9-21-2008 Week in Review

After last week my plan for this week was to take it easy!!  So, I have little to report this week.

First of all, several of you are wondering how the class elections went for Corben...well, his teacher keeps forgetting to do the election!!  Does she not understand the emotional roller coaster carpool is for me this week?!  I'm sitting in line anxiously waiting to hear the results.  I spend most of the time slowly moving forward praying I'll react properly if he tells me he didn't win.  I worry how he's going to be feeling and at the same time excited that he may have won!  I finally pull up with butterflies in my stomach trying to evaluate the look on his face as he gets in the car only to have him say...She forgot again!  3 days in a row I've gone through this and now I have to do it again on Monday!  Aaarrgghh!  It doesn't help that in these past few days more kids have decided to run for a total of 8 kids out of 24 running for the same position!  And Corben was too shy to read his speech so he just read his poster and hopped up and down on one foot to make everyone laugh.  There was even a kid running that promised no homework and parties every week with cupcakes!  So, I guess I'll have to wait at least another day.  I'll let you all know as soon as I know.

Wednesday night I had photography class and finally grasped the concept I'd be struggling to get for the longest time.  YEAH!  Now, the test is if I can put it to use!  No more auto mode for me (teacher's rules) so we'll see how many pics I'm posting as I learn to figure out how to coordinate all of the settings on my camera.  Thursday I went and got my hair cut.  It was mostly a trim though I got a few more layers and some bangs..sort of.  I loved it after she styled it but this morning it was looking more like a mane than a cute hairdo.  Guess it's going to take some work to figure out.  I'm definitely not a naturally stylish person.  If anyone has some cute pictures of things you think I could do with this hair, please email them to me, I need help!

Friday was the family birthday party so we met over at Heather's house to celebrate 3 birthdays.  I love getting together with Ryan's family.  They are so much fun.  I have to say that Ryan's brothers married the most amazing women and his sister might as well be my own.  I love them all so much!!

Saturday morning Ryan and his brothers headed out to Virginia for a long weekend of white water rafting.  Our community holds a big festival every year so all of the sisters (in-law) and Ryan's dad came down and we spent a fun morning seeing animals, playing on inflatables, riding ponies, listening to music, racing RC's and just having a wonderful time! 

Corben had a great time going down this slide.  It was SO high!!	There were a ton of animals to see and pet.  There were turtles, rabbits, birds, lizards, snakes, a wallaby, skunks, opossums, and tortoises.   The kids were fascinated!
Racing RC cars.	Ella in the jumping maze.  She was so excited!  We did have to send in Aunt Jamie and Aunt Rachel to fetch her, Nathan, and Xander out!
Sylvie was SO excited to meet this bear until he touched her foot and she decided he was creepy!	Ella went on the ponies twice.  The first time we had to hold onto her and the pony so she'd feel comfortable.  The 2nd time she did great on her own!
Corben on the rock wall.  He didn't get far, they put him on the harder side and he couldn't reach all of the hand holds.  He felt it was discrimination against shorter people and was not happy at all!	Hanging out afterwards eating Nachos and listening to Bluegrass!

 

In the evening the sister-in-laws gathered for a nice night together at Erin's house.  I was a bit late with my kids because of this!

Dade and a friend were in the woods across the street from our house and found this on a path frequented by teenagers.  It was buried in leaves beside a tree.  You can't tell here but that is almost a 12 inch blade.  We called the Sheriff's department to come and get it.  It's funny how much they hate to do paperwork.  He took one look at it and said, "Well, there's no blood on it and we haven't had any knife murders lately."  I mentioned that it's washable and that even if he hadn't heard of one, it doesn't mean they couldn't find out about one later or that it was hid there for a future crime.  Besides, I didn't have a safe way to dispose of it and with over 15 young kids on our street I just wanted it gone.  He finally offered to take it for me but had to label it as evidence and fill out some paperwork.  I offered to take it to the dump if it was going to be too much paperwork for him but he said he'd be fine.  Honestly, I don't know why you'd hide a knife like that back in the woods unless you were going to need it for something.

So today is Sunday and I just managed church on my own with 2 small kids.  The kids kept telling me that Ryan got them to church 30 minutes early when he did it on his own last week but Ryan can just get up and put on the one outfit he always wears to church and he's done!  I have to shower, shave, coordinate an outfit and accessorize, pick out shoes, blow dry, style, and do makeup!!  I sound like such a girl, but it's true!!  So I get mostly ready and the girls are all ready and every one is fed thanks to Dade and his mad waffle making skills, when I look up at the clock in the kitchen and it says that it's 10:25 meaning 10:20 since it's usually 5 minutes fast.  But my clock upstairs had said 10:35.  I ask Dade and he says it's 10:31 but the microwave says it's 10:46!!  I ran and checked the computer and it was actually  10:42 which meant I did not have time to do my hair or makeup (thus the mane) and we had to go right then!  Now, I won't go so far as to accuse my husband of changing all the clocks before he left but it's mighty strange that all the clocks were suddenly so wrong!  Anyway, we made it on time and the boys and I managed the girls on our own, much to my surprise.  So now everyone is quietly reading in their room and I'm going to go and do the same.  (Corben just finished the Harry Potter series for the 2nd time! - if anyone has any good suggestions on his next reading endeavor, please let me know!)  Have a great week!!