a week in our life

Brace yourselves. This going to be long....

Tuesday--
I was attempting to get some exercise so went for a walk. Emma rode her bike, Nathan rode his scooter and Slade and Sawyer were in the stroller. Of course Nathan quickly tired and needed a break. Slade can't/won't ride the scooter though so he had to walk. Can you imagine how much "exercise" I was actually getting? We did a short circle around our neighborhood and went over to the path along the creek. They threw sticks and rocks in, climbed on rocks, sat down on the edge and got soaked, and Slade even fell in! Good times.

I whined and pleaded and begged for them to let me take a picture of all of them together. Curses that when they finally complied I didn't get the focus right. Curses. Curses. Oh well, aren't they so cute hugging each other?

We watched the American Idol final performance that night. Going into it, I was kind of rooting for David Cook. I felt he was the more mature performer. However, Dave and I both thought David Archuleta stole the show.

Wednesday--
I drive Emma up to Salt Lake on Wednesday nights for her violin lesson. She is doing really well and is proving to be quite a good musician. On the way home, we heard on the radio that David Cook had won American Idol Season 7 despite all the votes from our house for Archuleta. We went to the grocery store afterwards and I stuck very well to my list. Amazing what that can do for your budget!

Thursday--
Schoolwork for us is winding down though I plan to continue with math and reading during the summer. Emma is working on two-digit multiplication. She is understanding the concept but not always understanding where to put the numbers or when to add and when to multiply. She'll get there though. She told me today that math is her favorite subject. Who knew!?

I've started doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Slade. He speeds through the lessons and does really well when I can get him to focus. That is no easy task. Sadly, I must admit I am not doing very well in keeping my temper under control with him. Man he can make me crazy! I have to walk away from the table a lot.

Emma has Irish on Thursdays. She will be competing in her first Feis (competition) next month. This is another activity which she is totally loving.

Friday--
The boys take a gymnastics class with other homeschoolers on Friday. They totally love it. Even Slade! I'm sad the teachers are taking the summer off because it has been great for both boys. I spend the whole time trying to keep Sawyer off the equipment. I paid Emma a dollar this Friday to watch Sawyer so I could take pictures. Doesn't this kid know that he is ruining my social life since I don't get to just sit and talk!?

After gymnastics, we usually spend the rest of the morning doing fun things like going to the park, the library, or Thanksgiving Point. We take the day off from formal school work and just have fun. This Friday, we met Dave at Costco for lunch since he needed to get passport photos taken. I didn't do much shopping but I still spent over a $100. What's up with that?

We came home so Sawyer could take a nap. The others kids all ended up playing with friends so I had a quiet house to myself. Bliss.

Saturday--
Dave and I took the boys (Emma was playing with a cousin) to RC Willey to look into getting a swing set. Our backyard neighbors just got a fantastic set which we have been jealously eying. Woah sticker shock!!! We were not ready to plunk down that kind of money so we moved on. We headed back over to Dave's sister's house to pick up a cousin for Slade to play with. Emma and Isaac wanted to switch families for the day, they said. I headed back out for a little alone time at Target and Home Depot. I came home with summer clothes, paint, and a new sink and faucet for the kitchen.

Katie's family and Dave's parents came over to enjoy quesadillas and an evening together. Grandma and Grandpa were already worn out from a day of grandkids so they took it easy. Katie and I went and got some ice cream and root beer for root beer floats. Yum. We didn't get to play any games but it was still a lovely evening.

Sunday--
After church, Keri and Colin came over for dinner. Keri's family was off four wheeling so we got to enjoy her company. Colin just got back from his tour with the folk dancers to Europe. He's stashed his stuff down in our basement and stayed here for a couple of nights. He has since moved on to our aunt's house since we are not close enough to his girl. It was fun to talk with him a little bit and hear his tour stories. He went to many of the same countries that Dave and I went to in 1997.

We went on a walk after dinner to deliver soccer pictures to the kids on Dave/Slade's team. I took them for everyone because they missed the scheduled team pictures. Mine were much more fun!


Monday--
Our Memorial Day was cold and rainy. Dave and Emma woke up early to go to the ward breakfast. I opted to let the boys stay asleep and avoid the rain so I stayed home. Our day was spent on projects. I worked all day on this:

My new website! Coming soon to an internet near you.

Dave and his brother put in a new shiny sink and faucet in our kitchen. It took way longer than they thought. In fact, they didn't quite get it finished before they left to go move his brother into their new house. He came home much later in the evening completely wiped out.

When I put it all together in a blog post, one week in our life seems kind of full and busy. Really it is all rather ordinary. The kind of ordinary life we feel totally blessed to be living.