but I would have been in a pickle if we had not started late.

Friday was my busiest day. It started with me watching the same friend’s child while she went to the doctor. (She usually watched B-man for me, and we had an agreement to switch off when she needed it. It’s a great arrangement.) Then after he was picked up I again had just enough time to get properly dressed before David was dropped off. I then had my visiting teachers come over and visit. They brought a total of three kids with them, so there were five kids under five running through the house. They were all having fun! Then after they left I hurried and finished the lunch that I had been preparing (soup) for some friends. We try to get together during the winter once a week to eat and let the kids play. For some reason all the kids were extremely hyper or grumpy. It was slightly hilarious at times. We all just ignored as much as we could so that we could enjoy some conversation, but every occasionally we had to step in and stop the craziness; we also just talked over a lot of it too. I remember that when I was teaching the kids were like miniature barometers. We always knew when the weather was changing or crazy because the kids were always acting up more than usual. Friday happened to be the coldest day in the D.C. area that we have had in about thirteen years. It was just bitterly cold, with a very chilly wind blowing making it worse. When M got home he worked on some dry wall work, and we were able to finish fixing some blinds in our house. We inherited very nice blinds when we moved in, but two have been broken. Not wanting to replace them I contacted the company and they sent us the parts (for free) to fix them and assured us that it was a very easy fix… Well, it required an emergency run to the sewing store for an enormous needle, and we did get some more (much needed) practice at patience under frustrating circumstances. But after we hung it up we were surprised and delighted when the blinds moved up and down! Hurrah! That night we had a small family party and watched a fun movie with B-man.

Saturday morning we had a very leisurely start. B-man crawled into bed with us and then snuggled with us for a while letting us sleep late. B-man and I then went to help coach the young women’s basketball game. B-man loved being able to watch the game and play with some of the other kids that were at the game. The game went well. At times the other woman who is the coach and I just had to laugh. None of the girls really know what they are doing which lends to some hilarity. But there are several with just enough natural talent that we won! It slightly drives me crazy, because if those girls had been taught just a little when they were younger they could be really great players now. It makes me appreciate all those times my dad took me out to shoot, and all the times he coached my “Snuffy” basketball team. While we were gone M took advantage of the quiet and worked hard on a bunch of dry wall repairs that needed to be done. We are trying to use this weekend to finish some projects that we have had on our “to-do” list for a very long time. After a lunch break we all worked together to organize our storage closet. We got the Christmas boxes stowed away and reorganized some of the things that we had in there. I can now walk past that room with out cringing internally. After finishing that project I went to a Tupperware party. It was my first one ever! It made me think of my mom the whole time. Not that she sold Tupperware or anything, but we certainly had all their best stuff. (Knowing my mom she probably got a lot of it at garage sales for super cheap.) When I got home we had a few minutes to get organized before heading over to a friend’s house. They had a bunch of new electronic toys (blue ray disc player and enormous TV.) that they wanted to show us, and we interspersed everything with hot chocolate and some dinner. We came home and put B-man to bed, and M went to the birthday party of a friend. They played a couple of games and had a bunch of great food to snack on. I worked on finishing my lesson while he was gone.

Today has been a wonderful Sunday. We had lots of time before church, and we are doing a better job at being able to fill it and still be organized for things after church. We got dinner going in the crock pot and then were off to church. B-man didn’t have to be taken out once during Sacrament meeting. Hurray! My lesson seemed to go okay; I am still trying to figure out how much the girls know about the gospel. I don’t want the lessons to be too basic, but I also don’t want to talk about things that are way over their heads. Hopefully I can occasionally get somewhere in the middle. I was really trying to make my little table look like something that would be appropriate for the Young Women. The manual even mentioned I should do it to set a reverent mood, but when I set it up I realized all I had was a table with a table cloth on it, and a tiny picture of Christ propped up on the black board. It was slightly hilarious because it was so apparent that I was “trying” to make it look pretty, and failing horribly. We’ll keep working on that I guess. Maybe someday it won’t look like an afterthought… After church we rushed to get the house (and meal) ready for some friends. We had a simple dinner and got to enjoy the humiliation of watching your child steal from and beat up another child in front of their parents… Sometimes being a parent is just embarrassing! That B-man is such a rascal sometimes; it’s a good thing he can be so cute and endearing at others. Luckily we are good enough friends with this family that they didn’t really hold it against us, or B-man. Once they left we immediately put B-man to bed. M then had a presidency meeting for the Elders’ Quorum. We are now enjoying the peace and quiet and looking forward to several days off this week.