Tuesday, Corben left for Georgia to spend a WEEK with his Dad. Talk about exciting! He flew all on his own (as an unaccompanied minor) but felt like he’d be fine since he and I had just flown last month. Here’s some pics from my phone camera.
Wednesday I attempted to take the girls to storytime @ the library. Can you say CRAZY?? They weren’t Bad or anything, just busy. Both were jumping off the benches and running in circles. I think Sylvie jumped in place for 5 minutes straight. They only time either of them paid the slightest bit of attention to the songs or stories was when they sang 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed at which point everyone started jumping like Sylvie already had been so the girls thought that was funny. Afterwards they both took off through the library and though I Ella stopped when I told her to I spent SEVERAL minutes going up and down the same isles over and over trying to catch the screaming Sylvie…we left pretty quick.
We headed straight from there out to look at an old farmhouse for my sister. It was so hot and the kids were so tired. Finally, a day they BOTH take a bath & a nap!!
Friday we had a play date in the morning and then Dade headed out for a weekend away with my mom. Lucky him!
Saturday, at the last minute, we decided to join some friends of ours at their lake house. It was SO much fun. Sylvie started out scared and Ella started out adventurous….
Ryan decided to spend some time on the jet skis. He actually did spend most of his time upright but I had to put the one of him going down….cause it’s funny to me.
Sylvie soon warmed up to the water…..
….and after Ella tried to follow Ryan out to the jet skis (he turned around to see only her hands sticking out of the water…she’d kept walking though it was over her head!), he decided to give her some swim lessons….
Everyone was having a blast. The girls spent quite some time jumping from the side to Ryan and a friend. I love the look on Sylvie’s face in the first one as she jumps. The second is when Ella jumped in to NO ONE! Luckily Ryan and his friend were nearby and pulled her up before it was too late!
Sunday my mom and Dade met us at church. Dade was asked several weeks ago to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. (In our church there is no preacher. Members of the congregation are asked by the Bishop to speak on a topic in our main meeting. There is usually one youth speaker (12 to 18) and two adults.) Dade was given a bible passage to go off of. He and my mom discussed what he thought it meant and then she left to let him write it on his own. He did an AMAZING job!! It is always so heart warming to hear your child share his testimony of the Lord! Way to go, Dade!
Monday Dade and I actually got some time together and ran out to see Harry Potter!! It was great! So nice to spend some good time one on one with Dade. We get so little of that! That night I headed out to a Pampered chef party. I warned them I was broke but very eagerly agreed to do a show in September….clear your calendars, ladies!!
Tuesday was exciting….Corben was coming home!! He had an AMAZING week. He and his dad went to a Braves vs. Giants game, saw Harry Potter and G-Force, went swimming and signed off most of his scouting stuff for the year! YEAH!! I rushed out the door to go pick him up and then…
…Realized I DIDN’T HAVE MY ID CARD!! You can’t pick up an unaccompanied minor with out a valid ID. I was too close to the airport to go back home and still make it back in time to get him so I called my mom…of course. She called the airline to find out my options….
”What other ID do you have?”, they asked.
“Um, an old drivers license with my last name the same as Corben’s….some credit cards with both names,….”.
“Sorry, but it has to be a VALID ID.” they said.
So, then we ask if we can just change it to my old name but since the ID was expired that wouldn’t work. So we asked if we could change it to my mom’s name and they agreed as long as Corben’s dad made the change to the account. So I call him and he’s driving on the highway with no pen and no place to pull over but somehow manages to take down the confirmation number and airline number so he can call. He then calls me back (I’m standing in the airport at this point) and says my mom is approved. So, my mom’s friend drives her to the airport (she works nearby) and we go to the desk….we explain the situation to the guy at the desk. He says my mom’s name is in the computer but that if it’s not on the envelope that Corben’s dad wrote on when he dropped him off then they won’t give him to my mom anyway. The guy at the desk says if that happens then he’ll just escort them both down and we’ll work it out at the ticket counter. So off mom goes to catch the plane and I wait……
….Mean while my mom gets to the gate only to find the guy we were just talking to at the desk…..She tells him she’s here to get Corben. He asks for ID. He looks at it and says, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but your name isn’t the one on the envelope, I can’t give him to you.” UM, DUH!! WE JUST TOLD YOU THAT DOWNSTAIRS! Anyway, my mom was polite and simply said, “Aren’t you the guy we just talked to downstairs?” He’s like, “Yes.” Total Twilight Zone…anyway, they all head down to me to work things out. I pull out my bag of everything I could find in the car that had my name on it. Some receipts, a medical card, I pull out my phone to show pictures of me dropping him off at the airport. Finally I pulled out an ID card I had for him from school with our address on it and they let me have him. Told me they didn’t really want to keep him anyway. YEAH! I got Corben!!
It was a happy reunion for the kids. Everyone missed each other so badly. They didn’t even start fighting again until Wednesday….how sweet!
Wednesday….busy, busy! BUT, just before it was supposed to get busy it started to rain & there was no thunder or lightening so I told Corben to go play! I had just put Ella down for a nap and was off to get some work done. He begged me to go but I told him I’d send Dade out. Dade didn’t want to get wet but picked up Sylvie and headed out the door. With that I decided, Why Not? and grabbed Ella from bed and headed out myself. I figured we’d have time to dry off before we headed out a bit later.
Then, the mud throwing began and I knew it would be showers for everyone before we left!! But it was so much fun! The neighbors were all staring and a friend of mine stopped by to drop something off and just laughed at us.
We did get all cleaned up eventually and got all our errands done! YEAH!
Thursday – I was SO productive! I finished 4 projects! The kids were so good and mostly took care of themselves while I worked. Here’s Ella reading before breakfast and a snake Corben found in the yard.
Friday was great! We got to go SWIMMING!! We drove through a torrential downpour and crazy lightening to get to my SIL’s house to go swimming. When we got there there was NO RAIN and it was perfect out. On the way there we had stopped at the new Krispy Kreme in town and so we dove into the yummiest doughnuts EVER!! Then we headed to the pool. Ella and Sylvie had NO FEAR. There was no baby pool but they both waded around in the shallow end sometimes walking in water up to their necks! They loved jumping from the edges. Dade was huge help with the girls and Corben worked on swimming the length of the pool. I loved getting some grownup time!! Thanks, Jamie!
Saturday was very productive. We got the house tidied up and some projects done. I had to go and buy Dade a new Sunday shirt since he’s outgrown everything he owns lately. We had to shop in the MEN’S section!! AAHHH! I then got to work on the 3 cakes I was making for the family party on Sunday. It was a VERY LATE NIGHT and they didn’t actually get finished until I woke up the next morning. 4 hours of sleep!
Sunday I woke up to Corben singing my cake making praises. Ella LOVED her Ladybug cake. We headed off to church for the morning.
At the family party I presented only the ladybug cake and the cake below for everyone to see. The boys’ cake said, “I spy a birthday boy.”. It was horrible but everyone was very gracious and said how cute it was.
My nephew, Noah, went to cut the cake and couldn’t. He was so confused, so was everyone else until they realized IT WAS CARDBOARD BOXES WITH ICING!! Underneath the Fake Cake was a note that said,
“The Cake Has Been Stolen!! Muahahahahahahahahaha!!!”
It then had a clue on it on how to find it. The clues led the kids on a scavenger hunt for the Real Cake. They had to decipher clues with Spy Codes and figure out silly poems. Finally, they found the Real Cake!! It was “the Bomb”!
The last card told them there was a reward and finding it should be a Piece of Cake. Sure enough, INSIDE the cake was hidden a list of secret spy codes just for them! It was so much fun seeing their faces. Well worth all the cake making woes, for sure. It was a wonderful evening with family. I sure love you guys! Ella and Corben got a ton of fun and thoughtful gifts. Pics to come.
The end.
2 comments:
I LOVE Sylvie's face framed in bubbles!
Me too!
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