Still April

 Still April here and still busy. 
We started with some crazy weather last week.  I told you when I emailed last Sunday night that quite the storm had started.  That storm (strong wind, and HEAVY rain, lots of thunder) didn't stop until Monday evening!  I woke up off and on from the thunder and Dan's phone weather alerts on Sunday night and when he got up at 5 am it was really crazy out there.  But he plays basketball at the gym at work M, W, F and he didn't want to miss just because of rain.  So he glanced at the tornado warning (!), waited for it to lift at 5:15 and drove up to his office near the woodlands.  And the other ball players were committed too, they played 3 on 3.  By 5:30 am, school was cancelled.  Waters were rising all over.  Our neighborhood was fine, but a lot of the feeders flooded (but not the ones nearest to us) and 2 low spots on the beltway.  Since we could get to Walmart just fine, Ashley and I did grocery swap with all 10 kids.  We were both glad to have something for the kids to do on a pretty boring day stuck inside.  Dan's office ended up telling people to work from home, so he drove home around lunch time.  He had to take a different route to avoid high water on the beltway, but he made it home just fine.  The kids were pretty happy to get to watch tv on a weekday (not a common occurrence for them).  Rookie camp for swim team was cancelled.  Candy was relieved.  We had family night that night and Brookie taught a lesson on speaking softly--a good follow up from our family council.  We hope she listened to herself :). 

lunch time at grocery swap 

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Tuesday our school district was back in session which was nice because I had already made plans to get the oil changed in our car while Candy was at joy school.  So we got that done in the morning.  It rained some on Tuesday, but much less than was predicted.  Dan's office closed again at lunch because they were near a river that was still rising.  So he worked from home in the afternoon.  Candy had her first day of rookie camp--you can imagine how cold the water felt after two days of rain and drizzle.  I knew she'd be nervous, so I actually sent her with Ali hoping that she'd just go hop in if I wasn't there.  We were all watching from the car as she walked in with Ali and her cousin Alonzo and was being brave til it was time to walk around to the coaches--then she started crying and wouldn't let go of Ali.  So we went in to help her.  She cried most of the time that day, but she did get in and kick once and do one swim.

Silly Jack on Tuesday

Cutie Emily

Our little fish all ready for rookie camp

And here she is crying in her lane :(

Wednesday was still drizzly, so we had playgroup at chick fil a.  Jack and Candy were big fans.  Rookie camp was WAY better this day.  We had bribed her with hot chocolate waiting for when she was done and promised that she could pick a candy at the store if she swam the whole time.  She did.  But she was still not back to her usual comfort level. 

Emily holding her binky in on Wednesday

Thursday I took Jack, Candy, and Emily to the morning performance of the second grade musical.  Megan was in the chorus.  It was called "Go Fish" about a shark who wanted more friends.  Megan got to be a shark.  It was really cute.  After the musical, I dropped Candy at joy school and Jack had a buddy over to play.  It rained a bit on Thursday, and soccer practice was cancelled.  That simplified things.  Candy had rookie camp and did pretty well, but she still would grab the rope a TON.  Dan got to watch the evening performance of the musical and I stayed home to put the other kids to bed. 

Also Thursday night, Emily just smiled and smiled!  I caught a pic. She's getting better at it.  She likes being cooed at.

Friday was a quiet day.  I cleaned up the house in the morning and then we went to the store so Candy could get her treat for participating at rookie camp.  Dan's sister Amberly was in town that day for an interview and she had free time that afternoon and evening.  So she and I and Ali got to hang out in the afternoon.  After school, we all headed over to the pool to watch Candy and Alonzo try out.  Candy was one of the last kids in her lane and she went after her best bud Kenzie.  All of that combined to kick her into gear and she made it!  (barely...lots of rope holding and 1:15 or so, but she did it!)  She was SO excited.  Alonzo made it too.  He's Megan's age but hasn't had much experience swimming.  He got better over the week though and I'll work with him when the pool is open on weekends too.  We took the kids to babysit swap and then Ali and Ben and Dan and I and Amberly got some good texas BBQ for dinner.  We went back to Ali's for games.  Fun to be with them.

Cutest baby.   Seriously.

Saturday was typical.  The weather was great.  I mowed the lawn in the morning while Dan helped someone move.  We went to Megan's soccer game (they lost 7-2).  Dan took Megan and Brooke with him to fill a food order for his home teachee.  Then we had Megan's piano recital in the evening.  She played great, not nervous at all.  She played "It's a Small World" (lucky us to get to listen to her practice it all month!  I'll have to send the video to Aunt Penny!)

It was a good Sunday.  I got all 5 kids to church on my own and we weren't even late.  Jack only ran up to the stand once :).  We talked about Alma and Amulek in my class.  After church and quiet time and dinner we went to Ali's house for a bit.  Then home for bedtime for the kids. 

Mid April already

Our week has been good, busy, and fun.

Monday (happy 64th to Dad) we didn't have grocery swap because the Tracy's were at Disney World.  So I got to take Candy, Jack, and Emily with me.  It made me grateful that I don't usually have to bring them :).  Candy and Emily were fine, Jack was a typical 2 year old.  After school we had cousins over to play and that was fun.  Megan taught family night.  She talked about Alma the younger and repentance (from her primary lesson the day before).  She is getting a little less shy and even bore her testimony to our family at the end (something the other kids do almost every week, but she usually doesn't want to). 

Here is Emily all ready for bed after family night and a bath on Monday.  I weighed her and she was about 11 pounds--growing great!

Tuesday after I dropped the big girls at school, Candy at joy school, and Jack at cousin's house, Emily and I headed to my 6 week checkup with my OB.  All was well and they loved Emily and seeing pics of the kids all together.  I helped Ali get her car dropped off for a repair and we had lunch at her house. Megan had piano that afternoon and Dan went home teaching after we put the kids to bed that night.

This is Candy snuggling Emily before we picked the big girls up on Tuesday.  Candy just LOVES Emily and is actually a really great helper for her. 

Wednesday was a little drizzly.  I took Emily, Jack, and Candy to visit Carrie at work from 9 am to 10 am because she had 3 students with her and no patients.  So Jack and Candy got to be the guinea pigs to give the students experience with administering different tests to determine how delayed or advanced a kid is compared to average.  There was lots of balancing, jumping, running, stair climbing, ball throwing, etc.  The kids had fun.  We came home and I hosted playgroup here at the house.  About 5 moms and their kids came and it was nice to chat and let the kids play.  Megan had A-days after school and they made tithing jars and talked about finances.  Now she wants to know how she can earn more money! 

Thursday I went to visit my visit teachee who had the stroke.  She is now living with her daughter about 30 minutes away in spring branch area (near 610 and 290).  I spoke with her daughter over the weekend and Sammie had gotten pneumonia and decided she didn't want to go back to the hospital so they were getting organized with hospice care.  But when I saw her on Thursday she actually looked pretty great.  She misses seeing her husband (he's still at their home in Humble), but they call each other every day and she was very alert and recognized me.  We had a good conversation and I'm glad I got to go.  My visiting teacher kept Jack for me so I just had Emily (Candy was at joy school).  Megan had soccer and I made a meal for another family that night.  It was also the kindergarten info night for Candy but with soccer going on we missed it (we've done this before, it can't have changed much).  Can you believe Candy (and Owen and Molly) will be in kindergarten in the fall?

Candy and Emily on Thursday after Candy's reading lesson with me.  She is doing well with reading, it's just hard to convince her to do a lesson some days!

Emily is getting stronger.  I was having her do tummy time on Thursday and she held her head up like this for about 2 minutes.  Not bad for a 1 month old!

Friday Megan got to go on a field trip to the aquarium.  They got to see the exhibits and ride all the rides and she had a blast.  My visiting teachers came and I watched my nephew Luke in the morning.  I had a sprinkler guy come check out a possible leak in the afternoon.  He found a valve that had been opened partially that shouldn't have been, so hopefully that does the trick.  We had a quiet night at home, the kids were pretty cranky and went to bed a little early. 

Emily on Friday

I finally got our bouncer out of the attic.  Emily tested it Friday while the kids rode bikes in front of the house. 

Saturday we got to clean the church at 8 am.  It was great because there were like 5 families there and everybody worked hard and we were totally done by 8:45.  I got the kids some shipley's on the way home for their hard work.  We went back to the church at 10:30 for a baptism of Megan's friend Kathryn who just turned 8.  The kids were pretty wild and we actually skipped out right after the confirmation.  Dan was at the church but not with us bc he is in charge of organizing the baptisms and coordinating the font time for all the wards and there were 3 kids getting baptized that day.

We came home for lunch and then headed to Megan's soccer game.  She played well, still improving each week and had fun (but they lost 4-1).  Her cousin Alonzo played on the next field over that day, so we stayed to watch the last half of his game too.  We had date night that night.  We took Emily with us to Costco to grab some dinner and home again to watch a movie and hang out.

Emily before the game.

Our backseat view these days

Go Megan!​

It's been a nice Sunday.  I was so glad to be back for the full block.  It was fun to be with my class again.  Dan was with us at sacrament meeting and the kids were pretty good.  My class is a week behind Megan's for some reason, so I taught about Alma the younger repenting today.  It was good.  After church and dinner we had a family council.  Dan and I had planned for it during our date on Saturday night and the kids seemed to like it.  We asked the kids for ideas on how to speak more kindly and stop yelling in our family.  The big girls had some good ideas and they seemed to like contributing.  We'll see if that makes them more inclined to speak kindly!  We also ran through things people in the family might need extra prayers for this week and that was pretty sweet too.  Candy is supposed to start rookie camp for swim team tomorrow and is pretty nervous (but it's supposed to rain for the next few days, so we'll see when she actually has to get in). 

Megan and Emily before church.

Emily and I during after church naptime.  She's such a snuggler.

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Well that's it from me this week.  I'm listening to quite the wind storm outside and just heard the first thunder--it's supposed to storm for the next few days.

Hanging with Baba

Monday was pretty typical, we did our usual grocery swap (longer than usual bc Ashley brought along a family that doesn't have a car so they could shop too, but it was ok, we were glad we could help them out).  For family night, I was on the lesson and we watched Pres. Monson's very short talk from the Sunday session of conference and then talked with the kids about it.  Choose the harder right, not the easier wrong was the biggest takeaway for me.  Dan went to watch the NCAA finals at his sister's house and I played dressup with Emily :)

The bow is ridiculous and giant and I kind of love it.  This was Monday night.  I didn't make her sleep with it though.

Tuesday morning I dropped Candy off for joy school and then met Ali and her little boy at the park.  Emily hung out while Ali and I chatted and Jack and Luke played. I came home and worked on laundry for a bit til we picked up Candy.  Megan had piano and we had a quiet evening.

Emily on Tuesday morning-- you can see what she thinks of the bow!

And Tuesday afternoon.  She's my only kid that can't run away when I grab the camera, so she suffers through a lot of photoshoots.  The blanket is from Aunt Pam and it is SO SOFT!  All the kids love it and I find them curled up in it often.

Wednesday was another beautiful day and we had playgroup at the park.  I dropped Candy and Jack at playgroup and drove down to pick up Baba for the day.  We picked up Candy and Jack from the park and headed home.  I made lunch for us and we chatted and she helped me fold laundry and read to the kids and held Emily and we had such a fun day together.  She got to be here when Megan and Brooke got out of school and see them too.  Dan got home and I made dinner for all of us and then Carrie came on her way home from work to pick up Baba around 7.  Baba was tired by then, but we had a wonderful day.  We are so lucky to still have her with us.  I love to hear her stories and ask her advice.  She gives the best advice.  One of the best pieces of advice she's given me is to treat everyone with common courtesy, no matter my like or dislike of a person or situation--common courtesy goes a long way.  Just be nice.       

Pics from Wednesday--Emily is 1 month old today!

 

With all that fun on Wednesday, Jack was tired!  He fell asleep on the way home from dropping Candy at joy school and even after walking inside, just crashed on the floor.

Emily was tired on Thursday too.  It was a typical day, Megan had soccer after dinner and not too much else went on.

Friday I picked up the big girls early from school around 10:30 and we headed to Shad's for the day.  Carrie brought Baba there as well.  The kids played and played, we ate lunch, we swam (Shad heated the whole pool to about 90 and picked up his big kids early around 2) and got sunburned, came in for more playing and chatting, saw Shad's remodeled office (looks great!), at that point Baba and Carrie headed out, did x-rays for Megan, Megan got braces on top (thanks Shad!), had dinner with Shad's fam and I brought my exhausted kids home--we left around 7.  Dan was doing a shift at the peanut butter factory that night, 8 p to midnight. 

Emily before heading to Shad's for the day.

Megan was BEYOND excited to get braces. 

Ta-da!

Saturday morning when I woke up, the sore throat that had started at Shad's friday was AWFUL!  So I headed to a walk-in clinic and sure enough--strep throat.  Dan met Ali at a park to let the kids play and practice fishing while I was at the doctor.  I rushed home to take all the kids to Megan's soccer game while Dan was at a service project at the church.  After the game I picked up my prescription and was so glad Dan was home when we arrived because I was pretty miserable and he took care of me and the kids for the rest of the day.  We laid low and watched a movie after the kids were in bed and went to bed pretty early.

Hurray for antibiotics and ibuprofen.  I woke up today feeling much better.  My throat was still sore but I could eat and drink much more easily.  Since I didn't take the first dose of antibiotic til 1 pm Saturday, I had to miss church which was a bummer since I had planned to be back with my primary class for the first time since Emily was born. 
So instead I listened to conference talks and watched a BYU tv episode about Mosiah chapters 18-24 which was the subject of my primary class's lesson I'd been getting ready for all week. 

Me and my 5 week old.  She wanted to be held while I was making our chicken and rice casserole to eat after church--this was the solution.

I caught the end of a sleep-smile today.  I'm hoping she'll start smiling for real in the next week or 2!

When Dan and the kids got home from church, I had everything ready to go straight to Dad and Sally's so we could overlap with Jamie and her fam for a bit.  We got there around 3:30 and ate our dinner really quick before we sang happy birthday to dad and enjoyed jello cake--yum, yum.  The cousins are adorable and crazy and loud when they are all together and they were having a great time.  We got pictures of the whole group before Jamie and her crew left around 5.  Shad and Amy left around 5:30 and we left a little after 6 to get the kids home and in bed before school tomorrow.  It was fun to be with everyone and especially to be with Baba.  Dan and I even played 3 or 4 hands of Pinochle against Baba and Carrie before we had to go. 

Conference Week

It's been a good and busy week like always.  Monday we had grocery swap like usual.  Jack's buddy Mallory kept telling me that she could smell soap.  I thought it was because she had washed her hands.  Turns out she had bitten off a piece of bar soap and shoved it up her nose--Ashley found it later when Mallory started crying that her nose hurt.  Crazy kids!  We had a really great FHE that night.  Dan taught the lesson about the plan of salvation.  He drew it all out on the whiteboard and we talked about it and then he erased it and had the kids each draw it out again.  It was a lot of fun to see them understanding things better and it was great being right after Easter to be able to testify to them that only because of Jesus and his Atonement and Resurrection does the plan work. 

Jack and Emily on Monday.  He likes to snuggle her.

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Sleepy girl Monday afternoon.

Emily tried her first bottle with Dan on Monday just before dinner.  It was a success!  She downed it with no problems.

Tuesday Candy had joy school.  I spent the morning doing laundry and picking up the house really well to prepare for a cleaning lady to come in the afternoon (a present from Dad&Sally and Jamie).  I put the kids down for naps and then the cleaning crew arrived.  3 ladies worked for 4 1/2 hours!  They cleaned the house from top to bottom and it was the BEST gift for a busy mom with a new baby.  I loved having everything clean all at once.  Since they were working through dinner time, we took the kids to chick fil a--which the kids thought was awesome. 

Emily looked ridiculously adorable on Tuesday.  The outfit is pink camo print with tutu and giant bow on the front.  Love her.

Wednesday was rainy.  I planned playgroup for the mall playplace, and it was just me, Candy, Jack, and Emily.  A little less fun than when lots of friends are around, but the kids had a good time anyway.  Just as we were heading to eat lunch, Ashley called and invited us over to play since they had been busy during playgroup.  So we went over to their house and hung out for a while.  Another friend came too and we had fun chatting and eating lunch together. 

Emily practiced her tummy time on Wednesday on the couch. 

 

Megan helping with Emily's 2nd bottle on Wednesday.

Thursday was joy school for Candy.  I spent the morning cleaning out our master closet.  Since the rest of the house was clean and I was caught up on laundry, I figured I better do some organizing!  I took a whole trunkload to good will.  It feels great to have things cleaned out and neat again (I'm still working through Dan's side of the closet, but it's a great start).  Ali and her kids came for a quick playdate after school.  Megan had soccer that night.  Emily and I hung out at the field while she played. 

Candy sure loves her baby sister.  She asks to hold her all the time and is so gentle.  This was after joy school on March 31.  Candy changed clothes so she and Emily could wear their matching pants at the same time.  cuties.

Jack loves to hold her too.  For 10 seconds at a time.

Friday was an open day for us.  I ran an errand in the morning and I called a new sister in the ward and invited her over for a lunch playdate.  She has a daughter that's Candy's age and a son just older than Jack and a baby girl 2 weeks older than Emily.  The mom was busy, but the older two kids came to play.  The kids were glad to have friends.  Jack was a little stinker though, he really was rough with the little boy and kept being mean.  He's still adjusting to life with a new baby in the house and has been spending more time in time out.  Hopefully he'll even out again soon and be nicer to friends!  It was date night so we dropped off the 4 big kids and took Emily with us as we grabbed dinner at Chuy's and walked around Costco (a new one just opened up near us).  We came home and watched the last Hunger Games movie before we picked up the other kids.

Emily on Friday...

Happy kids before date night--it was amazing weather all weekend. 

Saturday was full. Dan and his helper Jack put down fertilizer and weed killer and ant killer.  Megan had a soccer game at 11 am so we missed the first half of that session of conference. She played well and had fun.  They tied 2-2.  We dropped her off for a roller skating birthday party and came home for quiet time.  then picked her up at 3 and watched the next conference session.  The kids were pretty wired, so they mostly stayed in the backyard.  Dan and I enjoyed it though.  I really liked the talk that touched on avoiding pride and about how life isn't fair but all will work out in the end.  Then we had dinner and Dan headed to priesthood session. 

It was a great conference Sabbath today.  We had breakfast with the T fam and then headed down to Dad's.  The best part was seeing Baba and introducing her to Emily (4 weeks old today!).  We enjoyed conference together.  The kids stayed and listened more today because I had printed some Bingo cards for them and other activity pages (Dad liked bingo too :) ).  We had a yummy lunch between sessions and Shad and his fam arrived then too.  We watched the second session with everyone (wow!  I loved Elder Holland's talk.  and Elder Oaks. and the two in morning session that touched on the tree of life).  Then we chatted and the kids played.  It was perfect weather outside.  Dad hid confetti eggs for the grandkids to find and they got to smash them on Grandpa, Uncle Shad, and Uncle Dan.  Then the kids went out with Grandpa for a while to do relay races, balance in different ways, and play missionary tag.  Shad and Dan and I took turns out there too.  We all headed home just before 7.  We missed Tyler, but it was fun thinking about how conference brings latter-day saints all over the world together this weekend. 

Carrie and Emily

Emily, 4 weeks, Baba, 4810 weeks

Jack and Shad looking at pictures of "Unca-shad's-boat".