Back to School

Last Monday was the kids last day off for Christmas break.  But it was still a Monday and I needed to get groceries and fold laundry and the like.  So we did grocery swap with the T's and it was fun and crazy to have all 9 kids.  They had a blast though and played nicely, so it made the day go quickly.  For family night we talked about goal setting and as is out tradition, we each set 3 goals and we set 3 goals as a family for the year.  I love the fresh start of a new year. 

The only pic I found from this week--my 4 kids and the 5 T kids at lunch Monday...

Tuesday I taught joy school here and it was fun.  It was also about setting goals and the kids were cracking me up with the goals they wanted to accomplish.  My favorite was Candy saying she wanted to learn to wash our cars.  But they needed goals they could work on at school, so she changed to learning to write her name :).  During quiet time that day I worked on making pillow covers for Dad and Sally's new couches.  A fun and easy project once I got things figured out.  Megan had piano that afternoon and then Dan had a meeting that night, so I was able to get 3 pillows done.

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Wednesday was rainy and cold and we had playgroup inside at the mall.  The kids had fun running around and we ate our sack lunches in the food court which made it more fun.  I did the last two pillows during quiet time that day. 

Thursday was joy school here again.  Jack got to go to his 2 year old playgroup and was so funny trying to tell me all about it with his limited phrases.  He mostly said "I play Bode's house" and "doggy Bode's house" because his friend has a little dog.  At dinner most nights we go around and everyone says their favorite part of the day--Jack LOVES to participate now.  We only understand him about half the time but he is very enthusiastic.  There was a RS activity Thursday night about fitness and healthy eating, so we did zumba and a bunch of squats--the zumba was fine, but I was SO sore over the weekend from the squats.  It was fun.

Friday we ran errands and after lunch Jack and Candy went to play at Ali's house while I organized the garage and moved the bikes out of our study into the garage--YAY!  Megan had her belated birthday sleepover with Aunt Carrie that night while the rest of us just hung out at home.

Saturday morning we were busy with yard work, weeding and mulching our front beds and snaking out the drain on the side of the house.  We've had a lot of rain lately and it was NOT draining quickly at all and keeping the yard all soggy.  We got out a big clump of pine needles and then it was working again.  Saturday after quiet time we headed to Dad and Sally's to watch the Texans in the playoffs.  They did NOT do well but we had fun having pizza and hanging out (Carrie and Shad and all the kids but Zach were there too--Amy and Zach were at his bball game). 

Yesterday was a harder morning before church but MUCH better time at church with the kids.  Dan was speaking in another ward.  The guy that spoke in our ward talked about a few years ago when he and his wife set a goal to attend the temple each week.  They accomplished it and he talked about the way being in the temple changed them over time--that suddenly he was more sensitive to songs or movies that in the past hadn't bothered him but that he stopped watching or listening to because he was more aware.  We had a quiet afternoon after church and had Ali and her fam over after dinner to let the kids play and played settlers with the adults.