Amber and Dan's Blog: V-Day

Monday I took Brooke to school early so she could audition for a solo in the 1st grade musical. We haven't heard back on that yet. I left from the early dropoff and did a super fast grocery run with Candy and Jack. That way when Ashley was watching them for me, I could run to Ikea to get a dresser--I got one last week, but they didn't have 2 but got more in over the weekend. I got that purchased and came back to watch the kiddos while Ashley ran to the store. Dan had a work dinner that night, so we did FHE with just the kids and had a good time talking about obedience--a favorite lesson of ours :).
Tuesday I taught joy school at my house and in the afternoon my visiting teachers came and Megan had piano after school. I haven't had visiting teachers in a LONG time (our ward rotates them among active sisters so that the needy sisters always have them but no partnership has more than 2 people to visit). With the baby coming soon, it's nice to have them again! The lesson this month was about strengthening marriages and we had a fun discussion. I know one of them well, but the other has only been in our ward for 3 months--b/c she just got married 3 months ago and they moved from the singles ward to ours. It was good for Candy since she has struggled a little to not be nervous with her new primary teachers. I had to finish up Megan's teacher's birthday gift that night too. All the parents donated money and I got to go buy a bunch of cute things and gift cards for her. It was fun to put together. Another mom in the class took it to the teacher for me on Wednesday.
Wednesday we had playgroup at a friend's house in Fall Creek and at 11:30, I met Shad and Amy at my house so they could drop off Molly and Ellie while they headed to the airport to spend a few days in California for some ortho conference. Ellie doesn't know me super well and she was NOT sure about getting abandoned here! But after about 20 minutes and some silly youtube kids songs, she stopped crying and warmed up a little. She did fine the rest of the time playing with Molly and her cousins, she just seemed a little quieter than usual. I put together the dressers at naptime and moved Candy's old dresser into the baby's room. I watched Ali's kids afterschool too while she decorated for the blue and gold banquet. Megan had A-days also. The kids all had fun together and mostly played outside--it was fantastic weather this week, upper 70s most days.
Thursday was joy school here again and Molly and Ellie got to participate too. The kids were good and had fun. Sally came to pick up Molly and Ellie just before naptime. She also brought me fudge from Old Town Spring, yum. Megan had her first soccer practice that night. She had a blast running around and by the end was getting better at dribbling and controlling the ball. Her coach seems nice. We don't know anyone else on the team, but Megan was making friends.
Friday I watched Ashley's younger girls all morning (she went out of town for a few days) til 1 pm. I took the kids to Target to pick out a birthday present for a party that afternoon and then we went to the park for 2 hours for a picnic lunch. I dropped off Ashley's kids and then took Candy and Jack with me to the school to set up and run the valentine's party in Megan's class. It went well, much easier than the Christmas party and the kids had fun. After school, it was Ali's son Alonzo's 8th birthday party from 4 to 7. It was minecraft themed and even though my girls know nothing about that, they had fun. The kids played games outside and did perler beads (those melty bead things you do on a grid) and had pizza and cake. Dan came over after work and we got to have pizza too.
In the wee hours of Saturday morning (4 am for Candy and 5 am for Megan) we got woken up with throwing up kiddos. Fun (not!). But thankfully it wasn't too bad and they felt better by mid morning. Dan spent the morning meeting up with Dad and Sally and shad's kids except Hailey (in Shad's truck) to move the white freezer from the back room to our laundry room. And 2 of the bookshelves from the family room. I'm so excited for all of those. As with most things like that, it always takes longer than usual, but it got done. Dad had some exciting moments with the freezer tipping over while on the freeway and such, but they made it. With sick kids, we had to cancel our date night and opted for some pei wei takeout and a movie. It was a nice valentine's eve.
It's been a good Sunday. Dan went for early meetings (that he found out had been cancelled), spoke in a Spanish ward, and met up with our ward for the last 2 hours of church. Jack slept for the first half of sacrament meeting, so I felt like our kids were awesome at being reverent :). He managed to wake up and run to the stand once before it ended. Candy was spotlighted today. She brought a book (I love to read!), her tennis shoes (I love to run!), and her doll from Christmas (I love to play with my Jenny doll!). She was cute. After church was quiet and we had a yummy dinner of shrimp and pasta. The kids were a little naughty after dinner, but they managed to clean up their messes and we played some games before reading to them for bedtime.
We're down to just 4 weeks til this baby girl's due date which is starting to feel really close. I'm doing well and she wiggles a lot.

I couldn't resist buying some clothes for the baby while I was out shopping for Megan's teacher