May Halfway

Hi there Starsi Hanisz!

It's been a great week here.  I am so excited to hear about your weekend with the creation of the stake and hearing from Pres. Uchtdorf, etc.  I can't wait for your email tomorrow!

Monday--your birthday!  Happy 19th old man!  We grocery swapped, did swim team, and had FHE.  Dan was on the lesson and we did it around the dinner table again.  He taught about sin and repentance.  Megan was pretty funny when we talked about how taking things that aren't yours without asking is stealing--since Dan had caught her that very morning at about 5:55 am eating marshmallows in the powder bathroom by the kitchen.  It was a fun lesson and I think the kids learned something.

Tuesday Candy had joy school and I took Emily to the doctor for her 2 month checkup.  She is doing so great Ty--she's put on the most weight in those 2 months of any of my babies.  She weighed in at 13 lbs, 9 oz.  Little chubber.  And she's healthy as can be and doing all the things she should be (cooing, smiling, making eye contact, holding up her head, etc).  She got her first round of immunizations (3 shots and 1 oral) and was WIPED out.  She slept almost the whole day.  I ran to Joann's for some blessing dress fabric before we had to get Candy from joy school.  Instead of swim practice that day it was team pictures.  And I stayed up that night cutting out Emily's dress.

Wednesday I was sewing like crazy and got her dress done at quiet time.  It's so cute!  It's a really pretty lace fabric and it fits her great.  We spent the morning at playgroup at a splash pad with my nephew Luke.  It was great weather for it, warm and muggy.  We had piano and swimming and then had dinner with Ali and her fam and Dan's parents who had just arrived from Utah. 

Thursday I got to take profile pics of the joy school kids for their "all about me" books.  Here is Candy :).  I had a doctor's appointment that morning and my mother in law watched Jack and Emily for me.  Emily is doing great at taking bottles when I need her to and it's so nice!  That afternoon was a little crazy getting ready for Ali's baby shower that night at Ashley's house.  I made homemade lemonade (chick fil a's recipe) with different berries to mix in.  The other ladies made desserts and it was a fun time chatting and celebrating baby Joseph.  I was glad we could do it with Jane here too.

Friday we went to "super kids day" at the school (field day).  Megan and Alonzo were partners and they were pretty cute running around to get all 25 activities checked off in the 2 hours.  Brooke and her buddy Rania were not quite as dedicated.  But Brooke was dedicated to standing in line for 20 minutes for a snow cone.  I told my girls I'd check them out early but they both wanted to stay and play games and watch movies with their classes at school.  So I took my little 3 to the pool and met Jane and my nephew Luke there to have a picnic and swim for a while.  Jack was pretty timid about doing swims with me.  Luke was really excited to swim with me in theory--not so much when I made him put his face in!  He'll get it though.  After swimming and naps and school pickup, I dropped Candy and Brooke at swim team and did a quick stroke clinic with a friend's kid.  It was fun.  Then more swim team and then we dropped our kids off for date night.  We went to dinner with Dan's parents at a yummy BBQ place and took some frozen custard back to eat with Ali and Ben while we hung out for a bit. 

Saturday was an early morning, leaving for our swim meet in Kingwood just after 6:20.  The kids did great, especially Megan who shaved 5 seconds off her freestyle time and came in second place overall--5 points for the team!  Brooke was 5th overall for her freestyle--2 points!  And Brooke's relay won too.  Candy completed her events and even cut 20 seconds off her freestyle time.  She is hilarious to watch.  She jumps in smiling, swims about 1/4 of the way and spends the rest of the time doing 5 feet, grabbing the rope and smiling at us while we yell at her to keep going!  It was HOT.  But fun.  We finished at 12:30, headed home to drop Brooke at a birthday party and grab some stuff at the store.  It was Dan and I's 11th anniversary!  It was so fun to spend the day with our little family.

Jack was so hot he crawled into the stroller and slept for an hour.

That's Emily chillin' on the pink chair and trying not to melt.

Post bath dinner.  I love these people.

Today was a great day!  Dad, Sally, Carrie, Shad, Zach, Molly, and Ellie along with Dan's parents and Ben and the kids were all at church for Emily's blessing.  The plan had been to bless Ali's baby today too, but Ali was sick all day yesterday and felt terrible today so they postponed Joseph's blessing and Ali went to an instacare place instead.   Dan did a great job on the blessing and we felt so loved with our family that could come! 

She's a sweetheart. 

After church everyone came over to have lunch and hang out.  It was a good time.  We watched Dan and my wedding video and some family photo dvds.  The kids loved it and I loved it too.  Pics are one of my favorite things.