10-3-2010 Week in Review

The most significant thing this week (besides General Conference)??  My brother, Jymn’s, birthday!!  Happy Birthday, Jymn! I LUV LUV LUV YA! (And in case you’re wondering what kind of gift you get when it’s your birthday around here…listen up CLICK HERE….I know, your life is better for having heard that…lol)

Anyway, on with the week.  Ella has taken on a very determined roll this week to help me in every way she can.  She actually made breakfast (cereal & milk) and poured drinks for her and Sylvie Tuesday morning and then put everything away.  She barely spilled a drop.  I was so impressed.

They spend a lot of time outside now (not that they didn’t before, it’s just easier on me with the new deck).  Ella got this amazing easel for her birthday and she and Sylvie use it almost every day.

Ella started her sessions in the child behavioral study.  We were picked to be in the group that gets special attention so I’m excited to see how things turn out.  I’m getting to use some “new” technology (at least for me) to help me out and keep me motivated.  Hopefully all of my children will be perfectly behaved in no time and I’ll be the perfect parent…okay, maybe not, but at least they’re paying me, right?!

There was a certain night this week that I had 2 different places I needed/wanted to go.  Neither worked out but as I was mourning my lack of time to myself and with friends I was alerted to the wonder that was going on around me.  It’s been raining for days and it’s been raining HARD.  I went outside and the world was lit with the most beautiful orange glow.  My neighbor told me to turn around and there….from horizon to horizon was the most amazing double rainbow!  (The picture below is a composite of 4 photos done by my computer so sorry for the break in the rainbow but I don’t have time to go in a fix it….sigh.)

Then, I turned around from this splendid rainbow…

 

and saw this…it was magic…

      

I don’t mind that these last ones are blurry (though for my own vanity sake of which I will repent of later I’ll tell you it’s because I switched to a wide angle lens to get the rainbow but it stinks for low light…) it’s the girls and a couple of the neighbors.  I think it just shows how much fun they have outside no matter what time of day.  I sure love our street and the wonderful people who live there….

Friday I had quite the scare.  I lost Sylvie.  She & Ella were playing out back in the playhouse while I worked on cleaning one of the cars.  I ran inside to answer the phone and when I came out a couple of minutes later (literally) Ella looked suspicious.  She couldn’t tell me where Sylvie was and after 15 minutes of looking I was on the verge of tears and grabbed the phone to call my neighbor to help me look.  As I started to dial, I looked up and she was already in my yard rushing around helping me look.  She’s an angel to me sometimes…  Finally I got Ella to tell me that the girls were playing hide and seek.  In all of her wisdom, my neighbor yelled out, “Sylvie! Do you want R (her daughter) to come over??”  Suddenly a little head popped up out of the car (that I’d checked at least twice).  Sure enough, she’d been hiding and refusing to answer.  I, of course, burst into tears of relief.  Sometimes you just need a good cry, ya know?

Dade, in contrast, was having the best day ever.  He’d gone the night before to surprise a friend who is visiting from out of town and ended up spending the night with their family.  I let him hang out the whole day there.  See, I’m a nice mom… :)

  Saturday was the start of General Conference and a day FULL of service for us.  Dade & Ryan headed out early to help with a move and later met the rest of us over at my SIL’s where we were getting their yard ready for the wedding reception that will be there in 2 weeks! (My SIL, Rachel, is getting married!!).  We enjoyed time with family and got lots of work done.  Corben spent the day with my mom at Tammy’s where he cleaned out horse stalls and helped put up a temporary fence.  I’m so thankful for them and how much they love my kids!  That night Ryan and Dade headed out again for the men’s/Priesthood session of Conference.  I had a scare again as Ryan couldn’t find Dade afterwards.  He waited and waited outside, even after they locked up, and called me to tell me he couldn’t find him.  Almost an hour had passed.  It turned out that Dade was in the center of the church and didn’t know they’d locked the building.  He’d been waiting for Ryan to tell him it was time to go and was having fun with friends.  In the mean time, at home, I was worried to death!  See, you can lose your kids at any age!

Sunday we finally were able to sit down and truly enjoy Conference.  It’s always such a blessing to be able to sit in my own home and have the words of the Prophet come straight to me.  I am so thankful for his presence on the earth today and for a Heavenly Father who loves me and wants me to return to Him.  The kids all gathered around with us and listened attentively….all 4 hours.  I’m so proud of them.

P.S. Here is what I was taking a picture of when my neighbor called to inform me about the rainbow….I hadn’t even looked past my porch! (I’m sure there’s some gospel lesson in all this…)