MLK day

Last Monday was MLK day.  We did a quick and early grocery swap.  Dan had work, but the kids were off school, so I went with Dan's sister, Ashley, and another friend, Colette and all our kids (15 kids between us) to Sylvan Beach.  It's farther up the coast than Galveston, just through La Porte, and it's only 35 minutes from my house.  I was worried we'd be too cold to make it worth it (it was in the 40s in the morning), but it was a beautiful, sunny day.  It was probably about 55 and breezy, but the kids had a blast playing in the sand.  We'd been there an hour or so when all my 4 kids were begging for their swimsuits.  So I changed them and they waded and had a great time.  It was cold enough that no one really wanted to swim, but they had fun playing in the sand and wading.  We saw 2 sister missionaries walking up the beach, and i went and said Hi to them.  When I showed the kids, they all came screaming "Hi Sisters!" and running up the beach after them.  It was their P-day and transfer day and one of the sisters was going home the next day, so they'd come to the beach to take some pictures.  They took a few with all the kids before continuing on.  We stayed for a few hours and came home for dinner and family night.  

Tuesday I had my 32 week appt.  Baby girl is doing great.  After school I watched 2 of the Tracy girls for a bit and Megan had piano. 

Wednesday we had playgroup at a park in Fall Creek.  It was sunny and about 60.  I had a van-full when I pulled up, my 2 little ones plus cousin Luke, 2 of Ashley's kids, and another friend's son (that's 6 kids total).  The kids had a blast.  Ali and Ashley helped with my other kids in the afternoon while I took Megan to her ENT appt.  Her ear tube was no longer in place, so the doc pulled it out.  And then she did a hearing screen--STILL didn't quite pass on the left side.  She's had a cough and cold and fluid in that ear, so the dr. wanted us to do antibiotics for 10 days and come back in 2 months to see where she's at.  If she still has fluid, we'll probably do tubes again-boo.  This was a new doc and I liked her a lot.  We discussed other possible causes for her hearing loss and she mentioned that if the ear tube doesn't help with her hearing, that possibly the little bones that transmit sound are too stiff.  If that is the case, she may have surgery someday to replace those bones.  But her hearing would need to be much worse than it is now to make it worth it, so for now we'll just keep a close eye on things.

Thursday while Candy was at Joy School I did a lot of cleaning and a few errands.  It was a nice, quiet day.  We had cousins over after school to play for a bit. 

My lunch date on Thursday:

Friday we had an open day, so I took Candy and Jack to Ikea so I could buy another barstool for our kitchen.  They had fun wandering around and we had lunch there.  Dan had a campout that night (he finished his Wood badge certification, wahoo!), so the kids and I had some Little Caesar's pizza and watched a movie.  Dan didn't have to stay the night, so he was home a little before 11 pm. 

Testing a bed at Ikea...

Saturday was fairly quiet.  Dan took Brooke on a Daddy date (to get his tires rotated), Megan had a birthday party to go to, and the rest of us just hung out at home. 

It was a nice Sunday today.  Dan had early meetings, so we met up with him at our sacrament meeting.  It was ward conference and we got a new Bishop.  It's been a little over 5 years since our ward was created and we have had the same bishop all that time.  The new one will do great.  I'm good friends with his wife and they have 3 kids that we've done joy school and lots of playdates with.  After church we finished things up for dinner.  It was my night to host family dinner and everyone was able to come.  It was so fun to see everyone.  Shad and Amy had to leave first b/c Zach has Priesthood Preview tonight (crazy!), but we had fun playing games and chatting with Dad and Sally and Carrie.   They all left just before 7 and we got our kids to bed after scriptures and prayers. 

Jack is obsessed with being read to lately.  This is from Jan. 19